October 2015

October is one of my favorite months of the year, and this year was no exception! We made our yearly camping trip with Eric's extended family to Adventure Camp and although it was rainy and cold, we still had a lot of fun hanging out by the warm fire and spending time with cousins.

The kids:

We went to Ghost Train on 10/16/2015 and Ansley and daddy were the only two brave enough to go through the Haunted House.  Ansley was squeezing Eric's arm pretty tight when she came out! Everyone rode the Ghost Train, though!

Felix had to go to Knoxville's Children's Hospital on the 20th for another ultrasound as well as a VCUG. His left kidney is still enlarged, but thankfully at this time it isn't so large that the doctor wants to do surgery. He does want to keep an eye on it, so we will be returning in three months for another ultrasound. Here he is in the hotel the night before, and him before and after his VCUG. When in Knoxville he has to sport his UT shirt! 

After Felix's VCUG we rushed back home so we could go watch Elise at her watch day at dance. She is beyond excited that she is playing a mouse in the Nutcracker this year!

Vada Belle at her watch day at dance:

Ansley Kate at watch day. She is looking so grown up these days:

A few silly candid pictures from the month:

We went on our last trip to Tweetsie for the season near the end of the month. My grandmother gives us money at Christmas and we purchased our season passes with that money, so thanks again Mamaw Ollie for allowing us to go to Tweetsie and making some fun memories! Some days it was a little rough when I was by myself, very pregnant, with four kids running around there, but they really did have a great time every time we went!

We all love when Eric is able to go with us (especiallly since the big kids can only do a couple of the rides when he is there!).

The kids also had spirit week one week this month. Here they are a couple of days during that week on college day and wacky tacky day. 

One night Vada Belle left her lovie in the car and I told her I would go get it for her. When I came back to the house I found her crawling out of the doggie door because she said she couldn't get the door open. The other picture is her eating cake for breakfast because sometimes you are just having one of those days! 

A few pictures of my handsome boys:

On October 29th Felix turned three months old. He is growing and changing every single day. The "new baby" smell is just about faded away, but every now and then I get a sniff and just soak it in because I know one day all too soon it was be completely gone. He loves blowing raspberries, attention from his brother and sisters, and not letting mommy and daddy get a lot of sleep at night. Just look at his sweet smile!

Jessica and Craig's Wedding Shower

My sister is getting married! Jessica and Craig are getting married in December and on October 25th we had her first shower at mom and dad's house. Mom did a fantastic job like always with the decorating. 

 Dad got out the apple cider press and we all enjoyed the fresh, delicious apple cider!

The future bride and groom:

 And some candid shots of the fun day spent with family and friends:

Congratulations Jessica and Craig! We can't wait until your wedding day!

September 2016

September was so much fun with celebrating Ansley's birthday, visiting with our cousins at Smith Mountain Lake, camping at Cataloochee and then the usual school, dance,and banjo routine. Not only was it a fun month, but exhausting to the little two:

 Some sweet pictures of our baby Felix:

 Uncle Marshall turned 30 in September and had a fun party at his house. We thought and thought about what to give him, and the kids and Eric decided on giving him two of our chickens (it was two that we hatched out in our incubator and the kids have played with since they were born.)  I don't know exactly what he thought about them at first, but then he seemed to warm up to the idea of being a chicken owner and having the responsibility of taking care of the two chickens.

A couple of pictures of my sweet Vada Belle, even if she does draw pictures like this. She said, "Mommy, here is a picture of you when you were mad." She keeps me on my toes and laughing all day everyday.

Ansley and Elsie in their Snow White dresses. 

We celebrated Eric's 35th Birthday at the end of September! We are so thankful of the wonderful husband and father that he is.  He works so hard for us every single day, only to come home and show us nonstop love. Thank you, Eric. We love you and you're the best!

Baby Felix is now 2 months old! He loves to smile as long as mama is holding him. He hasn't figured out this whole sleeping thing, yet, but we are really hoping he does soon. The big kids love having a baby brother to love and hug on. He weighs around 11 pounds and 1 ounce and is 1' 11'' tall.

Cataloochee 2015

Last weekend was our annual camping trip to Cataloochee to spend the weekend with the elk, deer, and bears. Our camping crew was a bit smaller this year since some of the usual campers had other plans, but those of us that were able to go had a great time.

Jackson took a notebook and had to journal everything we did, as well as any other interesting thing he saw. Ansley enjoyed practicing her handstands and cartwheels without having to worry about knocking over anything . Elsie loved all the time she got to spend with her grandparents and aunts. Vada Belle was excited about all of the sweets that her Mamaw Di and Aunt Pam brought for the kids. Felix has been a needy baby lately, but he was a totally different baby the entire weekend. It was rainy and cold for a lot of the time we were there, but I had him in a snuggly little snowsuit and I would lay him in his little swing and he was so content. He absolutely loved being outdoors!

 Since it was so rainy for a lot of our trip this time, we weren't able to go on any really long hikes (hiking for several hours with 5 wet kids didn't sound like a fantastic time). We did get to go see the elk and visit the usual tourist spots in Cataloochee, though.

Although it was cold and very rainy, we all stayed warm and dry at night in our tent.

 Sunday before we left the weather finally broke a little, and we were able to enjoy some nice little walks through the woods before we headed home.

 Here Vada Belle is with what she said was her "baby pineapple," or better known as a pine cone. Also, notice the hot chocolate that is all over her jacket. Another sweet smiling picture of Baby Felix loving being outside and Jackson and Vada inside on the barns.

 The kids hanging out at our campsite and checking out the spring house in the woods:

 While we were visiting the old school building, there happened to be a large elk that walked right up near where we were. I grabbed the kids and made them all come inside the school, but we loved that we were right up close to him.

Despite the rain and cold weather, we still had a fantastic time. We've already got our spot for next year booked, and hopefully it won't be so rainy then. 

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: