Luke & John David's Baseball Party (June 9)

On Saturday, June 9th we had a birthday party for Luke & John David. Many of our family and friends were able to come and help us celebrate and some even brought signs for the outfield fence!! Al (with some help from others) turned our front yard into a baseball field complete with bases, an outfield fence, and bleachers. Our guests were able to enjoy peanuts, cracker jacks, hotdogs, chips & nachos at the Concession Stand. After eating supper, the kids played t-ball and other party games. We had a lot of fun celebrating Luke's 3rd and John David's 1st birthday! Luke's Uncle Aaron and Great-Grandpa helped Luke warm-up before the baseball party. By the way, Luke was safe!! :)
The "Concession Stand" was on our front porch.
The kids enjoyed eating their hotdogs at the picnic table.
John David and his cousin Catherine enjoyed their bite-size pieces of hotdog.
The big kids play hot potato with a baseball.

John David with some of his favorite people--Daddy & Uncle Terry!!
Luke and his friends tried to break the baseball pinata filled with bubble gum. Finally after everyone had a turn and the baseball had yet to break, Al threw up the pinata and everyone was able to get plenty of bubble gum!! Mommy helped John David open his presents. Luke loved all of his birthday gifts. Here, Luke is opening a gift from Jamison. I think Jamison is as excited as Luke!!Here's a photo of some of us doing the WAVE!! Thanks to all who were able to come to Luke & John David's party it wouldn't have been the same without you!!

The Baseball Game (June 9)

Let the baseball game begin!! We had a lot of fun watching the kids play a game of t-ball. Thankfully, we had some daddys and grandpas helping and showing the little sluggers how to run around the bases in a somewhat organized manner! It was really cute!! The birthday boy takes his first swing! Go Luke!!

Jamison has his eye on the ball!

Ben is ready to hit the ball!!

Alyssa won't let those boys out do her!!
Great hit, Alyssa!!

Even Jon Ross took a swing!!
Taylor gets in on the fun!!

Let's Eat Cake!! (June 9)

This post is all about cake!!

A birthday cake is pretty special to the birthday boy especially when you are 3 and 1!!

They had fun eating and we had a wonderful time watching them enjoy their cake!!

Of course, we had our own cake and ice cream to eat, too!!

Luke is ready to blow out his candles!! Happy 3rd Birthday, Luke!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, John David!!

Let's eat cake!! It took John David a little while to dig in....but he soon got the right idea.

This cake is yummy!!

Water Balloons with Uncle Terry & Aunt Stephanie!! (June 7)

It just isn't summer without playing water balloons with Uncle Terry & Aunt Stephanie!! This year we ate pizza and made ice cream sundaes, too. Uncle Terry is awesome at filling up the balloons. Aunt Stephanie was kind and only had him to fill 110 balloons.

John David even had his own special balloon. We all had a blast!!

All of Uncle Terry's time to fill the balloons will now be used up in just a few minutes of fun!!!

All the kids are ready to play!!

Let the fun begin!!!

Ashley knows how to make an icecream sundae!!
John David's water balloon!! Thanks, Aunt Stephanie!!
John David claps with glee at having his very own water balloon!!
Aunt Stephanie is never without her camera!!
Hannah and John David

Happy 1st Birthday, John David!! (June 5)

We began our day of celebration by serenading John David with the "Happy Birthday" song which of course was led by big brother Luke. Luke and I then headed into the kitchen to make breakfast for the birthday boy. Luke loves to help me cook especially for special occasions!!

John David gave his clap of approval. He loves chocolate chip muffins!!
Libby also gave John David a birthday greeting!

After breakfast, John David opened up a present from Mommy & Daddy. John David loved the Leapfrog Drum. So did Luke!!I love the above photo. Little brother is fine with the bag and big brother loves the toy!
That evening, we had our traditional Tuesday night supper at Grandmother's house. Grandma Joyce gives Luke a birthday squeeze!

John David officially started pulling-up on his birthday!!

What a big boy!!

We are so thankful for our precious John David!!

All Better!! (June 5)

Thankfully, the boys were feeling great and looking much better by John David's 1st Birthday!! Luke, you're right--Jesus did make you better!!

"Monny, Jesus will make me better!" (May 25-30)

This post is not to alarm anyone. Thankfully, God has taken care of our little boys and is continuing to heal them from this virus. Just know that as you view these photos that they are much better and have fewer spots!!

This past weekend we went to visit Aaron, Johnna & Catherine in Huntsville. On Friday morning, Johnna and I noticed that John David had a rash consiting of little red dots from his head to his toes. We assumed that since he wasn't running a fever and didn't have any other symptoms that he must be having an allergic reaction to something. I had started transitioning John David to formula and assumed that even though he had been on formula for a week that perhaps he was allergic to the formula (since that was the only "new" food that he had lately). So we called my doctor's office here in Kentucky and they suggested giving him some Benadryl and just keeping track of what he eats. Even though I stopped giving him the formula, the rash didn't go away. But it didn't seem to itch and it didn't bother him. We definitely didn't think that he was contagious.

This is a photo of John David on Saturday. (Click on the photo to get a better view of the spots.)

We came home from Alabama on Saturday and on Sunday John David's rash looked much worse. In fact, he looked as if he had the measles!! Even though I thought it was only an allergic reaction, we choose to keep John David out of the nursery at church due to his spotted appearance.

Luke woke up from his afternoon nap on Sunday, he was running a fever and complained that his eyes were sensitive to light. No spots just a fever. However, on Memorial Day (monday), Luke began to get a rash. At that point, we knew that John David and Luke had the same illness. Luke continued to run a fever for about 24 hours. On Tuesday, I took them both to the doctor. I explained to Luke that we needed to go to see the doctor and that she would make him better. He replied, "No, doctor. Monny, Jesus will make be better!"

The doctor did not give the virus a name but said that something like this is going around. And once the boys are fever-free for 24 hours then they are no longer contagious. These are photos of Luke on Wednesday.
(Click on the photos for a closer view of the spots.)
This is a photo of the spots on Luke's belly.
The spots on Luke's back
Here you can see the spots on his neck.

As you can tell by the smile, Luke didn't seem to feel bad just tired.

We thought the spots on Luke were bad on Tuesday when we went to the doctor but we had no idea that they would get worse on Wednesday. It looks like a photo taken out of a medical book. Bless his heart! You couldn't help but feel sorry for him because he just looked so pitiful!! Thankfully, his spots were Luke's only symptom at this point. No fever. Just spots!!

This is a photo of John David's back taken on Wednesday afternoon. His spots seemed to be fading and then all of a sudden his back turned red like a sunburn but with little red dots here and there. As a mother, I was alarmed because he also broke out into a sweat. I called the nurse at the doctor's office. She was quite calm and said that it just went along with this virus. Oh, I also forgot to mention that John David had to go to a diet of bananas, rice baby cereal, white bread and Pedialyte. Need I say more???

We suspect that this virus must be somewhat related to the measles since some of the photos we googled of measles seem to somewhat resemble Luke's photos above. We are now on Day 8 (Friday) of this virus and waiting for all of the spots to go away!! John David is still on the starch diet with Pedialyte. Thankfully, Luke & John David both seem to feel fine. They just look sick!! What a week!!