To Branson we will go...

Although Branson may be a little cheesy to some, I get it, it is still such a fun place to go with our family. It really helps we have some family there now too. We had never been during the holidays so we decided in November to head down there. IT was really fun. We saw a live Christmas production that was very good. We saw Dixie, the Christmas show, and ate some good food and enjoyed our hotel. The hotel is the kids favorite part. In fact, every single day, every SINGLE day, multiple times a day they play "hotel". They play hotel all day every day to be exact. They just love the real thing so much, why not bring it home I suppose! A big shout out of thanks to Gloria for hooking us up while in Branson with a great hotel, yummy food and discount tickets! We had a blast!

Can I just say,

that I am so very Thankful for my friends. We were missing a few this weekend, but we were able to have everyone together that was in town together at Brooks house. It is always so fun. When we get together although it has been years since we were in high school, it is like we are taken right back to that time. We have all been friends for a really long time and it is the type of friendship that will only last forever and ever.

Me (looking very tired and too pregnant to only be 19 weeks at the time),

Carrie, Brook, Sandy and Melissa

Giving Thanks...

This year for Thanksgiving it was pretty low key. Well as low key as having 19 people here can be. This was the first year we did not go to my parents house for Thanksgiving. Although we really missed being with my side of the family, a lot, it was really nice just staying home and letting the kids be here and spend time with their cousins.

The day before I made all the pies. I made a yummy peanut butter oreo crust pie, pioneer woman apple pie, pioneer woman pecan pie, pumpkin and a chocolate silk. We had no shortage of pies that is for sure. The spread was so good too. I felt like I was on my feet for two days straight so that was not part of the low key either, but it sure was fun. We got up early and watched the parade and played games and just had a good time the whole day. We all ended up at the movie theater to see Tangled that evening and that movie was SO SO cute. We all loved it.

I love the holidays so much. I just love the extra time we get to have with family.

That is the best part!

The kids gazing at the pies and getting gold fish instead!

Trying to get a family photo. My timer was not working very well.

This picture did not turn out quite like we wanted. We had planned on setting up the timer and after the first picture me saying "ok, on three say Happy Thanksgiving!" Then the second one we said, "Ok on three say Paxton is going to be a big brother!" It would have worked, but everyone was so loud I am not sure anyone really heard!

Oh well, everyone got the memo eventually.

Watching the parade!

The girls love love LOVE Cami!

Random...

I always have random folders in my photos on my computer that do not really

go with anything else, but that are still so cute...so here they are!

Paxton and Maddox's last day in nursery together at church. I have had at least two and for a whole year I had three kids in nursery and it is so weird now to only have one! I thought Paxton would be sad, but he was just fine. When I would came in to drop something off he was saying the prayer and opened his one eye and shooed my off! He said, "I am a big boy by myself!" Like leave me along mom! Pretty adorable.

I love this boy!

Getting ready for his first day of preschool.

Cortland sitting with his pink night night because the two blues ones and green were in the laundry! He doesn't seem to care a bit!

Jadeyn has her go to pose when the camera comes out! It is so cute and I cannot even count how many pictures I have like this!

Getting a little creative.

This girl is honestly creating something all day long. Coloring and or doing some sort of art or craft. She will sit there and write letters for hours and hours.

Ready for school with a waffle in her hand!

A Sunday Morning

Every single Sunday I wish I would take pictures of the kids because they look so cute. Well this Sunday I got out the camera. I was wishing I could have snapped one of all of them together, but I did not want to press my luck. Andy has early morning meetings before church so he is not lucky enough to be here in the morning getting every one ready. So the fact that I was able to get pictures taken before we left was nothing short of a miracle. I will have to try that again sometime!

FOOTBALL

I have said that for 33 years I have made it a point to not be into football. I don't care about it in the least. It probably has something to do with the fact the football was always on in my house growing up. ALWAYS, or we were at a game, or practicing for a game or cheerleading for a game. Lots of football and I did not get it at all nor did I want to, to be honest.

With all that said, this year after a few of being begged to be able to play, we caved. I knew it would be good for Bennett to play, so we did it. We signed him up to play, against my true wishes. In fact we thought about it a little too late and missed the cut off date. Here in O town, football is a BIG deal. They turn away over 100 kids every year. We were put on a waiting list. I knew it did not look good so I painfully told Bennett he probably would not be able to play this year. The sign up guy emailed me and said I know you are on the waiting list, but to be honest, we never pull anyone off there. Maybe the top two kids, but no one ever quits, so the chances are slim, very slim, to none. I was so heartbroken for B. Here his parents, well mom, finally gives in and she didn't sign up in time.

We basically threw the towel in. Then one night at 10:43 I got an email from the same guy and said, this particular coach is tough and he has had 3 kids drop out. You were number 15 on his list and I have contacted everyone and no one has gotten back to me. If I hear back from you by midnight he is on the team. I was so thankful I was actually on the computer that late! We made it. I woke up B to share the good news and he was so so excited. So this started our journey on Pee Wee.

I actually have a lot of pictures, but they are on my other computer so I will have to upload those some day. Here are just a few to show how cute these little guys are. Bennett played center and loved it. He is truly skilled in football. Andy never played and I never liked it and we always joke about how he will probably play college ball and we will all wonder where it came from! I love my little guy. He has a talent and I hope to support him doing this thing he loves. I have to tell ya, I have never in my life been so into sports before this past fall. I can even tell you what a quarterback is and what 1st and 10 means. I never ever knew and I cannot tell you how many times I have cheered that exact phrase!


One cute little thing about Bennett is the first couple of games when he would tackle someone or just if someone went down he would help them up, pat their backs and apologize. He had a hard time with that. Finally after the coach told him several times that they know that happens, that is part of the game, he did not feel quite as guilty, but still helped everyone up. How super cute is that?!?

Did I really not blog about Halloween? Really?

I thought for sure I blogged about Halloween? How did this happen? Anyway, we had a great Halloween in our usual themed way. I will be so sad when the day comes I do not get to encourage them into what they should be. Although, we do already know what they want to be next year. Should be fun!

This year we went with a Tinker Bell theme. Cortland loves the Return to Neverland Movie and Pirate anything so him being Captain Hook was a given. Well that was until the costume came and then he was kind of scared to actually be him. He would say things like, "what if I turn mean?" or "what if I become bad?". Super sweet. He did like having a sword though. Even if it was thrown away, or should I say "lost" before Halloween actually hit! It was actually not cold either so Jadeyn's costume did not have to be covered up by a coat of any sort. Although by the end of the night, she was a bit cold, poor girl. Maddox was the most perfect little "peta pan" I have ever seen. I wish I would have kept the pirate costume for Paxton that I bought and took back. I just thought we might as well use one we have. He was a cute little monkey and since that is his alter ego, we went with it. Bennett from the moment we started talking Halloween he wanted to be a football player, even though he actually is a football player. We did have to bang him up a bit though to make it interesting. Boys...

We had a great night and luckily it was not just a night of festivities. It was a few weeks of Halloween fun. Such a fun time of year for all of us!

(I for some reason can not view the pictures I am uploading to my blog posts. I would normally write under then what they are and something about the photo, but no such luck!)

Girls Day Out

I love my girl time with my one and only girl! IT is always a blast. It is so cute too because even if we go no where and we are just doing something together in the house, she will say, is this girls day? I love it. I always say, if I only get to have one girl, I am so lucky she is the one!

One Saturday we went out to a mall that is farther than I wish. Just her and I. We walked around, had lunch, she rode the carousel and we just loved being together. She even got some free clothes out of the deal! Everything she would do she would say, I have got to tell the boys about this. So cute.

It was just a couple of weeks after Christmas so she had to bring her favorite gift. Her stroller is a prized possession around here. She looks so adorable pushing that around.

Heard around the house...

Or seen I suppose. Or what happens to be going on right about now.

Bennett is growing like crazy and I am in total denial that he will be 10 in the spring. I love that he is still into his mom. He is not embarrassed by me or his family. He loves to play games with us or watch a movie or just hang out. He is not a child that has to be at someones house all the time or have someone over, he is content and I pray hard that can continue for quite some time. He won in the pinewood derby and gets to go to district. (whatever that is:)) At his parent teach conference which was a long time ago the teacher told me that he does so well in school, but she is most impressed by his concern for others and how he is genuinely nice to every one. That makes me more happy than straight A's for sure. Math is his favorite subject and she reassured us of that. I have always known this. This is the kids that would come home from Kindy so sad he did not have homework and have me make up notebooks and notebooks of multiplications problems. So cute. For some national testing they did the school ranked? 67%, the state 62% and Bennett had a 98.9%. Yeah, I would say he likes math. The teacher said no one finished the math portion so that is why he missed the 1.1% I am guessing! So funny! I had to do that math, he did not get it from me obviously! I love him and there is no doubt he was supposed to be the leader and first in our family. It was his role our family. He is not perfect by any means, this year he has decided that he can say no if he wants to gain some independence and we have taught him that in certain situations that is great, in most situations with us, not so much! He working on that!

Jadeyn is still twirling with the best of them. The other night on our way home for a date night, we were talking about how much we really really love our kids. We talked about all their personalities at birth. Jadeyn was wide eyed and ready to take on this beautiful world. Andy said if we knew what we know now, we would know she was wanting to scream out, "just give me some hair to twirl and I will be fine!" We got a good laugh at that.

She is really wanting this baby to be a girl, although she is prepared for a boy. She still thinks his name should be rock climber and for the life of me I have no idea where that came from. She kisses my stomach nearly every hour and always is talking about what she is going to do with her baby. She is SO excited to have a new baby in our home. She is just tickled

about it. She really wants someone to share a room with, so for her sake, it would be great if this was a girl. She is the only one that has her own room. I am sure in about 10 years though, she would be perfectly happy with that. Or maybe not. I still wish I had a sister to share a room with.

Cortland who just had a major accident yesterday is still my soft little boy. He fell last night and bit through his tongue, nearly all the way through. It was bad. Very bloody and sad. Andy took him up to his office to do stitches because he said it was one of the worst mouth wounds he has ever seen. He got up there and it was a no go. He would not let him do it. Even on nitrous. So he came home and most of the night while he was sleeping he would moan and groan. Poor little guy. It made me so so sad. This morning though he was still in pain, it looked SO much better! I love how quickly the mouth heals!

Although he is my sentimental one, he is also my most boyish one too. He likes anything sword-ish and stuff like that. He will make anything a sword, which I hate. He is still attached to his "nite-nites" and had the best most kissable cheeks! I love to kiss him and tell him all the time how much I love him. When I ask if he knows how much I love him he says, yes. I ask how and he says "because nobody didn't tell me". I have NO idea what that means, but it is so so cute when he says it. I love it! He gets asked that a lot!

Maddox is so cute and so fun. I mentioned before in his birthday post how he has an accent that is sort of a English/long island accent. It melts my heart. He always say "this is for Lata" instead of later. Just today I noticed he said it the correct way and I kid you not, I had a tear in my eye.

Another Maddoxism is when we are doing our morning or evening jobs if he is not into it, he will always say, "I'm too busy". He will actually be sitting there doing nothing at all. It is his way to say, I am not doing it. He does it. I still love when he says it though.

Paxton is talking like crazy. He says the cutest things. Like when you are playing catch which he loves to do, if you catch it he says, "you win!". It is so cute. He says things that seriously make me shake my head! How does he know these things already? He amazes me by what he learns. He can almost spell his name. Which we just got done with the twins learning that. If you ever ask him if he is my baby, he will say "no I'm monkey!" When he goes down for a nap or bedtime if he does not fall asleep right away he will walk out of his room and downstairs and say all cheerfully, "I wake up!" like he had been sleeping. It is so funny.

I think it is safe to say I like this monkey. He is such a perfect addition to our family.

Paxton bumped his lip and had a puffy lip and he wanted a bandaid. So cute@

Andy is still in love with his job. It makes me so happy I have a husband that absolutely adores his job. It is like a day of fun for him. Even when drug seekers call at 2 in the morning. He still likes it! He made Presidents Club through work which we are all very excited! We were close. Very close. I am not even sure what it all takes other than a lot. A LOT. It is a lot of work and very hard to reach. They have to make it a hard goal to reach, because they go all for those who make it. We got really lucky and are so so so so excited to go in just 21 short days!!! I am so lucky to have a husband who doesn't look at house work as my work. He is so helpful!

(this picture is so weirdly cropped. What happened?)

I am chugging along in this pregnancy. Still surprised I am 28 weeks or so and have no idea what I am having. I want to be able to bond with the baby. I want to plan and prepare, but I am very surprised I am not having a harder time. I am impressing my impatient self. I have gotten some sort of my "Steam" back because I have been organizing up a storm! I love it. I am not sure Andy does, but he humors me. I also have plans of a laundry room redo! I am excited to see how it turns out. This weekend, I hope!

We are currently looking for a bigger car. We will see how that goes. I am looking for very specifics at the price I want. It is looking to be tougher than I was hoping! I think we are going with a Yukon XL. We will see!

In other great news...I have new niece and she is presh! I am in love with her. If this is a boy, I will have a girl to love on whenever I want! I just love her. So is so adorable.

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That is what is going on in our neck of the woods. There is much more I am sure, but I just wanted to jot some things down while they are fresh in my mind!

The joys of pregnancy

I am sitting here in a quiet house, only two kids are awake. It is truly amazing how quiet just two kids are. Or even three, and sometimes four. Take one child away and it is a whole other ball game. It is strange. Although I have to say, my kids volume level goes up a few levels anytime anyone is here and it drives me a little crazy. Anyway, this post is not about that.

I am getting ready to head out the door for a doctor appointment. I think I am like 28 weeks? I am not even sure to be honest. That IS what this post is about. I was thinking about my first pregnancy and this pregnancy and how different they are. First of all, the biggest obvious, I am almost 10 years older now than I was the first go around. TEN years! That seems crazy to me. Ten years is a lot of years. It does seem real at all or possible. When I was twenty..., well lets just say younger, I had a lot more energy and was able to stay up a lot later. I had a ton of friends going through the same things and being pregnant. I was much more sick, and had random problems like carpal tunnel, planter warts and teeth problems that did not quit! BUT, and that is a big BUT, I could handle it. I was only 23 years old. This time I have had none of those problems, but I could not handle them now either with five other children and again, being ten years older.

I get to take the glucose test today which I loathe. I cannot handle the taste of the stuff. It is disgusting and rude to make any one, much less a pregnant woman, much less a pregnant woman who cannot stand sugar at the time, take it. I seriously hate soda of any kind, so this stuff pushes me over the edge. It is always weird to me when I hear someone say, it wasn't that bad, or even worse, they liked it! Sick. I have never have sugar problem either and I wish at least after three children they would let you skip by them with the other pregnancies. How great would that be? I have found though if I run my finger under water, a suggestion from the lab tech last year, it goes down a little better. I know it is all in my head, but whatever works!

Another difference this time around is the fact that I want this pregnancy to linger out as long as it wants. My first I was ready to meet the second I found out I was expecting. I hope another difference is this one weighs less than my first too. He was so so so cute, but 11 pounds is a little much, I am thinking even 8 pounds will do too.

I am just so thankful to be able to welcome another sweet babe into our family and home. I feel so blessed. I know not every one can understand why we would want another baby, making our children total an even six, but there is not one moment of my life that I would wish it being any other way. I am grateful for what I have been given and feel humbled to be able to bring another baby into this world.