The Overholt family is now well, I am happy to report! We have conquered whatever stomach bug hit this house, thank God! So now back to life as usual. Maurice is finishing up a patio today. This should be his last masonry project for this year. It's getting too far into the fall to be able to depend on the weather any longer. It's already been really rainy this season. I'm so excited that he's done....now we can actually have weekends together! I'm happy for him, too, because April-October he never gets a day off. He works at the church Sunday-Thursday and does masonry Friday and Saturday. What a hard worker! Last year he worked until the middle of November trying to make extra mulah before the baby was born. He actually finished his last job on a Wednesday and the baby was born that Saturday. Timmy is taking a nap right now. (Yeah!) I was out late last night. My friend Pam and I were the judges for a karaoke contest in Batavia and I didn't get home until 3:30 a.m. Well, Timmy woke up right after I got home and wouldn't go back to sleep. I finally let him come into our bed at 5:30 because I was exhausted! By that time he had woken Isaac up, so he came into our bed, too. Rather crowded, if you ask me. Maurice let me sleep in this morning, though. What a guy!
The only exciting thing to happen this week: Isaac took a Sharpie and wrote all over his face, hands, arms, stomach, legs, feet, clothes and TV. I kind of wish I had taken a picture, although because I ran him straight to the bathroom we got it off his face, at least. Everywhere else had already dried. So it's a good thing that it's long sleeve weather. When asked why he did it Isaac replied, "cuz it was fun. And I wanted to draw my bones." The reasonings of a 4 year old!

Timothy and Isaac get along so well these days. I'm making sure I take pictures so I can remind myself when they're 11 and 14. Isaac is so sweet with Timmy, always hugging and kissing him. And Timmy just lights up when Isaac enters the room. It's not all kisses and cuddles, though. Last week Isaac was annoying Timmy by pulling on his leg as he tried to crawl away. Timmy put up with it for a little while, then he turned around, grabbed Isaac by the neck, pushed him over backwards and sat on him. Fortunately, Isaac thought it was hilarious (as did I!). When Timmy gets a little bigger it's not going to be so funny.
We are all recuperating from some stomach virus. Isaac got it first, then me, then Maurice. Fortunately, the baby seems to have escaped. Good thing, because I don't like it when babies are sick. Isaac's not so bad now; he can tell me when he doesn't feel good, what doesn't feel right, etc. Babies just cry. And then puke. Gross! We've been very fortunate; our kids don't get sick very often. Maybe once or twice a year. Thank God for those good genes! Maurice has been an angel. He stayed home from work yesterday because I felt horrible. Then today he's sick so he had to stay home again. It looks like this is just a 24 hour bug so we should all be up and running tomorrow!

I think it's funny how a baby can have three pictures taken and look different in every one. These pictures were taken the other day when we were playing in the front yard. Isaac just came down and told me the funniest thing. He said he was standing on his head and his head leaked. I'm not sure what that means, but it made me laugh!

We had such a great weekend! Saturday we took Isaac and Timothy to a pumpkin farm for an outin gwith some of our friends from church. They had a petting zoo, a train ride, a "straw jump", a huge mountain made of straw bales, a giant slide and more! It was rather cold and windy (and a little rainy) but the boys had so much fun. I think the funniest thing that happened on Saturday, though, is Timmy stole Isaac's peanutbutter sandwich at lunch and ate it. I was on the phone with my mom and heard Isaac say, "Mom, help!" When I got in the room Timmy was sitting on the floor devouring Isaac's sandwich. He had stolen it right off his plate! I guess Isaac's going to have to learn to either eat faster or guard his food. Nothing comes between Timmy and food. Sunday I went to a baby shower for Kari Cowell. It was a lot of fun. Mostly, it was nice to just sit around and have adult conversation and not have to worry about what the kids are getting into. Today I watched Pam's girls again. We had a good time....Maddie and I made peanutbutter bars while Isaac was at preschool and we went to the park after the babies had their naps. All in all a good day. I'd better watch out......I'm starting to sound like Susie Homemaker!

Isaac is all better now. We got a little worried Thursday night because someone told us it might be scarlet fever. However, after a little research I found out that scarlet fever is preceeded by strep, which I know Isaac did not have. He woke up feeling fine yesterday, so I let him go to preschool. They went on a fieldtrip to a pumpkin farm and learned all about how pumpkins grow. He had fun. Timmy is into everything these days. I am currently trying to write this while I fend him off with one foot. He keeps trying to take the mouse and keeps hitting the keys. So if something doesn't make sense, Timmy did it! Telling him to stop just makes him try harder. He's hilarious these days.....very smiley and cuddly. He crawls very fast; we have a hard time keeping up!

I'm finally getting a bit of peace and quiet this evening. The day started out very early....my mom called me at 6:00 this morning thinking I had called her! It was a good thing, though, as we got a head start to the day. I don't usually (ok, ever) get up that early, and it was nice to not have to rush. I had a MOPS meeting and took Timmy with me. Isaac hates having to go with the "little kids" so I let him go down to Maurice's office for the morning. He was very good, almost too good. Very quiet all morning. We (Isaac, Timmy, and I) came home at noon and, since Timmy had fallen asleep in the car, decided to all take naps before lunch. Again unusual, because both boys are usually starving by 12:00. Anyway, we finally ate lunch around 1:30, and I noticed Isaac felt a little warm. But I didn't think too much of it. Then again at about 3:30 I thought he felt rather hot. Turns out he had a 102 degree fever and a rash all over his midsection. I didn't know whether I should try to find a sitter (obviously he couldn't go to choir practice with Maurice) and I cancelled my first two lessons. Around 5:00 I finally decided to just stay home with him this evening so I cancelled the rest of my lessons. I felt bad about cancelling, but I am a mommy first. Isaac was so happy...he just laid on the couch with his head on my lap all evening. I knew he wasn't feeling well when at 7:30 he said, "I think I should go to bed now." He doesn't usually go to bed until 8:00. I hope he sleeps well and wakes up back to normal. His preschool class has its first field trip tomorrow, and he was really looking forward to going to the pumpkin patch. We'll see. At least Timmy is feeling great again.
Maurice has his first rehearsal tonight for the Christmas concert. I can't believe we're close enough to Christmas to be rehearsing Christmas music! Time does fly.

Yesterday was Isaac's 4th birthday. I can't believe how time flies. It seems like it was not that long ago we brought him home from the hospital. When I think about how traumatic his first few weeks were, I can't believe what a perfect, precious son we have!








Isaac is very dramatic, and has the funniest facial expressions! He is so fun to watch open his presents...every one caused an exclamation. "Oh my Gosh! I can't believe it! It's just what I wanted!" It's fun to give gifts to a kid that's that appreciative.


Isaac had his first birthday party on Saturday. He got to invite all his little friends. This is the first year he's been invited to a lot of parties, so he was so excited to finally have his own birthday party.


Isaac insisted he have a pinata at his party. All the kids lined up for a turn. Isaac got to be "line leader" since it was his party. A good thing, too, because he emptied the pinata on his first pull! It was so fun to see all the kids scramble for the candy.

In Timmy news: Timmy had his first ear infection last week. We caught it very early, so it wasn't bad. As a matter of fact, he started feeling better within 12 hours of first starting antibiotics. So by Saturday he was back to his cheery, charming self. Michelle, our neighbor, taught him to say "uh-oh" at the party. He's so proud of himself now! Isaac loves Sesame Street. When it's on he just sits in front of the TV and stares. So cute!

Timmy is an extremely cuddly boy. I'm getting all the cuddles I can now before my boys grow up too much!