Five Months...or 22 Weeks

Monday marked the 22nd week mark of my pregnancy! It feels good to be more than half way through. We are excited to meet our little boy and look forward to (hopefully) January when he is due to arrive! I feel like my belly has really grown in the last month!

5 Months

Ava and Emet love to kiss my belly and talk to their brother!

Just for fun!

Mom's Visit

We were blessed to have my mom come up for a few days. She came up to celebrate her birthday. What a fun few days we had. She definitely got to experience what our day to day lives are like. Here are a few highlights of her time with us!

A trip to the aquarium

The kids love the aquarium!!!

Thanks for the treats Granna! Ava got a turtle that she named Lucy...and Emet got a Nemo fish that he also decided to name Lucy...then Shay-Shay...and now he is calling it Nemo!

Ava had a baseball game. Emet wishes he was playing. After the game he ran the bases...

and got himself ready to bat!!!

Mom and Ava
Ava had a great game! She continues to improve and her coach even gave her a game ball!
We are proud of her making the effort to try something new!

Good Buddies and Teammates

Backyard Baseball

Love this face!

Happy Birthday Granna! We were so glad you were here to celebrate your birthday. Hope it was special and meaningful! We are looking forward to your visit in November. We love you!

Loves cake and ice cream!

Granna's gifts

We've Been Up To...

Baseball and Pre-School!
Ava has started playing in a fall baseball league here in Medford. She is learning about the sport and improving each time she plays. She really likes the games...especially hitting and running bases! We have also started doing pre-school twice a week with a friend of hers. I teach one day and my friend Lori teaches the other. Whoever isn't teaching takes the little boys and entertains them! Last week we had our first "field trip." We went to the Museum of Science. So much fun!
Ava also started gymnastics again. She does really well with gymnastics and loves it. She has a natural ability that I think makes the sport come easily to her. I'll have pictures of her in her new little gymnastics outfits (thanks Granna!) soon!

First Practice

Oh, how he wishes he was the one playing baseball!

At bat!

Playing in the outfield...oh, well!

Our friend and teammate

In the dugout...Ava is in the pink hat!

Watching and cheering on the orange team!

Good game!

Ready for our trip to the museum!

Not Emet, but our friend in the spaceship!

More Spaceship

Still More Spaceship

The spaceship was a big hit with all four kids!

Nelsons and Bibles Visit

Our friends, Zach and Allison Nelson and Seth and Kristy Bible, came up to Boston for a visit. We packed a lot into a few days. It was great to have them here. We enjoyed catching up, seeing the city and even a dinner without kids! We are thankful to have found a GREAT babysitter up here. We were blessed by their visit and enjoyed having Zach and Allison stay with us!

At Harvard

The guys ready to take on the city!

and the girls

Planning our day...Tanner was our personal tour guide!

Lots of Mommas...lots of strollers

Love this city!

Zach and Allison

Downtown

A view from Public Garden

The bridge where the Swan Boats pass under

Where the Swan Boats do their tours...also the pond
where the book Make Way for Ducklings is set!

With Allison and my kiddos in Public Garden

My kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Abbey!

So thankful for my sweet friend! I loved having Allison here!

Dinner in Medford at Boccelli's

Kristy and Abbey with their "cool" cups!

The girls...we had some girls time at Jessica's on their last night here!

Potty Training!!!

Our little boy isn't so little anymore! He is in big boy underwear and going potty. We made the switch on Thursday and with the exception of church yesterday and at Tanner and Marsha's last night (after a couple of accidents) he has been in underwear. We are so proud of how well he has done. Day 2 yielded no accidents! We are on Day 5 and will see how the progress continues!

Our Journey South Ended with Global Impact Conference

We had a great time at the Global Impact Conference at First Baptist North Spartanburg. FBNS has partnered with Redemption Hill and invited us down for their annual missions conference. What a blessing it was to be there! We had an amazing host family, the Strouds! They were more than generous and we loved getting to know them and their sweet boys. Throughout the weekend we had the opportunity to share about our mission field in Medford, work with the Food From the Heart Food Drive, make new friends and visit with family. What an amazing weekend!

Ava and Thomas
They quickly became friends and wanted to be together all weekend! So sweet!

The Chasteen and Stroud kiddos!

Our host Sunday School Class

Dinner on the night of Home Briefings

Darren (our host) was in charge of the food drive. He had 1000 boxes donated from Upward for packing the food for the food drive. By the end of Saturday they were all full and they were in need of more because so much food was collected!

The food drive will stock the food banks in Spartanburg County for 3 months! Amazing!

Our hosts...Darren and Brigitte Stroud....love them!

My sweet, new friend, she is amazing!