Guess who got their ears pierced!

Ansley has been asking us for a while if she could get her ears pieced, so on Monday after dance I took her to Claire's to get them pierced, but the lady working asked if I would bring her back in one day when there were two people working. She was afraid she might get one pierced and get too scared to get the second one done, so she wanted to wait and do both of them at the exact same time. So, tonight we went in there and she hopped right up in the chair, held the "Claire's Bear," and was so brave sitting there waiting on the two ladies to pierce her ears. She picked out the star earrings to be pierced, I signed the paper work, and then on the count of three she had both ears pierced. She tried so hard to not cry, but a few seconds after it was done the tears came, but only last for a few minutes. She was so excited and loves them!

Here she is right before:

And right after:

It didn't take long for those tears to go away and she was showing her ears off to everyone:

Vada Belle is 5 Months!

I can't believe our baby girl is already 5 months old! She is a whopping 11lbs. and 14 oz. (such a little thing!). She is already on the go by rolling herself across the floor, and Ansley thinks it is so funny that we'll lay her down in her play gym and a few minutes later she'll be on the other side of the living room. Vada Belle loves to play with toys and laugh at her big brother and sisters (who keep her very entertained).

 

 

She had a month or so where she was fussy and only wanted mommy, but thankfully we are over that and she is such a happy and easy go baby these days.



Apple Butter Making Day!

 Last Saturday (11/10/2012) my mom and dad wanted to make some apple butter, so they decided to have some people over, have a pot luck meal, and for everyone to have a great time. My mom of course can't have anything without having everything decorated perfectly. I can't believe I didn't take pictures of all of the beautiful fall decorations she had up everywhere, but you can see how lovely everything looked from these couple of pictures that shows just a little of the work she had done.

                     

Mom and dad had some cast iron pots cooking over the fire at their outdoor cooking station going, with one huge pot of chicken and dumplings, one with beans, one with some turnips and a skillet with some fried potatoes. Mom also fixed about 6 different delicious desserts, add that to all of the other food that everyone brought and it was one incredible meal!

Fried Potatoes, Chicken n' Dumplings, Turnips, & Beans

There were plenty of other delicious food and desserts!

 

We did more than just eat, though. The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline, shelling & grinding corn and feeding it to the chickens, riding the little cars, and rolling down the hill.

Caden, Brett, & Jackson (can you tell they were on the trampoline- notice the static in their hair)

Sweet Cousins

Here is Jackson giving a lesson on how to shell the corn: 

And here is Elsie teasing the poor chickens:

The adults enjoyed watching the kids do all of those fun things while stirring the apple butter, which we ended up with 82 pints of.

Frankie and Eric Stirring the Apple Butter

Putting the apple butter into the jars. 

The weather, the food, the company, all contributed to it being a perfect day! These smiles right here show just how wonderful the day was:

and this shows how exhausted the kids were by the end of the day:

 My only regret from this day is that it was kind of last minute planned (we were going to do it earlier, but then had to postpone because of snow) and I didn't invite many people that would have enjoyed spending the day helping out. At least there is always next year! :)

Flashback Friday

 Today I had a visit from some of my wonderful friends from high school. Don't you love those friends that you can go a while without talking to, but the moment you see one another it is like no time has passed since you have last seen one another? Thanks for bringing your sweet boys over, Lydia & Jennifer!

 Jay, Elsie, Cam & Ansley
(There are 3 kids missing in this picture- Jackson was at school, Vada Belle was asleep, and baby girl DuMont is still in her mommy's belly!) 

Me, Jenn & Lydia our senior year

I love you girls and your sweet kids!

Somebody's Ticklish!

I have never really been a ticklish person, but all four of my babies sure are! Here is little Vada Belle showing off how ticklish she is at 4.5 months:

Halloween 2012

This Halloween was definitely not like any other Halloween the kids have had before. We started our day off with breakfast, and then went outside to play in the snow. Yes... we played in the 8+ inches of snow that we got the day and night before. We went sledding and built a snowman (topped off with a pumpkin head) on Halloween- crazy!

 

Elsie, as you can see, was NOT a fan of the snow at all and didn't want off of that sled. She didn't last long and ended up going in the house and playing a game while Vada slept. Jackson and Ansley stayed out there a long time and sled as long as I would let them!



 

 

 

After we came in and warmed up with some hot chocolate, we got dressed and were ready to go Trick-or-Treating as the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Piggies!

Big Bad Wolf & The Three Little Pigs

I LOVE having them dress in themed costumes, but I know it won't be many more years until they all want to dress up as something different. So far though, they have been the ones that help me come up with these themes and have been so excited about them!

How adorably scary is this Big Bad Wolf:

(The black eye is from a couple nights before, during the snow & crazy winds, the power went out and he was walking and tripped, and hit his eye on the table- ouch!)

Our Princess Piggy:

 

Our sassy and wild piggy:

 

and our littlest piggy celebrating her first Halloween:

 

I lucked up and found Jackson, Ansley & Elsie's costumes all on eBay for great deals, and I crocheted little Vada Belle's diaper cover and hat.

The kids love dressing up all the time, so they spent a long time actually playing the roles that they were dressed up as. Here the big bad wolf is blowing down this little pigs house. Love them!

 

Cute little piggy tails:

 

Because of the weather many places postponed Trick-or-Treating until later in the week, and then one place had theirs on Tuesday night, so we ended up dressing the kids up and taking them to different places on Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday night, and our church had their little fall party where the kids dressed up last Saturday (and had a great time!). Tuesday night they got to trick-or treat in the snow, but this was the first year that they were old enough to run up to the doors by themselves, knock, and get their candy, so the snow didn't slow them down at all. Jackson was shy about it at first, but Ansley just marched right up to the doors and didn't mind knocking at all. I would carry Elsie from driveway to driveway and would then let her run up to the door with her brother and sister. Daddy and Vada Belle waited for us in the car, because it was too cold for her to be out! On Wednesday night we went to the ridiculously packed mall, and then around to some trunk or treats and trick or treating in a couple of neighborhoods. By the end of that night the kids were arguing about whose turn it was to knock on the door and say trick or treat! Friday night we went to Mount Vernon's "God's Big Story Family Fellowship" and it was AMAZING! Thanks to everyone there that spends so many hours preparing and putting on this wonderful event every year.

So, if you have a candy craving anytime soon, please come by our house and our kids will be more than happy to share! :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

 









Our Pumpkin Carvings

Ever since we went and picked our pumpkins last Wednesday, Jackson has been asking non-stop if we could carve them. I'll go ahead and admit it- I do not like or enjoy carving pumpkins. I am not an artistic person at all, and getting the pumpkins cleaned out is just gross to me. Maybe it is because I don't ever remember carving pumpkins when I was little (and if you know my mom this won't surprise you- right, mom!). When I was a kid we would have the coolest Halloween decorations... stuffed zombies, witches, ghost, etc. all throughout the yard and would even have the spooky music going on a cassette player, but never would you see a carved pumpkin at our house. The first time I really remember carving a pumpkin was my freshman year in college there was a pumpkin carving contest that my friend Emma and I decided to enter at our dorm (thankfully Emma was artistic and probably did most of the work-ha!).  Since then Eric and I have carved some throughout our married years, but when my sweet little 5 year old kept asking if we could carve one, I knew it was something I was just going to have to get over and do. Thankfully on Saturday night Eric came home a little early from working and told the kids to go grab their pumpkin and he was going to help them carve them- yes, carve more than one pumpkin. He said they each could pick out something to carve on their pumpkin and he would help them out. Jackson wanted a scary Jack-o-lantern face, Ansley wanted Ariel, and Elsie wanted Mickey and Minnie on hers. So, Eric grabbed a marker, outlined what each kid wanted on their pumpkin, and they were SO excited!

Eric drawing the outline for Elsie's Minnie & Mickey pumpkin

Eric then scraped the inside of each pumpkin and told the kids they could reach inside and get all of the yucky stuff out. Jackson started gagging- he is my child. :) 

Then Jackson and Ansley started poking holes and cutting on the outline that daddy drew for them:

Elsie stayed busy playing with the different pumpkin tools, even if she was only working on the "lid" of the pumpkin:

They had fun and were so excited with their finished pumpkins:

Vada Belle and I helped out by finding some candles to put inside, and taking the pictures! :)

My friend had posted this prayer from another blog that you can say while carving pumpkins. I didn't see this until after we carved ours, but will definitely have to remember this for next year! 

Pumpkin Prayer:

Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you and the world you created.
(Take off the top of the pumpkin.)

Remove the things in my life that don’t please you, including my seeds of doubt.
(Pull out the bag of seeds.)

Open my eyes and help me to see your ways.
(Remove the eyes.)

Open my ears and help me to hear your voice, so I may learn how you want me to live.
(Remove the ears.)

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned up my nose at the things you want me to do.
(Remove the nose.)

Let everything I say please you, and help me spread your word to others.
(Remove the mouth.)

Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do.
(Place a candle inside and light it. Then turn off the lights)

Amen.
(From: http://catholicicing.com/2011/10/keep-hallow-in-halloween/)

Also, I have heard this before, but just love it!

Being a good person is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all of the yucky stuff — including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see!

 Happy Pumpkin Carving!