Five Sisters

Some of you might not know this, but I have 4 sisters...yep! Middle child, 2 older and 2 younger sisters. It was so much fun growing up in a house full of girls and the amazing thing is, we all shared 1 bathroom! I think we all had our fair share of cold showers.
Anyway, every year, we all get together for the last 2 weeks of July. My parents usually rent a house on the beach in Port St. Joe, but this year we are heading up to their lake house in the North Georgia Mountains. My youngest sister won't be with us again this year. She is currently serving as a missionary in Venezuela. We will miss her, but so excited for her homecoming in December!
I can't wait to get to hang out with everyone and relax at the lake. I am not sure who is more excited, the kids about seeing their cousins (12 in all, and 1 on the way) or me about spending time with my parents and sisters.

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's off to Nana's they go.....

Going

Going

Gone
2nd post in one day, but when the grandparents call and want the kids to spend the night, spur of the moment....I have got to shout it from the roof tops.
This is the first time all four have been away from us at one time. Gray is now 1...off he goes. I love my kids to death, but this break comes at a perfect time!
Now, I am sitting in a messy house with loads of laundry to tackle, and you know what???

I AM GOING TO SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING!

T-Day

Somewhere in this crazy head of mine, I came up with the idea to do a triathlon and the day is fast approaching! I have wanted to do one for a long time and now seemed to be the best time to do it (not pregnant, only nursing 1-2 times a day, and getting a full night's sleep). Fitting in the training has been a challenge, especially the swimming, but I have done all I can to prepare for T-day! Matt has been great to give me some extra time on the weekends to bike and swim. Trust me, it has not been easy, but I am a pretty determined and very competitive person, so I have been disciplined in my training.
I have exactly 1 more week left. My body feels ready, but my mind feels nervous. I can only imagine how I will be on race day. It has been a fun challenge training for this because I have branched out and tried new form of exercise. I have biked, ran, swam, lifted weights, and killed myself in boot camps for weeks and weeks and now I am ready to take on this challenge. Matt is helping me with the transitioning and hopefully the kids can come watch me. Maybe one day, if I am still alive after next Saturday, I will do a Triathlon with my children.

may the force be with you...

I am always game to recycle things we don't need and use them to make something else. So, when I finished wrapping presents for all the parties we have had and have coming up, I had 4 rolls of cardboard to recycle. Instead of throwing it into our recycling bin, we created our very own light sabers. If you have boys who are into Star Wars, you know light sabers can run you $15-$30. Well, these were free! We used what we had around the house and it provided hours of entertainment throughout the day.
What you need:
Wrapping paper roll
Alumin. foil
markers
tape

We use the alum. foil for the handle and the markers to color the light part. Kate chose purple, Owen-green, and Wills-red. You could also use construction paper to wrap around as the light.
Watch out Darth Vader!
This is also a favorite with my boys. ALL star wars stuff.
http://starwars.com/kids/

A year ago today, July 21st, I gave birth to a beautiful little boy at 1:30 p.m. Gray came into this world and we are so thankful for him and everything he has brought to our family. He has been such a good little baby and now we move into toddlerhood! My heart is so full with love for our little Gray. We had a wonderful day celebrating our baby brother.

One Fine Day

Some days are just perfect...we went to the park on this beautiful, cool (for July) Monday and had so much fun. We have been missing the park because it has just been too hot to go anywhere but the pool! Today was a great park day!

One Prayer

Today we spent the afternoon in downtown Birmingham (Woodlaw area) to kick off the opening of the Dream Center and the Christ Health Center. It was the official ribbon cutting ceremony, and a Kick off festival today, for the people who live in this area. July 18th was an outreach for all the small groups at Church of the Highlands and my small group volunteered to help with the festival/carnival for the kids. We were assigned the Popcorn machine and it was a blast. We were able to be the feet and hands of Jesus today, passing out popcorn and loving on the people in our community...people who need Jesus. Woodlawn has high crime, lots of drugs and is also just a very poor area. The need for the Lord is great. Our goal on this earth is to live beyond ourselves and invest in others for His kingdom. We were able to do just that today. I long to be more intentional with my life and seize the opportunities to minister and bless people every day. I want to share the message of hope to those who need it. We have a mission field right down the street. The city of Birmingham is going to see great change through this awesome ministry.

http://www.churchofthehighlands.com/dreamcenter/

smile, part II

Meme and the kids. So glad she was here to get some pictures!

SMILE!

My Birthday (and anniversary) was yesterday, and as a present to myself and to my family, I wanted to have our picture taken by a good friend who is a photographer at our church. I have never done pictures like this. I have always done the standard 3, 6, 9, 12 month pics at Portrait Innovations, and I do take pictures of my kids constantly!
But, I wanted something outside and something more unique and professional. I love the ages of my kids right now, so I wanted to capture our family in photos. We went to this cool field with a rustic red barn and Kellen took over 500 pictures of the family. Here are a few to share.
go to links list on the right side of my blog. It is the top link. Click and it will pull up a few photos for you to see.

http://kellenjacob.com/

Lessons Learned

Here are a picture of G's new shoes. I had to take a picture of the shoes next to him, because he refused to let me put them back on him. hmmmmm????


Every time I venture out of the house and brave a store with 4 children in tow, I always end up wondering the same thing..Why am I doing this to myself? This is the exact reason Matt and I rarely take the kids out to eat. It is just not an enjoyable experience. Well, with summer here, what are my choices? I already do the grocery shopping at night or on the weekends, but sometimes I really do need to go "run some errands".
This morning, I piled everyone in the mini-van and headed to get the oil changed. We did pretty good, because we all stayed in the car and everyone remained strapped in. After the oil change, we went to get Gray a new pair of "walking shoes". The child has never had a pair of shoes on his feet, and now that he is walking, the 100 + degree pavement is not kind to his little footsies.
Let's just say we did walk out with a pair of shoes, but along the way (and I will remind you all this happened at a children's shoe store), the following incidences took place:
1. found a frog with a hurt leg (yes, we are at the store--WIERD!?)Our new pet
2. Mommy accidentally stepped on the frog--jumped out of Owen's hands and landed right under me (honest)
3. Owen holds a dead smushed frog and tells me he is going to be fine. I finally talked him into going outside and putting him in the bushes
4. Find bathroom to wash hands. Owen gets lost in the back of the store among all the boxes of shoes (panic attack)
5. Gray hates shoes on his feet = tantrum
6. Kate has tried on nearly every headband in the store and re-arranged the bow display
7. Wills is trying to figure out how to open the fish tank because he is curious as to how they clean it.
8. Now, Owen is climbing on the display walls
9. Gray WILL NOT straighten his little feet inside his shoes so that we can get a proper fit.
10. Kate found a new dress--whining...please please "it is a beautiful dress mommy". It was a size 10, she is a 3/4
11. Wills decides he wants a new pair of shoes and Owen wants this small stuffed animal hedgehog
13. Gray's shoes cost $44~! I see the price after we finally got them on.
14. The guy gives me a discount on the shoes (i think he feels sorry for me) $30
15. Heading out the door and I knock over a tower of sale shoes with my bag. I guess my kids get it honest.
16. In the car, strapped in! Thank you Lord for seat belt laws.
Lesson #1 shoe shopping with 4 kids 5 and under is not a good idea.
Lesson #2 ZAPPOS.com from here on out or a good babysitter!

This is it...

this is it. We are leaving tomorrow. No more beach pictures or beach talk after this post. I have to brag on Matt for his big catch when we were fishing. It was so fun. Tonight we went to a magic show, got ice cream, and the kids danced to the band that was playing. So fun! Home bound tomorrow.

Walking on Sunshine

It is amazing to watch a child learn to walk. He falls so many times, but always gets back up. He is frustrated, but continues to push on. The process of learning how to walk, in some ways, we can all identify with. Here is a cute video of our little Gray trying his best to keep his legs from falling underneath him. He is so close to success and this boy is not about to give up! I think he is ready to start running, not walking, along side his brothers and sister.
Now this is a very flismy plastic stroller that Kate has brought everywhere we go, and Gray has grown very fond of using it to help him balance as he walks.

Pass it up!

Today was the day we took a "beach Break". Daddy comes in late tonight and the kids needed a day off from the beach. I decided to load everyone up and head to the playground and fountains over at Destin Commons. The kids were excited to change it up a bit, and I must admit, it was a lot easier on me to take them to the park than to lug everything down to the beach. On our way home, I decided to stop by the Dollar Store to let everyone pick out something special to play with for the rest of the trip.
I saw a Dollar General and we pulled in. WARNING: A Dollar General IS NOT a dollar store. I am thinking we are going to come out with 4 new toys and only spend $4. WRONG!
We came out with the above items in the pictures. Wills picked out an African American wrestler in speedo shorts. It cost $4, but what could I say when we got up to the cash register and he was shaking he was so excited?
Owen's racing key chain of Kasey Kayne (who is that?) cost $2. This should really have cost 25 cents (maybe).
Kate picked out a plastic princess stroller-$7. Gray got nothing this trip!
After I grudgingly handed over the money, I asked her if anything in the store was really only a $1. she actually told me that only a few things are!
So....next time you see a Dollar General and you have kids with you, pass it up. Drive those extra miles to a Wal-mart or a REAL dollar store, lest you be stuck with cheap plastic over priced toys and an empty wallet! j>