Down to One Arm

well, I broke it! my right elbow is broken. Therefore, I cannot move my entire right arm.
Rode my brand new road bike for the first time on Saturday and look where it got me! Ouch!!!!
I will post some pictures as soon as I am feeling up to it. Things will no doubt be very interesting around here with a one armed mama!
Off to take a pain killer and go to bed! More drama and (some pictures) to come I'm sure!

When He Grows up....

This little guy is one day going to be....

THIS GUY!

He is obsessed. It is official...he is positively, absolutely, 100% obsessed with balls. Any ball will do! He is not picky. Basketball, football, baseball, bouncy ball, plastic ball! He has no preference.
I am not exaggerating when I say, that all he says all day is.."Ball" "Shoot" and "Fall down".
Yes, it is cute. Tonight he slept with a small basketball, but, he cannot think about anything else. When trying to put everyone to bed tonight, Matt was reading the 3 older kids a book and Gray was trying to get his attention because he wanted Daddy to play ball. In the morning, when I hear him in the monitor, I hear "Ball, Ball, Ball".
We are banking on this kid to pay his own way through college on some sort of "Ball" scholarship. If any child is going to pull through for us, it has got to be Gray!

Have a Magical Day

We did it! We survived a week long trip to Disney. Oh, it was wonderful, or as they like to say..."Magical". The trip started off a little difficult. Our flight was scheduled to fly out on Friday at 3:15 p.m. We were ready to go, so excited to take the kids on their first airplane ride, and then the snow came in.....our flight was delayed, then canceled!!! We could not get on a flight out until Sunday late afternoon!! I was devastated. Nothing was going to get in the way of MY DISNEY TRIP!!! I mean, I have planned this trip for so long. We have paid for this trip with money that we have saved! NO NO NO--we were getting to Disney! I looked at Matt after we saw that our flight was canceled and said, "Let's drive". So off we went. We drove to Disney! I know people do it all the time, but not in a snow storm, and they usually don't leave at 2:00 in the afternoon.
But, we got the atlas out, and we were off. We drove, very very slowly through Atlanta traffic and it snowed the whole way until we crossed the Florida line. We stopped in Gainesville Florida for the night and got up the next day and made it to Disney by noon!
I will spare all the details of the trip, but it was great. I am ready to plan our next trip back in a few (or maybe more) years. The kids had a blast and so did Matt and I. We missed Gray Gray! We talked about him lots and couldn't wait to get our hands on him when we got home, we will be taking him with us next time, for sure!

All Packed Up....check!

We are packed. We are ready to go.
Clothes. check
shoes. check
underwear. check
socks. check
umbrella. check
ponchos. check
backpacks. check
brush. check
toothbrushes. check
toiletries. check
EVERY ITEM YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF THAT WE MIGHT NEED.....check!

It is hard to believe that we are leaving tomorrow. We have had this trip planned for so long and it is finally here. There have been plenty of times that I have almost exploded with excitement. It has been a challenge these last few weeks to not fill the kids in on our plans.
We will be picking the kids up from school tomorrow around noon, dropping sweet Gray off with Nana (poor guy is a little too young for Disney World), and heading to the airport for a 3:15 flight.
So, for now....Bon Voyage!
I will post a video in the next few days of us telling the kids where we are going! I cannot wait to get this on video.

The B word!

It always bugs me a little when people talk about how busy their life is...so much busier and hectic that yours, so much more going on, so much blah blah blah blah blah....you get the picture!
I think we can all agree, we are all busy! Maybe busy doing different things, maybe busy with 1 child or 2 or 3 or 4 or more....but in the end we are all in this life that is jammed packed with "stuff" that keeps us busy! I have tried to steer away from posts about how busy our life is, but I don't do a good job not posting about how crazy it is in our house. Don't get me wrong, I love the fast paced life. On days when we just don't have much going on, I get bored. But, we all have different tolerances to what we can handle and different definitions of "busy".
Lately, I have tried to quiet my life and LISTEN! I realize I don't listen very well. Sure, I listen to my friends, my kids, my husband, but am I listening for the one who really matters? Am I listening to God whispering to me. Can God really speak to me , plain ole ordinary Mallory, when I go about being so "busy"?
Yes, I believe God is speaking to me all the time, I just need to listen! Now, I have had God speak to me before during my quiet times of devotion, but more often He whispers to me in the middle of my life experiences. In the car, when the kids are screaming, through a friend, through a book, while watching the beautiful cardinal that visits my feeder every morning. One thing I am sure of is, that when God whispers from His heart to mine, something changes. I feel more energized, I feel transformed, I am infused with hope! I know God is speaking all the time, but sometimes this crazy culture around me drowns Him out.
I want to pay attention when I am doing the mundane things of life. When I am on my computer, exercising, making dinner, bathing the kids. I read somewhere that "God doesn't waste words. He can change my life with but a few!" I pray I can be still long enough to hear Him.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10a

Just call us "Fancy"

Kate and I went to a Fancy Nancy party at the Bookstore today. I am always looking for fun, FREE things to do and I saw this advertised a few weeks ago and had put it on my calendar. Well, it worked out that I could take Kate alone....just the girls. Matt had to go drop off all our crepe myrtle branches at the dump, and the boys were begging to go with him so they could see the vultures-gross! So, once I convinced Kate that she would not like the trip to the smelly dump, we got her all dressed up to attend the party. It was nothing really fancy, just a story time, but lots of little girls were dressed up and Kate and I treated ourselves to big chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. I love having a girl!

She took her princess job very seriously!

Once she got crowned, her smile came out!

The best part of the day!

Keeping it interesting!

I found these pictures of the kids. Santa brought Owen a pack of mustaches in his stocking and here are a few candid shots of my little "stached" men. I could not get Gray to come near one, so no pictures of him here! I think the boys kinda look like Sherlock Holmes...what do you think?

Gray is all over the place! He is busy busy and showing his personality a lot more lately. I guess you could say that he is asserting himself and trying to be heard in this crazy house of ours. This morning he found his bath seat, and after throwing it down the stairs, decides to sit in it in the middle of the kitchen. I was happy because he was stuck in it, but that didn't mean he couldn't cause some trouble. Kate got a little too close to him and he hit her in the face. This hitting thing is another phase he is going through. It is always so hard to teach little ones "no hitting". I don't want to spank his hand and say "no hitting" because this seems wrong in so many ways, but I HAVE GOT to teach him that we do not hit. In the past, with the other kids, I have grabbed their hand firmly and said..."Gray Gray no hitting, be sweet". It takes repeating over and over and over, but eventually it has worked in my favor. Anyway, Gray has started to hit himself after I say "No hitting". Immediately, he slaps himself in the head. I cannot help but laugh at him because it is just funny. The kids think it is hilarious that he does this and they laugh and laugh and laugh at him...therefore, encouraging him to do this ALL THE TIME! It is alright (kinda) at home, but when we are out in public and he pops me in the face, and I say, "No hitting" , and then he starts saying "No" and hitting himself, we get a few stares. It would be weird telling everyone the whole above story in order to explain why my child hits himself, so being the stellar parent that I am, I just laugh at him therefore encouraging him to continue to self harm! I am praying the Lord pours out some extra grace on our family!

I caught a picture of Gray right before he is about to hit himself. That look is pretty scary!

Dress Code

I will start this post out saying that I have long given up what my boys wear. They dress themselves. Some days I attempt to allow them to let me dress them once again, because to be honest their style just isn't so stylish...if you know what I mean. But, I have learned what battles to fight and have long given up this one! In the big picture...it really shouldn't matter , right?
I would love to say right, but it is just wrong! It doesn't matter what my kids are wearing...it matters what they are NOT wearing! Even though it is February and pretty darn cold out, my boys insist on short sleeves and a shorts (if they can find them). They also love to wear things that just don't match in any color scheme whatsoever. For example, a pair of red windpants with their bright orange Auburn shirt/jersey. Most mornings, I pull the..."please try to match at least ONE color and it is Winter today" talk.
I do try to stay on top of matching shoes. Not sure how the picture below went under the radar, but I thought it was very good problem solving on his part.
We had to run out to do a few things and when we pulled to our first stop I notice, as Wills is exiting the car, that this is what he has chosen to wear:
Mom: Wills, why do you have on 2 different pairs of shoes?
Wills: I couldn't find a match!
Mom: well.....okay, then!

On another note, this is what Kate wanted to wear to school. Sweet girl, beginning of February and she is still pulling for those Auburn Tigers.
This is what Gray would like to wear most days and when we are at home, more power to him. The problem is...I have to hunt him down when I do finally need to get some clothes on the boy. He sees me coming with clothes in hand and he takes off like a race horse.
Had to get a picture of Owen in here, because in all actuality, this post is for him! Thank you Owen for always making sure I am on my toes!