Henry Isaac- 2 months!

This little SMILEY BABY is filling my days with joy!!

And all the other stuff he can do is filling my days with BUSY.
Which would be why I am not posting that often... Mmmmmhmmm... ;o)

...and in between all that busy with Henry there are these 3 other little pumpkins who keep needing things, like juice, or peanut butter and jelly, or chalk, or help separating Lego pieces, you know, all those little things...

I hope to put up a few cute posts and pictures in the near future. But for now, just look at these dimples! I know you are smiling!! :)

OH be still my heart. Love this little munchkin!

Out of the mouth of Babes

Some funny things my kids have said lately....

Out on our walk yesterday:
Ben: "Yeedia! Yook at that twee! it fall down! boom boom! it fall down!"
Lydia: "Ohhh... yes, it must have fell down in the storm, Ben.
          ...Don't worry tree, I will say a prayer for you and God will make you better."
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Lydia: "Mom, we need the kid scissors."
Mom: "oh really, why?"
Lydia: "To make a paper rhombus!"

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** There are more but I can't remember them now... will post more later!

Welcome, Henry!

Our newest little miracle from the Lord has arrived! 1 week ago today, we welcomed our new little baby boy, Henry Isaac to the family. Induced on his due date and born the next day, he is 8 lbs & 12 oz of pure sweetness!


Knowing God let us in on His plans for this newest life in our family has been very special each and every step of the way. When things got difficult (for me especially during pregnancy) I often relied on knowing that God had especially entrusted this life to us, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for this precious new life. So far we are mostly resting and enjoying snuggling our new baby boy. God is good and we are so thankful for him and for all our children! 

The proud big brother 

Henry with his godparents Dave and Michelle (and their baby boy, our godson William!) 

Snuggled up and sleeping in his bassinet

Proud big sister! 

The new big brother! 

Awake and looking around learning about his home :)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

Our new family of 6! 

Josiah Timothy- 6 Years Old!

I can't believe my first baby is 6!! When did that happen!? ;)
(Actually it happened almost a month ago now at the end of May, but I saved this post as a "draft" and completely forgot about it. Oops! my bad...)

Cute things he said just today:

1- As he's reading a book, "Mom... I just read 'determined'"... Me: "WOW good job Josiah! Do you know what determined means?" pause....
    Josiah: "umm... NO." (haha!)  Then we then had a lesson on that vocab word of course, but boy was it cute!

2- As he sees my belly button kinda sticking out of my t-shirt at the doctor's office, he says, "Oh! mom! I think that's his little foot kicking out!!" hahaha. :)

(*Those were back in May- but still cute!)

Here are some words to describe my wonderful boy:

  J -  jokes, jester, joyful
 O-  outspoken, open,
 S-   sweet, sharing, sensitive
  I-   imaginative, inventive, intellectual, intelligent
 A-  angel
 H-  holy, happy

Anyway...we love you Josiah, love you SO much and cherish you!! We know God has such big plans for your life, and we can't wait to be here to continue to watch you grow in His love and care.

10 more days...

Well, we are due with our newest little angel in just 10 more days ya'll. 10 days!!!


My thoughts? Feelings?
They really bounce back and forth every single day, about 10 times, from these two sides:

1- I'm REALLY excited to meet him. Cannot wait!!! what will he look like? will he have a birthmark like his big sister? will he look JUST like his brother? (that's probably a yes...) and who cares? he'll be here!!!! We can hug him! kiss him! snuggle him!! yay!!!!

and...

2- I'm SO pregnant. My joints are aching, I'm in pain constantly, My FM is flaring up and headaches are abounding. I can't sleep hardly AT ALL and am relying on naps snuck in the day time to function... I'm so huge (have gained an insane amount of weight) my toes are actually fatter, and ew, it's gross.
I cannot wait to be NOT pregnant anymore, and oh-my-gosh...what if he waits til like JULY to get OUT!? What if instead of 10 days it's like 20 more days-- which has been done before in my womb-- no joke. Oh, God, please have mercy...  

Yup, those are all my thoughts, and I keep bouncing back and forth between them, depending on how I feel at the time ;o) Frankly, I think it's all normal. I always feel like I will be pregnant forever... but I keep reminding myself that I won't be! (Doesn't every woman feel that way at 9 mo pregnant!?)
And really... I'm just so excited to meet this sweet little baby... just can't wait!!! just want him to come already!!!

His siblings talk about him on a daily basis, all the time, and it's adorable. They are SO excited to meet him. Benjamin totally gets it- more than I ever expected him to- and comes up and kisses my belly each day and says things like, "Henry in there... he come out soon!" ADORABLE.

Lydia said to me today, "Mom...don't worry, I'll remember to close the gate at the top of the steps when Henry is crawling, and also I will take markers from him if he tries to put them in his mouth!" So. Cute.

Josiah said to me today, "WHOA that's a HUGE belly now..." OK so not as cute really... but hey, he's totally right. I had to laugh.

Daddy is pretty much frantically trying to catch up with and be at a good stopping point with his work "stuff" in preparation for his arrival. We all just can't wait!!

Mother's Day 2012- Surrounded by Babies inside and out!

Well, today wasn't exactly a relaxing Mother's Day.... maybe that'll be next year? :) But it was definitely chock-full-o-fun. And, it's always a wonderful day when I get to spend it with my hubby and my beautiful children!

We had promised the kids a certain outing they were really looking forward to, and also had some odds and ends (ahem, Daddy's work prep) and some errands to get accomplished, all before making dinner back at home for my Mom and Dad, so it just made for a fun but VERY BUSY day! My poor parents had to eat a later dinner, haha!

Anyway, while out at the Harbor, my Hubby gave me one of my presents I asked for for Mother's Day-- a few pictures of me with the kiddos before our newest little one arrives. Enjoy! :)

Our dinner table back at home... before the rose petals started burning from the floating candles... no joke- LOL!! :) 

Grandma making Ben laugh 

Sparkling Apple-Cranberry Cider- ahh!! ;o) The kids loved the teeny wine glasses Mommy let them use! hehe

1st Grade Complete!

Look who is finished 1st Grade!?? That's right... my big man Josiah is done his 1st grade year. I can hardly believe it. He is so smart and so easy to teach. He finished up his lessons today, we kinda breezed through them since we were both pretty excited to just be done already. Haha!

Then to celebrate, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed over to a local chapel and bookstore which is in a beautiful little wooded area that the kids love.

Josiah's last religious lesson was on Sacramentals, which are, as he learned, holy objects to help us keep our mind and hearts focused on Jesus. After our picnic lunch, we went inside and picked out a new sacramental for each kid. Josiah chose a St.Michael the Archangel medal, Lydia chose a miraculous medal, and Benjamin (with some assistance from Mommy) chose a big crucifix made of plastic he could hold in his hand. I say "big" but really, I mean as big as a 2 yr old's hand :) He has been trying to "kiss Jesus" on our walls lately and couldn't reach, so I thought maybe that would make it easier. He loves it! He took it to bed when we got home for his nap, kissed Jesus and went to sleep. What a sweet little guy.

After we picked out our Sacramentals we played outside on the beautiful grounds and among the Stations of the Cross (another Sacramental!) and in the little creek they have there. 

It's amazing, isn't it, how 3 little children can be completely happy just tossing rocks and sticks into a creek? LOVE the simple joys in life.

We are so proud of our big boy, and of our little girl who finished an entire preschool book (and then some!) as well. I'm not sure exactly where she'll be for the fall, but probably finishing up preschool and moving onto kindergarten.

This year Josiah studied Latin and learned to say the Our Father, Glory Be, Holy Holy Holy (Sanctus), and Table Blessing prayers all in Latin. He also studied and learned so much about American History, Science, Religion, Math, English, Phonics, Reading, and Spelling. He worked very hard and we are all so proud! Each quarter he also received an Academic Achievement Award from Seton Home Study School. We are so proud of all his hard work and all he's learned this year. We are looking forward to 2nd grade! 

God has sure blessed us abundantly <3