Seven = Success!

According to a Bible study I recently finished, the number seven in the Bible signals completion. On the seventh day, God rested because His work was done. I had told Joshua a long time ago that if he had seven days in a row with no accidents where he did his 'official' business in the potty every single day without holding it, I would buy him a 'Toby' train that he desperately wanted. We've had many successes, but he hasn't gone every single day in a row. Then I realized that since he hadn't had an accident in a looong time, that maybe he just won't go every day. I know he's no longer trying to hold it. In fact, the other night he was playing with Daddy outside and ran inside to go. He doesn't even tell us all the time but just goes to the potty by himself. So, I knew that we had officially reached our goal. We started counting for him and I promised that we would go get him his train.

We went to AC Moore this past Thursday since they were having a sale on their Thomas items. Joshua was SO excited! He told Mamaw that he put "seven poops in the potty." I'm so glad that he's doing better! He's still on the laxative and fiber, but his body has adapted to sense when he needs to go and he stops what he's doing to go. We've been praying about him going for awhile now, and I'm so thankful that he is officially potty trained.

When we were at AC Moore, I also bought him two little easy reader books. He's been enjoying them. I'm surprised when he says things like "Toby is spelled T-O-B-Y." I was also amused when I saw that Toby is the number seven train. Seven...completion... a reward for seven times... a train that Joshua asked for with no prompting from us. Seven... DONE! Glory to God!

We are proud of Joshua, and he is proud of his accomplishment, too.

Happy Birthday All Around!

Lots of folks in our family were born in August. We'd like to wish them all a happy day and a fantastic year ahead!

 Starting with the most recent, a big happy birthday to Grandpa Georgia who turns the big 57 today!

And happy birthday to Nonie who celebrated her special day yesterday!

Next was Aunt Missy who celebrated her big day on Thursday, August 26. Hope you have a great year!

Aunt Alicia's big day was Saturday, August 21. Hope it was a special one! Enjoy the last year of your 20s!

Aunt Becky's birthday was Thursday, August 19. And Grace's birthday, which I already posted, was August 3. Happy birthday all around!

Choo-Choo!

I invited Grandma to go with us to the Strasburg Railroad this week, and she agreed to come along on Wednesday, August 25. The first train was scheduled to depart at 11 am, so we made sure to leave our house in plenty of time to park, get our tickets and be in our seats before it left.

The boys had earned free tickets through the "Make a Splash" summer reading program. That said, Caleb was still free this year, but that's okay. Here they are with their papers, which I showed them to remind them of their accomplishment before we left. You'll notice that the boys got haircuts the night before!

Here we are at the Strasburg Railroad. Joshua picked out his train shirt, and Caleb wore a Thomas shirt for this special occasion. They were so excited!

And here's Mamaw with the boys.

When Joshua climbed on the train, he was a little nervous. He said "hold me! hold me!" I loved his expression in the picture above.

At first Caleb climbed in with me, and then he decided to go back with Mom & Joshua. Since Joshua wanted held, the four of us sat together with the boys on our laps.

Here's Caleb looking out the window. All aboard! It was time to depart in our coach.

I was surprised at how much information the 'engineer' gave as we chugged along the track. I also didn't realize that the train stops at a picnic spot or Cherry Crest Adventure Farm if anyone wanted to get out and do some more exploring. When the boys are a little older, I think that would be a fun addition to the day. The train ride itself was enough excitement for this trip.

Thankfully, the seat backs move, so you never have to ride backward. The train stopped and the locomotive switched places, and they allowed us to change up our seats. We were all happy about that! Here are the little guys posing for a picture outside the train after we got off. You'll notice Joshua's zippy - it was a little chilly and overcast that day. But, that's perfect weather for the train! Once again, the rain that they were calling for held off for our fun.

We walked around a little bit afterward, and Mamaw bought the kids a ride on the "cranky cars." Joshua talked about them the rest of the night. He said he liked both the train ride and riding the cranky cars as the best.

I loved their little expressions on these cars as well!

We had other fun adventures with Mamaw this past week. The previous Saturday we went to the Disney store to check it out. The boys love to look around in there - Joshua points out Nemo, Cars, Toy Story, Mickey, etc. They both got to pick a toy to come home, which both of them have kept by their side. Caleb picked a Mickey Mouse cell phone, and Joshua picked a little camera.

Later in the week, we went to AC Moore, which I'll post about separately. I will say, though, that that store has a lot of crafts for kids as well as kids' toys. I never think of it as a place for little guys' stuff, but they have good prices on Thomas trains when they have a sale.

The kids also received tickets to a Barnstormer's Game for their summer reading. That said, I don't think there's a charge for their ages anyway. And, they received a coupon for ice cream that we still have to use for them. When we were at AC Moore, I bought Joshua a couple new little books that are easy readers that we've been working on. He's starting to recognize that letters make words.

Caleb told Daddy about seeing the "choo choo train" when Daddy got home from work that night. Both boys think that that's what Daddy does for a living - he goes to work to play with big trains. In a sense it's true since his work does ship via trains, but it's not exactly what he does...

Thanks for coming along to the Railroad, Mamaw! The boys had a good time.

Enjoying the Final Days of Summer

On Monday I called and invited Aunt Jen & her gang to join me at the park near our house, and she said sure. The weather was gorgeous, and this is the last 'official' week of summer since school starts next week. Here's the whole gang right before we left to go home for lunch.

Caleb likes to run around, and Joshua has really been into swings lately. And, he told me that his cousin Emma is "a nice girl" - he enjoys playing with her.

Tuesday morning, we were invited to meet friends at Long's Park. It was supposed to rain, but the weather held off.

After we left, we went home, packed a picnic lunch and headed to Daddy's work to pick him up. Here's Joshua buckling his own seat belt. He's a pro at it now (although we always check it just to be safe!).

We went across the street as a family to the Leola Community Park to enjoy our picnic food and play some more!

It was cool for summer with a refreshing breeze. The kids enjoyed the time, and Daddy said it was great to see us and eat leftovers (we've dined on picnic food from the weekend this entire week).

This seesaw was more evenly weighted, so the boys enjoyed it. I loved their little expressions!

Caleb loves to climb and explore! I can't believe how big he's getting! I also can't believe how big Joshua is! How do they grow so fast?

One of their favorites at this park is a little thing-a-majig that they shout into and pretend to talk back and forth.

We've spent several evenings playing outside this week. The temperature has been amazing. It's hot during the day but chilly at night. The past couple nights we've taken the kids to the playground and let them ride their bikes. Joshua is getting really good at riding his! He enjoys it, and I think we're soon going to need to upgrade his helmet. Daddy said he'd prefer one that doesn't let him plant his face into the pavement if he would fall. The boys have enjoyed the time outdoors, and we realize that summer will soon end so we'll take all the time outside we can get

Blessed Beyond Measure!

Not long ago, I finished reading the Old Testament. I remember reading one of my favorite verses: "'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" Malachi 3:10. Well, I didn't realize that the 'floodgates' of blessing would include clothing! But God has once again provided for us.

We have been very blessed that Joshua has an older cousin Grant, and they are very generous in lending us his old clothing. As I was going through the bin of clothing (thanks so much!), I noticed that there were only a couple pairs of 4T pants, so I knew I had to do some school shopping. Then I saw on ad on Craig's List for 4T and 5T clothing in HUGE lots. I went to the lady's house (which is nerve-wracking, but it worked out okay), and I got more clothing than we even have room for. I left a majority of it behind for her to sell to someone else and still came home with a lot of new things for Joshua (and eventually Caleb!). For $30, I bought a pair of shoes that he'll grow into (they're exactly half a size too big) that were brand new, 15 pairs of pants including many adjustable waist jeans and khakis, more than a dozen 5T t-shirts, a sweatsuit, two pairs of pajamas, and several long-sleeve shirts. Combining that with what Aunt Gayle & Uncle Brian allowed us to borrow (including a nice warm coat, a couple hooded sweatshirts and several long-sleeve shirts), we have filled Joshua's dressers full of clothing for this preschool year. I don't think I could add more even if I wanted to! We are truly blessed!

This afternoon I worked on putting everything away and then I moved Joshua's 3T clothing into a bin for Caleb, who I think will be wearing these items soon. I also dug out all Caleb's winter clothing and put away a lot of his summer things, leaving out plenty for the rest of this month or so. We have so much to be thankful for!

Mamaw had bought Joshua some clothes for school, but since he didn't really need them, she suggested we return them and use the money toward sneakers, which he really needs. I can't believe that he's in a 10.5W - he skipped an entire size! So, we'll be doing some shoe shopping soon. Another blessing! I am so thankful that God provides for us in little and big ways. Today as I was overwhelmed with all the folding and sorting, I'm feeling like this was a BIG way! Thank you, Lord!

By the way, the pictures from this post are from a week or so ago when we tried to paint macaroni noodles. I realized that I don't have any spray paint, so we tried with just regular paint, which didn't go so well. We were going to string them into necklaces, but it ended up being a little messy. That said, the boys had fun! And since I had been sick, I didn't force them to get dressed that day. They both wanted "bellies out" and I said 'why not?' They love craft time.

More Picnic Fun

When we left my family reunion, we headed home to get the kids changed out of their muddy & lunch-ified clothes. After the two-hour trip (the kids' only nap time that day), we unloaded our car, which was full of beach stuff and a bunch of food. We got ready as quickly as we could and headed out to another picnic. The Liberty Place campus of LCBC had organized a gathering so families could get to know one another, and we had wanted to go, even though it had been a crazy and exhausting weekend.

We arrived extremely late and not at all hungry, but we took something to share, dropped it off at one of the tables, and then headed to the playground with the kids. We ran into several folks we knew, but we didn't really have much of an opportunity to meet any new people. It's a little harder when you have kiddos to 'mingle.' I did, however, meet one of Caleb's teachers. He recognized our little guy and called him by name before we even saw the name tags they provided. I had feared our kids would be spent from the long day they had already had, but they did GREAT! They loved the playground and had fun interacting with the other children.

Joshua has been really into swings lately. When he was little, he didn't like them all that much, but now he can't get enough. We posed for this picture and then I turned him around so the sun wouldn't be in his eyes. ;-) We left County Park around 8 pm to get the boys in bed. It was fun, and I'm glad we went. But, I'm still hoping to get to know more people from church when possible.

You Can Pick Your Friends But Not Your Relatives

On Sunday, August 22, we headed up to Greenwood Furnace State Park near Lewistown, PA, for the 2010 Doane Family Reunion. Dad organized the gathering, and I helped him quite a bit. I helped him with posting it on facebook, and the night before I helped prepare the meatballs. He arrived at our house at 6:30 am to get the food and ice out of our freezer and switch the macaroni salad into bowls I had. Here's my Dad and all his siblings: from left to right it's Dad, Uncle Ron, Uncle Jim, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Rose and Aunt Anna Mae.

Shawn and I arrived at the park at 10:30 to help set up. Some of my cousins were already there. We helped arrange the food & crock pots, paper products & drinks, etc. Here was the pavilion that Grandpa Georgia rented, which was really nice. There weren't any bees or bugs, etc. That morning, the heavens had let loose and it was POURING out. But, Joshua & Caleb both prayed and asked God to stop the rain and bring out the sunshine. And, God answered their prayers (and ours!). It was a beautiful day.

Here I am with Dad at the picnic. It was a lot of work for him to do, even with a lot of help. There was sooo much food left over. We've been eating picnic food this whole week. Everyone brought a covered dish to share, and Dad also took enough to feed a large army.

When we arrived, the boys were anxious to RUN and play. So, Daddy took Caleb on several walks to adventure around the beautiful grounds. We had been in the car for two hours to get there, so he was excited to be out and about.

In the meantime, Joshua headed to the playground which was right next to the pavilion so we could see him as we were working. He LOVED the seesaw. His only problem was that he weighs so much less than all his cousins, so they didn't have much fun playing when it was his turn. He loves Emma, who's on the other side.

Grace & Faith came to his rescue and helped push him down to make sure Emma would get in the air. I took a turn with him for awhile when Grace was on the other side. He kept begging kids to go on, but he it wasn't much of a see-saw without help.

Caleb highly enjoyed his walks with Daddy. There was a lot to explore there, and the temperature was perfect.

Joshua wanted to swing, and Daddy said he didn't think it was a good idea. Somehow, he tried to go on anyway even with the puddles from the morning rain...

And he fell right into the water. His shirt & pants were soaked and covered in mud, as was he:

Thankfully, we had his swimsuit along and he wanted to swim anyway. The other kids were starting to play in the sand, even though the sand was a bit wet. I love Joshua's mischievous grin in this photo below. The girls were digging a pit and when they weren't looking, he'd kick sand in it. What a turkey! We shooed him away from such behavior, but he thought this was hysterical. He loved the attention from the girls.

Caleb was the picnic's official "cookie inspector." Doesn't he look so adorable?

Eventually, he fell asleep in Daddy's arms. I carried him around for a little while, then I suggested laying out our blanket so he could sleep. The closest thing handy was his hooded frog towel, so we laid him on it and he slept for a little while until it was time to eat. Then Joshua took it upon himself to wake up his little brother.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. I especially liked the pigs in a blanket that someone brought and the cheese ball. The cupcakes were also delicious! After lunch, some folks stayed at the pavilion area to chat while others went down to the beach to watch the kids swim. Still others played volleyball and other games. Here are Jen & Mike at the beach area with John. Below them is a picture of some of the volleyball players.

My dad's cousin's son, who is mentally handicapped, followed me around all day. I didn't mind at all, but I literally had a shadow. Brian is about a year older than me. Here he is with his mom, me and my sister.

The kids enjoyed the water. I was debating about getting in myself, but I knew we had plans that night and it was about time for us to leave. So I watched, took pictures and mingled until it was time to clean up and go.

Daddy didn't mind getting in to swim with the boys.

The Bean LOVED it! He didn't want to leave when it was time. Caleb wasn't too sure, but he seemed to enjoy himself after a little while.

We left there later than we wanted to since we had another event to get to, but we had a nice time.