Birthday Cake

 Aunt Kerri and Uncle Todd with their kids Hayley and Jordyn, and Aunt Kelli joined us Sunday evening for a time of celebrating Isaiah's 1st birthday.  We had a baseball themed party.  Everyone wore a baseball shirt, we bbq'd brats and hamburgers, ate peanuts, and enjoyed birthday cake.  It was a lot of fun.

I made some carrot cake cake balls and a "baseball" for Isaiah's smash cake.

Here's the birthday boy while we sang "Happy Birthday to you".

Oh boy did he "smash it".  Oh boy did he EAT IT!!

He really enjoyed his cake.

He enjoyed it so much he needed a refreshing cup of milk.

We also were able to celebrate daddy (5/27) and his twin sister, Aunt Kerri's(5//28) bdays.

Kevin requested a chocolate cake from scratch. 

 The birthday gang.

Here are some other pics from the night.

This is Selah saying, "No way am I taking a pic close to Isaiah.  He's got dirty hands."

 Big sis, Sofia not afraid to get dirty.

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Every kid loves a balloon.

Aunt Kelli, Jordyn and Hayley watching Isaiah open presents.

And finally, a baseball themed toy.

Birthday Breakfast

Being that Tuesday was Isaiah's birthday but we weren't celebrating with a cake until Sunday, we decided to make a special breakfast for him (thanks Sheryl for the great idea!).  Isnt't this pancake bear fun?

 Isaiah did not hold back.  He is a man boy who loves his food.

Yea, he liked it.  He liked it a lot.  Of course, it was probably the nutella used for the mouth and the whip cream that momma later put on the ears that gave him that big ole smile.  

He's one!!!!

Yesterday Isaiah turned one year old.  It really is hard to believe that one year has passed since this almost nine pound (8lb 15 oz) baby came out of my belly.

Kevin has given Isaiah a nickname, "Izzy the busy", due to how this little boy is always needing to do something.  He is not a baby that wants to just sit in your lap for more than say, a minute.:)  Thankfully he is beginning to appreciate books more so being still can last up to two minutes.

What does occupy his attention and keep him busy are his cars and balls.  It intrigues me how little boys know exactly what to do with cars and what sounds to make.  And Isaiah LOVES to throw the ball over and over and over.  At least at this stage the ball doesn't travel very far so he is able to retrieve it himself.

After a slow start, Isaiah has become quite the crawler.  He does, however, stand up as soon as he gets to where he wants to be and can easily walk along furniture.  This past week he stood on his own but when he figured out what he was doing he sank down to the floor.

Isaiah seems to be a "man who knows what he wants".  If there is a toy that he wants and you are in his way, watch out.  He will push you, pull you, and move you out of his way.  If the object of desire is separated by an obstacle, Isaiah will keep at it until he obtains it.  And the gate that keeps him from going up the stairs....well, he just reaches up and yanks it down because he LOVES climbing up the stairs.  And this I do let him do a few times a day (and yes, I follow him up as he goes).

So being that he is so active and "busy", he is a great eater and great sleeper.  Shortly after he turned 11 months old I weaned him from nursing to whole milk.  He transitioned quite easily.  And the majority of his food is table food.

Today he had his one year check-up with the pediatrician.  And guess what?  He is still our big boy.

One year old stats:

Height
Sofia 29 inches
Selah 29 3/4 inches
Isaiah 31 1/2 inches

Weight
Sofia 18 lbs
Selah 19 lbs 2 oz
Isaiah 23 lbs 3 oz

Yes, he is one.  Our son is one year old.  Our BABY!!!!  Our sweet Isaiah.

Circle of Prayer for ISAIAH!!!

With most of our family living in California, Michigan, and Oklahoma, it is difficult to gather for family celebrations.  Over the years we have found it a great blessing to invite our family and friends from all over the world to celebrate our children’s birthdays with a “Circle of Prayer”.  

Isaiah Lee Sheckler is turning one! 

Please join our “Circle of Prayer” for him on May 24,

•Pray that Isaiah will continue to develop physically, emotionally, and mentally.

•Pray that Isaiah’s relationship with his sisters will be one of love and friendship.

•Pray that Isaiah will understand the depth of love that God has for him.

•Pray that Isaiah will someday understand the meaning of his name (God is our Rescuer) and, by God’s grace, enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

•Pray that Isaiah will declare the meaning of his name to others.

•Pray that we, his parents, will daily find opportunity to teach Isaiah the ways of the Lord.

A stormy night.

Last night was a stormy night.  The thunder clouds began to build up in the early afternoon and the weather service issued a tornado watch for our area that lasted until midnight.  The dark clouds arrived early evening but the heavy rain didn't begin until around 8 p.m. Kevin and I thought it best to just let the kids play until it passed. 

The girls loved watching the lightening light up the sky.  I had them tell me what thunder sounded like to them.  Here are some of their answers:  God bowling, God playing the drums, balloons popping, a bear growling, and Sofia even said, "It sounds like the wall in the temple falling down".

 Isaiah's favourite activity of the night was playing with a balloon that his sister brought home from the Turkish festival that we had gone to earlier in the day.

The best part of the evening (unfortunately no pictures) was the homemade strawberry shortcake daddy made for us all. 

Around 9:45 p.m. we put the kids to bed.  They were sound asleep before the next set of thunder and lightening began.  Thankfully they all slept through the night.

The Magic Green Blanket

Isaiah is a wonderful sleeper.  He has a sleep schedule that works great for our family (except on Sundays when I need to wake him 30 min. earlier than normal).  This is a typical day for him:

Wake up around 9a.m.
Nap around Noon.
Wake around 2:30/3:00 p.m.
Nap around 5:00 p.m.
Wake around 6:00 p.m
Bedtime around 9:00 p.m.

Of course, in between those sleeping hours he is eating and playing and playing and playing.  The boy goes, goes, goes, goes, goes. 

When it is time for sleep he is ready.  All we need to do for him is hand him his "magic green blanket" and he has an automatic reflex of putting his left thumb in his mouth, rolls over and goes to sleep.  The other day his blanket was in the wash during nap time so I gave him another blanket.  Nope.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  His nap was delayed until the green blanket emerged from the dryer. 

The "magic green blanket" is not something we purposefully set about making happen.  It just did.  Isaiah never took a pacifier (believe me we tried) and he still only sucks his thumb when he gets a hold of that blanket.  So the blanket stays in his bed.  Let's just pray we never lose this blanket.

Favourite Last Place

I had an interesting conversation with Sofia this afternoon.  We were in the van returning from a trip to the Istanbul Market.  Of course the kids loved it because of all the attention (and candy) they were given.  Needless to say, Sofia says to me on our way home, "Turkey is my next favourite place. " She then shared with me all of her favourite places and why.  

1.  Italy --- because Caeser Salad Dressing is her favourite and it comes from there.

2.  Mexico --- because her friend Lois lives there and tells people about Jesus.

3.  Turkey --- because she loves the food and the designs.

4.  The whole world --- because she wants to travel everywhere and tell everyone about Jesus.

and her last favourite place?

5.  Heaven --- because after she goes there she won't be able to go anywhere else.

More of the Gardens.

We really did enjoy our time at the Chicago Botanic Gardens this past week.  The tulips were just spectacular.  And the other million different kinds of flowers, trees, bushes, and plants were pretty amazing as well.:)

Here are some more pictures from our time there.

Spring is HERE!!!!!

Okay, Spring has finally sprung in our neck of the woods.  And today you might have thought Spring was skipped and went straight to Summer.  You see, April was for the most part a very cold month with more than 20 days of rain.  As recently as this past Sunday (May 8) , it was in the 30s in the morning.  Thankfully it turned into a nice sunny 60 degree day.

Then yesterday it rained in the early morning but turned into another nice day.  And today.  Well, today was just GORGEOUS!!!  Again, it was gray early on but around 8:30 when the temp was already at 60 degrees, no wind, and the clouds were breaking up, I knew this was going to be an outside day.  Downtown Chicago broke a record by getting into the low 90s but up here in the suburbs we topped out at around 80 degrees. 

And being that Sofia doesn't need to be at school until the afternoon, I packed up the kids and this morning we headed to the Chicago Botanic Gardens for a couple of hours.  If you live anywhere near there, go! 

Here are a couple of pics.  I will share more later.

 

The boy.

Just thought I would share some cuteness. 

The Shedd

April 28th was a teachers' inservice so Sofia had the day off.  It was a gray, rainy day and pretty chilly so I decided we needed to do something indoors.  Thankfully our season pass for The Shedd Aquarium was still valid and the new exhibit of Jellies had just opened.  Mind you, they are NOT jelly fish.

 Aren't they cool?  And aren't these two girls cool?  For a special treat we went to the 20 minute 3D showing of Dora in the Rainforest.  The girls loved how the butterflies came flying at them.  This was a nice sit down break.

 We also went to the area where you can touch the starfish.  Selah loved doing this.  Sofia, well, she passed.

 The best part of being there with the kids is their amazement at God's creation.  It really is quite amazing to think about how creative our God is when you see so many different types of water creatures that are so different in shape, size and colour.

Diminished prayer life.

Many years ago I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a conference in Ephesus.  The guest speaker,  Elizabeth Elliott.  Yeah, it was pretty great.  I have two memories from that conference.  The first one is when we were at the amphitheatre in Ephesus and Elizabeth Elliott stood in the middle of the stage, no mic, no nothing, and began reading Scripture.  It was amazing.

The other memory I have is when Elizabeth Elliott shared how moms need to be intentional about their quiet time even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. to do it so you won't be disturbed.  Well, being that I was single at the time, I thought that was crazy.  And guess what?  Now that I'm married and have three kids, I still think that is crazy!

But it is something that has stuck with me.  And there have been times in my days of motherhood that I have had opportunity to have quiet times of prayer at 11 p.m., 2 a.m., and 5 a.m.  There have been prayer times at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.  Special times of praying for my children.  Quiet time to focus and reflect on my Lord.

Those middle of the night quiet times of prayer, however, have ceased.  You see, as of last week, Isaiah is weaned. I actually haven't been up in the middle of night for a couple of months now but I cant' help but think of those special times and most definitely amazing times of prayer as this particular season of mommyhood has come to an end.

Yes, my prayer life has diminished in quantity of set aside times of prayer BUT no way have I stopped praying.  My reliance is on the Lord.  It is He who sustains me through each day as I raise my three children.  I pray that they will grow to love the Lord with all of their hearts, minds, and souls.  And I pray that they, too, will understand the importance of prayer.

She gets it from her dad.

The previous blog stated Selah is silly.  Hmmmmm......I think this pic shows where she gets it.  HA!

Silly Selah

 This beautiful blue-eyed girl can really crack me up.  Here are a couple of conversations we've recently had that made me laugh.

# 1
Mommy:  "Isaiah sounds like a boy with all of his grunting and low voice."
Selah:  "Mommy, he is a boy."

#2
Selah woke up yesterday morning with a fever.
Mommy:  "We need to make sure you drink lots of water today.  We need to get rid of this bug that you have."
Selah:  "Maybe it's a beetle."