Shabby Mama

Life's Many Changes...part 1.

2010-10-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-08-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-08-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-07-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2010-07-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-06-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

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!

Bacon Corn Chowder!

2010-01-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

So with all of this frigid cold weather in the past week or so I had been wanting to make a new soup. I remembered that a former lifegroup leader of mine had mentioned trying a new recipe for bacon corn chowder and I also remembered how good it sounded. So I went to All Recipes and typed that in and up popped 16 different ones. Wow, how do you pick? Well, after reading several of them I realized that I didn't really love any of the recipes as they were. So I took my favorite things about 2 of them and then added a couple of additional things that I just thought might be good...and we ALL LOVED it!!! Even the boys said it was delicious! So I thought I would pass along this recipe in case you are looking for something new as I was. Enjoy!

1/2 - 2/3 pound of bacon (or ham) - cut up in small pieces and cooked 'till crunchy
1 medium onion (diced size of corn & saute'd in bacon drippings & 1 tablespoon butter)
2-3 large carrots or 12 mini carrots (diced the size of corn)
2 small potatoes (diced the size of corn)
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernal corn (white or yellow)
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups half and half (or milk)
3 tablespoons butter (2 for the liquid mixture and 1 to saute onion in)
salt, pepper, nutmeg and sugar to taste
corn starch (mix with water and use to thicken soup)
finely shredded mild cheddar cheese

Saute the onion, then add with rest of veggies to the liquid mixture (milk, broth and seasonings) and cook on medium to low heat for about 45 minutes, thickening with corn starch after about 30 minutes. Serve with cheese and bacon pieces sprinkled over the top of each bowl. Serves about 5 full bowls.

Nifty Thrifty Designs Update and Link!

2010-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update. As many of you know, I am beyond blessed and thrilled to be able to have a small home business, Nifty Thrifty Designs. It has been a dream in the making for quite a few years! God has carried me this far and my prayer is that with everything I do in this business I would glorify His name! It's just not even worth it if I don't! I started a new blog a few months back and updated it today so go and check out my new designs when you get a chance! http://niftythriftydesigns.blogspot.com/

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

We really did have a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I pray that each one of you did as well! Here are just a few pics from this Holiday Season...I posted a bunch on facebook if you want to see more! It's hard for me to believe how big the boys are getting...Corbin started Kindergarten this year and the other boys preschool! A huge change for us and it's going so well! We have some big changes in store for us this year as well (we are praying to buy our first home!!!) and can hardly wait to see what God has in store for us. He has always been beyond faithful and good and we know He doesn't change! Love you all!Khris & LeAnn, Isaac & Stephen (my brother and his sweet family!)
Baking cookies w/ Aunt Kallie
Chris & Brenley, our new niece!
In the snow on Christmas Eve!
Cohen LOVES the snow!
My Grandma Roberts and four youngest siblings...Kevin, Kendra, Kallie & Keith
Cousins at Grammy & Grandpa's
Our FIRST White Christmas!!!
Picture w/ Santa
Christmas Eve

Our Silly Skinny Man!

2010-01-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I asked Callen to put his jeans on and this is what he did. He starts giggling and says "look Mom". I turned around to see that he had BOTH of his legs in ONE pant leg and pulled all the way up and was zipping them. Seriously, who can do that? I know none of the rest of us can, that's for sure. Honestly, I can say I've never seen that before and maybe never will again. It really was so funny and we just had to take pics and share. :-)

Resale Shop Deal of the Day!

2010-01-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

So, I normally don't post about shopping but I just have to share!!! If you normally don't shop at these type of places you might want to read this and reconsider! :-) First, I only go to these places when I know they are having a sale (off of their normal resale shop prices) because being the deal shopper I am anyway, I can normally find new clothes for less than what they are selling used stuff for. BUT...on a day like today when they are having a bag sale (all the shoes/clothes you can fit in a trash bag, that's right, not a grocery bag, for $12), you just can't get much better than that! Now, you have to understand, I'm pretty darn picky when it comes to used clothes!!! I only buy things that look barely worn and that are a nice brand that would be hard to find for that inexpensive. So, the hunt begins...and that's something that you have to be willing to do. Well, today it was SO well worth it!!! Funny thing, I had my trash bag and only had it about 2/3 full of clothes but really did not want to buy junk clothes just to buy them so when I got up to the front the guy says "are you sure you don't want to go get some more to fill up your bag?". I told him that I had looked through everything and really needed to get home so that was ok. He looked at my basket, which had some toys and Christmas stuff in it (all of that stuff was going to be 75% off too!) and said "you know what, just take all that you've got for $12."! WooHoo!!! I got 24 articles of clothing (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, Gap, Old Navy, Express, Harold's and Charlotte Russe...some for me, my husband and for Corbin to grow into), a pair of adorable black wedge shoes, 6 toys (all brand new), a display stand for my business, 3 frames and some fun Christmas stuff. I added up the total original resale price (not regular store price)...$130. So I paid $12.99 (90% off of their resale price!!!) for LOTS of fun things and could not have been more pleased with my trip. I would post pics but there really is too much stuff! So, for those of you who have never tried this, you might try it sometime, it's fun!

Finally A Girl!!!

2009-12-28T22:29:00.001-08:00

Just a little over two short weeks ago we welcomed our first niece into the family! Actually, it is the first grandaughter...there were only 4 grandsons up until now. It is so fun to finally be able to buy some pink!! :-) Lil' Miss Brenley is just precious and has the fullest little head of hair you've ever seen. Also, she was 8lbs. 10oz when born, hence the cute little chubby cheeks you see in the pics! We love her to death and I just had to share a few pics! Enjoy!
Kim just looked great!!! Such a great pic of them!
Proud Uncle Chris!
My first Niece!
Sweet Baby Kisses!
He was so happy to finally be holding her!
Chris just couldn't hand her over fast enough!! :-)

It's Snowtime!

2009-12-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

Well, this morning God blessed us with an absolutely Beautiful winter view!!! Chris woke up about 7:30 this morning (yes, all 5 of the rest of us were still asleep!) and he looked out our window and I hear "Oh Crap!" Well, we try not to use that word in our family (doesn't really sound good coming out of toddler's mouths) so I sat straight up in bed saying "What?!" He of course proceeded to tell me that it was snowing and we jumped out of bed in excitement, waking up all of the boys to let them look out the windows. We then proceeded to bundle them all up because we knew that it would not last long. My camera battery was dead so my pics are still on Chris' iphone for now but I did charge it and later we ran back outside to get a couple of pics with the snowman that Corbin, Callen and I built. We really did have so much fun for the 30 min. or so that we played out there. It's hard to believe that it's only December 2 and we've already built our first snowman of the winter! Funny thing...the boys and I started praying for snow just 3 days ago on Sunday! So cool how God answers even prayers that are just simple desires that we have! I'm so grateful that we have a God who loves to see His children smile and have fun in His creation!! Thank you Lord for our fun and beautiful morning!
Not a bad little snowman for our first one...I forgot how heavy they can be once you get the bottom ball a good size! Since the snow was wet, it got heavy really fast and was almost like a huge ball of ice. It was so heavy I couldn't even push it back up our hill to put him by our house, so his home is down by our sidewalk. :-)

Sweet little Cohen was too interested in the snowman, he never would look at the camera. I don't blame him, in his memory he's never seen one of these!

Searching for balance...

2009-11-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

So that title could obviously lead into about a million different subjects, right! Well, today...it's friendships. I'm not posting this to complain, more to get insight if you have some, or just a prayer (for all of us trying to do this same thing) if you feel led.

I'm having a hard time balancing being a Follower of Christ, a wife, a mother and a friend. That's a lot! For any of you that know me well, you know I am an extreme people person and could carry on a conversation with a wall if I had to! :-) The hard part...so many friends. Now, don't get me wrong, that's an overwhelming blessing. The problem is, how do you, on a consistent basis, continue to make time for ALL of them? This I cannot seem to figure out. And I'll be the first to admit, I'm rotten at it! My hearts desire is to be a loyal friend to the end, but how does this happen over a span of 31 years and gobs of friendships built? I've been blessed with some of the best friends in the world over my lifetime, from Jr. High/High School at GCA, College at DBU and now our home church, 121 Community Church. I couldn't have asked for greater friends than who the Lord has put into my path! Sad, but true though, many of those friendships have been really hard to keep up with because of sheer numbers. It has nothing to do with the friends, just my lack of ability to find the time to make them all still work. That's not an excuse, it's an issue I'm not quite sure how to attack. So any of you who may have ideas, I'm all ears.

Calendar? I'm guessing that's gonna be something someone suggests. I agree, scheduling is huge! How often though do you get together with friends, close or past ones you are trying to keep up with? Do you quit trying when someone can't seen to 'put you on their calendar' in spite of verbally saying they really want to get together? Sometimes it seems it's emotionally draining for me to go back and forth and not just do it! I try to be a flexible person and love to do things last minute with people when we can. Just seems like a lot of times calendars almost get in our way as much as they help us? Does anyone know what I mean? I understand that we have schedules, but when you haven't seen someone in forever, if you really want to get together don't you fit them in? I'm preaching to the choir here, don't think I've got it altogether!! Obviously I've been convicted or I wouldn't be asking how God leads you in your friendships! :-)

So I'm battling fitting time with friends in with making time for my husband (who has a very busy music ministry), taking care of our 4 precious boys and trying to give them the social opportunities they need (which in itself is a struggle sometimes with so many of them), teaching school on Tuesday & Thursdays, being active in several areas at our church, and doing my home business here and there. How do you all do it? I'd love to hear. The Lord is really working on my heart, I know this! My heart hurts when I can't be a GREAT friend to everyone, that's just my personality and I have to move past that and somehow grasp who God has made me to be and follow in the paths (friendships) He is leading me. The thing is, I don't want to loose friendships, that were so dear for so many years, altogether, that's awful. I know it happens sometimes but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt either. Well, I guess I should be done with my soap box. :-) Thanks you for listening!!

The 1st Day of School...

2009-10-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

was such a special day! I'm sorry it's taken me this long to this posted. Our one and only glitch was that Cade got sick the night before with a fever but my mom came and picked him up the next morning so the rest of us could still go. She was such a trooper for doing that!!! Love you Mom! So, with bib boy back packs in tow (new Michael Jordan ones at that!), handsome outfits all around topped off with new tennis shoes from Nanna-D, big smiles and the studliest boys you've ever seen...off to school I went for our first day at Sonshine Academy. Most of the pics below are of Corbin but I've got more coming soon off of my sisters camera of the other boys as well! They had so much fun that day and are really LOVING school. Chris and I could not be more proud of them. It is still hard and a little bitter sweet to think that Corbin, who was our first baby boy just not too long ago, is now in Kindergarten! Wow, how time flies when you're having fun! Praise the Lord for bringing us this far in our journey as parents and we pray for many more to come!!!
All four of the boys with backpacks (well, Cohen's got his lunch box!) ready to get in the car and go!
I can't believe this is my "baby"! I'm so happy yet sad just a bit! :-)
Cade just had to have his picture made with his camo backpack even though he wasn't going to school...and he had to take his backpack to Grammy's WITH his lunch box packed inside so Grammy could see it and he would have lunch, 'cause I guess he thought Grammy would forget to feed him, right?! :-)
Sweet little Callen, looking all grown up!
Sitting on the bridge you walk over to get the the kindergarten rooms. He was so ready and excited!
Standing by a list of all the kids in his class.
Sitting at his place at the table, ready to start his first assignment, and ready for me to quit taking pics! :-)
Writing his name on his paper before we even left the room!
Daddy was so proud!
One last hug from Mommy as she holds back the good tears!
Callen next to his leopard class, his name is on a lion and he takes it into his room and puts it on the board every day when he gets there! He is usually first or second getting in there so he puts it right on the top! :-)

More pics to come soon!!

We pulled another one!

2009-10-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, last night when I was brushing Corbin's teeth he was saying "ouch" because that other bottom front tooth was hurting him. I asked him if I could try just one time to pull it. He really didn't want me to because last week when we tried it wouldn't come out and it really hurt! I convinced him though that we would only try once and in my mind I knew I needed to give it my best shot because it really has been hurting him a lot in the last few days and he really didn't want to have to have the dentist pull it. Problem is, the big tooth is already growing in behind it and they were fighting for space. So, I got a wet rag, stuck it in there and got as good of a grip as I could and pulled...and pulled harder for a sec...and as Corbin was in the middle of a big "ooooowwww"...it came out! :-) He cried for a few minutes and had to hold a rag in his mouth because this one was bleeding quite a bit but once he settled down he was sooo glad it was out and not hurting any more! He was even more excited when I reminded him of the tooth fairy that would come again! :-) So here are a couple of pics from this morning...as you can see, the permanent tooth on the other side is already 1/2 way in! He's so cute!

Snagle Tooth!

2009-10-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

So I posted a while back that Corbin had two teeth loose. Well, I'm a bit behind in blogging, sorry!!! Only 3 days after finding the first loose tooth it fell out. Well, not really fell out, I pulled it. He was eating lunch and started to cry pretty hard. He said that his tooth was hurting. So we went in the bathroom to look at it and I could tell it was REALLY loose so I asked him if he wanted me to try and pull it, fully expecting him to say no, that's just his personality normally. BUT, he said yes much to my surprise so I got a rag wet and grabbed the tooth and pulled a bit and low and behold it came right out. Both of us kinda looked at each other shocked and smiled and looked at the tooth and the hole in his mouth. It didn't hurt any more! :-) Well, first things first, he wanted to know if the tooth fairy was real and if she was really going to come into his room to get his tooth. He was visibly nervous/scared about that so we took the same aproach as with Santa Clause and just told him the truth. Hopefully he won't ruin it for all his friends that 'believe' but it made it fun for him to not have to worry about it but still get to do it. So we put it in a bag and put the bag in a tin and put it under his pillow and the next morning...there was $3 in there (I told the tooth fairy he was going to go broke with 4 mouths worth of teeth at $3 a pop!!!). He was SO excited. So now the other one on the bottom is trying to come out and hurting. We've tried to pull it but it's hangin' in there so we'll see.
Are we really about to do this?!
Holy Cow!!! It came right out :-)
And there it is!
So cute missing a tooth!!!Putting it in a bag for the Tooth FairyPutting the bag in a tin to put under his pillow.

Closing it up tight! Then Nighty Night...can't wait to see what's in there in the morning!

A Sick Week! :-(

2009-10-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I want to begin by saying that God has been SOOOOO good to us as a family because we really have not been sick very often! Praise the Lord for an overall healthy family!!! This week though, not so much. :-) It started on Sunday, we went to church and of course exposed everyone to the wonderful stomach bug that we got, but didn't know we had it yet, later that afternoon. Cade, Corbin, Callen and I all threw up for a good 6+ hours each. Fun times.

So we went to the doctor on Monday for Corbin's 6 year old well check and ALL 5 got the flu shot. Yeah! Maybe we won't get it.

Well, then we wake up Tuesday morning and the right side of Corbin's face and neck had swollen up about twice the side of the other. Yikes, what is that? My first thoughts were lymph nodes because he has had a problem with that before in the same side of his face. So I called the doctor and we went in again, two days in a row...not sure if we had ever done that before. Dr. McCoy made me very nervous because at first he thought it was the mumps but couldn't figure out why he would have that after having been vacinated twice already. It ended up being that the stomack virus we had decided to settle in his salivary gland on that side of the face and cause parititis, which is very painful! Just took about 2 1/2 days to run its course and clear up.

So then we move to Thursday morning. When we got up I just didn't feel like Cade looked right, although he really didn't have any symptoms. I guess I should have stayed home but if I stayed home each time I thought one of them didn't look right I would never go anywhere! And most of the time it turns out to be nothing. Well, by 4:30 Thursday afternoon he was running 101 fever and sneezing and coughing. Uh Oh!!! He was just flat out miserable all evening. Poor little guy! So This morning rolls around and I call in AGAIN and they wanted to see him to run a flu test. And they did, and he not only has the flu....drum roll please...he has the H1N1 (SWINE FLU)! Oopies!! (at least that's what Cade would say!) I kinda figured it was eventually bound to get one of them but it still took me by suprise! So he is now on Tamaflu and we are all praying the rest of us don't get it although we kinda feel like sittin' ducks. I trust that the Lord is going to take care of us just like he always has!

So on a side note...I've decided that it's better and easier for all of us to get something at the same time than to get it all strung out and at different times! You just all lay around and moan and groan and sleep a whole bunch, then after you are all better you just blow up your house and get a new one! :-) Sounds good doesn't it! No really, that's what happened with us and the stomach bug and it was so much easier to just wash everything once after all being sick than having to wash it multiple times because people keep getting sick for weeks! I'm kinda praying that IF the Lord is going to allow us to all (or several of us at least) get the swine flu that He will allow us to have it together and just get it over with and out of this house! AMEN!!! :-) We'll see and I'll get back with you on that.

So for now I continue to quote multiple times a day outloud as well as in my heart..."I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Even Cade can say that verse now and I love it! He is with us all the time and I trust He is taking care of us!

Sent chills down my spine!

2009-09-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

So last night we had just left Chris' Nanny's home and were driving decently slow through a neighborhood street in Dallas about 10:30PM. The boys were asking me a couple of questions and I saw something in the distance that looked kinda fishy. As we got closer and my headlights made the road brighter, it became very clear what was crawling across the street...a HUGE (4-5in. leg span when crawling at least) Tarantula!!! That sent chills from head to toe (to a degree that I don't get very often), that's for sure! I grew up seeing these here and there, we even caught a couple of them, but you never really get used to seeing them if you ask me. They really do creap me out. So the rest of my drive home I kept getting a small itch here and there and I know it was just because I kept thinking about that spider! Good thing is I haven't seen one out and about like that in about 10 years or more so maybe it will be that long before the next one I see!!!

Aligators, Snakes and Vacation...Oh My! (PART 2)

2009-09-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon, after our morning of fun at Jump Zone, we all packed up again and drove to Houston for an Astros game! We had never been to the newer stadium so that was really fun....very nice! They didn't win but we still had a good time! The boys were beyond cute with their jumbled, mixed up sports questions/sayings they threw at us all night long. Here are just a few: Callen-"have they made a shot yet?", "did we make a touchdown?", Corbin-"how many points do we have?", "let's go see the court". Can you tell what sport they are into the most right now? (it's basketball in case anyone was wondering, we even have a basketball goal IN the dining room...what's a mom to do with 4 boys?) :-) It really was a great night and Chris even got to have a little fun with Kendal (the rest of us didn't know about it until after he got back)...Chris got up to go walk around with Cohen, because of course Cohen did not want to sit still, and while they were out and about the entire stadium, Chris would text Kendal and ask him if he could find them. I think he did pretty well, actually, finding them all but one time! A little game of 'where's Chris and Cohen' if you will! Next time I want in on the game! :-) Here are a few pics from the night.
Checkin' out how high up we are.
The train that 'goes' if they get a home run!
The field from our view above home plate.
In our seats.
Brothers excited about the game!Checkin' out the 'court'! :-)
In front of the Astros Boot.
Ridin' the escelator with Uncle Kendal
Havin' fun in the funny fold up seat!
Coming back from one of our 'million' bathroom trips! I kept thinking they were just wanting to go up and down the stairs but they really did 'go' every single time.
Riding on uncle Kendal!!

Check this out.
The next day we just hung out at the house and chilled...needed the rest from the past two packed days! That afternoon G-Daddy pulled out a bunch of water guns that he had bought for us all to have a water gun fight in the back yard. Of course the boys went crazy and had sooooo much fun. The pics tell a better story than I can!
Getting a lesson from Daddy on aiming and shooting!
Sneeky little guy!
Armed and Ready! :-)
No fear!!!
You want a piece of me?!!
You know I'm Bad!
Here I come!Bobbing for?...I'm just not sure.Cohen in the cooler, he thought that was so funny!
Cade chillin' in the cooler, I might too if I could fit!
Nanna-D joined in on the action!
The refil station.
On Thursday, we got up and went to the Gator Farm. That was a lot of fun! There are several ponds full of them and you can buy hot dogs and tear them up and feed them. The boys really enjoyed throwing hot dogs and seeing then come out of the water after them. We got to get up withing 6" or so of a couple of those gators. Then before we left, the head guy came and gave us our own little personal 'talk' and told us all about the place and we got to hold a 4 yr old 'baby' aligator and a 6 1/2 foot albino python. An experience I'm glad we got to share but pretty sure I never care to hold another snake that big!!! I'm sure though, with only boys our family other than me, there will be more snakes...and many other cool adventures I'll get to experience that I might not if I only had girls! :-)
G-Daddy and the snake.
SERIOUSLY!!! Somebody better get this snake off of me fast or I AM going to flip out on the outside instead of just the inside!!!
So cool and calm! Not me! :-)
And if you look really close, YES, the snake began to wrap himself up between Callen's legs! Didn't even phase him!
So brave!!! I was so proud of all of them!
And then there was Cade, holding onto the snake as if it is his friend! :-)
Not as bad as the snake...actually kinda cool!
I think it kinda flipped Nanna-D out though...that's ok! :-)
Can we take him home Daddy?!
I did it Mommy!!!
This is so cool (especially now that I've seen Cade hold it and everything was fine!) :-)
Poor sweet Cade, when the guy ask who wanted to hold the aligator first Callen piped up and said "Cade does" while Corbin just pointed over in their direction. Cade just stuck his hands out with a smile and was so brave!!!
Is that real? They all weren't sure that it wasn't alive! So cute!
AAAAHHHH! He's eating our arms!
Feeding the aligators.
One of the aligators waiting to be thrown a hot dog...or he may be hoping a kid falls in, who knows!

Great Home Guidelines!

2009-09-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

So a friend of mine tagged me in a note on facebook and this is what it contained. These are Home Guidelines 'written' (I put that in quotes because some of these are just basically straight out of scripture!) by Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar. I knew they had a million (well, I guess only 18 or so) kids but we don't have cable so I really didn't realize that they are a strong Christian family. All of the things below are things we each 'know' we should do but whether we put them into practice or not is a different story. I just wanted to put them out there as a challenge to other moms who may read this. It was deffinately a reminder and challenge to me of a heart goal that I should be striving for each day as I love on, pour into, teach and take care of our 4 precious boys! Enjoy!

Always use soft words, even when you don’t feel well.
Always display kind actions and joyful attitudes, even if you have been mistreated. Have the right response by quickly forgiving others in your heart even before they ask.
Always be enthusiastic and look for opportunities to praise others' character.
Always deflect praise and be grateful to God and others for the ways they have benefited your life.
Always use manners and be respectful of others and their belongings.
Always do what is right, even when others may not, or when no one is looking.
Thank God for how He made you, for what He has given you and everything He allows you to go through. (Romans 8:28)
Don’t mock or put others down. Develop compassion and pray for others.
Never argue, complain, or blame. Quickly admit when you have done wrong and ask for forgiveness (even if you were only 10% at fault). Don't wait till you’re caught. Be sure your sins will find you out. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes it shall find mercy.
Have a tough accountability/prayer partner to daily share your heart with and to keep you in line (your parents, spouse). The power of sin is in secrecy.
Be attentive and look for ways to serve others with sincere motives and no thought of self-gain.
Think pure thoughts (Philippians 4:8, Romans 13:14).
Always give a good report of others. Don't gossip! Never tale-bear unless physical harm will come to someone. (Use Matthew 18.)
Never raise a hand to hit.
Never raise a foot to kick.
Never raise an object to throw.
Never raise a voice to yell.
Never raise an eye to scowl.
Use one toy/activity at a time. Share!
Do your best to keep your surroundings neat, clean and organized.
Never let the sun go down on your wrath. (Don’t go to bed angry or guilty)
Amendment J.O.Y. -
Put Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.

My new Teaching Job/Ministry

2009-08-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

All last year Chris and I have really been praying about where we were to put Corbin into Kindergarten. The public elementary school, Granger (that is just 2 minutes from our house where he would go if we put him in public school), is wonderful! The principle is a believer and just 2 years ago when they opened the school they had 1000's of teachers apply to teach there so they were able to hire the cream of the crop! We have a few friends who have kids there and they all rant and rave over it. All that said, I just didn't have a peace about it. At least not for this year. Corbin has never been able to go to a pre-school of any sort so I really felt strongly that going from nothing to all day 5 day kindergarten was going to be rough! Beyond that, it has been a very strong desire of mine that he would be able to go to a private school. Problem is, they are SOOOOOO expensive out here, that was NOT going to be an option. As for homeschooling, I used to think I was going to do that in the early elementary years. Then I had 4 boys in 4 1/2 years and began to feel beyond overwhelmed by the everyday task that were before me each day. I'm sure with God's strength and if it really was His will for me I could do it. Problem is, I didn't have a peace about that either. Then one day it hit me...why not get a job at a Christian pre-school that has a kindergarten as well and all 4 boys could go with me. I have multiple friends who work at different schools so I began asking around and gathering information. One other problem I knew I would run into was that many of these schools still make you pay for 1/2 of the tuition for each child. These schools are not cheep so that was going to be expensive as well. Then I found out that there were two schools, Stars Acadamy at Abundant Life Church in Grapevine and Sonshine Academy at First Baptist Colleyville, that payed for all of the tuition for your kids to come and even payed you on top of that. WOOOOOOW is what I was thinking. So I began praying and applying and trusting God that He would help Chris and I to make the right decision. Over a month and a half passed without hearing anything and I began to get really nervous. Then one week I found out Stars wanted me to work in their Summer Camp program and that Sonshine wanted me to be a 3yr. old teacher starting in the Fall. WooHoo!!!!! So all summer long we went to Stars summer camp, same days and times that school will be in the fall, which really helped to prepare both the boys and I for the fall. It's so cool how the Lord worked that out!

So this weekend we had our Teacher's Training Retreat. It was AWSOME...to say the least. We are all going to be so prepared! I love that because then all of the kids will get the best! All of the teachers are wonderful!! I am teaching in the 3yr old department...there are 5 3 yr. old classes with 2 teachers in each and our director and we really do have such an awsome group of women! I could not be more excited about the opportunity to teach with all of them! This school is so nice...3 indoor playgrounds, 2 outdoor playgrounds, huge lunchroom, large music room, classrooms galore as decked out with toys and learning objects as you can imagine and 4 resource/supply rooms (not closets but rooms!!). The boys were able to go up there one day this week with me and they didn't want to leave, they had so much fun and are so stinkin' excited. The cool thing is, Corbin and I will get the best of both worlds...he will go to a private kindergarten two days a week and then I will homeschool him the other 3. Even greater thing is that they are writing my curriculum!!! I'm not having to do that myself. Love that!

Lastly, I had a nice surprise as well this morning. They did a drawing to give away a parent/Child conference at Pine Cove this Fall and I won!!! I've never won anything that big and am so exicited about getting to take Corbin to that and have our relationship as mother and son grow in Christ!!!

So, I could not be more exicted about my new teaching job!!! Please be in prayer with me as we adjust to the new schedule and schoolwork! I truly do feel that God led us to this school! One year down (as far as deciding where to go) and 17 to go. Thanks so much everyone!!!

All I want for my Birthday is to lose my two front teeth!

2009-08-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

I knew it was about that time! Corbin has a couple of friends who have just recently lost a tooth so I knew that any day now we would find a loose one. We've been talking about it almost daily but he hasn't said anything to me. Well, tonight while I was brushing his teeth I was telling him that I was just sure that any day now we would find a loose tooth. Then after we finished I asked him to open up so I could feel the bottom teeth and just see. I almost jumped when I grabbed the bottom right tooth because it moved immediately...and a bunch! We both started laughing as I almost screemed out of excitement that he already has one and it could come out any time! Then, after getting all of that on video and showing Daddy I asked him to let me see one more time. Much to my surprise, the bottom left center is a bit loose as well. TWO!! I can't believe he is just growing up so fast! He did start getting his teeth at 4mo. old so this isn't early. How fun, we may be snagletooth for our first day of Kindergarten...which by the way is September 1st with Mrs. Jenny (I got to meet her today and Corbin is going to LOVE her!). My baby is growing up...such a bittersweet experience!

Alligators, Snakes and Vacation, Oh My! (PART 1)

2009-08-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Last week we drove down to Beaumont, TX to spend our vacation time with Chris parents. We were excited to go because it's been right at about a year since the last time we were able to go down there to visit. They were more than gracious and planned several fun things for us to do as a family while we were there and we had loads of fun! The question is...where do I begin?

Chris dad rented a 15 passenger van so that we could all ride together. Let me tell you, 4 little boys, Mommy and Daddy, Nanna-D and G-Daddy pluss Uncle Kendal and his good friend Chris make one full van! We had fun though all riding together!

On Monday, we left early and drove to Galveston to spend a day at the beach. We rode the fairy on the way their which the boys thought was the coolest thing in the world. I was a bit nervous that Cohen might not like the beach (only because when Corbin was his age and we took him to the beach, he was terrified, didn't think that would happen though because Cohen doesn't seem to be afraid of much). Well, he LOVED it. EVERYTHING about it. He would toddle around in the sand and walk on over to the water, sit (or fall) down in the water and just giggle as the waves washed up past him and then back down again. The salt water did not seem to bother any of the boys that much, in spite of their mother despising it! And much to my surprise, Cade wanted to be burried in the sand over and over again. Callen wanted to as well until Daddy shoveled a handful of sand right in his mouth. Didn't upset him but he never asked again either. :-) Would you? We built a sand castle and all...we had what I think was a beautifully fun day at the beach!Riding the fairy.Cohen's first reaction to the beach...so cute!Corbin excited to be there!
Callen getting some energy out!
Cohen trying to keep up with big brothers.
Posin' for MaMa!
Lovin' the beach!Proud of their sandcastle! They did most of the work too!
Waiting to get burried...little did he know what was coming! Yuk!!!
Not even a bit scared of being buried with sand! Crazy!
Brothers having a blast together!
Waiting to jump another wave.Me and the Hub! Chris took the boys out one at a time to the deep waves...much braver than I!
G-Daddy found a rotted fish...yuk! The boys thought that was so interesting and funny! Of course...I'm preparing myself for many more of these experiences.

After the beach we spent the afternoon at Keemah. We walked around the boardwalk and the boys got to ride a few carnival rides. It was a fun finish to a great day!

On Tuesday morning, they took the boys to Jump Zone, one of those places with all the huge bounce houses in it, and the boys got 2 straight hours of pure fun. It wore every one of them out, that's for sure!Cohen did pretty good running in this bounce house, I was surprised...I don't know why though, he tries to do everything brothers do!
Cade had SOOOO much fun!
Of course Cohen never made it more than about 10 steps and then toppled over and laughed his little heart out!I could hardly even get them to slow down for one second to try and snap a pic...therefore, we have a bunch of blury pics of boys on the move! Shows how much fun they were having though!
Coming down the giant slide...no fear!
Going as fast as he can!
Always doin' somethin' goofy!
When he's happy...he REALLY happy!!!

From Baby Curls to Big Boy Crew Cut

2009-08-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we love our boys' hair!!! They really do have great hair...and the longer it gets, the more attatched to it I get! It's just so cute and with it being in style for boys to have longer hair, it's just so darn hard to cut it. BUT, it's also HOT in Texas in the summer! So at the beginning of July, we cut all of the boys long hair off and gave them what I guess would be called a typical crew cut. They look ever so adorable like that as well...and are actually discovering that you can make a fohawk with that type of haircut, so I think next time we cut it we might even go a bit shorter so they can style it! :-) Anyway, below are a couple of before and after pics of Cohen, this was only his second haircut ever. It just made him look so much older and bigger! Adorable I think!! (but I am his mother!)

One Man's Junk...Is Another Woman's Treasure!!! :-)

2009-08-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago (I'm a bit behind on blogging!!! Sorry, trying to catch up though), the boys and I were leaving our neighborhood to run a couple of errands. Well, it was bulk trash week and I'm a sucker for things people are getting rid of! We are pulling out and across the street from us in another neighborhood I spot something that looks usable, actually quite nice. So I drive over there, just like Curious George would do! Well, now I could tell that it was a piece of furniture but it was laying down in the street so it was a bit hard to tell what it was and if it was broken or messed up at all. So I tell the boys to wait a minute, that Mommy is going to jump out and look at something. I had to pick it up (not lightweight if you are wondering) and stand it up so I could see it. It was love at first sight. I was NOT leaving there without it (because if you think like me, I knew it would be gone by the time I got back). I knew this was going to become one of my favorite pieces of furniture in my home...One MAJOR issue at hand. How to get it home?!? I was determined though! I quickly opened the back of our SUV and told Corbin and Callen that they were going to have to climb up in the front seat so that Mommy could take their carseats out and lay the back seats down in order to take this home. They just thought this was the greatest thing in the world...and funny too! So that's just what we did. Oh, the double stroller was also in the back because you know I don't go anywhere without it. And of course, there was no one in sight to help me lift this monster into my car. Where there's a will there's a way though ladies! We all know that. So the pic below is of my new antique mini buffet (I think that is what it would be called) that I LOVE!!! It just makes my heart smile and reminds me that God cares even about the silly things in life! :-)

My Heart's Not Ready To Share!

2009-08-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it all started earlier this spring when Corbin asked me one day if we (him and I) were going to get married when he grows up. The conversation went something like this...

C-Hey Mommy, when I grow up are we going to get married?
M-Well Honey, little boys don't marry their Mommy's, pluss, Mommy already married your daddy. Don't worry about it though because Mommy can be your girlfriend for a really long time!
C-But Mommy, why can't we get married when I grow up, I want to live with you forever.
M-(as my heart is melting)Trust me, one day when you get older, you will fall in love with someone and want to marry them.

Then there was about 5 minutes that passed without him saying anything else about it. Then he says...
C-Mommy, ARE??? we going to get married when I grow up?
M-No Sweetie, but remember, don't worry about that for now, I can be your girlfriend for a long time.
C-Yah, and then when I get big I'll be your husband! (said with a big smile on his face as he skipped over to the dining room to play basketball)

Clearly he doesn't understand the concept of marriage, sweet as can be though! Now, fast forward to a couple of weeks ago at camp. The speaker brought his daughter and her best friend with him. Emily, his daughter, was dark haired and a similar build to me and just as sweet to Corbin (and the other boys) as could be. Corbin REALLY liked Emily a LOT and wanted to be with her ALL day the last two days and was very sad to have to leave her at the end of camp. Well, about two weeks after that we had another conversation that went like this...

C-Mommy, when we get to Beaumont can we go see Emily?
M-I'm not sure honey but maybe. You really like Emily don't you?
C- Yes, see Mom, when we first got there I really liked Emily, but later in the week I really started to love her. She is just so pretty and nice to me.
M-That's great that you love Emily, I'm sure she loved you too.
C-Well, when we go to her house I'm gonna ask her where her room is. Then I'm going to take her to her room and tell her I need to talk to her and then I'm going to ask her to marry me.
M-(WHAT??? I thought you wanted to marry me?!? I'm thinking this of course, not saying it to him!!!) Well Baby, come here, Mommy needs to tell you something. Emily is a lot older than you and you really aren't going to be able to get married to her.
C-(Sobbing at this point) But Mommy, I love her, it's just not fair we can't get married!
M-Remember, one day when you grow up you will fall in love with the girl God has for you! Mommy has been praying for you and her since before you were born.
C-you know who she is?
M-No, but I'm praying she will follow hard after Christ, just like I'm praying that for you!

Well, he cried, actually sobbed, for about 15 minutes and then decided he was alright. It just almost broke my heart into pieces to see his little heart broken! He is such a sweet little boy with a HUGE heart and he truly LOVES so many people! He has a heart of gold for sure! All of this truly made me realize, though, that for now...my heart is not ready to share! :-) With God's strength though I know that as the time comes I will be able to let him fall in love...that's going to have to be one special girl!!

I don't know why she swallowed the fly...

2009-07-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

'cause I spit it out as fast as I could!

DISCLAIMER...if you are extremely week stomached, maybe you should just skip this one! :-) I'm just sayin'.

That's right, I almost swallowed a fly! YUK...and tottally unfare!!! (being that I've already eaten 50+ maggets back in college, and yes, you read that right...but that's another story and we won't go there). So I had told my sister this story back they beginning of June right after it happened and told her I was going to post it on my blog but then forgot. Well, she so sweetly reminded me while we were at camp last week (which by the way...we had a blast! Thanks Kallie for making our 2 weeks of camp FUN and doable!). :-) So here goes. It was the morning after my all nighter (which I blogged about a while ago), well, actually it was the reason that I ended up not getting a couple hours of sleep. Something about almost swallowing a fly that just wakes you up, whiggs you out and for sure does not allow you to go back to sleep again! It was about 4:30am and I had just gotten back from taking Cade to the ER for his ears. Chris had bought me a sonic drink earlier the night before but I had left it at home and not gotten to drink it yet and I was now VERY thirsty! So, I picked it up on my way to bed and took a sip of it. That's when the horror of all horrors happened. I heard it and felt the struggle between my tounge and teeth as I smushed it and killed it (thinking in that split second that it was a piece of lime (I had gotten a limeade with extra line...as usual). Oh I killed it in that split second but as soon as I did I knew what I had done and couldn't reverse it! Keep in my EVERYONE in my house is out cold and all I want to do is screem at the top of my lungs (like I did back in college with the other incident). But I couldn't so I silently screamed and whispered aehh!! over and over as I ran to my bathroom and proceeded to wash my mouth out with hot water and then got in the shower and showered forever. And during that shower is when I decided I totally agreed (I agreed before, just not with knowledge from experience) with that old nursury rhyme that's in the title of this post!

Goin' To The Zoo

2009-07-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we got to go to the Fort Worth Zoo with some of my family...Grammy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Kallie, MiMi, Aunt LeAnn, Cousin Isaac and Baby Cousin Stephen! We all had so much fun together looking at the fascinating animals that God made! I took our new Flip video camera (which by the way is my new favorite thing we have!!! Greatest little video camera to be able to take with you wherever you go and it doesn't add bulk to your load!)...anyway, I forgot to take any video the first half of the day but took some after lunch. Chris made this video for the boys to be able to watch throughout the year until next time we go (our boys like the zoo but don't really want to go mutlitple times a year so this is a way to allow them to savor their once a year trip a bit more! :-)!!).

Divin' In

2009-07-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

So we went to camp with Chris this week and we really did have so much fun! My sister Kallie went with us...she is a HUGE help!!! Since it was sooooo hot while we were there, one of the only things we could really do outside was go to the pool (the giant slip and slide down the hill was fun though too!!). Little did I know that on the second day we were there, Corbin would decide he wanted to jump off of the diving board like all the big kids were...canon balls were already his newest thing, he just did them off the side of the pool. Well, of course whatever he does the other two have to do! So below is a video of all three of them, and they did this over and over and over and over again...having sooooo much fun each time!! We are so proud of how far they've come in the water this summer!

Walking!!!

2009-07-06T21:25:00.001-07:00

Cohen started walking at 13 1/2 months!!! I'm late getting pics of him up, I actually have taken more video than pics. I'll do my best to get a video up soon! He is so cute when he waddles around the room, he is even trying to chase after brothers already! I'm not sure how ready I am for him to be a big boy but it's happening fast! Thankfully, he is my fourth cuddler!!! The Lord answered my prayers and gave me 4 boys who all LOVE to cuddle! I could not love it more!!! I cherish each moment I have with each one of them. My cup continues to overflow, thank you Lord!!!

Silly Hair!

2009-07-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

We got to hang out at Nanny's a week ago and have a lot of fun catching up! The boys always play outside for a while, getting all stinky and dirty, so they have a bath when they come in. The pictures below hardly begin to capture how funny Cade's and Callen's hair looked when Chris sent them in after their bath. They laughed so hard, they know we think they are the cutest kids ever...well, they are!!!! :-)
The next Alfalfa!!!
Not a bad little part there Daddy!
What did he do to me, Mommy!?
Aunt Kim and Cade!I love Nanny!!!

Swim Buddies!!!

2009-07-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Just another pic from the pool...I think this was our first one of all four of them together this summer. They truly are having loads of fun swimming with each other and are getting better at swimming on their own every time we go! I'm so proud of each of them!!!

Another Little Helper!?!

2009-07-06T21:00:00.001-07:00

So I don't normally leave the dishwasher open because Cohen will get stuff out and play with it...or break it, depending on what it is that he pulls out. However, the other day somehow it either got left open all the way or cracked enough that he could get it open and this is what I found him doing...emptying the plates for me into a nice, neat stack! I could hardly believe it and could not have been more proud of him! Of course I had to take pictures as he told me all about what he was doing. Such a precious little helper!!!
Reaching as far as he can to get the plates out.
He had to tell me all about what he was doing as he put the plates in a stack.
He didn't even drop one! Smart little guy! :-)
So excited about how proud Mommy is of him!

Welcoming Home a Hero!

2009-07-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

We had the privilage and honor of being able to go to DFW airport a week ago and welcome my cousin Cory home from Afghanistan. He has been there for 6 months and after his 15 days break will return for 6 months more. He truly is a hero to all of us and it is a joy to have him home to be able to spend some time with him before he goes back! It was so exciting for the boys to be able to be there as he came off the plane and honor him and the other soldiers as they walked through the airport! We love you Cory!
Callen, sitting on top of Uncle Kevin's shoulders, can hardly wait to see all the soldiers!Cade never changed his expression. :-)
A precious little nervous smile for Mommy!Cohen and MiMi
Signs we made to welcome Cory home.
Here they come!!!Huggs for his sisters, Amy and Laci. A big hug for Dad (my Uncle Don)

Laci, all decked out in Red, White and Blue to welcome her little brother home!
All of us with MiMi and GranGran and Cory and Bri.
Got the bags, lets go eat!
In Daddy's arms!

Oh!...did you know that hole goes all the way through?!?

2009-06-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

That would be the first thing I said to our pre-school director, Pam Nichols, after they handed Callen to me after bringing him from his class at VBX (Vacation Bible Extreme) and told me he had bit his lip a little. A LITTLE? Not so much. :-) I can smile and laugh about it now but at the time it was the furthest from funny. One of his teachers is a nurse practitioner and she had looked at it and said he would be fine but I'm pretty sure the reason she didn't realize it went all the way through is because Callen didn't want her to look at it, he wanted Mommy! So once he was in my lap and let me wipe it off good (because his mouth was full of blood and chin covered), I noticed that it was open in the front as well as inside. My gut (meaning I fealt this way but kept it inside, thus hidden from Callen) reaction was 'Oh my word, his lip is never going to be the same!' Of course within seconds when I came back down to reality and really got control of my momentary whigging out, I thought 'we will for sure have to have this glued (with dermabond) shut because he is SOOOO active he will surely continue to open this up. I continued to wind down though for another couple minutes and decided to just watch him for a bit and was reminded of what my mom (a former nurse) has always told me...'if you can get the bleading to stop and it sits shut then it should be fine'. Whithin 20 minutes we had the bleading stopped and it was not open on the outside at all...not to mention he was runnin around playing like it never happened, of course! So I decided to just let it heal on it's own. It's not a huge gash but it's about the width of your little pinkie nail on the inside and out, so not tiny either! So that was almost our 4th trip with him to the ER...Sweet child is just active, has no fear and loves to have fun...actually, I think a chair got pulled out from underneath him this time and he hit the table in front of him but again, things happen. I praise the Lord that it was not worse!!!

Trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo!

2009-06-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

So below is a slew of pictures we took on our trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo a couple of weeks ago. I know some of you may not want to look at all of them but this post of mainly for our family that doesn't get to see the boys all the time. Enjoy! We really did have a great time! God was so creative when He created all of the animals and it is so fun to go and enjoy His creation!
That boys cheeks just make me want to eat him! :-)
First ever train ride!
Do you think he is excited?!
Tired! But excited!
We've been waiting to ride the train all day!
So excited!!!
Kevin, Grammy, Kallie and MiMi
Ok, so Cade washed his hands after petting the animals and went to dry them, only to figure out that there was COLD air coming out of the dryer. Well, he was no dummy, it was a hot and humid day so what did he do? That's right, he stepped right up underneath it and cooled himself right off!!! With a big old grin on his face the whole time as well! I love that little guy!
Brushing the goat.
Petting a snake!
I wanna touch it too!
Wheelies in the stroller!
I'm not afraid of you...any more that is! A year ago, we couldn't even go into the bulding with the snakes! :-)
Learning to walk is so fun!
I love the zoo!
I really just want to eat that boy up he is SOOOOO cute!!! I'm not a proud mom though! :-)
Yay!!!
Watchin' the penguins.
Maybe surgery made her more limber? Who would've thought!
Callen feeding a bird.
Cade holding and feeding a bird.
Corbin holding and feeding a bird.
These animals are seriously fascinating!
I'm up high Mommy!
King of the authill!
Lookin' at the huge catfish...at least I think that's what those huge orange fish are but that's really just a guess! :-)
At one point I turn around to see Micah in Callen's lap, they had so much fun together! (Micah is Isaac's cousin)
This is what Cohen did 1/2 of the time! Hard for a baby to see the animals unless they are moving around and putting on a show! He had fun though just riding in the stroller and being outside!
What are those big pink birds Mommy?
Corbin deciding where we needed to go next.
Cohen deciding where he needed to go next...
and then moving out!
Stephen and Cohen...if you look closely, Stephen has a hold of Cohen's hat so it looks like he is laughing and saying "hehe, I got you!"...sweet cousins!
Kevin and Corbin pondering.
LeAnn and Isaac.
Cade next to the Gorilla...which he does a great impression of but did NOT want to go and stand by it for a pic, I had to smack the glass a few times to prove to him that the gorilla could not hear him or come through there! :-)
Cohen, on the other hand, had NO fear! He was talking to them and just smackin' that glass, trying to get their attention or make them more or something!
Kevin and Cade...buddies!

It's Summertime...we'll see you at the pool!!!

2009-06-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Swimming is one of our most FAVORITE things to do as a family so when it gets hot, that's just what we do! We have a pool in our neighborhood that we can go to any time so we go several times a week all summer long and the boys just love it. Cohen is having fun, this is really his first summer to swim. The boys have been asking me ALL winter long when the pool was going to open again so of course the FIRST day it was open (on Memorial Day weekend) we went. It had been raining a ton that week and really had just not been that hot yet so as you can imagine, the water was still REALLY cold. The older 3 boys don't care but sweet little Cohen was not sure how fun that was to be in the cold water. Now that it is getting really hot outside consistantly and the pool has warmed up a bit he LOVES it. Below are some pics from our first couple visits to the pool!
Playing with Mommy!
Not sure about the cold water but doing his best to have fun!
Cohen's first day to swim didn't go so well...the water was FREEZING!
He had more fun just crawling around and watching everyone else swim.
My youngest brother Kevin kept the older boys entertained! They LOVE Kevin!!!
Cohen did let Kallie, my youngest sister, hold him some in the pool, still didn't want to be in the water much though!
These boys had no issues with cold water!!!

My first ALL nighter in years!

2009-06-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I was preparing to do a garage sale the next day with a friend when Cade started getting fussy that night. He had been asleep for a bit so I thought maybe he was having a bad dream or something. He screamed pretty hard and for a while but I was finally able to settle him down and get him back to sleep, so I thought. I went back to getting my stuff done for the next day and sure enough, he started screaming again. Now at this point many of you would have probably already been thinking ear infection but my kids don't get ear infections hardly ever (I think we have had 5 total in almost 6 years among all 4 of them). And when they have actually gotten one, I have always found out at a check up appointment or something because they have never fussed about them. So this was breaking new ground for me and it took me a while to figure out what was going on. I guess it was around 2am or so that I finally noticed him pulling on one ear and ask him if his ear hurt and of course he said yes. So, in spite of the fact that Chris and I had just paid off our biggest lump of debt in one week and had next to NO money (Satan loves to set us back when we are taking steps of faith right!), I headed off to the ER with our sweet boy to try and help him feel better. The doctor and nurse were great, he had what they call impacted ear wax next to an infected each which was making it hurt even worse, so they cleaned both ears out and gave him perscriptions and sent us on our way. I stoped to get meds and got home around 5am, just to have to shower and load the car to leave for the garage sale at 6:15am. WOW, how did we do lock-ins when we were kids...oh wait, we slept 'till 2pm when we got home! I didn't get to do that neadless to say so I think I'm still trying to catch up! Praise the Lord our God is faithful and He not only helped Cade get better and gave me energy to survive the next several days but he also provided the money (from the garage sale if nothing else!) to cover the ER trip and meds when we didn't think we had it! It's so cool to me how God showed us once again how He knows everything way ahead of time and works things out in ways we could not have ever planned on our own...i.e. the very weekend we were having our garage sale to make some 'extra' (at least that's what we thought it would be) money to help pay off our last bit of debt, we ended up needing it for this ER trip because we payed off our debt earlier than planned. God knew we would need that money to cover that extra expense and He made a way for us to get it! Isn't our God awsome!!!
This was not too long after we got there...we didn't even get home until almost 5am!
In spite of being sick and screaming a bunch that night he was still just as precious as ever!!!
This is the position he stayed in while the doctor cleaned out his ears, he never even opened his eyes he was so worn out by then, poor little guy!

Finally getting rid of the infant car seat...

2009-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

after only using it for all four boys! Actually, it will not longer be a legal car seat as of this coming December, what a blessing that we never had to buy more than one! And thanks to such AWSOME friends and God providing through them we have only had to buy 1 out of 4 of our big boy car seats!!! We just moved Cohen to his new seat a couple of weeks ago and he LOVES it! He is facing forward now so the pics below are from his very first time being able to see Mommy and everything else from that perspective. I couldn't help but post them because his face was so sweet and he had so much fun! He's just getting so big!

3 down and 1 to go!!!

2009-06-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's official, Cade potty trained himself last Monday...truly almost all by himself. All morning long he kept coming to me completely naked...well, he'd have a shirt on but no shorts or diaper. So I would ask him why he was naked and he would tell me he had to go peepee in the potty. I would tell him "good job!" and then put his diaper back on him and no longer than 30 minutes later here he would come again, naked jaybird bobo bottom...that's what we call it in our house when we want to be funny. I'm kinda slow to realize what's going on sometimes and by about noon that day it finally struck me that he had not peed one drop in that diaper he had had on all morning so I asked him "would you like to put on big boy underwear?" Of course he said YES and the rest is just history! He has had only 4 very small accidents in over a week and a 1/2 and also wakes up dry most mornings as well. We could not be more proud of him considering he is still 3 months out from turning 3! He is our earliest potty trainer to date!...and I love it! If I didn't think it was inapropriate I'd take a pic of him in his fun undies and show y'all but that's not gonna happen, you'll just have to come on over if you really want to see! :-)

Birthday Journal...and Baby Clothes Quilt!

2009-05-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

So some of you (or many of you, who knows) may read this and think, that's a no brainer, I've been doing that for a long time...others of you may read this and be enlightened on a new idea(s). If you are one of the latter, this post is for you! :-)

So there are two things that I've just begun working on in order to preserve memories of my boys as they grow. The first one hast to do with Birthday cards. I'm a very sentimental person and have a hard time getting rid of any birthday cards, Christmas cards, Valentines cards (the list could go on), not to mention artwork and crafts the kids have done, tickets from places we've been, etc. As you can imagine, things pile up, or should I say fill up crates! On the other hand, I'm an extreme organizer as well so these two things seem to fight against each other all the time because that side of me wants to purge and get rid of all the eccess and the sentimental side reads that stuff and can't let go many times. On to the point, this last Saturday morning I was decorating for Cohen's 1st Birthday party and I truly believe the Lord just gave me this idea...it did not come out of no where! As if someone said it outloud it hit me, why don't I start a Birthday Journal for our family! Instantly I was so excited I could hardly stand it!!! I went to my closet to see if I had a blank journal, and I did! So I set it out, writing at the top of the first page Cohen's name and age and underneath that the date of the party. When everyone was sitting to watch him open gifts I explained our new tradition. At each party/birthday for the boys we will have this journal out and anyone who would like to write a short little note/prayer to/for him in the book is more that welcome to. No pressure, but we will keep this journal for years to come and from time to time let the boys read things people have written to them. This is a much more concise way of keeping precious memories (just as written in cards) than having to have all that bulk. Not to say I won't ever keep any cards...just not nearly as many!

The second is quite different but I am just as excited! Since I've had my tubes tied and it's been sinking in that Cohen is my last baby, I've been slowly trying to let go of all the sweet little baby things that we've had all these years. I see each outfit and a flood of memories come rushing back, which I love. The thought of having to get rid of all these sweet items just makes me want to cry, even though at the same time I am so excited about how big they are getting each day! Well, I was at my sister-in-laws about a month ago and her sister-in-law told us about an idea that had been shared with her a while back. You save you faovorite items and when you have enough, make a quilt out of them. I loved the idea that forever I will have a quilt that I can sit down with and hold and touch each piece as I remember who wore that outfit and how cute they were!!!

I praise my God for caring about the little things and giving us ideas out of 'nowhere' that will have the oportunity to make an impact for a lifetime! Isn't our God awsome!!!

Cohen is 1!!!

2009-05-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Jungle themed 1st birthday cake

Well, he is almost 13 months old now...I'm a bit behind on the blog. It's been a great month, but a very busy month. One thing Chris said at the beginning of this year was that his goal for this year is to walk through the year and not run (in other words...don't get so busy doing work non stop that you don't enjoy the year with your family...that's kinda what happened last year). He has been doing a GREAT job at keeping his goal, I'll be the first to say, but as he mentioned about a week ago to our life group, May has been the first month he feels like the pace has picked up to a jog. I have to agree. It's ok though, we are aware of it and will keep things under control and not let them get too crazy.

On the other hand, Cohen's whole first year seemed to just slip right on by me! I have done my best to cherish this first year, knowing that he is my last baby, but WOW, I never dreamed it would fly by so quickly. It really was a great year, he is such a sweet and precious little boy! Such a fun little personality, crawling around the house all the time now saying "daaheeeeh, daaheeeh!" He LOVES Chris. I have to admit, I prayed for a daddy's boy this time since we already have 3 mamma's boys. And sure enough, I think Cohen is our biggest Daddy's boy yet. He's not walking yet but has taken a few steps for me. He loves to walk ALL around the house holding onto just one finger of mine or Chris' with just one of his hands...his balance is getting better and better so I know he will walk soon (although we kept saying that with all the other boys and they walked at 13 1/2mo., 15 mo. and 15 1/2 mo....in that order). It's all about the will, and believe me, in that order as well they had gotten more stubborn so lets pray Cohen walks REALLY soon! :-)

To sum it all up, I could not be more thankful for the gift God has given us in Cohen! I cannot wait to see the plans God has for him as he gets older. My prayer is that he will grow up to be an awsome warior for Christ, leading other to Him by his daily example! Below are a few pics from his First Birthday Party a couple of weeks ago.
Sittin' in front of his birthday banner...he just looked as cute as it gets!He LOVES balloons!
All the boys!
Opening gifts...Mama had to help, he wasn't interested much. To this day, Corbin wins the award for best show at your 1 year old birthday party...he truly entertained us all!
"Hey, that looks good!:"It's mushy, what is that?""And it sticks to my fingers, Mama doesn't usually feed me this!"
"Let's see how this taste, I'm curious!"
"Now that's good! Who's been holding out on me?!"
Messy Face, Happy Baby!
Callen decided to get completely inside of the box the little people house came in...it really was pretty funny! He's such the kid that will figure out absolutely anything strange, wild, crazy, adventurous and/or just out of the norm to do! I love that about him!!!
Bobby was mailing Cade off to somewhere...whereever it was Cade was very excited about it!
Birthday Boy diaper was thanks to Uncle Kendal! :-)

"We'r donna habba Buddy Jack dog"

2009-05-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

At least that's what Cade wants and has been talking about all morning long. Actually what he was asking me was why everyone liked to have dogs? I told them because people like dogs and they are fun to have and asked him if he wanted to have a dog one day. Of course he said yes and then said "we'r donna habba Buddy Jack dog (Aunt Kallie & Uncle Kevin's dog)...and a Poyo dog (that's Polo, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Kim's dog)...and a Petzel dog (Nanna-D & G-Daddy's dog)...we like petzel's don't we mom?!" It was precious and I was just giggling and saying "oh really?" when I hear Corbin pipe in, who had been sitting next to us the whole time, and say "wow, that's a lot of dogs!" Well said Corbin, my exact thoughts! :-) Don't worry though, it will be at least a few more years before Mommy is ready to get a 'Buddy Jack' dog'! I've got enough on my plate as is for now...gotta love the conversations though! I pray they never stop!

Wise Beyond His Years!

2009-05-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

So we were sitting at the table eating lunch today and Corbin says "Mom, do they make more stores for boys or more stores for girls?" I said probably girls and he said " Why, because girls like to shop a bunch and boys don't?" I looked up with a bit of a shocked face I'm sure and said "Son, I think you hit the nail on the head!" I have to admit I was surprised that he knew that!

Biggest Birthday Donut Ever!

2009-05-12T06:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, this donut was the size of the box! We go to this GREAT donut place in Trophy Club and the owner, Jama, LOVES our boys! It's the only donut place we ever go to and we go about 3 times a month (for the last 2 1/2 years) so she knows us all by name. I saw her at the grocery store the other day and was telling her we had Cohen's birthday the next day (he was with me). Her eyes lit up and she told me to send Chris up there in the morning because she wanted to make Cohen a birthday donut! So below are pics of the boys reactions...they LOVED it! One last note, her husband was with her and he told me that starting soon they are going to run a snow cone shop (out of the same shop as the donut shop) in the afternoons...the boys will LOVE that too! We pray for Jama and her family, that if they do not know Christ, they may see Him in us, and that God would give us an opportunity to share His love with them!
Their eyes were wide as saucers when they first saw the donut!
Cohen was very excited...he has obviously learned what a donut looks like!
Jama wanted a picture of all 4 taking a bite at the same time...Cohen went for the donut holes first.
Cohen really couldn't eat it fast enough, at least in his eyes...I think he thought brothers might eat it all! :-)

How Sweet it is to be Loved by You!

2009-05-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

I walked into our living room the other day to find sweet baby brother Cohen cuddling on top of gentle and protective big brother Corbin. It's moments like this that I pray I never forget! And my daily prayer is that they continue to grow to love each other even more each and every day!

Elmo Soup?

2009-05-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well, let me start at the begining but try not to make this too long. Cade, since about the age of 6 months old or so, started sucking on his index and middle finger of his right hand and putting his fingers from his left hand in his belly button while doing it. Some kids hold a blanket and smell it or rub it while they suck their fingers or thumb...no, our son puts his fingers in his belly button!?! So, about a year ago one morning he came in my room and was doing that and I just asked him what he was doing. He said "tirin' it" (translated stirring it). Of course I was a bit confused so I said "stirring what?" He said "my Elmo soup!" with a big grin on his face. Of course by now I'm going to play along so I say "MMM! Can I have some?" He says "no, Elmo soup all gone, you have poop soup!" and just laughed and lauged at my reaction!!! I laughed on and on too of course because I could believe he was just makin' this up off the cuff. So stinkin' cute! So the other day when he was layin' on the couch I decided I needed some picks of this so I'll never forget it!!! Have I mentioned that I LOVE this kid!!?!!

I Love Garage Sales!!!

2009-05-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Along with the beautiful weather in the springtime come's lots of garage sales! Of course, we've all been couped up in our houses all winter long, going through stuff and making piles in our garage that we are ready to get rid of. It makes sense. I'm not even going to try and convince anyone that they should or shouldn't love a good garage sale. You either love them or you don't! One of the main reasons I love them though is clearly seen in the picture below...you can find GREAT, almost new and brand new stuff for an even GREATER price!!! Just in case you are wondering what I spent on ALL that stuff....drum role please...$21.25!!! You know what they say, "One man's junk is another man's treasher"! I truly believe it! Happy Garage Sale shopping!

Welcome Flip Flop Seasons!!!

2009-05-11T20:21:00.001-07:00

So as you can see from the first picture, I don't do well with all of thousands of socks...well I'm sure that is a bit of an exageration in numbers but it sure feels like that when looking for matches, folding them and then trying to get them in the correct person's drawer! Go ahead, chuckle, I know it's funny, even to me! :-) So, here in lies just one reason, but a BIG one, that I am extremely thankful we have officially moved into flip flop season again! We LOVE flip flops and you don't have to wear socks with them...or can I say you shouldn't! :-) Of course, just to give you one more good laugh, I thought I would throw in a picture of our flip flop basket that is in our entry way...and that's just half of our flip flops so you can imagine the hunt that sometimes occurs when we can't find matching ones! Still, even then, that doesn't even hold a candle to the ongoing mountain of socks we have all winter long!

Kids say/do the darndest things!

2009-05-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

So just to put a smile on your face I thought I would tell y'all just a few funny/sweet things the boys have said in the past couple of weeks. One small piece of advice I would give to all you mom's of little ones out there who may read this (I wish someone had have told me to do this when Corbin was born but I didn't lose that much time and some of it I was able to think back and remember...with the help of family of course!), buy a journal specifically to write sweet and funny things your children say in. We all know how precious they can be and how fast they grow up, if you write things down then you know you'll be able to remember it forever! Don't worry, I'm planning on getting future use out of my journal (which I started only a little over a year ago and already have over 15 pages!)...I may not be able to plan any weddings, but you better believe those rehearsal dinners are going to be the funnest and funniest (due to the top ten list that will be pulled from this journal and read aloud!) ones you've ever been to!!! I love you Boys!! :-) Please don't kill me for recording this stuff! :-)

Callen...was laying on our bed playing with and talking to Chris and I last night and decides there are aliens up on the planet (our light) on our ceiling and began shooting them of course. Chris joined in and then Callen made all these crazy funny boy blow up noises and said "I just bombed you up, Daddy"! We just laughed as he continued to shoot the other aliens.

Corbin...was watching me as I bleached some new shirts for them today and at one point walked away and came back and said "are they cleared yet Mom?". I wasn't sure at first what he meant but then I realized, bleached, he doesn't know that word. :-)

Cade...so you need to scrunch your shoulders up like you don't know something, cock your head to one side, scwint your eyes and face up and pooch your lips out and say "oh maih dooodnessss". Yes, that is exactly what he does and he loves to tell Chris and I that we don't do it right...or actually he says "you can't do it, I do it". I could just eat him up!!!

Callen...I noticed the other day that he had been particularly facinated by his muscles that day. That evening before going to bed he came in and had some goggles (which by the way last summer when I bought them for them and Nanna-D called them goggles, he said "Nanna-D, their gobbles!") on which were making his hair stick up. I told him to go look at his hair in the mirror. I followed of course and when he got in their he made a funny face and stared at himself for a minute and then promptly turned to the side, makine a GQ face and flexing those muscles with all of his might, all the while watching and admiring himself! Couldn't help but laugh and then give him big hugs and kisses!

Corbin...was playing Wii with me the other day and was loosing each game (so was I of course...this 30 game deal is hard but don't worry, we will conquer eventually!). He turned to me after about the 4th game and said "Mom, it's not about winning it's about playing the game and doing your best!". I pray he believes that but also wonder how much of his mom's extreme competitiveness he got and if he was also just trying to convince himself that it's ok to loose. He's such a sweet heart!!!

Cade...Chris holds up a tomatoe from his salad that he does not want and Cade says "Tan I have that maytoe?! I like maytoes!"

Texas Blue Bonnets

2009-04-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from my parents' the other day and passed the largest field of Blue Bonnets I've ever seen!!! Pluss...they were not on the side of the highway where you know I can't get the kids out to take pics because at least one or more of them would get run over for sure. So, I made my mind up then and there that we were coming back the next day to take pics. They really didn't want to go and take pics and had let me know that but being the sweet mom I am I had let them know that if they didn't take pics for mommy I would not be a happy mommy! :-) What's funny though, when they got there, they all had SOOOO much fun, and they told me that too on the way home! Sorry there are so many, they really did so well I had a hard time deciding which ones to put up...so here are my favorites of all of them, grouped and individually! Just one of the many reasons I LOVE Texas...Blue Bonnets!
Hand in Hand! I love this!
From meditating...
to cracking up! Such a fun kid!!!
It just doesn't get much sweeter than this!
First attempt to get all four...mind you I was by myself....
Second attempt to get all four...Third attempt to get all four...I thought we might try not looking at them camera since it is so hard to get them all to look at the same time...Cade picked two and started playing drums on the rest of them...why do I even try all four, someone remind me?! :-)
Getting so big!
GQ Boy! All I did was tell him not to smile or look at me. :-)
Inseperable, so cute...
and so crazy all at the same time!
He picked so many of those flowers, I think trying to figure out what the point to them was!
Cade had fun giving Cohen hugs!!! Not sure from the look on Cohen's face how much he really liked it though! :-)
They love each other SOOOOOO much!
What are these things my mommy sat me in?
Laughing at his brothers so mommy can get a smiling pic.!
When I first sat him down it was like...'truly, what is all this and why do I have to sit in the big fat middle of it?

Thanks Nanna-D & G-Daddy!!!

2009-04-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Nanna-D and G-Daddy sent the boys an Easter box today. I hid it for a while until everyone was up from nap and they had had their bath. I told them to go in their room and I put it out on the porch and rang the doorbell, quietly shutting the door really fast. They all came RUNNING around the corner saying "who is that?" I just smiled and said "I don't know, why don't you see!" They opened the door to find the box and were so very excited asking who put that there. I couldn't help but just say it must have been the UPS guy since he really did leave it there earler...the pictures below tell the rest!!!
So yes, this is blury, but it's because they COULD'T get into the box fast enough! :-)
Cade's face says it all, I tried to get one of Corbin and Callen's reaction when they saw the Leapster games but I missed 'em.
Callen is very excited about the new games!
Cohen wasn't sure about all the comotion and was trying to figure out what all that stuff was! Don't worry though, when he figured out there were goldfish in those packeges...he ate a whole pack all by himself in about 3 minutes...we could put him into a baby eating contest if there was one! :-)
Corbin was SOOOOO excited about the movie...just yesterday they were begging me in Target to buy it when I accidently said out loud "only $6.99, Wow!" Also, Corbin told me it is so sweet how Nanna-D always sends them a Valentine and Easter box and stuff. He said they have to like what she sends them or they might not like Nanna-D (I think he was saying that wouldn't be very nice to Nanna-D, and sweet Corbin wants to be nice to and LOVE everyone!). I just thought it was too precious!
Sweet Cade must have been starving because he went straight for the gold fish to cut them open! :-) He truly ate 2-3 packs in a matter of minutes. That boy can eat when he wants too!

Peek-A-Boo!!!

2009-04-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

So one of Cohen's favorite things to do right now is playing Peek-A-Boo! One night I was going into the boys bathroom to brush all or their teeth and below is what I found/said."Hey! I see some little feet by the bathtub!? Where's Cohen?" (anxious giggling coming from behing the curtain!)
"Hey, somebody's peekin' at me!" (now there's more giggling)
"Peek-A-Boo!" (laughter breaks out!)
Off to chase Mommy so she'll pick me up and give me sugars!

Springtime...at the Park!!!

2009-04-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

We LOVE the Springtime!!! It's gets warm enough so we can play outside just about every day. So what do we do?...go on walks, play in the yard and go to all the fun parks we can find! One day we decided to go the the 'firetruck park' (that's the name the boys gave it because there's a playset in the shape of a firetruck there). They LOVE this park...for the past couple years we've had easter egg hunts there. Well, as we were driving up, the closer we got I realized they had remodeled the playground. I could tell the boys were going to love it. It is hands down one of the best parks around for boys, especially ones who love to climb and what little boy doesn't?! Here are some pics below from the second time we went this spring.
Trying to get Mommy!
I love it when they are hardly even big enough to fill the swing!!!
He was so relaxed and just chillin', watchin all the kids play.
Cade slept in the stroller for the first 30 minutes we were there, noise and all.
Look Mom, no hands! :-)
At the very top, waving to Mommy!
This is the whole spider web deal they LOVE!!! If you look close, they are at the top!
Best Friends!
Scaling one of the rope walls.
Sitting on the chair that's in the center of the web.

Psalms 78:23 says...

2009-04-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

"Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens." I can only imagine that if heaven really does have a 'door', it must be even more beautiful than this one...my Aunt Karen's new front door. It truly is such a gorgeous door, it makes me long to see heaven even more because I know we are going to be blown away by our awsome creator!!!

Filled With The Spirit.

2009-03-26T13:54:00.001-07:00

So as many of you can imagine, there are many days that I feel like I am just running on fumes. I have definately felt like I am getting into a more normal routine with 4 boys, but there seems to just be so much potential for things to get thrown off, quickly and drastically many times. So, the question would be, what do I do about this, Lord? Well, I love how faithful He is to send us little (well, actually big) lessons along the way, just when we need them! This has been one of those weeks when I have REALLY needed one, and again, He is faithful!!! I was reading a devotional this morning about Ephesians 5:18. A lot of it I had read before but as I got about 2/3 of the way through it, BAM, He hit me! John tells us in chapter 7 that "out of his inermost being will flow rivers of living water". It went on to say that is the strengthening within us that is sufficiant for any situation! I love it how God reminded me with one small verse that it is not me raising these 4 sweet boys on my own, I could NEVER do that! It is Him within me and giving me strength, moment by moment! Prayer without ceasing, I believe, is dipping from that living well within us that He has placed there for us to dip into. I also loved this prayer that the devotional ended with, something I think I'll memorize, along with the scriptures to go with it!

"Father, I pray that You will teach me to draw upon the well of water within, to know that every demand made upon me is a demand made upon You, and that you are prepared, ready, to live Your life through me in every situation and thus manifest Your grace."

How awsome is that, to know that He is alive in me, ready to face every situation I face, and give me the grace and strength I need to face it. Father, I pray you give me the strength to BELIEVE this and have faith in You that You WILL do this for me daily!

Boys, Underwear, Rolly Pollies...Oh My!!!

2009-03-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

So we went outside the other day to pull in the trash cans and check the mail and lo and behold, the boys looked down and there were rolly pollies all over our driveway. Of course they are boys and of course they love 'bugs' so they went crazy...in their underwear and all. I didn't have the heart to squelch their excitement just to try and avoid any embarasment that is was already 2 in the afternoon and my children were not dressed yet. Oh well, we had fun! :-)
Searching for as many rolly pollies as possible.
Corbin's!
Callen's!
That's a LOT of rolly pollies crawling around in 3 little boys hands...they thought that was sooooo cool!I don't know if you can tell but Corbin is crying in this picture because he thought it would be cool to roll his on the ground and when he did, Callen and Cade thought that was so cool that they found a bunch more rolly pollies right in front of them! :-)

Our own little Twilight Series...we've got Fangs!

2009-03-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't know or just might not remember, all of my boys have gotten their teeth out of order. Most babies will get their bottom two middle teeth first and then the top two middle teeth next. Oh no, not ours! :-) They get the bottom two middle ones first and then it's all up in the air from there! It's always been kinda funny and lots of people have noticed over the years and mentioned how cute and funny it is, but Cohen takes the cake for sure!!! Folks, he has full blown fangs!!! Yep, for a while I was wondering if we somehow got a baby vampire slipped to us in the hospital...just kidding! I knew it wouldn't last for long though so I've been trying to get a good picture of his "fangs" for days before the middle ones started to come in. We did finally get a few but boy did he make us work for them!!! When I didn't have the camera in hand he would laugh and smile with his teeth shining brightly...so I'd run for the camera and then, bam, closed was the mouth, usually not to reopen...until later when I had put the camera down again. Little booger. So here is a progression of the pics I did get. Enjoy!
Sweet little bottom teeth!
"Mommy, please don't make me take more pictures!"Our first pic of them, not a very happy face though. I was not going to give up yet!
There we go, almost there!At Last! My sweet little boy with "fangs"! :-)

Skin and Bones!

2009-03-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

That's about all that's left of our sweet Cade after being so sick this past week! He's never been a really fat little toddler but no doubt he has had his share of chub here and there. Now, after not eating for a straight 72 hours and then only eating a little for another 2-3 days, he is SOOOO skinny! When I pick him up I can feel every sweet little bone in his back, shoulders and arms. I'm curious as to how much actual weight he lost but of course the battery in our scale had just died a few days before he got sick. I'm anxious to get a battery so I can see the results. Poor little thing, I'm gonna have to chub him up again! :-) Of course he doesn't even know or care that something is different! Praise God he is back to his cheerful, smiling self! Making us all laugh!!! He basically did not move from the couch for 3 straight days unless I picked him up and moved him...and he slept for most of that time. It was so sad! :-( I don't know if you can tell in this picture, this was only two days into him being sick and his ribs and shoulder bones were already sticking out more than normal...imagine 2 more days of not eating!

The Prayer of a Child...

2009-03-14T23:34:00.001-07:00

So we sat down this afternoon all together for dinner for the first time in over a week, since the boys have been so sick. I usually start out by asking who wants to pray. It was all 3 today so I told them we would go in the order that they were sitting starting with...

Cade..."Dear God, tank u poor my pehhhnds (friends), and Jesus, and my poooood (food), and my pehhhnds...(pause)...AMEN!" (all said in the sweetest little Texan accent!!!) then...

Corbin..."Dear God, thank you for this great day, thank you for this food, thank you for our friends and that we get to go to church to learn more about You, thank you for Jesus, He's so great, thank you for the stories You put in the Bible that are true...they are awsome, I really like going to church to praise You and learn more about You, it's so fun! We love you God. Amen! (at this point I had tears in my eyes, it was the most authentic and precious prayer!) then...

Callen..."Dear God, thank you for this food, I hope we eat all our food and have a snack, I hope we get to play with our friends and I hope I see God and Jesus at church. In Jesus Name, Amen." (and he looks up at me with the sweetest little smile! He's been trying to teach Cade that at the end of the prayer "you're supposed to say 'in Jesus name' before you say 'amen'". I told him that he didn't do that when he was little either.)

I love the moments like these that God gives us with our children and I pray I will cherish and remember them forever!!!

25 Random Things About Me.

2009-02-24T00:39:00.001-08:00

Well, I've been tagged so many times with this thing but never taken the time yet to do it. The thing is, I love reading everyone else's 25 random things soooo....I decided I would go for it, who knows what I'll end up with.

1. I never had stitches or broke any bones as a kid and then during my junior year in high school, in a span of only 26 days, I had stitches on 3 different spots on my face and broke my nose twice (had to have surgery after the second time).

2. I had a friend in high school who had two middle names and I fell in love with her name...hence the reason Chris and I gave all 4 of our boys 2 middle names (Corbin Michael Allen, Callen Matthew James, Cade Alexander Rae and Cohen William Garrett).

3. When leaving a tip at a resteraunte, I have to round up to the nearest dollar making it even...my dad always did this and I picked it up somewhere along the way because I cannot handle doing it any other way!

4. I am not a dog person, never have been and may not ever be. I do love all 5 of my boys though and I know one day they are going to want one so I'm already preparing myself so that I can be ready when that day comes.

5. I am an extreme perfectionist! This can be good in some ways and bad in others.

6. I love to organize EVERYTHING!!! Everything must have a home and needs to return to it's home after having been used...still working on getting all 5 of my boys to understand/comprehend that! :-)

7. I have over 60 pairs of shoes...and that's after getting rid of 8 pair just about a month ago. I believe shoes make or brake an outfit and I even have a t-shirt that says "will work 4 shoes"! :-) Did I mention I LOVE shoes?

8. I LOVE cake...one of the many reasons I started my cake business, "MaMa's Cake Boutique". I believe everyone should have a fun/unique cake, that fits their personality, on their birthday to brighten their day!

9. I can sleep anywhere, on anything and with almost any kind of noise. I guess that's what happens when you are the oldest of 6 kids and shared a room with 2 sisters! We LOVE every minute of it though...well, maybe not the minutes when one sister colored all over my comforter with red lip stick or the minute when one of my brothers climbed up my bookshelf (that had about 25 precious moments on it) like a monkey and brought it crashing down...other than moments like those though, we loved them all!

10. I never took any cake decor. classes, I just taught myself by watching cake shows and trying the stuff out.

11. I LOVE the color GREEN!!! I can't seem to get enough of it. I also love pink. I think those two colors are my favorites but I really just love pretty colors. Chocolate brown, teal and black are among some other favorites! I used to live by the simple rule that decorating with bland/neutral colors was safe and timeless. True...buuuuttt...not as much fun either. I still like to use the neutrals for my walls and main peices but LOVE throwing in the accent pieces full of color!

12. I can ramble on forever about just about anything...have you noticed that yet?

13. I love making new friends, and getting closer to existing friends! Friends are a Huge part of my life and I pray they all know how much I care for them and love them!

14. I LOVE babies...young and older babies, big and little babies, fat and chubby babies, long and short babies, boy and girl babies, friend's and my babies! Good thing my tubes have been tied! :-)

15. I love winter because I love snow (more than that I love to go snow skiiing!!!), I love summer because I love to go the the pool with my boys, I love spring because I LOVE flowers and baby animals, and I love the fall because it is breathtakingly beautiful (the scenory and weather).

16. I love playing games with family and friends...nothin' like a good ole game of Trash Train!

17. I can truly shop 'till I drop, and still have plenty of money left since I got everything for 75% off or more...I can smell a good deal from a mile off!

18. A dream I've had for years is to open and run a Bed & Breakfast one day and allow Pastors, Worship Leaders, Missionaries, etc. to come and stay for disc. and/or free.

19. Another dream I've had for years is to own/run my own Boutique store one day. I did start a business making and selling different hand made items about 2 years ago...Nifty Thrifty Designs.

20. I love food...especially a good steak!!! I'm not usually bashfull about eating but am going to have to be careful in the next couple of months because starting in May after I switch Cohen from nursing to drinking cows milk from a cup, it will be the first time since December 2002 that I will have not been either pregnant or nursing without a single day break in there!!! Can you believe that?...that's 6 1/2 years. Wow.

21. I never knew I could love four little boys as much as I do know or that I could be content having all boys but it is amazing how God knew just what I needed and would LOVE!!! My cup truly overfloweth!!

22. When I cook, I tend to either make up things as I go or change recipes up as I make them and add stuff to recipes ALL the time! I figure that's how someone came up with the recipe anyway, so why can't I? It's fun and I haven't ruined anything yet.

23. I've never gotten a speeding ticket...or any other kind of ticket for that matter. Have had a couple fender benders though.

24. Got a degree in Church Music at Dallas Baptist University and then taught private vocal lessons for 6 years after that. Taking a break from that for now but would love to be some type of music teacher in a pre-school one day!

25. Really don't have time to do things like this because they put me to sleep...it took me 3 nights to finish this because I kept falling asleep! But I finished, finally!!! :-)

His Strength In Our Weekness!

2009-02-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

So I posted a couple of days ago about the minor problems I've been having with several different joints over the past 7 months or so. Well, this morning our pastor, Ross Sawyers, said something in the sermon that struck me as if it was said just for me. God has been working on my heart relentlessly since Cohen was born and I've known that. He has been showing me that He HAS given me more than I can handle...on my own that is. I can only handle all this when I rely on Him every step of the way. It's with His strength that I can wake up each morning and face the day with a positive attitude. When my focus is off of Him though, it's the opposite and I'm miserable. A feeling of failure prevales when I rely on myself. So back to what Ross said. The series is on spiritual warfare (War is actually the title of the series) and we have been going through the pieces of armor we are to put on. This week was the shoes. We are to shod our feet with the Gospel of Peace. When we do, we are bound to Him, settled and ready to move with confidence. When we don't, Satan attacks us all he can, mainly in three ways: our assurance in Christ, compromising the truth and fear. Fear was the big one that Ross was saying gets to him if his focus gets off. His main fears are of death (not where he is going but just the unknown of what it will look like) and that his health is going to get worse. He said he had to actually admit to God that he does not like the verse II Corinthians 12:9. The verse talks about God's power being made perfect in our weekness. Not fun if we really think about it. It hit me like a ton of bricks, not in a bad way, just in a revelation kind of way. God is making this task of raising four precious boys even more impossible for me to do without Him by allowing these joint problems. I'm a do it yourself kind of girl, going all the time. Health has never stopped me (and I'm not saying it is now, it's just a tad bit in the way). I used to think that we could over spiritualize things but after hearing the first sermon or two in this series, I think I've changed my mind. We live in a world that is one big battleground, it's all around us. Why not take the little things that set up back a bit or seem like bumps in the road and take them as warning signs that maybe we need to dig a little deeper in the Word and pray a little more throughout the day. Can we do those two things too much? I think not. So, I'm going to do my best and embrace my weekness (joint problems) and pray that through this God's strength can shine through!

MaMa's Cake Boutique

2009-02-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update...still loving the cake business and it's going well. I currently take about 4 cakes a month and have been booked up for the last 8 months straight. It's so much fun seeing someones face light up when they see a cake made specifically for them! If your looking for a cake for any type of event and would like something unique, you can e-mail me at kara@niftythriftydesigns.com for orders.

Bath Buddies!

2009-02-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

These boys just won't take a bath without each other yet! They have so much fun...just had to share these cute pics of one of their latest bubble baths.

Pulling Up...All Too Soon!

2009-02-08T00:26:00.000-08:00

It's just so hard some days for me to swallow that Cohen is growing up so fast. It is such a bittersweet time! I just adore him in every way and am so proud of how fast he is learning and how well he is doing but then there is that side of me that just wishes he would stay my baby a little bit longer! I know most mom's feel that way as we watch our children grow and just pray that we will remember these special time forever! All that to say, my sweet Cohen has been pulling up for about a month and a half now, and we are cruising down furniture now too. I love it and it is so precious but I still can hardly believe it. Here are a few pics of some of his firsts.
He was 8 months old here and already pulling up on the side of my bed which I could hardly believe because there's not anywhere to get a good grip!
This is all he wants to do in this green high chair...which is why I have to put him in a different seat and buckle him in!
He is such a little toot, when I tell him to sit down, this is the reaction I get...how can you get frustrated with that?
He was so excited when he learned to stand up in his bed...only problem was that for about two weeks he couldn't figure out how to lay or sit back down once he was up, so if he stood up while he was trying to go to sleep, I had to go back in several times and lay him back down 'cause he would be stuck...it was kinda pitiful!
Oh how I love and will cherish this sweet smile forever!

I Had To Take Pictures!

2009-02-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

You see, my sweet Cade just does not care if he gets messy while he eats (or plays for that matter)! And you must know that when Corbin was little (and to this very day) he did not like to get messy at all! So this has been something I've had to get used to over time. Fortunately God has kinda eased me in slowly when it comes to this area of raising boys because Corbin is my cleanest, Callen is quite a bit messier than Corbin but at least he gives effort towards staying clean sometimes, Cade is so much messier than Callen and really hardly ever puts effort towards not making a mess...I could only hope and pray that Cohen doesn't continue the progression here.

So, now for the story of these two pics below. Cade wanted some chocolate pudding one day so I just went ahead and took his clothes off so that he would not get them too messy. Good thing. Boy, I did a few dishes while he sat at the kitchen table and "ate" his pudding...few minutes later he is standing next to me and looks like this saying "Mommy, I sticky!". I turned around and all that I could even think of was "I have got to take a picture of this!"

Falling apart at age 30?

2009-02-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

Not really, but it kinda feels that way some days. I am forever grateful that God has given me 30 incredibly healthy years! I cannot say that enough. Since Cohen was born though, things have been going kinda south a bit. Not too bad though. I don't post to complain, just to inform, if that's ok.

So just about 7 weeks after Cohen was born I started to have problems with my left hip. At first it was just sore and I thought that I must be sleeping on it wrong. But it continued to get more painful, to the point that I was limping and having a hard time walking around and carrying the boys. So I went to a specialist that my doctor referred me to and she did x-rays and an MRI. The x-rays were inconclusive and the MRI came back abnormal, showing that I had Bursitis as well as some type of benign tissue on the back of my hip bone. For some reason, without treatment, the pain began to go away and has been back to just a soreness ever since. Then I had some pain in two of the knuckles in my right hand, which has also gone away now. Following that I had some pain for a few days in my right shoulder, also gone. Then my wrist began to hurt about two weeks ago. Within two days it was very painful, so I called my doctor and scheduled another appointment. She said I have tendonitis and wanted to get some bloodwork done to see if I have arthritis. She is confused because she says it is rare that someone my age has pain in this many areas this close together without there being something that is a root cause, kinda tying them altogether. Well, I got the bloodwork back today and it is normal! :-) I'm excited about that, but she is confused still so she referred me to an orthopedic doctor whom I will go see next Thursday. Well, to top it all off, I noticed this morning that my left shoulder was hurting but once again, I figured I just slept on it wrong. Wrong again, it has hurt all day any time I lift anything or just lift my arm very high up!? So who knows what it going on, I'd just like to know. Not really worried or stressed by it, just curious and would like to know if there's something I can do to help the pain so that I can function better with all my sweet boys! Sarah was so gracious to lend me a very nice brace for my wrist which has been helping SOOOOO much! Thanks friend!!! I'll update everyone when I find out more.

Lastly, I just need your prayers as to whether I should go to a doctor for my heart as well. Every once in a while (maybe a couple times a month), I notice it speed up really quickly and then come to almost a screeching halt for a couple seconds and then it goes back to normal again. I've always noticed this over the years, it just seems like it is doing it more often now. I think Chris really wants me to go get it checked out so I'm sure I will, just not sure what doctor to go to and would love to get through this bone/joint stuff first.

I feel like these are such minor things compared to many people but I really would appreciate your prayers if you get a chance! Thanks to all who ask daily/weekly how I'm doing! Romans 8:28, 38 & 39...some of my favorite verses!

Goals for a New Year...

2009-02-06T00:42:00.001-08:00

So, every year we all think of things we would like to work on, change, get better at, master, get rid of, stop doing, etc., right!? Well, here are some things that I've thought of over the last month that I'd like to try and work on/do over/throughout the year 2009. You can keep me accountable! :-)

1) walk one mile at least 5 times a week (pulling the boys in the wagon behind me of course!)
2) cook home cooked meals at least 6 times a week (healthier ones than last year as well)
3) sweep my floor every night so it doesn't look like a bomb went off every morning!
4) never yell at my boys!
5) do at least one load of laundry a day.
6) memorize a verse of scripture a week.
7) go on one date a week with my husband.
8) pay for everything in cash, updating our budget weekly
9) spend quality, individual time with each of the boys daily
10) home school Cobin in Kindergaten this Fall

oh wait a minute...just kidding! If I did all these things (and the list could go on!!!), I would be super mom...AND I"M NOT!!! :-) Let's try this again...now for the real list.

1) Chris and I are doing a Dave Ramsey budget, getting out of debt as fast as we can!
2) Chris and I are going to have a date night once a month, kid free, no matter what!(one month down already!)
3) make more memories with my family and worry about the cleaning less (it will always be there but they won't stay kids forever!), in my husbands words..."I'm gonna walk through this year instead of sprint!"
4) Spend more time in the Word than last year.
5) Pour into others more than into myself!!!

Hopefully those things are more realistic. I pray God will give me the grace I need to give others, the strength I need to make it through each day, and a humble, loving spirit before all I come in contact with this year!

Sorry to keep you...

2009-02-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

on the edge of your seat for sooooo long! (like this has been all you have been thinking about, right!) :-) So here you go, actually, I think only one person actually got the answer correct. As for the rest of you, some good reasoning going on and funny thoughts thrown out there, but, gotcha! :-)

So, as for A...there's our lie! And thank goodness!!! If Cohen had started walking at 8 1/2 months I would still be crying from loosing my baby so early. You all know how much I love babies and being that he is my last one (tubes are tied now for those of you who may not know), it's even harder this time to watch him grow up so fast. I do predict though that he will be our earliest walker out of the 4 boys, although that won't be too hard for him to accomplish since the earliest one so far was Corbin and he didn't walk until he was 13 1/2 months old. Crazy huh!

Of course that means that B & C are true. For many of you I'm sure C is not that hard to believe 'cause if you know our boys you know that they are very strong, extremely coordinated, and quite the little dare devils...well, Callen has NO fear at all so once he tries something and accomplishes it, Corbin is right behind him. All I know is that we were at the park and I look up just in time to see them start climbing up a 7 foot chain link fence. I tried to tell them to get down but by the time I had finished my sentence they were already up and over the thing and coming back down. Looked to me like they had done it 100 times before, they made it look so easy. Who would've thought?!

B, however, was the one several of you were thinking would never happen as long as I'm the mama. Well, believe it or not, I'm the one that made them come over and pet the wolf once I found out what it actually was because I figured that might be our only chance in our lifetime to do that...not everyday you run into a wolf at the park! :-) So to make a long story short...we were at a park in Keller and the boys were playing in a big sand box with 3 other little boys (all brothers as well). Their dad was the one who had brought them and he had this enormous dog with him. It was really just breathtakingly beautiful! And just as tame as I've ever seen a do before! Of course everyone was stopping to talk to him and pet the dog so I kinda waited 'till everyone was gone and then asked how much he weighted. 140lbs. to be exact. And if I was looking at him right, the top of his head stood at about 42+ inches tall. Like I said, this was a big dog. Well, at one point the dog finally looked at me right in the eyes and it just struck me...that dog looks just like a wolf. So as quietly (so as not to draw attention), respectfully and politely as I could I told him that he looked just like a wolf. The guy smiled and quietly said back..."he is". Just as much as I couldn't believe it I knew in my gut he was telling the truth. I've not seen one in person before but I've seen enough of them on tv to know what their faces look like. He said that his dad was a wolf that stood about 8" taller than he, and his mother was a wolf with a bit of malimute in her. BEAUTIFUL!!! And a full blown domesticated pet. Legal too, didn't know that. So I did what any mother would've done (well, maybe not) and called the boys over and said "you guys have to come pet this dog because you know what...it's a wolf!" Their eyes all got big and they were very excited to get to stand there and pet the dog/wolf...which was bigger than the 3 of them put together.

So there you have it...our two truths and a lie.

The hardest day of my life!

2009-01-20T23:46:00.000-08:00

That's what last Thursday was for me...I'm pretty sure for Chris as well! I'll start from the beginning but try to not get too crazy long on everyone, I know I can tend to do that. Corbin doesn't have the best mouthful of teeth, we found that out a few months ago. Over Thanksgiving, one of his molars broke off and started to expose the nerve. I spent a good portion of my morning that day (Thanksgiving Day) on the phone with an incredibly kind, caring and wise dentist, only to find out later the next week that he was located over an hour away from us. So the hunt was on for a new dentist, and that was not easy. After being turned down by numerous dentist for numerous reasons, we finally found Dr. Kron. She is wonderful!!! And she's smart...not so much social (although she is wonderful with the kids), but that is a great things when it comes to doctors and dentist right! :-) So I felt like I could really trust her to do the best thing for Corbin. Well, 3 days before Christmas another molar on the other side of his mouth broke off as well. Things were getting kinda crazy now!

We scheduled surgery for January 15 and I prayed that it wouldn't be too painful up until then. God was so gracious to him because he really did not have any pain. He was very nervous though and it took a lot of encouraging daily to help him not really worry about it. The surgery was early so fortunately he didn't have to be up too long thinking about it that day. When we got there he was already crying and shaking because of his nerves. It just broke my heart because he truly was not throwing a fit, he was just scared to death about it. I just kept praying for him out loud with him and silently in my heart the whole time they were checking us in. We finally got into a room and got him all dressed in his hospital gown and they took us to the holding room. There the anesthesiologist came in and told us how it all was going to happen. He made the mistake of telling us in front of Corbin that he was not going to be asleep when they took him into the surgery room. At that point when he left, my sweet Corbin just lost it. It was the most heartbreaking, soft sob I've ever heard in my life. He was literally begging me to stay with him during the surgery, asking why I couldn't be there the whole time. A fit would've been easier to handle at that point because with this, he was just tearing my heart into pieces. Needless to say I lost it and just sat there and held him and cried while he cried in my arms. He didn't know that I was crying, but that was truly the hardest moment of my life to not be able to do for my child what my heart was aching to do. Chris was strong at this point but when they came to take him away...he lost it. Now I can count the times on one hand that I've seen him break down like that and it is heartbreaking as well! It was the first time I have felt completely out of control with one of my children! I understand that our kids are always in God's hands and we really don't ever have control of them, but to some degree there is a false feeling of control that is there when they are with you. When you see them wheeled away from you though to be put to sleep for surgery, all false feeling of control gone as you knew it!!! It was a lesson I'm sure I needed to learn in handing my children over daily to God in everything they do. It also gave me an all knew deepened sympathy for all other parents whose children are sick or have to go through surgery! I thank God for that and pray He will use that for His glory.

The surgery took right at two hours, the longest two hours of my life! When I saw Dr. Kron walking to us, it was like the whole world was in slow motion and she couldn't talk fast enough. She said he did great! Praise God!!! They were able to do all that they needed to do and we were able to go back to the holding room where he was beginning to wake up. There have only been a few times in my life where I've had that nervous walk through a hospital, wondering what to expect...after my grandfather's accident that left him a quadripelegic, after Chris' college room mate was in a car accident that left him in a choma, and now this...I didn't like any of those times. You know the feeling. When we walked into the room it was like relief just swept over my shoulders, just to be in the room with him again and see his sweet face. Sweet little angel was so pitiful looking and as precious as I've ever seen him all at the same time. He was BARELY awake but when the nurse asked him how old he was he said 5 and she asked him what his favorite color was and he promptly exclaimed red. Chris and I both just giggled and smiled. Such a smart little boy! He was so glad to see us and just wanted Mommy to hold him again, then he started to get sick. He threw up a few times at the hospital and then continued to throw up until about 10pm that night when we finally got some medicine to help him stop. Finally he was able to go to sleep and sleep all night. By the next morning he was up and telling me how good he felt and why he needed to eat and drink something soft to make his tummy feel better but not hurt his teeth. He never once complained about his mouth or had to take any pain medication. I could not have been more proud of how he did through the whole ordeal!!! Such a trooper. And he LOVES his stuffed horse that they gave him at the hospital, made by a volunteer! I pray this is the worst he has to go through with his teeth, Lord willing!
Watching cartoons with Daddy while we waited.
Trying to be as brave as he could!
He wanted Mommy to sit in the bed and hold him the WHOLE time! I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else!!!
Such a good attitude after surgery!
Daddy chillin' in the bed next to him, trying to make him smile...it worked! :-)
Trying to watch cartoons in recovery...
but he just couldn't stay awake yet.
The nurse told him to not look out his window on the way home or it might make him sick...he was a champ and kept his eyes closed (trying to sleep but he was sick off and on) the whole way home!

Two Truths and A Lie...

2009-01-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

you figure it out! A couple of pretty amazing things have happened that I was going to post about of course. Then an idea came to mind...I thought it would be fun to see who can figure out what they are! So, leave a comment letting us know which things you think really happened and which one you think didn't...I'll post in a few days and tell you the answer and stories as well. By the way, if I've already spilled the beans to you, please don't post and ruin the fun for the rest! :-)

A) Cohen took his first step today (he's only 8 1/2 months old).
B) The boys and I got to pet a 140 lb. wolf at the park last week.
C) Yesterday the boys climbed over a 7 foot fence in about 1 min. flat all by themselves.

Have Fun!!! :-)

A Month In Review - Part II

2008-12-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Playing In Grammy's Backyard!
I could just eat him up with those precious blond curls!!! He was sitting in a tree in my moms back yard...my brother Kevin always puts them up there and they LOVE it!Callen with his cousin Isaac...they are just a couple months apart in age and LOVE playing together!
My brother Kevin showing off his monkey skills to my boys, something I'm so glad he has done you can imagine! :-) Truly my boys all adore him and he is great with them...I couldn't ask for more!
Corbin and Cade sat up in that tree for about 10 minutes while I finished feeding Cohen so I could come and see them up there!

A Moment To Cherish!!!
Corbin still loves to hold his baby brother...he actually asked me one day if Cohen was still going to be a baby when Corbin was an adult like me (with these precious longing eyes!). I of course had to inform him that no, his brother would be growing up too, but that he would probably have a baby of his own one day. He asked how he was going to do that? I told him how he was probably going to get married one day and they would probably have a baby eventually. He then said what just melted my heart even more..."but Mommy, I don't want to get married when I get older, I want to stay with you forever!" Of course what my heart wanted to say was 'of course you can baby! You'll be mine forever!', but instead my mind knew what I had to say and I told him, "don't worry about it right now sweetheart, you may change your mind when you get older. Until then, Mommy will be your girlfriend!" Oh how I pray I never forget these moments!

Kids say the darndest things!
-So this past Sunday we were all getting dressed for church and Callen says "Hey Mom, I did my butt all by myself!" Don't you know I turned around so fast to see what in the world he was talking about (because we don't use that word in our house) just to find him holding his jeans out and pointing to the button with a huge smile on his face! Such a cutie...he has always had to get me to do that for him in the past. Of course later that day after going potty he had to show Chris as well and said the same thing and we just giggled and giggled!
-Then I was tying his shoes on Monday and he sat there just singing his little heart out "Bingle Bell, Bingle Bell, Bingle All The Way!" What's funny is it's not like he doesn't know how to say a 'j', he just for some reason thinks that's how that song goes. I think I almost ate him up right there on the spot!
-Last week after lunch one day Cade was following me around telling me he needed to go poop. Here's the amazing part of the story...I kept just saying ok baby, then go. He really started begging me "No, I need to go poop in du pahie", so I asked him if he wanted to go on his football potty in his bathroom and he said with much excitement "Yaaaa" while running in there. We got in there and as soon as he was up on that potty he started to peepee a whole bunch with a huge smile on his face!!! Oh, and I had just taken a DRY diaper off of him so he knew he needed to go and held it! I could hardly believe it. Now for the funny part of the story...after he was done I asked him if he was done and he said "No". He kept looking down and pushing and saying "it's not workin' MaMa, it's not workin'" so I would ask him again "are you done?". He kept telling me no and sure enough in a second, here came just a tiny bit more and he got the biggest smile on his face and said with great enthusiasm "it's workin', MaMa! It's workin'!" We went through that whold senario about 4 times before he actually said he was done! :-) It was all I could do not to crack up but I just smiled and told him how big of a boy he was now!

I wasn't ready for....stitches!
Of course what mother ever is, right!? Warning...if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read this. :-) It was two weeks ago today actually, and Chris was still at church. The boys had been playing football in the living room and I had gone to put something up in my bathroom. As I came around the corner I saw Callen hit the corner or the wall (where the metal brace is)...he hit it so hard it threw him backwards on his back. He was screeming and holding his forhead and I just sprinted to him because sometimes a mom just knows "this is bad". Sure enough, whithin the few seconds it took me to get to him, carry him to the tile (assuming there would be lots of blood and hoping we could avoid getting it on the carpet) and pull his hands off of his head the blood had already run all the way to the back of his head into my hand that was holding his head. At that point I knew this was going to be an ER night. So we got the blood to slow down and I calmed them all down as well as I could and called Chris to meet us at Baylor Grapevine so I wouldn't have all four of them by myself. Callen was a champion at the ER. He started off by saying to the nurses that he liked the hospital and it was fun there...I knew that would only last for so long but wasn't exactly sure just how long. Well, turns out...longer than I thought. Chris took the other 3 boys out when it came time to do the stitches and I stayed with Callen because I had promised him when it happened that I would hold him the whole time. The nurse came in with a thick, long, white blanket and wrapped him up like a burrito and layed him down on the bed and pretty much layed over him and held his head still. They asked me to hold his legs...great! I knew what was coming and was dreading the whole thing!!!! The doctor covered his face and began to give him shots directly in the wound (and this is where Mommy almost passed out because of flashbacks from when she had shots in her face after shattering a whindshield with her face as a junior in highschool...I could remember the pain all too well!). The crazy thing is...Callen didn't even move or whimper! It was UNBELIEVABLE!!! He did about 4 shots (as the nurse was telling me to lay down, she knew I wasn't taking that well) and then he and the nurse both turned around and looked at me and said "that was amazing! The hard part is over!" So they thought...about 15 seconds later he lost it, and I mean lost it...screaming at the top of his lungs for us to let him out, that's right, pain wasn't what was scaring/bothering him, it was the fact that he was wrapped up and had two people on top of him. Once the doctor had the stitches done and we let him out though he was totally fine again and got to have a popsicle! And he never messed with them and was even better when we went to get them taken out 7 days later! I just pray that we don't make this a habbit, but I'm sure with 4 boys I've only scratched the surface...with only 4 times to the ER with them so far. Praise the Lord it wasn't worse!Sitting in the ER waiting to get his stitches, he wanted Mommy to hold him the whole time!It was quite late when we got home so he was out. I let him sleep in my bed that night to make sure he was ok...he was very excited about that!Sorry this pic is up side down? This is him showing off his stitches, and believe me, he had to show everyone!A close up of the wound...it left a pretty good scar too...he'll be able to show that thing off for years to come! Boys love that kind of thing I hear! :-)

Eating us out of house and home!
Well, as many of you may know, I've teased over and over that all 4 of my boys are "eating me out of house and home" while they are in that nursing stage (which, funny fact for the day...I have now been pregnant or nursing for 6 years straight this month!!! Yep, you read that right, not even a days break in there, that's even amazing to me!). Well, it's not getting any better as they get older and believe me, it won't until they all move out (but let's not talk about that now 'cause I'm LOVING haveing them be little for now!)! These boys can E-A-T!!! Boy can we go through the food...already...and they are not even teenagers going through growth spurts and playing sports yet. Yikes!!! We may need to invest in a grocery store or at least a mild cow! :-) Here's a small list of some of the amounts of food we go through on a regular basis already:
5 gallons of milk (or more) a week
3 loafs of bread a week
1 lb of strawberrys in one meal
1 whole cantelope in one meal
1 box of waffles in one meal
64+ oz of juice in a day
(and they are still 5 and under, one only eating baby food still!) Donations accepted...Just kidding! :-)Yes, he's got his mouth full, something he shows me ALL the time!
Callen is my little dramatic eater...must make a show of it somehow! All of us giggling at him doesn't help! :-)This little guy just spits his food at me...
and then laughs at me when I react (of course he thinks he is just blowing bubbles, doesn't quite get that when there's food in his mouth those bubbles are loaded!

Am I running a circus?
So sometimes truly this is what it feels like. It just almost seems like every time I turn around one of them is doing something else silly, crazy and/or daring. We do have a lot of fun though...never a dull moment around here! :-) Here are a few pics to give you a taste of what I turn around and see on a daily basis, I truly LOVE these boys!Callen with both of his legs through one leg in his shorts...he told me he had a skirt on...once again, he will love me for taking a pick of this!
Callen put the Darth Vador helmet on Cohen one night...that sweet child really is going to be tough as nails!Poor thing, climbed up on top of the pile of clean laundry and fell asleep 'cause there was no room for him on the other couch with Corbin and Callen.Cade LOVES to play with Mommy's shoes, this is one concoction of an outfit he came up with one day! He's gonna love me for always taking pics of these moments! :-)Cohen, covered in cherios that his brothers had spilled on the floor...he had crawled all over them while trying to eat them and they stuck to him!Cade, in a pirate outfit with a monkey hat, playing my moms piano and singing at the top of his lungs!

A Month In Review - Part I

2008-11-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow or check our blog regularly, I'm sure you've noticed there hasn't been anything new in a while...I'm sorry!!! Life has been full of taking care of my sweet husband and four precious boys. Can't complain! So below are the things that stick out the most in my mind when I think back on the last month of our lives.

**this will be in two parts because I'm such a blabber and obviously have too many pictures that it won't let me post it all as one**

Our Little Barber:
That's right, one of my sweet boys is trying to follow in the footsteps of his mother. You see, I've been cutting our hair for almost 11 years now (although I'm taking a break from doing my own now and that's nice for a change). It has saved us a lot of money, considering how many of us there are and how much hair we have in this family! :-) So of course, I've got several pair of hair cutting scissors in our bathroom. Well one night about a month ago we were all in my bathroom getting vitamins and brushing teath (actually, this was the same night as the seriously, are you kidding me blog...this is the rest of the story you've been wondering about). The phone rang and I knew it was Chris calling so I ran in the kitchen to grab the phone. As I came back only about 2 minutes later I rounded the corner to see long (about 3 inches no lie) locks of brown hair scattered around on my bathroom floor. I know as a mother I should not panic when things like this happen but you just have to know how much I LOVE these boys long hair!!!! I ran over to Callen (yep, you know it was my little Curious George!) yelling "no, no, no, no, no! Where did this come from?" as I'm running my hands through his hair all over his head trying to figure out where the hair came from. By the way, he had the hair cutting scissors AND Chris clippers in hand, but the clippers were not plugged in so I was pretty sure he had not used those! Fortunately, he had cut his hair right on the 'cow lick' so it was not extremely noticable unless you were actually looking for it. He also cut it on top a bit but I just gave him a haircut to try and even that up a bit. My worst fear and the reason for totally flipping out was that I just knew I was going to have to shave his head and I knew I was going to lose it if I had to do that! Praise the Lord!, He protected us from having to do that this time...notice I say this time, trying to prepare myself for the possiblility of this happening yet again one day, although I pray this was our only experience with...a little barber! You know I had to take pics, so enjoy giggling!This is what I walked around the corner and saw! Now you understand why I flipped out!
This was the face he gave me when I asked him what he was doing!
This is the top of his head where you could see a chop in his hair.
This is where he cut it almost all the way to his head, now it's already grown back out to about an inch long...his hair grows soooo fast!
This was after clean up and Cade insisted in being in a picture with "Talwen"...that's how he says his name! :-)

Trunk-or-Treat:
This year for Halloween we were all Pirates...well, Cohen was our pet monkey, but the rest of us were pirates. I chose this theme because I hoped to think of something that all the boys would enjoy doing so we could have a theme on Cohen's first Halloween but I knew that was going to be difficult because they are at an age now that they want to pick what they are going to be. They all went for this though since they were going to get to carry guns and swords and stuff! Thanks to some of our good friends we didn't have to buy all of this but were able to borrow obout half of it and I pieced the other half toghether from thrift stores and dollar stores. I think they turned out pretty darn cute considering we only spent about $20 total on all 6 of us!!! Can you believe that? Here are some pics from Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Kim and Bobby showed up with a surprise for the boys...they brought Polo dressed up in a pirate costume as well! She was sooooo cute!!! We had a lot of fun!The whole pirate gang!
The cutest pet monkey ever!!!
Posing for mommy!
On the hayride with Aunt Kim and Uncle Bobby :-)
Cade playing hockey, he actually made all his shots!
Corbin playing football...and he got one ball through the hole!
Mommy & Daddy with their little monkey....right before we had to take it off because it was tooooo hot!
Cohen and his friend Griffen.
Callen, Corbin, Grayson and Michael.
Polo the pirate! Soooo cute!

Messy, Messy, Messy!?!
Sometimes I feel like that is all my boys ever are...well at least Callen and Cade that is. The problem is, they really don't mind being messy, in fact, they actually think it is fun to make a mess and get extremely messy while doing it! So what's a mom to do but take a few pics when it gets really funny and/or amazing! :-) And believe me, many times it truly is amazing to me that it does not bother them to be this messy! The first 3 pictures were taken on halloween after we had made some brownies in different halloween shaped and covered them in powdered sugar for the cake walk. They were enjoying the leftover powdered sugar to the fullest! The next 4 pictures were taken one day when I let them play in the mud...which they ALL LOVE to do!!! Corbin licking the powdered sugar off of his arm...we wouldn't want to waist any!
Callen licking the sugar off of the cutting board he was using!
Cade's face after licking sugar off of his cutting board...he just knew he was so funny and cute!
Corbin only really got his hands muddy...he always has been my cleanest child!
Callen had dots of mud ALL over him, from head to toe...he was truly loving that mom said "yes" to playing in the mud!!!
This was Cade's face...truly caked in mud, how he did this without eating any or getting it in his eyes I will never know...didn't bother him though, as you can see below...
...where he is threatening to come and get mommy with his nasty hands! Don't worry, they didn't go in the house like that...they got sent to the back yard where they were stripped down and hosed down before going in to take a good, long bath!!!

Antiques & Canton:
Most of you know that my first love in decorating is shabby chic antiques and of course one of the greatest places to find stuff like that is Canton. My parents were gracious enough to keep the 3 older boys while I went with Lauren and Sarah and we had a blast! It was a bit crazy out there because we had no choice but to go on a Saturday (which I will never do again if I can help it) but we found some GREAT stuff. Can't wait to go back again in the spring!!!This is a BEUATIFUL mirror...the picture doesn't do it justice! The original price tag on the back said $298 and I got it for $25!!! No lie, I was soooooo excited!
I found these awsome old pieces of wood and bought several of them. This was one of the bigger ones that I put a SLAH piece I had on it. LOVE it!
These are two of the smaller pieces of wood that I put smaller iron pieces that I had on them...I plan on hunting for more wood and iron pieces and selling these!...truly love them!
This is my Christmas present from Chris! I've been looking for a fireplace screen like this for 2 years now and when I saw this one, I fell in love with it. Then I saw the price, which was a 1/4 or less than any others like it I've ever seen, and I knew I wasn't going home without it!

6 Months Old and Growing!!!
My sweet Cohen is getting so big I can hardly believe it! He is officially crawling now...at only 6 1/2 mo. old! He sees something he wants and goes after it. Gone are the days of being able to just lay him on the floor and go do whatever, 'cause now not only will the boys accidently step on him but he will also dissapear and go get something he doesn't need! But believe it or not, he is still in his bassinett...I know, I'm a bad mom but he still sleeps so well in it, in spite of being the size of it, and I can't wrap my head around him not being in my room any more. This last baby thing is harder than I thought it might be, but the Lord is good and has given me the sweetest baby possible. We have the sweetest moments together and I'm cherishing every one of them!!! He says MaMa, DaDa and BuBu here and there, he eats cereal, fruits and vegetables like they won't be there tomorrow and believe it or not, he is already eating table food as well...crackers, cherios, hard boiled eggs, french fries and whole green beans to name a few. Lets just put it this way, he loves food as much as his brothers ever did and I'm sure will be on full blown table food by 9mo at the latest. What a joy he is in our lives!!!Playing in my exersaucer-like seat
He loves it!
Sitting straight up in his rocking seat...first one to figure that out and he did it at 5 months old!
He just pulls up on his toy bar and then takes it right out, he is so strong!
Also at 5 mo. he figured out how to turn completely over in this chair...while being buckled in might I add! We were all eating breakfast at the kitchen table and he wanted to see what was going on. I turned around to check on him just to see those sweet little blue eyed peeking over the top of the seat and could hardly believe it! He is smart, strong and determined!
First time on a kiddy ride (at Incredible Pizza)...Daddy put him on it and he LOVED it! He is going to do everything way faster than all the other boys because he has 3 older brothers he wants to be just like!
It's sad I know, he's as big as his bed...time for the big bed mommy!

Seriously! Are you kidding me?

2008-10-20T10:06:00.001-07:00

So last night I was getting the boys ready for bed, we were going through our normal routine...eat a vitamin, brush teeth and go potty. So I tell Callen to go potty again (I knew he had gone a bit earlier) and he tells me that he already went. I told him that's why I said to go "again" and he proceeded to tell me that there was no peepee in there. I told him to try and make sure, that I thought there was some. So he goes over to the potty and stands there while saying, "see Mommy, I told you...wait. Seriously! Are you kidding me?!" and he looks back at me and says "how did you know I had some in there?" (No lie! Those were his exact words!!! I think he's heard Mommy use those words a few too many times.). Trying not to crack up I sweetly told him that sometimes Mommy is really smart! :-) He just smiled and we had a great rest of the night...well, until the next incident. You'll have to read the next post (I'll post it later) to see what I mean!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's become a tradition of ours every fall to go to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. It is a really GREAT pumpkin patch and the best part is that everything there is free!!! Except for the pumpkins of course. They have hay mazes, tractors, a horse, a donkey, a pig, a huge turtle, hayrides, picnic tables to eat at, bounce houses, play houses and jails, beautiful fall decor, halloween decor/picture spots, and almost every movie and cartoon character you can think of cut out of wood and painted so you can take pics with them! And of course, 100's of pumpkins!!! Our kids LOVE to go and so do I! Chris has not ever gotten to go with us so we had decided that we were going to make it a family event this year, our 4th year in a row to go. Sadly, so we thought, the day we were planning to go it rained. BUT, it was beautiful that afternoon so we decided to try and go, praying it would not be too muddy. Turned out, that was the perfect thing to do! There were only about 15 total cars there so we had NO lines to wait in to take pics (not to mention you didn't feel bad when it took 10 times just to get a smile out of them!) and the boys got to jump in ALL the bounce houses for as long as they wanted. We really did have so much fun! Hopefully the pics below will tell all!Corbin and Callen LOVE the Chipmunks!
Cade with "Memo" :-) (That's what he calls him at least!)
Cade crawling through the train
Yes! Callen is on TOP of the tractor! What can a mom do?
Trying to figure out what that pig is doing!
Cade was our little ghost, and a cute one too!
Mommy and her 4 precious boys!
Cohen with a scarecrow
What kind of big boy smile is that?
Mommy, what are these? And why do you have to take a million pictures of me sitting in them?!
Racing each other!
Going down backwards/upside down!
Flying through the air...and usually when he landed he did a flip. It's a wonder he hasn't killed himself already! Adventurous little no fear guy!
Being in jail is fun...isn't it?!
Playing peek-a-boo with Mommy
Cade really wanted to pick up a huge pumpkin all by himself...he never quite did it but boy did he give it his all!!!
Cade was so excited to climb up the BIG ladder with his brothers but once he got up there and looked down the slide, there was no way he was coming down. :-) Finally he decided he wante off that thing so he would give it a shot, this is a picture of his first time down the slide. He LOVED it and must have gone down it an additional 15 times...it was hard to get him to stop once he was having fun!

There's no business like a home business, like no business, I know!

2008-10-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, kinda corny but that's just what came to mind when I was trying to think of a title for this entry! I'm having so much fun with my home business, Nifty Thrifty Designs. I am truly grateful that God has given me the time and money to be able to do this...it has been a dream for years and if it were not for Him, this would not be! He gives us every last bit of creativeness we have anyway, we can't and must not take credit for that! I praise him for giving me a love for beautiful and unique things and pray that through this business I can somehow share my love for and relationship with Him with others who love to decorate and make things but may not know my sweet Lord and Savior yet!

So, last month was crazy busy with cakes...I had 6 or 7, I can't really even remember now. This month I've got 5 different craft bizaars I'm participating in...I know, I'm crazy to one degree or another. Chris is on board though and I'm having so much fun. I normally do not do nearly this much stuff in one month but I'm saving up for a couple of different things that are quite expensive and like Chris told me, "sometimes you have to work really hard for a month or two in order to pay for something and then just have it behind you!" So that's what I'm doing. He is so sweet to help me with the boys on the days I'm actually gone selling stuff! And no, I'm not neglecting my children during the day trying to get all this stuff done, I just stay up all night after they are asleep making stuff...not really, I just try to do it a little at a time when they are asleep. I've been working on several new products and tweeking old ones. It's truly a stress reliever for me to make stuff so this has been a fun month so far. The pics are from my first sale this month, it was at my house. We had so much fun! I'll let you know in November how the whole month goes and if I'm still alive! :-) I would ask you to pray that I am able to keep my priorities straight this month while juggling such a busy schedule. While this is fun, God has given me an incredible husband and four precious boys who need a wife and mommy to take care of them and be there for them, not just physically, but emotionaly too. I also pray that my walk with Christ never suffers because of being busy...if I can't make time for Him, I've got too much on my plate!

Cohen's Growing Soooo Fast!

2008-10-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that my baby baby is already 5 months old...how time flies when you are having fun! He is such a joy and blessing each day and has got to be the best behaved baby in the world!!! I remember back when we had Corbin, I told everyone he was a good baby, and he was! Then Callen came along and was a bit easier, Cade was even more laid back and easy going. Now I consider myself extremely blessed to have had 4 precious boys in a row who have consistantly only gotten better, happier and easier every time (I sure some of that is that we getting better at this baby boy thing...at least I would hope so by now!). Anyway, he is laughing at the boys all the time, watching every move they make! I'm sure as soon as he can follow them around he will. He is rolling all over the place, eating cereal now and playing with toys. Even though we are enjoying ever new little thing he does as his personality blossoms, there is a part of me that knows I'm slowly losing my sweet tiny newborn that I had just a few short months ago (I love babies a little too much I think!). :-)I can't leave him on my bed any more because he will push himself off, not just roll off, by 3 1/2 months old he could PUSH himself off with his feet...I found that out the hard way and felt like the worst mother in the world!
He might just learn to get out of the bassinet on his own before I start putting him in the crib...another part of the newborn stage I've been clinging to!
Cohen and his new cousin, Stephen!
Precious growing baby feet...I LOVE baby feet!
Surrounded by Brothers!
Playin' with his toys.
Sitting in his Bumbo seat, he actually likes it, unlike big brother Cade whom it was bought for...he couldn't stand it!
Chubby Cheeks! They must get kissed 1000+ times a day!!! And that's just by mommy, who knows what the numbers would be when you add everyone else in! :-)
Uh oh...she caught me sucking on my toes again!
Laughing at brothers.
Oh my word...what have they done to me? I'm gonna get someone one day for this! :-)
Yes they do!!!
Eating his breakfast.
An irresistable and contagious smile!

Two Big Boy Birthdays!

2008-10-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

My sweet "baby" Cade turned 2 on August 29 and my "first" baby, Corbin, turned 5, can you believe it?, on September 2. We decided to have a joint birthday party for them this year for a couple of reasons: a) Chris' parents come from out of town and can only come to one if we do them seperately and b) they are young enough and close enough in age that they don't mind and they are kinda friends with each other's friends anyway. It turned out great, a full house, but a lot of fun. We had a couple of bounce houses in the back yard and we had pizza for all. I made a Barny cake for Cade, he LOVES that show, and a Superman cake for Corbin. They had a blast and I can hardly believe how big they are getting!The boys loved the superman masks we got for party favors!
We took Cade out for ice cream on his actual birthday, our happy Big Boy!
I've never seen so many gifts!
Grandpa got Corbin a basketball game for the Wii...he was very excited!
Corbin with his superman cake.
Cade with his Barney cake
Corbin asked me to write their names on the fireplace with streamers. He LOVED it and told everyone what it said.
Cade playing peek-a-boo in the bounce house.
Two birthday brothers jumping together and laughing to the top of their lungs!
Corbin figured out how to say hi to me a "cool" way! It's amazing the things they start to figure out as they get older.

Prayers Coveted!!!

2008-09-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

I don't want to sound desperate but in some ways I feel that way a bit right now. This week Chris and I have an incredible opportunity to be a part of our church's worship team's live cd/dvd recording. I am confident that it is going to turn out to be a powerful tool for worship and possibly even sharing the Gospel with people who do not know our Lord and Savior!...catch is, we have rehearsals every night this week, till all hours of the night. We were there tonight from 5:30PM to 10:50PM. Needless to say, two of them cried hysterically almost all the way home. And this was just the first night, just the beginning. We would so appreciate prayers for us as we journey through this week in faith that we are being a part of a bigger picture that God has for us, but as it is also very hard to put our sweet children through such a long week of being in childcare. The recording by the way is this Saturday and Sunday so when I mean all week, I mean ALL week. Pray Chris and I would be able to make the most of the time we do have as a family and that we would all be able to get as much rest as possible. Thank you for being our prayer wariors this week!

You know you have a big family when...

2008-09-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

1) adding two more kids to your house actually makes it seem easier, not harder.
2) you go through 4 or more gallons of milk a week.
3) you can't call anyone by the right name.
4) you actually try to get your 4 year old to learn to put a diaper on his little brother.
5) you have stocked two pantrys and two freezers and still feel like you are running out of food.
6) you actually can't all cuddle in your queen size bed without 2 kids sleeping at the foot of it.
7) you can only fit in a 7+ passenger car.
8) you get asked everywhere you go "are they all yours?"
9) driving to vacation actually did save you a bunch of money even though gas was $3.85 a gallon.
10) you can't stay in a hotel room anymore with out a king size bed, pull out couch and a baby bed.
11) you have to double a recipe if you want any leftovers.
12) you have a child in almost every classroom in the pre-school area at church.
13) you have to push two grocery baskets (which is impossible unless someone else is with you) in order to fit all the kids and groceries in them.
14) your kids can make up an entire band and play a concert for you whenever they are playing like they are rockstars.
15) you feel like it breaks the bank every time you go out to eat.
16) you shop only clearance racks and if it isn't a good 50% (actually more like 66%) or more, you won't even consider buying it for the most part.
17) you wash at least one load of laundry a day.

Some call it Bead Head, we call it Rockstar Hair!!!

2008-09-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Callen get's up and has the most awsome hair do I've seen in a while. Some people pay good money to get their hair to look like this! Then Corbin got up and his hair looked pretty cool as well. Cade woke up and had the most normal bead head but still pretty darn cute! Then Cohen woke up and I don't even need to say anything there. The boys couldn't figure out why mommy had to take pictures of them so early in the morning. I kept trying to explain to them that I needed to capture all the rockstar hair that they had going on so we could put them on the computer for our friends and family to see. Corbin and Cade were not hard to convince. Cohen of course just looked at me like a deer in headlights. Then there was Callen...he wasn't going to let me take a picture for anything and his was the best hair in my opinion. So I thought to myself, "how am I going to get this child to let me take a picture of him? What is the key to his heart? Ah yes, anything with loads of sugar in it...I've got leftover cake balls in my fridge." So I said, "Hey Callen, if you let Mommy take a picture of you then I will give you a cake ball!" He quickly stopped fussing and turned around and said, "Mommy, I want you to take 5 pictures (as he showed me 5 fingers) so I can get 5 cake balls...and I want 5 blue ones, ok?!!! (ending with the biggest, sweetest smile you've ever seen!)" So I let him pose (and you will see that he is my GQ guy) for 1 picture and then have 1 cake ball. It was a good morning after that...we were all happy, especially Cade since he got a cake ball too and didn't even have to do anything to get it! :-)Do I look like a rockstar, Mommy?
GQ pose! :-)
I just want my breakfast!
Pictures already today? This could be a long day!
And Daddy loves to be a rockstar too! :-)

I Need A Dog!

2008-09-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOSH (oops, as Callen would say, "we don't say that Mommy, we say Oh my goodness! Right?!), let me start over. OH MY GOODNESS, somebody slap me and slap me hard!!! Now, for those of you who may have wondered or stumbled accross my blog from someone elses and are thinking "what's wrong with a dog, sounds good to me?", here's the deal. There are a couple of things that instantly come to my mind...A)I have 4 little boys barely 5 years old and under and B)I DON"T like dogs! Two kinda major issues if you ask me. BUUUTTTT, you see...my kitchen floor is NASTY! Once again, you are thinking maybe I need to sweep and mop twice a week or so instead of the normal once. Not a chance. Ok, maybe you have a couple of kids and were thinking once a day...getting closer, but not there yet. Lets try after EVERY SINGLE DAD GUM MEAL!!! That might sound crazy if you only have one or two kids or if your were graced with only clean (at least to some degree) children. I definately don't fit in that first category but I also was given two little boys who think it is sooooo fun to get REALLY MESSY all the time. Fun times! That, my friends, is why it would be nice to have one of those precious (I do think they are adorable even though they really pretty much grose me out) little vultures (I'm implying to how they will pounce on any and every crumb dropped to the floor) around just to help me keep it a bit cleaner on a day to day basis. I could be wrong, maybe it wouldn't help that much but it sure is a nice thought. Actually, if I had it my way, I'd have a 'gaurdian dog' that only came around (poof! out of nowhere) when it was mealtime and cleaned up my floor and then magically dissapeared when meals were over so I didn't have to deal with it or take care of it. Is that mean? Kinda makes me giggle actually. I'm truly sorry if I have offended any of you dog lovers in any way!!! I'm sure one day I will have a dog, I've got a husband and 4 boys who LOVE them. So for now, you can pray that my messes will lesson with out having to get a dog and then that in the future when we do get one, that I will finally be ok with that! :-) Here's a couple of pics of Cade making one of his daily messes...laugh it up! Did I do something wrong, Mommy? Notice the yogurt all over his face, hands, arms and chest...and it even made it in the hair too, of course, and pretty much all the way down to his toes. :-) Wow, amazing what one sweet little kid can do.
And that face pretty much sums it up! It just does NOT bother him at all to make a mess...in fact it is quite fun!
I don't think this shows it very well but there is yogurt and green beans all over the floor, and that's just one meal, just one kid!