Courtney turns 7

Well, we celebrated Courtney's 7th birthday last Friday. It is hard to believe it has been that long since she was born. I made a video of her last year, just like the one for Christain. But, I did not know that I was making it in the wrong program to upload it here. So, we have it and one of these days, when I choose to spend two hours remaking it ( rather than propping up my feet and eating bonbons like I normally do all day!) I will upload it. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of her at her party. We had a lot of fun. She was very stressed over the theme because she wanted to invite boys and girls. she finally decided on a nature them. We had 8 kids in addition to our own that came. Despite having to move the party inside because it was the 1 day of 100 that it rained in Bakersfield, it went well and Courtney loved it.

We always enjoy taking time to reflect on the birthday child in our family night. Aubrey said she appreciated how much Courtney plays with her. Elijah said he likes Courtney. Mark and I are constantly amazed a what a wonderful girl she is. She is a great friend to all around her, incredibly smart, beautiful, a great example to all of us, and is developing a strong testimony of her own. We are blessed to have her in our family.

A Milestone?...

Well, we reached a milestone that we had managed to avoid for the first 7 years of parenthood... our first trip to the ER with one of our children. Elijah decided ( when mom turned around to get Christian) that the back seat of the double stroller was a good place to stand up and try a balancing act. Balancing did not work so well whenthe stroller tipped on end and left him with road rash on his upper lip and nose and a large gash on the inside of his lower lip. I knew immediately after cleaning him up that it would require stitches to his lower lip. So, we picked up Courtney from school (where we were trying to go when this all started) and headed off to the nearest ER. Luckily, Mark was able to get a sub for the 3-6 class he was supposed to teach and met us there shortly after we arrived. We must have timed it right because we did not have to wait at all to see triage and as soon as she saw it, she immediately took us back to a bed. One hour and 7 stitches later, we just had to wait for Elijah to wake up completely and then we were done! Fairly painless...Elijah was an angel, calm and cooperative and was back to his active self without missing a beat just a couple hours later. So, we've done it...braved the ER...hoped we'd never have to, but knew it was inevitable....here's hoping we're not back anytime soon!