Summer Memories

I was blessed to be able to spend my summer at home with my kiddos. I'm so grateful to be in a profession that allows me to do that. It was exhausting, often hilarious, and a lot of fun. Some fun memories I don't want to forget...

Things that were said: 

• Sassy: I want to watch Squash! I want to watch Squash. Squash can make you smile! (That would be a line from the Veggie Tales theme song for those who don't have kids yet.)
• KP: Mom, your boobs are like storage compartments for milk, right? 
• Collin: I have a friend. Her name is Anna the ADVENTURE girl! 
• Sassy: Mama, Annalise likes your boobies! 
• KP: McLain has really luxurious armpit hair. It's black and spidery. 

Things that were done:

• Best part of lunch on July 8th: Amelia-Grace stood in her chair wearing a diaper, one purple flip flop, and a fire fighter hat singing the blessing with her "mike-er-phone" at the top of her lungs. Adorable.
• KP went to Mexico Beach, Florida with his Mimi, Pop Pop, Aunt Ashley, and Uncle Daniel. He got to snorkel, kayak in the ocean, and watch his Uncle Daniel catch a shark. He said that was the best part of his trip! 
• McLain went to Florida with a friend for a long weekend and to Summer Camp with our youth group in North Carolina.
• We all went to Myrtle Beach with Clay's and my parents. Packing for 7 is no joke. Getting 7 people coated in sunscreen, fed, and ready for the beach is a two hour process, but it was worth it the trouble. McLain and Keaton loved to boogie board. Collin and Amelia-Grace loved playing in the tide pools. All four of them had a great time burying each other in the sand. Annalise enjoyed a long nap on the beach every day and kicking her toes in the water with her daddy.  
• While at the beach, we went to Cow Appreciation Day at CFA. Being out of state did not impact my crafty ability to dress my herd  like cows and get free food. This year Clay and his parents got to join us for the first time of the moo-tastic day. 
• We spent many, many mornings at White Water, and yes I took all five kids with me. I had so many people this summer act so surprised when I told them that. (Side Note: If I can handle 25 kids at work, I can surely handle five at home, people!) Collin and A-G love the slides in the toddler section and would go down them over and over with lots of smiles and giggles. They particularly loved the slides on the pirate ship.You know you go to a water park a lot when the life guards know your kids names. :) My favorite lifeguard would say, "Come on, Sassy! It's your turn!" McLain and Keaton were allowed to venture off by themselves for four slides at a time. They loved this independence. They were also both pleased that Keaton is finally a bit taller and can go down some of the more adventurous slides. Baby Annalise mostly slept in a sling on my hip. White Water mornings are definitely my favorite days of the summer. 
• I took my herd to see Inside Out after much begging from my teenager. I try my best to do activities that McLain wants to do with his siblings, and I'm glad to have taken his suggestion. It was Collin and A-G's first movie, and I crossed my fingers and said a prayer that they wouldn't act wild and cause us to leave the theater, like when I took Keaton to his first movie. Thankfully, all five of them enjoyed the movie and were well behaved. Poor A-G didn't weigh enough to keep the seat from collapsing on her, so she stood for most of it. Annalise stared at the screen for about twenty minutes and then passed out for the rest of the movie. We'll definitely put more movies on our agenda.

Things that were learned:

• McLain began learning how to play the guitar. 
• Collin learned how to spell and write "stop" and "go."
• Sassy learned to write the letter /a/ and to sing all the letters in her name, including the hyphen! 
• Annalise learned to roll over and how to talk and squeal really loud. 
• KP learned how to torture McLain by talking to everyone he encountered about McLain's armpit hair.  

Now that school's back in session, I'm counting down the days until fall break. Well, sometimes I stop counting down when someone poops up the back while I'm doing coking dinner or when someone spills a whole cup of sprite in the middle of the living room. Then, I'm grateful to have work to go to, so I can have a little break from our chaos. :)

Happy Father's Day, Clayboy!

When Clay and I were dating, about a million and half years ago, he and I talked about having kids. Since we both came from families with three kids, we agreed that three was a pretty good number. I even drew pictures of our future babies, all three of them:

Fast forward all these married years later, and I can't believe we have five children. FIVE. Five was never our plan, especially when we were dating with stars in our eyes at 21, but WOW. I'm so glad that all these funny and loud kids were a part of God's plan for our family that we didn't see coming.

Clay has always been a great dad, quick to change a disgusting, poop-up-the-back diaper whenever needed or to tuck our big herd in at night with prayers. He doesn't shy away from cribs covered in vomit or big drooly kisses. He's a good man, and I wouldn't want to share this chaotic journey with anyone else.

Happy Father's Day, Clay! We love you!

Four Months!

I cannot believe that it's been four months since Annalise entered our family. It seems likes she just got here AND that she's been a part of us forever. She has been such a sweet, laid back addition to our herd. I am so thankful that we have her.

During the last four months, Annalise

• Began sleeping through the night at two months old but gave me long stretches of time between night feedings when she was only a few weeks old
• Has gained 6 1/2 pounds and become adorably chubby with lots of creases and rolls
• Began to chuckle out loud, especially at Mommy
• Smiles really big smiles at her silly brothers and sister
• Found her hands and then her feet 
• Began making the /g/ sound
• Learned to track family members when we move around the room 
• Is generally content and happy as long as she can see someone
• Still loves to be swaddled and sleeps best when she is
• Has become baby Collin's twin...with a bow!

 

 

Love you so much, sweet number 5!

Colly Wolly is FOUR!

At Collin's preschool conference, I think his teacher Mrs. Edwards described him perfectly when she said he was the class's "grumpy old man." Collin is an old soul who cracks us up all the time with his old man expressions. Of course, he still has one of the best, most contagious smiles on the planet and can be ridiculously funny. But at this age, he's either very grouchy or very happy. My Colly Wolly is not inclined to share lukewarm emotions.We adore him anyway. :)

Happy, happy fourth birthday to my sweet, grumpy old man! I love you bunches! 

Collin's Favorite Things:

• Going to the Racetrac with Boppy and convincing him to buy him an assortment of junk food
• Spending the night at Mimi's house
• Skittles and Cheetos 
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (He loves Mickey so much that he is having another Mickey Mouse party.) 
• Watching Peter Rabbit in his Mammy's bed
• Being in charge of the controller for Netflix
•  Square white crackers and round circle crackers (Saltines and Ritz)
  

Collin's LEAST Favorite Things: 

•  Anything out of order
• When his sister steals the PS4 controller
• Messy fingers
  

Mommy and Daddy's Favorite Things that Collin Says: 

• "P-O-T-S. Stop!"
• "There's my man!" (Referring to his Boppy) 
• "Pieces of Pieces" (Reese's Pieces)
• "I like lemontines!" (clementines) 
• "I want BREEN wemon-ms!" (green M&Ms)
• "That's the ticket!" 
• "Stittles" (skittles)
• "Step one. Step two. Step FREE!" (three)
• "I need to frow this in the cash can." (throw; trash can)
• Let me see the imBREdients!" (ingredients)  

Collin's Milestones:  

• He finished two year and began three year preschool. 
• He rocked potty training when we got home from the beach last summer. 
• He learned how to write his name and loves to spell it.
• He can identify all his letters. 
• He can count 1 to 20 and from 10 to 0.
• He got over his fear of the vacuum! Woohoo!!!
  

  A year with my boy!

Annalise's Story...Part One

Tomorrow is a big day for Annalise, as well as for Clay and me. It's the day when he and I will present her before our church and promise to train her up according to God's commandments. In honor of her special day, I am posting the beginning of what will become her birth story. I promise to finish the entire story before her first birthday! It's just a bit tough to find time to write with five kiddos... :)

Annalise Elizabeth’s Birth Story (Part One!)

By Her Mommy

          In March 2014, I became overwhelmed with the urge to have another baby. I didn’t just experience a little tug at my heart but a true I-can’t-think-of-anything-else yearning. While I was at work on March 10^th, I texted Clay and told him that I was so overwhelmed with the desire to have another baby that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I clarified that I didn’t know if it was my hormones, the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit using my hormones to tell me that we should consider having a fifth child. He suggested that we pray about it and with his suggestion came complete peace for me about this idea that we had never seriously considered before.

          Later when we had a moment free from the general chaos of our home, we thanked God for blessing us with four healthy, happy children and prayed for His direction regarding any additions to our family. We knew that we had a houseful of great kids and that we didn’t NEED anymore. However, Clay and I truly wanted to be in God’s will, and if His future for us included a fifth baby, then we were willing to welcome another little one into our madness. 

          During the middle of May, I began noticing a few pregnancy signs. Because I have been pregnant so many times, I think I am super sensitive to my body and everything it craves or feels. In the mornings, I would experience a little nausea. I caught myself eating fruit, which I don’t enjoy doing unless I have a bun in the oven. I became excited at the thought of sandwiches, which have always been my number one craving in all my pregnancies. However, I kept these symptoms to myself. It was so early, and I didn’t want to get my hope up.

          When school was out, Clay and I packed up our herd and headed to Myrtle Beach with both sets of our parents. My pregnancy signs continued, but I still didn’t mention them to Clay. On one of our last nights at the beach, our parents sent us off on a date while they kept our kids. We ate dinner outside at a BBQ restaurant where I tried to figure out how to bring up the possibility of being pregnant. It was as if the words were stuck in my throat with super glue. After we ate dinner, we went in search of an ice cream parlor. It took us and our GPS several attempts before we could locate one. As Clay pulled into a parking spot, I promptly burst into tears and told him my suspicion. He just hugged me and said, “If you are, it’s not like this is our first time. We know how to do this.” He handled the possibility of another baby much more calmly than I did.

          At the end of May, we received God’s clear answer that we would be blessed with another addition. While we weren’t shocked that we were pregnant (yes, we have figured out how this process works), Clay and I were still pretty stunned, stunned enough that we kept our secret from our family for another six weeks. 

          On the 4^th of July, our families got together at my mom’s house for burgers, hotdogs, and dessert. Keaton made a very patriotic red, white, and blue cake. As our family sang “Happy Birthday” to America, I pulled a sign from my purse and stuck it in the middle of the cake. It read, “Welcome to Our 5^th Little Firecracker, Popping Out February 2015!” To say we shocked our family with this news would be an understatement. However by the end of the evening, everyone was excited and claimed that they knew we weren’t finished having kids. 

            We still waited until the end of the month to go public with our news. Clay and I wanted to let our bosses know that we would need some time off in February before going public with our addition on social media. On July 28^th, we posted,

“In March, Clay and I started praying for God’s discernment regarding having anymore children. We received His answer in May and will welcome our fifth blessing in February!

‘As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.’ Genesis 9:7

Yes, Lord!”