Like a Kid Again

Dan & I did it again. We coordinated our Christmas gifts without knowing it. Our first Christmas together, we got each other small framed Thomas Kincaid pictures. We each didn't know that the other had gotten almost the same thing, so we were very surprised when we exchanged gifts. We had only been dating for a few months, and already we were on the same page! This year it happened again. I got Dan a two-seater trailer for his bike, so that he can take all the kids on a bike ride once in awhile. He and the big kids have been going on rides every weekend since we moved into the new house. I thought the babies might like to go, too. I was so excited for Dan to open his present, because I thought I had done a good job thinking of it & because I knew he had no clue what I had gotten him. I was speechless when I came downstairs Christmas morning to find a beautiful metallic blue Schwinn bike waiting for me. This morning Dan built the trailer, adjusted the seat on my bike, and we have all ridden bikes this morning, except the babies, who were already napping by the time Dan finished the trailer. We plan to take everyone out this afternoon, before dinner. Beautiful bike

Ducks in a row

I think you could see Nathan's grin from space. He was so proud to be riding bikes with Mommy

Exciting Nights

This is a picture free post :( But it is still exciting. Tuesday night we took the kids to McAlister's for dinner and then went to see the gingerbread houses at the Ballantyne Hotel. We make gingerbread houses every year, so I love to see the "real" ones at the hotel. Someday I hope the kids & I can enter the amateur competition. We still need a few years of practice, though. At the time, I thought that would be the highlight of my week. Wednesday afternoon I had a teenage homeschooler over to help with the kids so that I could get some things done around here! At 5:45 we loaded everyone into the car to take her home. Dan drove up as we were leaving & we all said hi and bye to him. As I turned out of our neighborhood, I noticed that one of the lights shining on the brick at the front was ON FIRE! I turned around and went back home to tell Dan. He called the fire department and then went to put out the fire! He took a shovel and stamped it out with that. It was out by the time the fire department arrived, but they still hosed down the area & generally took over the scene. We are sooooo proud of our Daddy Hero!

Messes

So, I've been looking back at recent posts, and I can't help but notice that several of them include messes. Gloop, finger paint and cookies all made messes at my house recently. We have lots of messes at my house. The fun kind - that I can post cute pictures with, and the yucky diaper kind, and the Ava put peanut butter in her hair kind. Kids make messes. Add to that a new baby and two moves in six months, and you won't be surprised when I say that my life is one big mess. I was never a super organized person, even before I had kids. But things have never been this bad before. We are routinely going to the clothes dryer for clean clothes & the dish washer for clean dishes. I can not keep up. The garage is filled with unpacked boxes, and the house is overrun with stuff that doesn't have a home yet. My back is starting to hurt as I write all this! And it is all pulling me down. But... As I have had time to think about all this, I've realized that God has been in the housekeeping business for a very long time. He has been cleaning up messes since Adam & Eve moved into the Garden of Eden. Not only is He cleaning up my messes, He is allowing me to be the kind of mother that allows her children to make messes. And that's the kind of mother that my children need. And it is even more comforting to know that the spiritual mess that we are all in - "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 - God handled that mess before any of us knew that it was a mess.

Christmas Cookies

After lots of begging, Caroline finally convinced me to make the year's first batch of Christmas cookies. It was a big mess. More on messes later. But we had a lot of fun & the cookies were delicious.

Rolling the dough

Messy hands

Into the oven

Waiting

And waiting...

Finished cookies!

And pics of the babies

What Happens When I Pay Bills

Only one six drops on the carpet. And who knew finger paint stinks? Don't know if mine is old, it wasn't dried out. But it didn't smell good!

Birthday Princess

I've been trying and trying to add a picture of Caroline to this post - blogger had issues. I have finally succeeded!

My sweet baby girl turned 6 last week. 6! How did this happen? We celebrated by having our families over for pizza & subs and cake & ice cream. It was a full house! Everyone had a great time. Happy birthday Caroline!

Dinner Conversation, Thankfulness & Candyland

Several families I know have been talking about thankfulness. One family is sharing something they are thankful for every day. Another family has a turkey on the wall that they add feathers to each night. Each feather has written on it something that someone is thankful for. I have four kids under six, so I'm not recording anything this year, except what I'm writing here. Our conversation at the dinner table has been very pleasant the past few nights. Everyone that can talk shares what they like about everyone at the table. Caroline is thankful for Daddy's job, and that he goes to work so we can have money for our clothes and food and house. Nathan is thankful for cuddle time with Mommy. Everyone loves Ava's mischievous smile and Nolan's new laugh. So, even though Nathan and Caroline are fighting over who is cheating at Candyland right now, at dinner, I can be thankful that they played Candyland for 30 minutes and only fought once!

Gloop!

Other titles for this post could be...
How to use a whole roll of paper towels in 20 minutes
How to destroy your brand new house by 10 a.m.

After making a huge mess in the kitchen with the gloop (corn starch & water) the kids were sent to take baths...unsupervised because I was cleaning up the gloop. That's how the bathroom got destroyed!

But my favorite title for this post would be...
How to have some happy kids for most of the morning!







Except for Ava. She didn't enjoy the gloop so much. She cried almost the whole time!

And Another Birthday

My mother-in-law's birthday is September 16th. So we celebrated her birthday Saturday night at Carrabba's. We have been going to Carrabba's for several years now, and we just keep having to get a bigger table! This year we needed seating for 14 plus a high chair plus a sling for the car seat. After dinner, we played, opened presents & had cake & ice cream at Nanny & PawPaw's house. A good time was had by all!

The Craziest Thing A Mother of Four Can Do

Last Friday night I stayed up until 5 a.m. Okay, so its not the craziest thing in the world, but I had a good reason. My nephew was born! Griffin Dale Crotts was born at 2:50 a.m. He was 8 pounds 12 ounces & 20.5 inches long. I was so excited to meet him. I was surprised at how excited I was. I guess that helped me stay awake so late. I had Nolan with me at the hospital - and he was a champ. Jennie was a champ, too. It was not an easy birth - but well worth the effort!

Mountains Again

Last year we went to Sky Top Orchards with the Davis Family for honey crisp apples - my favorite. Last weekend we did it again. We didn't actually get any honey crisps - they were all gone before we got there. But we did add a stop to our trip. We took the kids to Pearson's Falls, the same falls I saw a few weeks before with my mom & sister. The kids enjoyed the hike & falls, we had a picnic lunch, then picked apples. A full day!

Stephanie's Wedding

Stephanie's wedding was beautiful & too quick! It was a joy to spend the weekend with Grannie Annie, Aunt Donna and my sister Amy. It was also pretty exciting to manage 4 children at a wedding! But it was definitely worth it - especially on the dance floor! I'm sorry I don't have a great picture of Stephanie in her wedding dress - I was a little too busy to get a great one.

Bridal Luncheon

Getting Ready

Cutting the Cake

Cutting a Rug

Mountains & Monkey Joe's

A few weekends ago, my mom took two of my sisters and me to the mountains for a last weekend away, before Stephanie's wedding (more on that soon). We stayed in Saluda and visited Pearson's Falls, had a great dinner at a cafe in Saluda, shopped and just enjoyed some peaceful time alone together before all the chaos of the wedding started. I did take Nolan with me, but I got a mini-vacation from the rest of the kids. Dan the super-hero Dad kept the kids and they had a blast with Daddy.







After such a peaceful weekend away, I decided it was time for a trip to Monkey Joe's to get myself back to reality! I slid down the big slide with Nathan - I haven't been able to really play with the big kids in a long time because of two pregnancies! And Ava played in the kiddie area for the first time. We met the Brooks kids there, and Rebecca and I actually had some time to talk!

New House Report

My parents met us at the new house a couple weeks ago to see the progress and Mom had a great idea. She thought it would be fun to write scripture verses on the 2X4s before they were covered with insulation and dry wall. Then my new house would literally be built on the Word. So over the past two weeks I have been thinking about the purposes of the different rooms of our new house and finding scripture that goes with it. I've gone to the house twice to write on the 2X4s and came home dripping from the heat both times! I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to think and pray over the new house this way. Great idea Mom!