Weekend at the Lake

This past weekend we were able to finally go spend the weekend with my sister, Tiffany, and her family at their beautiful lake house. Our other sister, Jessica and her fiance, as well as our parents, were able to come, so we all had a fantastic time. The kids had a wonderful time jumping off of the dock, splashing around in the water, learning how to do the paddle board, riding on the boat and the jet skis, but enjoyed most of all the time that they got to play with Abigail and Amelia. 

We tried to do an updated picture of all the cousins, but trying to get 6 kids and 1 infant to look at the camera at the same time is a nearly impossible task. Here are some of the better shots we got. 

 And of course they had to do a silly face picture:

When we were leaving to come home on Sunday, we had several kids in the back crying because they were so sad to be leaving their cousins. Anytime we get to see Abigail and Amelia lately, when we leave Ansley gets so sad because she "just loves them so much," and then Elsie was crying before we ever got into the van and said she was going home with Uncle Mark. Needless to say, they had a fantastic time and it was a great closing to our summer. Thanks Mark and Tiffany for sharing your beautiful home with us! 

August 2015

August was such a whirlwind of a month with having a newborn, Jackson and Ansley starting back to school with Elsie joining them this year and lots of other fun moments including...
We started out the very first day of August by having an all day Bible School at church. Felix and I ended up coming home for an hour or so during the day (because being 3 days old and 3 days postpartum can be a bit rough...) but the big kids had a blast and were exhausted by the end of the day.

 We then spent the next day, the last day of summer before school started back, going to church, Mamaw Ollie's for lunch, and then an afternoon of playing on the slip n' slide and in the pool at mamaw and papaw's house. Here is Felix (wearing the outfit his daddy wore home from the hospital! Felix was only 4.5 pounds bigger than Eric at birth! Ha!) exhausted after his first Sunday at church at 4 days old.

 Slip n' slide and pool fun... soaking up every second of summer that we possibly can:

Elsie didn't have to go to school the first day that Jackson and Ansley did (since Kindergarten does a staggered start), and I enjoyed spending my last day with my girl before she started kindergarten getting lots of hugs and kisses. Then after her first day she had another day off, and of course her and Vada Belle had to spend part of their day in the water table (they love this!). A few pictures of Felix and his first days at home:

The next week at church Jackson decided he was going to be the "baby hog" and had to hold his baby brother through the entire service. We then went to Granny Ollie's for lunch where Felix got to meet his baby cousin, Adaline (who was born just 3 days after him)!

 After lunch we went to Tweetsie to see Riders in the Sky and enjoy a fun family afternoon together.

 In August Felix got to meet some more special people. He got to meet his great grandparents Pearl and Nulan, his great Aunt Pam, Grandpa David and Uncle Marshall, and many, many more friends and family.

In August, Felix also learned that mom will always have a camera in his face. Sorry, kid.

Felix had a lot of "firsts" this month. First bath, first trips, first smile, first stroller rides, etc. His older siblings were right there cheering him on through each moment. He also had his first ultrasound, where we learned that he has Hydronephrosis and we ended up having to go to Morristown to a specialist because of this. Thankfully right now it isn't so bad that he has to have surgery, but the doctor wants to see him back in 3 months just to keep an eye on the issue. He said that it isn't causing Felix any pain or damaging the kidney at this moment, so we were very thankful about that.  Felix doesn't really love to sleep at night, but we're hoping he will change his mind about that soon!

 Elsie also had her 5 year old (and mandatory for school) check-up, and she was 3' 5", 39 lbs. and checked out wonderfully!

Felix and I passed thrush back and forth to one another in August, and I also got mastitis as well (my first time getting it and I am thankful that I didn't have to suffer through that while nursing the other 4- ouch!). We thankfully were able to clear it up with some antibiotics.
We celebrated several birthdays in August, and here is a picture of all the kids with "Aunt" Jenny on her birthday, and me and my babies on my birthday. The other pictures are of Vada Belle with her bowl of pickles and olives (her daily lunch request), her loving on her baby brother, and the amazing stack of diapers and wipes that our wonderful friends, family and church family gave to baby Felix.

 August is also when the girls dance lessons start back, and Jackson started taking banjo lessons this month! So exciting!

At the end of the month I got to go wedding dress shopping with the Bride-to-be, my sister Jessica, and my other sister and our mom. I got lots of pics of the bride, but of course all of them were in wedding dresses! She found "the dress," though, and she looks stunning in it! Baby Felix got to tag along with us ladies while Eric took the other four kids to see Matthew West and hang out at the Appalachian Fair. 

Felix turned 1 month old on August 29th, and at one month he is smiling, loves to be held, and just hasn't figured out this sleeping thing yet. I'm guessing he weighs around 10.5lbs. and as you can see in his weekly pictures he is growing so fast. We love having this new member to our family this past month, and know how blessed we all are that he is ours! 

And one more picture of my sweet babes:

Ansley Kate is 7!

In the blink of an eye our little princess Ansley is 7 years old!

At seven Ansley loves anything that deals with arts and crafts (especially making bracelets!), dressing up (in Princess dresses or regular dresses with matching accessories to school), anything that involves with being outdoors, dancing, playing Legos with her brother, playing "house" and princesses with her little sisters, and she is such a wonderful helper with her baby brother, as well as any other thing that I may ask her to help me do. She absolutely loves any and all animals (even insects and one day she got really upset with Elsie when she tried to kill an ant in their bedroom), taking care of our chickens, ducks and turkeys and reading (Junie B. Jones is one of her favorites!),  She says her favorite color is yellow, food is couscous, and that when she grows up she wants to either work at Wilderness in the Smokies, Dollywood or Disney World.

On her birthday she opened her gifts from us before she went to school, and she wanted to wear her new Nemo dress she got:

When she got off of the bus, Vada Belle couldn't wait to greet her with a "Happy Birthday" balloon and a hug. Ansley then opened up some birthday mail she received before we rushed off to take Elsie to dance class. Ansley then chose Los Arcos for her birthday supper and then we went to Granny Ollie's for some birthday cake! When we finally made it home for the night, she had one more cake and set of candles that she had to blow out and make a wish with!

 Los Arcos and Birthday Cake:

 Ansley with some of her presents and her family on her birthday:

After thinking and thinking Ansley finally decided that she wanted to have a little party at Claire's for her birthday party. I wasn't sure of what to expect (since I just saw a small table set up one day in the mall that said they did birthday parties), but Ansley's absolute favorite store right now is Claire's and she picked their "spa day" package. It was actually an adorable little party (but small since you were only allowed 6-7 girls) and all of these girls there seemed to have a wonderful time.

Doing some facials:

 Nail Painting:

 After getting pampered each girl got to go into the store and pick out a glittery nail file, lip gloss, and an adorable sleep mask! Besides those items, Ansley also got to get some make-up, nail polish, a birthday sash and a birthday tiara.

After the party the brothers of these gals met up with us at a park for some pizza and birthday cake.

 She got to finish off her fun night with her cousins spending the night with her:

Such a fun party and day for our little prissy princess! 

Happy 7th Birthday, Ansley Kate! We love and are so proud of the smart, caring, loving and beautiful little lady you are turning into.