No Cavities...well, just a small one!

G along for the ride
W opening wide

Kate is such a good patient

O with Sunglasses on b/c the light was bothering him. Typical!

We ventured to the Dentist today for our 6 month cleaning. This week has been Dental week for us. I had an appt on Monday and the kids today. We go to Dr. Jonathan Curtis at Cahaba Valley Pediatric Dentistry and they are awesome. We love Dr. Curtis and his staff. Here are few pix of the kids getting their teeth cleaned. We got a good report! O just has a small cavity that we are watching until next time, W looks great--his tooth might finally be coming through, and K needs to stop sucking her thumb, which might be challenge. Next time we visit, G will be sitting in that chair too!

His Love Endures Forever

You need to watch this video of the life of our Christ Jesus played to my favorite song, Revelation Song. It is about 6 minutes long. It portrays the life of our LIVING Savior Jesus Christ. It will bring you to tears as we remember His life and His ultimate sacrifice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUTt8XINPY&feature=related

Quality TIme

G at 8 months

We got to spend some quality time with G on Friday night and Saturday morning. The kids were spending the night with Nana and Grandad. We enjoyed this one on one time so much and are amazed at how easy he is. We went out and had a great dinner with him and spent the morning playing with him in bed. It is so great to spend time with each individual child . I wish I had the chance to do it more.

Last night I meet some of my dearest friends for dinner and I am reminded, as I always am when I am with them, how thankful I am for these awesome women who are always there to pray for each other, support one another and lift each other up. I am so blessed that the Lord brought them into my life and that they inspire me in my walk with the Lord. On top of that, they are just plain fun too.
Now to my shoe story...after dinner I went to Target to look around. I have been trying to stay as far away as possible from Target because I cannot seem to escape there without spending over $80! I had one hour until the store closed! Perfect, not too much time to linger and throw random things I don't need in my cart. I was doing great. I had some lunch meat, bananas, a skirt for Kate, a tank top for me, and a new door mat. And then I hit the shoes. Now, I am not a shoe person. I pretty much live in flip flops and running shoes. I would much rather buy an outfit than a pair of shoes any day, but because of this, I tend to never have anything "cute" to go with my outfits. Well, let me tell you, Target has some great shoes. I picked up 3 pairs last night. Probably more dress shoes than I have bought over the past 5 years. I am so proud of my purchases and brought them home to show Matt. He wasn't as thrilled as me until I pointed out that his work shoes that we bought last month were $195. I realize he will wear these shoes everyday for the next 4 years, but still...come on. I got 3 pairs for $70! And yes, I went over my usual $80 budget at Target.

I love Spring! This is our first Spring in our new house, so everything that is blooming is a new suprise. We have a gigantic Bradford Pear in the backyard, a beautiful, full bloomed cherry tree in the front, some dogwoods that are beginning to bloom, and 20 crepe myrtles that I am anxiously awaiting. We have already filled our bird feeders twice and have seen finch, cardinals, robins and bluebirds (and squirrels-lol). I cannot wait to get out in the yard and plant some flowers over the next few weeks.

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow,
nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not worth much more than they?
"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
"And why are you worried about clothing?
Observe how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of
these.
Matt 6:26-29 (NASB)

Help Me!

Today I kept sweet, little, ever energetic, even when deathly sick, O home from school today. His cough still sounds horrendous and I didn't feel right about sending him to school, even though I think he is fine and I really had to dig deep to find the strength and patience to keep him home!

I must say, he was so excited to be sending off his brother and sister to school and getting to stay home with mommy and G. On the way home, he asked "Mommy, what are we going to do at home", and I said "whatever you want to do" and He said "Can we go to the jumpy place and then the Toy Store?" "Can I have a friend over?"

I really almost pulled a U turn in the middle of 280 to head back to drop him off at school and tell him not to cough on anybody, but I didn't. I brought him home to spend some quality time with his mommy. As I am watching him jump all over my furniture, I am re-thinking my decision to bring him on home.

Sick X 4

Our adventure took us to the Doctor this morning to check out what exactly is wrong with G and to take a look at O's cough, which has not gotten better over the last 2 weeks. I was pretty sure we all had the same thing, so I thought after she diagnosed 2, we could figure out what to do about W and K. Well, Lo and Behold, everyone has Walking Pneumonia. G has it the worst and I am continuing his breathing treatments. He also has a nasty ear infection. O is on an inhaler because he, too, is wheezing and everyone got a prescription for an antibiotic. We spent 2 hours at the Doctor, 40 minutes at the pharmacy and about 15 minutes in the Zaxby's drive thru today. After a grand total of $120 (Dr co pay/$30 per child) + $200 (generic antibiotic x 4) + $20 (a very unhealthy lunch)= I dropped a whopping $340 in a little less than 3 hours!

Green Hour

ORDER YOUR OWN CATERPILLARS~http://www.insectlore.com/

I am all about this new campaign called, GREEN HOUR. Go to http://www.greenhour.org/ for more info, but here it is in a nutshell...

It is all about giving your kids a Green Hour everyday! Unstructured time in green spaces to explore, imagine, and discover. Research shows that spending at least one hour a day outside improves young children's physical fitness, emotional well being and intellectual development.

Today's kids spend an average of 6 hours a day planted in front of an electronic screen--spending half as much time outdoors as we did when we were kids. Yes, 6 hours---don't ask me what these parents are doing! No making mud pies, catching fireflies, building forts, looking for critters under rocks, feeling the wind in their faces, discovering tadpoles, daydreaming while watching the clouds roll by, etc....This is not just about going outside for baseball or soccer practice or recess, it is about UNSTRUCTURED PLAY. I love this idea. Sending the kids out with out toys to just enjoy the world around them. Take a look at the website for some unplugged ideas.

Here is one our family is doing. We ordered caterpillars from Insect Lore. We received them in the mail and we are watching them grow daily. I would say in the next week, they will turn into chrysalis' and then hatch to butterflies! We purchased a big net to keep the chrysalis' in and once they hatch, we can watch our butterflies, feed them, and then release them into the wild.

Also, for you locals to Birmingham, Oak Mountain State Park is having Salamander Day this Sunday! It begins at 1:30. http://www.alapark.com/OakMountain/

Brass Town Bald in North Ga Mountains Dec 2008


LakeLand Florida March 2009

Matt has decided to join an elite group of people that call themselves HIGH POINTERS! This group makes it their mission to hike, climb, walk to the highest point in all 50 states. He thought this would be something fun to do with his boys over their lifetime. I volunteered to keep a scrapbook for him of his journeys. So far, the Carrington men, Matt, W and O, have reached the highest point in 2 states...Georgia and Florida. Let the games begin! Can't wait for Mt Mickinley in Alaska and Mauna Kea in Hawaii!
http://highpointers.org/

Home Sweet Home

Back from Spring Break...the drive was pretty bad, but we had a great time hanging out as a family. Other than a hacking cough, high fever, and runny noses, we were healthy! lol

I must say that as much as I love the beach, there is nothing like pulling in the driveway and being home. The kids acted like they haven't been here in forever...pulling out toys they haven't touched in months. If we all sleep tonight, it will be a miracle.

Spring Break and random acts of kindness

We are in beautiful Destin, Flordia for Spring break and the weather is amazing. Clear sunny skies, 76 degrees with a slight breeze....perfect beach weather. I drove down here with the kids on Tuesday morning and had 3 days with all 4 kids all by myself. Everyone did great. I have learned that when you are by yourself and you have young kids, people tend to feel sorry for you, so you get lots of help from random people. For example, on Wednesday, we ventured out to the beach around 9:00 a.m. yes, we were the first ones on the beach. I do not take a lot down with us because I have learned that we don't stay down long enough to haul it all down and to be honest, pulling a wagon with a baby , holding a 2 year olds hand and carrying a bag stuffed with beach supplies, there is not too much room or enough hands to bring any "fluff" Back to the story...On the beach with the kids and G is crying, O has sand in his eyes (ALOT of sand, thanks to Kate) and is screaming, W is crying because he lost one of his pirate pieces in the sand and K is looking for shells. A lady comes over to help me hold G while another lady helps me flush out O's eye with water from HER water bottle. After we calmed down O, which took about 30 minutes, no lie, another sweet lady comes over to tell me she called her 13 year old daughter to come down to the beach to help me with my kids! How wonderful...I accept, and this sweet little girl helps me by playing with K and O on the beach and then going up with me to the pool. I also received lots of help from other random people that wanted to help me pack up my things, carry my beach supplies for me and hold G so I can get all the kids situated. Over the 3 days that was here by myself, I made more "friends" and received so much help, it was great. Matt drove down Thursday night and we spent today on the beach. We are so glad he is here to spend the weekend with us and I am sure we will have plenty more adventures for me to blog about!

Happy St Patricks Day

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Destin...Here we come!

Today we ventured out to the North Shelby Library to check out some new books for our trip tomorrow. Yes, we are heading out of town with all the other spring breakers. My, how my spring breaks have changed! Ha! This is my first attempt at driving with all 4 down to the beach and staying a few days with the kids by myself until Matt arrives in a few days. I have done the trip many times with 3, but when you throw a baby in there, the dynamics change quite a bit. The kids packed their own bags today and are ready to go! I really did let them pack their clothes, which I confess, was hard to do when a few items that were packed were pretty questionable, but I just let it go. They each packed 3 shirts, 3 shorts, 3 pairs of underwear and 2 PJ's. (yes, we have a washing machine in the condo). K packed 4 dresses and 3 pairs of underwear and 2 pj's.

Above are a few pictures of the fam at the Library today. Gray actually enjoyed it the most. It was so cute!

Shaping the Will

I am currently reading, for the 4th time, James Dobson's Strong-willed child. The Foreword of this book stated is perfectly....and I quote...Just as surely as some children are naturally compliant, others seem to be defiant upon exit from the womb. They come into the world smoking a cigar and yelling about the temperature in the delivery room and the incompetence if the nursing staff and the way doctors are running things.
I know that each of one of my children is unique, and I believe, like Dr. Dobson that children do not start as a blank slate. They bring with them an individuality that is uniquely their own, different from that of every other individual who has ever lived. The innate characteristic that varies from child to child is that of the "strength of the will". He states that the strong-willed child seems compelled from within to fuss, fight, test, resist and challenge...that is my little O!
I am praying daily that the Lord will give me the patience to put into practice a balanced environment for him. I want to parent with discipline, but also with patience, respect and affection. I pray that I will not simply shape the will, but do this w/o breaking his spirit.
The Lord blessed us with O and I am believing that his strong-will will serve him well with his peers in the long run, but I must say...this parenting thing is hard work and with such a spirited child such as O, it might be the hardest thing I have ever had to do!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

On Monday it was Dr. Suess' birthday, and the only reason I knew this was because W was suppose to bring a Dr. Suess book to school to celebrate his birthday. The night before we picked out few our favorites and one was Green Eggs and Ham. The teacher in me decided that I was going to make green eggs for b'fast the next morning. Well....green eggs did not go over too well with my kids. They were so grossed out. They wouldn't even try it, so Matt and I ate green eggs for breakfast and the kids ended up eating cereal. This is a classic picture of O when I put the green eggs in front of him!

To be young again....

I remember when I was little, I loved to build forts in my room. Having four sisters, there was always someone to help you build and to play with in your fort. I am sure my mom loved the sheets and towels and blankets all over the room and certainly not folded neatly or at all when we were done, but it was so fun! Tuesdays are the days that I have all the kids at home, so we are always looking for something to do. Usually I like to get outside, but it was way to cold, so we decided to build forts and this fort stayed up until they went to bed that night. The kids had the best time, playing pirates, stuffed animals, "bad guys", spies....(poor Kate-she is right there with them!). I must say it was pretty fun to see how excited they got from just hanging a sheet from the bed. Oh to be young again....

Okay, I have to post this video of K singing. It is so cute and I never want to forget moments like this! This was last week, G was taking a nap and we were waiting for the boys to get home from preschool. She LOVES to sing and we love to listen to it. Check out the second song, she has a little spit problem. Very funny.

SNOW DAY

We woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. This was the perfect snow day because we got about 4 inches of powder like snow and played all morning in it. By 3:00 in the afternoon, it was already gone- (yeah--school tomorrow!). Here are a few pictures of the kids playing in the snow. Matt and I felt like kids again! So fun.

My Adorable Princess

Today I had a friend in K's class come over for a play date. It was just the cutest thing ever! I have tried to make an effort to let each of the kid's have play dates with a friend, and since K was home today with just me and G, we asked a adorable little girl from her preschool over. K has her own playroom off of her bedroom, which she NEVER plays in because she always wants to be with the "boys". So we set all her baby dolls out, her dress up costumes, her play jewelry, tea sets, sleeping bags, princess back pack...we had it all out and it was so fun. We had a princess picnic and a princess carriage ride (in the wagon) and they took turns pushing G up and down the driveway in his little push car. Here is a picture of how cute the girls looked.
I must say that days like today make me even more thankful that God has blessed our family with a sweet princess like K!

I have posted some pictures of my leg post surgery! It is pretty bruised and swollen and I have placed bandaids over a lot of the cuts around my ankle and top of foot because they were coming back open when I moved my foot. I am now wearing compression hose all day, except when I sleep, so I get a little relief there. The hose help so much with the pain, but they are so tight that they hurt....does that make sense? Anyway, I think that as soon as the bruising and swelling goes down some, I will be able to see an improvement. I am already up and walking around and feel pretty good.