It Is Finished

Well, he's gone and done it. After approximately eight years, too many books to count, untold written papers and countless lost hours of sleep (or is that hours of lost sleep?), Randy has finally completed his third degree! He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Cincinnati Christian University yesterday, though he won't receive his official diploma until the graduation ceremony on May 11. The kids are so excited that they are going to get to see their dad wearing a robe IN PUBLIC!
**********************************************************
We are raising one hip, funny three-year-old, let me just say. He actually reminds me of the way Brian and Clark acted when we were kids--if they found something that made me laugh, they milked it for all it was worth! Sawyer has that exact same propensity to run a joke into the ground. He is just such a goofball most of the time. Facial expressions like you've never seen before and constantly coming up with new ways to make us laugh.

 

We have been on an ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) kick which means that every time we get in the van each child requests his/her favorite song from the CD that has been playing on a continuous loop for about three weeks. On our way back from the park today we listened to "Hold On Tight (To Your Dreams)." Don't ask me why, but I find it incredibly amazing that his little three-year-old brain turned it around in such a way that when he was swinging out in the backyard later, he said, "Mom, I'm going to sing, 'Hold on Tight To Your Swing' instead." Am I wrong to think that was pretty funny AND smart?!
***********************************************************

 
 

********************************************************

I forgot to crop that last picture of Sawyer before posting it but don't want to go to the trouble of re-doing it. I took the photos of him and Peyton right before dinner. I knew if I didn't, I might not have another chance to get a shot of Sawyer before he went to bed. That's right--he was in bed at 7:00! This is something new I'm trying; he hasn't entirely given up his afternoon nap, but I will say that more often than not he doesn't take one, whether because we're away from the house or he just simply can't fall asleep. What I began noticing is that on the days that he didn't take a nap, sometime in the middle of the night he would have what I characterize as "night terrors" (something we went through with Tyler at that age). It is not quite as disconcerting to help Sawyer through a night terror as it used to be with Tyler, but it's still kind of wacky. Anyway, I have found that if I simply put Sawyer to bed an hour earlier than I would if he'd had a nap, he doesn't experience the night terrors. And believe you me, he is asleep when his head hits the pillow, especially these last few nights--he plays hard all day!

We went to the park this afternoon and climbed these enormous hills (just perfect for sledding) multiple times, and then took a long walk to the pond to skip stones and watch the geese. We all got a workout!

Well, I'm just stalling now so I guess I'll go ahead and post this. I just started a good book about a family making their way to their new home on the Oregon Trail from their home in Illinois and I'm anxious to get back to it!