Pool Party! (Happy Bday Joe!)

Ready for some swimming with his buddies!

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a few days...I haven't been very good at taking pictures this week, so I'll try to do better! Not much new going on around here. On Thursday, Isaiah and I headed to our regular pool time to meet up with some other Moms and kids at the Royal St. Kitts pool. Not very many people showed up, so it was just us, Jessie & Beau, Kristen, and Allie. (Brody ended up going to daycare on Thursday) So, we had a fun time at the pool, it just wasn't quite as exciting as usual. After that, Isaiah and I came home and got some lunch and Isaiah a nap and then we picked Josh up from school and went to the grocery store to get some things for dinner and the weekend. Thursday night we didn't have any plans, so it was just making a nice dinner and having some family time just me and my boys!

He was ready to jump right in!

Daddy loving on his boy (and look at that hair!)

On Friday, Josh headed to school early (as usual) and Isaiah and I chilled out here for the day. Isaiah didn't go to sleep until late (2:30, I think) even though he was tired ALL morning and a little whiny, which had me frustrated! We picked Josh up from school and even took a walk to see the donkeys on campus, which is Isaiah's new favorite past time. I bribe him with getting to see the donkeys at school all the time, especially so he'll be good in the car on the trip to get Josh! Isaiah was excited to see the donkeys and Josh was petting one, but Isaiah wasn't too sure about that. He ALMOST touched one, but not quite! And then we just came home and had another family night here together. After dinner we took a drive down to the Marriott and got some gelato and took a walk outside to see the lights on the trees and around the pool.

Not sure about Long (who took these pictures!)

He wasn't happy because he just ran headfirst into a pole

(hence the red mark on his forehead above his right eye!)

Yesterday, Josh went to school early again to get in some studying before his tutor sessions and Isaiah and I just relaxed here. We did countless puzzles (well....the same 3 puzzles, just a ridiculous # of times!), played with Play-dough (which excites Isaiah and he makes this gasping noise when he sees it!), read a bunch of books, played in the tent, and rode on the truck! He is definitely a busy boy and keeps Mommy busy too! He got a good nap in after all the playing and when Josh got home from tutoring we headed to Josiah's bday pool party at the St. Christopher's Club which is where all the pictures from this post are from. Josh was pretty impressed with Isaiah's swimming (all by himself with just swimmies on his arms!) and willingness to go under water. Isaiah got to have some good Daddy time when Josh took him in the pool just the 2 of them and they played for a long time! We all had a great time visiting with friends and Isaiah had plenty of other kids to keep him busy....Damon, Ava, Elijah, and Beau were all there to play!

Loving some pool time with his Daddy

Being silly

Today, we went to church and then Josh headed to school to get some studying done. He's coming home this afternoon and Isaiah is going to go play at the Johnson's house with Elijah for a bit this afternoon while Josh and I go catch a movie together! I'm pretty excited to have some date time! Then after the movie, I'm headed to Bible study, as long as our movie doesn't run too long! So it'll be a little busy, but hopefully a nice day and Isaiah will probably LOVE spending some time playing with Eli!

My perfect day summed up in one picture.

Big Boy Underwear....well, not quite!

Isaiah Mo-hawked and ready for the Beach Party

on Saturday afternoon

Look how long it's getting on top!

I realized today that I haven't posted for a few days and thought I'd better get to it today! We've been having a pretty low-key week, so there's not much to talk about. Isaiah and I got to spend some time yesterday visiting Kristen and Brody, who just got back from a trip home on Monday. Jessie and Beau and our new friend Allie also came too, so we had a nice visit and the boys had fun fighting over toys! Why do they always have to want the same one when there is a room full of toys? I may never understand it! Then after Isaiah's nap we picked Jessie and Beau up at their place and the 4 of us headed to Rockies for some afternoon beach time. We were supposed to meet some other people there, but their boys napped too late to make it, but Jessie and I had fun with our boys and it was nice to get out and let them play for a bit.

Being silly in his Cookie Monster underwear

Last night, Josh had Bible study and then I encouraged him to go see Eclipse with a friend from school since he hasn't seen it yet and things are likely to get busier in the coming weeks as we approach finals. He decided to go and really enjoyed himself and hopefully some time without worrying about Isaiah and I...just some good time to relax! That meant Isaiah and I were together all day and all evening just the 2 of us! I was worried that neither of us would be happy with each other 'til the end of the night, but we really had a nice evening together! I made us some dinner and then we skyped with Gayah and Pappy Mark and then skyped with Mimi and Pappy McCahan, both of which Isaiah really enjoyed. He loves talking to both of his sets of grandparents about CYCLES which is his current obsession. (He reminds me a bit of his father already!) Then we watched a few Elmo and some other videos on Youtube and Isaiah went to bed without too much trouble. I on the other hand had an awful time trying to get to sleep with Josh not here, so I ended up watching a movie myself until he got home and we could both fall asleep!

Climbing up on the chair...look at the size of that kid!!!

Today was a day at home for Isaiah and I. Josh took the car to school, but is home already and working on his tutoring material for this weeks' sessions. Isaiah just woke up from a 2 hour nap and I'm hoping that's enough to keep us a happy kid for the evening! I decided to try big boy underwear for Isaiah today to see if that would help him figure out when he NEEDS to go to the potty, so that's what the pictures are from. I took him to the potty at 8am and he peed for me, so we put on the big boy underwear to give it a try and I planned on taking him to the potty again at 9:30am. At about 8:40am I realized his underwear were wet and around 8:45am I found the puddle in our bedroom to go along with it. Isaiah never said anything even once he peed on the floor and was walking around with wet pants, so I'm thinking we're not ready for the potty thing yet, but at least we gave it a try to see! I got some cleaning done around the apartment and I'm working on my 3rd load of laundry for the day, so I feel like I accomplished some things during our day at home too! Tonight we are all going to worship team practice together, basically just so I can spend more time with the boys and everyone in worship team loves Isaiah (and Josh too) so they'll basically go along to visit while we practice!

So cute and thoughtful during his nap today

The plan for tomorrow is our weekly morning at the pool with the other Moms and kids and I always pray for good naps on those days since Isaiah gets worn out pretty well! I need to try to get to the grocery store some time soon too! I hope that you all are staying cool at home and hydrating during your heat wave! I think the last couple of days it's been HOTTER in PA than here in St. Kitts!

Beach Party!

Such a cutie saying 'cheese' for the camera

Since I just posted yesterday there isn't too much to report today. I did take a really cute video of Isaiah and Josh reading one of Isaiah's books. It's an Elmo look and find and Isaiah is doing a really good job naming lots of things in the pictures and they were having a great time. He especially likes the page where Elmo and his friends are at the park and Elmo is riding a CYCLE!

Look and Find with Elmo

The other pictures I have are from this morning. Josh took our car to school this morning to get some studying done and for his tutoring sessions from 12-2. For those of you who don't know, Josh is tutoring a 1st semester class (Nutrition) this semester and has 3 groups that he tutors that total about 15 students. He's enjoying it and making a little money, so it's been really great. So Isaiah and I have just been hanging out at home playing, reading, and even watching some Elmo videos on Youtube. I found one we hadn't seen before of Elmo riding a tricycle and singing about it, which we had to watch twice!

Watching India.Arie sing the ABC's with Elmo

We did make some changes to how our room is arranged and moved Isaiah's crib up beside our bed. Josh took the one rail off and we have it pulled up to our bed and for the first time last night Isaiah did not sleep in our bed! With Isaiah and I visiting in Everett we all seem to have gotten used to having more room and none of us were sleeping that well once we were back together in one bed, so we decided to try this. I think Isaiah did all right with it, but I had a little trouble sleeping, I think because I was worried I wouldn't hear him when he needed me since he wasn't smushed in between Josh and I! It was nice to get back to sleeping next to my husband and for all of us to have some more room, so hopefully the new arrangement will work out well!

Isaiah taking a nap in HIS bed!

Sleepy boy

Josh is planning on heading home after his tutoring sessions this afternoon and we are all going to go to Gong Beach. The 2nd semester class is sponsoring a beach party and a large group of our friends are planning on going, so it should be a fun time to have together and with our friends here on the island. We had a great time at dinner last night with friends as well. Josh and I decided that PJ's is way overpriced and the service isn't great, so I don't think we'll eat there much in the future, but we did have a wonderful time visiting with everyone! I'm looking forward to the beach party as well and an evening at home with my boys after that!

Lots of fun with Daddy again!

Perfect little man

Both of my boys 'cheesin'

So I promised some people that I would blog today and then the camera's battery died and I couldn't locate the charger, but luckily I did find it and have a lot of cute pictures to share. I think I've said this before, but knowing that I want to have pictures to post on the blog helps remind me to always have my camera closeby and I think it's really helping me document Isaiah's childhood as well as our time here in St. Kitts!

Playing Peekies

The first pictures are from the other evening...maybe Tuesday? Not sure of the timeline, but Josh took Isaiah out on the porch and they played for a good while with sidewalk chalk. It was a really pleasant evening with a good breeze and I got some really good pictures of the two of them. Josh even traced Isaiah's feet and then his hands and he LOVED it! It is so nice for me to see my boys back together and having so much fun! Isaiah wasn't too sure of Josh the first 24-36 hours we were home, but now he wakes up asking about Daddy and wanting to know where he is and he loves playing with Josh whenever he gets home from school for the day! It is a wonderful thing to have our little family back together again!

Wednesday night, Josh watched Isaiah so that I could go with some friends to see the new Twilight movie, Eclipse! It was crazy at the movie theater, but a great time with friends and I really enjoyed the movie too! Isaiah was really good for Josh until he started to get tired and wanted only his Mommy. Guess you can't really blame the kid if the only parent that's put him to bed in the last 6 weeks is his Mom, right? Josh was a good sport about it and only felt bad that he couldn't comfort Isaiah, but I think both the boys were glad when I made it home!

Goofball: The sunglasses are from Bible school and Isaiah's friend,

Elijah let him borrow his truck to ride for a while!

Yesterday Isaiah and I took Josh to school and came back and hung out at home for a little bit. Then we got ready to head to our weekly pool play dates at the Royal St. Kitts at 10. Isaiah had been acting really tired after waking up at 6am, so my plan was to only stay until he started getting fussy, but he just kept going and going until we finally headed home around 12:30 and the poor little guy was asleep after only about 3 minutes in the car! We had a good time there even though our group is much smaller at the present time. (Some families have left for good and some are just home in the U.S. visiting for a while) Isaiah took a really good nap for me when we got home and woke up in time to eat some "lunch" (at about 3:45pm!) and then we picked Josh up at school after his tutoring session.

Isaiah and Josh playing in the pool

Last night we went to Jakki and Joe's for worship team practice. I was reminded again last night how lucky we are to have such a supportive and wonderful church family in St. Kitts. I mean, I loved getting to go to church at my home church with my family while I was home, but God is definitely providing for us in all sorts of incredible ways here on the island too! I'm excited to get back in the swing of our lives here and hopefully Josh will even be able to have a little fun this semester!!!

Squirting Daddy with the "Sharky"

This afternoon, Josh came home and made some lunch and we got to watch part of a movie together before Isaiah woke up from his nap, which was nice. After Isaiah ate some lunch we blew up his pool that Gayah sent back with us and he had fun playing in the yard in his pool for a while. Tonight we are going out to an Italian restaurant called PJ's for dinner with a group of friends. Our friend, Autum, sort of organized it as a "Welcome Home" dinner for Isaiah and I, although I think she was just really craving some PJ's food! Either way, we should have a fun night relaxing and eating some good food with some of our closest friends here. I hope everything is going well for all of you at home. Isaiah and I definitely miss everyone (he misses his best buddy cousins, Ella and Buggie (aka Lydia) the most I think). We can't wait for Christmas to have some more time at home and are also really excited for Lynne's visit to St. Kitts in August!

Laughing at Daddy

Back to the Blog (and St. Kitts)!

My baby

Buddy cousins

Hello everyone! It's been quite a hiatus from the blog while we were all home on break and then Isaiah and I were back home for an extended visit! For those of you who weren't aware, Isaiah was at the ER twice here in St. Kitts in early May and the 2nd visit resulted in an overnight stay in the hospital and no one really gave us a good idea why he was sick, so I took him home to try to figure it out. After being sick for almost 2 months, Dr. Foor referred us to an allergist who did some tests that all came back negative and then diagnosed Isaiah with a sinus infection that hadn't been diagnosed or treated correctly. So...now after being on antibiotics for about 10 days he is symptom free and doing much better! I'd like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

We had a wonderful time when my cousin Kate visited us here in St. Kitts and it was so nice that we were able to change our flights and head home with her in May to get Isaiah checked out. We really enjoyed our time at home. Since we were in Everett for almost 6 weeks it was much more relaxing and we got to spend a lot more time with our close family, which was a nice change. Usually when we're home we run around like crazy people trying to get together with and see everyone! I'd really like to thank our families for helping us out and feeding us while we were home! Your support really means the world to us!

Smiley boy in the pool up on the beach

Last week we got to spend the week in Ocean City with my Mom's side of the family and Isaiah and I shared an apartment with my parents and Steve, Ashley, and their girls. It was a really relaxing vacation and I think we were all even surprised how much we enjoyed it! The kids were great....they took good naps most days and went to sleep well most nights and had a TON of fun playing together in between! Most of my pictures this post are from our vacation and you can check out the rest on facebook. I just want to thank my parents and Steve and Ashley for a great week in Ocean City!!!

Isaiah and I on the carousel up at the boardwalk

Isaiah loved riding the CYCLES!

Josh just finished midterms and did excellent on all his exams, so for his reward, Isaiah and I got to come home to St. Kitts yesterday! Isaiah did amazing on the flights and in the airport for me, so I was really happy. I think Josh is very glad to have his family back and we're glad to be back, although Isaiah is taking a little time to get adjusted back to our life here in St. Kitts. He's doing really well playing with Daddy, but he definitely wants Mommy when he's hurt or tired! Josh is taking it really well that Isaiah needs to get used to Daddy being around again and I think in a few days it'll be like we were never gone!

Ella, Isaiah, and Lydia sleeping on the beach in Ocean City

So...hopefully now I'll get back to my posting to keep everyone up to date. I know that Grammy (also known as Gigi) was missing my posts, so I will try to be diligent in sharing stories and pictures, so you all feel in the loop about what is going on in our lives here on the island. We won't be home now until December, but are very much looking forward to Lynne's visit in August and hopefully my parents visiting in the fall! Love to all....and know that we miss you already!

Isaiah wearing Pappy Mark's shades

5 more days!

A view of the Atlantic Ocean from our backyard

(although it hasn't been this sunny in over a week!)

Sorry that I haven't been posting lately. With our computer out of commission, I've been uploading pictures onto our friend, Jakki's computer to upload them to the blog and keeping them on my camera, so I can put them on our computer when we finally get it fixed (hopefully on Saturday!) so now my memory stick is full, so I haven't taken any new pictures since Easter! I did find a few to share from when we first moved here that are scenic and I don't think I posted before, so at least they'll make the post a little pretty!

We are going into our final week here on the island before break and Josh, Isaiah, and I couldn't be more excited. This semester has been extremely stressful and challenging and we are all more than ready for a break...and to see all of our wonderful family and friends at home of course too! Today is a big day for me....this evening is my first concert with the St. Christopher Chorale Society choir, which is a community choir here in St. Kitts that I joined this semester. It is our director, Veronica's last concert as she is leaving the island to go live in Greece with one of her sons and his family, so it's a pretty challenging repertoire and I'm looking forward to it! I have a final dress rehearsal this afternoon and Isaiah is going to stay with the Johnson's (Jason, Jennifer, and his buddy Elijah) this afternoon for a few hours while I go practice since Josh will be busy studying all day! Josh is going to take some time off this evening for some R&R and bring Isaiah to my concert. We're not sure how long they'll stay...it'll be Isaiah's first big public event like this, so I think Josh's plan is to stay until Isaiah starts fussing or making a scene (which could be after 5 minutes!) so we'll see how much they get to hear!

This is an area on the coast known as Black Rocks

(This was taken during our orientation week in August)

Tomorrow Josh's finals begin...he's got one exam every afternoon from Mon-Thurs this week from 1-3 pm. Monday is Anatomy II, Tuesday is Parasitology, Wednesday is Immunology, and Thursday is Physiology II. He's been working his butt off all semester, so I know he's going to do fine, but as always he's putting the pressure on himself to have an exceptional semester, so your prayers for his and my sanity in the coming days would be greatly appreciated!

After finals are finished on Thursday we're going to finish up packing and our flight leaves from here Friday afternoon and we head to meet up with Kevin and Sara in Philly! We're going to spend the night with them and part of the day on Saturday since they have too much going on to come home and visit with us and then we should be to Everett Saturday evening. I will be so happy to be home with all the people we love and miss so much. Ella apparently is just about bursting at the seams to see Isaiah and I can't wait to see how happy they are to play together! I hope everything is going well at home and now I can finally say we'll SEE YOU VERY SOON! Love to all.

Happy Easter!

Isaiah's excited for Easter morning! Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter everyone! We've had a great time celebrating this holiday with church events and an easter egg hunt and we're also celebrating that it's now less than 3 weeks until will be back in PA! I know it's been a while since I posted, but I really do have lots of great pictures now, so hopefully you'll enjoy today's post! This last week has been kind of a blur and I'm not sure why. I'm hoping that the time is starting to move faster as the semester ends and I won't be too upset if the next 3 weeks just fly right on by!

Isaiah and Brody playing with Brody's stroller at the pool

On Monday this week, Isaiah and I went to the pool with Kristen and Brody at the Royal St. Kitts and also met up with Tammy and her kids that live there and are part of our Mommy group that meets on Thursdays. I think Isaiah and Brody both had more fun pushing Brody's stroller around, but it was nice to get out of the house and cool off a bit in the pool! On Tuesday, Isaiah and I went to hang out with Kristen in the morning before she and Brody left Wednesday to head home for a few weeks. The boys had a great time playing and Kristen and I always have a good time anytime we get a few minutes for some adult conversation! Kristen and Shawn's car ended up breaking down, so it worked out that I was there and could drive us to pick up Shawn and drop their keys off at the garage to get it taken care of! On Wednesday Isaiah and I took Kristen and Brody to the airport to catch their flight back to St. Louis and I have to admit that I was pretty jealous!

Ready to head to the pool!

Posing for Mommy at the Royal St. Kitts pool on Monday

On Thursday, Isaiah and I had a busy day! We headed downtown first thing in the morning to pick of fabric for our friend, Long, who needs to get a choir shirt made before our concert in 2 weeks. It was a little hectic downtown that early in the morning when everything is opening up and people are on their way to work, but I was proud of us for doing it on our own! Then we headed to the Royal St. Kitts hotel for our weekly swim date with the other kids and Moms on the island. It was a small group, but we had a good time anyways! Afterwards we had to run to the store to get things for our Easter celebrations over the weekend because the stores were closed Friday and are closed tomorrow for the public holiday! Even though Isaiah was almost asleep when we got to the grocery store, he was a trooper and happy as could be until I could get him home to nap. So...even though it was a busy day, Isaiah was very cooperative and made it a lot easier on me then it could've been! Thursday night, some girls went to see the new Nicholas Sparks' movie, The Last Song and I got to go along! I had read the book over Christmas and really enjoyed the movie too!

Isaiah playing with one of his favorite toys!

(Thanks Great Aunt Deana!)

On Friday we made plans to pick up Jessie and Beau and the 4 of us headed to campus to meet our husbands for lunch. It was a nice excuse to get out of the house and I think Jessie and I both enjoy the chance to see our men during the day whenever we can! Friday evening we went to Frigate Bay for a Good Friday worship service with our church group. Josh ended up bringing Isaiah home because he was afraid Isaiah would make too much noise and ruin the service for everyone and I was up front singing with the worship team for the whole service. I was bummed they left, but I think Isaiah was much happier to be home and able to run around and yell if he wanted!

Hugging another favorite toy--his stuffed dachshund "Fritz"

(Thanks Great Pap and Great Nana McCahan!)

Yesterday we hosted an Easter Egg hunt at our place for our friends (mostly just the ones who have children came). It was in the late afternoon, so we just had people bring finger foods and snacks and I ended up having a great time! I think most people really enjoyed it and we were surprised how excited the kids were to hunt the eggs! 3 of the 5 kids are around Isaiah's age, so I didn't think the little ones would really care, but they really liked running around the yard and putting the eggs in their buckets! It was nice for the parents too who got to relax a bit as the kids often kept each other occupied! Last night I went to Bible study and Josh watched Isaiah here at home and Joe came over to hang out with my boys. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Our little streaker!

Isaiah putting an egg in his bucket

(Instead of baskets we used sand buckets!)

Showing Daddy his egg

Hanging out on the porch

Showing Mommy what he found!

This morning, we headed to church at Frigate Bay. We had a potluck breakfast which ended up being amazing and even had some people visiting from Antigua that came in and participated in the service which was great! Isaiah of course had a great time playing with and chasing after all the other kids and I think we had at least 60 or more people there for the service, which was great. I know some people only go on Easter, but we're also hoping that some people who haven't come before might decide to give it a try after coming today! Isaiah wore a brand new outfit that his Grammy Lynne sent in a package that just arrived on Thursday and looked ADORABLE!!! He and his buddy Elijah ended up with the same colors in their outfits and looked SO CUTE together! The service was good and we got to visit with a lot of people that we don't get to see all the time which was nice! Josh is now at school to study for the rest of the day and Isaiah is napping. I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm planning on having a rest day today myself!

Ready for the ride to church in his hat!

Isaiah and Elijah at church

We hope everyone is doing well at home and are excited to see you very soon! I think we're at 19 days now until we fly home and I hope the time goes by quickly. Josh has a week without exams coming up, then 2 lab exams next week and a week of finals the week after. I think it'll feel so much better when we come back in May for Josh to be a 3rd semester!!! Love you all and know that we wish we could be celebrating this Easter Sunday with you!