Quotables

Just a few quotes from this week.

We were sitting in church for the dedication service for my two nephews. My sister's SIL was sitting right in back of us on the aisle. Amanda was standing by her and reached in her diaper bag/purse and pulled out a tampon. She held it up and said in a non-whisper voice, "Is this Gabby's snack?", "Is this Gabby's snack?" Annie and I exchanged mortified looks.

Later back at my sister Amy's house for the reception, Amanda cornered Tannie, who is my sister Bethany's MIL. She went up to her and asked

"Is Allie your Nana?"

Tannie, understanding what she meant said, "Yes I am."

And Amanda said, "Do you have any candy in your purse?"

On the ride home, Aiden started to cry. She said, "Baby Brother, I don't like that! I can't hear in my ear."

I bought the girls a new package of barrettes. Avery was excitedly making big plans for which ones would go with which outfit. Then Amanda took a turn holding the package. She was saying, "These are for Amanda, these are for Avery and these are for Daddy."

Avery butted in and said, "Amanda! Boys like blue, but they don't wear barrettes."

They went back and forth several times like this, and finally, a little frustrated in a banging-your-head-against-the-wall sort of way, Avery walked away.

Amanda shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess Avery doesn't want to share with Daddy."

Shaun and I were talking about how well-behaved Amanda was in a recent situation and how big she is getting.

"I'm getting big and strong so I can be a princess!"

I said, "you are already a princess."

"No I'm not. I don't have my tirlin' dress on so I can dance."

(gets up to do a spin)

"Daddy, you can be the prince."

Here are the girls playing wedding and Avery's creative invention for the train.

Another Season Closes

Our 12th season of softball has come to a close. The season begins May 1 and seems to end a little later each year...August 30 was our last game. After tying for first place in our division for the regular season, we were knocked out of playoffs in the second round.

Since its such a long season, we make it a family affair. We have friends and family who are usually there and the girls love to dig in the dirt and run around. There is also usually a special snack involved...fruit snacks on game nights...yay! (I should actually give them fruit snacks more often...I found taking them away works very effectively as a punishment!).

Our commitment runs deep...Aiden was 36 hours old when he attended his first game. I was happy to give up the score-keeping job to my SIL Laryssa. Although I was usually happy to do it, I've enjoyed not doing it. Now I can be free to do potty trips behind a tree or car with the girls and feed the baby if necessary. I can also get involved in a conversation and loose track of a whole inning. ;)

To celebrate the season, we had a picnic hosted by our friends Connie and Eric. It was a beautiful (perfect, really) day and we had a good time hanging out with friends.

At the annual awards banquet last weekend Shaun was voted Coach of the Year for our division! No one can know the heart that he puts into the team each season. He deeply cares about his players and wants to help build character in them and show Christ. He keeps tedious stats on each player and knows the league rule book inside and out.

He is also highly competitive and wants to win and guys like playing for a winning team. I love to watch him in his element, passionate and wanting to have excellence in everything he does.

Its kind of a sick little pleasure, but I enjoy watching him in an argument. (I feel its important to mention here that these are more debates than arguments...he doesn't have a temper of even a mild degree). After being with him for 19 years, I know he is rarely wrong and its just fun to watch other people begrudgingly make the same discovery. He's very humble about this and only pulls it out when necessary, but in a head-to-head, my money's always on Shaun.

And, well...he just looks good in his uniform! :)

Time with Tim

Just one more post to round out my summary of our visit with out-of-town family. With parents, siblings, spouses and children we were a group of 26, 14 of those being children 10 and under. Needless to say, it was a little intimidating to think of going anywhere with that size group. The logistics of vehicles, food, naps, etc was just a bit overwhelming and most of the activities we thought to do will no doubt be fun in five years, but not this year.

So we more or less stuck close to someone's house to allow easy access to bathrooms and cribs. :) Here's some pictures, in no particular chronological order.

We spent the afternoon at my mom's lake house. It was on the chilly side, so Amanda was the only one who braved the water. Avery gets runner-up for putting her suit on, but she couldn't quite get up enough nerve to go swimming. (cousin Johnny having a deep conversation with the girls).

Uncle Lee is known as the "peanup" uncle. He brings a bag of peanuts and he and the kids have a little ritual they do while shelling and eating them.

Amanda swam and swam and swam and jumped off the diving board by herself dozens of times. Shaun has slowly been taking out sections of her life jacket....so far, so good.

Making tye-dye shirts...

Giggling girls...

My brother Tim and SIL Elizabeth

Nathanael and Aiden having male-bonding time...

One of our only "adventures", and by adventure I mean outing because, let's face it, EVERYDAY was an adventure with this crew. We caravaned to Harkness Park where there was an enormous grassy picnic area and also a beach.

It is mind-boggling to me that me and my three siblings have produced this group of incredible children.

We have: Colombo, Juliet, Madison, Nathanael, Allison, Avery, Trevor, Alaina, Amanda, Katie, Trey, Levi, Rocco, Aiden, ages 10, 8, 8, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0.

On the last night, we celebrated the September birthdays. Tim and his daughter Lainie, Bethany and her daughter Allison.

In addition to the '09 Boys Club we also have an '06 Club. The three kids are five months apart.

As you can probably tell, we had an incredible week together. It can be scary having a whole family together...and we've had our share of problems, but this week was wonderful, nearly seamless....and God gets ALL the glory for that!

Don't you see that children are God's best gift?

the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?

Like a warrior's fistful of arrows

are the children of a vigorous youth.

Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children!

Psalm 127:3-5

Aiden is Two Months

My friend Meg took some pregnancy pictures for our family to have a keepsake of that time in our lives. This weekend we were finally able to connect for me to get the pictures. As I was looking through them it just seemed so long ago that we were a neat little four-pack family. Its special to have my pregnancy documented, to remember how much we all waited with excited anticipation for Baby Brother to come.

Now the little guy is two months old already. We spent the day at a picnic with our softball team so he got passed around some but I also got some time with him. He is a good snuggler...he lays his head against my shoulder and lies very still...almost like he's 'playing dead' so I will not move him. I hold him as much as I can, probably more than I should, but its sweet, sweet times.

He went for his two-month check-up and weighs 13.3 lbs, which is 85th percentile...70th for height. The doctor was asking me about his development and I was telling her that he really doesn't smile hardly at all. Well, of course you know what happened...I laid him on the exam table and he started grinning and cooing at her. What is THAT about, I ask you?

Aiden's sleeping is not on any particular schedule yet, but he does stretches ranging from 3 to 7 hours, usually right in the middle at 5 hours. He gets up to eat only. I guess Shaun has the rougher end of it. Sometimes he ends up pacing with Aiden after I've fed him and gone to bed...never wakes me up though, I just get the report in the morning. Thanks, Buddy!

And today he's nine weeks. There's a smile! Everyone says how grown-up he looks in this shirt.

Not too fast, Little Boy, not too fast.

Project 365, Week 37

We continued to have a great week with my brother and his family, who were visiting from Colorado. Over Labor Day, my Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Lee and two cousins also came from New York and Philly. Tons of good family time and lots of memories made.


September 6
My two cousins, Johnny (or John as he is now called in his adult world) and Melody. Melody and I went running in the morning and although I couldn't keep up with her for the 4.5 miles, we did have a nice time being together. We spent a windy afternoon at my mom's lake house.



September 7
We had a photographer come to my sister's house to get an updated family portrait. With 14 kids and 4 being babies it was hard work but hopefully we got a couple. I asked if she'd take a couple of just our family, since I am always the one holding the camera. She sent me a sneak peak...I'm thrilled with it!


The rest of our Labor Day was spent at the beach. Cousin Lainie and Amanda found plenty to do even though there was a "no swimming" sign posted. Amanda fell in several times "by accident".

September 8

We spent the afternoon at my sister Bethany's house where the bucket of dress-up clothes was dumped out and ready for the taking.

September 9

09-09-09...what a cool birthday! Meet Alayna Lynne, my newest niece, weighing in at 9 lbs, 8 ozs! She was born to Shaun's brother Micah, and his fiance Sienna. This is cousin #2 for the kids on Shaun's side and she and Aiden are just 8 weeks apart (they were actually born in the same hospital, same room). We love her already!

September 10

Are you ready for some football?? Shaun and I were excited about opening day for the NFL.

September 11

My actual picture from today was of Aiden at the doctor and got deleted, but this is what was on my mind all day. We will remember...

September 12

Grandma came and got Avery for some special girl time. They went to a fashion show and tea at her church. When I woke her up to get ready, she was asking me questions and was relieved to hear she didn't have to be IN the fashion show. She has since been describing the sparkly pink outfits the girls were wearing.

My two sisters attend the same church so with their boys being two weeks apart it only made sense to get dedicated together. It was a special service and a fun time after with dinner and cake. My sister Bethany and little Levi....

My sister Amy with little Rocco. Both these boys have quickly stolen our hearts and found their place in our family. It was a blessing to be able to witness their parents giving them back to the Lord.

Head over to Sara's to see the other Project 365s.

The '09 Boys Club

I'm still sorting through all the pictures I have from the week of my brother's visit. Of course it was fun (and quite crazy) to have all the 2009 babies together, however, it didn't make for as many photo ops as you might think. Its tough to have every one happy and awake at the same time; in fact, we didn't even get one like that (thanks to my son).

Here they are in birth order...Trey, Levi, Rocco and Aiden

We stopped at this point, since three of the four were crying.

My sister-in-law Elizabeth made these t-shirts for the boys. So cute. You can tell by looking at their legs that they are all quite healthy!



The babies got passed around a great deal. Sometimes we had to take a second glance to see which baby someone had.

Aunt Bonnie with Rocco

Melody with Trey
Kiki with Aiden and Pop with Levi

Grammy with Katie. She is a "tween" in the world of infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers...doesn't fit in with the babies and the 2 & 3 year-olds don't really want to deal with her

Avery (AKA the baby stalker) with Levi