Terry turned 37 today. . .as far as birthdays go, it was pretty uneventful. The two most exciting things of the day were wearing the "birthday crown" that Grant cut out and made and getting a Bears visor (what more could a guy want?)!
Grant celebrated his 5th birthday a few days early with a "favorite things" party on Saturday! We started the party at Home Depot where each kid made an art caddy.
Afterwards, we came home for some cake and ice cream. Of course, archery is a favorite, so that was the theme of the cake.
All of the kids received their own bow and arrows to play some archery games. Grant was in his glory! When his cousins left last night, he was sad they weren't staying until midnight!
I just said to a friend the other day, "Three boys and we have never been to the Emergency Room!" I guess I spoke too soon! I was putting the boys in their rooms for rest time today and the next thing I know Grant is hysterically crying, runs into the upstairs hallway and Luke screams mom there is blood everywhere! I quickly took Grant into the bathroom and saw that under his chin his skin was deeply cut.
We are still not sure exactly what he was doing, but know that he cut it on the window ledge in his room. Terry meet me at the ER. Grant was a trooper--no crying once we left the house. He ended up with 7 stiches, we left the hospital and thou
ght things were great.
Grant choose to eat McDonald's for dinner and while eating his hamburger, he said he had something stuck in his teeth. When we looked, we saw that he cracked a tooth and there is a chunk of tooth that needs to be removed or glued?? I guess we will be off to the dentist next!
The Michel Family, who we just saw this past weekend, came up for a visit this week. Today we met them, along with some other church families at the splash park and then headed to the pool to really cool off from this 90 degree heat wave. Here is Amy along with newly adopted Elise, who is absolutely adorable and LOVES the pool!!
Our crew of kids seemed to take up most of the pool. . .I managed to get 11 of the 15 in this picture.
Of course the girls found some nice quiet games to play while the boys were off causing trouble. . .
. . .especially Grant! I found him peeking in the girls bathroom today! 
We headed "down south" for a getaway this weekend. Some good friends, old neighbors and fellow TU alum moved to Louisville last summer so we spent Saturday with them. Before we went to their house, we took a tour at the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum.
Cole was amazed with the baseball mannequins! They looked so real, he kept touching them to see what would happen!
After a bit of chasing, I caught 5 of the seven kids (hiding in the shower) at the Michel's house before we headed out on Sunday morning.
On Sunday we met our good family friends at Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. They have 3 girls who our boys absolutely adore. . .as you can tell--Cole is all about holding hands with Abby, going on rides and eating next to her!
Luke had his share of hanging out with Abby too. It is amazing how well our kids get along. . .2 solid days together and not one fight! I love it :)
As we were ready to head home with tired kids in tow, Terry and I looked up and saw Grant holding hands with Michael. Terry said, "I can't even get that kid to hold my hand and now he is holding Michael's?" We were cracking up because this is not in Grant's personality!
On Tuesday night Cole was again having issues with "monster shadows" in his room. At one point I reminded him that he could talk to Jesus anytime he wanted to. He said, "But mommy, Jesus doesn't live in my heart." Of course this is a perfect opportunity to talk about Jesus coming to earth, etc. And Cole said he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. After he did this he said, "Can we pray again so that I can ask God into my heart too?" When he was all done he was beaming from ear to ear and said, "Jesus and God are sitting on a great big cloud in my blood!"
Last night Cole decided there were "monster shadows" in his room. He got up numerous times between 4:15 and 5:45. After he finally stayed in bed, I hit the pillow hard! Luke came in my room at 7 am and said, "Mom, I can't find my brothers anywhere in the house!" I got up and looked everywhere: the house, the yard, garage, basement, etc. We then realized that their shoes were gone and the patio door had been unlocked. I grabbed my phone and Luke and got in the van.
I started driving through the neighborhood in a panic, called Terry, no answer. Called my dad, and he was on his way over to help look for the boys. Called another neighbor and she jumped in her car to look for the boys. Next I was going to call the police, but I decided I needed to drive back to the park area and look through the trails. As we pulled in the parking lot, Luke spotted the boys coming out of the woods. They saw the van and came running. . .as happy as can be! At that point you think to yourself, "What do i do?" There is a huge sense of relief, but also the thought of how to discipline them. I asked them what they were doing, and they (in other words GRANT--he is the planner!) said they were going to get berries for breakfast.
When we got home I told them both to sit on the couch, we were going to have a talk. On the way to the couch I heard this converstation:
GRANT: "I had a great plan!"
COLE: "It was my plan!"
GRANT: "No, Cole, it was MY plan!"
MOMMY: "Boys, I think that it was a terrible plan."
COLE: "It wasn't my plan!"
