Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus!

Boo did an offertory at church! She did such a good job and didn't miss a note! We are so proud of her and how hard she is working on her piano pieces!

Great job Boo!

Funny Friday!

Happy Friday! :)

Leftover Thursday

Playing "train" at Worship Team practice. 

 

A couple weeks ago T had to go out of town for a couple nights. Noni came and stayed with us. The first night the girls came running upstairs to get me saying Peaches had done something to the lights. 

We figured she popped the breaker somehow but when Noni went to flip it back the girls said there was a big flash of light and it smelled like a pop gun went off several times. The breaker wouldn't flip on or off at that point and I sent T this picture trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I did finally get it flipped off and they had no lights for the next two days. 

 

When he got back he undid her light and found that she had apparently been spinning it around and around (probably over a long period of time) so that it eventually coiled the wires so tight they pinched off and burned out. Good grief. But of course, our jack-of-all-trades Super Daddy was able to fix it and get it rewired in less than ten minutes. And Peaches has been sufficiently scared into "Not turn my light anymore!" :P

Bug took this picture of Boo so she could do a portrait. I never did see the finished product. I'll have to go find it...

Sweet sisters.

I always think it's so funny when babies sleep with their booty in the air. :)

The girls spent the night at Noni's one Friday night and got to go to the pool the next morning!

Happy girl after bath time one day!

Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

"Knock Knock" - Part 2

January 25th 

Boo: You want to go play Co Critters? (Co is her word for Calico). Back then she was really into Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. She gave a little hop with her hands on her hips, "Grrriffic!" 

January 29th

Pointing to my neck. "What's that?" Me: "My mole." E: "A hole?" Me: "No. A mole. It's like a freckle." E: "Oh." pause "Can I bite it?" 

February 10th 

Daddy was working on the house. A brad nail blew out the side of the window he was working on and he said, "Dadgumit. That stinks!" E: "Mommy? What's a gummit? It...stinks?" 

February 14th

The girls made heart shaped cookies, big ones and small ones. She woke up from her nap and I told her she could have one big cookie or two small ones. She looked them over and said with a funny grin, "I want two BIIIIGGG ones!" Boo and I laughed and she started laughing too. "I'm so funny!"  

February 15th

She was looking out the window watching Daddy plow snow with the tractor. "Daddy! He likes me all the times! Daddy upside down?" Me: "What??" Rushing over to the window. "Daddy is upside down?" Her: "Uhhhh. No. Daddy put ME upside down! Hahaha!" 

February 19th

"That for babies. I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl!" Me: "Yes you're my big big girl!" Her: "Yes! I'm your big big mama! You my big big Mama! Like Daddy!" 

February 20th

The babysitter was over. The girls were playing Calico Critters. She came back down. "There's a crazy baby. But I'm not a crazy baby! I'm a big sister!" 

:)

Turkey Bingo!

It's hard to believe the holidays are already upon us! We started off the season with Turkey Bingo! The girls did really well this year and stayed interested longer than ever before. It helped that almost right away we got paddles and Peaches won!

That caused them become extra focused! I don't think Peaches understood what was going on, but she enjoyed the attention. :)

  

The girls are getting to be pros and only Peaches needed help with her bingo card.

Lou randomly started giving big hugs to Peanut when she came over to talk to Noni. It was SO sweet!

She even gave some to Peaches, and also our friend J who came and joined us later. Haha.

 

We got more paddles and apparently Peaches won again! I had taken her to the bathroom so she didn't know she won. Bug claimed the prize for her. :) 

Boo and Daddy were the only one who got actual bingos. Boo got one and Daddy got two!

We made quite a haul! Between all of us and Noni we got three bags of potatoes, two turkeys, two hams, and two pumpkin pies!!!

What a fun night!

Walking Baby!!!

Lou takes the prize for our earliest walker! Bug and Boo both started walking right around their first birthdays, and Peanut and Peaches were late walkers...around 15 months. All of them, though, spent a few weeks standing before attempting to take a step. Not Lou! She had only stood 1-2 seconds a handful of times before, at 11.5 months, she lurched forward and tried to take off!

I love this little "game face" nod she does at the beginning of this video. 

She has spent the following two weeks going back and forth between us and working on her standing. But she still lurches forward and takes a few steps before falling on whoever is catching her. It's like she doesn't want to wait on walking, like she's pushing herself to walk even though she doesn't quite have the skills. She is determined not to be left behind just because she's the youngest. Haha.

Peaches has been a little crazier lately...she's been acting jealous of all the attention Lou has been getting. I had told T that I thought the Hurricane was being downgrading to a tropical storm, but apparently that was just a small ray of sunshine trying to break through because the Hurricane continues. :P

In this video she is trying to steal some of the attention by saying what she knows is not a very polite word. It reminds me of Ramona in Ramona the Brave when she says, "GUTS, GUTS, GUTS!" Lol!

 Maybe once the shine of a walking baby wears off the Hurricane will once again calm down! I hope. :P

Happy Birthday Baby!

I can't believe this sweet baby is ONE year old today! 

 

This has been quite a year of ups and downs. She had a rough start and has definitely given us a run for our money ;) but I thank God for this sweet girl every single day. She is amazing and is such a beautiful completion of our family! 

  

 She brings us so much joy and laughter. Our lives would be quite dull without this little wrinkle-nose, gap-tooth smiling sweetheart. :)

Our little Lou is opinionated, determined, and definitely has a mind of her own. She is going to have no trouble holding her own as the youngest of five girls. Haha. She is also sweet, silly, and loves to laugh. She has started giving the biggest neck-squeezing hugs. It's adorable and it makes the day of whoever is blessed enough to receive one. :)

She loves her sisters to pieces and is so happy when they play with her! She and Peaches play very well together, although she is understandably cautious when doing so. Haha. Peanut can make her laugh the best. The other day we were doing school while Lou was playing on the rug and Peanut said, "Her smile makes me so happy!" Lou loves to be carted Boo, and Boo is the best at keeping her distracted while I'm changing diapers. Lou and Bug have their own language of growls and grunts, and really seem to be talking to each other. :)

Daddy is her favorite toy and she lights up whenever he walks in the door and reaches for him as soon as he gets close enough. Every morning when I bring her into our room to nurse she immediately looks for Daddy. If he's there she starts "talking" and smiles so big. If he's already gone to work she pulls up his pillow and looks for him. When he is there he often puts the pillow over his head to play peek-a-boo so it's quite sad when she excitedly pulls back the pillow with great anticipation and finds nothing. She will look several times just to be sure he's really not there.

She is probably the best of our babies as far as Mommy-separation anxiety goes...she will go to almost anyone and be ok, but when she decides she does want Mommy it can be quite loud if she doesn't get her way. ;) She is pretty independent, but definitely has time every day where she wants to be carried around by Mommy and nobody else. Usually that is in the early evening...which makes it a little hard to get dinner ready, but I'm trying to enjoy these baby moments, knowing they will be over all too soon. She is still taking two naps and nursing 4 times a day. 10 months ago I didn't think we would be able to make it to 2 months of breastfeeding, but we persevered and she sweetly nurses herself to sleep almost every night.

 

Some of her favorite things right now are her bunny, baths, Duplos, books, and "playing" the piano. She loves exploring the house and keeps me on my toes as I have to keep ahead of clearing the floor from anything she might pick up and put in her mouth...mostly things Peaches leaves laying around. :P

One of her very favorite things is eating! She is a Baby Led Weaning champ and loves to eat! She doesn't love vegetables or eggs, but pretty much anything else is eaten with great gusto! A lot of times that means a sink bath after a particularly messy meal, but I think that just adds to her fun. :) Her favorite foods are fruit of any kind, breads, and cheese. If she doesn't like something she slides her hand over to the edge of her tray and casually drops it off the side. Haha.

 Dear Lou, 

Happy first birthday baby girl! You are such a huge blessing in our lives. We are so incredibly thankful that God gave you to us. Your smile lights up a room. We love your sweet giggles and your funny belly laughs. 

You are smart and funny and sweet. You are determined and when you want something you go after it and stick with it until you get it. You love to explore and discover new things. You observe with bright eyes, taking everything in. You don't say much yet with words, but you have your own  funny language of growls and noises.  

Your sweet hugs and kisses melt my heart, and so does the way your little hand grabs onto my arm as I carry you around on my hip. I love the way you lean to the side to look into my eyes and then grin from ear to ear. 

You are amazing sweet girl. I can't wait to see what God has in store for your life. I pray that you will grow up to love Him above all else and serve Him with all your mind, soul, heart, and strength. I pray you will use your life for His glory, and that you will chase after Him with as much determination as you have now. 

May the Lord bless you and keep you, sweet girl. May He make His face to shine upon. May He be gracious to you and turn His face toward you. May He give you peace. And may you always love Jesus above all else.

Love,
Mommy  

Leftover Thursday

On worship team nights I have started paying the big girls to babysit the little ones. That way I can practice in peace without having to get up every two seconds to redirect someone. It's so nice to have bigger girls that can be responsible for their little sisters! 

Sometimes they run around the sanctuary, playing with AWANA toys, and sometimes they go play with the toys in the nursery. They came and asked for my phone one night and took pictures of their block creation. :) 

I went in to get Peaches from nap time one day and found she had apparently been up and out of the pack and play before falling asleep. Haha.

Peanut wanted a picture with her snowman pancake. :)

Peanut got a free pumpkin from the community center because she had let them take a picture of her in order to advertise their Halloween event. We later saw the picture on their Facebook page. The girls said, "You're famous!" :)

I believe this is Mama and Bandit.

And Papa, Noni, and Abigail. :)

Happy Thursday! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Halloween!

I was looking for family Halloween costumes months ago when I found an idea for being Pac-Man. Since they girls love Pac-Man I thought it was perfect! They love to go to a specific pizza place just because of this video game.

 

The girls all picked their color of ghost and I figured Lou could still wear a cute costume and be our "bonus points" strawberry. :) 

We got the fabric and sticky felt paper at Hobby Lobby, but realized it was too transparent so Noni went and got us a second batch of fabric. Grandma helped me figure out how to sew it and then she took them home and did them on her sewing machine. So nice! We used the sticky felt paper for the eyes and for T and I's shirts. :)

The finished product...

We met up with four other families from church and had a big trick-or-treating group!

The girls had so much fun running around with their friends!

 

I thought Peaches might be a little upset to see our old house but I don't think she even noticed it.

I knew she wouldn't last very long carrying the umbrella and I was right. She made it two blocks before asking me to carry it for her. :P  When I had run into the Dollar Store earlier that week to grab glow sticks they had these adorable little wings, skirt, and headband! Sweet! 

 

 So she had two costumes. Peanut did the same...she wore her Glenda the Good Witch costume and quickly ditched her umbrella for freer movement.

It was super cold that night...right around freezing. I actually didn't do too bad as I had on four layers on top and two layers on bottom, plus gloves, hand warmers, and my snow boots. I made sure all the girls were layered really well too, but they were definitely chilly. 

Peaches only made it about fifteen minutes before asking me to carry her. She kept saying, "Ladybug cold. Ladybug tired." and laying her head on my shoulder. She was so cute running up to the houses.

Lou did great in the stroller for about 45 minutes and then she lost it. She cried and cried until I finally got her out and carried her. Between her and Peaches my arms were sore for the next two days!

We had made a big loop in the hour that we were out so once we got back to the cars I took the melting little ones home. They cried and fussed almost the whole way. :P

T and the big girls stayed out for another 30-45 minutes and then came to sort the loot.

 

Not too bad for a chilly chilly night!

 

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!