Houlie Cousins Visit

Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Grandmother and Granddaddy and the kids' cousins Elizabeth and Claire. Ben's parents had been to visit in Atlanta because Claire and Elizabeth's older brother Patrick is very sick.

He was admitted to the hospital in Atlanta on Thursday night and so far the doctors have not been able to determine the cause of Patrick's symptoms. He is very weak and can barely walk. His appetite is very low and he has had no energy for almost 4 weeks. They thought for awhile it was Lyme's disease because Patrick had several ticks on him, but all the tests for that have come back negative. Since in the hospital, he has had a cat scan and MRI, all which praise God have been negative.

Please join me in praying for God's healing presence with Patrick and that God will help the doctors determine a course of action to restore health to Patrick.

In order to allow Patrick's parents to be with him, Ben's parents are taking care of Claire and Elizabeth for a few days in High Point. We are grateful that they were able to stop by and visit with us despite the circumstances.

Claire, Emily and Grandmother

Cousin Claire

Elizabeth reads a book to Sara and Emily

Granddaddy reads a book to Elizabeth and Sara

Wish you could have heard him sing!!!

I tried to get a picture of all 5, but needless to say none turned out quite right.
Oh well!
Elizabeth with Emily on her lap, Henry and Sara on Claire's lap

I am in LOVE

With a little boy named Zachary who makes me smile and laugh and thank God for the gift of life.

I am so grateful that I have had the joy of watching this little boy grow from the moment he was born prematurely. He has grown into a sweet, loveable 3 year old who teaches his family and those around him how to be a better person.

Being away friends like Zachary and his family is one of the hard parts about moving, but we were so blessed with a visit from Zachary and his mother Vicki last week. The kids had such a good time and cannot wait to play with Zach again. And I had such a wonderful visit with my friend Vicki, whose relationship I miss dearly as we used to see each other every day at the preschool.

Thank goodness for friends who keep in touch. We are now planning on another visit from Zachary and Vicki and hopefully Amelia and Daniel (Zachary's siblings) will be able to join in our fun! And of course this now means, the Cox crew needs to plan a visit to Charlotte soon to spend time with friends like these. I miss you all!

Isn't he a cutey!

Zachary, Emily and Henry

Playing in the wagon

Cute little smile!

Zachary, Sara, Emily and Henry

Vicki pulling the kids

Maybe it is Sara that is in love with Zachary?

Zachary's turn to pull the kids

All 75 pounds of them!

Friday Excursion

Okay, so it has been a month since we moved to Greenville. I cannot believe that a month has past so quickly. Still no movement on our house, which is making us anxious, but at least we are together!

One of my dreams for being a SAHM is to be able to take the kids places during the day, especially while we are in the apartment. But every morning, I seem to come up with some excuse as to not really go places. I mean sure we have gone to the apartment playground, gone on walks, to the store (especially Target and Costco), run other errands and even to get their haircut.

BUT taking three toddlers to the zoo, the park, etc, has got me a little nervous. They seem to listen well for awhile then all at once, BAM, they are off in three different directions. And I never know who to go after first.

Well, today, I decided to go for it! I laid out the hand holding rules and the "we are leaving if someone doesn't listen" rule. And off we went, to the interactive fountain at Reedy River Park.

It was better than I could have imagined. We parked close to the fountain, everyone held hands (which probably looks like a momma duck and three baby chicks all waddling together), we played, had snacks, feed the duck/pigeons. AND I even took pictures. Ah, success!!! Now I know I can take them out and about!

Playing around the train tunnel.

Emily dancing on the wall.

Sassy little Em.

Henry playing in the water.

And trying to drink as much as possible!

Sara making faces.

There's a little smile!

Let's see how well we can share our snack...

Em looks interested in what Henry has...

Sara takes it all!

And then begins to give it to the ducks and pigeons...

Watch out!!!

Emily ready to go and tired.

Not sure what he found, but I love that face!

Sara running to catch up

Look out for more of our adventures...

A Day at the Park

It was a gorgeous day today! The sun was shining and it hit almost 80 degrees. After a much needed nap, we all went outside to enjoy the sunshine at the park in our neighborhood. Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos blowing bubbles, climbing, sliding, jumping and just having fun!

Sara sliding

Emily on the slide

Henry on the slide

Em carefully preparing to blow bubbles

Sara blowing bubbles on the slide

Emily practicing her jump!

Henry

Sara jumping

Em and Henry sharing their bubbles

Henry playing peek a boo

On the bridge

Blowing bubbles on the bridge

Walking on the bridge

Painting

Here are some cute pictures of the kids all painting together. Henry has gotten big enough to begin doing lots of activities with his sisters. He actually thinks he is as big as they are and delights in doing all the things they do. They love sitting at their little table to color or paint together.

Henry

Sara

Emily

wolfman

With three kids under the age of 3, it is often hard to find a place to go out to eat that the kids enjoy and is KID friendly. We have one place that we all love... Wolfman Pizza! It is our typical Sunday lunch after church if the kids have been good and Mommy and Daddy are filling up for an adventure. All three kids LOVE the breadsticks and pizza from there. And Mommy and Daddy can be pleased as well because they have great 8 inch pizzas and a variety of subs. My personal favorite is the white wolf pizza..."Garlic butter, mozzarella, gruyere and parmesan cheeses. Topped with roma tomatoes and fresh basil. " Yum!!! If you live in Charlotte and haven't had Wolfman, you should go try it. I can't wait to have my leftovers for lunch today. Here are the kiddos munching on some cheese pizza at Wolfman. Henry's face at the end is priceless! He really is starting to look more and more like Ben.