March 2011

March 1- did school, had fun with the kiddos, read books, listened to ephram's sweet voice counting (usually starting at 3), did puzzles, listened to kinsey girl read (doing better daily), had great talks with the oldest two, edited papers, cleaned as a team:), played outside, picnicked, and taught a coupon class.

March 2-met beth at ww, ran 3 with cailey, did school, took ephram/kinsey to storytime at the library and ended up seeing addison and caroline there, picnicked, took kinsey and braden to swimming lessons, met up with marsie and kiddos at McD's for dinner, and served at awanas.

March 3- did school, had to cancel a park date, playdate, and meeting because I got a stomach 'thing' while teaching science, kiddos played outside in the cool sunshine, watched a sweet big girl love on her brother and play/dance/count/sing/make 'flashcards' with him 'just because' in the afternoon, listened to kinsey girl read, happy to see ephram is over his teething (yay), and prayed for healing.

March 4- met beth to run 9 (in the 20's) and figured out that I still had a stomach thing so went back home to bed after a mile, stayed home from co op, rested a lot, read to my babies, listened, was showered with crafts and homemade cards, kiddos spent a lot of time outside in the gorgeous weather, cailey went to her american girl (mother/daughter) book club in the evening and had a great time (i had to stay home), listened to my very tired girl tell me all about it, and wiped tears.

March 5- brian took kiddos to a home depot workshop to make a car, played outside, went to honeycutt park, played outside the rest of the day, kids ate green eggs and ham for kids dinner while brian read them the book (dr.seuss week:), and watched prince caspian with the kiddos.

March 6- tried out the summit (church), went to lunch with the klicks, enjoyed listening to the rain/thunderstorm with the kiddos, choir and bible study for the kiddos, listened to cailey's first song that she composed on the piano, and played 'humpty dumpty', popping toy, and cars with ephram.

March 7- ran 7 with beth (lots of walking), did school, tutored H, had the williams over for lunch and playtime, took C to swimming, did an AWANA interview for two sweet girls, watched my big girl learn independence (by finally learning to wash her own hair), loved hearing the conversations my sweet baby has, had a great school/journal/reading/math time with kinsey, and had a sleepover with Cailey.

March 8- had Braeden over for a playdate, played lots of games with kinsey, fractions, fractions, fractions, listen to my amazing girl practice piano, made strawberry pancakes with strawberry/nutella 'syrup' for dinner, did a new reading game with kinsey, went out to eat with some moms for a new (to me) co op, came home to find 2 empty boxes of granola bars (sigh..braden), and prayed.

March 9- ran a little and went to ww with beth (down8), did school, took kiddos on a great field trip to the police station, ate lunch w/ the klicks, took kinsey and braden to swimming lessons, did more school, packed up again, took cailey to swimming lessons at the Y, ate dinner w/ williams at cfa, served at awana, listened to fun times had at awana, and crashed.

March 10- watched sweet alex all day, had addison over (who Cailey LOVED playing with), heard a loud musical parade, watched babies get loved on, did school, played sorting beads and puzzles with the babies, tutored ashton, sent kiddos with daddy to get gloves, etc. for baseball, and had a great talk about lent.

note: i just love how much ephram loves carrying three red cars, the moon, doggies, biscuits, 'hinkle hinkle little star'

March 11- co op, hugs, cleaned as a team:), swimming lessons, nice chat with beth, dinner out with just kiddos and katherine, dance party with sweet kiddos, canceled sleepover w/ tricia b/c she's sick:(, brian working late:(, great prayer time and lent talk, in bed by 8, crashed.

March 12- softball, baseball, and t ball practice back to back at three different locations, brian working all day, GORGEOUS weather, lots of playing outside, hanging out with my sweet kiddos, surprise treats and wii night when daddy got home, and spring forward.

March 13- new church (journey) with williams and hilemans, lunch out together...great fellowship time for all, thankful to have daddy home, HOT weather, walks, daddy played catch with the kiddos, playgrounds, choir, time together.

March 14- school, fun field trip to cici's, we all made new friends, school, played games, read books, chased a sweet prince, colored with kinsey, lots of math, cleaned up after kinsey who decided she HAD to change ephram's poopy diaper, swimming for cailey, a 'time capsule' scout meeting for braden, played cars with ephram (who can now be found carrying two or three around at all times), and read with my sweet biggest babies.

March 15-great school day, bible study with kiddos, games, hugs, chasing, piano lessons, adding fractions, baking, reading, sang lots of 'rain rain go away' with ephram, played outside later in the day, ephram 'learned' to throw his doggie OUT of the crib over and over again, and gave more hugs:).

March 16- school, swimming lessons for all, awana, baked a rainbow cake with kinsey, got 'green' clothes picked out with braden, read lots of books to ephram, sang songs, played cars, more sneaking from b, planned st. pat's day crafts, and talked. and listened. and LOVED seeing cailey get excited about her 'kindergarten' lunchbox that she used ALL year and remembered it from when she was little:). my how quickly time passes.

March 17- had a green day!, made mint smoothies/green pancakes/put clouds on the rainbow cake/green mac and cheese/green broccoli/green peas, had sweet alex all day, met kelly at farm days for a field trip with the kiddos (and didn't get lost:), had ashton over for a playdate, sent braden (and ephram) to baseball practice with daddy while the girls and i read books and played together, and listened to ephram tell me all about his time on the playground.

March 18- went to co op and did shamrock fun, listened to how much fun the kiddos had, watched my baby boy go by in the wagon with his bff (carter), big kids played outside in the 80 degree weather while the two littlest slept, took cailey to swimming, sent kinsey to tball with williams, gave out rainbow cake to lots of friends, got cailey ready for softball practice, quickly fed kiddos, went to legacy finale to check out what the kids have been doing in co op where we all came back together again (after 2 practices:), found out carter was sick and instead of a family/friend road trip just kelly, katherine, and i would be going tomorrow.

March 19- cailey had softball, road trip with kelly and katherine to the race in VA beach, kiddos played outside, lunch at cfa, hospital the rest of the day until brian came, kiddos were with brandon and his parents until we came home, brian took the bunk beds out of girls room and put them in the boys room, ephram started sleeping in his big boy bed, and dizziness/nausea continued all night for me.

March 20- rested, got lots of hugs, kinsey and braden had ball practice, choir for biggest three, organized, kiddos played outside, and march madness continued.

March 21- school, rested, sent out picnic lunches, warm weather perfect for outside play, swimming for cailey while others played at the Y, listened to reading, added more word wall words, called auntie anne, daddy came home early, and watched the kiddos have a musical at home.

March 22- school, did door art with three oldest all afternoon while ephram slept (for 3 1/2 hours!), watched/helped paint, color, glue, dot, etc, lots of outside play for kiddos (85 degrees!) sent all but kinsey to baseball (b/c she had a tummyache...so she watched a movie), baked mini muffins and pudding pie with kinsey when she felt better to surprise everyone else with, and spent lots of time praying and hugging.

March 23- school, super doubles, team cleanup, made 'hot lunches', served pudding pie, swim lessons for all, watched ephram carry his yellow bus everywhere (even swimming), devotion time with cailey, organized, tricia took kiddos to awana (more stomach pain), read books, played trains, played with pretend food, played cars and buses with ephram, listened to awana stories, gave girls aerobed to sleep on (which they thought was AWESOME) and tucked in babies.

March 24- quick school, quick run to HT, aunt laura and kiddos here all day:), lots of catching up, kiddos played outside most of the day, laughing, playground time, tball for kinsey, softball for cailey, sleepover, awesome, much needed.

March 25- played with welch's, played with alex and ashton, played with william's, had klick's over for lunch (and playtime), made brownies with friends, did arts and crafts with friends, swept a dozen times from all the babies:), had a baby who didn't want to share mommy (and said, "my seat" when alex sat in my lap, loved catching up with everyone and having everyone over, sent girls off to ashton's for a SUPER fun sleepover, ran errands with the boys, gave boys HUGE cupcakes (from cheryl), stayed up until 2 am, and had eshleman's here to help with extreme makeover: girl's room edition..which is a HUGE surprise!!

March 26- woke up too early, did some finishing touches on the girls room, played with the boys, ran errands, revealed the surprise to my sweet girls, listened to sleepover stories, baseball and softball practice, took a nap, ephram came to me and said, "snuggle mommy", had to wake kinsey from a 4 1/2 hour nap, and super tired Cailey fell asleep for the night at 5...three late nights in a row will do that!

March 27- cold rainy day, girls enjoyed their new room all day, kiddos ran errands with daddy, tball practice canceled, bible study and choir, UNC lost, sick kinsey, sneaky braden, loved on sweet kiddos.

March 28- a new day, great school day, swim team, playtime outside, perfect cold weather (sunny and 50), yummy shoyu chicken, read lots to the kiddos, listened, two trips to HT for super doubles, colored with kinsey and ephram, made 'strawberries and cream' for the kiddos, sent braden to scouts with daddy, and watched ephram go on a wagon ride.

March 29- school, had the treichler's over for a super fun playdate, afternoon play outside in the sunshine, trip to ht after naptime, lots of great talks, met brian at chili's for kid's night, sent the girls and brian off to tball practice, and went shopping with my sweet boys.

March 30- school, rainy downpour, swimming lessons for middle two, reading with cailey, swimming for cailey, baked pink cookies with kinsey, hot lunch on a cold rainy day, cfa for dinner with williams and eshlemans (and saw more awana friends), awana, snuggled my baby boy who fell out of bed:(, and had an excited biggest girl who couldn't sleep (in anticipation of being a mommy's helper to addison).

March 31- school, sent cailey home with beth to be a mommy's helper, tutored A, softball rained out, chased, tickled, laughed, cherished bathtime with the baby, played the 'listening game' and 'the present game' with the youngest two, watched daddy tickling and playing horsey on the floor, laughed more, and watched ephram (and the others) eat his first lollipop:).

changes...

Brian's been talking about changing churches for a while and we finally started looking for a new church home back in January. It's been really tough finding 'everything' we want (great preaching, great worship AND an amazing kids/youth program). We are learning that this 'dream' church may not exist so we're re evaluating what exactly we're looking for. We LOVED our other church and nothing really happened that caused us to leave other than there aren't many third grade girls and Cailey really needs some friends. Good friends who can grow up with her and encourage her in her walk. For a while we tried a church that the girls friends, Emilee and Rebekah went to and went out to lunch with them afterwards on a nice sunny day. We had a great time talking with them and getting to know the family. Cailey and Kinsey have really enjoyed getting to know these sweet girls and get to see them every week at AWANAS. For now our search continues but we feel like we are close to choosing a church. We thought it would be hard on the kids to go to new places for three months (we've visited three churches over the weeks) but so far they've had a great time and loved different things about them all. The one we're currently at is by far their favorite so we're going to try it out a few more weeks before deciding.

alex

We have the privilege of watching sweet Alex (who was adopted from Korea) every week and the kiddos absolutely love playing with him! They are all great with him but Cailey and Braden especially love reading to him, playing ball, teaching him things, and watching him sleep.

'Twins' at the park and sweet alex sleeping while Braden reads. Cailey sat and watched him sleep almost the whole time and kept saying how precious he was:).

Alex even helps cailey practice the piano:)!

week 1 we went to the klick's for playtime then to a park for a picnic and playtime.

week 2 we went to a fun playdate with friends at Barnes and Noble then out to lunch

week 3 they played with musical instruments, had a playdate with addison, did crafts, had a parade and more!

arts and crafts...chalkboard painting and making a hat

he loved it!

watching siblings play outside

week 4 our matchy boys went to farm days then came home and played potato heads, read books, took naps, ran around, and ate rainbow cake.

We are having so much fun playing with Alex and Ephram walks around constantly saying, "Where Ayex go?" If you ask him who his friends are he say, "Carter and Ayex". SO sweet!

Big Boy Bed!

Look who's in a big boy bed!! We moved Ephram out of the crib on March 19 (21 months old) and he did great! We've always moved our little ones into a bed before they were 2 because we were always 'expecting' another one and wanted them to be used to the bed. In Ephram's case I plan on stopping the thumb sucking in May, and potty training in June and we took care of the bed transition so that everything wouldn't happen at once. SO many big boy changes! I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up!

Brian moved the bunk beds from the girls room into the boys room and they've been sleeping in them ever since. So far Ephram hasn't come out and doesn't seem to be bothered that he can't see Braden anymore (now that he's above him). He does great at nap time and bed time...doesn't seem to even think it's different than the crib and certainly doesn't try to get out. A couple times he's dropped his doggie and we've had to rescue it but other than that he's done awesome!

naptime

Spring Legacy Finale

This spring in co op cailey took a Wild West class and recorder.
Kinsey and Braden took Dave Ramsey for kids and picture books.
(Kinsey was at tball practice for the first hour of the finale)

cailey's music class played 'mary had a little lamb' and 'old macdonald'...they did great!

Mrs. King was their teacher for the money class.

can't forget my littlest prince who was loved on every week by
his sweet teachers and got to spend his time playing with
his bff, carter! they were running, jumping, laughing, hugging,
giving 'high fives' and sharing food. sweet baby boys!

It is always great for Daddy to be able to come and see what the kiddos have done in co op.

Farm Days

I took the kiddos on a field trip to Farm Days and first up was the chicks! All the kiddos loved the chicks but Kinsey didn't want to hold it once she saw that it could poop on her:). Ephram loved it until he saw it moved. Cailey and Braden could have stayed there for hours...they held both chicken chicks and turkey chicks!

Cailey said, "Look! A fawn!" Great Science lesson...it's a foal:). They loved watching the foal because it was teething and kept eating the caretakers shirt.

They saw three different types of cows and calves. A giant bull, dairy cow, and beef cow. They definitely noticed how different they looked and it was a great learning opportunity. Next up they tried to lasso a bull.


The kiddos loved watching the pigs, sheep, and baby goats.




they loved watching the animals and could have stayed here all day!

ephram wanted to climb the fence....everyone else wanted to pet the baby goats

kinsey wanted to hug the 'cow' as soon as we got there but there was a long
line. we came back later and got some quality time with it. it's so funny to me how
much she LOVES characters after being so scared of them for such a long time.

bunnies!

back to the chicks...for the third time:)

they wanted to sit on the tractors and waited in a LONG line so
very patiently

while they were waiting the klick's came. cailey was SO excited to sit in this enormous
tractor after waiting so long.

GIANT green tractor.

the kiddos actually ASKED for pics:)

freshly made ice cream

everyone got their favorite flavor....some chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry!

ephram and alex loved it too! sweet cailey

after ice cream the kiddos took a break by the pond and played duck duck goose, tag, and follow the leader.


one last stop to see the chicks on the way out...after three hours of farm fun:)!