Check Ups

All my kids had their yearly well check ups today!  I try to schedule them all on one day, because my Doctor is not close by, but the nurses are never too thrilled about that.  So, here I come with 4 little people in tow. 
First order of business was weight (we eat well), height, urine samples (Owen asked if he could keep the cup ...ummm GROSS), and da da da dumm.....FINGER PRICKS!
You would have thought that they were torturing my kids in that room.  I have never in my life heard such horrific terrifying screams in anticipation of blood work.  I felt like a bad mommy because I could not quit laughing at their hysterics and I am sure there were some frightened little patients out in the waiting room. 
Thank goodness we got all their shots last year because I would have some major hearing loss issues if I had to go through shots.  After individually holding down Wills, Owen and Kate for a little finger prick, the rest was smooth sailing. Just another day in the life.....
On the way home from the Doctor, Owen finally mustered up the courage and the strength to pull that loose tooth that has been hanging by one root for a few days now.  He was so excited to lose his first tooth, and getting him to bed tonight was such a pleasant experience.  I have never seen him so ready to hit the hay!

Shirtless

Because it is so H-O-T here in Birmingham, (and I mean a heat index of 110 degrees), my boys have pretty much worn this all summer

It is so funny because when we go out in public, Gray wants to take off his shirt now.  I have to point out to him that everyone is wearing shirts at the grocery store, at church, at the Pet Store, etc!  He seems to understand, but he still will come over to me a few times during an outing a lift his shirt up. 

I hope these two are ready to put some shirts on in a few weeks--Kindergarten and First grade, here they come!

Summer Blast 2010

We had such a fun Lake trip with my side of the family.  Imagine 13 little ones and 11 adults in one house at the same time.  It was cozy , but so so much fun.   There is so much to talk about, but here are a few pictures to tie you over until I can get settled back home.  It is hard to jump back to reality after being in paradise for a week and a half!  We miss it already, but plan on heading back REAL soon!
So much to do and we did it all!  Details to come, but here are some pictures from

The Havig Lake Trip 2010!

Meme, Pop, Megan, Steve, Mandi, Zach, Mallory, Matt, McKenzie, Mike, Morgan, Grant, Hannah, Caroline, Olivia, Tanner, Hudson, Brody, Emerson, Wills, Owen, Kate, Gray, and Elliot

We started it off with some July Birthday Celebrations!

Lots of dock Swimming--The Boys

Lots of Ping-Pong and we Havig girls are competitive.

Hot Doggin for the big kids

We can't forget about the little ones too!

A day trip to Cleveland for the girls and their newly adopted cabbage patch kids.

Jumping off the top of the dock!  Can you see Owen?  Perfect pencil!

North Georgia Mountain Fair.  Note to self:  The Swings DO make me sick!

The Boys on the Boat

Fishing with Pop

Hanging out with Meme

Our newest adventure that the kids can actually really have fun with...the Knee board.  This is great for little ones.  I can't believe we hadn't thought of this yet.

Tooth Day

Gray in the chair waiting to get his tooth pulled!
Here they are numbing him up!  Meanwhile Mommy and Meme are about to pass out!

As you can see, I have no pictures until after the tooth was pulled because I could not look.  I held Gray's hand as he got 2 shots and then, finally the tooth pulled, but I had my head turned the whole time.  Poor Gray knew I was there but was probably wondering why I wasn't looking at him.

Gray and our favorite dentist, Dr. Curtis!

He is now our little Snaggletooth!

C U in 2

Off the computer for almost 2 weeks.  Looking forward to some quality family time and I mean, extended family too!  So So So fun that all my sisters and all the cousins will be together, along with Meme and Pop in ONE house!   I also have a race this Sunday, so gearing up for that!  I am sure I will have lots of pictures and fun posts when I return from the last "hurrah" of summer!

Radical

I just finished reading the book, Radical by David Platt, who is the pastor of a local church here, Church of Brookhills.  To say that this book is a challenge to read is an gross understatement.  It causes you to bounce back and forth between "ouch" and "amen".    It is a challenge to examine your life and choose the lasting over the temporary!  The eternal reality over the American dream!  It challenges you to LIVE DIFFERENTLY! 
Here is a passage that says it all:
You and I have about seventy or eighty years or so on this earth.  During these years we are bombarded with the temporary.  Make money. Get stuff.  Be comfortable. Live well. Have fun. In the middle of it all, we get blinded to the eternal.  But it is there.  You and I stand on the porch of eternity.  Both of us will soon stand before God to give account for our stewardship of the time, the resources, the gifts, and ultimately the gospel he has entrusted to us.  When that day comes, and it will, I am convinced we will not wish we had given more of ourselves to living the American dream.  We will not wish we had made more money, acquired more stuff, lived more comfortably, pursued greater retirement, taken more vacations, watched more television, or been more successful in the eyes if this world.  Instead we will wish we had given more of ourselves to living for the day when every nation, tribe, people and language will bow around the throne and sing the praises of the Savior who delights in radical obedience and the God who deserves eternal worship.

I want to live like this.  I want to obey the words of the Savior, the simple call of "follow me".
The narrow path with eternal rewards!

Flashback "birth"day!

2 years ago, God blessed our family with another baby.  Now, we cannot imagine life without our Gray Gray.  You have brought so much joy, laughter and love to our family.  We love you Gray and Happy Birthday---I still can't believe my baby is 2! 

We were so happy that you arrived healthy!  This was by far my most difficult pregnancy, but every bit worth it!

The day we added one more!

This is the day my life as a mommy of 4 would begin and I have LOVED every minute.  My heart is so full!

Happy Birthday to You.  I can't wait to see what this year will bring!

Look Mom....

NO TOOTH...just a little chocolate!

Discovering

Play-dough!  I have just now sucumbed to Gray playing with it!  That, and markers!  It is a mess, but he loves it and feels like a big kid.  I must admit that the 30 or so minutes he spends playing with the play-dough is well worth the  20 or so minutes I spend cleaning it all up.  The look of discovery on his face is so fun to watch!

Of course, the whole family can not resist some play-dough action!

UpDate

Is it just me or is this summer flying by?  We are about to hit mid-July!  I am very excited about my 10 year anniversary coming up, (yes this also means another year older --I got married on my birthday!)  The birthday part I am not too thrilled about, but what do you do?  I am looking forward to a weekend with just Matt and I, while the kids stay with  my parents. 
We are hittin' the road again in about a week or so to go spend some time up at my parent's lake house.  At some point during the 2 weeks all my sisters and their families (13 cousins) will be there.  I am ready for some R&R  crazy, fun-filled, memorable days at the lake.  Matt and I have been practicing our ping pong skills, so watch out Mom and Dad.
Not too much to blog about lately.  Just doing the summer thing....swimming, playing (dressing up-see below ), and spending time together. I have a few more races coming up and have really enjoyed the training this year.  My goal is just to get better each race and I feel like my swim and bike have really improved.
Hoping the last weeks of summer are as much fun as the first weeks!

Thankfully, Kate is as girly as they get, but she can hang with the rest of them!

The Science Guy

There are so many great things happening at our local Library this summer.  I try to take advantage of all the free activities each year, and this year seems to have a lot more to offer!  Aside from doing the summer reading program, which my kids love (mostly because they can earn library dollars to spend at the store), we got to see some cool Science experiments presented by McWane Center this week.

After the show, we turned in our reading logs and got to spend some of our "money" at the store.  We had not yet cashed in, so we had a lot of money to spend! 

Tradition

We spent the 4th doing the usual....Sparklers!

Lots of Sparklers!

Playing on the beach...

Me, trying to get some pictures...

and, of course, watching an amazing fireworks show!

Spending every 4th of July at the beach each year is such a fun tradition for our family.  I remember like it was yesterday, holding Wills during his first fireworks show, and now I have 4 little ones to enjoy it with!  

New Things

They are always adding new things for the kids here at Baytowne, and since boogie boarding obviously wasn't enough adventure for the boys for one day, Wills and Owen did a cool ropes course at Baytowne.  It was the first time they have ever even seen something like this and they were hooked!  Wills has always been my more cautious one, but lately he is overcoming a lot of his fear and trying new things.  I am really proud of him! 

Actually from the looks of these pictures, Owen is the one who is not so sure about this...

All strapped in and ready to climb.  They did awesome and thankfully, Matt was able to join them.

Of course the younger 2 wanted to do the course too, but I was able to coax them with the nearby carousel.

We got it a little backwards. 

Gray chose this...

And Kate chose this..

What an adventure!

Finally

We were able to get in the water today!  Hard to believe because 2 days ago it was not looking good.  I guess it is hit or miss, and today it was "hit".  Let me just say the waves were HUGE.  I have ever seen waves so big here, it sure made doing this a lot of fun.

You know Gray won't let his brothers show him up....

And Kate got in on the action too, although I couldn't capture it on camera because I had to be out there with her...it was brutal out there!

I was able to capture Gray's reaction to having to share the boogie board with Kate

We finished a fun day with a great meal at Baytowne Wharf.  And it actually was an enjoyable dining experience, which is rare for our family.

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The sun was out and it was our first beautiful day.  Thank you Lord!