Christmas at the Cushings :)

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house! The kids must have been VERY good because Santa brought them tons of toys.

• Mason's favorites were the Leapster and his Imaginext Pirate Ship.
• Charlotte's favorites were her dress up clothes and her Barbies (her first!)
• Isaac's favorite was the wrapping paper :)

Charlotte also got new princess pajamas and tights...she's worn the pajama top and her tights around the house for the last two days. I guess tomorrow I'll have to talk her into wearing something else :)

Happy 6 month birthday, Isaac!

Happy half-birthday to my littlest sweetheart! I love my little Isaac more than words can say. I love that I have another life to love and hold close. He is the sweetest little boy, so full of smiles, love, and laughs :) I, of course, had to get him in front of the camera this morning, below are my favorites.

He is now drinking out of a sippie cup (as of yesterday!), babbling "di-dah", "mmmaa", and blowing lots of raspberries. He's also working on a couple of new teeth, and still trying to figure out how to sit up by himself and crawl!

The first 6 months have gone by so quickly, my baby is growing up so fast! I'm certainly enjoying every minute...happy 6 month birthday, little one.

Meet Ralph

Matt, Mason, Charlotte and I all went outside while Isaac was napping this morning. It was about 30 degrees, but we managed to make a snowman out of the icy snow. The eyes and mouth were all Mason's idea :)

Here are the snowman stats:
Name: Ralph
Height: about 60 inches
Eyes: Meatballs
Nose: Baby Carrot
Mouth: Banana

Oh, and on the bottom is a picture of Charlotte with Ralph's baby brother :)

He's got it!

Mason hit a big milestone this week. We've been working on letter sound, and this week something 'clicked'. He can now tell you what letter any word starts with when you ask him (e.g. "What letter does 'frog' start with?"! And he seems to get it pretty easily...you can see the little wheels turning in his head, and then he gets it ("F, Mom!!)!

Ok, he occasionally gets 'k' and 'c' mixed up (e.g. candy cane he says starts with 'k')...and vowels are a little tricky, but he's definitely making great progress!

We were at Menards the other day and they have the words 'In' and 'Out' over their doors and Mason said "Mom, O-U-T spells OUT!" I said "You're right! How did you know that?" and he said "From Wii baseball, Mom!" Ahhh...no wonder he didn't know 'In' :)

Now I've started 'bat', 'cat', 'hat', etc words with him. He loves doing it and is so proud of himself!

O Christmas Tree

The kids had lots of fun decorating the tree this year. Most of the ornaments ended up in their 'range' of the tree...and we haven't moved them (I'm a bit proud of myself for not obsessing over it!).

I love the last picture, Mason was looking at his reflection in the ornaments, and you can see his reflection in the ornament in the picture :)

How do I do this???

Isaac would love to start crawling. He's got some of the moves down, and is trying very hard to put it all together, but hasn't gotten it yet!

What a difference a year makes!

Mason had his Sunday school Christmas program last weekend...what a difference a year makes!! It was great to see him participating, and enjoying showing off for us :)


Here is Mason at last year's program (totally NOT participating!):









Here he is during this year's program (actually doing all the motions and songs):

This one is during Silent Night

























This one is during Go Tell it on the Mountain

2007 Year in Review

Here's our 2007 best of...this year has gone by so fast, and our kids have grown up so much! Make sure you've got sound, and enjoy :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My artists

Mason and Charlotte have really been into doing artwork lately! They love to decorate their rooms, the refrigerator, and even our bedroom with their latest creations. Here they are painting away.

Here's one of Isaac doing what he does best lately...chewing!

We've been elfed

I just elfed our kids :) Click here to check it out. It's hilarious!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We are so blessed today and everyday! We are lucky enough to have wonderful friends who invited us to share Thanksgiving with them and their family. We're looking forward to a fun day with the kids and friends, playing, visiting, feasting, and watching football - go Packers!! :)

A Thanksgiving quote for you...

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. "

Abraham Lincoln
Source: October 3, 1863 - Proclamation of Thanksgiving

4 years old and growing fast

Mason has said so many cute things the last few days I just had to write them down. I can't believe how his mind works sometimes...too funny.

ONE
Mason is sitting and eating his dinner and he says "Honey Nut Cheerios, Eat Healthy, Be Happy." I said "Where did you hear that?" He says "On TV Mom, a bee said it!"

TWO
Mason saw a bouquet of flowers on TV, and said "Look at the pretty flowers, Mom!" I said, "Yes, they are pretty, almost as pretty as the ones I got from Daddy on the table downstairs." Mason says "Yeah, they're almost as pretty as my sister." :)

THREE
Mason and I are playing Nintendo Wii. I am playing tennis and I hit the ball. Mason says "BOO-YAH!" I said "Where did you hear that?" Mason says "From the Money Man on TV, Mom!" (Matt watches Mad Money with Jim Cramer on CNBC and he says it)

Mason is doing a great job listening lately and is a great helper around the house. He is learning better how to handle his emotions, which is hard when you're four years old!! We're debating whether or not he'll go to kindergarten next year since he has such a late birthday. Part of me thinks he'll be ready, but part of me thinks he could use another year to develop his social/emotional skills a little better. One day at a time...we'll decide next July :) I'm just so proud of my big boy and can't believe how fast he's growing up!

Here's a pic...I figured I was due since I haven't posted any in a while! :)

The unexpected

Thursday night, Matt had his appendix taken out! He wasn't feeling well, so he went to his doctor. A CT scan and a bunch of tests later, they confirmed appendicitis. By 8:15pm Thursday night he was taken into surgery and he got out of surgery/recovery around 11:30pm. They were able to do it laparoscopically, and the appendix hadn't ruptured or perforated at all, so there were no complications. He came home Friday night and is at home recovering.

He is doing well, but will probably be in subpar condition for a week or so yet. Thank God he went in when he did, and that they figured it out right away.

Thanks to all our friends in town who have helped us out the last few days (Sarah, Grandma Spillman, Jennie). And thanks to all those who have kept us in their prayers through this unexpected event. We're lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives!

Spunky little Charlotte

Here was my conversation with Charlotte in the bathtub last night:

Me: "Just a couple minutes and it will be time to get out of the tub."

Charlotte: "NO, I don't care!"

Me: "Oh my. That's some pretty sassy talk, would you like to go and sit on the step?"

Charlotte: (pouty face) "NO!".............(sudden change to sweet face) "No fank you, Mommy."


That little girl just cracks me up :)

You gotta try this :)

The kids and I made playdough last weekend and it was SO easy and the playdough is so nice and soft and fun to play with! I will seriously never buy playdough again! Here's the recipe:
-----------------
1 cup warm water
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of salt
food coloring

Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.
-------------------

"Stir over medium heat until smooth" means until it comes away from the edges of the pan and forms a ball. I used the gel/paste food coloring and mixed it in after the playdough was cooked and I split it in half so we could get two colors out of the batch. The gel/paste food coloring gets you nice bright colors.

Have fun!

Tooth number ONE

Isaac got his first tooth today! He's been working hard at it...chewing on everything. It was almost through this morning, but by tonight it had finally popped through.

Also, he found his TOES yesterday :) It's so cute when he lays on his back, pulls his legs up, stares at his toes, then reaches up and grabs them.

Here's a pic of him a couple days ago chewing away!

Pumpkin carving

We carved our pumpkins a couple nights ago...the kids were SO excited to do it, and I think we did it in record time! The kids didn't want to scoop out any of the guts, but they did tell us what they wanted their pumpkins to look like. Mason found a picture of a scary jack-o-lantern in the newspaper, and Charlotte wanted hers to be a bat :)

babies, babies, babies

I'm at Julie's house with Isaac for a few days, and Sarah was able to come with Joseph too. So it's me, my sisters, and our babies for the weekend :)

We've had lots of fun, and we're really enjoying a nice long weekend with each other and our babies. It's a bit surreal having all three of us and our babies in the same house at the same time! Here's a few pictures...Josie is 5 months old, Isaac is almost 4 months old, and Joseph is 7 weeks old.

Here's a few new things Isaac has done since being at Auntie Julie & Uncle Brett's house:

• grabs objects (rattles, toys, etc)
• rolls over (back to tummy)
• takes a bottle (after three days of trying and going through three different kinds of bottles!)

Oh, and while I'm at Julie's, Matt took Mason & Charlotte to Grandma & Papa's house for a long weekend. They are having tons of fun and hopefully Matt's taking tons of pictures so I'll be able to post them in a few days :)

Movin' on up

Isaac traded up - we took the swing out of the living room and replaced it with the exersaucer. He loves it!! :)

What every mother likes to hear

Today, on the way home from preschool Mason was sitting in the back seat and said:

"Mommy, you're the best at taking care of me."

Can you guess I'm having a good day? :)

Latest happenings

I think we're all finally starting to feel healthy again. Here's a few things I've been meaning to blog about in the last couple weeks that I'm finally getting to!

Here is Charlotte with the apples from our tree this year. By the look on her face you can guess it's nothing like our plentiful harvest last year (reference last year's apple picking). Note the swimsuit she's wearing - this was taken October 6th which happened to be a beautiful 80 degree day!


This picture of Mason below isn't the best picture, but it's taken to document his latest. He loves to do 'tricks'. He kicks up with his feet while holding himself up on his arms. He also spins, jumps, and hops in all sorts of combinations to show us his latest tricks :)

Mason also amazes me with his choice of words lately. The other day after preschool he said to me "Mom, wait until you see the artwork I made, you'll be amazed." I had no idea he knew that word!

Also, after Sunday school one day he talked about Joseph's brothers and how they threw him into a pit. When I asked him why they did this he said "Because they were envious." I asked him if he knew what that meant and he said "Yes, it means they were jealous." - smart boy!


And last but not least, here is a picture of my little handsome man. Isaac is 3-1/2 months old now, and he ROLLED OVER yesterday for the first time! From belly to back, it was so cute. I can't believe my baby is having such milestones already. He is such a happy baby, so content and always has smiles to give.

Weight gain

It's not too often I get excited about weight GAIN, except when it comes to my baby - Isaac has gained 7 ounces in the last week! That's awesome and at the top end of the range he should have gained...schweew!! All the extra effort/feedings in the last week have paid off :)

So, I'm going to cut out the middle of the night feeding, it will be nice to get my sleep again. Then we'll be back to the doc in two weeks for his 4 month well check and see how he's gaining then. It's nice to know that I CAN do this...that WE can do this. Formula is just fine, but I'm hoping to breastfeed for a while yet. Isaac has also been sick with a cold (stuffy nose and a cough), but he's a tough little boy!

I've also been sick all week...a bad cold, achy, and really worn out. Too bad I don't get 'sick days' from my job. It's been a tough last couple of weeks with all the sicknesses going through the house. Hopefully we'll all be well soon!

On the mend

Charlotte had NO fever yesterday and no Motrin/Tylenol for the first day in a week!! The doc on Friday said it likely WAS bacterial since the fever lasted for so many days, and the antibiotic just took longer to work since the infection was so severe. Poor little girl! She's doing much better now, still a little wiped out and a horrible cough, but she's on the mend :)

Still sick

Back to the doctor today for a checkup for Charlotte. She's still had a fever on and off...104 degrees this morning. They did x-rays again today and the pneumonia seems to be getting a little better (area is smaller on the x-ray). She still isn't eating much, and is feeling pretty yucky - as measured by her crankiness. We're still monitoring her temperature around the clock, and she's still watching lots of Scooby-Doo. We're just happy to see the small incremental improvements we're seeing!

I had Isaac's weight checked this morning as well...and he's not gaining weight as he should. He only gained 3 ounces in 11 days, and he should have gained at least 5-6 ounces. So it's probably going to mean waking him up once at night and making sure he eats more often during the day. Back to the doc in a week for a weight check for him and hopefully he'll have gained more then!

God has blessed us with so much, and we know He's taking care of us now even when things aren't perfect. We still have so much to be thankful for!

107 degrees

What, you may ask, am I referring to with 107 degrees?? I'll tell you...Charlotte's temperature this morning when she woke up...107.6 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact. Off to the ER we went. After blood draws, x-rays, urine tests, etc, we found out she has pneumonia.

Two shots of rocephin (antibiotic), a long talk with the doc on exactly how to manage her temp, and we went home. She's cranky, and HOT...her fever doesn't seem to go down much even with all the meds...usually down to only 103 degrees or so. We've got a prescription antibiotic for her, even though they speculate it's viral...it can't hurt to try and see if it helps.

There are a couple of things that help her feel better...her blanket and watching Scooby-Doo. We just hope and pray her little body stays strong and fights this off soon!

Oh yeah, have I mentioned I'm sick of Scooby-Doo????

Just for fun

Why oh why can't ONE of my kids look more like me than their Daddy?? :)

Isaac @ 3 months

Here's my handsome baby boy at three months old already!! He's starting to think about rolling over, tries desperately to suck his thumb, and loves to babble and blow raspberries. He's finally mastered falling asleep in his crib and takes all his naps there now. He loves to watch Mason and Charlotte and always smiles when he sees them, which just melts my heart. He sleeps about 9-10 hours at night, and is generally a very happy boy.

He's 15-1/2 pounds and 26 inches long. Time is just going by so fast!

If you give a Mom a muffin

A friend sent this to me...I've no idea who wrote it, but it's so perfect :)

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin
She'll want a strong cup of coffee to go with it,
She'll make herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up.
While wiping the floor she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the box of Goodwill items.
Bumping into the Goodwill items will remind her that she has to get these boxes out of her basement and into the car.
When she puts the boxes in the car, she'll find a bag of groceries and this will remind her she has to cook dinner.
She will get out the chicken defrosting in the fridge.
She'll look for her cookbook, "101 Things To Do With Chicken"
The cookbook will be sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the Netflix movie she's meant to send back and the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
The checkbook will be in her purse that is being dumped out by her one-year-old.
As she bends down to rescue her purse, she'll smell something funny. She'll change the baby's diaper.
While she is throwing away the diaper and searching for the hand sanitizer,the phone will ring.
Her three-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to call a friend - not for coffee, but for a very strong drink.
Thinking of drinking will remind her that she was going to have a cup of coffee in order to stay awake for the rest of the day. And chances are....If she finds her cup of coffee (which she has to reheat by now),

Her children will have eaten the muffin that goes with it.

Cute cousins

Here's a pic of Joseph and Isaac...maybe we should have named them David and Goliath?

Actually, I'm sure in a year's time Joseph will probably tower over Isaac :)

Apple orchard fun

Here's some pics of our trip to the apple orchard. It was nice to go early this year...the last couple years we went late and it was freezing cold and there were no pumpkins left! This year we had our choice of pumpkins and went on a wagon ride. The kids got to pet animals, climb the hay bales, and taste apples. Fun stuff! :)

Grandma & Grandpa Z's visit :)

Grandma and Grandpa Z. visited a couple weekends ago and we're so glad they came! The kids had a lot of fun with them. Mason and Charlotte loved to climb up on the couch and snuggle with Grandma and Grandpa, and Isaac loved to snuggle with Grandma and smile at her!

We went to the apple orchard with them too...see the post above :)

Grandma & Grandpa, we're thrilled you came to visit and we can't wait to see you again soon!

Motherhood

Motherhood Is a Life of Commitment and Fulfillment

As a child grows, a mother does, too.

She discovers that motherhood is not the
whole of who she is, but it is an integral
part. She will never be who she was
before her child was born, and she
wouldn't want to be.

She learns that love requires not only hugs
and smiles, but also firmness and
discipline. It means saying "no" and
keeping to it, even though a part of her
always longs to say "yes."

She learns that this little being who is part
of her is also separate from her, as well.
A daughter has a will of her own. A son
can say "no" as firmly as his mother
can -- and mean it!

And through the ebb and flow of life, as
years pass by, both parent and child
draw near and pull away, laugh and
cry, remember and dream.

Motherhood is a willing sacrifice, a
fulfillment, a never-ending task, and a
limitless love.

- Pamela Koehlinger

First day of school

Yesterday Charlotte had her very first day of preschool, and Mason is starting his second year of preschool! They were SO excited to go to school together, even though they, of course, aren't in the same class. They had so much fun - my babies are getting so BIG!

Here's a couple pictures of them, the first one in front of their 'big red bus' :)

My boys

Mason LOVES to hold Isaac...and apparently, Isaac likes it too :)

Grandma and Papa

Grandma and Papa were here visiting last week. It's always nice to have them here, and their visit went by way too fast!

Papa helped us get the new diswasher and microwave installed (not as easy as it sounds!), fixed the leak under the kitchen sink, as well as a few other odd projects around the house. Matt and Mark also had an interesting fishing excursion on the Mississippi :)

Barb and I were able to get out shopping a couple of times and I managed to get the kids all the new clothes/shoes they'll need for fall. It's amazing how much they grew over the summer!

Thanks for coming to visit, Grandma and Papa...come again soon!

Quarry Hill

We went to the Quarry Hill Nature Center on Saturday with the kids. We went on a LONG hike, and the kids did pretty good! Here's some of what we saw on the way, and you can see Charlotte Rose was pretty tired by the time we finished (yes...she's sucking her thumb while on Daddy's shoulders!) and Mason took a 4 hour nap that afternoon.

Mason loved the cave, and it was pretty neat. We'll have to go back sometime when it's open and we can get a tour!