So proud...

Most of the time I use this blog for the 6 of us, but today I gotta talk about these 2!

I am so proud of my parents and how they are following God as He has called them to share Celebrate Recovery in Ghana. This ministry has changed and affected our whole family. My parents have been leading CR for almost 10 years...to say I am proud is an understatement.

SO today, they are in Africa waiting to share this ministry with a hurting country!!! We are praying for you guys! If you want to follow closer check out their blog!

Yesterday, as they were heading to Ghana, their flight just happened to have a layover in ATLANTA!! Thank you Jesus...you knew I needed to see them!!!

Trucking Along

So, we are into a good routine with school and we are just trucking along. Blake is loving his job and boy does that make this all that much more enjoyable! He is here for breakfast almost every morning which is a HUGE change for us. What a wonderful blessing!!! He's home everyday before dinner, except on the rare occasion. He's traveling a bit with the football teams, but it's a total dream...so we are all excited for him. And I am only a wee bit jealous that he gets his own hotel room when he's gone! He is being spoiled and he deserves it!

We have been able to visit the zoo and aquarium lots and of course enjoy daily (sometimes multiple times a day) to the park. The weather has been so nice (70-low 80's) this week so we've stayed outside as much as we can. I have given into my new wardrobe of workout clothes. I am constantly chasing, walking, pushing strollers, loading and unloading the car...and in a fine layer of sweat beads. Welcome ponytail and tank tops. Clinton and Stacey would eat me alive.

I feel like we are adjusting pretty well. The boys have made lots of new friends and Sadie is LOVING her ballet classes every week. Our pediatrician is wonderful, and the environment is a dream (although the wait for appointments is AWFUL). But I figure, its only a year and I really enjoy the fact that every time I have been to the office I have been the only white person in the whole office.

The boys miss things back in Oklahoma, mostly the relationships. Sadie does not at all get it. She keeps telling me she wants to go home or when she talks with someone from our family she tells them to come home now. Sniff sniff.

My camera broke a couple weeks ago. I took it in to get fixed. Got it back, still doesn't work! Grrr...so these are old pictures from about a month ago...but really cute ones!!! ENJOY!

Peek-a-boo Baby!

My all time favorite face of hers!!!!

oh and this one...darn that it's fuzzy!

Owen's action shot. This is how he posed for me. Such a boy!!!

My dare devil. How have we not had stitches or broken bones???

What a fun pool!

Someone is THREE!!!!

How in the world is this possible? I feel like it was yesterday I got the phone call, "Molly. This is Sandy. What are you doing?" Awww shucks. Nothing. It's just that when YOU call I can't breathe. Whatcha callin' bout Ms. Sandy? "Well. You've been picked. The baby is a girl. She is already here. She was born yesterday. Can you be at the hospital in 3 hours?" AHHHHHHH!!!!!!Then I blinked twice and she was 6 months old and slowly developing into this bubbling little laughy girl we call Sadie Cakes. I blinked again and we were bringing another little sister home. So I guess it only makes sense 3 years have passed. Whew. Please slow down lil bit. I wanna take this all in! Our Sadie turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. My heart was sad in having yet another birthday and not really having family or friends to celebrate it with. Lo and behold my parents were struggling too and surprised us by driving to Atlanta ON SADIE'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! Talk about awesome!!!

They took us out to dinner to celebrate and entertained us all weekend long. It was just what my soul needed. Oh how I was missing them desperately!

Happy birthday sweet girl! You quickly figured out that 3 came with a little extra sass, but I have learned to just roll with the punches...3 is a tricky year for us all. You are so kind and gentle. You remind me so much of your Aunt Laura. When we get onto you or raise our voice, you crumble in knowing we are dissappointed. You are pretty fearless and you can hold your own among your brothers and their buddies. You hardly weigh 30 lbs. You are FAST! You are not a picky eater, but you just don't consume much at all...well unless it's chocolate. You are independent. You are still very loud, but you've noticed your baby sister screams and that it hurts your ears so I am hoping you are catching on ;o) You are such a good helper with Emery and to me! You love talking to Jesus and it's precious to me to get to be a part of those intimate moments with you. Sometimes I don't know what you are saying, but I love knowing that Jesus knows.

You love having your picture taken, and you love to take pictures. You like to talk on the phone and you love to shop. It's so helpful because the boys HATE to run any errands, so it's nice that you'll help me get stuff done while they are at school! (Below are the dolphins at the aquarium)

You love to sing and dance. Your ballet class is a highlight of your week, but so is everything else. You just live life with gusto girl. Joy simply flows from you. And it rubs off onto everyone that meets you. You're kinda like me in that you've never met a stranger (I know...I need to be better at "stranger danger") and you say "Hello" to everyone as we walk to school in the morning.

So thank you pumpkin for these 3 incredible years. You are more than your daddy and I could've ever dreamed of.

Thank you for sharing my love of brownies!

At the aquarium on Labor day! We had so much fun showing Noonie around (Papa was under the weather...poor guy. We wore him out!) I told my parents that coming to stay with us is like going to Vegas. 3 days is plenty and you're on overload!

Look at my babies!!! We ate at a place here called Mary Mac's. It was super yummy, but sadly the kids didn't know what to do with all of the butter and deep fried food. Oh what memories we made there!

Baby girl, we adore you! Thank you for bringing so much sunshine into our family! Happy Birthday!!!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We love this book. It's so fun to read. Right now I feel like we are living this book. "Oh-oh. There's a river. We can't go over it. We can't go under it. We gotta go through it."

Not that I am not enjoying this year long venture. I am. But mostly because I am choosing to do so. It ain't comin' naturally ;o) I am having to eat my words and do what I tell the kids to all the time, "Choose your attitude."

There have been several things that have popped up that we are just bearing down and getting through. But there have also been lots of blessings along the way. Like these sweet pictures that capture our fun at the pool a couple of weeks ago. I've got more, but I gotta run. Just wanted to say, "HI" and we are still alive. Just crazy busy!

Be back soon!

This guy...

Man, I feel like I hardly ever get to do a post just about one of the boys...unless it's their birthday.

I've really enjoyed my down time with this fella. So he goes to pre-k for 3.5 hours in the morning. We pick him up just before lunch and I bring the girls home (feed them earlier at 11:15) and put them down for naps. It gives Cooper and I about an hour and a half together JUST BY OURSELVES everyday.

This one, like my other 3, is amazing. He's focused, passionate, independent, athletic is an understatement, shy, smart, lover of all things boy (someone told him pink wasn't cool for dudes...pffft...he says its disgusting now), committed wii-gamer, a wee bit dramatic, handsome as all get out, currently hates his curls (sniff), and he wants to be a builder when he grows up! He is still obsessed with Emery Faith and I have to tell him multiple times a day that she needs space. Don't you worry, she can scream him off now too. He is totally annoyed with his Sadie Cakes at the time being, that is unless he's scared at night and doesn't want to sleep alone...then she's his best friend.

Cooper has always had a deep emotional and spiritual side...he still often talks about Jesus and the resurrection, and we have lots of deep conversations about asking Jesus into our hearts and being able to listen to God with our heart. He loves bugs, worms, spiders, moths, bees (except their webs which completely wig him out), sticks, pine cones, acorns...he could live outdoors. He would LOVE it if I could have some sort of random catch all tank that he could bring all his creatures inside. His new obsession this past year is Star Wars. He dreamt the other night about being Hans Solo and having a whistle???

He is a good eater, but never eats if he isn't hungry...not even dessert or treats! He certainly didn't get that from me ;o) but what a great habit, huh? He will try just about any food and has a great variety of foods he will eat. He's probably our most balanced healthiest eater. Ahhh, thank you Cooper for not causing food drama! At school they have snacks mid-morning. One day I asked about snack and he said it was gross, but he tried it. He described it as cheese-sauce. Huh. That's odd. They ate it with a spoon. It happened a couple more times and he finally said it was cheese grits! Ha! Our first southern food that we don't eat and he happens to be the only brown kid in class and he's NOT eating grits!


We have been trying something new these last few weeks and it's been fun for our time alone. We don't do TV or video games (iphone, wii, leapster) during the week. Gasp. I know. I never thought we'd do that, but it's made all the difference in our kids attitudes. Yes, we do have attitude problems. Not that we all of the sudden have happy little tots. But it's made a big difference in our ability to fend off tantrums and meltdowns in the afternoon. Since we don't do that anymore, it creates a lot more time to talk, read, build legos, race cars and color.

Yet another blessing of this year with having Owen in kindergarten all day...I get some precious alone time with my #2!!!