We’ve been waiting forever it seems! Everyday checking…and finally, it’s here!

Liam has a tooth.

You thought we were pregnant, huh??

On the way home from church tonight this is what Mark and I overheard:

(First, Ace had a flag with a Bible verse that he had “made” in Mission Friends tonight.)

Zoe: Is ‘dis your American Flag?
Ace: No, it not a ‘merica flag
Zoe: ‘Dis is American Flag, it’s a flag isn’t it?
Ace (more firmly): No, it not ‘merica flag. It my boo (blue) flag.
Zoe: Ohhhhhh.
Ace: Where Haley go? (Haley is Zoe’s “baby” that goes with us everywhere)
Zoe (dramatically): Oh no, we forgot to bring Haley. She’s at home.
>>At this point, Mark reassures Zoe that Haley is safe and sound and enjoying being at home

Our new nephew!!! He was born August 29th. We are excited that we have a new healthy nephew. It completely slipped my mind when updating this afternoon. His name is Hudson Benaiah. You can check him out and learn all about his new name by going to their blog (click on the link on the title). We haven’t got to meet him yet but are praying for an opportunity around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

We are sooo blessed to have three fruit trees on our property. Now these are usual fruit trees. They’re rather unusual and they produce lots of fruit. We have one pomegranate tree. And two quince trees. We’ve been fighting black rot with our two quince trees for several years, and I’m hopeful that we’ll have some decent fruit this year. I believe we’ve lost one of our quince trees to the fungus though.

So what’s a quince? It’s in the apple family but it’s definitely nothing like an apple. It’s so hard that you can throw it at a window, break the window, and the quince would never have a scratch on it. It’s very very tart but if you cook it, it gets very soft and very sweet. It’s full of pectin and does not require extra for jams or marmalades.

Pomegranates are wonderful fruits. The seeds are very sweet and where all the juice is. I remember learning about pomegranates when doing a mythology study with my mom. You can read the story of Persephone and Hades here.

I’ve made pomegranate jelly before, but haven’t done so in awhile because of time and kids. But, Zoe is at such a great age to enjoy seeing fruit turn into something else and I can’t bare to see another season of fruit go unused, so we made some jelly today. The first time I made jelly with the pomegranates, we scooped the seeds out with our fingers, processed them in a blender, and then strained the seeds out…not this time! I read that you could use a citrus juicer (which we have…and it’s electric). So Zoe was able to juice the pomegranates on her own. She loved the pomegranate seeds and chomped on them while we were making juice. I think we’ll have enough pomegranates to make one more batch of jelly. I’m also going to try some pomegranate syrup to use with pancakes (our weekend treats when we’re home). Here are some pictuers of Zoe helping with the jelly. Ace was not interested one bit and Liam just hung out by our feet while we worked.

What a pomegranate looks like!
The inside of the pomegranate. The red is the seeds/juice.
Zoe getting the yummy juice. Pomegranates are very healthy and people all over purchase pomegranate juice for it’s health benefits! It’s very, very expensive to purchase…but we get it in seconds for free!

We were able to attend my (Abbie’s) dad’s first football game for the 2006 season. Ace was beside himself to say the least. He was soooo excited about football. Zoe and Ace sat spellbound during the halftime shows.

We attended Powers Crossroads on Sunday. Ace got a sword and did not put it down for a long time. I took the time to explain to Ace that knights protect princesses and that he should do the same for Zoe, his sister. Not sure he quite got it since he hit her with the sword on the way home but we’re working on it! Zoe got a sweet princess hat and princess scepter/wand. She decided she was a fairy godmother princess and went about making things right with her wand. She’s looking forward to wearing it to ballet at the end of the month.

On the way home, we were entertained with silly faces from both Zoe and Ace.

For some crazy reason, I got up yesterday and decided it was time for Ace to potty train…and on physical therapy day as well! So, we started off doing really good. He got the idea after having an accident in superman undies and made it through two successful trips to the bathroom. We survived pt with one accident (on my couch no less) and then I was making lunch. I put him on the little potty to try and go while I finished up lunch. Zoe decided she had to go too and went to use the big potty in their bathroom. She kept trying to tell me that Ace was doing something, but I refuse to listen to tattletelling (should’ve listened this time) and then the toilet flushed. When I walked in to the bathroom, I discovered that the “pee” guard (not sure of the proper name for it) was missing on the little potty. Zoe walks in and announces that Ace just flushed it down the toilet. I do a quick search of the bathroom (easy to do…it’s small) and discover that it’s not there. So I had to call Mark because the pee guard had disappeared down the potty. Unbelievably, the pee guard did not stop up the toilet and is now somewhere happily floating down the sewage treatment plant! I wonder if the plant sees a lot of those floating by as they’re working!

Believe it or not, I did not lose my temper until Ace dumped out all of Zoe’s ponytail holders in the bathroom (choking hazzard for our little belly crawler). At that point, I was beyond yelling and just sent him to his room to play before I lost my temper completely.

Welcome to the Character house!!!

Our first day of school was Monday! Zoe was so excited. Friday, Mark was off, so he took us all to get “school” outfits. Of course, practical me, chose clothes that they could wear through the fall/winter time. Zoe got up Monday and just had to wear her new outfit, despite that it was long sleeve…

We had a lot of fun. And lest anyone thinks I am pushing my kids academically…their curriculum is geared towards children and lasts a grand total of 30 minutes a day! I’m planning on adding some things as the weeks go by (especially some science things). In the meantime, when Zoe is begging for more, I get out a workbook that I had purchased and run off copies for them to work on which they both enjoy. I like this curriculum (Little Hands to Heaven) because it introduces the letters and the sounds they make…focusing on the short vowel sounds…each week. So, she is getting a more concentrated, and planned out introduction to letters and numbers. I am planning on using it again with Ace next year and then moving into using Interlock with Zoe next year (I think I’ve mentioned that in a previous post). Mark has been participating by recording their Bible story for each day. They love hearing daddy’s voice during the day.

We had a fun weekend traveling to Rock Hill, South Carolina to visit with two of Mark’s college roommates and their wives. One of them moved to Rock Hill in January and the other moved to Raleigh, NC this summer. It was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again. Ryan and Mandi (the North Carolinians) are expecting their first baby in December and Mike and Carrie are expecting their first baby in January. Mark and I loved fielding questions about bringing home a newborn and all the essentials (and non-essentials) that go with raising a baby. Carrie & Mandi both were interested in clothe diapering (see I’m not totally crazy) and we got to talk more and I was able to demonstrate them more for them. Above, you will see the creative cup tower as brought on by Carrie. Enjoy the rest of the pictures!!

And for those who just need to know…Mike & Carrie are waiting to find out whether they are having a boy or girl and Ryan & Mandi are having a boy (Jacob Ryan).

Mike with Toby the Dog!

Ace enjoyed rough housing with two other men!

Liam has three silly faces when he’s happy. He’ll stick his tongue out, bite his lower lip, or make sucking noises with his mouth. They usually rotate days (or hours)…this was a lip biting day (fyi: today is a tongue day).

Liam loved Mike & Carrie’s dog, Toby. Toby was good with Liam but did not take too well with having his hair pulled…but neither do I!

Ace had to go nite nite on the bean bag!

Carrie & Toby getting in some “baby” practice.

Mandi getting in baby practice!

Zoe started Ballet this week! I don’t believe she stopped smiling the entire class. Ace, Liam and I were able to watch her through a one way mirror in her classroom. I already love where she is taking. It is a Christian couple who owns it and the wife of the team is the one teaching Zoe’s class. She wasted no time in practicing basic steps/warmup with them. Zoe stuck as close to her teacher as she could…grinning from ear to ear. She is showing off her “uniform” that they are required to wear. I thought she just looked adorable. As we left the class, Ace said, “Zoe do ballet??” He so enjoyed watching his sister have fun and dance.