Bubble Baths and Puzzles

No more snow pictures. Unfortunately the ones I took last weekend didn't turn out. I guess that's why I'm not the photographer in the family. Along with the snow weekend though, we did have lots of indoor time. We made cookies, played board games, took long bubble baths (after I explained to Owen why a snow day was not a good day to blow up the kiddie pool, even if we were to set it up in the garage!) and put together a puzzle. A couple more pics from last weekend...

The hour-long bubble-bath from last weekend

Riley and his 3-D puzzle of King Tut

Unfortunately neither Lance or I had the camera in our hand this weekend, but we did enjoy the nice weather (mid-50's as opposed to snow!). Saturday, Lance chopped up a dead pine tree that he and my Dad had taken down a couple of weeks ago. I helped too as we hauled most of it over to our burn pile and the smaller pieces we stacked up next to the campfire pit. The boys were busy chasing bad guys around the house and jumping on the trampoline. It was a productive and fun day. We ended with dinner at Thearon and Tracey's house to celebrate Zach and Tracey's birthdays.

Today it was sunny and warm again so we headed to Target and then to the park after church. The boys had a few bucks left to burn. Riley's from the tooth fairy and O had a few bucks from his birthday left. We hung out at the park after that for a good 2 hours before coming home. It was nice and there were tons of others who had the same idea. It was a bit crowded. Great for Riley because he made several instant-friends. Owen mostly followed his brother around or played on his own, but he had fun too.

Back to the grind tomorrow and the countdown begins towards another weekend. Hope everyone has a great week!

Snowballs and Loose Teeth

We had snow Wednesday afternoon! You read that right, it was 70+ degrees last week and snowing today. Crazy! I was on my way home from work, a little earlier than usual at about 3:15, and started seeing the flakes falling. By the time I got home, it was a full-blown flurry (we get excited about a little flurry in Georgia!). My guys at home hadn’t even noticed until I walked in and pointed it out. A couple hours later and it was falling pretty steady and collecting on the ground. The boys made their way outside and made a few snowballs. Riley ran in the house and came back out with a box of ice-cream cones. He wanted to make snow cones, so he did proceeded to eat the whole thing. Owen licked his a few times and then gave it to his brother. It was fun. Although Riley has seen snow before, neither of them remembered ever having snow so it was pretty exciting. By about 8pm or so the snow had turned into rain and by this morning it was mostly gone. They didn’t even get a day off of school out of the deal, but it was fun while it lasted.

More excitement that same night. Riley pulled a loose tooth. After eating a rice-crispie treat after school, he’d nearly lost the tooth while eating so it wasn’t hanging on by much. Sunday we’d seen an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos where a kid pulled a tooth by tying it to a Nerf gun and shooting it. Needless to say, Riley wanted to try it and so that is what we did. The first try, the floss just slid off his tooth. The second try, the tooth popped out and went flying across the room. We found it and Riley promptly put it under his pillow where it remained until 5am this morning when I was leaving for work. The tooth fairy quickly found a couple of dollars and made the exchange before leaving for work. He would have been so disappointed if the tooth fairy hadn’t visited, I’m glad the fairy remembered! Whew!

I talked to Lance this morning. He crawled into bed with Riley to wake him this morning. As he woke him Riley sat up, reached under his pillow, grabbed his money and put his head back on the pillow, never opening his eyes. I can imagine a very different scene (tears included) had the Fairy forgotten to do her job!

Note to self - I’ve got to get our camcorder fixed! I’ve gone to grab it now 3-4 times since it died over Christmas break. The Nerf/Tooth-pulling scene would have been a perfect post for You Tube!

Faith of a Child

I’m not sure what sparked this thought or how this conversation came about. Out of the blue one day last week as I was cooking dinner and Owen was riding his Mickey tricycle around the dining room table (yes, my kitchen is officially a race-track), we had this conversation:

O - “Mom, one day everybody dies, right?”
Me – “Yes.”
O – “And then when you die they bury you in the ground, right?” (not sure how he knows any of this, he’s never been to a funeral)
Me – “That’s right.”
O – “And then someone digs you up later.”
Me – “No. Nobody digs you up.”
O – “Yes they do, Mommy. Somebody digs you up so you can go up to Heaven.”
Me – “We’ll sort-of (not sure how much I should try to explain here). You do go to Heaven, but nobody has to dig you up.”
O – “Yes, Mommy. Jesus digs you up and takes you up to Heaven. That’s what he does, Mommy.”
Me – “OK. Maybe you are right.” (I think he has a pretty good grasp on the whole concept, I decide to leave it alone.)
O – “I’m right Mommy. That’s what happens when you die.”
Me – “You are so smart, Owen. Where did you learn that?”
O – “No where. I just know it.”

Birthday Party and Weekend Fun

We celebrated Owen’s 4 year birthday on Saturday with a Mickey Mouse Magic party at our house. He picked the Mickey theme and then I suggested a magician. I had no idea that I was looking at $275-350 for a magician to attend our party. Thank goodness for Uncle Scotty. He is cheap and entertained the kids great. They especially liked the finale with the floating $1 bill - impressive even for the adults. We also had a Mickey-Mouse cake, pin-the-nose-on-Mickey game and the kids all colored their own Mickey ears to wear as party hats. This was the first time hosting and indoor birthday party at our house. January makes the weather a little unpredictable though, it turned out well and before it was over all the kids were outside on the trampoline. It was cool but not cold and sunny. O was a little disappointed that none of his friends from preschool came, but he still had fun with all his cousins, 1 neighbor and the Welch girls. He got some great gifts too: a digital camera made for kids, remote control truck, game, action figures, money and a GT bean-bag chair. He told me later, “I like my chair Mommy, but I don’t like that team!” Looks like both my boys will be Bulldogs. Oh well. Riley is at least willing to pull for Tech when they’re not playing UGA.

After the party we headed to a movie with Scotty and family. Owen opted to go home with Nana and Kaylee and skip the movie. The movie was really good – National Treasure – but not one that would have kept his attention especially for 2.5 hours. Riley loved it. There was even a character in the movie named Riley so that made it even better.

Friday, in preparation for the party, Lance sanded and painted all the dry-wall patches that the contractor had done in our house back in the Fall. I’m so glad it is done but it made such a mess – dry wall dust everywhere. Lance dusted and mopped, I dusted and mopped and we did it all again Saturday morning and by 1pm when the party started, more dust was still settling.

Sunday was a good family day too. Church in the morning and then we pulled out the fishing poles in the afternoon. It was such a nice day. We hiked some through the woods on our property. Lance went back to get his chainsaw and chop down some dead trees while the boys and I ducked under the fence bordering the back of our property and the school behind us. We were heading to the playground at the elementary school to play for a while. But, Escher followed us - unleashed. After I saw that there were several other kids at the playground we decided to walk back home with Escher. I was afraid he’d wander too far off or bark like a crazy dog at all the kids. He followed us home. I offered to drive the boys back over to the park but Riley said, “That’s OK Mom. I didn’t want to play anyway; I just wanted to go for a walk.” So grown up! I played some Guitar Hero on the x-box (I’m officially addicted, it’s so fun!) and then we all headed to Alice’s church to hear a guest speaker. Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven. His testimony is awesome and he is an excellent speaker. I can’t wait to read the book. We picked up dinner on the way home and then watched American Gladiator on TV. The boys loved it and I have to admit it was pretty entertaining. School starts back tomorrow so I told Riley it was his last night to stay up late for both he and O. I bet he won’t like hitting the sack at 8:30 tonight. Back to the daily grind. 2008 here we come.

Christmas Blessings

Our Christmas was great, I pray yours was too. In recent years Christmas has been an eventful day for our family. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for! Rather than running down the list of gifts that we all received, I thought I’d list some of our many blessings.

• Christmas 2001 – Lance, Riley (then 7 months old) and I were involved in a horrible car accident involving a fatality and Life Flight. We were injured but now are mended, we approach life with new perspective and appreciation.
• Christmas 2003 – Owen Pace Foster was born – Ask Owen whose birthday it is on Christmas and he replies, “Jesus.” You have to prompt him with, “Who else?” before he replies, “Me.”
• After following many of the children online who are fighting childhood cancer, I have a great appreciation for my children’s health and all our health and the ‘normalcy’ in my life.
• After more surgery earlier this year, my Dad is again cancer-free.
• My employment at Norfolk Southern – an employer who has been very understanding of my requirements as a Mom as well as an employee.
• Our new home in Locust Grove – going on 2 years there now, I guess it’s not so new anymore but we are very grateful for the house and the property it sits on.
• Our home in Rex is no longer “our” home. It sold in August ’07.
• Lance is an excellent father and we can afford the fortune of him being able to stay home during the day with our boys.
• Steve and Jackie celebrated 40 years of marriage in November ’07.
• My parents celebrated 40 years of marriage in December ’06.
• Robert and Ann (Lance’s grandparents) celebrated 60 years of marriage earlier this year.
• Robert remains cancer-free.
• Both mine and Lance’s siblings are all married to Christian spouses and raising their families in Christian homes
• I serve a Mighty God who loves me and sent us the most precious gift in his Son, Jesus. He is a God of Peace and of Love. And he sent his son to die for my sins. How awesome is that??!!

These are the “biggies” but there are so many more. We are so blessed and I am so grateful!

Disney 2007

I’m not sure how I did it, but somehow I “summed” up our year in our annual Christmas letter but didn’t include the great vacation we took to Disney in September! Duh!

For the record – it was an awesome trip. Owen’s first time to Disney and since Riley was only 2 when he went before; this was his first memorable trip there too. We squeezed it all in – Blizzard Beach, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM and Animal Kingdom. All that in only 3 days at Disney, it was a packed vacation but we had so much fun. Steve and Jackie treated us and Scotty’s family to an incredible vacation. I’m not sure what the highlight of the trip would be, all of the parks are great but I suppose it’s tough to top Magic Kingdom, which has always been my favorite. Riley was all about the roller coasters and rides and Owen was more cautious in that department but loved seeing all the characters. He was a Mickey fan before we went so seeing all-things-Mickey at every turn we made was exciting for him. Adding to the excitement that they were with their cousins for 3 full days, the boys were in their element and soaked up every ounce of fun to be had at Disney.

Thanks PawPaw and Nana for lots of great new memories and a trip we will remember forever!

Christmas Letter 2007

(IF YOU GOT THE EMAIL VERSION OF THIS LETTER, THIS POST IS IDENTICAL)

This is becoming an annual thing – to email our Christmas letter rather than mailing. I hope you don’t mind, but here we go again.

2007 has been a good year for the Fosters. I hope it has been the same in your house.

Both boys played t-ball in the spring. It was Owen’s first year and he enjoyed it. I think the highlight of the year for him was opening day, riding in the parade and tossing candy out to the folks standing on the sidewalks. The field his league played on was the size of the infield for the bigger kids. It was so much fun to watch the kids all swarm to the spot on the field where the ball was hit, regardless of where their position was. Even if their position 1st base and the ball was hit to left-field, they were going to go after it. Everyone except for my laid-back Owen, he would sit and watch the ball roll by him, turn his head but never move his feet and watch the other kids all chase the ball. I guess he figured it wasn’t worth the fight with all the other kids to try to get the ball. Riley had a fun season too although to him it was just a past-time until football started in the fall. He really didn’t understand why they have 2 seasons of t-ball and only 1 of football. Why can’t he play football in the spring? Unfortunately Riley ended up on a not-so-great baseball team with a not-so-great coach but still managed to make some new friends and improve on his game. We’re looking forward to a much better season next spring!

Riley finished up Kindergarten in the spring and was excited to head into summer. We headed to Jekyll Island in July using Mom and Dad’s camper for a budget-friendly vacation and a week of fun at the beach. The boys loved the ocean – Riley more than Owen but by the end of the week Owen was jumping over waves too. After nearly 3 years as a contractor at NS (and becoming an employee in January ‘07) it was great to be able to relax for a paid vacation for a full week. Lots of memories were made and fun times had at the beach.

The summer went by way to fast but ended with great news – our house in Rex had finally sold! We closed on it the first week in August and to make it that much sweeter, the young man and first time home-owner who bought the house felt he was getting his “dream house.” What a relief it was to be done with that monthly burden! We had to look back and acknowledge that we never would have predicted we could have carried two mortgages for 14 months. On paper we couldn’t, but with God’s help we did. We are blessed!

Before we knew it, school started back. Riley headed into first grade and Owen into his first year of preschool (2 days a week at a local church). Riley was not as excited as he had been starting Kindergarten but still jumped right in and made new friends and has done great. It is so cool to watch him curl up in his room and read a book now or listen to him read to me a story he’s brought home from school. He’s doing great academically and with his behavior and has really liked his new teacher. Football started up in late-August. Unlike baseball, he ended up on a great team with excellent coaches. What an exciting season! In the end his team took home the Super Bowl Trophy for the Henry County Youth Football League, Mighty-Mite Division. Go Red Raiders! I pray we can play with the same group of parents and coaches next year. Although the league is very strict about ‘stacking’ teams and allow the coaches to only freeze 2 players on their team from the previous year (usually it’s their own sons) so we hope we can end up with Coach Robbie and Coach Carrie again in 2008. Another big feat for Riley in 2007 was conquering a 2-wheeler. He now rides free of any training wheels and is getting more daring each time he jumps on the bike.

Owen has enjoyed preschool. He goes twice a week to Locust Grove Methodist. The same place Riley went for 4-year pre-k. He has done well although he is not the social kid that Riley is, he has gone willingly everyday, never any crying or protesting but not really excited about it either. A few weeks ago, Lance did ask him what his favorite part of the school day was, expecting him to say snack time or the playground. His reply, “Going home.” I think that about sums up his feelings on school. After the excitement of Riley’s football season, Owen is now excited to start back with t-ball. He is my lefty and so we’ll see where that takes him in his baseball career. I think he may be the slugger of the family. Owen is a great helper and always right with Lance or I when we are working on a project and need some help. He loves to help me with dinner, makes coffee every morning with Lance, loves to help him in the garden and is right on his heels if he pulls out a toolbox to fix anything.

I’ve enjoyed this year as an NS employee, especially the perks (did I mention I get PAID vacation!) and they are very generous to let me work from home if there is something at the boys school I want to attend. Although I did not do a half-marathon this year (did my first in 2006), I still enjoy running daily during my lunch break and ran 400+ miles so far this year. Most of all I enjoy spending time with my family and look forward to my evenings at home and weekends with my boys. I did start a new blog last month and so I hope to maintain a journal that the boys can have as a keepsake of their childhood when they grow up.

Lance had some great success this year with his photography in the art sector. He entered and placed in several photo contests. As a result of one of those contests he was able to sale one of his photographs that was showing in a gallery in Atlanta. This is the side of photography that is really his passion so he’s looking for more opportunities like these for next year. Staying home with our two boys doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for these things, but he has made it work (try cutting mats and glass with a very “helpful” 3 year-old by your side.) He’s also taken on keeping his brother’s youngest daughter, Kaylee, each day. She’s a year younger than Owen and she and him have become best pals as they now see each other daily. Lance’s big project over the Spring/Summer was his garden. He grew several herbs, squash, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, pop-corn and several varieties of peppers. The deer made off with some of it, but didn’t take too much so there was plenty left for us to eat. He decided not to do a winter garden but will be back at it again in the spring assuming this drought is some better here in Georgia.

2007 has been good and we are looking forward to more blessings in 2008.
We wish the same for you and your family.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Heidi, Lance, Riley and Owen