Thirty

Thirty.  That's what I am now.  I just don't know what to think about it!  On the one hand I feel so old!  My twenties were some good times and hold some priceless memories.  I can't believe that time in my life is over.  But on the other hand, thirty doesn't feel near as old as I always thought it was.  And thirty has a level of wisdom and experience that I'm so happy to have (please do not mistake this for me thinking I am the epitome of wisdom or have learned anywhere close to everything I need to know...that is not at all what I mean...I still have a long way to go).  But I am so very thankful for the life lessons I've learned through my twenties and I pray that God will help me to use that wisdom for His glory through my thirties...all the while learning even more this decade! 
My 30th birthday was wonderful.  I had a perfectly relaxing day with my hubby doing some of the things I love the most...

It began with a lunch date at Benihana followed by a movie...Man of Steel (thanks to my sister and her in-laws for entertaining our kids all day) .  Yes I realize it was my birthday and not Jason's.  One thing I have totally learned about myself...when it comes to movies...I'm not much of a chick-flick movie kinda gal.  My favorite kind of movies are action packed and suspenseful.  I am NOT talking about movies like The Matrix or The Fast and the Furious (or any of their sequels).  I am talking about movies like The Bourne Identity or Oceans 11 (or any of their sequels).  Saying all that to say...Man of Steel was right up my alley and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Then we did a little leisurely shopping and headed back to my parents' house to meet up with our children and some family for pizza and cake!  My mom made the cake homemade and it is absolutely the best cake you will ever put in your mouth.  Usually, I'd rather have a homemade chocolate chip cookie or a brownie over cake any day, but not this cake.  This cake is the best.  The kids gathered to sing happy birthday, so we had them smile for a picture.  They got a little carried away saying cheese...

So the day was great!  I'd say a perfect entrance to my thirties!

Lily's 6th Birthday

On June 18, my baby girl turned 6.  SIX.  She is growing up so fast!  While watching my children grow, I am constantly amazed at how fast time passes.  For Lily's birthday, we spent the whole day together.  We started off by letting her open her presents from our family...

 Then before we took off for our "day of fun" we let her see her cake.  She approved...

 Then we took off.  She wanted to go to the Memphis Botanical Gardens and look at all the pretty flowers and go to "My Big Backyard."  My Big Backyard has a LOT of fun things for kids to do.  They have lots of playhouses, a big playground, a creek/misty rain area for the kids to get all wet and cool off, they have sand pits and tunnels and balance beams and swings and hula hoops....and that is just the stuff to do in My Big Backyard.  Elsewhere in the Botanical Gardens you can feed fish and look for dinosaur bones and look at flowers and run and climb and play...basically you can see why Lily wanted to spend her birthday here!

 

 The kids had a blast there!  So when we were done there we needed to do Lily's other most favorite thing...swim!



 

 When we finished swimming we headed back to Nana and Grandad's for the party!  We didn't have a really big party this year.  It ended up just being some family and it was actually quite relaxing.  And Lily still had a great time!  We made our own pizzas for dinner...

 

(btw...the woman in the picture above is my 86 year old grandmother...you know...the one with the black hair that she never dyes....hoping for her genes...hoping) 

 And of course then we had cake and ice cream....

 And opened presents....

 

 

 It was such a fun birthday.  Lily actually said it was her "best birthday ever!"  Music to a mommy's ears!  Happy Birthday Lily!  We are SO in love with our happy, girly, active, smart, shy little princess!  You are beautiful inside and out and we are praying for many more birthdays as we watch you continue to grow into a beautiful young lady!  We love you Lily girl!!

 

The Last Day of School (in Maryland)

How long ago did we move here?  Two and a half months ago.  So I'm deciding now would be a good time to post some pictures from the kids' last day of school in Maryland.  It's good to post things like this two and a half months later.  (Not really, but I'm going to tell myself that). :)  SO, the last day of school was a hard day for me.  I loved their school in Maryland, and I absolutely LOVED the teachers they had this past year.  They were just wonderful.  On their last day of school I took some cupcakes and drinks for the kids in their class to make it kind of a special "good-bye day."  Lily had 28 kindergarteners in her class so getting a picture with the whole class was a little bit out of the question.  And I have discovered this last year that Lily is in fact very shy, so even getting a picture of her with her teacher was a bit difficult...

But Lily loved Mrs. McDade and so did we!  Everything she said may as well have been Biblical as far as Lily was concerned.  :)

And then we headed over to Daniel's classroom.  Daniel's teacher was so wonderful as well!  Not only was she very sweet, but she was a very good teacher and Daniel learned a lot!!  She had Daniel take a picture with the girls (I don't think he knew what to do)...

 And then with the boys...

 I don't think he's quite as shy as Lily girl.  And here's Daniel with his teacher, Mrs. Blythe...

I was MOST definitely fighting back the tears that day.  I don't know what it is about them having to leave a school that just chokes me up.  They always seem fine, but I am a mess!  We sure do love and miss Broad Ford Elementary!! :)

9 Months Old

Sooo...I think the last post I've done on Peyton was when he was 6 months old...oops!  So maybe I'll do a 7 month and 8 month post...or maybe not.  We'll just see how it goes.  But for now let's talk about Peyton at 9 months! ;)  He's just a doll.  I mean, I literally cannot get enough of this baby.  Just see for yourself...

 Yes, I realize that I've already put this one up, but I just thought you may want to see it again.  I mean it really is so adorable that it deserves to stand on its own...not share space with another picture....don't you think?

I am quite shocked that the child's cheeks aren't constantly rosy, or bruised or something from all the kisses he gets.  I could stare at him all day.  Ok...so I'm making myself move on to what Peyton is like at 9 months ;)...
-He has finally started crawling!  Actually (for my own documentation)...he started officially crawling this past Monday..June 3rd.  So he's not super fast yet, but he's doing great!
-He can pull up but isn't very stable with it yet.
-He is FINALLY sleeping through the night again!  It was a long confusing process as to why he wouldn't sleep all night...he was sick a lot and even when we moved here he had a few colds and such, so I never had the heart to make him cry it out.  And then finally one night...I knew he wasn't sick or hurting, so I let him cry it out.  And he honestly cried for MAYBE 15 minutes (and mostly wimpered) and fell back asleep!  A few nights of that and now we have a sleeper!  And a momma with a lot more energy for that matter.
-He will finally eat some baby food, but he really wants to feed himself table food!
-He has started eating LIKE A HORSE!  Way more than the other babies did! (He LOVES avocados, bananas, turkey sticks, noodles, sweet potatoes, broccoli, mashed potatoes...ok so the kid likes to eat).  This is a big step considering that when we first introduced baby food he acted like he was going to be a VERY picky eater.  I had the hardest time getting him to eat anything!
-He puts everything in his mouth.
-He loves people.
-He loves his brothers and sister!
-He stays very entertained on the floor with toys.
-He is still nursing, but has started taking a bottle just at night.
-He is very active and always reaching for something!
-He is a wild man in the bathtub...especially now that he's crawling!
-He's always smiling and happy.
Overall, he is a GREAT baby!  We all love him so so much and can't get enough of him! (Have I mentioned that yet?) :)

Cousins

One of the things we have LOVED about being back in Memphis is getting to see these people a lot more!

Cousin time is the best!  I had really missed my little nephews and niece (and soon to be nieces)...oh, and of course my sister and brother-in-law too. ;)  Here's a few random pictures I've been storing up since we moved here two months ago...

 Right after we moved here, Aunt Kristina came in!  That was the best!  We all went to the airport to pick her up and they were all so excited to see her!

 I especially love how she is holding one child in each arm and still managing to hold Lily's hand.  She's the super-aunt!

So much fun!  Now if only we could get some hugs and giggles with our other cousins!  We are REALLY missing us some Lucy, Andy, and Ruthy time!!  We hope to get to see them soon too!!  I really do love both our families!!  We are so blessed!!

Bike Ride to Target

A couple of Sundays ago we decided to visit a little church plant in Midtown.  They meet in a little cafe down there, and they can't get their building until 5pm on Sundays.  I needed to go to Target that morning for a few little necessities, so we up and decided to ride our bikes!  All 3 kids can now ride their bikes without training wheels and have been wanting to go on a bike ride, so we took off.  Most of the ride was on a nice bike trail, but there was one busy road we had to cross and then ride down to get there.  We had the kids walk their bikes during that short stretch.  Before we left Jason gathered up the kiddos and gave them the rules.

 The baby rode in the buggy behind Jason's bike.  He had a blast in there and that also gave us some space to put our Target stuff.  We got a little ways into our ride before I realized Austin had this really awesome belt on with his outfit.  That kid has some style let me tell you.

 When we got to Target this cutie fell asleep and we were able to just lay him out right in the buggy.  But it didn't take long before he woke up and then he pulled himself right up!  This is one of the first times he'd ever pulled up all by himself.  (He doesn't do many things ALL by himself due to his three older siblings that try to do everything for him). :)

 During our adventurous bike ride we decided that we needed to purchase some helmets for the kids.  They probably should have always had them, but since they are now riding without training wheels, and taking such grown-up bike rides, they REALLY needed them. (Side note: Daniel has been riding without training wheels since last year, but he didn't get to ride near as much last summer and well, I guess we just forgot about the whole helmet thing then).

 It took us a little longer than we initially planned to get to Target, and then we ended up spending awhile in Target, so since it was lunch time we decided we better fuel up before we headed back home.  So we rode across the street to Wendy's for lunch and frosty's!

We got back around 3-ish and showered up and then went to church!  It was a WONDERFUL day.  We figured up that it was a 4.5 mile bike ride to go there and back.  FOUR AND A HALF MILES!!  And I'm telling you...those kids did GREAT!  It was a nice leisurely bike ride for Jason and I, but their little feet were pedaling the ENTIRE time and they never complained!  We did stop some for them to rest, but not near like you'd think.  And Peyton didn't cry once.  I mean, who would if they were getting carted around behind a bike with a cool breeze?!  It was so much fun.  We so could have driven to Target to get toothpaste and razors and body wash.  But instead...we turned a boring ole trip to Target into an adventure....thanks to my awesome hubby who thought of the idea!  I hope we do it again soon!