Sunday, August 26, 2007

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

Yes, we have yet another August birthday. Last post we mentioned that our nephew/cousin, Bryon and Christine's son was due in September. Well, it just goes to show that due dates are truly an estimation.

Bryon and Christine welcomed Joshua Michael into the world at 5:20 EDT this morning. He is the first boy for this happy mom and dad. Reports are that it was an easy delivery and Joshua comes in at a healthy 6lbs. 14 oz. His dad says he has strawberry blonde hair and possibly gray eyes.

Plans had been made for a home delivery with a midwife and one can only assume that things went according to plan since Christine had a smooth delivery.

Congratulations to Bryon, Christine, Mikayla, Rachel, and Joshua!! We hope to come up and visit with the new baby soon.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Happy Birthdays!!

Wow, August has been a busy month. It always is in our family. Just among the six of us, we have three August birthdays. Shane turned 16 on August 6th, Caedmon turned 11 on August 19th, and Andrea turned 28 on August 21st.

Moving on to other immediate family: Faith (bio-mother of children) turned 33 on August 5th and Mike (Sam's brother) turned 33 on August 18th. In Andrea's family, Aunt Susie and Uncle Dave both celebrated their birthdays (no need to get into ages) and Uncle Tom will celebrate his next Thursday.

In September, we will have Sam's Mom, Grandma Tricia on September 1st, Andrea's Mom, Grandma Linda on September 3rd, then Aurora will turn 14 on September 22nd and Sam's best friend "Uncle Chris" will turn 34 on September 23rd. In addition to those 4, Andrea's brother, Bryon, and his wife, Christine, are expecting a son, Joshua Michael, to be born in September. His estimated due date is September 9th. We will post once he's here and give him a warm welcome.

We shipped Shane's birthday package off very belated, so we can't post what he's receiving because we can't be entirely sure he's received it yet.

For Caedmon's birthday, he received: A Spiderman toy chest, a Bionicle Barrika, and a Superman long sleeve t-shirt from Mom and Dad; a new remote controlled stunt car from Grandpa Gary and Grandma Susie; a three-pack of Transformers from Aurora and Karma; a Megatron Transformer and Action (hums and lights-up) Light Saber from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Chris, plus a cool card that plays the Darth Vader theme music; $20 from Grandpa Scott (Stephanie's Dad); a Bionicle (I forget, but the newest set) and a Megatron action figure from Adam, Aurora's friend; an Optimus Prime Transformer that Transforms into a Nerf Gun from Aunt Peggy; and a Cybertron Primus Transformer from Grandma Linda, that toy was the only one he requested by specific name, so of course it's his favorite, but he loves all of his toys and we only see him for schoolwork and mealtimes since his birthday.

We had all of the above people (except for Gary, Susie, and Adam) here for Caedmon's party, which involved listening to the Eagles and Oreo ice cream cake served on paper Transformers plates. Caedmon left the room after opening his presents and didn't resurface until cake time, wherein he promptly left again after finishing. Fun was had by all.

Andrea got Law and Order: Criminal Intent Season 1 for her birthday from her Mom and Aunt Peggy, she also got a membership to Curves from Stephanie. Sam and the kids got her clothes for her Build-A-Bear and plan to shop more after we get paid again. Also, Andrea's Mom baked a confetti cake and brought ice cream for Andrea's birthday and even though we ate the ice cream cake at the party, Andrea very much enjoyed the confetti cake over the ensuing week, with a little help from her friends and family, of course. We're still enjoying the ice cream, in the form of sundaes, yummy!!

Oh yeah, not alot to say for an entire blog post, but we did talk to Shane as promised on the 18th of August. He called when he woke up at 10am our time and stayed on the phone until Sam sent him to bed at midnight our time (he had church the next day). Good conversation was had by all and we plan to play games over the phone in the future (we are a game playing family).

Until next time...

Monday, August 13, 2007

Kindness in Rememberance

Today, August 13, 2007, marks the second anniversary of the death of Andrea's cousin, Jeremy. Jeremy passed less than a month shy of his 32nd birthday. He was riding his sports motorcycle on a road called the Dragon in Kentucky/Tennessee when his tire hit some oil on the road, he lost control, and swerved into oncoming traffic. While a tragic accident, Jeremy passed doing something that he enjoyed, so those of us who loved him take heart in the fact that he had been happy.

Jeremy was one of the kindest people you could meet. As an older brother, he never got angry with his siblings for tagging along for he understood that it was part of their admiration of him. He didn't necessarily feel that he deserved this admiration, but he was accepting of it. As a cousin, he defended Andrea's desire to tag along with himself and her older brother, Bryon. As a son, he showed kindness to both of his parents, never taking sides in their separation, showing nothing but unconditional love for them both. As a father, he showered the same unconditional love on his two young daughters, helping them both grow into beautiful, loving young girls.

In Rememberance of Jeremy's passing, we celebrate his life with acts of kindness. From today, August 13th, until Jeremy's birthday on September 2nd, we will remember Jeremy with acts of kindness towards our fellow human being. We ask you to join us in remembering this beautiful life by helping to make life beautiful for everyone.

It should not take tragedies like the bombing of the World Trade Center or the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota to bring kindness out of individuals. That person ahead of you in line at the grocery store only needs thirty cents to pay for their groceries and go home. The individual on the side of the road trying to change their tire may not have a cell phone to call for help. It is a more dangerous world today, but mostly because we've stopped helping our fellow man.

Take some time over the next few weeks to demonstrate to the world at large that you are a decent human being. Remember, the kindest act in giving is the one for which you receive no credit.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Bashed in the Face!!

We started going to soccer again on Tuesday of this week. It's good because the kids could use the exercise and it gives Mom a chance to get some fresh air.

Today, the ball popped up and smacked Caed in the right side of his face. It smashed his glasses as well, but we won't know if they're too badly bent until we take them to the optical store and have them looked at, probably tomorrow. He got a pretty bad nosebleed, blood was just everywhere, once he saw the blood, he started shrieking, because he couldn't see out of his right eye and he thought it had been damaged. Andrea sat him down and got his nose pinched to stop the bleeding, then cleaned him up to look at the damage. His face was pretty swollen, so we took him to the ER in the event his nose had been broken. They didn't bother doing x-rays, because the swelling was down by the time we got there, he's just got some brusing around his eye and he was mildly concussed.

Turns out, he's gonna live. :)