Halloween 2013

I saw the cutest pregnant mummy on pinterest with eyes poking out of her belly. Well, it was a total fail. By the time we got to the church all my wrappings were falling off, I had lost one of the eyes and I was blistering hot in a crowded gym. My face was totally that red because it was HOT!! David looked really good though and his mostly stayed up so it was a win!

Then actual Halloween came and it was freezing and raining. I was so glad that their costumes this year could be layered upon without taking away from what they were supposed to be.

 Wolverine

Purple Flower - for those of you who know Hannah know how appropriate this is. She is obsessed with picking flowers. It was even her part (that she wrote herself) in the Primary Program this year. "Jesus loves me because he created beautiful flowers and I love to pick them!"

Butterfly

Ladybug (that snuck a sucker) and Daddy. 

And at the end of the photo shoot we caught this gem. Ashton had pulled over all the girls on the couch and Lucy just stood their crying.

You know how Mom's take their kids candy away so they don't make themselves sick by eating too much? Well, I'll freely admit I have made myself sick on THEIR candy several nights this week while David and I have watched movies. I used to be excited to be pregnant through the holidays... now I'm wondering if overindulgence on sweets just might be the end of me. I told David if I end up testing positive for Gestation Diabetes before Thanksgiving and Christmas (even though I never have before) I would have a full on melt down and then sink into a deep depression from having to live out my worst nightmare over the holiday season. Cross your fingers for me!

Pumpkin Patch

This is our 3rd year in a row at Happy Hollow Pumpkin Patch. We tried not to get too nostalgic thinking about how much better it has gotten since our first year here in Missouri. We love Happy Hollows Pumpkin Patch in the middle of nowhere!!

 It's a frightening and enlightening moment when you start to trust your oldest to take your youngest on little rides.

Lucy started walking at 14 months exactly. It felt like forever. We're thrilled we can take her places without a stroller!

Last year I was wearing a 2 month old Lucy in a backpack and next year we'll have an 8 month old at Halloween. Can't wait!!

October Wrap Up

I figure Halloween will get it's own post in a few days and I wanted to document a few iphone pics and our October happenings.
This is Mallie's cousin James who lives down the street. They are 10 months apart and when he was little Mallie used to try to hurt him on a regular basis. Crazily enough for the last 4 months or so these two have been inseparable. When we get together these two always go hide out and play together. In Nursery at church they don't talk to or play with anyone else. They are the best of friends and it's so cute!

 

For Veteran's Day we made the 8 hour drive to Wisconsin to see Jeffrey and Debbie. This is one of the only pictures I got that weekend and only includes the oldest 5. Lucy and Molly are about the same age and Debbie and I are both pregnant again due just a couple weeks apart. We joked as we walked into Target we were quite the scene with 7 kids under the age of 6 and two pregnant women. It was the most fun weekend we have had in a long time! You know the people you can visit and their is no pressure to go and do anything because all the kids are happily playing and you're content to just sit and hang out? That was this weekend. Then at nighttime the board gaming ensued. Once again Debbie and I teamed up for Pictionary and lost BAD 4 games in a row. We're just a little competitive and a little pregnant and we couldn't believe the boys would just decimate us without a second thought. But they did and I may have been a little bitter about it for a good 30 minutes. But we love the Wisconsin Jakes and can't wait to see them for Thanksgiving!

 

This was one of my better Mom moments this month. I wonder why I spend any time pinning ideas for the kids on pinterest instead of just letting them be kids. They were emptying out the water hydrant in front of our house and even though it was 48 degrees outside I let the girls go crazy. They ran up and down the gutters splashing for a good 30 minutes before they froze. I have to remind myself that an extra load of laundry is 100% worth it!

 

Kindergarten update:

At the beginning of the year I was less than impressed with Ashton's teacher. I almost pulled him out at the end of September. It's her first year, there are lots of naughty kids and quite frankly I think she was overwhelmed. Ashton would get in trouble and not know why and he felt like his teacher was upset at the class a lot. After a full on pregnant, hormonal melt down in the Principal's office things turned around rapidly. The teacher got her act together once she knew parents were watching and Ashton is now happy when he comes home. I've been pretty vocal lately that we don't see public school in any of our kids' futures long term but for now Ashton is really happy. When we went in for the parent conference he showed us his desk and the bucket that held every one's boxes of supplies. All the other kids had haphazardly thrown in their crayons, pencils and glue and Ashton's box was perfectly organized. It was a proud moment for David when he saw every single crayon lined up in the box and every little thing had it's place. Then he showed us where they turned in homework and remarked about how the last person who turned in their homework had forgotten to write their name and how that was not good. This is David's mini me and I'm positive academics will be his thing. His teacher then told us he is the best quiet example, he is cruising through everything, and she sometimes has not to call on him because he is always raising his hands with the right answers. It made us super proud and reminded me this kid needs to continue to be taught at home because public school can't keep up with him. I'm not so naïve to think that we breed braniacs and this is how it will be with all our other kids but for now I'll relish in the fact that I get to raise my husbands' clone and that is pretty awesome.

October has been good to us! Next up Halloween!

#5 is a BOY!

 

At 14.5 weeks I had my first prenatal appointment and the midwife pulled out the ultrasound machine to check my dates. I was due on Valentine's Day and then she informed she after looking around that she "didn't see any boy parts". I came home and broke the news to Ashton and David and told them it was probably a girl so they should prepare themselves for the inevitable. Ashton kept saying "it's probably a girl" but when I told him straight out "it's a girl" one day he looked at me and almost cried. It was heartbreaking and I told him we're not done so there was still hope for a brother somewhere along the way.

Meanwhile, I got really excited to have 4 girls right in a row just like my sisters and I. Thinking that now the girls could room 2 and 2 instead of all 3 in one room got me planning their futures as a pack of 4. Fast forward to my 20 week ultrasound. I was chatting with the ultrasound woman who wanted to know if I was Mormon or Catholic and she did her 20 minutes of checking the anatomy of the baby. I was interested in our conversation and she knew I thought it was a girl so I was totally distracted. When she paused before she turned the computer screen around for the big gender reveal I wondered if something was up.

 She turned the computer screen around and it was very obviously a BOY!! I just kept saying, "It's a boy. Oh my gosh." I. was. shocked. Then I thought about getting to tell Ashton and David and how they would react and I started to cry right there laying on the table. She kept saying, "Oh good, I'm glad you're happy! You sounded so excited for a 4th girl." Happy didn't begin to describe the emotions flowing though me.

Then I hurried to catch Ashton during his lunch because I couldn't wait till 3:30. He has faithfully prayed for a boy for almost a year now. He was thrilled. He never gave up hope.  I think he's always known it would be a boy.

I picked the girls up from preschool and drove to David's office to catch him at lunch. Usually he answers his phone and I was planning on having him come out to the parking lot. He didn't pick up the phone so I took the 3 girls inside and waited in his office. He walked in and I handed him the ultrasound pictures without saying a word. He started looking at them and then he got to the picture labeled "boy". He kept looking at me and saying, "is it for sure?" "This is for real?" As I said "yes" a few times, I'll embarrass him and say, he started to cry. Like a manly cry. David is a great Dad to girls. We would have kept having kids even if they were all girls and every single one of them would have been loved by their Daddy. But David really has been hoping for a brother for Ashton and another son. So it was really magical seeing him tear up over finding out about his 2nd son.

 In hind sight...Just a few nights ago I was telling David I felt completely disconnected from this pregnancy. I didn't even feel pregnant and have refused to wear maternity clothes. I was calling it a "she" and talking about girl names like crazy trying to name her so I would feel connected... so it makes sense that I wasn't connecting with my imaginary girl baby. I did note the one resemblance from Ashton's pregnancy to this one was the craving for the cheap, comes in a jar, fake nacho cheese. Oh I love it. Anyway, it's a boy. I'm still processing it. Walking around for 5 weeks thinking it was a girl made the surprise that much more awesome!

Tennis Thursdays

Before we had kids David and I would play tennis at least a couple times a month. We loved it and were sad we hadn't figured out a way to make it work with kids. Well, when we moved here and saw through the fields of our backyard 3 tennis courts we promised ourselves we would figure a way to play. And we finally have! The past couple of Thursdays we've deemed Tennis Nights. We eat an early light dinner and get to the courts behind our house by 6pm. We bring the plasma cars and bikes and the kids love it! David and I can usually fit in a couple real games before the kids start cruising through our side of the courts.

 

 They run back and forth getting the balls an after an hour they are toasted.

 We love helping the kids learn to hit a ball.

Just after a few practices Ashton is getting a lot better.

And this is how we handle a non walking baby. She rides for a little and then completely tears up her knees chasing balls. Next week I'm going to fashion out some sort of knee pads.

 

Growing up in my house tennis was a family sport. All of us can still play to some degree. As I drive past soccer fields on Saturday morning I know 100% I cannot/do not want to commit to those kinds of team sports when we have so many little ones we'd have to drag around to practices and games. In fact none of our kids have participated in any class or organized sport yet. Part of it is because we're cheap and the other part is because it's not worth it to our family yet. Tennis as a family? Perfect. Secretly David and I are hoping to breed them all into tennis players so we can always hit up the courts as a family and play together. So tennis lessons? If they were available in this area... we'd probably splurge but they're not an I'm glad. I'm sure sports and dance will come eventually but I'm relishing in this time where we can still play as family on a weekly basis.

Lake of the Ozarks

Since we most likely have less than 10 months left before we move to our next post I created a Missouri bucket list awhile back. My number one thing to do this summer was rent a boat at the Lake of the Ozarks and take the kids tubing. The military has a whole portion of the lake reserved just for service members and families and there are boats just waiting in the dock to be rented for super cheap by the hour. It's definitely a deal.This summer was cooler than normal and we were out of town a lot so it never seemed to work out for us to get to the lake...until last Saturday The weather was mid 90s and we decided on Thurs we just had to do it. We tried to coordinate with a couple different families so we could take turns with the kids but in the end decided with our fabulous babysitter/kids playmate Rosie that 4 kids would be no problem on a boat. We were mostly right.

Guess who hated the boat? Poor Hannah. She cried/panicked whenever she wasn't on someone's lap.

Lucy LOVED the boat and even put up with the life jacket that pushed her chin up way beyond comfort.

Here's Ashton and Rosie playing on the tube.  Ashton and Mallie both tubed a couple of times and liked it if we went super slow.

Ashton went with David a couple of times. And then David was on his own once as I was driving (never driven a boat before) and I got caught in the wake of a massive boat. Well the boat started jumping pretty high waves. And I was in a panic because Mallie was right up front bouncing all over the place... and poor Rosie was in the back trying to hold both Lucy and Hannah on her lap. I was torn between rescuing Mallie and steering away from the waves. It was hilarious later when I told David but crazy in the moment. I've decided the boat driving thing is not for me.

That's where Mallie was sitting when she was flopping all around like a fish. She stayed in front by herself almost the entire time. Afterwards she just giggled and said it was fun. She's a trooper.

And then we got out to swim in the warm water and it was perfect.

 On the way home David and I got in the car and talked about what a perfect family day it was. It's days like that that remind us what a joy is it to just be with our small family and focus on the kids!

First Day of School

1st day of school! I can't believe Ashton is old enough to be in Kindergarten. He was so ready and very excited. I still think elementary school is 2 hours too long - but he loves it so I wont complain! Also, this year both girls are in the same preschool Ashton went to last year.Through a series of very fortunate events and Ashton's preschool teacher last year the girls both got in the free AM preschool on post. I hadn't originally planned on putting Mallie in preschool at all but it has worked out perfectly and Mallie loves it. So I feel blessed that the Lord worked it out just perfectly and I am enjoying this time because I know having only 1 child home during the year may not happen again for another 5 years.

Mallie - 3 yrs old - preschool

Hannah - 4 yrs old - preschool

Ashton - 5 yrs old - Kindergarten

His awesome goose egg is from a bike crash. He was wearing a helmet but it wasn't tight enough and bam. It's a cool battle wound and at least he's young enough not to care what he looks like the first day of school.



Morning picture with Daddy

So we're 3 days into this school thing and all the kids are happy. I'm super productive for 3 hours with only Lucy and I love it. I had no idea I'd become such a huge fan of preschool but both girls are thriving and by 11:30 I get them back and don't have to stress about doing enough crafts from pinterest with to make them feel like we're doing school at home.

Ashton came home the first day of school ate his cookies and told me everything. It was one of those mothering moments I've been waiting for forever. He was wondering why I was taking pictures of him as he was talking.

Also, that same day we finished his reading book. We started it in November right after he turned 5 with the goal to finish before he started Kindergarten. We did it! He can read now and I feel super accomplished that I taught him myself with this awesome book. He doesn't love to read yet but I am glad I'm sending him to kindergarten without having to worry about having him memorize the lame lists of sight words that I think are a complete waste of time. So now Hannah has started the book and loves it. So we're pretty happy with the results of just 10 minutes a day!

 

So all in all I didn't bawl my eyes out when he started kindergarten. He's so old and independent that I didn't worry for a second. Mostly, I'm just fiercely concerned he has a good experience and loves learning. Here's to a new phase of life and school aged kids!