Happy Easter!

I've had a bit of writers block. Not that I am by any means a "writer". I ramble far to much to be considered anything that...um...sophisticated? Sure we will go with that. But I just don't know what to write most the time...

But, today is Easter, and it was such a wonderful day celebrating the Good News that Jesus is RISEN!!! AMEN! So I wanted to write and share my love of all things Easter with you. I even have a few pictures. However, I'll warn you in advance they are all from my phone so not exactly the best you've ever seen.

The kiddos ready for Easter Sunday service!

I love Easter. I love the Hope it brings. I love the pews at church - packed with people coming to praise the Lord. I love the butterfly release at our church. I love John 3:16. I love that even though I repeatedly mess up - I.am.forgiven. That thought alone leaves me in awe, speechless, and oh so grateful.

And of course there are all the other things that come with Easter - Time with family and friends, egg hunts and baskets filled with goodies from the Easter bunny. Ham and sweet potatoes, loads of jelly beans and all the hardboiled eggs you can eat. Cute little "Easter outfits" and bunnies made of chocolate.

The boys showing off their eggs after the egg hunt at church on Saturday morning.

And a new tradition in our house - the "Lamb cake". The school that the boys attend have an Easter party and there is always a lamb cake for every class. This year I volunteered. This is what I came up with. The stand up cake was for my middle man's class and the circle was for the oldest.

It was just the kids and I this year, so it was a quiet Easter, but wonderful all the same. We woke early to see what the bunny brought, looked for eggs, ate cinnamon rolls (and a bit too much candy), went to church, ate more candy, spent lots of time playing outside enjoying the beautiful day, and had a great (although somewhat random) Easter dinner. I let the kids pick the menu because I figured if I was going to cook a meal for Easter, I wanted to make something they would eat! After the baby went to bed, the boys and I ended the night watching the Muppet Movie together. I am very blessed.

Hope you all had a fabulous Easter!

the big O-N-E!!

Guess who's ONE???

This girl!!

Yesterday my baby girl turned ONE!!! I can't believe it's been a year since she was brought into our lives. She is such a blessing and gift from God (as are my other two children - but this one is all about her). So, this will be my last monthly post for the little one. I have no more little stickies to photograph her in. Kind of bittersweet actually. The year went entirely too fast. I feel like tomorrow I'll be sending my little bug off to college.

Again it's been a busy month full of more firsts! First case of the stomach flu...check. You had your first airplane ride to go down to Georgia. You met your great-grandma (and more aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.). You have new words including - baby, no, and a much clearer version of "bella". It no longer sounds like "dada". You've taken your official "first step" however you're not quite walking on your own yet. You've gotten two of your first year molars. You had your first cupcake - it was a hit!

Yesterday I started asking you "how old are you" and showed you how to put up one finger. You're getting the hang of it pretty quick!

You're still in size three diapers, 12 month clothes, and your feet are almost a size 3. I love your tiny little feet...they are adorable. We have your 12 month appointment with the doc tomorrow, so I'll post those stats later.

You love to play patti-cake, sing songs, play with your little people farm - I think we listen to the cow say "moo" about 96 times a day. You love your books, you love your stuffed baby, you LOVE to give kisses. Big slobbery ones. You love playing in your brothers room, you love to climb and you love to feed Bella. You love to chase the vacuum when I'm cleaning and "helping" with all the laundry.

You are SUCH a fun baby. And while I wasn't quite ready for you to turn 1, I am so excited for all our adventures to come. I couldn't love you any more sweetie. Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Oh - and if anyone is wondering, we will have a little family celebration after daddy gets back. I figure she doesn't know one way or another, so I'm sure there will be more cake pictures down the road.

11 month-aversary

How can this be?? Less than a month now and little miss will be ONE year old!! Moments like this always make me reflect back to the past year and all that has happened. It's been a crazy busy one, but full of so many blessings as well.

My sweet little girl, you are now 11 months and oh have you grown so much. Height and weight wise you've stayed about the same, or at least I think you have from the way you look and feel. We will get real measurements next month at your 1 year appointment. Geeze...that still just doesn't feel right. You're in the same size clothes and diapers - and your tiny little feet are still the same size 2 they have been since you were itty bitty. I absolutely adore them. So cute. It appears your hair may have a little bit of red coming through - but we will have to see what happens as you get more.

You're working on your 1st year molars and they are giving you a mighty tough time, but other than a fussy moment here and there, you are still always so happy!! You have a few more words now, "all done" and "this" are two of your favorite. You move all around the house pointing at everything saying, "this...this???". Part of your curious nature, you love to know the name for everything. You know where your nose is now, and if asked "where is your nose??", you scrunch it up on command. Cutest.thing.ever. And of course you still think you're SO funny sticking your tongue out all the time.

Some of your favorite games are patti-cake and peek-a-boo. We could play them hours on end and you would never get bored. You also love to read books. You sit in my lap and would let me read all day long if I could. You are also a big fan of "lunch dates". On days when your brothers are in school we often find ourselves grabbing a girls lunch together and you ham it up for anyone around. So much fun. I hope we always enjoy lunch dates together in the future as much as we do now!!

You are SOOO close to taking that first step - it's going to be any day now. I'm scared I'm going to miss it when you're at the nursery in church or something like that. You are funny, animated and just a blessing to be around. I love coming to get you after you wake up from your nap (which is now a regular thing in the afternoon after lunchtime) and you are all grins and giggles. The other day I took a few pictures of you just because you are always so happy when you wake up.

I can't believe that the next time I post pictures it's going to be of your 1st birthday!! Happy 11 months sweet baby girl - can't wait to see what this month has in store for us.

10 month-aversary

Wow - 10 months and counting. The little is growing up too fast. A year is right around the corner and I can tell you this, this mama isn't ready. My "baby" is turning into a tot and it's FLOWN by. And just as a little side, taking these pictures was nothing short of a challenge...this girl is ON THE MOVE!!

Sweet baby girl. You are now 10 months and we can hardly believe all the things you have come up with this month. You are now not only pulling up, but cruising along all the furniture and standing on your own as well. Any day now you are going to take that big "first step". You are still in size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes. Your 8th tooth popped through (finally) giving you a nice even 4 up and 4 down. You are a wonderful eater and sleeper. You're sweet and full of love and smiles.

You LOVE to explore and are into everything. Some of your favorite things to do are pull all the books off the shelves and the tupperware out of the cabinets. You also enjoy getting into your brothers room and dumping over baskets of toys. Yes little girl, you can get around faster than a blink. We are in for real trouble when you start walking. Baby gates are up and working in full force around here to keep you safe and out of trouble. But no matter where you go, you do like to know that mama isn't far off. You can find me in about 1.2 seconds no matter where I am in the house. It's amazing.

You've also learned how to play peek-a-boo, clap your hands, and blow kisses. This makes things even more interesting when you decide to do this in the middle of eating a meal. Here is what the end result looks like after a lunch that included avocado (which you love by the way).

You can sign "more" and "all done" and make the funniest noises rolling your tongue around in your mouth. You also think its quite funny to stick your tongue out at everyone!! Of course everyone thinks its adorable and does it right back.

You love being the center of attention. It doesn't matter how tired you are, you will be sweet as pie if there is someone oohing and ahhing over you. You wave hello and good bye, clap your hands, and give the sweetest hugs in town. There is nothing like your hugs, they will make anyone just melt to a puddle.

Little girl, you are growing by leaps and bounds and picking up so much along the way. We love you to the ends of the earth and as always can't wait to see what you come up with next.

9 month-aversary

First off, I know we are just a week shy of the little girl turning 10 months, but I have the pictures so I figure why not...she's still "technically" nine months old, so that's what we're going with. What can I say, the holidays came and went so fast I could hardly catch my breath. But they were wonderful, however that's another post in itself. So, first things first.

My sweet baby girl. You are now (and have been for awhile) 9 months old. At your doctor appointment you weighed 20 lbs and you are just shy of 30 inches long! That puts you in the 90% for your height and 80% for weight. Now that you are crawling so much, you're starting to lose some of those baby rolls. This makes me a little sad just because I think those little chubby legs are so adorable!! You are still in size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes. You sleep like a champ and have become more consistent with your nap-time routine. As I've said before, you are the happiest baby, just spreading joy wherever you go. Something about that big old smile you give just melts the heart of anyone who sees it.


December was such a big month for you. You have picked up a bunch of new "words" including my favorite, mama. Not only are you crawling here there and everywhere in-between but you are pulling up on anything so you can to get yourself into a standing position and "cruise" the furniture. My guess is walking won't be too far off. You're into EVERYTHING and quite the curious little thing. But you are kind and good natured and hardly ever fuss. Even when you are sick. You got your first cold and infection (eye) this month, but came through it just fine and other than the fact that you didn't look very good, I would have never known you were sick. Like I said...always a happy girl.

We were so excited to celebrate your first Christmas. We had your Grams and Papa's here along with Aunt Jes and soon-to-be Uncle Charles. You of course got spoiled and loved on, and made out pretty good when it came to new toys and clothes. We all just couldn't love you anymore.


Some of your favorite things to do are play peek-a-boo, "read" books, listen to mama sing silly songs, crawl after Bella (our family pooch), go for walks/runs outside in the stroller, listen to yourself talk, and most of all play with your brothers. It doesn't matter if they are playing with you or not, if you're in the same room as them, you couldn't be happier. I can feel how much you adore them when I see you smile at them and it melts my heart. For now they are more than happy to have their little sister tag along, but my guess is that you better soak it up because they won't feel this way forever.

Giving big hugs to your big brother

You are just growing so fast. It's hard to believe in a few short months we will be celebrating your first birthday. You are such a blessing to us. I love you little girl, more than you could ever know.
With that I will wrap this up. 10 months will be here pretty soon, lets hope I can get it together and get that posted a little earlier than this one!

8 month-aversary

This may never happen again. I'm getting this posted within 24 hours of the baby's 8 month-aversary passing by. Yesterday marked the big 8 months for baby girl, and my oh my she's growing by leaps and bounds. Let's get to it.

Baby girl - you are nothing short of amazing. Your smile lights up a room, your laugh is infectious, and you have this whole family wrapped around your little fingers.

You've had a big month! We celebrated your first Thanksgiving, decorated for your first Christmas, and a handful of other things. You're an official "crawler" now. Last month you were mobile but it was mostly the "army" crawl, now you're up on your hands and knees and on the move. As predicted you're into everything and unstoppable.

Operation "baby-poof" is in full swing. You're also eating mostly solid foods now. You decided it was much more fun to feed yourself than to be fed by mama and daddy. You're an independent little thing...go figure. You're also drinking out of a sippy cup now.

You can get yourself up sitting all own your own. This is one of your favorite ways to sit. To me it doesn't look to comfortable, but hey, you seem happy.

Oh and that thing you're doing with your toes here...you get that from Mama...Daddy can't do it.

You have 7 teeth now. 4 up top and three on bottom.

Excuse the sweet potatoes and cheerios in the mouth, this is apparently the only picture we have that show all your pearly whites. And speaking of teeth, there is nothing you won't chew on. Neither of your brothers were big on finding things and sticking in their mouths...but not you. Socks I think are your favorite. You love to "help" mommy do laundry, and by help I mean grab all the socks and slobber all over them. However, anything you find is fair game - including random berries attached to flowers in the craft store that you grab while in the cart and quickly maneuver into your mouth forcing yours truly to fish it out with the little "hook swipe" method I learned years ago in lifeguard training. You are truly something else - I couldn't love you any more.

You wave to everyone and I swear you are trying to say "bye bye". You've graduated out of your little bathtub now that you're sitting so well and sit in the regular tub. You love to just sit and splash. Wow...you really have been busy this month.

As always we just couldn't love you more and I am cherishing every second I get with you. You're growing up so fast, and before I know it you're going to be a year old. Seems hard to believe. So happy 8 months baby girl...can't wait to see what you come up with next!

7.5 month-aversary

I'm not even going to pretend I got this in even somewhat "on-time". I know I'm usually late with these postings, but this one is just REALLY late. The pictures were taken just a few days after she turned 7 months, it's just been getting them up on the computer - and talking about them. Okay, enough with my sob-story, here we go.

Baby girl, you are now 7 months old and boy oh boy have you been busy. Your biggest news - you are officially on the move!! While your not text-book crawling, you're definitely on the move, and have to be watched at all times.



You also had 2 more teeth come in, giving you a grand total of 5 pearly whites! #6 is about to break through any day now.

You talk ALL the time. Ba ba, da da, ta ta, na na...you get the idea. You just babble all day and can't get enough of being talked to. You LOVE to play peek-a-boo. It's precious. You are still a great eater and have yet to turn anything down.

Now the list includes squash, peas, bananas, avocados, black beans, peaches, pears, crackers, cheerios, even some graham crackers - oh and pumpkin bread!! Yes it appears that mama has loosed up a bit when it comes to the "what babies should eat" timeline. There is no doubt about it - you are a third baby!! Soon we're going to start on some of the meats. You've got the chewing down and are very interested in everything that we are eating. You also figured out how to feed yourself which is cute, but also very messy!

You are hovering right in-between 6-12 and 12-18 month clothes. The 6-12 size is just too short - seems you are getting longer baby girl. You're still in size three diapers. You're a champ at sleeping through the night, and have a (somewhat) regular nap-time schedule.

You love to be out and about - although you don't love being put into your car-seat. Once you are in it you're fine, it's just the buckling part you are not a fan of. You are also not a fan of wearing socks, or you just really love pulling them off...then sticking them in your mouth - silly girl. You still love bouncing in your bouncer, but now that you can move where you want to go, you prefer to be on the floor. You are fascinated with Bella (the family pup) and follow her around constantly. You really like to listen to us read to you. We can't get enough of your laugh. It's the sweetest sound in the world and just melts our hearts.


You are such a precious little girl and a joy to our family. I'm quite certain you know how loved you are because your little face just lights up when you see us. We are all quite smitten with you. We love you a hundred times over baby girl and are so blessed God chose us as your family here on earth!

can't.keep.up

Ever feel like life is flying by and you're just trying to hang on for dear life?? That's been the story of my life for the past few months. Confession time. I don't have it all together. Just in case I ever gave off the impression that I did (which is unlikely) I want to be honest. I'm SO not there.

I'm working on it. I finally got my "command center" for the house put together. It's a spot on a wall in our kitchen, that has everything from our family calendar, to meal plans, to artwork displays on it. It turned out really cute by the way - and it's really helped me keep everything organized. I'll try to grab a pic later. Right now I'm just glad to be sittin' down, and catchin' up with you folks.

So what is making these days fly by? Nothing too crazy, just life in general. We are so blessed to have all these wonderful things going on, but wow. I have so many wonderful posts to get up here, so I'm going to start at the beginning as they say and go from there. Don't worry - I'll break it up into different posts. I think if I did it all in one you all would run away crying and never come back!

So, let's get started. Two weeks ago we all participated in our areas local Race for the Cure. I try to do this event every year. Not only is it always fun, but it's a great way to raise some money for a wonderful cause. Thanks to all of you who donated to our goal this year. I'm happy to announce that we met our goal, which is AWESOME!!

The boys and I both raced this year. I did the 5K and the boys did the warrior dashes. Here is the little one all ready to head out to the race! As you can see she's ready to cheer on Mama and Brothers!

Next year they said they want to do the 1 mile, so it looks like I'll be doing the 5K and then a 1 miler with the boys. I think it's great they want to be involved in such a great activity.

Such a good time. AND just as a little note: I beat my best 5K time by 7 seconds!! Whoo Hoo I'll take it! My goal is to one day get my time down under 27 min - I'm so close, but it's going to take some work. Work that right now I'm not very motivated to do. I adore running, but these days it's all about quiet runs with the jogger and my baby girl enjoying the beautiful fall weather...not so much about "speed".

So, I'm going to wrap this one up for now. I know there really wasn't much to this post, but there will be another one in a day or so. I'm going to go write it now, but I'll just keep you in suspense as to when it will be posted. Oh yes, I'm sneaky like that. Hope you have a fabulous weekend, and if you're doing the trick-or-treatin' thing have fun and be safe!!!

Lucky 7

As I mentioned in my last post we had a pretty big event not too long ago. My oldest, who I typically refer to as the "big kid" turned SEVEN years old. First off can we stop for a second and absorb that...I.have.a.seven.year.old. What??!?!! It seems to have FLOWN by.

So to my big kid, happy belated buddy. We had a great day, I made his favorite (cinnamon rolls) for breakfast, opened presents, and had a celebration dinner at his favorite place, played games, watched movies - overall it was a great day.



Daddy was out to sea for the big day, so we waited until he got back to do our BIG family fun day - which was a trip to Busch Gardens. Thanks to the military appreciation day, the tickets were "on the house" - BONUS. I love a deal. The kids had a blast and our big kid rode every ride that he was tall enough to get on, which at 52" is a good amount. I took him on his first big roller-coaster ride which was a great moment for me. Growing up my parents always took us to theme parks every year, and I remember going on all the roller-coasters with them. Such great memories still - glad to (hopefully) pass those on to my kiddos.


He's having a party later in the month with some of his friends. We had to make sure the hubs would be around before we planned anything, so for him this is more like a birthday month, but as you imagined he's not complaining.

In his seven years he has already done so much, and I can't believe how grown up he seems these days. So, to my big kid once again...happy big 7 dude!!!

6 month-aversary

Yes yes, late posting again as usual. But at this point, I've posted all of these about a week late so really I'm right on time. At least that's what I'm going with.

Baby girl: I can't believe you are 1/2 a year old! My oh my how time flies. First things first. Your doctor appointment went great. You are 19 lbs and 27 inches, which keeps you in the 90th percentile. You did great with your shots, and the doctor said you were just "perfect"and doing all the things a 6 month old baby should be doing. Being that you are 19 pounds its no surprise that you love food.
You've been eating all sorts of new foods, so far you love everything we've given you. Some of your new foods are apples, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, squash and bananas...oh and you love to "eat" apples. Really you just slobber all over them, but you're happy doing it.

You wear size 6-12 month clothes and are still wearing the size three diapers. Last week you had another tooth break through (top/front/left). I can't believe how fast you are growing and changing. You are still the happiest baby in the world and give smiles to all. You are such a joy and daddy and I just can't get enough of your sweet smiles. This is one of our favorite faces.

And this one as well...

You can hold yourself up now when sitting, and you want to move so badly.

I see you crawling in the near future. When that happens there will be no stopping you. You are determined to be able to keep up with your big brothers. You still LOVE your bouncer seat and I'd say it's your most favorite past time (other than being loved on). You also seem to really like going for a run with mama. After we drop the boys off at school we take off for a few miles. Mommy goes on foot and you take in the scenery from the jogging stroller. Usually you fall asleep sometime along the way, but while you are awake you just babble away. That's another thing - you talk ALL THE TIME. All sorts of new sounds. It seems like every day you come up with something new. I love it.
Thankfully you are still sleeping through the night just fine. You go to bed around 7:30 and wake up about the same time as your brothers (6am) which is fine with me because I'm already up. You greet me with a big old smile and we get our day going. As I already mentioned, you like to go running, bounce, eat and play with your brothers. Now that I think about it...if that's how I spent my day, I'd be a really happy baby too! That's all for this month girlie. As always we love you more than you could ever imagine and are blessed to have you in our life!!

That about wraps up this month. More posts to come, because we had another big milestone here - big kid turned SEVEN!!! Pictures and stories to come!! We also have this guy back.

Don't worry - we made him shave the goofy 'stash shortly after he got home.

field trip love

Oh boy are we in trouble. We have always joked that our little "munchkin" (middle son) will be quite the heart breaker when he grows up. There is just something behind those blue eyes and that sweet grin.
Let me back up.

Wednesday I was lucky enough to join my munchkin's class on their first field trip. We went to the zoo. Running around with a class full of 4 year olds was quite the adventure to say the least, but it was such a good time! I love getting an "inside" view of my kids in their school environment. It's so fun to watch them interact with the other students and to hear the teachers stories. Not surprisingly there were some pretty good ones when it came to my little guy. He has a way of winning over anyone he meets.

It was while I was observing all this that I noticed M&M (my name for the cute couple).

These two followed each other around the entire zoo, never more than a few feet apart. They ohhed and ahhed over snakes, searched for the tigers, watched tortoises eat some lunch, even enjoyed a post-zoo snack together.


It.was.adorable. Her mom was there as well and we just watched and laughed at the sweetness of it all. Ahh...young love.