Just Malachi

Here are a few pictures I took of Malachi in late April. I'm trying to make up for two months of being too busy to blog while I'm too sick to do much else.

Toothpaste woes

In brushing Malachi's teeth one night I decided to use a different toothpaste for him, the "big boy Spiderman" kind. Well, it may be Spiderman, but the "fruity" flavor isn't too great. He really didn't like it and whined the whole time I was brushing his teeth. When I was done he told me, "Uugh! That toothpaste gots chemicals! It's making me sick." Then he told me he needed a band-aid for it (he'll make up any excuse for a band-aid, and often manages to talk other people into one for nearly healed wounds). I asked him where he thought I was supposed to put the band-aid, and once I complied with his wishes he wasn't too sure what to think - he got his band-aid just like he wanted, but it didn't really seem too cool on his mouth! I calmly held my laughter for a few pictures before letting loose, at which point he realized how goofy he was!

Notice the unsure look on his face. Before I pulled out the camera he was downright depressed looking, torn between wanting the beloved band-aid but not liking it stuck to his mouth. Once I started taking pictures he wasn't sure what to think.

Normally Malachi is all smiles for the camera, but with his current predicament his smile had been quite restrained. As I started smiling at him and taking pictures he started to loosen up a bit.


Once I finally let loose with my laughter, Malachi was back to his silly self!

Malachi's 1st self portrait

Not too bad for a 3 year old, huh?

Grandpa's birthday visit

With it being Christina's 16th birthday this year Ernie's dad decided to come for a brief visit from Texas. Before he came he bought some presents online for the boys and had them shipped to our home. When their Grandpa opened up the big boxes full of wrapped presents the boys got so excited! They started ripping into the presents. None of them had name tags since they had been wrapped as part of the purchase, but thankfully the boys didn't care or fight over anything. They were just elated at all the new toys, and even exclaimed repeatedly, "We're sharing! We can share!" Even though they are only one year apart, I have never been the sort to make sure they get the same toys. I know many parents do this to prevent fighting, but instead I usually get two different things to encourage them to share. Yes, they fight over the toys sometimes, but in the end they still learn how to share. Plus, instead of having two of everything, they have twice as many different toys to choose from. It was wonderful to see them opening up everything without regard to who each toy belonged too.

Caleb's 5th birthday was just one week before Ernie's dad came to town for Christina's 16th birthday, and ever since Caleb's birthday Malachi had whined about it not being his birthday. We didn't have a party or even a cake for Caleb, and everything he did on his birthday Malachi got to do also. Nonetheless he felt pretty left out when Caleb had a birthday and then just a week later Christina had one also. During all the excitement of opening presents, Malachi excitedly asked, "Is it my birthday?!!!!" Since he had whined so much about it not being his birthday we figured it couldn't hurt to just say yes and let him think it really was his birthday. What we didn't expect was for him to scream in response (at the top of his lungs!), "Yay!!!!! It's my birthday!!! I'm 4 now! I get to play baseball now!!!" (When Caleb started playing baseball this year, before he turned 5, Malachi wondered why he couldn't play too. We told him he had to wait until he was 4 like Caleb.) Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that when we decided to let Malachi think it was his birthday did we think he would put all the details together so quickly to think he was turning 4 and would therefore get to play baseball. Needless to say, next baseball practice took a bit of explaining to him. I ended up just telling him he had only turned 3 1/2 at that birthday, and that soon he would have another birthday and turn 4.

Sweet 16!

The past several months have been exceedingly busy. Between Christina's soccer, Caleb's t-ball, lots of company, birthdays, and all sorts of other activities amidst the normal chaos of juggling life with a teenage daughter and preschool age sons I fell way behind on blogging. However, some things are worth blogging about, even if a bit late.

Nearly two months ago our sweet daughter turned sweet 16. Her granddad (Ernie's dad) came all the way from Texas for the special day, and since we had so little time with him and we were so busy with soccer, t-ball, and everything else we ended up not having a party. We just aren't really a "big party" type of family, usually choosing instead to have fun as a family to celebrate birthdays. I may have a party for her and her friends later, either for the 4th anniversary of her adoption or perhaps at Christmas.

Christina's 16th birthday started off with a soccer game in the morning under the pouring rain. Unfortunately I missed it since I didn't want to drag the boys out in the weather. Thankfully they canceled Caleb's t-ball game due to the rain, and that gave us more time to enjoy the day together. After her game we headed to the Smoky Mountains for a picnic lunch in Cades Cove. We saw lots of bears during our outing, and just as many stupid people trying to get way too close to the bears for better pictures! We stayed in our car! At one point when we saw some people hovering around a bear Ernie commented on how stupid that was and how he wouldn't ever do that, especially with our kids as some of these people had done. He (a bit jokingly) commented about how the bear might think tiny little Malachi was food. In response, Christina asked (not in the least bit jokingly) if it was because of how dark he was. Needless to say, we got a few good laughs out of that one!!! Later we had dinner in Gatlinburg amidst a throng of prom goers. To round out the day we further stuffed ourselves at the Marble Slab Creamery. All in all, it was a great day!

Headed off to play soccer in the pouring rain for her 16th birthday!

Our beautiful girl in the heart of the beautiful Smokies! At least the rain cleared for us to enjoy the rest of the day.



Grandpa trying to hold to the boys in the parking lot at the Visitor's Center in Cades Cove. This is the challenge I deal with every time I'm out with them!






Malachi wanted to see into the watering trough used for the working grist mill. He probably wouldn't have minded if Grandpa really had thrown him in, except for the cold mountain water!

Says I, "Go stand in front of the stream - it will make a great picture. Ernie, hold tight to Malachi, and Caleb, don't even think about playing in that water!" Notice Caleb's very cross looking face at being told to stay out of the water.

Still trying to assemble the crew, notice Caleb is still wistfully looking towards the water, Malachi is thinking about going for it also, while both Christina and Ernie are wondering why I'm even trying for this photo!

Near success, as good as it gets!

"Jump in there quick, Grandpa, they won't last much longer!"

A near impossible shot of all 3 kids together. Not really great of any of them, but the best out of several attempts!

Her cheesecake was gone before I got a picture!

Our bathing beauty!

I don't get to post on Christina near as much as I would like to - after all, while the boys are under my feet all day every day doing all sorts of wild, silly, crazy, amusing, and interesting activities, she is a typical teenager who spends more time in her room than anywhere else with the television as her main source of fun, and that just doesn't make for either interesting pictures or blog posting. Needless to say, when the opportunity presents itself for good pictures with Christina, I can't help but get a little excited about it! Hopefully as the summer progresses we'll be able to go do more fun things, but for now here are a few pictures of our lovely daughter.

Jumping for Jesus!

Last night our church had a carnival in celebration of VBS. The most exciting part for the boys was the Euro Bungee. Caleb told the girl hooking him up, "I've always wanted to do this, but my mom never lets me!" (I don't let him because it's usually way too expensive.) Caleb and Malachi had a blast jumping - I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!