Six Years.

Harris' birthday celebration begin, per tradition, with breakfast.  And balloons.

Somewhere along the way, the big kids decided that powdered donuts were the perfect start to a birthday celebration and we chose not to argue with them.  It's a great, inexpensive treat that they never ask for unless a birthday is rolling around.  I love it! 

This kid was pumped for his birthday.  I seriously cannot believe he is six.  SIX!

Once everyone was awake and functioning, we headed downstairs for gifts.  Ben, Hadley, Emmy, and myself picked out the following for Harris this year:  a MarioKart t-shirt, a pack of Pokemon cards, a Pikachu Pokemon toy, and a Magic Tree House book (the one about Abe Lincoln!). 

I think we did pretty well. :)

Ben headed off to work after the morning festivities and the kids and I continued with our normal Summer of Fun activities while we waited for the evening celebration to begin.

Ben arrived home from work in time to decorate Harris' birthday cake.  Harry specifically requested a scene from Super Mario Brothers 3:  Water World, Board One, with Mario, a pipe, and a squid.  Here's what he got:

I told Ben that I wasn't sure it was his best work ever, but Harris was pleased with the end result.  I sure do love that man...he takes his decorating pretty seriously and we LOVE being able to have all of our very favorite details on our cakes!

We headed out to Luigi's (a second choice after Sonic) to celebrate with our family for dinner. 

Cassidy and DB couldn't make it, but we had a great time eating and laughing and singing with Granti, CoCo, Sam, Tyler, and Paige.

The cake, of course, was the big hit...even with the staff. 

And Harris, of course, was a big ham.  That kid keeps me laughing!

What a fun day of celebrating the first born in our family!  He never ceases to amaze me and has made being a mom so much fun. 

Happy Birthday, Harris!

SOF 2012, Week Three Recap.

This past week was crazy, mostly due to the fact that I had to work a couple of days.  We also celebrated Harry's sixth birthday, which only added to the fun!!!

Here's how we spent our third week together this summer:

Monday:  We headed out to the local library puppet show and then checked out books.  I'm pretty certain Babe checked out every book about horses she could find.  Tyler spent the afternoon with the kids while I got a little work done.

Tuesday:  A full day of work for me.  Yuck.  The kids had a great time hanging with Ben, though, and he even managed to take Harris and Hadley for a haircut.  Good stuff.

Wednesday:  Another day of work...but the last one for me this summer!  Auntie kept the kiddos and they spent the day playing Super Mario Brothers 3.  I'm pretty sure they only stopped for lunch at McDonald's.  Cassidy beat the game, though, so Harry was super pumped.

Thursday:  Harris' SIXTH birthday!!!!  More to come on that in a separate post.  We celebrated quite a bit.  The kids and I also headed to the movies to see The Smurfs.  Harry and Babe ended up liking it.  I'm extremely thankful we only paid $1.50 to see it. 

Friday:  Let's see...a trip to the dollar store to grab some party favors for Harry's party, time at the gym, lunch at Johnny's with DB, Tyler, and Paige, and a fun afternoon at Stars and Strikes.  Harris, Tyler, and Paige played Laser Tag!

It was Harris' first time and he absolutely loved it.  He came out talking about how badly he beat everyone.  I'm not sure if that's an accurate statement, but whatever.

All the arcade games are half-off on Fridays, so we didn't even make it to the bowling alley.  The kids earned tons of tickets!!!!!

They had enough to both select a medium-sized toy (something like a stuffed dog) but instead opted for very small prizes:  Hadley chose a Dum-Dum sucker and Harris selected a bouncy ball.

Oh, well.

We spent the weekend celebrating Quinn and Harris, attending another friends' pool party, and having tons of family fun on Father's Day.

I.  Love.  Summer.

Let The Birthday Prep Begin.

I can't believe this boy will be six tomorrow.

SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He and Daddy have big plans for his cake.  Can't wait to see the finished product. :)

Six Months.

Six months!!!!!!!!!!!

You are such a sweet baby.  You cry when you are tired, or hungry, or when you get stuck on furniture while rolling all over the floor.  Or when your diaper is full of poop.  Other than that, you smile. 

You weigh 15 lbs., 2 oz. (34th %) and are 25 inches long (26th %).  Your legs and your cheeks continue to chunk up, but you still seem so tiny to me! 

You are eating up a storm.  You nurse when you wake up (usually around 6:45 these days!!!!), have a healthy portion of oatmeal around 8:00 (I really have no idea how much you eat...I just fill up the bowl and we go to town!), nurse again around 11:00, eat a jar of baby food mixed with rice around 12:30, nurse about 3:15, eat another jar with rice around 5:00, and nurse and go down for the evening around 7:30.

We're almost through all of the stage one vegetables.  You've tried green peas, carrots, green beans, and sweet potatoes, and eat all of them well.  I think you prefer carrots and sweet potatoes to the green veggies, but you don't seem to be too picky.  The big kids love whenever we feed you something new!  Your sweet daddy wanted to make all of your baby food himself, but I finally convinced him to let me buy a few jars.  He makes sure it's all organic, though.  :)

Your brother and sister also love playing with you even more now that you can roll all over the floor.  We'll put you down in one place and you're across the room before we know it!  You seem to favor stuffed toys over the hard rattles, although you're content to stick both in your mouth.  You also really enjoy your exersaucer now.  You're able to move around and take advantage of all the toys and Harry and Babe think it's so much fun.

You're such a wonderful addition to our family!  Keep growing, baby girl!!!!

Summer of Fun 2012, Week Two.

Time flies when you're having fun!

I can't believe another week of summer has come to an end.  I am beyond tired, but the kids and I are having such a fun time hanging out with each other.  This week was no exception.

We spent the week at VBS.  Our church doesn't host your typical VBS, so for the past three summers the kids and I have had a great time hanging out at a local one right down the street.  It's become our second home.  Harry and Babe had a blast in their respective classes, Emmy rocked it out in the nursery, and I had a ton of fun serving as one of the "Craft Ladies."

It was a long week, but the kids learned so much about Jesus' true power, hope, riches, love, and peace, and made some great friends along the way.  My tender-hearted Harris bawled his eyes out as we pulled away on Friday...he falls in love quick and deep.  And hard.  I pray he always will, regardless of how much it hurts.

We were also able to catch Mr. Keith and his  magician/ventriloquist act at the library this week.  The kids were ENTHRALLED with the act.  Haley, Kim, and I...not so much.  It was still a lot of fun to watch Hadley, especially, cackle with delight at all his crazy tricks.

We signed up for the Summer Reading Program while we were there and checked out quite a few books.  The big kids were super pumped to read ten books this week because part of their summer reading packet included a free meal at Stevie B's after reading that many stories.  They can't wait to cash those bad boys in!

DB celebrated his birthday at Chick-fil-A this week, too.  Tyler even surprised everyone by walking in right as we were ordering!  It was awesome!!!

Emmy had her six-month well-check.  She probably wouldn't include that on the Summer of Fun list, though.

We ended the week and celebrated the final day of VBS by meeting Tyler for lunch at Johnny's and then heading out to Lilburn to watch Ben particpate in a Special Olympics fundraiser, "Cop on a Donut Shop."

I don't really have any words.

Because we were close to Ben's office and the donut shop didn't have a bathroom, we swung by the Captain's quarters on the way home.  The kids always enjoy seeing the "old place where bad guys used to go."

This time, we locked them in. :)

Super stoked for week number three!!!!!!!!

Emmy's Baptism.

Our sweet Emmy was baptized last Sunday.  What an exciting day!  Talking with Harris and Hadley about baptism and sharing the experience as a family was special.  Harry and Babe asked lots of questions about baptism and we talked a lot about how they were baptized as babies, too, but they were by far most excited about getting to stand on the stage!

Harris is no longer shying away from attention.  He made faces, waved, and pretended to play the air guitar before I gripped his shoulder tightly and leaned down to whisper in his ear.  He's becoming quite the ham.

Carter baptized Emmy with water he brought back from his visit to the Jordan River, which is pretty neat.  And even though we still believe that one day, when she's older, Emmy will have to choose for herself whether or not she wants to follow Jesus, it's still unbelievably awesome to take time to recognize and celebrate all the things God has already done for her!  He has chosen her and loves her and sent His Son to die for her and baptism, much like a wedding ring, is such a powerful symbol of that love.

We were so blessed to have lots and lots and lots of family present.  We are, of course, always grateful for our church family, but it was fun to have the rest of our family in attendance, too!!!  Mema, Granti, Pop, Auntie, DB, CoCo, Sam, Mimi, Poppa, DoDo, Aunt Sally, Uncle Seth, and Little Ben all made the trip to The Way.  Emmy Doe is one well-loved little girl!!

Just a little sidenote:  I am so, so thankful for my family and their display of love for me (and Emmy).  It makes my heart happy to know that they love us so much they'd be willing to do something they don't normally do just because it's important to me.  I love them.

We celebrated Big Nut's big day with lunch at Fernando's.  If you haven't eaten their Sunday buffet, do it.  It'll change your life.

And, if you go this Sunday (or any other Sunday), you just might see us there!  :)

Last Week.

Summer of Fun 2012, Week One:  Done.

We had a blast!  The schedule worked perfectly, the kids had a great time at swim lessons, and we had a lot of fun just living life. 

We spent a lot of time just chillin', and Harry and me spent a lot of time playing Super Mario Brothers 3 on the Wii.  I'm getting back to being super awesome and realizing that I actually remember quite a few "secrets" on different boards.  Harris loves it!!!!

We also spent a lot of time reading.  Harry can read just about anything I put in front of him, so he took some time to read to Babe this week.  She really enjoyed it!

We spent an afternoon at the pool, but it was a little too windy for Big Nut to make her swimming debut.  The rest of us had a great time and I know we'll be headed back as soon as we have an opportunity. 

Daddy grilled out hamburgers one night.  They were delicious.  We plan to use the grill a lot more this summer.  We also went to Sam's for lunch.  That was just as exciting!

And we took a trip to FroYoLo.

Don't let those bowls fool you.  The kids skip the frozen yogurt completely and just add candy. 

Oh, well.

Week One is in the books. 

Can't wait to see what Week Two has in store. :)