Family Fun on the Fourth!

James swinging with the boys at the riverhouse.

Luke enjoying fireworks at church. He loved them!

Palm Coast, FL

Cliff & James in St. Augustine

A few of my favorite pictures from Palm Coast.

It was a great week because I was able to spend time with my my boys & Bryan, plus my all 3 of my brothers & their families & my parents. I'm so blessed that my whole family can get together and have fun and get along so well. They're the funnest people to be around!

John Daddy w/Silas & Luke

Robin's visit & Palm Coast

Oh how I've wanted to update my blog, but our days have been so busy. We had a great visit with Robin & her 3 children. I haven't gotten the pictures off my camera yet, but we had fun swimming at the pool, visiting Stumphouse Tunnel & hanging out in the yard. 6 children with Nate being the oldest. It was crazy fun!! Robin & I didn't even stay up to visit after the kids went to bed. We were so wiped out that we just went to sleep when they did.

Here are a few pictures I stole from Denise (thanks!) of fun here in Palm Coast, FL. We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of John Daddy, Uncle Cliff, Uncle James & Aunt Stacie. The beach is so different than Myrtle Beach. There lots of creatures that make me go "eww" and thrill the boys. Just today they caught several fish, sand clams and something Bryan called sea fleas. They looked like roach bugs to me though. Why do little boys love things like that? The boys love seeing Silas. Henry wants to carry him around which makes us all a little nervous. Luke has been a trooper. We left at 5:30 am Saturday morning to drive 8 hours. Luke took about a 10-15 minute cat nap the entire day. He never sleeps in the car & then he was having too much fun once we got here to take a nap. He's recovered now, but Saturday was a rough day for him.

Looking forward to posting some pictures of the sea fleas! I know I'll have bad dreams about them tonight....yuck!

Beach Trip

We just returned from a great week at Myrtle Beach. The boys are exhausted. Highlights of the week include riding rides at Family Kingdom, Myrtle Waves Water Park, lots of fun in the ocean & playing in the sand and of course, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. The cast didn't slow Nate down one bit, but I can't wait until tomorrow when we get it off! The doctor warned us to not get in the ocean because sand would get trapped in it, but he did anyway. Bryan said if we had to go get it sawed off while we were there & get a new cast it would be fine, but he wasn't going to make Nate stay out of the ocean.

Luke enjoyed trying lots of new foods. Unfortunately most of them were junk foods! Here he is chewing on a pickle (yuck!) and enjoying his first Oreo.

Today we're recovering from our trip & getting excited about my friend Robin and her 3 children coming to visit tomorrow. She's driving 10 1/2 hours with 3 kids under the age of 5 to see us, I hope we're worth it!

Family Kingdom, Myrtle Beach

Mashed Potatoes

A new fiberglass cast

Yesterday Nate's kindergarten class entertained the entire Elementary School & their families with a puppet show. It was very special. The children made and decorated all the puppets themselves and then performed adorable songs & rhymes on the stage in the cafeteria.

It was so much fun and Nate was so happy. The class had put in many hours of practice & hard work and it showed.

Today was the big day for the broke arm. X-rays showed that the break was healing pretty good. It was still bent, so we can't do a splint yet. But, we did get one of the waterproof fiberglass casts. This one comes below his elbow so he can move his arm more. He's so happy. He came home & jumped straight in the pool! We go back in 2 1/2 weeks.

Finally our garden is doing great! You can see our first tomato here in this picture. No giant pumpkins yet.

So many things are going on now that the end of school is near! Henry and Luke are having to have all their fun with water while Nate is at school. Nate gets terribly frustrated when he hears of Henry getting in the pool and he's not interested in trying to wrap his arm with a bag and get wet too.

Luke is getting in lots of trouble. Last weekend, he pulled this table over on himself, breaking the lamp with his head. This table was also where our dwarf frog lived in an aquarium filled with water. Of course it broke too, froggy was hopping around in the floor with all the rocks and 2 years worth of frog poop. We rescued froggy and he now lives in a 3 gallon aquarium with 3 neon fish and a snail. I was lucky to get out of Petsmart with just fish & snails. Nate was begging for a hamster and Henry wanted a snake.

Friday morning we go for an x-ray to see if Nate's arm is healing straight. I am praying that he will be able to get a waterproof cast then. Happy Memorial Day!

Nate reading to Luke

Luke went for a 9 month well visit yesterday only to discover he had an ear infection. Here is Nate reading to him before bed.

The Broke Arm

With 3 boys, I'm bound to see my share of injuries....

Wednesday after school, while playing with me and his brothers at a playground, Nate fell off a see-saw and broke his arm. He has been such a trooper. We didn't even know it was broken, despite the pain he was able to move his hand and because he already had a really bad ant bite, we weren't sure what was causing the swelling. When I looked at it Thursday morning, I knew we'd better get it checked out. Because the bone is bent at the break, he's wearing one of those plaster casts that you can't get wet. The doctor formed the cast to put pressure on the bent bone in hopes that it will heal straight. We go back in 2 weeks for another x-ray to see if it's working. We're praying that they'll give us a waterproof cast at that point.

Kids + summertime = Fun in the Water and this cast is really gonna slow us down, but I'm thankful that he's taking it well. He even insisted on going to school today. Henry has been just a little bit jealous of all the attention. He's wrapped his arm & leg with ACE bandages and has been extra mischievous!

Well, just because I haven't blogged in a while doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say! Mark, Denise & Silas came to visit last week to celebrate Silas' first birthday! Happy Bithday Silas! They stayed all week which gave us all a little time to visit. We had so much fun playing with him. He crawls everywhere & just learned to walk

Despite the faces in the picture, we had a great time at the Grand Opening of the new patient tower in Oconee Mem Hospital. They had a parade with all the high school bands, fun activities & events for children. Oh, by the way, Henry has been wearing a tie most every day.

I had a busy Mother's Day. Bryan had to work all day, which left me to get everyone to church, and then visit all the Grandparents. But, the big news came last night when Nate discovered he had a loose tooth! I've never seen anyone so excited over teeth. Last night his bedtime prayer went like this, "Thank you Jesus, I love you so much, please help my tooth to get looser so it can come out and the tooth fairy can come and then I can look like everybody else."

Then, tonight's prayer went, "Thank you Jesus for this loose tooth, please help me to pull it so I can get one of those little pillows to put it in so the tooth fairy can come."

What's the going rate for a tooth these days? I guess I'd better ask around.

The Garden

Bryan, Nate Henry and Luke have planted a garden in our backyard. Well, Nate, Henry & Bryan did most of the work, Luke just sat on the grass and watched. They are so very excited about it. Nate told me, "Mom, You're gonna be so happy. You're not gonna have to go back to the grocery store anymore." (I wish!) And for several nights now, his bedtime prayers have included the garden. One night he prayed that the giant pumpkins would grow giant in a tall way, not a fat way so they wouldn't smush all the other vegetables. And every morning before school he wants to go see if anything has sprouted. They planted mostly seeds, and a few tomato & pepper plants. If only we had a cow, maybe I could avoid the grocery store this summer.

The River House

The boys are so fortunate to have all their grandparents living nearby & involved in their lives. Bryan's Mom's family grew up on Eastatoee River and they have a getaway house there that we go to on most holidays & special occasions (like when Aunt Mary comes to visit from Seattle). We spent the day at the River House on Saturday and the boys had a blast. Henry caught a huge frog that he carried around for hours and Nate & Memaw caught a fish. The creek was freezing, but these boys felt no pain & dove right in.

Then we enjoyed celebrating Nana's birthday (my Grandma) with dinner at Athens. A great weekend!

3 Man Band

Here's what I've been listening to lately.....

A Trip to Remember!

Bryan and I realized this week that the ultimate vacation spot for Nate & Henry lies just over the mountain. Had we known that the Duncan boys "paradise" was so close to home, we'd went before now! Nate & Henry discovered Dollywood on Thursday. For those of you who know Nate, you can probably picture him watching the skilled craftsmen weld metal

into a sign or form a vase out of pottery. And the rides.... they were great. The weather was perfect & it wasn't crowded & the company was lots of fun (Thanks Christie!) They wanted to move to Tennessee! Luke stayed in SC, spending one night with each set of grandparents. They also enjoyed driving go-carts & riding the chair lift up the mountain.

Bryan, Henry and I all crashed last night with the television on only to find out today that Nate watched quite a bit of Deadliest Catch before going to sleep. We have no idea how late he stayed up, but he was asleep tonight by 7:30!

4 boys

Here is Nate, Henry, Silas & Luke enjoying a visit over Easter weekend. We love you Silas!

Just wasting time...

Very often I just can't relax. If I am home, I feel like I need to be cleaning, doing laundry, reading with Nate & Henry or helping Luke learn to sit without falling over. I never just sit down and do nothing, until now......

I have discovered 2 incredibly wonderful ways to "waste" time & relax. Remember Super Mario Bros you played on your Nintendo? Well, Nate & Henry got a handheld Nintendo ds from their Memaw & Papa for Christmas and Mario is even better than I remembered! I am getting pretty good. I've made it to world 5.

And Twilight.... Okay, I know you've probably heard way too much about this series & you're sure you're not interested, but it's soooo good! I am almost finished with Book 2. I never had time to read before I found this book. But now, I'm finding ways to prop the book up while feeding Luke, hold the book just right while I'm going thru the pick up line at school, I'm no longer addicted to 24 (or American Idol) for that matter. It's good stuff so far, even if it is about vampires!

I love being a busy stay-at-home Mom, but it's nice to just do nothing sometimes.

3 in the tub

So life at the Duncan house is returning to normal. Bryan is home, although his work has been very demanding with an outage about to start in a couple of weeks. We're a week away from spring break, and just 5 days away from a visit from Silas (and Mark & Denise).

Nate and Henry have been enjoying some pretty weather. Here is a picture of a sign they made for their clubhouse. They are enjoying t-ball, but Henry did tell me last night that he didn't like it because they didn't have a snack at the end of practice. When you're 4 years old the snack is often the best part of sports. I told him today I would pack a surprise snack for afterwards. Right now Luke is playing with Henry on my bed. Henry is taking his picture & doing a fine job. In fact, the cutest pictures I have of Luke, Henry took! Maybe he'll be a photographer one day.

Luke getting into trouble!

Luke is all over the house in his walker! Bryan captured this a couple of weeks ago and since I've just learned how to upload videos to blogger, I thought I'd share!

T-ball for Nate & Henry started yesterday. They seem to be loving it!

Swinging

Flu Update

Well, of course the flu made it's way through our house, one by one, taking us out... Luke was hit next, fever, up all night... Then me. I haven't had 103 degree fever in who knows when??? But Luke & I laid in bed together on Thursday night, tossing back the Tylenol & Motrin as often as possible. Then, Nate. He's finally recovering and we're all hoping that spring is just around the corner marking the end of winter sickness.

2 Teeth

Luke is getting 2 teeth! They're coming in at the same time and he's so glad to have 2 down at once. It's been a long week already (and it's only Wednesday). Bryan got stuck at home due to the winter storm & had the flu. He finally made it to Pittsburg Monday night, about the time Henry got sick. I will be surprised if Luke isn't next, simply because Henry loves him sooo much & constantly kisses him. Here is another shot of Luke discovering animal crackers!

Bryan's home!

So it was a major dose of testosterone in the Duncan house today. The boys spent the day with Bryan shooting the pellet gun, chopping things down with a machete and attaching little green army men to firecrackers & blowing them up!

They had a blast being with Bryan every second of the day. The weekends seem to go by so fast while the weekdays drag by. I can't wait until this training is over. These boys need their Daddy at home!

Esther

So, I'm starting week 4 in a new Beth Moore bible study. I love Beth Moore. Her studies work for me. I have found that for a few months after the birth of each of my 3 boys, I have had a hard time focusing on prayer and devotions. Maybe its the lack of sleep or crazy hormones, but something causes me to be so scattered in my spiritual life (at just the moment I should be most in touch???). Anyway, this is my first attempt to get back to some sort of "routine" bible study.

And my point is...

I have learned something very important in Esther. If you know me, you know that I am a worrier. I worry about germs, I worry about my children being in a car accident when they're riding with anyone but me, I worry about natural disasters occurring when I'm away from my children, I worry about anything that is out of my control when it concerns Nate, Henry & Luke. I am forfeiting my joy as a mother with "futile speculations". So when I feel that worry creeping in, I am going to say "NO!" I will not be in mental torment over things I can do nothing about.

Something else I've learned in Esther is that I need to be thankful for my overly active guilt complex. That feeling sorry for the smallest offense I make to someone is a good thing. Conviction is designed by God so we would make amends quickly.

I had no idea I would learn all this from Esther!?!? Just thing, there are 5 more weeks to go...

Happy Valentine's Day!

So we "attempted" a Valentine's dinner at a new Italian Restaurant in Clemson called Brioso. I shouldn't say "attempted" because it was a great dinner considering it was all 5 of us. The restaurant was wonderful with pastas and sauces made on site & gelato! Yum!
This is the start of week 4 of Bryan being out of town. I'm hoping for a better week this week. Things got a little crazy last week.
Luke is so proud that he made a new sound today. "Bbbbuuuuuu, bbbbuuuuu." and sometimes bubbles come out!

Here are the boys before bedtime. Luke is wearing a pair of pajamas that both Nate & Henry wore! They are quite a trio.

The Pirate Dinner

Aaaarrrrggghhh!

My friend Elizabeth gave me the idea to have a pirate dinner. She told her children that if they practiced good table manners throughout the week, that she'd reward them with a pirate dinner - where good manners are not required. The boys were so excited on Thursday night to have their own. We had rotisserie chicken (compliments of Walmart), buttered noodles, green peas (a favorite of Henry), kabobs of mango, pineapple, strawberries & marshmallows, crescent rolls & chocolate pudding for dessert. All to be eaten without utensils. No napkins, you were to wipe your hands on the tablecloth (a quilt). If you needed to burp, you went right ahead and feet on the table? No problem! Of course, you know my children, they can't do anything in moderation. Of course it got a little out of control. I'm talking rubbing deodorant on the mirrors on their closet doors. Yes, you give my boys an inch, and by gosh, they'll take a yard, maybe more. We had fun, and the mess wasn't too overwhelming.

Here is Henry sporting a tatoo drawn by yours truly, and I wore a moustache! Nate, of course kept his school clothes on, he's not one to get too wild & crazy.... he's so much like Bryan.

So, we start week 3 of Bryan's training....

Week 1 down, 10 more to go...

Well, I just survived the first week of 11 that Bryan will be gone (for the majority of the time) for training at Duke.

I have been dreading/agonizing over this since Thanksgiving and I really thought that the hardest part would be being lonely. I figured that I could handle the feeding, shuttling, bathing & bedtime for these 3 wild boys, and the hardest part would be after they all go to bed, just missing Bryan's company. Well, I was (naturally) wrong. The week was crazy. I did handle the days routine, but it

was tough. Bryan does a lot. And just knowing he's gonna do one of the things on my to-do list, like brush Henry's teeth at bedtime does a lot for my morale. (Sometimes that a difficult job!!) And, I was lonely at night. But, we survived and I think he missed us as much as we missed him.

There were only a few glitches in the week, including a meeting of my car with our house (Bryan wasn't happy about that) and possibly the least amount of sleep I've ever had in a week. We had a great weekend with Bryan that included some bowling, some Texas Roadhouse (Nate's favorite) and lots of books. So, we'll see what week 2 holds...

By the way, here is a picture of Luke with his first sippee cup of juice. Yes, I know he's a little young for this (5 months now) but we were having fun, and by baby #3, you just don't sweat the small stuff!!

Still with Delta????

So, I've had several people ask me how am I still possibly employed at Delta Air Lines. Here's how it worked out:

I went on maternity leave when I was pregnant with Nate. Before I was scheduled to return, Delta offered 5 year leaves b/c of the hit the airline industry had taken after 9/11. At the end of my 5 year leave, I was called back and I said "yes" I would return. Then I found out I was pregnant with Luke. They offered me a "delayed return" scheduled to return to flying when Luke was 6 months old. I haven't been paid during these past 6 years, nor have I taken advantage of flight benefits (other than our trip to Florida), and I haven't received any other benefits (like medical, etc).

While we were travelling this past week, I realized that I didn't miss the job at all. My life has taken a turn for the better. I'll gladly trade in long San Juan layovers, 24 hours in Honolulu or a 3-day in Madrid to watch my children fall asleep every night and then to be the one to greet them in the morning. Children give you a perspective on life like nothing else. They make you think about the things in this life that matter.

There aren't many things that we can take with us when we leave this world. But, I want to be making every effort, every day, to make sure I get to spend forever with my children.

Flying to Florida

Bryan & I have been wanting the boys to experience flying on an airplane for quite sometime. I am scheduled to return to work at Delta when Luke is 6 months old (next month) and I plan on resigning. How could I leave these boys for 3 days at a time? So, knowing that our days left to fly for free were numbered, we planned a trip to fly to Florida to visit Mark, Denise & Silas & a day with Mickey & Minnie! Other than Henry being sick the majority of the trip, we had a great time. It was especially nice to see Silas, the boys only first cousin. (That's him in the picture). We did hit Magic Kingdom on Friday, an experience that will be discussed in a later blog. Connecting in ATL wasn't nearly as stressful as I had imagined. The boys even pulled their own suitcases most of the time.

Happy Birthday Nate!

I can't believe Nate is 6 years old! Here is a picture from the day he was born. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid my eyes on! I love you Nate!

A Very Special Day for Luke!

Today was Luke's baby dedication at church. This was a special day not only for Luke, but also for me & Bryan, Nate & Henry and all of Luke's family.

A dedication is different than a christening. We present Luke to the Lord and ask for wisdom and guidance while we raise him. We also pray that one day he will committ his life to Jesus. The rest of the family and our friends promise to help us raise Luke to be a Godly man. Our Pastor did a wonderful job and the service was so touching. He even wrote a letter to Luke, to be opened on his 12th birthday. Wow, I hope I can make it 12 years without peeking inside! You know how curious I am.

I hope Luke knows how much he is loved, not only by his immediate family, but he is loved by so many more.

Nature vs Nuture

Luke is so happy. He really is. If you (as a stranger) take the time to speak to him, he will smile. Almost guaranteed. It's like he's saying, " I have 2 brothers, I love them but they drive me crazy. They're always waking me up with loud noises and poking my cheeks. Thanks for being nice and speaking to me." I'm starting to wonder: how much of a good disposition is born in a baby and how much is what we teach/do to them.

Possibility #1 - They follow our lead. I'm a much happier Mom this time around, I worry less about little things, like changing peepee diapers (I just don't do it, I wait until there's poop), or do you feed them at 3 months, 4 months or 5? Maybe babies get vibes from us. They pick up on our moods & imitate them.

Possibility #2 - It's all in their nature. They're born happy or they're born fussy & grumpy. I have definitley had 2 fussy babies. Nate & Henry couldn't have been more difficult, but with Luke it's just going fine.

Possibility #3 - We teach them how to behave. They become so used to being waked from their naps, feedings disrupted & being left in the crib to cry while you attent to "more important things" - the breaking up of big fights, the wiping of hiney's, or turning off the bath water before it overflows - that they grow to be more tolerent.

Joy's verdict - #1 & #3 may be true, but #2 is out. Luke sleeps 2 hours at the most at nights. I feel okay every morning, maybe because I've discovered Red Bull, but maybe because I've adapted. So I think nuture has more to do with disposition than nature.

Lesson I've learned- while having 2 brothers has it's drawbacks, a big perk is that you become very tolerent of many of the problems you will face in life.

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of men my boys turn out to be.

Welcome 2009!

Well, the tree is down (actually it was down the day after Christmas) and the toys are (almost) put away! I am very excited about 2008 coming to an end. It was a great year seeing that we added Luke to our family, but I am excited to see what exciting things await us in 2009. Nate, Henry and Luke had a great Christmas. Santa managed to squeeze down our chimney and left lots of goodies for good little boys. Hope you had a good one!