Back to School!

Evan often comes up next to me to measure how tall he is and tells me how he's catching up to me in height. I have no doubt that he'll outgrow me sooner than later and it's going to be a sad day! That said, another school year has come around and they're another year older, another grade smarter. These boys of mine are growing so fast and in so many ways! It's true that babies don't keep, we now have a third and first grader in the house. In the words of DJ Tanner-oh my lanta!

Since we've adopted the year round calendar the bigs and I have been back at school for a bit now, but our homeschool co-op has just begun AND Asher started preschool this week, so the traditional back to school pictures are in order! Here are my little men on campus...

And I can't very well leave out my girl, who is her brother's biggest cheerleader and the apple of their eyes. :-)

I'm so thankful that homeschooling affords us the opportunity to be together. I know I'm waxing sentimental here, but what a gift it is to see my kids know and love one another. While they do of course have their fair share of those normal "sibling moments," we have a unique opportunity to spend our days together in a way that many families do not. The time, the time, the time-the purposeful, the stressful, the fun, the loud and quiet times, the unplanned and restful times-it's all invaluable.  I jokingly say that one of the reasons we homeschool is because I want my boys to do the "Amazing Race" together one day. Meaning simply that I want them to have the type of relationship where they'd WANT to something amazing together like travel the world and have the skills to succeed side by side -and have fun doing it of course! All that to say, it's really cool to see the endearing, every changing-always growing relationships my kids have with each other. I'm so deeply thankful for these days-it's worth paper plates and cold coffee and so much more.

And so, back to school we go!

Summertime!

***EDITORS NOTE-As life goes, this post has been sitting unpublished in my "draft" file and is now woefully overdue! In any case, better late than never-let's get caught up!***

And just like that, it's mid July and we've already plowed thru the summer! Here are some highlights so far...

To celebrate another school year in the books we drove to Asheboro for a visit to the NC Zoo. While the weather was a little unpredictable to start, it ended up being a beautiful day!

The unanimous highlight of this visit was the "Birds of flight" show.  Worth every penny! The show was so engaging, and seeing those colorful sun conures right in front of you is awe inspiring-especially through a child's eyes. Not to mention the vast variety of birds had quite the arsenal of impressive hat tricks. We talk often about God as our creator, and how good He is to have made this world full of dynamic and beautiful colors(and sights and sounds) for us to enjoy. What an awesome day it was to soak in God's intricate, intelligent design as we observed these amazing animals up close and personal.

My sister(auntie Sami as she's affectionally called now) came to NC for a visit. The cousins enjoyed their reunion and we spent lots of time in the water and on the playground between here and Goldsboro. We also had a special visit from Grammy Jane-so fun to see 4 generations side by side!

 

We said our goodbyes after a spectacular fourth of July fireworks show on the air force base. I couldn't be more excited for all the adventures that lie before her in Germany. Thanks to modern day social media, she's but a FaceTime call away. :-)

In other summer headlines, the boys have been swimming the afternoons away on our local neighborhood swim team. To be honest it's been more of a commitment than we anticipated, but I can't express enough how much those boys look forward to practice everyday-Bennett usually has on his swim trunks after lunch!  Yesterday we wrapped up the season with a final swim meet, and we couldn't be more proud of our big fish.

 

Miss Amelia is 7 and a half months old now(not that I'm counting the days) and is a perfect slice of pie. Really, I thank the Lord everyday for such a content baby! She's just started to put the whole crawling puzzle together and I think she's going to take off anyway -or any minute. She loves toast with strawberry jam for breakfast, and much to mommy's dismay has started pulling bows down from her pretty little head haha!

Not to be overlooked, we spent the week of the fourth seaside with Chris' family at Topsail. But since this post has already gone long, I'll save our beach getaway for next time!

PS-We FINALLY broke out the popsicle mold Evan got for his birthday. We made watermelon lemonade pops and they were sweet, sticky success!

Donut Pj's, pink shades and all-5 months later

It feels like only 5 minutes ago but our girl is 5 months old now!

She's doing all kinds of big girl things, like sitting up for a bit on her own, blowing raspberries and rolling over from her back to her belly. In other milestones, she's started eating solid foods! We started slowly with baby cereal and just a few weeks later she's eating peas, carrots, sweet potatoes and peaches like a pro. A messy one. ;-) Thankfully she continues to be a super content, happy baby and though she has fallen into a nice nap and nighttime routine, she is pretty flexible. At 5 months she is finding her voice and it' much more high pictched than my boys ever was haha!

She is mostly sleeping thru the night, but still wakes to eat. She loves to weasel her way into our bed and I don't mind too much either, I'll take alll the cuddles. Nicknames include BG(baby girl), A Cakes, MilaMoo and LiaLulu. She is the apple of her brother's eye and continues to light our life "pink" in every way!

Folding pink laundry, feverishly scanning the house for "that" matching bow, or buying this sweet, silly purple unicorn bib...I still can't believe that we have a little baby girl sometimes. Baby girl life is among so many other things, just plain fun! I feel so incredibly blessed to be HER mama.

Dear Evan, on your 8th birthday

Happy birthday to our sweet firstborn son, Evan Matthew! Today big brother, you are EIGHT years old!  It goes without saying, that you are the coolest 8 year old I know. To my brown eyed toucan lover with the sunglasses and toothless smile-you made me a mama and you will always be my little duck.

You've grown up so much in these past few years! Your'e an independent reader, you woop our tails almost every time at Sushi Go and even take showers. And speaking of the water, I can't wait to see you take on swim team this summer!

I love your art and creative spirit, especially the steady hand and attention to detail you apply to your drawings. This year you started playing piano and have learned to type in less than a month. Smart cookie! School comes easily to you, and while math is your favorite subject, those spelling sentences crack me up almost daily. Today you used not one but two of your spelling words(bonus) to write the sentence "My mother has a happy face." Of course it made me smile and hug you tight, to which you replied with rolled eyes"Moooooommmmm."

As you can tell from the pictures below, you get the goofball gene from your daddy. ;-)

This year we celebrated your birthday with friends and family Mario party style with a trip to Defying Gravity. You have some pretty awesome friends, great taste in chocolate cake and mad jumping skills thanks to our backyard trampoline.

Before you were born I picked out your special green blanket and my Linus you will always be. Though I'm sure you will always be tender hearted, I've noticed you grow so brave and strong over this past year. You've tried new things with gusto and skinned your knees enough times to get up and move on. You can ride your bike, roller blade, jump and skateboard with the best of them. No doubt this fun neighborhood of ours full of rough and tumble boys has brought out your inner wild man. Though no matter how much dirt you revel in outside, we can always count on your to have the cleanest shirt at the dinner table and for that we are continually thankful!

Eight years ago we found out we were having a boy and my world was turned on it's side. We say all the time that God's plan for us is so better than ours, and I am so thankful that He blessed us with not one but three handsome mama's boys! I pray the Lord continues to protect your sweet and sensitive soul as you grow into a young man and leader who is selfless, smart, strong and kind.

It's a joy to be your mama!

4 months old and snow in the Spring!

Today this little miss is 4 months old! Where did the time go? In short, to lots of love at home, endless snuggles, so much sunshine and family time(esp tailing her big bros!), in the car on the way to birthdays, grocery stores and church, listening to books with brothers, watching mommy fold clothes and unload the dishwasher, being startled by this sweet and sour two year old...

Needless to say, it's been 4 full months well spent.

For her four month birthday Evan and Bennett wanted to celebrate with a princess style party complete with tea time(and fruit snacks), an original fairytale story written and read by Evan, a birthday song and presents of course. Bennett even broke out his birthday wolf ears for the occasion, and various like stuffed animals were in attendance. If you were to look up "cute" in the dictionary(or on Wikipedia), I'm pretty sure you would see these pictures.

Amelia continues to be a great baby. She's really content and flexible, and we are so grateful! The Lord is so so good to us and knew just what we needed from #4, we say all the time that we couldn't have asked for anything better. She is my dream girl in every way. At 4 months, she's falling into a nice sleep schedule. It's proven more challenging to be consistent with naps and nighttime sleep in this season in our life as a family of six. Sometimes that means not being on the go as much or splitting up for activities on the weekend, at other times she just comes along for the ride and we hope for the best. She is our first baby to refuse a paci and at the same time not suck her thumb, so she is slowly but surely learning to self soothe on her own.  Though, I'm still holding out hope for her thumb as she finds it every now and then. It throws me back in time with memories of our first thumb sucker, baby Evan. Otherwise, she gets a bit longer and stronger everyday. We haven't had her 4 month well baby check yet but I have no doubt that she's put on a good pound(or 3) since last month. Like her brothers, she carries most of her weight in her cheeks. :-) And while time will tell, I'm pretty sure she'll be a brown eyed girl.

After 3 boys and seven years of blue plaid, stripes and primary colors, it's safe to say that this lady baby has lots of sweet dresses, bows in every color and plenty of pink! It's really fun to dress her up into twirly girly clothes I bought when I was pregnant and couldn't imagine her wearing. Now she's here, and filling them out so beautifully. :-) Here is one such dress I bought before she was born and I am in LOVE with it. A photoshoot was a no brainer.

On a last note, I'd like to mention that here in North Carolina, on the second day of Spring, it is SNOWING! These are not the Spring showers I imagined. What even??

*Update 4/6...After today's appointment miss Amelia is 15 pounds, 2.5 oz and 25" long!**

February headlines

March is here, but I'm not ready to leave February behind! Bennett bear turned 6 years old in a super hero flash. We celebrated with a feast fit for a king at Gigi and Poppy's, then a special Valentines day dinner at our house with Grandma and family. His main gift was a whopping whirlwind trip to his favorite place, Great Wolf Lodge. He'd been planning his birthday at GWL for the last year, so of course we had to oblige!

 

Speaking of Valentines, this darling daughter got her first rose from the special man in her life-daddy! Melt.my.heart.

Amelia is 3 and a half months old now and a doll baby. She is increasingly alert and growing much faster than I would like, practicing sitting in her blue bumbo(sorry girl, you have 3 brothers!) and bearing weight on her legs to stand. She's a healthy little girl with a good appetite and the cheeks to show it! She has brought so much joy to us already, and it's no surprise that I'm loving all the twirly girly things. :-)

 On the school front we've been busy with CC and homeschool, making new friends and seeing the world...ahem, our small piece of it anyways!