Poor Ry...

(Ry over the summer...amazingly enough he does not have any scratches or bumps on his face!Poor kid looks like he was in a wrestling match and lost right now!)

We survived yet another dentist appointment this morning...7:30am this morning.

Have I mentioned I'm not a morning person? Apparently the dentist did not the get memo!

It's 10:45 now,and I've already taken one child to the dentist,taken another to preschool,home schooled my two oldest,put in some laundry,and need to wash the breakfast dishes. Amazing how much you can get done when you wake up at the crack of dawn.

Have no fear though...nap time is coming!!! Oh,yep,Ry is already having a melt down. Then again,if I fell on the concrete floor,smashed my tooth and lip,then went to have it "fixed" at the dentist,then came home tried to eat and couldn't cause it hurt too bad,then while throwing a fit in the kitchen,hit my mouth again on stove...I'd be having a melt down too...

Off to pick up Elliott from school...and then...NAP TIME! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dentist...Again.

What a day! I'd appreciate your prayers!

Ry (our youngest) fell down in the basement last night.On the concrete floor.

His front tooth was pushed back,and he will be going to the dentist shortly to have it looked at and hopefully fixed.

It was a bad fall,and bled bad. I did not realize that his tooth was pushed back until I looked closer this morning.

In other dental news. Our Elliott is having surgery on the 22nd for a mass that is growing in his mouth. After the mass is removed it will be biopsied.We are praying everything comes back clear,and there is nothing to be concerned about.Elliott has already had a root canal done earlier this year,he did not even cry or flinch when that was done.He has a very high pain tolerance! And thankfully that first experience was not traumatizing so he has no fear of the dentist either.From what we understand Elliott will have to be very careful what he eats for a while after the surgery. Being a child who is already quite picky,and would rather just drink fluids all day as opposed to actually eating,I don't think a fluid only diet for a few days will bother him at all. I'm trying to look on the positive side.

Needless to say,we have gotten to know our pediatric dentist quite well. It's going to be a crazy Christmas! And to say I'm exhausted,would be the understatement of the year. Off to the dentist again...and stopping to pick up a latte for Mommy on the way!!!!

Snow daze....

This picture was taken from an upstairs window of our house...thats our back yard...

Yep,it's that season where we live.

The season of spending many-a-day's inside.

Being born in the south and loving all things "beach and palmtree's" this time of year is not exactly my favorite.

The snow is beautiful,no doubt about that! I love the reminder for me that God can turn my mess of a life,pure like snow,upon asking for it. That is beautiful!

I now have a better understanding why my Nana and Popop moved from New York with many little children (they had six total) to Orlando Area Florida.

Winter's with little ones is hard. I did manage to find everyone's snow gear from last year.And most of it still fits them. Clara's snow pant's were a size 4t,and were more like snow capri's. So we picked up some new pink snow pants last night at walmart. Considering most of her snow pants have been blue or black,she is THRILLED! This means we won't be able to pass them on to the little boys...but she will most likely be able to wear them for another three years like she wore the last ones! Of course not everyone has snow boots,their feet grow so fast! We never did find any for Jackson for last year...maybe we will be able to get some this year as he really likes to be outside.

The kiddo's "helped" daddy shovel the driveway last night. We have a really,really,long driveway. Thankfully it's paved,but if you don't get out and shovel right away,it's near impossible as the snow gets SO heavy.

I don't know the exact amount of snow we have now,but I had to go out and clean off the bushes so they don't break. I'd say there was at least four to six inches that fell last night alone,as you can't even tell we shoveled at all.

The kids loved going outside and running around and I loved the ten minutes of quiet in the house. Yep,they only lasted ten minutes. It's COLD! It took me about thirty minutes to locate all the snow gear,and get each of them into it all.

Poor Riley could hardly walk...and I could not stop laughing.I know,I'm terrible. But to see him waddle out to the drive way to his Daddy...that was priceless.

My mom and I braved the weather last night,and went grocery shopping. My Dad was kind enough to drive us. I bought enough groceries for a month. We left with four carts full. But,if you had to shop for six people,and then load it up in a parking lot COVERED in snow,you'd get enough to last a long time too!

My mom bought the kids slippers,and to see their expressions of joy last night was just so sweet! Riley said over and over "I wuvb dees swippers" and then would tap his little foot so serious. Brandon and I kept saying it over and over after he went to bed last night.

The boys helped me put away all the Y2K supplies,err, groceries. Our pantry is in our basement. Jackson would carry the bags down the stairs,put them in the back of Riley's coop car,and Ry would "ride" over to the pantry to put the bags away. Ry was taking it all SO seriously. Jackson was happy to oblige and really got into it too. Ry would load his car up saying "oh,dis is my favbrite"...or "oh dis is beary heaby".As he "drove" off would say "bye evbrybody".

I just can't get enough of them. We laughed the entire time we were putting groceries away.We are so thankful for groceries,and snow pants,and slippers.

Oh,and they slept in their slippers,I love it.

We played with play dough yesterday too. Many thanks to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jake for the huge amount of play dough they blessed us with for the kids birthday's. It's a favorite activity for the kids.It entertained them for over an hour! :)

I've gotten our Christmas decorating done.Though I did not get everything out...as I just did not feel like it this year. I did a few new different things,like hanging ornaments in the windows. Our tree is a hand-me-down tree from the family that owns the house.Was so nice of them to give it to us to use. :) I re-arranged so the tree could be in front of the window,it's not the most practical arrangement...but I just LOVE "a tree in the window" look! I'll take more pictures...when I don't have a basket of laundry on the couch...and better lighting.:)
So,thats what we did yesterday...and today will most likely be much the same.:)

One of our Favorites...

We love southern food. Perhaps it's because my family was born and bread in the south.Though all of our children have been born up north,they've been raised on good southern cookin'.
And if you ask them where they want to eat,never fails,they choose Cracker Barrel. Yep,it's their favorite place to eat. So you can imagine their excitement when their Aunt Olivia choose to eat there to celebrate her Birthday! We had so much fun eating together as a family,playing the peg board games,laughing at Liam making his faces. It was great! I remembered my camera,and snapped some pictures of our time together.
I love my family!

Birthday Party!

We had a combined birthday party for our three oldest who all have birthday's in the Fall. We waited until my brother and his wife and son (yes,I have a ever so sweet adorable nephew named Liam) would be in town to have the party.

we invited family,and the kids picked the friends they wanted to have come.A grand time was had by all. And if it wasn't,well,it was never expressed to me. ;)

This years theme was neverland. My amazing sister in law Kaity (my husbands sister) made the cake.
I could not have even come close to making such an amazing piece of art. And it tasted great too!

I tried to have all the food go along with the theme,we had:

-Peter-Panwiches(subs,and star cut pb & j's)

-Smee's fish and Chips (goldfish,doritos,cheetos,and freetos)

-Tinks Magic Wands (string cheese,pretzels dipped in white chocolate,twizzlers)

-Michaels Teddy Bears (teddy grahams)

-Pirate Canon Balls (grapes)

-Lost Boy Candies (sour patch kids)

-Walk the Plank Wafers (wafer cookies)

-Mermaid Lagoon Cookies (sugar cookies with aqua frosting and sprinkles)

We had a TON of food!

My amazing sister in law Olivia (my brothers wife) is an artist,and she whipped up a sketch of Peter-Pan to play pin the sword on Peter. Kids had fun with that. We filled a treasure box FULL of gold wrapped candy. Each kiddo got to take a brown paper bag home filled with candy.

It was so much fun to watch my kids enjoy their birthday party,and get so excited when their friends arrived. Such fun memories!

I had made costumes for Halloween this year. Jackson was Peter Pan,Clara was Wendy,Elliott was John,and Riley was Michael. They did not want to wear their costumes for the party,not really sure why. But,that had been the original plan. Just glad I got pictures of them in their costumes on Halloween! We did tell all of their little friends they could come dressed up if they wanted. And a few did!

Blogger is being difficult,so I'm just posting a whole bunch of pictures below this post!

SO THANKFUL!

This year we spent Thanks Giving with Family. One little member we had not had the privilege of meeting yet.

That would be our nephew Liam. He is so darling! I have loved having my brother and sister by love here visiting from the south. And we are all head over heels for Liam!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving! First we went to my parents house (pictured above) and ate. My "Aunt" Linda came too,she is a dear family friend,who obviously is more like an Aunt to us!

Then we went over to my husbands Grandmothers house.I did not take any pictures,my camera battery died.Apparently I took too many pictures of Liam.;)

Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Jackson turns 7!

Took pictures of Jackson on his 7th Birthday. He is pictured in front of the playhouse the kids were given for their birthday's by their Grandparents.We had fun snapping pictures,even though it was a little chilly.We love you Jackson!