Odds and Ends

I wanted to end the month of August strong with a final post for the month. This has been my "best" blogging month so far, that is, the highest amount of posts for this month than any other month since I started in the spring of '09. I do enjoy blogging since I know this is one of the easiest ways for Nanny, Grandma C., Aunt Cathy, and other loved ones to stay up to date on the random happenings of our family. There are frequent times when we are doing something or if one of the kids are doing something, I start to think up of a blog post right there! I imagine these blog postings are as much for me as they are for our family. It's kind of a journal of our family life at a glance. I love it!

Anyhow... back to today, odds and ends. I do have another post in the making, but JT wouldn't cooperate and perform for the camera so this will take its place until I capture it hopefully soon.

The past few days, JT has been waking up before his sisters leave for school. That is pretty early around here- between 6:45-7 am. Thankfully I am ready to go for the day before he wakes up that early, but his sisters do enjoy seeing their baby brother before they start their day. Here is a shot I took when JT rode his stroller down the driveway to our bus stop. Courtney and Lindsay like riding the bus to school some mornings to see some of their bus friends. They almost always have the option of having Sarah drop them off, but I guess friends are winning out for now.

This is another shot of showing the results of waking up early and playing all morning. One tired boy! Most of the time, JT curls up on his tummy or side but every now and then he just flops out on his back. I picture that JT is so tired that he just passes out when I lay him down. Notice all of his blankets,his "taggie- that is a little blanket with edging of loops of fabric of different textures, his Woody, and a lemur that he borrowed from Courtney. I think he was comfortable!

Lastly, these pictures are of our almost teenager Lindsay. This weekend she wanted to try curling her hair for church. This was the beautiful result- good because she looks gorgeous and bad because, well she's gorgeous! Just imagining the looks she might be getting in the near future, sigh...

This One is for Erin

This post doesn't contain any Apedaile kid info. This is a post for my dear friend, Erin. She and her husband Michael, have given me the blessing of caring for their little boy, Finn for the past several months. Finn is 11 months old and he and JT are becoming the best of friends. They play, make messes, and now sometimes try to swap sippy cups.

Today while the girls had on "Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta" the background music must have spoken to Finn. He immediately began to move his little body- it was so cute! It wasn't something I have ever seen before, so I wanted to video it to show Erin. When I tried sending it to her via email, she couldn't view it :(
So here it is on the blog, since I know she is an avid follower, ha ha!

Here is your sweet boy Erin!

Self Feeding

     Each and every day, JT is learning new things and getting better at the skills that are new. This past month, JT has really done quite well at self feeding with his spoon/fork. It's a tough skill because using your hands is so much easier and I imagine more fun since you get messy.

     This morning, JT was having a bowl of oatmeal- Maple and Brown Sugar- a boy after his Mom's heart. I do add Malt O Meal for added iron, since the adult flavored version is pretty low. I guess I'm corrupting JT to like flavored oatmeal rather than plain, but he loves it and so do I :) Here is a video showing JT's mad skills with the spoon.

The end result is just as messy- he had fun putting his cup in the oatmeal

Somehow oatmeal ended up in his hair and on his face

A work in progress, but so happy with his accomplishments!

Vroom Vroom!

As JT is getting older, one of his favorite things to play with is cars. He even knows how to make little car sounds when he plays with them. Now JT is starting to "drive" his own little car. His walker toy he had to help him as he was learning how to walk converts to a push car of sorts.

We recently brought out the toy for him to play with as the car and he is so funny! The video shows how he has some work to do with his footwork :) So glad I caught it before he is pushing correctly. I also love how he applauds at the end.

Rudolph

 This weekend we went to the Saturday evening worship services at church. It just started a few weeks ago and it gives us greater flexibility for John and I to find an adult Small Group class and the evening worship has some additional features the Sunday morning services don't.

       We had a great time at Long Hollow and we had arrived at home close to sunset. It was a particularly beautiful sunset with a lot of great colors, clouds, and the suns rays piercing from behind. A true work by God. One thing that struck me was the effect it was having on the eastern sky. It almost looked like a sunrise, with how the suns rays were shining through the clouds. So when we arrived home, I took a few shots on my phone because I wanted to capture it at that moment, you know how quickly it can change when the sun is setting. I got a few, not nearly as beautiful as in person, but I hope you get the impression.

       Just as I took the picture, I begin to walk inside as Courtney is helping JT get inside. A bit of a challenge since this kid wants to be outside any time you will let him. As Courtney calls out for JT "lets go inside", JT knows he needs to make a mad dash and begins to "run". With that, he caught his shoe on the concrete and SMACK! Face first into the cement driveway. The first thing I worry about is teeth. For those of you who don't know, both Sarah and Lindsay had accidents when they were 18-20 months and as result, each had to have 1(Sarah) and 3(Lindsay) front baby teeth pulled, and get little fake teeth because of the damage of their falls. Needless to say the mouth is an area both John and I are very sensitive to when falls occur.

       I pick up JT and I notice blood right away. Oh no! Thankfully it was coming from his nose and not is mouth. After we get him inside and begin to wash him up, we find he scraped his nose fairly well. It was bleeding quite a bit from a deeper scratch down the center and then some more on the side. JT was not enjoying how we had to apply some pressure and keep the washcloth on his nose for several minutes to stop the bleeding. It wasn't until after we ate and I was cleaning him up again, that I noticed that he had some other scratches on his upper forehead as well! I guess his face acted as the brakes in this fall!

       His nose looked bad but not too bad, so we call it a night. The next morning when we all wake up, we discover a little Rudolph in JT's crib! His nose looked so red, like he had burned it really bad. It made my heart hurt to see that. Then over the course of the day, it appeared to get more and more red. I think it was simply the nose beginning to heal and form the scab over his nose that we now see. I think our little Rudolph will be here for a while. Too bad he didn't bring cooler weather :)

On Sunday afternoon.

Later Sunday afternoon, getting more red.

My poor little Rudolph!!!

This afternoon (Monday)

Poor little guy!

Whole lot of laughing

This weekend Courtney and Lindsay got out their Barbies to play around with for a while. It was more fashion inspired playing with the dolls rather than like they were characters- how they played when they were little. JT of course loved flinging around the clothes and making a huge mess. At one point Lindsay took a handful of the Barbie clothes and threw them at JT's belly. The video below is how he reacted.

Little Climber

This week JT became the master climber. As you remember a short while ago, JT was able to climb up on to "John's chair" this chair is the lowest of the furniture, so we were pretty safe. That was until this week. It so happened that John was in Wisconsin all week for work, so I was able to enjoy the benefits of being active keeping JT safe as he climbed every piece of furniture in our living and dining areas.

It happened about mid week, I'm not sure if JT either grew that extra little bit to make him tall enough or if it was his sheer determination to get on top of the love seat, the couch, "my" chair, and the dining chairs. Either way, he figured it out and there is no safety in leaving him unattended until he appreciates the danger in acting like a wild man on high surfaces or when he knows that couches are for sitting and not flinging our little bodies on :)

The first time I discovered JT's new ability was after I had finished feeding Noelle, a sweet little girl I babysit during the week. I was taking the food and high chair tray out to the kitchen and when I returned, I found this...

Once I saw JT was safe for the moment and just visiting with Noelle, I knew I could use my phone camera to snap this occasion. Even Noelle looked shocked...

Then, I think JT realized that he wasn't supposed to be on the chair and he tried to make a quick escape.

JT is keeping us all on our toes and I still am amazed that my little 14 month old is climbing up on to things. I'm wondering what next month holds....

Music to my Ears

We have a new musician in the house- Miss Courtney Apedaile. This year Courtney joined the band at her middle school. She decided to play the clarinet and we picked up her instrument last night. She was very excited to get to school today because that is when her teachers were going to start teaching the students- all 58 6th graders- how to play. God Bless these teachers, because I don't know how they have the ability to teach that large of a group.

Courtney just arrived home a few minutes ago and she was so excited- she learned how to play 1 note, G! They also taught the students how to properly assemble their instruments, that is why she only knows one note.  Courtney promptly assembled her clarinet, posed for some photos, and played a bit for us. She did play more than her "G", but who can resist making some music?

Enjoy the first sounds of our musician, Courtney!

This is Concert Position

Road Trip

This weekend John and the girls had a road trip! He wanted to spend some quality time with just them and to top it off John is working in Wisconsin all week, so it was perfect timing before he left.

John surprised the girls by buying some tickets to go see the Cincinnati Reds. This was their first MLB game, though Sarah went to a few Oakland A's games when she was less than a year old. They were all so excited to go to their first ball game with John and as a bonus they can check off Ohio as another state they have been to.

A road trip is a little more fun with a rental car- Kia Soul

After John and I planned their little trip, we realized it might be a good time to squeeze a college visit in for Sarah. There are several she is interested in that are in Kentucky, so since they were headed that way, it was ideal. John was able to schedule an official visit with Campbellsville University for late Saturday morning. This was also Sarah's first college tour, so exciting! Since I wasn't able to come along, Courtney and Lindsay were my official photographers while John and Sarah talked with DeMarcus, the advisor.

Campbellsville University was all Sarah has read about. She is very excited about this university and what it has to offer. For those of you unfamiliar with this university, it is in Campbellsville,Ky which is about 2.5 hours north of us. It is a small private university of about 3,000 students and is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention which is the same as the church we are members at. You don't have to be SB to attend, but it gives a foundation of Christ that Sarah and we are excited about. We still have a lot of information to read through and discuss, but we know for sure that Campbellsville is still on our favorite's list! It's with prayer that we know that God will direct Sarah, John, and I to find the right place for Sarah's college education. It will be an exciting year and we journey through this discovery, but we are so excited to what the future holds for Sarah.

Ariel shot of the campus taken from their website

Pretty fountain outside the dining hall

One of the two Dining Halls

They even have their own Barnes & Noble!

All of the expensive books we get to buy next year!

The chapel at school

Inside the chapel

Inside a classroom ratio is 12:1 overall

Student Rec Building

DeMarcus, Campbellsville alum and now advisor to students. They were standing on a spot that was the center of KY.

Campbellsville, founded in 1906

This is a tree Sarah thought was so pretty in the middle of campus

Will Sarah be studying in this spot next year?

After the trip to Campbellsville, the crew headed off to Cincinnati for some baseball fun. I wasn't there, so I can't add a lot of information about how great it was. All of the girls said this was the highlight of their day. The Reds won their game over the Marlins 5-4!After the game, John drove home and they all made it safely home around 1:30 am. It was a very long, fun day!

Our three fans!

The stadium is right next to the Ohio River.

Beautiful Sunset