Thanksgiving

We traveled back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving this year.  It was the first time we had been home since Amelia was born almost 10 months ago, so we were very excited for a relaxing few days with grandparents in the country.  When we pulled in to Austin's parents house after a 5.5 hour car ride (which should have only taken us 3 hours) and in which not a single child slept a single ounce, we were welcomed by a beautiful snow covered Kentucky.  Our boys literally jumped out of the car with no coats on and immediately started making snow angels in the snow.  I always love going back to Austin's parents house because it brings back so many fond memories for us as a couple.  We started dating over 17 years ago and spent many, many a day at Austin's parents farm, so it's so fun for us to bring the boys back to a place where so many memories were made.  Plus, their farm really is a child's dream, complete with big open fields to run in, a huge pond within steps of the house to fish and paddle boat in, old, old trees that host child sized swings, fountains to play in, horses to pet,  cows to watch, long driveways perfect for bike rides, vast skies which allow for incredible views of innumerable stars and most of all a cozy house to come back to after hours and hours of exploring outside.  Needless to say, we always enjoy our trips back home and this year Thanksgiving was just as enjoyable.  I'm starting to think that Thanksgiving may be my new favorite holiday.  What is there not to love about a day which revolves around eating and being with those you love the very most.  Anyway, here are some pictures of our trip away -

I don't know about your kids, but my kids do not sleep in when they are away from home! Maybe one day, but not at the moment!  Braden who has always been my early riser and whom is awake most days by 6:15 or 6:30am, managed to wake each morning in Lexington by 5:30am.  That's rooster waking time in my books!  Austin and I snoozed away while Braden made memories watching the sun rise over the pond each morning with his grandparents.  This picture was taken at about 7am after Braden had been awake for a few hours already. The boys literally could not wait to get out in the snow and we held them off as long as we could and by 7am we couldn't hold them off any longer -

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this one!  At the small age of 6, he has a tender and compassionate heart.  He has such a God given gift of encouragement and is such a delight in our family.  He teaches me how to have bigger faith and reminds me so often how big of a God we serve.  I am truly thankful that God gave him to me.  How blessed am I by this one -

Oh and this one...I am so very thankful for this one too!  This little one brings laughter into my home, the deep, hearty kind of laughter that is rare to find and hard to extinguish.  There is such a joy in sharing life with this little one because he really is so very funny and makes life so very fun!  At the age of 4, he is silly and wild and oh so tender and kind.  He brings life to any situation and has a deep rooted, childlike faith that I get the privilege to watch blossom.  He teaches me to slow down and enjoy the little things, he challenges me in my faith as I often see him retreat to his room to pray to God and seek God's counsel and guidance when he needs help.  He helps remind me to not take life too seriously and that laughter truly is a gift from God.  How blessed am I by this one -

Oh and this one...how is it that one year ago, I didn't even know this one and yet she holds my heart in ways that no one else does?  How is it possible to love so deeply someone you are just beginning to know?  This one is mild and sweet, cuddly and tender too.  She seems full of joy and laughter, a perfect fit to our family that was incomplete just a year ago.  I look so forward to watching her grow.  How blessed I am to love and care for this one -

And finally, this husband of mine...I am so very thankful for him and for the countless ways he serves our family!  I have known him and had the privilege of loving him for over 17 years now and he is such a gift to our family.  I am so thankful for the way he works hard and never complains (about anything), I am thankful for the way he loves our children, for the way he walks in the door from a long day of work and immediately takes Amelia out of my hands to change a diaper or give me a break or gets in the floor to start wrestling the boys.  I am thankful that Austin willingly helps bathe the kids at night or helps me clean up the dishes after the kids are in bed or the way he helps me at 3am when one of the kids is awake and needs something.  He is a true partner in this parenting journey.  I am so thankful for the way he brings laughter into our home, the ways he challenges me to be a better momma and wife and the ways he unconditionally loves me after all these years together.  How blessed I am to spend my days with this one -

One of my favorite things about traveling is that since you are not in your own home, you cannot get distracted with petty things like laundry and dishes and picking up the 1,000 toys that seem to stay on my floors.  Instead, you get to spend quality time with your favorite people.  Here we are making gingerbread houses on a snowy November morning in Kentucky -

 We spent many hours out by the pond each day breaking up the ice with sticks and rocks -

I am also thankful for Coaches (aka Grandpa's) to love on my little ones -

 And for Great Grandma's to love on my little ones -

Such a fun trip!  We really do have so much to be thankful for! Every day in November we write something that we are thankful for on a pretend leaf and put it on the wall and create a Thanksgiving Tree.  It is such a great reminder to be thankful in "all things" as God commands us in His Word and such a good reminder of His immense blessing in our lives!

And now, on to Christmas!  Maybe I'll get Christmas pictures posted sometime before Easter :)

Halloween

I know Halloween has come and gone, and now we are decorating for Christmas around here, but I just wanted to post some pictures of my crew.  We are in full Star Wars world these days!  When Braden turned 6, we let him watch the movie for the first time and ever since then it's all my kids talk about...in fact they are kind of obsessed!   When  the Halloween discussions started to surface in our home a few weeks ago, it was a no brainer that my boys were going to be Luke and Anakin Skywalker for Halloween.  The big question was, what was the baby going to be?  After much deliberation and lots of convincing of their momma, the boys decided that she should Princess Leia.  It definitely wasn't what I had originally thought my 9 month old baby girl should be on her first Halloween, but I have to admit she looked pretty cute and the boys thought it was AWESOME!  They call her Princess Leia at home all the time so I guess it was only appropriate that she be Princess Leia for Halloween as well.  Anyway, here are some pictures of Halloween night as well as our many trips to various pumpkin patches in the weeks leading up to Halloween.

On the Monday of fall break, I took the kids over to Gentry's Farm to play.  The tire swings are always a favorite spot -

 Me and the wee ones waiting for the hay ride -

 My sister Jackie joined us for our visit to Gentry's -

 My best effort at a shot of all three kids -

I know this is not Halloween related, but it is fall related, so I'm sticking it in here, but here are the little ones piled up in a leaf pile -

Baby Leia -

 The Star Wars gang -

Fall

Fall is finally in full swing around here and we have been busy as usual.  Guess that's never going to change with three kids.  I love the fall, the weather is amazing, the holidays are coming, the leaves are beautiful and the cooler days make me want to start a fire and hunker down in the house with the little ones.  We spent a weekend in Atlanta during the boys fall break at school.  My ever so gracious momma took care of Amelia for us while we treated the boys to a three night stay in a hotel in "Awanta" as Asher calls it.  It was such a fun weekend and in some ways so relaxing since we didn't have the sweet baby to keep up with....although she was talked about and greatly missed all weekend.  We took the boys to Stone Mountain which was phenomenal and will definitely be a place we go back to again.  The next day we went to the Atlanta Aquarium and squeezed in a trip to Lego Land as well.  It was a busy weekend, but one that we will definitely remember.  I am so very thankful for intentional days and sweet memories with my family.  I know these days are numbered where the boys just really want to spend time with Austin and I.  There will come a day when they would rather be with friends then with family, but until then I'm gonna soak up these moments when I can.

Here we are pulling in to Atlanta at 10:00pm the first night.  To say that the boys were excited to sleep in a hotel would be an understatement.  They were wired!!!!!!  And it's not like they slept an ounce in the car on the way there.  They literally opened every cabinet, turned every lamp and light on and off a thousand times, hid in the closet and behind the curtains, played with the phone (because they've never seen a phone with a cord before) and wallowed on the beds until their little bodies could bare no more and they passed out at 11:00pm.  Who knew a hotel room could be so fun!

Here the boys are riding the incline up to the top of Stone Mountain.  Again to say they were excited is an understatement!

Standing on top of Stone Mountain.  We could have stayed on the mountain all day.  They had so much fun running around -

Standing on top of the mountain and looking at the world below made me realize how tiny we humans are and how great a God we serve.  I truly stood at the top of the mountain in awe of His Greatness!!!!

 It might be the very best feeling in the world when your little ones come and grab your hand on their own, just because.  Again, these days are numbered, so we are soaking it all in -

Watching a movie in the hotel room after a busy day at Stone Mountain -

At the Aquarium -

Braden touching a Sting Ray

Visiting Lego Land -

 Putting legos together in the hotel room afterward -

 And a trip to a hotel would not be complete without a visit to the indoor pool -

Such a fun weekend, but we sure missed this little one -

School Starts...

So my little people started school about a month ago.  Braden is in Kindergarten and Asher is in a four year old preschool program two days a week.  School is always so bittersweet for me...I love having my kiddos home with me so it's always a bit sad for me at first to see them go off to school each year.  This year was a little different too because Braden started Kindergarten and this is the first year I've had him gone from me five days a week.  The hardest thing for me was realizing that this was the closing of one chapter of my life and the beginning of another chapter.  No longer will we have quiet mornings of sitting around in pj's or slow lazy days with no agenda and nothing to do except to play our days away.  Now the mornings are filled with the chaos of dressing little ones for school and rushing through breakfast and brushing hair (if there is time).  The days seem to fly by and once again I wish I could make it all slow down...make these little ones stay little...slow down enough to cherish every moment I have with them because this really is the beginning of letting go and that is sometimes so very hard for me.  Here are some pictures of their big day -

Braden's first day of Kindergarten -

Braden really was excited to go on his first day which made it a little easier to say goodbye -

Our first day of school tradition is to get ice cream after pick-up.  Austin had just had shoulder surgery a few days prior so he had some days off and was able to join us for ice cream -

Asher's first day, being silly as usual -

My two littlest friends -

My boy turns 6!

So it happened...despite my pleas to stop growing up, Braden, my oldest baby turned 6.  I still cannot believe I have a 6 year old because with that comes Kindergarten and loose teeth and way too many things that make me realize my little guy is growing up faster then I want him to.  And as he has always been since birth, he is still such a delight!  With a huge, compassionate heart, a playful, imaginative personality and a sweet, encouraging spirit, he truly is a gift from God to us.  He is still my responsible child, obedient and concerned about doing what is right and is very genuinely concerned about others, sensitive to their feelings and loves to speak words of encouragement over you.  He is my lego building, costume wearing, Air Force obsessed, Star Wars watching, baseball loving, protective 6 year old and it has been a true joy to watch God working in his heart and see his faith grow over these past 6 years.  It is a beautiful thing to see true outward evidence of Christ living in him and I am blessed to be called his momma.

He is really into Star Wars these day, so a Star Wars party we had...

So excited that he won a battle against Darth Vader - 

Asher spent quite a bit of his time at the party riding on the tractor -

And Baby Amelia spent quite a bit of her time on my mom's hip -

The cake -

The Birthday Boy -

Taking his turn at battling the Darth Vader pinata -

 Opening family presents -

Eating pancakes in the shape of a 6 (family tradition on birthday mornings around here) -

Birthday breakfast outside with the whole crew -

The Helmet

Baby Amelia turned 6 months old a few days ago.  She is a sweet, cuddly, talkative, newly rolling, chunky monkey of a baby and such a joy!  The boys absolutely love her and that makes this momma's heart so happy!  So one new thing about this 6 month old is that she recently got fitted for her newest accessory...a helmet!  Yes, boo...my baby has to have a helmet!  I think I lived in denial for the past few months, desperately hoping this flat spot I had noticed on the back of her head would correct itself if I held her more or if I repositioned her constantly throughout her sleeping periods, but after all my hardest efforts, our pediatrician confirmed that she would need a helmet to correct the flatness.  So after many tears from me, I embraced the inevitable and the little lady got her pink helmet!  Considering that she has to wear it for 23 hours a day for the next 3-6 months, she has done amazingly well so far.  I was terrified that she would never sleep again...I mean who really wants to sleep in a hard, clunky helmet.  But I forget that babies are so resilient and that God has had His hand on us as we've adjusted to this new life of living with a helmet baby.  We've had a few short naps, a night or two of some tears from the babe as she couldn't settle from discomfort and a lot of really sweaty days (the poor child sweats profusely in her helmet even when we are sitting in the air conditioning), but overall, when you put it on her head, you would never know if it bothered her...she just keeps smiling.  In all honesty, I think that I have been more bothered by the whole process then she has.  The helmet just makes nursing a little more difficult and I hate that a big, cold, clunky piece of plastic gets in the way of me cuddling and kissing Amelia's sweet head.  Where as she used to rest comfortably in the crevice of my arm, now her helmet gets in the way and she squirms out of discomfort and gets restless if held in that position.  This all makes me sad because I know this time with her as a baby is so fleeting and by the time we are out of the helmet, my little tiny baby will be close to walking and her days of infancy will be coming to a close and the business of toddlerhood will be inching ever closer.  The good news is that one hour a day, we get to take her helmet off to bathe her and clean the helmet.  That means that one whole hour
of each day I get to hold and cuddle and love on this little tiny head and not take the cuddling for granted and for that I am truly thankful! Anyway, here is the little lady sporting her newest accessory -

Our first day home with the helmet -

 Playing in her Johnny Jump -

 Toto and Amelia -

 Sweet little one asleep in the car seat -

 And this is how she sleeps each night -

So thankful for this little one and her sweet spirit!!!!