First Day of College, New Dorm

     Yesterday was Sarah's 1st day of college! Such an exciting time for her! Tues/Thurs is her light day as she has her Freshman "first class" class and Old Testament class. M/W/F she has 4 classes, which I'm sure will keep her very busy. In all, she is carrying 15 units this semester. That is quite a bit, but I believe she chose wisely and has a good balance of demanding classes with a few "fun", less demanding classes (at least that is what she is hoping!)

     Since I couldn't be there in person for her big day, I did the next best thing- "stole" her pictures from her facebook :) I was tagged in most of these, so it's like they are mine, right?

 Looking beautiful for her first day of college!

 Rocking the backpack....

 Sarah and her roommate, Ariel who had a running class.

 Sarah has made several new friends between being on the bowling team and those living in the same dorm building.

 Having some fun riding the elevator during one of the many welcome week activities.

 Sarah loving college life in the dining hall. They have Blue Bell ice cream available everyday! For those of you not familiar with Blue Bell, it is a high end ice cream you buy in the store and super yummy!

     Sarah is now pretty settled in her new dorm room. I know she will have more pictures to hang up since I know what she brought, but I think for having to move right after she had moved into the first room she is doing great! Thanks so much Sarah for taking these pictures and sharing them with me so I can post them here.

 Sarah's bed. She has requested a step stool because it is a bit high :)

 Next to her bed she has her mirror with Audrey providing inspiration above.

 She and her roommate stacked their dressers in this little nook which is a few feet past the end of Sarah's bed. Great spot for the TV her roommate brought to share.

 Harry Potter still on her closet door, left side now.

 Inside view of spacious closet.

 Under her bed- plenty of storage. Bookshelf, mini fridge (thanks to the Gibson's!), and fan.

 Where many hours of studying will take place.

The desk also provides a great spot to hang more photos of friends and family.

Moving Day for Sarah

     I don't know how the time arrived so quickly for Sarah to head to college, yet the time had come. It seems like at times your little one will never grow up, stop throwing tantrums, go to school. Yet, once all of those things finally happen, I can tell you from experience, the time flies by! On one hand I can clearly see Sarah is ready for this new chapter in her life and on the other hand, I can't believe it is time for my "baby" to leave. All part of God's perfect plan for her life and ours I know, still such a bittersweet time.

     Sarah had been packing for quite a long time, tackling small chunks at a time. She had a bit more work to do as Courtney gets the privilege to live in her room now that she is away at college. We packed carefully and loaded up the van to the max as we headed out to Campbellsville University.

 Sarah and some of her stuff!

 Totes, storage crates, and of course a mattress topper to make dorm life comfortable.

 A kind neighbor saw us taking some pictures while loading and offered to take a family shot. It turned out perfect!

     Our sweet friends Erin and Michael were so kind and let JT spend the day at their house while we took Sarah.I don't think JT would have had much fun unloading and setting up Sarah's room. It probably would have made for grumpy parents too trying to wrangle him down. JT had a blast with his best friend, Finn! You can read about his day here- http://erinmichaelandfinn.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-friend-weekend.html

 Sarah giving her little brother a hug goodbye.

 Lots of kisses too!

Then there were three.... kids that is :)

 We arrived and checked in Sarah to her dorm. There were several pages of paperwork to sign. After Sarah did that, she had to head over and have a mandatory physical exam since she is on the bowling team. So we all worked at getting her items unpacked and a bit settled until she returned about an hour later.

     The following pictures are of Sarah's first dorm room, where we thought she would be staying for the year.  Not wanting to rehash what happened nor publicly bad mouth anyone, I'll leave the story for me to share with you personally if you are interested. However, the next several photos are of Sarah's orginal dorm room as we set it up. Sarah moved again the following day(after we were back at home) and once she is all settled in her new room and takes photos, I'll make another blog post so you can see the full setup.

 Sarah's bed- lofted up a bit. Dresser, mini fridge and a few other things stored underneath. She loves her yellow, black and white flower comforter.

 Harry Potter on the front of her side of the closet. 

 The closet space is really great for dorm living! Plenty of space for all of her things! Though all of her winter clothes are still here-LOL!

Courtney made a going away sign for her big sis.

 Last few photos together before we left.....

Sisters, Sisters, there were never such devoted sisters....

 Proud Daddy

 Sarah and I goofing around with hip and head tilting...

 This is when I started feeling emotional... I knew the time was coming....

 Awww so sweet!!!

     Before we left we all circled and held hands for a family prayer for Sarah. I knew I wouldn't be able to speak without getting emotional so I declared John the official speaker for our family. It was a precious moment praying for Sarah, her college years, the transition, for new friendships, protection,etc. Then I just looked up at John and started crying. I couldn't help it. Thankfully it lasted only a few minutes and I composed myself with the help of Courtney and Lindsay saying, "I knew you were going to cry Mom!" (Gee thanks!)

Lindsay giving a final baby cradle to her little, Big Sis.

     More college updates to come later this week hopefully. So far, Sarah is having a wonderful time and has made several friends already.

Boom Boom Pow

     A few weeks ago while cleaning the house, John played some various music as the family helped out. We discovered JT's first mainstream favorite song- "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. Since first watching the video and hearing the song, it has been increasingly requested by JT every day. He will point to the computer and ask, "Boom Boom?"  It has been such fun seeing him start to imitate the movements in the video as well as singing along. Here are 2 of my favorite clips that I recorded of him watching the video.

I love how he really gets into the singing when Fergie sings!

Rock out JT!

Odd Sleeping Spot

     This morning as I went to wake up Lindsay and Courtney, I looked into JT's room across the hall like I usually do. I noticed that I saw his favorite green blanket on the glider. "How odd.", I thought to myself as I know I covered JT up with the blanket last night. I looked a little closer into the dim room to find JT was with the blanket on the glider sleeping! Not sure what caused JT to change sleeping locations during the night, but it made for some morning conversation among the family.

 My view from JT's doorway

 I had to come into the room to see his little face.

I risked waking him up to get one more shot with the flash. Success! I'm sure glad children are so flexible and can sleep most anywhere. Just looking at JT sleeping like this made my neck and back ache!

Big Blocks

     This past week, we brought out an old favorite at the Apedaile6 house- Big Blocks! It had been a while since JT had played with them and he has been loving them! During the week when Finn was here, the boys had a great time building, knocking over, and building again.

 Tall Towers

 Being creative and using the tubes as telescopes

 I see you JT!

 What's more fun that playing with big blocks? Playing in the storage tub that they are stored in!

 2 little boys sitting in a little tub.....

Happy yelling and jumping in their tub

 

Adorable friends

Growing Up

     We have been going though several old photos this week. Lindsay needed a baby photo for yearbook  they do every year for the 8th graders. Saw some absolutely adorable photos of Lindz as well as some shots of her sisters from when they were very young. Then with Sarah packing up her room for college and organizing what she wants to keep, toss, and take she found some old photos as well.

     The pictures I'm posting today are from Chuck E Cheese. For any of you that have been in recent years, you might know one of the "best" (In my opinion) games there is the sketching photo booth. For just 1 token, you and as many of your family/friends squeeze into the photo and it produces a black and white photo as if it had been sketched with a pencil. Always fun to do! Anyhow, Sarah came upon one of the sisters from 3 1/2 years ago and Oh my what a difference! I couldn't believe how much all 3 have changed in such a relativity short amount of time. The girls happened to have gone about a month ago to Chuck E Cheese, so we have a great comparison. Take a look.

 The girls back in January of 2008

Their photo from July. It would look different now since Courtney started wearing contacts since this last photo. Beautiful then and even more beautiful now inside and out!

Playing with Snow

     Is it possible to play with snow in the middle of August? It sure is if your "snow" happens to be baby powder! Several months ago when JT had a nasty and resistant diaper rash, we tried just about every type of remedy including baby powder. His bottom was so tender that he fought us during changing time. In an attempt to distract him and help him lie still, we would call the baby powder snow and ask JT if he wanted some "snow" on his bottom. The trick worked and now he will call the powder Snow.

 This was the source of JT's delight today. A small powder bottle (thank goodness). Notice the sticker seal that is on top- that remained on top during his playtime (another thank goodness!) I was switching over some laundry and JT was playing with his cars and trucks in the dining room. I heard him make a strange noise which I thought almost like a choke/cough sound, so I went to make sure everything was ok. Keep in mind I had been in the laundry room maybe 30-45 seconds when I heard this, so not a lot of time had passed.....

 This is what greeted me. Caught white handed! Love the look he has- Guilty as charged!

 I'm sure the cough was from the powder "smoke" that came out when he shook the bottle.

He looks quite pleased with himself. What amazed me was how the powder came out despite having the sticker seal on the top still.

He was a powdery mess! JT smelled wonderful though :)