Life's Many Changes...part 1.

First, so sorry to anyone who enjoys keeping up with us through the blog world...or should I say used to keep up with us that way! I have taken a long break from blogging, life has been full. Great, but very full. So, for a quick update on the Clayton Clan...without pics because our camera broke this summer on our vacation and we have not gotten a new one quite yet, that's on the to do list for this week actually, I will not have 4 cute boys on Halloween without a camera! :-) Hopefully I can add some pics soon!

Summer Camps & Vacation:
Back in July/August we had the opportunity to go to a couple of youth camps that Chris led worship for. They were actually both for the same church, one for Jr. High and the other for High School. They were each about 5 days long and there were 5 days in between them as well as 4 days of driving in our RV, so it was quite a long trip. God was SOOOOO good to us from beginning to end! I could tell you a million stories but I'll try to just highlight a few. The drive there was great, the boys did fantastic. We were able to go to Downtown Disney one afternoon after arriving and take the boys to Lego Land...they LOVED that of course and got some new legos to bring home! At the first camp we got to ride on a ski boat and jet ski's for a few days, the boys had more fun than they could imagine! "Faster, Faster" is what we heard...I know we were up to 50+ miles an hour with a few of them and there was NO fear! Callen of course loved doing donuts, and Cade almost gave me a heart attack when I let him push the gas and he just almost flipped us when he went from 0 to who knows what in 2 seconds. Didn't scare him, he got a good laugh from Mommy's reaction! :-) From there we went to a beach resort the church booked us and had our family vacation. The resort was plush and beautiful and the weather was perfect. We spent the week going to the pool and beach, searching for shells and eating out at fun places. Then the second camp was back at the church itself in their youth building that had games, a gym, wii's, tons of kids to play with and huge blow up water slides! They even got invited to go to a little boys house to swim and play one day. I could not have planned a better variety of things for them to do if I had tried! We were truly blessed and had a wonderful almost 3 weeks...even made it home safe and sane! :-)

My Precious Niece!!!

Sooo, I'm on vacation and forgot to bring the chord for my camera to dump our pictures and really wanted to post something. Well, I found these adorable pics of my niece and thought I would brag a little! :-) She is adorable and all the boys just adore her, so do Chris and I of course! These pics were taken July 4th weekend, we had so much fun with all the Claytons!
Look at those eyes and gorgeous hair!!


Precious!!!!

Watchin' Fireworks (or cuddlin' with MaMa while she watches fireworks) :-)
Getting swung around by MaMa
Cohen and her were not too happy about a group pic!
Laughin' at Callen
Cuddlin' with Cade

"Same Kind of Different as Me"

Have you read it? Truly, it is one of the most amazing books I've EVER read!!! It was co-written by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, telling the stories of their lives and how God brought them together and has used them so powerfully in countless peoples lives. I am not a fast reader but this book was so good I could not put it down...taking me only a few hours to read it in it's entirety. It brought me to tears multiple times as I just almost felt like I was getting to know and love these people the book is about. It is packed full of spiritual lessons we all can benefit from, and I truly feel that I encountered God in this book in more than one way, never to view life the same again! I would list things that I learned but I'm on vacation with my family and should spend time with them so for now...PLEASE read this book if you have not already!

What some people will do for free food!!

The other day, a client of Chris' came in to our home and the first thing he mentioned to us was that it was free food day at Chic-fil-a and then asked us if we were going to go. I of course asked what you had to do in order to get the free food and he told me that you had to dress up like a cow. A cow? I get it, just had to get my brain wrapped around it for a minute in order to process whether or not we could pull this off...I mean, there are a bunch of us! :-) It hit me within seconds that we have several old white t-shirts the boys sleep in, why not turn them into cow shirts! I love spray paint, the options are endless!!! So that's just what I did, spending a total of maybe 10 minutes to find the shirts and make them. Then I got one of our Chic-fil-a cows and pined it to my shoulder (I didn't have an old white t-shirt) and he got to buckle up in the front seat and ride with me. We all piled in the car and each got a free meal, not a bad deal!! It really was a lot of fun and the food was of course, GREAT! Gotta love some chic-fil-a. And now, we have cow shirts for next year on free food day! :-)
Of course we couldn't leave out the slogan!
My little heard of cattle!

Me and my cow all buckled up!
They got hats when we got there to add to there outfits!

A little Old School Fun!!!

So I'm thinkin' most people can remember having a blast as a kid on a good ol' slip-n-slide! Well, we were all decked out in swimin' stuff the other day and got to the pool and it was closed...what to do. Hey, let's go home and whip out the slip-n-slide!!! Fun times for all...of course the yard was a bit trashed when we got done but it didn't take to many days for it to recover. So worth it for them! We set it up in our front yard on the hill, it's much easier to slide that way and of course you go much faster as well! They really did have a ton of fun that day!
They have a BLAST together!
These two are a mess with each other!
Havin' some crazy fun!
Loves anything that is adventurous!
Had so much fun that when we had to put it up he cried...sweet little guy!

Just another Rainy Day...

When Chris travels a bunch in the summer the boys and I try to find some fun things to do together to pass the time a bit more quickly. Today we had a fun day!! We started it out with a big breakfast at home (waffles, eggs and sausage), then were off to go to a dollar movie, How to Train a Dragon. The movie was so cute, we all loved it. Then we were off to run a couple of errands, followed by a fun lunch at McDonalds. On the way home we were going to run by Aldi to get our groceries for the week. Well, 3 of them fell asleep and it was already storming so I called their Aunt Kay and Uncle Glenn to see if they could come over and crash on the couch while I did the shopping. Of course they said yes (since they had no plans), and of course they all 3 woke up while there and got treated like little kings! :-) I got my shopping done and looked like I had taken a shower with my clothes on when I went to pick up the boys so I didn't get out, they all just ran to the car one by one, screaming all the way because they thought it was so funny to run in the rain. When we got home, of course I had to empty the groceries so they asked if they could play in the rain. I thought there was no harm in that being that it has slowed to a light rain and there was no lightning, well, I was wrong. In a good way. Let me just say 4 little boys running around and playing in the rain is one of the sweetest and funniest things I've seen in a while. They had a blast and I couldn't help but take pics. Enjoy!!!
I love this...they were having so much fun!
Corbin is normally afraid of the rain, I was so proud of him for letting it all go and having fun!
Cade was just going crazy!
Yes, they were bending over and sticking their heads in the water that was running down the street! I believe Cohen did it first believe it or not!
Laying in the water? Who thinks of these things...oh, wait, my sweet Callen thought of that one :-)
"I pity the fool"...at least that is what I think he is thinkin'!
I know, one of the most disgusting things he could have done! His immune system will be stronger for it, that's what I tell myself at least!
Maybe kinda like a facial? :-)

Cohen's Two!!!

It's so hard to believe that it's already been 2 years since our sweet baby Cohen was born. He has been such a blessing and a joy each day! It's more than amazing to me how God can give a mother so much love for her sons, especially when she never even dreamed of having 4 of them. Our prayer for Cohen is that as he grows he is drawing closer to a relationship with Christ each day! Enjoy some sweet pics of our celebrations with him!
Opening Birthday Cards
In Awe of his cake & ice cream!
Movin' in for the kill! :-)
So happy!
Cohen's Toy Story Cupcake Tower
I LOVE how his face lit up when we lit the candles and started singing!
Blowing out the candles...with Callen on one side and Daddy on the other coaching him how to! :-)
The first bite...
brings a smile every time!
Cohen's Candy Bar
Riding on his new InchWorm!
Opening presents...fun!

Let's see those teeth...or lack of!

So our sweet Corbin officially lost his second top tooth about a week ago. I say lost, but actually I had to pull it. He had been playing and hit it and it was really hurting him. It was really barely holding on so I convinced him that it would be easier to let mommy pull it than have to go to the dentist and get it done. It didn't come out quite as easy as I thought but I'm getting a bit better at this tooth pulling thing! By the time Cohen is loosing his teeth I'll be an expert! As you can see from the first pic, he was not too fond of me doing this but shortly after, he was really excited we got it out for two reasons: 1)it didn't hurt any more and 2) he knows the tooth fairy brings money. He told Grammie two days ago that he was rich now because the tooth fairy brought him 8 quarters. I love how sweet he is!
Still not so happy I pulled it.
Now we are starting to smile!
Putting that tooth in the pillow and under the pillow.
So cute!!!

No Time At All...

So I'm sorry if you enjoy checking in on us through our blog. I really have been short on time lately. In the next week and a half's time we have 5 graduations...that's not to mention the work loads Chris and I have right now on top of just trying to spend quality family time and sneak some time just the two of us as well. God is so good though and things are truly going well. He continues to amaze us each day at His faithfulness and love He has for us as we continue to share that with others! All that to say, if you are out there and keep up with us (or try to), I'm sorry!!! I would say it is going to get better but for now it won't. Something has to give and this has been it for now. Thanks for your patience and I will catch y'all up as soon as I can!

It's Catch Up Time!

So busy does not even really do our lives justice in these last couple of months! Not busy in a bad way, just in a life with 4 boys is non stop way! We've had a great couple of months and I'm sorry that I have not posted anything in so long. Not even really sure though who reads? :-) But for those of you who do, I'll try to give a quick update on what we've been doing since the last time I posted.

Chris' Birthday

Daddy and His Boys! We went out to Fielder Road Baptist Church's Disciple Now to see him lead worship for the youth on the night of his birthday. The boys love going to praise God with their Daddy!
I made him an iPhone cake as a surprise! He loved it!


Gorgeous Sunrise

I took this picture on the way to church a couple of weeks ago, I love it! The boys love watching the sunrise since they normally can't look at the sun!

Gone Fishin'

One day on the way home from church Chris asked the boys if they would like to go fishing at our neighborhood pond. Of course they said yes so we packed a picnic, took the wagon, a scooter, and our fishing gear and all had a blast, even though it was really too windy that day. We'll do it again soon!
Callen loved casting the rod himself!
Cade was such a big boy with his own pole!

Easter

Easter Basket Time
4 Handsome Boys (they didn't totally match each other this year but that's what I get for waiting 'till 2 days before Easter to get their outfits! Yikes...they all looked so cute though!!)
Love those 4 sweet smiles!
Riding the train at an egg hunt!
The Easter Bunny

ok, I'm going to sleep but I'll post more tomorrow!