July 4th Festivities

Is that how you spell “festivities?”

Anywho….

We had a great weekend of fun surrounding the 4th. With Ashley’s birthday the 1st, we decided to celebrate with a few close friends. What that means “in these parts” (I’ve been in south GA toooo long!) is that we invited three families, and between the four of us, we have a total of 13 children.  The adults were slightly outnumbered. We kept looking a the dozen or so kids running around and saying, “what were we thinking?” “who is these babies daddy’s?”

Just kidding. 

Ash had a grand time listening to us sing to her and opening a few presents. I had reservations about all the attention being on her and how she would react.

I should not have.

She promptly told her sisters and friends to “get back, get back” as they came close to her cake, and enjoyed her piece of cake right down to the very. last. crumb.

Sunday we headed out the the fireworks and fun at Freedom Fest, an event put on by our church. The girls had a great time riding horses, eating their weight in sugar, and awwwwwing over the fireworks. No fear in this family, they loved every stinkin’ minute! We got home at 11:30 pm and they all fell fast asleep on the way home. Everyone slept till 8:45 Monday morning!

It was a great weekend with friends, and we are so blessed to have these families in our lives!!!

MJ

Avery: “mama, where is daddy going?”

Me: “To a funeral, honey.”

Avery: “for who?”

Me: “Not sure his name, someone’s dad at church.”

Avery: “Is it Michael Jackson?”

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Today we celebrated Ashley's First, Second birthday! First one home with her family and she turned 2!! Cause for celebration!!

We just had our sweet "albany grandparents" the Hemphills over, and celebrated with a small, "smash" cake for her and a cookie cake for us! We're having a few friends over Friday to cook out, but we had to celebrate this special day!

The day was marked with some tears. Ash is fighting a sinus infection, ear infection, and has just had a rough week or so. She's been very clingy to mama and in fact, cried tonight when the Hemphills came over, because she thought I was leaving! That's the reason for the tears in the pics! Poor Baby!

Once she figured out how that she could eat that cake, it was smiles! This girl loves her cake:) She wouldn't eat it with her fingers, so we gave her a fork...that's my little lady:)

We adore you, sweet Ashley! We cannot imagine our lives without you and feel so complete now that you are home. We are thankful for the journey that God took all of us on to get you here, and how He made you fit into our family perfectly! We waited so long for you....years in our hearts! We cannot wait to spend every birthday from now on celebrating God's plan for your life!

Avery Lost a Tooth!

Monday night was interesting at our house.

Avery had a loose tooth.

It had been loose for 3 weeks.

The big tooth was already coming in behind it.

This was her FIRST loose tooth.

It HAD to come out.

It was hanging on by a thread.

Daddy said nobody was going to bed until it came out.

So the drama began.

It started about 7:25pm.

At 10:30, we were still working on it.

There was much screaming.

Much UNSESSARY screaming.

From Avery. And mom. And dad.

Mom was afraid the neighbors might hear and call 911.

After much drama.

And tears.

And promises of large amounts of "tooth fairy" cash.

The tooth came OUT.

Grandparents were called.

Tears were dried.

Forgiveness was asked for and granted.

Mom and Dad realized the tooth fairy was broke.

Dang.

Dad found a $5 bill in his truck.

God is good.

Tooth Fairy paid up.

Mom thinks Avery will probably request an epidural in her 7th month of pregnancy.

Because she's a little wimpy.

But a cute little wimp.

Who now has one less baby tooth.

Ketchup Post

I have been a terrible blogger! I know!!

Between teaching a few swimming lessons, Avery going to camp last week, and keeping up with 4 kiddos, by night time I am totally exhausted. My other blog was called “Confessions of a Tired Mom” and I’m thinking of calling this one, “Confessions of an EXHAUSTED mom!”

We have really had a GREAT summer so far! We’ve seen both sets of grandparents, dipped our (40 Pink) toes in the ocean, spent time with friends poolside, and slept in  slept past 7am. I have tons of blog posts floating around in my jumbled head, none if which comes out when I sit in front of the computer! Ashley has her first ear infection so she’s been a fussy mess for a few days. Dr. finally prescribed her some meds, so hopefully the smiles return soon.

Speaking of, my baby girl is doing so well! She will have conversations with us now….

Mama: Ashley where is daddy?

Ash: I don’t know! Daddy at church?

Mama: YES! Daddy is at church!

Ash: Mama, where “CE CE” (annalyse)?

Mama: I don’t know, where is ce ce?

Ash: Ce Ce right there! (pointing)

We go for her two year well visit next week (yes, she has a BIRTHDAY this week!) and although I am not the expert, I really believe her language is developmentally on target for a child that was born hearing English….she has over 30 words and uses them appropriately….pretty amazing for a child that has only heard the language for 5 months :)

She’s also SWIMMING! yeah!! Video coming but she loves it, finally! She can swim UNDERWATER and is doing so well.

The other girls are enjoying being able to stay up late and eat popsicles all day long. Summer is by far my favorite time of year and we are enjoying every minute of it!

We got Annalyse and Ashley “big girl” beds last week and are thinking about just the right time to transition into that. We’ll see how much longer the crib lasts with Ash. I’ve had a child in that crib for 7 years straight and it’s almost time to retire it. It will be a sad day for me to see it hauled up to the attic. It’s a “rite of passage” of sorts for us…the next phase of life where we’re done having babies and just focusing on raising  great,Godly kids…I’m ready for the change but scared to death at the same time! All of the sudden having a baby seems so easy!

I’ve added a few more pics from Orange Beach…oh how I miss it already…I could seriously LIVE at the beach!

More from the Beach!

Happy Fathers Day, Daddy!

We are so so proud to call you our daddy! You are the best "girl daddy" there is, and we love you so much!