Happy Birthday Miss F!

Better late than never!  Miss F turned 1 earlier this month.  With Daddy out of town on their (shared) birthday, and since she'd not yet been introduced to sweets....we skipped the cake.  Her siblings were all sure she wanted pizza for her birthday dinner though, we we went with that.

Miss F is a cheerful baby who loves to eat, loves her blankies and pacie, and all of her siblings (but most of all Mr. R).  She crawls all over the place, "walks" on her knees very well, can stand on her own (when she wants to), and can push chairs and other things around to get where she wants to go.  She's also mastered the art of pointing and grunting to get the person holding her to take her where she wants to go.  She loves to watch our chickens and cats, touching them is even better, and she's starting to enjoy going outside to play.  She also loves books.

We're having a blast with this little cutie.  She brings so much joy into our home, we all just adore her.  We're loving getting to see more of her personality and getting to know her better.

Working at SpaceX?

Well, not yet.  ;)  But when your uncle works at SpaceX....

Happy Birthday Miss J!

Miss J turned 9 last week!  It's kinda hard having a birthday right after Christmas, but she's great about it. :)

Miss J is a thoughtful, cheerful, and encouraging young lady.  She's often thinking of and putting the needs of others first, before herself.  I see this daily in her, but also as she gave her birthday requests.  I had to coax some of the requests out of her as I saw that she was trying to make choices that were easier rather than what she really wanted....Eggo waffles and sausage for breakfast really was easy.  I was happy to drop Chick-fil-a off for her and the 2 other siblings that were at our co-op that day (while I ran errands with the rest of the kids).  Dinner was a joint effort between me and Miss E (Mr. M helped a bit too) to make a German food feast.  Miss J had requested a vanilla (yellow) cake with blue fondant; Miss C and Miss A helped put red and blue M&M's on to decorate a bit more.

We are so very blessed to have this spunky red head in our lives.  We look forward to watching her continue to learn and grow, and pray that (above all) she continues to grow in her love for God.

9 months!

Miss F is 9 months old!  Yikes!  Time is just flying by with her and she's doing her best to keep moving.  She's got crawling down, and she's FAST.  Now she's working on pulling up/standing.  I've seen her pull up on furniture on her own a couple of times.  She randomly lets go when we're helping her stand.  She seems sure she's got this too....I have no doubt she'll be a pro soon, in the mean time we're keeping a close eye/hand on her.

Her smile and laugh are infectious.  The sight of one of her people is all it takes to bring a big smile to her face, which then also ends up on everyone around her as well.  Mr. R is her favorite big brother, he gets the biggest grins.  He MUST greet her every morning; if he passes by without a hug and a cuddle she will cry (this routine is repeated throughout the day).

She loves bright colors best.  She discovered Mr. K's Captain America bear and was sure it must be hers (her bear is brown, that is boring).  As evidence that she's got us all wrapped around her little finger...Mr. K didn't mind sharing one bit.

She recently went on her first road trip, she wasn't a fan.  This confirmed what we already knew; she's a homebody.  She loves being at home among her people.  She loves her bed.  She's a content little girl, but she's most content when she gets to play and explore in her own space.

While she usually does well in the car, such a long drive was asking a bit much.  She was so happy to get out and crawl around in the hotel room.

Happy Birthday Miss C!

Miss C turned 7 this week!  She's getting to be so grown up in so many ways, and yet she's still our sweet little girl.  She's got such a sweet, nurturing, caring heart.  Her smile and the twinkle in her eye shows that she loves life, and brings joy to all.

She was very excited about several lego sets that she received.

 Miss C requested a rainbow cake.  Miss E baked the cake.  We didn't get pictures, but the cake was stacked in rainbow colors.  I decorated the outside.  It was a fun team effort.  Miss C and I enjoyed talking about the rainbow and how it's a beautiful sign God gave as a reminder to Noah that He would never again flood the entire earth.  We are so blessed that God allows us to see many rainbows here where we live.

Miss C requested that we invite a special family over for pizza and cake.

8 Months!

My how time flies!  How can it be that she's already been with us (outside me) for 8 months?  This little girl certainly fits in here and does great rolling with everything we've got going on here.  The red head in her is starting to come out more too.  Oh my!

Miss F LOVES her people.  She likes people in general, but don't try to take her from her people.  She'll cry. :)  Even among us she has her favorites.  Mr. R had better not walk by without saying "hi" and coming over for a hug would be best.  Miss J is a favorite play mate.  Oh, and she sure loves her daddy!

She's been crawling for a few weeks now.  About a month ago I could tell she was working on it, but after watching some little friends at church race (crawling) by her she really got to work on it.  She studied those two carefully as they raced by her over and over again.  She'd lunge after them and sadly realize she couldn't follow.  Within a week she was making great progress and was quite proud of herself.  Most of my little ones have had a sort of mental block that kept them from moving from room to room the first month or two of crawling.  Not her!  She goes to where the action is; very much like Miss A did.  It's so cute to see her notice that someone is in the kitchen and head on in there.  Or that all of the other "littles" are having fun in the nursery so she makes her way on in there to join the fun.

She's loving eating real foods.  Miss F does NOT like to be fed from a spoon.  She likes to feed herself, but not finger foods.

I love watching her learn as she plays.  She loves pulling things out of baskets and putting them back again.  The other night she had fun opening a cupboard door and exploring what she found inside.  She's kinda over baby toys and likes it when we let her play with "big kid" toys like blocks, duplos, and play kitchen items.  We're more than happy to help her learn and play with the others.

This little girl brings so much joy to our family.  We are all so very thankful for her.  I love seeing how all of her siblings love and dote on her in their own ways.  I love seeing how she knows she belongs in this clan and wants to participate in all that we are doing whether it's sharing a meal, reading together, singing, working, or playing.  If we're outside she's more than happy to be out playing/walking/exploring with us.  She's up for being "on the go" as well, but she's a home body and I can tell she's happier when we get home after being out.

Happy Birthday Miss A

Oh this girl!  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  If you ever think of feeling sorry for kids in a large family, think again.  I just LOVED watching my big kids plan and shop for her.  They love her (they all love each other) SO MUCH!  I barely needed to do anything for her (I did anyways) they were all so excited.  They had a big pile of gifts for her (all purchased with their own money).

Miss E and Mr M decided she needed a pinata.  They found all of the materials they needed and made it up with just a bit of advice from mom and dad.  Then Miss E purchased all of the filler as well as some decorations.

Mr. R wanted to make sure Miss F got in on the action as well.

She wanted a pink cake with chocolate inside.  We did 4 layers of cake (pink AND chocolate) and it was a VERY pink cake.  It had pink sugar sprinkled all over it.  Miss E baked the cake and I frosted/decorated it to Miss A's specifications. :)

Mr. M offered to finish off what was left of the cake

I loved seeing how her big brothers and sisters cared for her and gave of themselves to make her happy.  What a wonderful opportunity that was for them.  I loved how she enjoyed sharing all of the special gifts and treats with her siblings.

The accidental haircut...

Due to a miscommunication during haircut time....Miss A now has a bob.  Of course she's still cute as can be, but I was not at all ready for all that sweet baby hair to be gone.  Oh well, I'm glad it wasn't more drastic and was done quite well.

For this boy I prayed....

Happy Birthday Miss E and Mr. K!  She's 16, he's 5.  Oh, how blessed we are to have them in our family.  They truly are gifts from God.  Every child is, but I love the special bond between these two.  He is a living, breathing, sweet (but sometimes annoying) reminder of God's faithfulness to Miss E, and the rest of our family.

"For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him" 

1 Samuel 1:27 NAS

At 10 years old Miss E began praying for Mr. K by name....before I was even pregnant with him.  When she found out the due date she prayed faithfully that he would be born on her birthday.  As the date grew close she made her birthday plans around being at the hospital for the delivery.  She had been praying for this and she was absolutely certain that God would give her the birthday gift she had asked for...Mr. K ON her birthday.  I just love how Mr. K's face lights up when we talk about this.  He KNOWS he is wanted, loved, asked for, and was an answer to prayers.

5 months!

I can't believe she's already 5 months old.  She's still growing like a weed at 14 pounds 10 ounces.

She's still one very happy camper.

Her toes are some of her favorite toys.

She is very interested in what all of her big brothers and sisters are doing.  She wants to do what they are doing.

4 months!

Miss F is 4 months old!  She's still growing well (13 pounds 7 ounces).  It is so much fun to watch her learning and changing.  She is grabbing at things more and can roll over.  She loves being part of the action and always wants to see what is going on.  She is one of the happiest babies we've ever had.

This girl is so very loved.

It is exhausting having a house full of kiddos, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  I'm so thankful for #9;and the other 8 before her. :)   Oh, and I'm thankful for coffee too. ;)

Donating hair

Miss C has never had a real hair cut.  I trimmed a few hairs when she was two and asked me to when I was cutting her brothers' hair.  That's it though.  A while ago she said she wanted her hair cut.  She wanted to donate it; like she knew her older sisters had.  We finally got around to it.

Miss E decided to have her's done too.

Horse camp!

Miss J spent her mornings this past week at horse camp!  Specifically....Christian Cowgirl Camp.  She had such a great time.  Not only did she learn to ride and care for horses, but she learned verses and did some crafts too.  On Friday evening the girls put on a show for their families so that we could see what they had learned.  We all had a great time seeing what she had learned and sharing dinner with the other families.

We're so thankful for the young ladies and their families that made this camp happen.  What a blessing it is to be a part of such a wonderful sweet community.

3 months!

Well, Miss F has slowed down just a bit in the weight gain department, but not much.  At 3 months she's weighing in at 12 pounds 9 ounces.  That's a pound this past month.  She's moving much more, so burning more calories. :)

Miss F gives us so many sweet smiles and likes to talk to us.

She's still loved and adored by all.

I put her down on her play mat (like I do every morning) a couple of weeks ago.  Her siblings cheered her on as she repeatedly scooted off of it.  She was quite proud of herself!

Her shirt says "Happy Every Day" and that's about right for her.  She is a sweet and cheerful little girl.  Her sleep habits likely contribute to that.  A "poor" night of sleep for her is sleeping 7 hours before waking to eat and go back to sleep for 2-3 more hours.  Her good nights that are becoming her norm are 10-11 hours.  

It's not shrubbery!

If you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail then you know about needing to go get a shrubbery.  If you've never seen it you can just skip this post or go watch the movie and come back to this.  Oh, I guess you could just laugh along anyways. :)

We recently let the older kids watch the movie.  Shortly after watching Mr. M was chasing and tickling the little kids.  They were having so much fun together.  At some point he told them he would stop chasing them if they would bring him a shrubbery.  "What's a shrubbery?"  He told them it was the big green exercise ball downstairs.  They got him his shrubbery and the game was over.  End of story; or so it would seem....

Miss A discovered my purple exercise ball which looked remarkably like what she thought was a shrubbery.  She brought it to me and said "it's shrubbery!"  Quite proudly.  Miss E and I laughed so hard and then corrected her. "No, it's not shrubbery.  Shrubbery is green"  For the last 4 days or so we've had the same conversation over and over again.  She brings me the purple ball and says "It's not shrubbery.  Shrubbery is green.  This not shrubbery."  All said in the sweetest, most serious 2 1/2 year old voice you can imagine.

Oh my goodness!  This girl keeps us laughing!

*This is posted so that years from now I can look back and remember and get another good laugh from this. 

Oh this girl!

Miss A keeps us on our toes!  Someone recently commented that we seem to have become a full on coffee drinking family (I'm not talking those fluffy mocha/latte type drinks...full on COFFEE).  I replied that as long as Miss A is in our home, I'll likely be a coffee drinker.  I need the extra boost!

She recently went on a milk drinking binge.  It was nice that she was able to get the milk out of the refrigerator and bring it and the sippy cup to us for re-fills.  Then she decided to bypass the sippy.  I'm glad the jug was mostly empty at that point.

We've had some very busy days and she's been holding up very well.  One day she was her usual playful self, then I watched her grab her pacie and crawl onto the couch.  She was OUT in a matter of seconds and stayed asleep for a couple of hours....even with our family going about business as usual all around her.  She plays hard and sleeps hard.  WHEN she sleeps.

She LOVES Miss F.  She is very gentle with her, but still Miss F is not quite sure what to think.

Miss A is always busy.  Somedays more than others.  She recently had a particularly eventful morning.  She'd helped herself to 2 bananas.  Asked a brother to make her a bowl of oatmeal (which he did, and she gobbled it up).  Then we made her an egg.  All of this in less than an hour; then she says "I huh-he mama"  What does she do with all of that food?  Well it seems that she needed the energy after having taken the sheets AND the mattress off of her bed....TWICE!  That's along with the normal playful two-year-old-activities she'd been up to that morning...you know like changing her outfit 3 times.  All before 8 am.

She finally decided on her swim dress.  "It petty"

This girl keeps us laughing all the time.  Her joyful, creative, independent spirit may keep us on our toes, but we wouldn't have it any other way.