Happy Easter

Look at all our baskets! I can't believe I found a matching one for Channing, but I did! So now they all match (this is very important to me :) We started our day off at church. Celebrating Jesus' resurrection!

When we got home, I wanted a group shot. And alas, it was too sunny so everyone needed sunglasses!

They got their baskets and Finley got a plate and some Teddy bears. We let her have some on her plate and when we weren't looking, she decided to help herself to the rest of the bag!! Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent!

Then we had an egg hunt. As soon as they got ready to go outside, Carly started complaining that her stomach hurt. We gave her a pepto and told her to go to the bathroom. Well, things went downhill fast!! She started screaming in this ear piercing screech!!! We were so scared because she has never screamed like this before and she couldn't stand, walk, sit, nothing!! I called the pediatricians office a couple of times and the last time, she said, "you need to take her to the ER now!" I am not a person to take their kids to the dr. I hate going! And when she said this, I got nervous. I thought the kids appendix was going to rupture! So off we went to the ER downtown. On the way she started sounding better and I hesitated to keep going, but then she started moaning again, so I just bit the bullet and went in.

They gave her a gown - which I had to take a picture to send to Harper and Chloe. And by the looks of her face doesn't it look so bad?! They made her go to the bathroom in a cup and I made her sit there and try to do a #2. She was successful and then the pain just went away! The dr. said he would test the urine, but didn't think it was her appendix. I told him I was diagnosing her as cured! So after a couple hours in the ER, we were released and all was well with her! I told Matt that was one expensive shewie, but with the way she was acting and screaming, we thought she was going to explode! So it was all worth it.

And since it was Easter, she had some coloring pages and left with a goodie bag!

When we left the hospital, we met up with the rest of the crew to go see our house. It was so exciting to see the paint!! It looks awesome and I am rather excited!

Channing admiring the dust!

Chloe showing how tall the island is. The hardwoods and tile was all done, so it is getting closer and closer!

And look at the room on the driveway - they can all ride bikes and won't be on top of each other!

Packing

Packing is quite interesting with this many kids always "helping." Here is Finley - she had to be in a box. She actually was helping - she would bring stuff I put into a pile to Matt so he could pack it. After this picture, she fell over backwards and all you saw were her feet and she just said, "whoa!"

Carly had to get in on the action. She was wrapping glass bowls in newspaper and packing them. She did a magnificent job. (never mind the backwards g on the box :)

Our new way of packing is Matt making me 3 boxes at night, and then I fill them. That should get it all packed within the next few weeks!! We are so excited to move, there will probably be lots more posts to come!

1st Trip to the Mall!

Last Wednesday, April 20th, Channing had a very special day - her very 1st trip to the mall!!! This is a very important event that has to be documented! I almost forgot to take a picture so Carly took this one in the parking lot as we were about to leave! That was a close one!

Finley had to wear her "eyes" as she was ready to hit the stores! How does one go shopping with 5 kids, 5 and under all by herself and still be able to make lots of purchases? Well, first of all - prior to departing the vehicle all rules are laid out and expectations are in place. They know what the schedule of events will be! Second, fast, almost a running pace. Their little legs move so fast - they have to keep up with their Mama. Third, a double stroller. The 2 little ones are buckled up and the 3 big ones have to hold onto the stroller so I have all hands on deck! And fourth, bagged lunches. I make each one a lunch and as we walk they eat. With an infant who eats every 3 hrs., I definitely don't have time to stop and feed everyone, so they eat and shop. All of these together make one wonderful shopping experience for all. And we even topped it off with a carousel ride for Carly and Chloe. (They won't let Harper ride by himself because he is too short - and he doesn't even get upset, so this time I saw a Clifford ride that took quarters and I let him ride that - he thought it was rather special!)

We actually were going to do a group shot with the Easter bunny, but he was not there!! He only is there in the evenings during the week! I was upset that Channing didn't get her picture taken with the big bunny her first year, but she did get a super cute bunny hat made by my Aunt Angela so I think that is a much better bunny picture anyway :) And with gas prices at $3.75 a gallon, I wasn't about to take a trip to the mall just for a bunny picture - sorry Channing!

Jesus

I got a Jesus doll (kind of like a Ken doll) from the preschool director at church to give to Harper for Easter. Harper opens this doll up and it speaks - he looks up and says excitedly, "Jesus is talking to me!" It was so funny. Matt and I just started laughing. I really like this doll.l I love hearing the kids play with Jesus. They had him dying on the cross, in a tomb, and "flying" to heaven. Now he will have something to play with while the girls are playing Barbies - great gift idea for any boy with sisters :)

Blog Glitch

Ok - sorry for no posts recently!! I could not get my posts to post :( But luckily I am married to a fiercely intelligent man and he figured out the problem and I will get to blogging again within the next couple of days.

The House With Stairs

After our contract fell through in January, we had to make a HUGE decision. We couldn't place a contigency on our new house, so we had to either walk away, or build the house in hopes that we sell ours by May. This was such a big decision! We prayed and waited for answers and we both felt that taking the step out in faith was what we needed to do. We bere both confident that God had His hands on this whole situation and we had to show our faith! There was a lot of money on the line, but we knew we were in His hands. At the end of March, we got a contract on our house!! That week we actually had 2 offers and 1 other person say that if we didn't sell, they would give us an offer. What a relief!! We didn't try to get excited about the house the whole time, because we didn't know if it was really going to happen. The week before the offer we went to check on the lot - and the above picture is what we saw!! Holy Moly our house has walls!!! Wow! So now we are set to close on May 12th (lots of prayers here for everything to go smoothly) and our new house is done being built on May 18th! Praise the Lord - Perfect timing! So needless to say,, we are more than excited to begin this new adventure! The kids are so excited too. They have been praying for our house with stairs for 2 years! We have been to the house just about every week since the offer and the kids absolutely love going to see it! We all get so excited to see the progress. Here are some pictures of our trips:

The front door! Welcome to our home!

The tractor thingy that is digging our septic lines!

The girls on the front porch!

Can you sense their excitement?!

3 car garage and the siding was put on (not the right color though - getting painted)

Cabinets were in this week!! I can't wait to get my new pantry!!! Yahoo - space!!!! This week are the hardwoods - I just want to jump up and down!!

1st Smile

This girl is just super sweet! Channing did her first smile at around 4 weeks and of course, it just melts your heart!! This picture I took the day she did her first smile so this is one of the firsts! I just absolutely love all the firsts and I love being a Mommy! Look at that face!!!! Don't you just want to squeeze her?! Last night she slept through the night (5 weeks and 3 days)!! Have I mentioned how great she is?! I think this post is just going to be repetitive if I keep going - I love you Channing Hope!!