3 Months

I feel like I just posted about Channing's birth and here I am posting a picture of her at 3 months! Why does time go so fast. I always thought old people were weird when they said that everything happens quickly, but now I see why they say that. IT DOES!! If I could buy time, I would (of course with a coupon :) But I do have to face the cold hard facts and admit that this sweet angel is 3 months old. In this picture is when she did her 1st roll! She is actually in her soon to be buddy's nursery (little baby Devine will be here in November) and Deanna was taking a few pics of her for me and she just rolled right over. (From belly to back) It was pretty cute and Deanna got it all documented! What can she do? Well, she has an adorable smile that just makes it really hard not to take your eyes off of her. She can laugh, she actually was in Sunday School with us when she was getting cranky, I took her out of the room and she laughed for the first time - I think she was trying to get me out of class! It is a good hardy giggle that makes me beam from ear to ear. She also has found her fingers! All my babies take a passi until they find their thumb, and then they are hooked. This girl is our first finger sucker. I try to force the thumb, but she keeps getting those fingers!! Lately though, the thumb has been finding its way into the mouth, so maybe she will convert! She also can sit up in the activity saucer and she really enjoys watching the girls dance on the stage. She shares a room with Harper at the moment and those two are pretty funny together. They will just lay in their beds smiling at each other and he can get her laughing pretty good in there. She really looks like she favors Harper now, but there really is no mistaking these kids of ours, they all look pretty much alike! Other than that, she just hangs out and blows bubbles. Oh, she did have an ear infection last week :( so hopefully this doesn't become a trend in that right ear of hers! Well, I am sure the posts on Miss Channing will start picking up now that everyday she will be overcoming new life events!

So......I'm 30!

I cannot believe that this day has finally come! 30 YEARS OLD!!! I am sorry, but that is rather old - I mean, I am half way to 60 and 1/3 of the way to 90!! I stocked up on some anti-aging cream at CVS in hopes to try to reverse this process! I must say that the past 30 years have been wonderful with so many wonderful people in my life to share them with. It is crazy to me that I have been married to Matt for 1/3 of my life - I must really like that hunk! I do at least feel somewhat accomplished: I graduated from preschool, Kindergarten, high school and college! I have 5 spectacular children. I live for the most amazing man in the world - My Heavenly Father. So the last 30 years have been great and I look forward to the next 30 years. But I must admit it does sting a little bit! So to take my mind off of things, I decided to potty train Finley. She has done pretty well today so I can't complain (except for the fact that she only took an hour nap and I will get punished later for that!) Cheers to 30 years!

For the Love of Sleep

I feel like such a bum! Lately this family of mine has been sleeping so much! I don't know if we all just feel settled finally and this place feels perfect, but whatever it is, it is kind of strange. (Now of course everyone will stop sleeping after I have typed this) No matter what time Matt leaves in the morning, I am so out of it and don't remember him leaving. I am pretty sure I know why I am sleeping so much. It has been almost a year since I have slept through the night and slept great. Being pregnant and then having a tube in your back and sleeping in a recliner, doesn't leave you well rested. Then add in an infant, a move, and lots of up in the air house situations this leaves you not rested either. Now mix in lots of moving and decorating, a king size, brand new mattress, with super comfy sheets, then you get one lady who hits the pillow hard! I must say that having the kids sleeping in so long has been fabulous for me to catch up on my sleep. So if I am looking a little more rested, you will know why :)

Cow

So now that we live in the "country" somewhat, we see a lot of cows and horses. The other day we were driving past a cow pasture and there were 2 black and white cows. The girls were all breaking their necks tying to see the cows. I told them that those are called dairy cows. We get our milk from those (most cows here are the black angus ones - I think). Chloe then chimes up, "well, do we get water from the other ones?" I love it!

And to finish off a hectic week and a half......Choir Concert!

And the last event to conclude the crazy 10 days was the girl's choir concert. They absolutely love choir and performing on stage. Which is kind of strange to me, because they are so shy, but getting up there and performing makes them so happy! They really enjoyed themselves and the program was so cute. They love Mrs. Kim so much!

And if moving just isn't enough...... Dance Recital Time!!

I love dance recitals! I love getting my girls all dolled up and the excitement the stage brings. Even though we were so busy and exhausted, we still had a fabulous time watching these 2 for their 4th dance recital! They said they really knew their tap dance the best, but I thought they did great on both!

They all did very good - big improvement over last year. They were cute all running out onto the stage.

And you know little Miss Priss wouldn't go to the recital without being like all the other girls! A tutu must be worn when going to a recital!! So Finley was apart of the big production. She sat in her seat the entire time shaking her shoulders and dancing to the music. And this is their new friend this year, Ellie.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of little Miss Sassafras!!

They got to change part of their costume this year. The shorts were for tap and the tutu was for ballet. I really liked the red on them. They looked so big!! Great job girls. Another great year of dancing completed!!!

Unpacking

The kids helped unpacking. I gave them all the boxes with food in them. All the food ended up on the 2nd shelf! They were so fast and did a good job. They got it all unpacked at least and then I just had to go back through and reorganize.

This entire kitchen was unpacked in less than 1 hour. They are such hard workers! They each were given a box and I told them which cabinet to put them in and they were quick to unload. I am glad they got to help. It made it more fun that way!

Getting the KEYS!!

The day finally came that we had been waiting so long for! On Wednesday, May 18th, we closed on our new house!! It is a little hard to do stuff with so many small kids, so that morning, Harper, Finley, Channing and myself went to the new house to sign off on some paper work and do a final walk through. Matt, Carly, and Chloe stayed at Hawthorne and cleaned the house. We met at the True Homes office and we signed all the paper work. Harper and Finley were taking naps at Mom and Dad's house and Channing, Carly and Chloe came with us to get our keys. It was so excited and wasn't as scary knowing we had renters moving in the old house within 10 days!

The girls were entertained the entire time with games on all Matt's electronic devices. After the papers were signed, we got Harper and Finley and had a family dinner at Firehouse. Then I took all the girls to church and Matt and Harper went to our new house!! They met Kris (my brother) there and the unpacking started!! By the time we got home, those 2 (well 3 including Harper) had the first POD almost emptied out! Our new mattress was also delivered so we all had a mattress to sleep on! Kris spent the night and the next day they got the entire 2nd POD emptied out as well - they had help from Vinnie (a friend from church) too. I would love to post a picture of all of us in front of our house the first day - but that didn't happen! Way to much to juggle but we did get in the house!

Saying Goodbye - Tuesday, May 17th

So Tuesday consisted of finishing packing the second POD and getting everything ready to MOVE!! The girls had to go over and say goodbye to their friend Kendall. She lives next door and the girls played with her so much. We loved having her around and the girls loved having a friend to play with. We are truly going to miss this sweet girl. She helps me out all the time - when Harper was a baby and with Finley now! It will be sad not having her around anymore!

Monday, May 16th

And this is their real birthday! What an amazing day it was 6 years ago when Matt and I got the awesome responsibility to be these 2 precious girls' parents. We are so blessed with these two girls. They are so special and we can't love them enough! Matt was actually out of town (yes he was gone a night during this crazy week) so we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a homecooked meal and yet another cake (I had one in the freezer :) So it was nice to celebrate the whole week because lets face, we have so much to celebrate! It definitely kept us positive and smiling the entire week!

Saturday, May 14th

We had a family birthday party for the girls. Both sets of grandparents and Nichole, Reilly, and Reagan all came over to celebrate their birth!

There wasn't much to their party, since we weren't even supposed to be here, but they loved it none the less!

Tuesday - May 10th and a few more days

This day was the day that my kidney infection hit full force and I was miserable! I took the girls to dance class - looking just as bad as I felt, but they had to go because the recital was coming up. Then I went to my parents house that evening and that is when we got the call that the buyers back out of our contract! So I was a little emotional to say the least! It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't feel so bad on top of everything falling apart! So Matt and I talked everything over and he was so positive and comforting and we knew God was in control, we just needed to figure out what to do!! That Wednesday I went to church and Kim Hucks said she would let Tim Carpenter (our new associate pastor) know because they need somewhere to rent. And low and behold, the next morning, Tim called very interested in renting out house for 4-6 months (the length of time we were told it would take to get our title/deed straightened out). Praise God!!! We were 1 week away from closing on a new home and prayers were answered! So our packing continued once again (it is kind of hard to move when you never know whether you are coming or going). We were supposed to close on Thursday the 12th and be homeless for one week. So we were packing to leave on the 12th and then we had to stop because we weren't leaving now until the 18th!! So for the rest of that weekend we packed and tried to get everything straightened out - calling all the utilities several times stopping, transferring, canceling and restarting service. The above picture is how we ate dinner for 2 1/2 weeks! We sold a lot of stuff in our yard sale and I just thought it was funny seeing Matt at the little table!

Monday, May 9th - Birthday Party

Can you believe these 2 angels are going to be 6?! They are growing up to be such wonderful girls! I decided that since we would be homeless on their real birthday, we would do a party the week before in our "old" house! I needed it to be simple and fun, since they were so excited to have a special party for themselves. I had it on a Monday night and it was pajama party theme. All their friends came and it was our first big kid party. Every Mom dropped their kids off and it was just me and Matt and a house full of kids!!! It was a sad realization that they were getting bigger and Mommies no longer had to stick around! We also realized that a real sleepover is a VERY long way away!!! We were exhausted after a 2 hour party, I don't think I can handle all nighters yet!

The house was practically empty so they had lots of room to run around and get wild! Do you notice who is in the middle of it all?! Yup, wild woman Fifi loved it! They played hide and go seek and ran around trying to not let the balloons touch the ground.

Pizza was done on the floor - we have no table!!! Clean up was a piece of cake and it was fun!

Here is the group we had! Such wonderful kids - each one of them just makes me so happy to be their friends.

Musical Chairs pillow style - tons of fun

They each got their own birthday cake. I feel that sometimes they are grouped together so much that they need a little individualism. But when I asked them if they wanted us to sing to each one of them separately, they said no!!! They wanted to be sung to together. They enjoy being a twin! After cake, we opened presents (which was awesome because for the duration of the time in this house, they had lots of new things to keep them occupied.

Back up 2 days

Ok - I have a lot of catching up to do!! Let me back up at start off this crazy week and a half over!! It all starts on Mother's Day - May 8th. I had a special day. A special day of packing that is! The kids were all so excited to give me their cards they made and their gifts. They each got me a gift card somewhere so we can go on a date together. Carly got me a gift card to Panera (we both love to eat there). Chloe's was to Chic-fila (she loves cows, so that is where our date will be). Harper (the romantic) got me one to McDonalds :) Finley's was to Baskin Robins for some "cream" and Channings was to CVS - since we have been through the ringer with prescriptions, she thought our date would most likely end up here (and 2 days later I used it :) The rest of the day consisted of packing, packing, and more packing. I didn't mind, because it just a few days we were going to sell our house and our exciting adventure would begin (so I thought). And here is a picture that evening of our 1st POD loaded up and ready to go! The kids were so funny helping us load this. We had boxes everywhere and they were like little ants getting those boxes moved outside. We packed everything that was out in about 1 hour! We decided we were going to start contracting our children out - 5 kids and a POD!!