Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! On Christmas Eve we went to my Mom's house and had heavy appetizers and opened presents. Eli was excited about his Lightning McQueen toy and Olivia loved her Princess horses from Aunt Day. Olivia absolutely loves my sister and wants her every time she's around. We came home around 8:30pm, got the kiddies in their Christmas jammies, left milk and cookies for Santa and Santa started his job. Eli wanted to leave a note for Santa and it said "Thank you".  Josh and I had so much fun wrapping their gifts in our "Santa" paper and getting everything ready for Christmas morning. We pranked Isaac with Justin Beiber wrapping paper and knew he would have a fit. The Santa magic disappeared when Isaac was about 7  and so this was the first year in a long time we've gotten to play 'Santa'.  Thankfully this year we didn't have any major hard toys to spend hours putting together.

Everyone slept great on Christmas Eve night which was wonderful and Isaac was the first one up at 7:30 Christmas morning. He came downstairs to our room and said, "REALLY.  Justin Beiber wrapping paper!" However, was just as excited as the Littles for presents under the tree. A few minutes later Eli appeared at the top of the steps. The boys just couldn't wait any longer so Isaac went and got little Sis up. The kids opened their presents and stockings and it was so much fun. Isaac got the guitar he's been asking for and a new gaming system. Eli got a little four-wheeler that takes gas; he was so pumped! Olivia sat in her new little pink chair and rocked her Baby Stella doll and loved that it has a paci.

Around 10 on Christmas morning, my family came over to our house for a big Christmas brunch. We had Nana's homemade biscuits and gravy, fruit, sausage, country ham, grilled pork chop, pigs and blankets, cinnamon rolls, Nanny's breakfast casserole and more. Needless to say we were stuffed! Olivia took a nap and then we headed to Josh's parent's house. Everyone was home for Christmas this year. We had lots of food and the kids opened presents. Olivia is the last grandchild making number 9 so the living room is always packed with presents, paper and boxes galore. Eli got a couple trucks, Olivia a doll set and Isaac some clothes. We stayed until bedtime, came home and crashed.

Eli with his new Lightning McQueen toy

Olivia playing with her new Princess ponies

Aunt Day, Olivia and Camden

Isaac opening his gift from Aunt Jane. She had set presents aside for us before she died.

My mom (Nana) and Olivia

Christmas Eve playing with the race track

It's a race

Appliqued Reindeer shirt and Car-harts... the best of both worlds :)

Really.. who puts the nozzle right THERE!

Ready for Christmas Morning

Cookies nibbled, milk guzzled, stockings stuffed!

This is me in my new slippers the day after Christmas... relaxing!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there. Whether you are a working mom, stay-at-home mom, new mom or want-to-be-a mom, hat's off to you! It's a fun, tiring, so worth it job!  My three blessings give me so much joy and happiness.

12 years ago a little boy baby, full of black hair made me a mama and I wouldn't trade one second of it. I was young, but wow, how my whole life changed for the better. I had to grow up fast, and learn to how to take the back burner for someone else. He taught me how to be a mama... sometimes I made mistakes and sometimes I got it right. Now at 32, I still make mistakes but I've also learned a lot. Some battles are not worth the fight.. I remember sitting at the dining room table for 2 hours waiting on Isaac to eat a lima bean... I couldn't back down because I told him he couldn't get up until he ate it. I went by the book... the bottle went away at exactly 12 months of age and the paci 'broke' conveniently. Now, I'm much more lenient.. because I realize how fast time goes and how quickly they leave your arms. If Olivia wants her bottle past her first birthday, I'm okay with that. If she wants me to rock her before she goes to sleep, I'm okay with that. When Eli wants me to 'Hold you, Mommy', most of the time I scoop him in my arms, kiss his little cheeks and try to rock his big boy self. Those sweet moments when Isaac (who is almost as tall as I am) wraps his arm around my shoulder and one around my waist and we walk side-by-side, melt my heart. I know one day I will look back and want these days back.

Oh there are days when all I want to do is curl under my covers and take a nap or watch a show on DVR, but I know God willing, one day I will have time to do that. Right now my days are filled with running kids to practice, holding whining toddlers, feeding babies, changing diapers, cleaning up toys, working on never ending laundry- all those tasks that make me a Mom.

Mommy and Livi

My big boy

My wild one.. that' Olivia under him!

No makeup, PJs, acting silly kind of morning!

My sweet Mama.. I'm so thankful for her and all she does for us and her grandchildren. I think people learn a lot about being a mother from their own mom and I've had an excellent example. She is and has always been a wonderful mom. Love you Mama!

Isaac as a wee newborn! 

Chick chick

My mama got 8 baby chicks yesterday so we brought the kiddos to see the new pets. I have this thing about chickens. I'm not a fan. It has something to do with the beaks and legs. However I embraced my chicken fear today and held two of the little peeps. They actually fell asleep while I was holding them.

Carter the old pro chick handler

Look at E's face... he kept saying, "You're so sweet!"

Even Livi Lou liked the chicks

Cam is ONE!

My sweet baby nephew turned ONE. Wow, has it been a year already since he was born! He's such a darling boy and is toddling around. My sis had a small party at her house to celebrate and I bought him a ride on truck so he could join the big boys. There are 10 months between Carter and Eli and 8 months between Camden and Olivia, so they are all close enough in age to have play buddies. I feel blessed to have my sis near me so our kids can grow up together.

Camden and Nana

Apple Orchard Adventures

Today Eli had his first field trip! We went to Stepp's Apple Orchard where we went on a hay ride, picked apples from a tree, picked a pumpkin, walked through a corn maze and walked through a soy bean maze. When we first got to the orchard we had to load up for the hay ride... Eli FROZE! He then turned around and sprinted across the corn field. You should have seen me trying to chase him down. Why he got so scared I have no clue because he loves tractors and rides his Paw-paw Gene's tractor all the time.  My mom, Audra, the kiddos and I all rode together. The adventure went pretty well considering we had a 3 year old, 2 year old, almost 1 year old, and 4 month old. We stopped and had lunch at PF Changs on the way back where we managed to eat  before total toddler/baby meltdown occurred.  

Eli with his bag full of apples getting ready to get back on the hay ride

Eli in the apple orchard. He wouldn't smile for the camera of course.

Livi and I in the corn maze

Carter and Cam 

Amber's little girl Rachel

Nana and Livi

Hug, I mean tackle!

Nana and the kiddos

A few more pics from Pawley's

Aunt Jane and Carter rescuing starfish (see all of them washed up?)

Front view of house

Our bedroom ( I put the pack-n-play in between the beds)

The house elevator! Worked great for lugging stuff up 3 stories

Upstairs living room

Kitchen

Jammin' out to Daddy's music

the 12 year old playing Xbox

It's blurry.. but it was a quick date night sans kiddos! Aunt Jane, Nana and Isaac watched all four of the little ones

Nana on the deck

Cam Cam

Livi rocking with Nana

Look at those hunka hunka legs

Cam trying on Olivia's headbands

Add caption

Olivia hanging out on the way to dinner

For more details on our trip from my sister's point of view check out her blog post
http://threecandme.blogspot.com/2012/08/pawleys-island-2012.html

Rainy watercolor

Aunt Jane has been taking a watercolor class and brought her supplies to our beach trip for just as day as today. It's raining and we're lazy! We gathered around the dining room table, listened to music and painted. Even Carter had a go. He's a modern artist. Audra's painting was great.. she has always had artistic talent. Me.. not so much. I had fun trying though :) We stayed in our pj's all day!

Watercolors

Nana sketching

Isaac trying his hand at it

Carter's little modern painting

Audra's sea turtles.. isn't this good!

Audra starting her picture

Carter painting with Aunt Jane mixing colors

A pizza box always works!

Our artwork: My beach pic (orange=wrong sand color), Mom's seashell, Isaac's pot of gold, and Carter's blob