March 2015

Some of our moments from our very busy month of March:
I already posted the pictures from Ansley's watch week at dance, but Elsie's and Vada Belle's had to be postponed a week due to snow on their original day. Here are some pictures from their watch days at dance:
Elsie's class:

 Vada Belle's Class:

We took all four kids to the dentist for a check-up this month, and this was Vada Belle's first visit. Vada is very skiddish of loud and different noises, and I just wasn't thinking when I took her back with me when it was time to get Elsie's teeth cleaned. Elsie had the head phones on watching the television on the ceiling and was laughing non-stop, so it wasn't like she was doing anything that was making Vada Belle nervous. But- every time the hygienist would start to use a new tool to clean Elsie's teeth, Vada would bury her head into my chest, cover her ears with her lovie, and would get very tense. By the time the hygienist was finished with Elsie and ready to start on Vada Belle, Vada wanted nothing to do with those loud things. She cried and was by no where close to being a star patient. :) Thankfully though we left with no cavities and Vada Belle was fine once she got to choose her gift and even had no problem letting the dentist look and finish with her teeth.
Elsie exhausted after a fun sleepover with friends.
The picture of the kettle is the sap Eric collected from our maple trees and he was boiling it down to make some maple syrup- yummy!

The kids got to go skating for their very first time at a skating rink for one of their friends, Dillon's, birthday party. They all loved it and I was quite impressed with how well Jackson just went out there and did. They all fell many times, but just jumped back up and kept going. What a fun birthday party it was.

Elsie and Vada Belle found a fun mud puddle to play in, and couldn't wait for Jackson and Ansley to get off the bus so they could join in on the fun:

The leprechaun came back this year on St. Patrick's Day, but once again we didn't get to catch or see him. Jackson did leave a note for him saying he would like a picture of what he looks like, so at least he did leave that for Jackson. Here are a few pics of the kids in their St. Patrick's Day green:

The girls got to go to their friend, Ava's, Princess birthday party, and Princess Belle even made a special visit there. What a fun party and Becky had everything decorated just beautiful.

A few random pictures:
-Every night is basically a sleepover in this house. The kids love to pile into one of their rooms and sleep with each other.

-Jackson with one of his Lincoln Logs creations

-Elsie taking a break from shopping

-Vada Belle "hiding" from me when I told her it was time to take a nap

-Our first duck eggs from our ducks! (I know that is a chicken in the picture, but I promise the eggs are duck eggs)

-Here are a few pictures of the kids putting some of our duck and chicken eggs into our incubator so hopefully we will get some baby animals in a few weeks. They are so excited about doing this.
-My three sick little girls waiting at the doctor's office. They all were running high fevers and were feeling awful, but after strep and flu test, the doctor said that it was just a viral infection. Thankfully after a few days they were feeling much better.
-I find little drawings and writings all over the house. Here is one I just loved that Elsie drew of our family, including baby brother.

I have no idea where they get it from (obviously NOT from their mother), but my girls are obsessed and love to put on make-up. I think they can do just as good job of putting it on than I can. :)

Date Night to the "Love Ran Red" Tour

For this past Christmas Eric's parents gave Eric and I tickets to the Love Ran Red tour in Johnson City. Chris Tomlin is a favorite singer of mine and Eric's, so we were both so excited to go see him in concert. We were even more thrilled when we found out that Rend Collective and Tenth Avenue North were the bands that would be playing in this tour as well. Eric's parents came over earlier on that Saturday to watch the kids, so we even got to go out to dinner just the two of us!

Freedom Hall in Johnson City is a smaller venue, so even though we were on the second level, our seats were fantastic. Rend Collective started the concert out, and I fell even more in love with their songs.

Next playing was Tenth Avenue North, and they were amazing! One of my favorite songs that they sing is "Worn."

We were surprised that during the song "You Are More" that the lead singer left the stage and not only went out into the audience, but he also climbed a ladder and came to the second level where he stood and finished out the song while shaking audience members hands the whole time. (Sorry for the poor filming- I was too busy trying to figure out where he went for a second or two- ha!). 

Chris Tomlin then came out and sang many of his classic songs as well as some new songs off of his new album. He did a question and answer session during the middle of his concert (he had audience members tweet questions in before he went on stage and then they gave him some to answer during this time), and that was wonderful. The passion and love he has for God is so obvious in his songs and it was an amazing night of worship to be there singing along worshiping our Savior with so many others. Here are a few clips from when he took the stage:

                                                   Jesus Messiah                                                     

I Will Follow

"The Table"

At the end of the concert all three groups came out and sang "10,000 Reasons" together. 

Also, as part of our Christmas present, David and Winkie bought us meet and greet tickets for after the concert to meet Chris Tomlin. So exciting!!!

What an amazing and memorable night it was!

Surprise! We're expecting Baby #5!

Back in November I started not feeling very well. I was so tired all the time and one morning when I woke up and was so nauseous and was throwing up, Eric looked at me and said..... "Ummm- Wendy?" I didn't take a pregnancy test, but it was pretty obvious not too many days after that, that I was in fact pregnant with baby #5. We didn't tell anyone for a while. One night in January my Papaw Nulan was in the ICU and was very sick. Many of our family members were there because he had a very rough day, and the ICU waiting room was full of our family. My mom decided to go back to his room, and since she had a broken knee cap, I decided to walk back there with her. Both of my mom's sisters were back there and as soon as my mom and I walked into his room, the surgeon walked in with the results of some test they did earlier that day. As she was talking to us I remember thinking how hot it was getting in there. Then I thought that I needed to walk down to the waiting room to get my Mamaw so she could hear what the surgeon was saying, but I just couldn't right then because the room was starting to spin around. Then I remember looking at the surgeon and thinking, I can't hear anything she is saying right now. I started to get even more dizzy so I thought I would just lean against my mom (who was in a walker with her broken knee cap) and that is the last thing I remember for a little bit. The next thing I know I'm leaned back in a recliner and a nurse is checking my blood pressure, my heart beat, poking my finger and I keep hearing people ask me, "Is there any way you could possibly be pregnant." I didn't respond for a while and then I hear them asking Eric, who was now back in the room, too. I think he just ignored them for a while, which made the answer a bit obvious. The next day while sitting in my mom's living room floor, she asked me again, even though she obviously knew the answer, and then reminded me how much our family (all our family- immediate and extended!) loves babies, and how blessed we are to be getting another one. I was at this point very excited about our new baby, and was glad to hear that my mom was thrilled, too. My first doctor's appointment was still several weeks away (even though I was at 13 weeks at this point), so I was kind of nervous to tell the kids just yet. A few days later my cousin Cindy brought home a doppler to see if we could hear a heartbeat, and while the kids were taking a bath we did a quick check to see if we could hear a baby heartbeat, and thankfully we did. Such an amazing sound when you hear that precious heartbeat for the first time! When the kids got out of the bath we decided to let them figure out what that noise was. As you can see, some were definitely more excited than others:

Jackson has been praying for a baby brother for quite a while now, so he was so excited thinking that he might actually get his prayers answered, Ansley was excited (which is no surprise since she is a little mama), Elsie was just so worried  about being away from me while I was in the hospital, and Vada Belle was just grumpy from not having a nap and it was bedtime. Once we explained to Elsie that it would just be a day or two, she was super excited about becoming a big sister again. This video was taken on January 19, 2015, but my first ultrasound wasn't scheduled until February 25th. Eric and I decided to go to Hope Pregnancy Center to get an ultrasound, and the super sweet nurse told us she was 85% sure she knew the sex if we wanted to know. We asked if she could put it in an envelope and then we would let Jackson open it later that night when we were all home together. Here is a video of that sweet moment:

Here are a few pics from that ultrasound, which was on February 2nd (and the baby was measuring at 15 weeks and 6 days.  

We took this picture just a few days later to make our announcement that another precious baby boy would be joining our family:

I finally got to go to my first doctor's appointment on February 11th (at 17 weeks) and the heartbeat sounded great, and then I had my first ultrasound at the doctor's office on February 25th. I was right at 19 weeks, but the baby was measuring 20 weeks. We got some super cute shots of the baby, and we are now 100% sure that we will be welcoming another baby boy to our family in July!

All 6 of us are so excited to meet you, little one!

February 2015

February was full of snow days for the kids (10 to be exact, along with an early dismissal, too), so we got to spend a lot of time sleeping in, spending too long in our jammies, and playing outside in the snow. The kids were excited for the few days that they got to go to school in February that one of those days they got to dress up for 50's day. How adorable did they look??

We celebrated Valentine's Day with writing Valentine's to one another and enjoying a nice dinner at home. The people that Eric has been remodeling their kitchen for actually sent him home with the most amazing lasagna, salad, and red velvet cupcakes, and we loved that we didn't have to do any cooking or wait in line to get a table at a restaurant. I say that is one fantastic Valentine's Day!

 A couple of pics of the kids enjoying a bubble bath (another thing they loved doing on our cold snow days). February 10th was an exciting day for Vada Belle and Jackson. Jackson wanted to do some acting classes through Barter Youth Academy, and they started on this day. They are one day a week and he is loving them so far. Vada Belle also started her first day of dance on that day. She has cried many times before when her sisters go into dance class and I wouldn't let her go in with them, and when they started a new preschool dance class the owner of the studio came and told me about it. Thankfully they happened to be right after Elsie's class and it just worked out that we were able to let her sign up to take them. As you can see, she loves it!

Chick-Fil-A had a daddy/daughter date night this month, and the girls were excited to go out on a date with their daddy. Jackson and I decided to do a mom/son date night while they were gone, and he chose to go eat at Primo's and then go to the game store at the mall.

 We celebrated our sweet Mamaw Ollie's birthday and enjoyed lots of time playing outside in the snow.

 A few more random pics from the month:
-We got our first chicken egg from our chickens!
-Sleepover fun with Caleb, Lyla, Abigail and Amelia.
-Ansley Kate at her watch day at dance. We ended up getting there late because I got not one, but two cars stuck in the snow. Thankfully my cousin Jennifer came to my rescue again and let me borrow hers to get Ansley to dance practice and back. After that day I decided that I was fine if we have no more snow for this winter. :)

January 2015

Happy 2015! 

2014 came and went so fast, and we are so excited to see what 2015 has in store for us. We rung in the New Year by hanging out at cousin Jennifer's house with some family and friends, and all 4 kids made it past midnight and did the countdown to 2015. 

We had quite a few snow days in January, but the kids enjoyed the time indoors doing all kinds of crafty things, putting puzzles together, creating puppet shows, and of course some long winter naps for Vada Belle. I also had to put a picture of a tree on there that every time Elsie sees this tree she yells out, "Hey! There is the tree that looks like an elephant!" I love how their little minds see things.

Here are a few random pics from this month:
Vada Belle pretending she is Mulan while hanging out with her great-grandpa.

Jackson and I hanging out just the two of us (this doesn't get to happen very often at all anymore).

The girls and Jackson posing in some new dresses and coat from their aunt and grandma.

Elsie snuggled up to Ansley the night before she had to return to school after Christmas break, and it didn't take her long to go to sleep. None of us were ready for her and Jackson to go back to school.

Hanging out at Daniel Boone Park with my little girls on a sunny January day. They enjoyed the jungle gym most of all, and Elsie was proud of herself when she fell off face first and didn't shed a tear.

On January 31 Ansley Kate decided that she was going to get her haircut and donate her beautiful long locks to some type of organization that will use it to help create a wig for children. I had won a coupon for a free haircut in an auction that was for a benefit for a family that we are friends with, and so I told Ansley Kate she could use that free haircut coupon. While Tenessia was cutting Ansley's hair, I couldn't tell if she was going to cry or if she liked it. She is so shy and wouldn't say a word when I would ask her if she liked it. When we left and she saw herself in the reflection of store windows, she was so excited. She loved it and instantly told me that she was going to let it grow long again, go to the exact same place to get it cut, and donate it once again. I do miss her long hair, but I know it will grow fast and I'm so proud of her giving heart. Plus, it looks adorable! 

Christmas Trip to Dollywood- 2014

Since my kids are so blessed with a large family that loves to spoil and buy for them at Christmas, Eric and I don't get a gift for them from us. Santa gets them a few little things that each of them has been wanting (seriously- nothing that will break the bank), and then Eric and I like to take them on a little trip as our Christmas gift to them. My parents had given us Dollywood season passes last Christmas, so we took the kids to Pigeon Forge the last weekend in December. We went down on Sunday, and we couldn't believe how empty the park was (which we were grateful for since we heard that it was super crowded on Friday and Saturday). We were able to walk on every single ride, and the attendant running the ride would let us ride 2 or 3 times in a row if we wanted. We also got to meet Rudolph and the other characters there with no wait time at all. We went back Monday afternoon, but it was more crowded that day, but we were still able to do quite a bit. Here are a few pictures of a quick little Christmas trip!

This trip was Vada Belle's first time riding the "Shooting Star." She absolutely loved it, and giggled the entire ride. They let them ride 3 times in a row before they had to get off. Elsie was so tired by this point, and didn't want to ride, so I stayed off with her. Vada Belle kept yelling at Elsie, "Are you a scaredy cat, Elise?" That kid! When they stopped the ride and she had to get off, you can see her reaction- she was not very happy.

I love little get a ways with our sweet kids!

December & Christmas 2014

We love the month of December and the Christmas season, even if it is non-stop running and going. Besides the girls dancing in The Nutcracker, Jackson and Ansley's Christmas program at school, our Christmas play at church, and meeting Santa, we were also busy with decorating for Christmas, going to several Christmas parties, and spending lots of time with our family.

The kids pretty much decorated the Christmas tree by themselves this year. That might mean that the majority of the Christmas decorations was about 3-4 feet high, but that is the way that it stayed. It was Vada Belle's year to put the topper on top of the tree (her first year doing this), and she chose the star to place on top.

A few random pics:
Eric playing with the kids, me and my little guy, Ansley Kate's Christmas party at school, and the kids all dressed up in their Christmas outfits for church:

We always have our Christmas party with the Phipps side of the family on the Sunday before Christmas. This usually works out so well because Christmas Eve and Christmas day are busy with other Christmas parties for all of the grandchildren, so this way we can hang out, enjoy a delicious meal prepared by my grandmother, and just spend time together without anyone having to rush off to another party.

Our Christmas Eve is spent hanging out and opening presents with cousins Abigail and Amelia, and then that night we have our Watson Christmas party. This year our Papaw Nulan had rolled an oil barrel over himself and had several broken ribs, so we all missed him not being there, but we still had a great time with that crazy side of the family.

 When we got home on Christmas Eve, Simon (our Elf on the Shelf) had left his note saying that the kids could give him a quick hug and kiss before Santa stopped by to drop off their presents and take Simon back to the North Pole with him. (Notice the girls make-up that they enjoyed doing while at the Watson Christmas party). They were so sad to see Simon go because they loved looking for him every morning.

 The kids continued with their yearly tradition of having a sleepover in mine and Eric's room on Christmas Eve, and once they were all snuggled in and asleep, Santa came and dropped off their presents!

On Christmas morning they got up, read some in their little Christmas Bible Story book, and then were so excited to see that just about everything they asked for (which thankfully wasn't much), Santa had brought for them.

Ansley and Elsie instantly had to paint their pictures that they got in their stockings, and Jackson was beyond thrilled with his new Lego mini-figurines (even if they were some off brand), and had to put all 24 together immediately. Vada Belle was thrilled with her new backpack and Ariel doll, but nothing can quite take the place of her beloved Lovie.

 We then went up to Mamaw Di and Papaw Fred's house to exchange gifts and to eat brunch:

 and then drove to Sparta (which thankfully gave all four kids a chance for a much needed nap), and had our Leftwich Christmas party.

 We spent the night there, and then came home the next day to sort through and put up all of their new toys, clothes and books. The kids spent the entire rest of that day and all of the next day putting together Lego's, playing some of their new board games, reading their books, and non-stop playing with their new toys.

As you can well see, our kids are very blessed to have such a huge family that loves to spoil them. :)