Happy Birthday Tanner!

It is hard to believe that the little boy that started our family is turning 11 years old today.  We couldn't be happier with the boy he is.  His cautious temperament compliments his brother very well and keeps them evenly balanced.  Being the oldest, his younger siblings look up to him and follow his example as is evident in the below pictures. 


(Ella is watching Tanner out of the corner of her eye)

He doesn't complain (much) about being the big brother even when it means he has more chores to do or is asked to watch his little sister for mom.  Making his younger siblings is very important to him.  Joseph often waits anxiously for Tanner to get home from school and asks Tanner to play Legos with him.  He is even willing to play dolls with his sister(s), but may not approve that proof was taken or that it is being shared with the world...

While he is a great soccer player and a brick wall keeper, we are most proud  of his strong faith.  Saturday night he quickly came down with a laryngitis-type illness that caused pain and difficulty in breathing.  His first request was "Dad, can I get a blessing?".  Of course, he isn't perfect and is a champion teaser, but he is definitely perfect for us!

Happy Birthday Anson!!

The boys in front of a Palmetto tree

Today is Anson's 9th birthday, so we thought we should share a couple stories of what makes Anson special to our family. 
Friday afternoon, our neighbor asked Anson if he would help him with a "really cool special project".  Anson asked permission and then went back outside to go help him.  An hour later, he came home and reported that the neighbor had been hunting quail and wanted Anson to help him clean the birds.  Dad asked Anson what he thought of plucking the feathers and cutting open the birds.  He said he told our neighbor "I don't think my church would let me do that"!  But he hung around to watch the process anyways.  We never thought our church could be an excuse in such a way!  Our neighbor was very nice about it, but Dad went outside and clarify anyway.  In fact, he gave Anson some quail meat!

Another recent event in the life of our brave Anson...
A few weeks ago, we didn't have any plans on a Saturday afternoon so Tanner, Anson and Dad threw the bikes in the truck and went downtown to ride bikes.  We started at the SC State House and rode through the USC campus to Williams-Brice Stadium where the Gamecocks football team plays.  A roundtrip of about 6-7 miles.


The boys are on their bikes by the gate

On the way back, Anson's bike lost control of him and the handle bar jumped up and got a piece of his cheeck.  Tanner was more concerned than dad and rode back really fast to help his brother.  Before long, the blood and tears made for a great photo.

 

Then, a few minutes later, his bike lost control again and Anson went down on his arm.  More blood and a little more pride in this photo.

 Fortunately, Mom was going to see our favorite Dr. Max that afternoon, so he took a look and let Anson experience acupuncture!

After the pain went away, Anson wanted to make sure that the bandages on his arm and face were very visible for church and school.  He wanted to wear a short-sleeve shirt and didn't want to change the bandage on his face because the one he had showed a little blood still.  He loved the attention he received from his friends and probably hopes his scars never go away.  That is our Anson Call!

Has it been awhile?

There are many times in the last few months I have sat at my computer to write. I have thought about updating the blog often enough, but finding the time, or patience has been difficult. After SEVERAL attempts at uploading multiple pictures on a very EXTREMELY slow internet connection, I gave up. completely. I refused to do it, until I had internet that would upload faster than a turtle stuck in molasses in the middle of January. I just didn't have time to sit at the computer all day waiting for those pictures to upload. So, we finally bit the bullet and broke up with our satellite/phone/internet company. We had a love hate relationship from the beginning, they loved my money, I hated their service. It wasn't always terrible, but I was annoyed with them more than I would like to admit. So it was time to call it quits. Thankfully we are now able to stream video, upload pictures and all that fun stuff without constant connection problems. Now, I should be all over this blogging thing like white on rice, right? Well, I guess there still is the issue with finding the time/prioritizing it in. AND if you know me, you know I love to have way more to do than humanly possible in the amount of time I have. But it makes life more interesting, right? Well, I will try better. To prioritize the blogging. At least for the dear grandparents that anxiously await pictures of their most adorable granddaughter that is now 1/2 of a year! WHAT?! How did that happen already?! Where are the pictures you say?! Less talk, more rock?! There is no way to completely update you without a terrifyingly long post (or multiple posts) so I will just add some highlights of what has happened recently. I may try and go back and post some missed events, but in all seriousness, I probably will just go from here on out.

Here are 2 of our trees (yes, only 2. Apparently I have a Christmas tree obsession, as I have multiple in various sizes. Is that not normal?) The pink/purpley one is our Ella tree. It is by our front door and decorated specially for our Angel. The big tree was our main tree. This year we decided to cut a tree down, which is always a fun adventure. Trees here in the south are very different than ones of my youth. This was a Leland Cypress, which I am pretty sure everywhere else in the country uses as shrubbery. I think my parents have these in their backyard (of course shaped differently/smaller) I was skeptical at first, but was amazed at how much I grew to love it (after laughing for several days at the thought of a shrub in my living room.) Once decorated it didn't lose needles, was very durable and looked very full. It even had a nice smell.

 Joseph became obsessed with mustaches, and we took a little trip to Great Wolf for a night. Completely unrelated to each other. :)

 

Baby girl developed a funny trait of sucking on her fingers. It was never the same from day to day as one day she would suck on her pinky, the next her first two fingers... very occasionally her thumb. Here she is 4 months old

 

  We enjoyed the lights before Christmas at the zoo... but after Christmas. We decided we will make this a tradition, as it wasn't crowded AT ALL. The boys loved that they had fire pits to roast marshmallows. Tasty.

For New Years, we stayed home and cooked over our fire pit and roasted marshmallows. After our bellies were full and faces were warmed, the boys camped out in our backyard and the girls slept indoors.

A few days later, we had the pleasure of a visit from this little cutie pie. Oh, and her parents too :)
The boys loved having a cousin to play with.

 This cute boy loves being a big brother. He also loves to have his picture taken. Can't get enough of this smiley face!

  This was Elliana at 5 months. We all just adore her and can't get enough of those chubby cheeks. She is quite delightful!

 

 

Oh, how she grows!

 This baby girl is growing like a weed... a very cute weed. At her 2 month check up (Oct 31st - actually a bit over 2 months) she was weighing in at 13lbs 11 oz and was already 2 ft tall! She is smiling up a storm, but doesn't like to smile for the camera yet, in fact as soon as the camera comes out, she stops smiling. So, it's sometimes hard to share how smiley she is. It might also have something to do with when the camera comes out, her brother jumps right in and climbs all over me, and her trying to "help" her smile. She also giggles! It's so much fun to see all the new development that occurs in such a short period of time. She loves to be talked to, and will talk back, carrying on a conversation of gaaahs, goos and coos. She has such a soft and beautiful voice. Generally she is a pretty happy and calm baby. She truly is a joy to have in our family. We are loving this little girl!

Fun in Charlotte

Last week, the boys had a day off from school, so we took a day trip about a 100 miles north to visit Charlotte, NC.  We had a long, fun day of doing everything we wanted to and were blessed with a special experience to end the day.  Dacia had never been to The Cheesecake Factory, so we set the GPS and had a fun lunch there with gigantic salads and an amazing raspberry lemon cheesecake. 

After lunch, we wandered around a West Elm furniture store.  Dacia had been looking a couple sofas for months and liked what their catalog showed.  After looking around and playing in the store, we found a style we liked so much that we got two of the same.  With luck, the store had two on hand and they both fit into the back of the truck perfectly snug without being taken out of their shipping boxes.  

Joseph having breakfast in bed

Playing in a nearby park while mom fed Elliana in the truck

More park fun

We enjoyed being in a big(ger) city for the day and enjoying the things we don't have at home like parks and Costco.  Joseph gained a vision of heaven when he walked into a Lego store.

We saw a billboard for a 7-eleven convenience store and ended the day hunting for a Slurpee.

Slurpees!  Notice the two boxes in the back of the truck...

  After about 30 minutes of highway driving back to Columbia, Devin noticed there was only one box in the truck!  Dacia had Tanner say a prayer that nobody got hurt when it fell out of the truck and that we would be able to find the box.  We took the next exit and thought of all the places in the city we made tight turns that would have been enough to jostle the box loose.  We made the drive back to the 7-eleven without seeing anything.  Even if we did find the box, surely the sofa wouldn't have survived the fall from the truck or a crash with on-coming traffic.  All the way back to the freeway we didn't see any signs of a lonely box and we got back on highway 77 thinking someone found a nice couch.  After about 20 minutes on the highway, Dacia saw a box on the side of the road!  We got out to find our couch resting far to the side of the shoulder with only a corner bent.  After lifting it back into the truck and tying it down this time, we realized that one side of the box opened up and the wind picked up the box like a parachute.  When we got back in the truck Tanner suggested that we say another prayer thanking Heavenly Father for helping us find the box again.  It was well past midnight when we got home, but we felt gratitude that our Father heard a prayer of his children and blessed our family with another faith-building experience.  And just maybe there was a little angel that had her hand in things. 

We tore a hole in the back of the box so the air could escape and the box would survive the ride home. 

 

Joseph's Broken Leg

Less than a week after Elliana was born, our neighbors threw a wonderful birthday for all of their children.  They are the kind of people that ask for stuffed animals to donate to the children's hospital in lieu of gifts. The kids were entertained with balloon animals, magicians, food, and a very fun bounce-slide.  The kids would climb up one side of the inflatable slide and bounce/slide down the other.  Just before we were about to leave, Tanner carried Joseph to me crying loudly.  After a day of him not putting any weight on his leg and taking long naps, we decided to take him to the doctor.

The brave boy awaiting the doc

The x-ray didn't show a break, but Joseph would twitch when the doctor touched his shin in one place.  He was trying to be strong and not show he was in pain.  What a tough boy.  Turned out that he had what they call a "toddler break" and would need a three-week cast.

Joseph's new friend James prepping his leg.

After some thought, Joseph chose his cast to be in bright orange.  He chose it because it is his favorite color.  However, in these parts, the University of South Carolina's rival is Clemson.  Clemson's color is orange.  He doesn't understand why people keep asking him if he is a Clemson fan.  His older brothers know the difference and would have never chosen orange. 

Mom gets to sign the cast first

Dad asked Joseph for a "sad face" for effect. 

Other than not going to the swimming pool, the cast hasn't slowed him down at all. He had to find a way to bend over to kiss his baby sister, but he runs around just fine (with a limp like dad used to).  Casts don't prevent him from turning a lamp shade into a helmet and a lamp into a weapon. 

Three weeks after the cast went on, it was time to come off.  Unlike his father and sister, he enjoyed the saw cutting off his cast.  Although his nerves are now hyper-sensitive and he walks a little funny, he is back to being Joseph and reminding us so much of his sister who showed him how to be a 3 year old. 

The saw that cut off his cast "tickled".

The brave boy getting a clear x-ray.

Elliana's Blessing

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful



Dacia's induction was scheduled for August 21, so at 7am we arrived at Lexington Hospital and by 2:15pm, we welcomed Baby Girl Shumate into our family.  She was our biggest baby, weighing 8 lbs 12 oz - the same as her mother.  Just before we left the hospital two days later, we decided to name her Elliana Leigh.  We thought "Elliana" is a very pretty name and means something like "answer to our prayers".  Any similarities to her older sister's name is completely coincidental and absolutely welcomed.  Devin suggested that she take her mother's name for her middle and we decided on Dacia's middle name of Leigh (pronounced "lay", not "lee" as would be the southern pronounciation of this spelling). 
Two days later, Dacia's mother joined us and helped us maintain a house of order while mom rested and tended to our baby.  She stayed for almost two weeks and worked very hard from morning till night.  She even tried to adjust to the eastern time zone, which is not always an easy thing to do.  As Grandma Heather was going to be here for the first Sunday in September, we chose to have her blessed that day. 

 

Elliana's aunt, Dani, made the blessing dress out of some remnants from Dacia's wedding dress and luckily it arrived in only two days from Hawaii.  Otherwise, we would have had to postpone the blessing.  It is sad that she will wear this beautiful dress just one time.





 

She has been a great baby.  She sleeps despite the noise in the house or Joseph's insistance that "she needs more smooches".  We have been asked if Elliana looks like Ella.  So far, it looks like she will have similar blue eyes and she does have a resemblance.  See for yourself:

 

Big sister Ella at six weeks in her blessing dress (also made by aunt Dani)



Elliana at one week







 It is interesting that three years ago, we thought our family was complete.  But then a year ago we started feeling that that wasn't the case.  Again, we see that when we turn ourselves over to the Lord, he makes our lives more beautiful and joyous than we can on our own. 

Yes, there is a baby head under that bow


All of the above photos were taken by our friend, Naomi Jennings, who took some amazing photos as a gift to our family.  Obviously she has a talent.