Marie is NINE!

July 13, 2013 | Stacy

This was a special year for Marie… her birthday was on a weekend, which meant the whole family would be here in the morning and she could start her day with her gifts. Nan joined us for breakfast. I forgot to take a picture. We had spinach artichoke pastries. (I love this girl!) Nan gave her a CD player/boom box.

Mommy and Daddy gave her three Pocahontas books, a princess coloring book, face paint, and a princess movie. Those were the things she told me she might like one of. They seemed so reasonable, we got them all.

We packed a lunch and headed to Seabreeze. (Go figure.) I had count-‘em THREE adult helpers with me – so Mommy got to take photos AND (drum roll please) I got to try the Hydro-racer AND go on the Helix. It was a lot of fun.

About 3PM Marie started to complain of a headache. Being the very well-prepared mother and nurse that I am I went to the gift shop and spent $1 on two Advil. 😉 It didn’t cut it. She curled up on a bench for a while. We knew it was time to go home.

She had a rest. She decided she WOULD be able to eat her pasta with shrimp and Alfredo sauce (hop to it, Mom!) and we had a yummy dinner.

And pie. Let’s not forget the pie.

Happy birthday, sweet Marie. The first girl in the bunch you radiate joy and energy. May God bless your days.

“I’m being a baby!”

July 13, 2013 | Stacy

Do you think they will be buddies, someday? They are 33 months apart. That wasn’t what I would have “ordered,” but God is in charge. When we go to Seabreeze they seem eons apart. But it won’t always seem so far, will it? Johanna tells us, “Katriel is cute; I am pretty.” I think they are both rather cute. And they are decidedly pretty.

Homemade cards

July 12, 2013 | Stacy

War is the new go-to game in these Disciples’ home. Tab took it upon herself to make her own deck of cards. She made all 52 regular cards as well as two Jokers. She and I played two games of War with this fabulous set before she grew tired of it. I rather enjoyed the homemade set. ♥

Waking up Katriel

July 10, 2013 | Stacy

It’s a bit blurry… but I don’t want to miss the moment. ♥

7/4/13

July 6, 2013 | Stacy

Our July 4ths do not have a tradition…

2008
2009 – drove home from TN
2010 – no recollection what-so-ever
2011 – again – no clue… likely worked
2012 – impromptu picnic – our Brookses friends asked if they could pop over with their out-of-town guests to cook out and swim.

This last one was so much fun I asked Emily if she wanted to repeat & expand Her family was up for it & we forged ahead.

The forecast was grim and it poured buckets all morning. Half-an-hour before the picnic was slated to start the forecast abruptly and dramatically shifted; we were blessed with 85+ degrees, and there was not a raindrop to be seen.

We quickly assembled our party tent in our own yard for the first time in years. (We seem to lend it once a year.)

It was remarkable. I have not stopped praising God for His merciful timing. THE WEATHER WAS PICNIC-PERFECT!!!!!

I never pulled out the camera until dessert time. (Not to be confused with swimming-time, eating-time, talking-time, football-time, etc.)

Riffy had so much lemonade and her weight’s worth of chippy-chips.

My kids had a blast. In their minds there is NOTHING cooler than playing football or swimming with friends.

I love gatherings. I do, I do. We seem to have fewer and fewer each year which makes me sad. But when we do, boy, do I enjoy them. And let me tell you… many hands make light work! The food was amazing and you’d never know from looking that there were 28 of us here yesterday!!

Nigel is 11

July 3, 2013 | Stacy

Wow – oh wow!! Nigel is ELEVEN!
I enjoy all of my children’s birthdays. I just do. His always seems to sneak up on me, however.
I have oodles of memories from each of their arrivals. But his birth-DAY is keenly ingrained in my mind. The details are distinct. His first days and weeks are not really a blur the way you think of new baby days as a blur. They are specific in a way I don’t wish on people. And all these years later I love to still bask in the mercy we saw that day.

We had cinnamon rolls and yogurt for breakfast.

We decided that even though the weather called for overcast skies and scattered showers (rain? here? this summer? whoda thunk?) that we would pack a lunch and head to Seabreeze just the same. I am SO glad we did. We had the place just about to ourselves. We steered clear of the water attractions and they got to ride the dry rides over and over and over. What’s more is that Johanna just scraped by as a 38”-er, and she was able to try a few of the bigger rides.

Johanna did NOT like the Bobsleds. She didn’t like going, “Up.”

I took my zoomier lens and got some great shots.

Hanny went on the “apple ride.” She begged to go on again. And again. She was cut off after the third ride.

Does she LOOK like she was enjoying it?

Home for angel hair pasta and Alfredo sauce with shrimp. These kids have GREAT taste!

A smattering of gifts.

Jammies from Nan. A movie from Nene.

A “Hungry Alligator” from Mom and Dad. There is a running joke in this house that Nigel is a hungry alligator. Or more exactly, that Nigel IS Hungry Alligator. It started when he hid under Johanna’s bed MONTHS ago and proclaimed he was a hungry alligator. She latched onto it big time and her room now has pictures of hungry alligators (drawn, printed out, etc.) and she actually calls Nigel, “Hungry Alligator,” instead of Nigel. She introduces him to people by that name. She told her speech evaluator her brothers’ names are, “Tew-art, and Hunny Ati-gader.”

Ahem – theme continues…

And he gave it two thumbs up on Wednesday.

Look at me!

June 24, 2013 | Stacy

Four months old today. Katriel gave the exosaucer a spin. I don’t know where the time has flown. She is so beautiful. And at least once a day I think, “I’m so glad she is HERE.” I still feel like I was pregnant (and uncomfortable) forEVER. Her delivery was brutal. And she is HERE HERE HERE. With us.

She does not have a nickname. This is wild to me. We’ve tried and tried; yet, nothing comes. She’s 100% Katriel. (Except when she is “Ducky.” Yup – we call her Ducky a wee bit.)

I will admit we don’t seem to be capturing as many photos of her as all the kids before her. Are we just that busy? Do we have to fall prey to that cliché at least once? (No photos of youngest, etc.) I’m going to make more of an effort. (Someone – nudge me now and then, please.)

Things I meant to blog, but never did.

June 23, 2013 | Stacy

I recently uploaded gobs and gobs of photos from my iPod to the computer. I also deleted gobs of them… I send pictures of the silliest things to some of my family and friends! But other things I took photos of because I expected to blog them. I am avoiding working on the bathroom project that is 90% done. So I am sitting here, instead.

Johanna’s first pony tail. October 12, 2012

I took Johanna and Tabitha to Strong Museum of Play. October 25, 2012. The older kids were at a field trip at Dayton’s Corners School House.

This was my stomach 11/19.

And this was my stomach 1/1/13. See the incredible shrink? No wonder I was so concerned.

December 22nd, John and I took the kids to a few furniture stores. Well. He went into the first one. (I was on restricted activity.) The second one held more promise, so I scooted in to approve a dresser for Johanna’s bedroom. Afterward we ate at Wendy’s. Funny how fast food can be so fun for us. We rarely do it and it was a genuinely fun time.

These are just of some of my pretty girls on January 13th. They were dressed for church.
That piece of paper on the wall next to Marie was a list of all the things we needed to take with us to the hospital when it was time for Ducky to come. That list was up for WEEKS. Marie and Stewart were shown where each item from the list was kept and how to pack it up should they get a call from me while I was at the hospital for the weekly testing. In the end, it was John who used the list at 2:30 in the morning on 2/24.

This is my kitchen, spanking clean on 1/19. I NEVER clean it to this extent. I was getting very agitated as a house bound pregnant lady. I was allowed to slightly increase my activity and this is what I did. (It lasted 2-3 hours.) The paper on the cupboard to the left is our monthly menu. The one on the right? … I have no recollection.

This is from one of Dr. Tripp’s bulletin boards in the hallway leaving his office. He has a handful of them up, with hundreds of pictures of babies whose moms have been his patients. Nigel got two photos on the boards. I took a picture of that. January 23rd.

February 1st – a dance with Daddy.

February 9th. A tree outside our friends’ house. We delivered something and while John did the running around, I did the sitting thing (I needed out of the house). There had been a huge storm the whole day before.

2/15/13. COME SOON, DUCKY!

March 2nd. The girls dancing to Lawrence Welk as I nursed Katriel.

Stewart, ready for church, 3/3.

Johanna is sad that Ella went home while Johanna was sleeping. We called her to say, “Goodbye.” March 7th.

The girls and John were featured in the local newspaper after their night with him at the Rec. Center. Our pediatrician clipped it out of the paper for us. 3/15.

Johanna’s first teeth cleaning – 3/28. Our hygienist is a sister-in-the-LORD.

Stewart visiting Katriel in the AM. April 1st. Hard to believe he first used that crib 12½ years ago!

May 8. Girl was tired, no?

May 14th. Channeling his inner Mr. Noodle.

5/23. Formal school is DONE. I feel no guilt lying around snuggling.

June 16. Getting acquainted with my deep fryer. Six-and-a-half years after I received it as a gift. It was frighteningly easy to use. We did it again a few days later and it scares me how easily we could eat that garbage in the comfort of our own home.