Happy Birthday Ike!

(The song "One Little Slip" by the Barenaked Ladies was used in your slide show because you and Sam "sing" it in the car when you are watching Chicken Little. It is the sweetest rendition.)
Today is your big day Isaac. (Hold on to your hats world, Ike is 2 years-old:)) Although you are the third son in our family, you are such an individual. You have an energy and spirit all your own. You love any adventure, and I am certain there isn't anything that you think you can't or shouldn't do. You follow your brothers everywhere, and fortunately for you, they think that is fine. If they are on the bunk beds, you want to be on the bunk beds. If they are eating at the counter, you want to be at the counter, even if you aren't eating. Unfortunately, we only have two bar stools so you holler at Will until he gives in and gives you his chair. You have learned quickly that Will is much easier on you than Sam so you don't even attempt to get him to move:) Wherever they go, so do you.
Although you love following your brothers, you have no problem blazing your own trail. You love playing ball. Basketball, baseball, golf, any kind of ball is your game. And you don't care if the boys want to play which they usually don't. So you just grab Dad or me and you are ready to play. I can't even count how many hours your dad and I have sat in the living room wearing your little baseball cap and little glove fielding balls you bat off the ottoman like it is a tee. You are also our outside kid. If I am in a hurry to get out the door, I have to carry you out to the car and not open the garage door until you are strapped in your seat because if I let you walk out on your own and you see an opening, you are off on the scooter car burning a path out the driveway.
Unfortunately, you didn't decide to sleep through the night until just a month or so ago. Strangely though, you have always been my easiest child to get to bed. We just rock a few minutes, and then in your bed you go. You might talk to yourself for an hour, but you have almost always put yourself to sleep. Why you waited so long to sleep through the night then is a question for that Dr. Ferber and his Ferber Method.
Your vocabulary has come alive lately. You have been chatty for awhile but just lately you really began throwing out all kind of thoughts that most people, not just mom, can understand. Some of those things we understand clearly from you but we laugh because they might be things that weren't so clear to you from us. For instance, for awhile you had a bad diaper rash and hated being wiped. So to try and get you clean as possible, I would distract you by tickling you in that area while wiping. I would even say something like, "tickle, tickle." Then you began saying, "Tickle, tickle star." It took us awhile to figure out what you were saying because it was a little confusing but I guess to you "tickle" and "twinkle" sound alot alike. You are also a good guy to have on hand right now because if anyone lets out a toot, you so sweetly say, "I farted." I think you think that it is all one word and you had to have learned it from Sam. He is probably the only one in the house that announces his flatulence.
You love to sing. You love to dance. You love books. You love Miss Pattycake and Boz. You love to make a mess in the name of exploration and discovery. You are almost always ready to party. I am certain you will find trouble in the years ahead. Fortunately for you, you have a sweet look of innocence in your eyes so I am sure most of it will go unpunished.
You are a delight Isaac. Your smile is genuine. Your spirit is contagious. And although our house is full of boys, it would feel very empty without you. Happy 2nd Birthday Isaac. We love you.
PS - While Mommy was out of town, some of your relatives got ahold of you and played dress up. You were the prettiest little girl Mommy never had:)

Halloween Happenings

Here are some pics from all our Halloween adventures. It is a potpourri of pics from the past week so I will kind of give a rundown of what is in the slideshow.
-First, Ike had a dress up day at Kids Day Out. Mom didn't quite have the costumes ready yet so he had to go as Bob the Tomato. (That was made back in the day when I actually used a pattern:) I am too cheap for that these days!)
-Sam also had a party at his preschool. After two nights in a row of 1:00 am+ bedtimes, I had all their costumes ready so Sam went as Batman. He dressed at 7:25 am that morning and didn't take it off until after 6:00 pm that night, even the gloves and mask. When he did take it off, there was sweat running down the inside of the mask. He is a Batman nut!
-The boys went as Batman, Robin, and the Joker. These costumes were Will's idea. After I bought all the stuff to make them, Will informed me that he didn't really want to be the Joker. I asked him why he suggested it then if he didn't want to be it. He told me that he thought it would make Sam happy. I then had to explain to Will that many times in life, it is great to make others happy but that he should never do it at the expense of his own happiness. That is a life lesson I still haven't learned;) I did offer to make him a different costume since I hadn't yet begun making them but he didn't really have any other ideas so he found peace with the Joker. And, since Sam wore his costume for all of Friday and most of Saturday, I think Will accomplished his goal of making Sam happy:)
-We trick or treated at Brent's work on Friday and in our neighborhood with some great friends on Saturday. Our neighborhood is crazy busy on Halloween but I think that just makes it more fun. And doing it with friends makes the night a real treat for the kids and the parents.
-I took the boys out to the pumpkin patch earlier in the week to pick out a pumpkin to carve. That was fun and the day was beautiful. The boys were even very willing to take the pictures. Oh, I guess I did bribe them with ice cream but I am sure they would have smiled just as much without the bribe. Boys love pictures;) Oh and the two pictures with Ike's pants down, I forgot his belt:O
-Lastly, we spent Friday evening carving our pumpkin. I use the term "we" very loosely. Will was SO excited to get going on the pumpkin. He drew the face, I carved but then none of my boys would help clean the pumpkin out. They wouldn't even put their hands in it! It should bother me that my boys thought it was gross to touch the pumpkin guts but really, that cleanliness helps out in so many other areas of my life so I was ok with it. In the end, I cleaned it out and the boys still seemed to think it was a fun time watching. Brent took the pictures.
All in all, it was a very busy week. It was a rough week but when I look at these pictures I think about how one day very soon, I will miss a week like this, chaos like this, my boys like this.
Happy Halloween!

Welcome Little One

With each one of my children, I have kept a pregnancy journal. I am not sure I really had something profound to say but I did one when I was pregnant with Will. That was when I had ample free time and ample brain power. I am sure I had some profound thought or secret to life back then. Well after becoming a new mommy with Will, I quickly realized how little I really knew and how thankful I am that I have God backing me. So since Will, I have tried to keep a journal with new each pregnancy to more document the little things rather than bless them with my vast understanding of the world or my body. (And by doing the journals I don't have to feel guilt for not doing one for the other kiddos or wonder if children #2, #3, and #4 question if I loved child #1 more:))
Well, I haven't yet found a journal for baby #4 and today I felt compelled to write a little something to our newest "Little One". So, I am introducing Baby #4 into my blog. So welcome Little One.
You are right now the size of a piece of rice, maybe. I saw you on an ultrasound two weeks ago and you are fantastic. I am already short of breath, nauseous most of the time, and needing a nap just about every day. Rocking Ike to sleep makes me sick to my stomach and it takes me forever to eat because I feel the need to burp after every bite:) You are 1/8 of an inch and you have a beating heart. You are spectacular and I am blessed. The road to a family of 6 has been bumpy. I feel a little strange when I fill out patient forms and fill in that this is my 7th pregnancy. (Our family is gonna liken itself to the Duggars when we get to Heaven.;) But I know that I am blessed.
So I was thinking the other day how much my feelings during pregnancy parallel my relationship and feeling toward God. I wanted to share it with you because I thought that it would tell you a little about my feelings toward you and a little about my relationship with my God.
So here goes: You are living inside me. I can't see you. I can't always feel you but I know you are there. You are always with me no matter what. I am not always wearing that "pregnancy glow" because sometimes I am just too tired. But then other times I am alive with the idea that you are mine and I can't wait to meet you. It will be a day that I never will forget. You are wonderful and each day that I spend with you, talk to you, know you, my life feels a little richer, a little more meaningful, and a lot more peaceful. My cup overflows. You are delightful and all of us are waiting for you arrival. No one really knows when you will get here but boy will we celebrate on that day! What a day it will be:)

Happy Birthday Willboy!

Happy Birthday Will. Tomorrow you will be 8 years-old and just typing it makes me teary eyed. I guess we get caught up in the now and the joys and challenges that the now brings with it. So all of the sudden, 8 years have gone by. And let me say that you are a delight. Please do not misunderstand that you do have your moments of totally irrational behavior when our only but best option is to fall on our knees in prayer but really, you are a great kid.
This past year has been full of adventures and discovery. This past year, I think you figured out that currently, sports do not come as easily to you as many other things. And because of that, you have little patience for them. Unfortunately, I am sure Dad and I both see your point that things that are frustrating are not a lot of fun and really why do something not required if it is just going to frustrate and maybe even cause a blow to the ego. But, we can't say any of that to you right now because you, your body, and your mind are constantly changing and the world still has a million possibilities for you. And we want you to be able to grab onto any and every one of those that you desire.
So sometimes you were willing and other times resistant but this past year you played soccer, basketball, tee ball, golf, and competitive swimming. Some of these lasted a season, some a month, and some a day which is why we could fit it all in a year. Some of these were a great fit, some with a little practice would be a good fit while others were just not your game. I will tell though you that one of my proudest moments as your mommy was during the swimming tryouts. Within the past year, you became a really confident swimmer so you were ready and willing to give the team a try. In the tryouts, you had to swim each of the 4 strokes required for 2 lengths of the pool. (That is 8 pool lengths.) I didn't even know you knew a stroke. But you got out there and worked and worked. The last lap back, your were pretty much dog paddling to not drown but you never gave up or took the smile off your face. I can't even tell you how big I felt inside seeing the strength and determination of my Willboy.
You know the areas in your life that require a little more work but you also know the areas in which you excel. You didn't care much for 1st grade. You loved your teacher and the social aspect of it was right up your alley but academically, you were done around Halloween. You are like your father. You know things that I have no idea how you know them and that which you don't know, you pick up quickly. So yes, you were bored out of your gourd for most of the year but you learned some valuable life lessons: 1)Most of the time in life, you have to wait on others. It stinks but you do. 2)Everyone has a gift, you may just not appreciate it as much as they do 3)There are rules to follow. Whether they make sense or not, there are rules. 4)Some of the things you do just seem like a waste of time but you have to do them anyway. That is just part of life. 5)Everyone is special and unique. Love them anyway:)
You are an amazing boy, Will. You have a sweet heart, and I fear the day it gets broken for the first of many times. You are a good person who sees the good everyone. You don't see differences in people but potential. You are extremely good to your brothers and probably more responsible with them than Dad or me. (I have been typing this for a few minutes now but stopped to get you some cold medicine. I walked in the the living room to find you tucking Isaac under a blanket on the chair and giving him a sippy cup you had just filled with milk for him.) That is who you are. You are great. Yes, you have moments when the world defeats you and you crawl underneath your bed in frustration. But for the most part, you are my easygoing, even tempered Will. You are funny and mentally challenging. You are a teacher and a student of life. You are my Willboy, and I am so of the boy you have become.
Happy Birthday Will!
Here are some other highlights from this past year:
-Camp Invention - you loved the challenges that it provided and the quest for thinking outside the box. You have already asked to go back next summer.
-Guitar Lessons - you are doing really well with this. You could be great if you actually practiced:) I have been trying a few different motivational techniques to encourage practice. So far, I have been unsuccessful but I am still trying.
-Pokemon - Neither Dad nor I understand this game/cartoon and maybe that is why you like it so much. Gone are the days of Handy Manny and The Backyardigans. But, you still will sit and watch Veggie Tales or Tom and Jerry with me and the boys.
-Scootering from school - You are dying for independence right now. You would love to ride all the way home alone but I just can't do it. Yes, it is only about 6 blocks but it still 6 blocks. So right now, I run your scooter up to school before the ending bell and then you scooter with a friend 1 block to a friends house where I meet you. It is not ideal for either of us but a compromise we both can live with.
-Silver Dollar City - You think this is one of the best places on Earth. I decided to include this highlight because you are practical and I know pretty soon you will change your mind and see it more as the slightly expensive haven for bad crafts that it really is. But the funnel cakes and frozen lemonade are delicious!
-Clifford - Best friends come and go but Clifford is still the tops.
-Pictures - You are my picture kid. I never have to ask twice. I just say, "Smile" and you do. I have lots of great pictures of you but you are always willing to give me a grin!
-Ice Cream - You eat ice cream with such abandon. You get it all over your face but you don't care. It is about getting every last bite! (You get that from your dad too!)
-Swimming - This was the summer that you dove right in. You have been swimming for awhile but this was the first summer when you just let yourself go and even did it without the swim mask:)
-Sight Words Folder - This year you had to recognize 1,000 sight words, 100 at a time. I guess you were getting tired of the process because one of the times I noticed words that I hadn't seen before but had "signed" my name to. Well, you can figure it out.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam, it is your 5th birthday today. You have been asking how many days until your birthday for about two months now. Well, it is finally here buddy. You headed off to preschool today with treats in hand to share with your classmates and a goose egg on your forehead from running square into a cement pole at Sam's club last night and a gash on your arm from the fall you took the night before while walking into Chick-Fil-A. Honestly though, this is exactly how I would have pictured you walking into school today. This is just who you are. You are extreme but you are spectacular and fun.
When you are excited about something, you get really excited and want to share it with others so that they will experience that same joy. Unfortunately, there are many times that others do not seem to have the same appreciation for things as you do which then breaks your heart. You often cry loudly shouting something like, "You hate me!" or "Then I will just never play with you ever again!". Because you live in a world of extremes, it is kind of hard to know when you are faking it, a little sad, really sad, or when your heart is broken. You have always been able to cry big crocodile tears with really little effort. (Maybe acting is in your future.)
You get angry from time to time and when you get angry, you get really angry. Most the time you just growl and scrunch your face up but you have been known on more than a few occasions to run after a brother or two and pummel them in the head.
You play hard. You rarely walk anywhere. At this moment your front teeth are both chipped and dead, you have a massive wound on your arm, knot of your forehead, knot on the side of your head (Monday at preschool), and red scar on your peenie (somehow you fell off the toilet about nine months ago and the toilet lid got ya).
You ooze love. You are my hugger and always have been. You're the snuggler. I don't think you left my lap until after you turned 3 and that was only because Isaac arrived and kind of took that spot. I am not sure you liked him enough at first to share the space;)
Sam, you are a wildly emotional child but you are a delight. I always know how you feel. Sometimes that is frustrating and requires me to work harder as a mommy but most of the time, it is just plain amusing. You are a funny kid. I NEVER know what you will say. In the past year you have told our carpooling friend that her car smelled bad, a good family friend that he was a "little bald", another good family friend that she drove like your grandma, and another carpooling friend that you knew I was a secret agent because I have a secret compartment where I put my sunglasses:) I can count on a good laugh or red face from you almost every single day.
So thank you Sam. Thank you for keeping me humble and in regular conversation with God. Thank you for bringing such joy to our family. Thank you for coming to me in the middle of the night when you are scared and actually believing that I, little ole mommy, can keep you safe from the scary guys. Thank you for being my little buddy!
Happy Birthday buddy! We love you.
PS - A couple of other little Sam notes from the past year:
-You only eat peanut butter sandwiches because, although you like jelly, you don't like getting your hands sticky.
-You won't drink milk out of one of the cups in our cabinet because the duck on it has a dirty face. For that matter, every time you finish eating, you ask if you have anything on your face. You also get grossed out if Ike is sitting next to you with a dirty face. I mean like you make gagging sounds and everything:).
-You take forever to go to the bathroom, especially in public restrooms, and you will talk about anything and everything while you sit and we wait.
-You told me the other day that it was my fault that you need to play Indiana Jones on the Wii all of the time. If I had not bought it for you, then you wouldn't have to play it so much.
-You are an awesome reader and you have been for several months now. Good job buddy!
-You always take your shoes off and place them right in the entry way. This doesn't sound like much but I can't get any of the other people in my house to do this.
-You started swimming like a fish this summer. You ditched the life jacket and love the freedom! Yea!
-You were frustrated the other day because you were struggling with something on the Wii. When I tried to help, I myself had a couple of failures so you said, "Now you feel my pain."
-You love to tell jokes right now. You love it so much that you are willing to tell the same one over and over to the same person over and over just in hopes of getting a few more laughs.
-You don't really like girls right now. You say that they "make you nervous". That's ok with me though. You made sure to clarify that it was only "wittle girls not big ones like me";)
-You were obsessed with Ninja Turtles for most of the past year which is why there are so many pictures of you with swords. You were a Ninja Turtle:) Then you moved onto an Indiana Jones obsession. You carried your woven belt around because mommy was too cheap to buy you a whip. Now you love Batman. You have a mask and Batman boomerang. Just wait until you see what you are getting for your birthday:)

First Day of 2nd Grade

Will is starting 2nd grade today. I am excited, nauseous, sad. The first day is always tough for me when Will heads out. As a kid, I loved the first day, new pencils, new lunchbox, new shoes. Of course there was always the little bit of apprehension. Will I know any of the other kids in my class? Will I like my teacher? But probably even before lunch, I would find at least one friend that I knew would soon be one of my best friends and I would know for sure that when I grew up, I would be a teacher:) But, now it is not me on my first day, but my eldest child, the family peacemaker, Sam's best friend, and Ike's protector. So I am sad to not have him around all day for the next 9 months. I am nauseous because I want him to find that best bud and love his new teacher. I am excited because this is Will's chance. It is his time to go and expand his world and create unlimited possibilities for his life. It is his time to not be the big brother or the oldest child. It is his time to be kind, funny, and/or helpful to someone else and maybe show them a little of the Jesus that lives inside him. Will is an amazing guy and as his mom, it hurt just a little to leave him at school today. But, as his mom I also felt pure joy at the beautiful boy he is becoming, the confidence he holds inside him, and the boundless opportunities that await him. Go get 'em Will!

We've Got Company!

Nana and Pawpaw came to visit for the Fourth of July holiday. I am proud to say that on this visit I actually remembered to take pictures. I guess I always get caught up in the moment and just forget to grab the camera. I still didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but I now have a goal for next time:)
Anyway, Nana and Pawpaw flew in on the Fourth. There was some confusion as to where they actually landed though. Springfield got a new airport. Not just a new terminal, a whole new airport. This caused confusion for those of us picking them up and especially for those flying in. However, we did retrieve them eventually so that was good;) We didn't do anything majorly adventurous while they were here, although I think Nana thinks my life is one treacherous activity after another, but we spent time together. With my parents in Florida, we rarely get to just do life together. This week, we went to the movies and tee ball games. We watched fireworks and ate popcorn. We went to Steal Your Dollar City (Silver Dollar City) with The Fleischman family for a day in the sun. It was really hot but great fun none the less. For a week we just got to be. My children got to spend time with their Nana and Pawpaw, and they loved it.
So thank you Nana and Pawpaw for spending a week of your vacation time with a very exhausting, unpredictable, but in my opinion, entertaining crowd. We love you and miss you already.