Welcome to the World Grant Thomas!

On April 24, 2014 t 2:11 p.m. we welcomed Grant Thomas into our family. Grant weighed in at 10 lbs 4 oz and was 24 inches long. We are home from the hospital now, and everyone is doing well. Archie and Grace love him to pieces and want to hold him all the time. (They just need lots of help supporting his head.)

Happy Resurrection Day 2014!

Last Family Photo of Four before Baby!

Grace's Easter dress and Easter basket

(She had been wanting a lemonade stand for her dolls for a long time!)

Archie's Easter basket: He loved his Ninja Turtle DVD!

Happy birthday to Daddy! It's not often he gets to celebrate an Easter birthday!
Still holding out hope the baby might share it with him.

Archie and Grace Pre-Baby Fun!

I'm feeling the need to catch up on posting tonight. Perhaps that's because I'm pretty sure this will be the last post I do as a mother of two before the baby comes. 

In March, both kids participated in the annual children's art show held by Hunter's work. They worked really hard on their art. I was really disappointed Grace didn't get at least an honorable mention for her "An Apple Tree for Mommy and Me." She was happy enough with the participation award. Archie's Captain America really popped out of the canvas thanks to some cardboard and glue. I thought it was a creative idea. 

Grace had fun at one of her little friend's ballet birthday parties. She is not at all interested in taking an actual ballet class, though. She wants to go back to playing soccer.

Grace is obsessed with this new nightgown from Grandma DeJ. She loves matching her doll (who she also named Grace). Doll Grace has a twin doll brother named Archie (but he doesn't have any special PJs).

We hosted an Easter egg hunt today. It was lots of fun. We read the story Benjamin's Box and used the Resurrection Eggs to share the story of Easter with our guests beforehand. Here are Archie and Grace with two of their best friends.

Grace's school recently went on a field trip to the nature center. They were so excited to ride on a real school bus. Archie was a little jealous. She is walking beside another of her best friends, and her teacher, Mrs. Lewin, is leading the way.

Archie's Hip

Archie is a trooper. Over the last three months, we have been pursuing a correct diagnosis of a large mass (approx. 7 cm) in his right hip muscle. Finally, after a biopsy last week, we got the answer we had been praying for. It is not a tumor or cancer! We are so relieved. The doctors think it is a condition called calcinosis or tumoral calcinosis. This does not pose any immediate danger so we are quite happy. It will require continued follow-up as we try to determine the pathological cause of calcium deposits building in his muscle. It will possibly require surgery as well to excise the mass. We are taking things one step at a time and trying to relax a little bit until our new baby arrives!

Archie on biopsy/CT scan day

A Belated Welcome to Our Home!

Sometimes I think we've just moved in, but we've really been here almost eight months! I'm a little delayed in posting pictures. Perhaps that's because I never get the house clean all at the same time to make pictures. I call this post "A Belated Welcome." Hunter calls it, "I cleaned the house once and took pictures to prove it." Whichever you want to believe is actually right.

Our foyer:

The parlor/formal living room/don't bring toys into this room or you'll be in trouble room :) In reality, we don't use it for much, but I like having one perpetually clean room.

The kitchen:

The real living room/family room/great room. (Looking forward to replacing the old couch with something black leather one day to match the walls we prematurely painted red.)

The school room (the exact opposite of our formal living room in terms of everyday neatness):

 
Downstairs powder room:

The master bedroom, which my dad so kindly painted for us about two weeks ago. We are loving it! Maybe I can post the last few rooms later.

Maple Syrup Fun!

One thing I love about my homeschool co-op is the field trips. Archie and I had a blast at the Oregon Ridge Maple Center learning about how they make maple syrup! I was so proud of him when the teacher asked (suggesting a big kid answer) if anyone knew what trees breathed out. His little hand shot up, and he spouted out the right answer (carbon dioxide) without hesitation! The tasting was pretty fun, too. I've decided I really like black walnut syrup.

Look at that grimace! Carrying the maple by hand in olden times would certainly have been hard!

Crazy Hair Night!

Awana Club is one of the kids' favorite weekly activities. Hunter and I love it because they're memorizing Scripture AND it's drop off so we can have a Friday night date night. Every February, they have Crazy Hair Night. This year we got really adventurous painting Grace's hair with washable tempera paint (which thankfully did wash out). Archie just wanted spikes, which is a little hard to do with his short hair!

 Crazy Hair Night 2013