Notes from #1

Brynn likes to leave little notes for us. Here are two that I have seen or have been handed to me lately:

Ultimate Bed Head

You know its been a good nap when you get up and look like this....

Here's the inside scoop on how to achieve such a great look:
Step 1: eat breakfast and smear in hair
Step 2: have mommy hold you over the sink and quickly wipe out all the big pieces
Step 3: eat lunch and smear more food in your hair
Step 4: have mommy try wiping out most with a wet washcloth as she hurries out the door to pick up the other kids from school
Step 5: fall asleep in the car seat
Step 6: have mommy move you to the crib and blissfully sleep for another 2 hours

And there you have it! You follow those steps and you too, can have hair like that!

Grateful

Banana waffles, strong coffee with Pumpkin Spice creamer, and the list of things we are grateful for is the PERFECT way to start off this year's Turkey Day!

Rich:

1. I am thankful that my wife gets to stay home and take care of our house and home - cause she does an amazing job. (Ok - I might have added that last part)
2. I am thankful to have a home
3. I am thankful that I have 4 beautiful kids
4. I am thankful for a beautiful wife (cue stomach butterflies for me)
5. I am thankful that God has no "last straw"

Brynn:

1. My family
2. My home
3. My toys
4. My Daddy
5. My Mom
6. My brother
7. My sister
8. My other brother
9. Treks
10. Legos
11. Clothes
12. The world

Cannon:

1. Mom
2. Dad
3. My sister
4. My brother
5. My dog
6. My home
7. People who love me
8. My toys
9. God
10. Our food
11. Our money
12. My Family

Maeve:

1. My mom and dad
2. And Nolan
3. And we can play with Nolan
4. And also we can, uh, ask mom and daddy if we can have milk
5. And for Treks
6. And my Mommy's toes
7. I'm thankyou for the computer and the plates and ceiling (giggle, giggle, giggle)
8. I'm thankyou for the whole world. Bye.

Nolan:

1. My Orange Blanket
2. Bath time
3. Food & Milk
4. My mommy who holds me - all. the. time.
5. My daddy

Me:

1. I am thankful for the quiet of the morning
2. I am thankful that my husband still sees me as beautiful 4 kids and 15 years later
3. I am thankful for God's renewed grace, strength and peace
4. I am thankful for an extended family who shows their love in all different sorts of ways
5. I am thankful for 4 healthy, happy, beautiful kids who still look at me as if I rule the world

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Party

Nolan's birthday was mellow. The kids were off school, so we just hung out, did the regular stuff and enjoyed our time at home.
We woke him up singing Happy Birthday like we do on birthdays for the kids. He was a little surprised, but seemed to enjoy all the attention.
For breakfast we had banana pancakes, and he ate a few bites, and then threw the rest on the floor for the dog.
We had Mickey D's for lunch.
As a treat.
Because I had survived a trip to the pottery studio with 4 kids who like to touch EVERYTHING.
And because I am lazy.
And because it was rainy.
I baked his cake that night, and he actually watched it in the oven.
I hoped it would turn out ok, cause it was healthy, and sometimes that stuff tastes like crap.
Then the hubs and I celebrated Nolan's birthday by putting the kids to bed early, putting on a movie and falling asleep at a decent hour.
It was perfect!

We had his party on Saturday.
I found these cute invites at the Dollar Tree! (I giraffe stuff!)
The weather was "iffy" all week, but ended up being gorgeous. There was tons of food, and an a-maz-ing cake from Elissa.

I always make a "healthy" cake for the kids for their first birthday. This one was pumpkin.

He seemed to enjoy it...until he had a taste of the one that Elissa made and most likely thought "Who are we kidding here? Give me more of that stuff!"

We opened his gifts after he woke up from a stellar 3 hour nap, and he played with his new toys.

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Happy Birthday Nolan!!!

Happy Birthday Nolan!
I can't believe you are a year! I mean, I can, but I can't. Every day seems to creep by at a snail's pace, but then when I look back, it seems like just a moment ago I was holding you for the first time!
You are a special kid! You pretty much consist solely on bananas and milk right now. Sometimes I can get you to eat some food off of a spoon, but most of the time, you will have nothing to do with those "baby-ish" ways.
You are never far from me. You are just now getting to the point of being content to play on your own. Some days it seems like you exist only to drive your siblings crazy. Its fun to watch Cannon set up his toys,only to have you crawl nearby so he has to pick it all up in a hurry and move someplace else. You crawl around everywhere, and have yet to show any interest in walking, or standing on your own. You and Maeve are best buddies. She makes you laugh so hard! And you make her cry when you pull all the books off the shelf after she is done picking them up.
You are sort of sleeping through the night. Sort of. I don't know if its teething, or the frigid temperatures in our house, or just the fact that you are still learning to self soothe but you cry out several times during the night. Sometimes I have to go and get you and rock you for a minute, but most of the time, you work it out and fall back asleep. You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your orange blanket, and you rub the bindings as you fall asleep.
You have broken more plates than the other kids...combined. I don't know how you manage but we have lost a few due to your habit of dropping them off the side of the highchair. You are the only one of my kids to mess with the knobs on the stove. You reach on the highest tips of your tippy toes to try to grab the stuff that is supposedly out of your reach. Rules are meaningless to you. The strap on the highchair is nothing for your wiggling ways. You have taken tumbles and falls that would freak me out if you were my first. (Honestly, they still do freak me out a little bit!) If its in a basket, you take it out. If its out of a basket, you put it in. If its stacked you destroy it. If its a mess, you spread it out and make it worse. I don't know how many times I have pulled marbles, Lego's, and crayon pieces out of your mouth. Now when you see me coming you just spit them on the floor and crawl away before I can get you. I have caught you pulling all the toilet paper off the roll, and splashing in the toilet too many times. You get stuck underneath chairs, behind doors, and in baskets. You are "that" kid!
My favorite time with you is right before bed. Sometimes if I am lucky you will stop moving for a second and cuddle with me. I love that! You are the one who is constantly on the move, so cuddles with you are few and far between. Sometimes you fall asleep during nursing and I just stare at your little face. I love that little face! Those eyes that are green when everyone else's are blue. Those oh-so-long and amazing eyelashes. That sweet little perfectly formed mouth. I love to watch you sleep. A few times you have laughed out loud in your sleep, and I wonder what in the world you are dreaming about that could be so funny!
You are the kid that makes daddy and I look at each other and know with 100% certainty that we are done having babies. But don't take that in the wrong way....you make us laugh, you make us mad, but most of all, you make us complete!
We love you to the moon and back!
Mommy

Birthday Week

I think EVERY birthday should be celebrated for a week long. Especially MY birthday!

This year's birthday started with a total unexpected surprise party. I am, apparently, totally oblivious, and our home team, with Rich organizing it all, pulled off an awesome, heart attack inspiring surprise. Rich managed to get me in the house first, and I let out a terrified scream when I saw a bunch of people standing in my dusky kitchen. I was lit-er-ally about to grab the kids and bolt, thinking that we were all going to be murdered. When they all yelled out "Surprise" I almost burst into tears (and peed my pants). The whole group headed to Chevy's for some yummy dinner, never ending chips and salsa, and a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday complete with "the hat".

Elissa made a cake for me, so I was excited to dive into that! I love, love, love her cakes! Love the frosting, love the cake, love everything about them! Everyone sang happy birthday, and I enjoyed the evening devoted to me!
On Tuesday I woke up to a chorus of coughing. Everyone, including the baby has some stage of this cold, but it wasn't going to put a damper on my day. Rich took the kids to his parents, and went to work for me in the kids classroom. Translate: I had the house to myself, for 3 whole hours. It was bliss!
I also scheduled myself a last minute massage, that bordered on painful and left me sore, but I enjoyed that too! After some downtime at the house, Rich and I got to go out to dinner sans kids. Again....perfect!
And then, because it can't end there, we went out Wednesday for a girls night out to paint pottery. A candle was stuck into a cupcake, and it became another birthday celebration for me. Good times, good times.
I feel like this year I had the Best. Birthday. Ever!

Halloween

Halloween was on Monday this year.
Such a nightmare for the teachers!
Nothing like 30 sugared up little sweaty kids filled with anticipation of an evening of fun!
Ugh.

The kids had fun dressing up for their costume parade at school, and then again for a walk around the neighborhood. Maeve kinda tuckered out after 1.5 hours of walking around, and the other kids were excited to get to Bama and Papas so that they could do the annual candy swap with the cousins.

Gigi and Papa came along for the walk, and I think they enjoyed watching the kids do their thing.
And I had a great time...because I knew that the next day would be...
MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Loving that Swing

Nolan,
Do you like the swing, or the one-on-one attention that you get from me while you are in it?
I love you baby!

Mommy

Pumpkin Patch

After the two oldest kids got their fill of pumpkin patches through school field trips, we only had to go once more to get Maeve's pumpkin. Cannon and Brynn each tried to work some sneaky deals that they would just give Maeve their pumpkins in exchange that they got to pick out a bigger better one at the patch. Of course, the answer was "no".

We went after the kids last soccer game (hooray the season is over) with Gigi and Papa and Auntie. It was a fun little outing!