Benjamin is Six!

Earlier this month, we (officially) celebrated Benjamin turning 6 years old. Benjamin is compassionate, sweet, funny, a hard worker, determined, and he can light up a room with his big personality. He loves being around people, playing outside, all things sports, riding his bike, singing, dancing, being a helper, and learning about new things, especially math these days. This was a special birthday for Benjamin, because it was the first one he celebrated in the U.S. His first two birthdays were in Kuwait and he celebrated 3-5 in Jordan.

For his birthday, we traveled further south in Illinois for a fun day searching for Bigfoot, hiking in Garden of the Gods, and visiting Boo Park. The boys had their Bigfoot hide and go seek shirts on for the occasion. Not only did they find Bigfoot, they found his family having ice cream, so they jumped in on the fun too.

Teaching our kids about phone booths, pre cell phones!

Next, we went to Garden of the Gods to hike around, and it was a beautiful day. The boys enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and exploring.

Last, we went to Boo Park, one of their favorite places in IL. They visited the park a couple of years ago and earlier this summer, and had been asking to go back again. 

We got home late and opened a couple more birthday cards. Benjamin had been working very hard this summer to save money by helping with jobs in and around the house, and he received some more birthday money to get him to his goal of saving $100! It was a long and fun day, and perfect way to celebrate our sweet boy turning 6!

Birthday Questions:

1. What is your name? Benjamin Aaron Purcell

2. How old are you? Six

3. Who is your best friend? Christian

4. What is your favorite thing to do?  Getting money

5. What is your favorite color? Red

6. What is your favorite food? Cereal

7. What do you like to do with your family? Going to the park

8. What is your favorite toy? Remote control helicopter

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Policeman

10. What makes you happy?  Going to the pool

11. What makes you sad?  When you tell me no to video games

12. What is your favorite TV show?  Blaze and the Monster Machines

13. What is your favorite book?  The Book with No Pictures

14. What do you love to learn about? Firemen and Numbers

15. What was the best part of your birthday? Looking for Bigfoot, Boo Park, and getting money

16. Where do you like to go? Carlyle Lake

17. Who was your teacher? Mrs. Marcum

18. What is your favorite treat? Ice Cream

19. What do you think about before you fall asleep? Going to the park

20. If you could meet someone famous, who would it be?  Benjamin Franklin, because he is on the $100 bill

21. What was your favorite birthday present? Metal detector and Veggie Tales movie

Happy birthday Benjamin. We love you to the moon and back, and wish you many more sweet birthdays to come!

Nine Years!

It's blog catch-up time again. We are settled back in Jordan and adjusting to life as a family of five. I'm still off of work for a couple of more weeks, and plan to finish blogs from our time in IL and what we are up to here. Nathan is back to work, the boys started school, and Eliza is a sweet little girl and doing great. More to come on all of us soon.

On October 3rd, Nathan and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. I love this man so much, and am so thankful for the amazing husband, father, and friend he is our family. Over the past 9 years, we have lived in 3 different countries, we have 3 beautiful children, and have had endless adventures. Nathan, I am so thankful that God chose me to be your wife. I love doing life with you and am always excited for what doors will be opened next. Here's to many, many, more years!

Happy 38th birthday Nathan

We begin our festive fall week with Nathan's birthday, then our anniversary, then Benjamin's birthday. On Nathan's birthday, we went to church and then visited a pioneer village nearby, that is open for a few weeks each fall. The log cabins used to be located around Illinois, and a woman collected and relocated them to this village. 

 They also had lots of crafts and food, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

 That evening we celebrated Nathan's birthday with his favorite cake that his mom makes for him, an ice cream cake roll. This year he requested salted caramel ice cream and it was delicious.

Happy 38th birthday Nathan, an amazing husband, father, and son!

Eliza: One Month Old

Eliza Rose turned one month old on September 29th. It's hard to believe a month has already passed  and she is changing so much! Eliza is an easy-going baby, and she is becoming more and more alert each day. She has a very sweet nature and usually just cries when she needs something.  She sleeps well at night, about 4-5 hour stretches, and she nurses well. She enjoys looking at faces, kicking on her play mat, and looking around. Her big brothers adore her, and they are very sweet and gentle with her. At one month, Eliza weighed 9lbs, 3 oz and was 22 inches, she is growing fast and has filled out a lot!

Happy one month sweet girl, we love you!

Marlow's Pumpkin Patch

One weekend we went to Marlow's Pumpkin Patch with Mark and Betty. Benjamin was supposed to go there on a class trip, but it was after we depart for Jordan, so we are glad he got the chance to visit. It was a rainy day and not very busy. They had a corn maze, slide, haunted barn, hayride, crafts, and snacks. 

Entering the corn maze

The haunted barn...the boys enjoyed it so much they went for round two with Grandma Betty.

The slide :)

Pumpkins and gords galore!

The hayride was fun, and they had bus benches as seats so it was pretty comfortable!

The hayride went in a big loop through the pumpkins fields and forest area, and it was well decorated!

We let the boys pick out their own pumpkins before heading home. It was a fun afternoon at the pumpkin patch!

Uncle Aaron's Visit

In the middle of my parents' visit, my brother came to IL for a couple of days to meet his new niece and see everyone. 

This was his first trip to the midwest and he was excited to see some corn fields and bean fields...which he did. The boys love visiting with Uncle Aaron and playing with him. As you can tell they were excited and wild.

The next day we spent the day at the city park to play and have a picnic. It was beautiful weather and a nice way to spend the day. That evening we took family photos, and they came out great....will show those in another post :).

That evening we went to Dairy Mart for lemon ice cream...you can never have enough lemon ice cream.

Aaron came over early the next morning to see the boys on the bus, then he had to go back to California. It is always fun to see Aaron and look forward to the next visit. We love you.

Grandpa Art and Grandma Sue's Visit

My parents came to Salem for couple of weeks to meet Eliza and see all of us. The last time they were in Salem was in July of 2009, for our engagement party, and they were excited to be back again. We had a low-key visit while they were here, and spent a lot of time at home, doing normal life, and stuff around town. 

The first day they arrived, Mark and Betty planned a cookout and it was a nice way to start the visit and get caught up. My parents enjoying their first snuggles with Eliza :)

The boys were excited to see grandpa and grandma.

The next day, we took them to Dairy Mart for the famous lemon ice cream.

We ate out a few times while they were here. Enjoying Applebees :)

And Bob Evans.

Another day we got passport photos taken for Eliza. She wasn't thrilled, as you can see, and neither were we because afterwards we found out she needed to have her eyes open for the picture. But they turned out cute!

This was the winning photo, taken at home.

My parents enjoyed waiting on the front porch and getting the boys off the bus from school each day.

Benjamin gets home from school one hour earlier than Caleb, so they got some alone time with him.

And grandpa especially enjoyed naps with Eliza...they were both sleeping here!

They also got to see two of the boys' soccer games. The kids have all improved so much since the beginning of the season. Benjamin getting a pep talk from Coach Matt before the game.

Ready to go in the goal.

Goalie kick

Caleb hustling. He works really hard during the game and runs up and down the field following the ball, it's impressive to see how much energy these kids have.

Another day we visited Hap's parents, brother and sister-in-law for a couple of hours. Here are Hap's brother's kids (Hunter, Beau, and Dane), and our boys, and my parents enjoyed visiting and meeting everyone.

The neighbor across the street from us is really nice and took the boys on a motorcycle ride down the street. They loved it!

Enjoying soccer practice on a cooler afternoon.

One night, Don and Suzanne had us over for dinner. She is an amazing cook, and we have enjoyed several dinners at their home this summer. We are thankful for their friendship and kindness to our family.

Mom reading with the boys before bed. This was a book about Battleship USS Missouri, that my Grandpa Milton (mom's mom) helped build. He was a really neat man and I wish Nathan and the boys had the chance to meet him.

We are glad they got to see some of the colors changing for the start of fall. Being Floridians and Hawaiians, this is a real treat.

The day they left, we had an early 6th birthday celebration for Benjamin.  It was special to have both sets of grandparents here, and Don and Suzanne. Benjamin wanted a Veggie Tales birthday this year, and this was his first birthday celebrated in the U.S.!

We had his requested birthday meal, mac-n-cheese with hot dogs, and other veggie-type things, ate birthday cake, and opened thoughtful gifts.

A few hours after the party, it was time for my parents had to head to the airport to catch and early  morning flight back to Hawaii. We are very thankful that they came to visit and spend the time with us, and for making new memories. We love you very much!