Sweet Babies!!

I went to see the Harwell girls this afternoon! They are so sweet and soooo tiny!! Looks like Aniston wants Amelia's paci!!

Kids play while the Grown Ups pack!

The kids have had a great time camping!! Here they are playing cards while all the adults pack up to go home. :(

Harwell Girls Come Home!

After 17 days in the NICU, Amelia and Aniston got to come home today!! They wore the bubble gowns I made them :)

Our Chefs!

Jeremy and Bryan Lopp are making all the meals for all 8 families while we are camping. Here they are getting breakfast ready this morning. All the food was SOOOO good!!

Life Group Camping Trip

First Night on our camping trip... all of the kids have gone to bed and the adults are sitting around the campfire talking. It was 56 degrees!!! The 8 families on the trip are Jones, Lopp, Sutton, Driskell, Martin, Metz, Morris, and us! Fun Day!

Standing Up and Walking!!

Ethan "learned" how to stand up on his own in the middle of the floor tonight! He's been taking a step or 2 here and there the last few weeks... tonight he got up to 4 steps at once! He is so proud of himself!

Hooded Towel

Today I made this hooded towel for a friend's little boy... I made it to match his swim trucks. :)

Matthew's new hair

Matthew's hair was getting out of control!!! It looked like he was wearing a helmet! He wanted to keep it long so he could do mohawks, so I talked him into letting me cut the sides short but leave the top long. I think it looks MUCH better!

Twins School Awards

Today I went to the twins school for their academic awards ceremony, they both got certificates for A/B Honor roll. I'm so proud of my smart boys!

Pillowcase Dresses

Tonight, I made these "pillowcase" dresses for the Jones' girls. I've never made one before... I think they turned out pretty cute!

4 Generation Golf

Every year, Jeremy and Caleb play in a golf scramble with Jeremy's dad and grandfather. Jeremy's dad is the oldest son, Jeremy is the oldest grandson, and Caleb is the oldest great-grandson. Pretty neat, huh?

Harwell Twins Update

The girls are still in the NICU and still having "spells" (heart rate drops). They can't come home until they go 5 days "spell" free. They are both "eating like pigs" and doing well other than the "spells."

Caleb's Awards Day

Caleb's year-end awards ceremony was this morning and he received 4 awards!!! He got one for getting straight A's for the year, Highest Average in Math, and Reading and Language Arts Achievement Awards. We are so proud of him!

Brooks Moving Day

Our friends, John & Courtney Brooks, bought a lot in the same development as ours. Today they started moving out of their house and into a rental so they can build and we helped. (reason for posting the picture) :) Their rental house is just down the street from ours, so, of course, the kids are beside themselves because they love playing with their kids!

Indoor Swing

I was flipping through the "One Step Ahead" catalog and saw an indoor swing that hangs in a doorway. I thought, we could hang Ethan's swing on our pull-up bar and do the same thing!! Only problem is, you have to push them!!

Book to Movie

A few friends of mine and I read the book "Something Borrowed" a couple of years ago and they came out with a movie this past week so we decided to go see it together tonight. It was neat to see the book come to life! They, of course, left out some of the things that were in the book and changed a few minor things, but overall, it was really good! The sequel book is also going to be made into a movie, so I'm sure we will get together to go see it as well.

Nascar Racing!

On our way out of town today, we took the boys to the Nascar Go-Cart Place. Here's a picture of Caleb and his BFF, Josey- who we took along on the trip, racing. Caleb came in 2nd and poor Josey had a slow car and came in dead last after being lapped by several cars!

Hikers!

Jeremy took the boys hiking this morning while I slept in! He said that Ethan loved being in the backpack carrier and waved at everyone they passed! They hiked to the 2nd highest point east of the Mississippi.. they were up in the clouds!!! 

(sidebar: you drive most if the way up and hike the last mile)

Surfer Boy!

Weekend Vacation with the Jones'!! (And the Bowers... who happened to be going the same time!) We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in Sevierville, it has an indoor waterpark! Here's a picture of Andrew body surfing on the Wave Simulator.

Amelia & Aniston are here!!!!

Baby Day!!! Aniston (on the right) came first weighing in at 4 lbs 9 oz and was born in the OR (twins are always delivered in the OR because of the possibility of needing a C-section for Baby B) Amelia, who weighs 5 lbs 3 oz, decided to hang tight for around an hour and twenty minutes!!! She was born in a regular delivery room. Mommy and babies are doing well, but the girls will have to stay in the NICU for a while.

Burp Cloths

 

We have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to sew in FOREVER!! I usually sew at night because there is so much stuff for Ethan to get into in my sewing room... but today, I decided since I had a few hours of "free time," I would get some things done. I made these burp cloths for a friend to give as a gift. I really like the monkey and circle monogram. :)

Whipped Cream!

It's never too early to start bad habits! Jeremy decided it would be funny to give Ethan some whipped cream straight from the can... every time he squirt some in, Ethan would just sit there not knowing what to do with an overflowing mouthful of foam... it was pretty funny. I'm guessing, he will be drinking straight from the milk jug soon! (actual milk jugs, not mommy milk jugs!! Ha!)

Muscle Shirts

Jeremy always mows the yard in "muscle shirts" to help his farmer's tan (eh, I mean, golf tan!) Ethan had one on today too, so I snapped their picture. :)

Mother's Day Gifts

The twins went all out for Mother's Day! At school, they made me cards that included a picture and note to me, as well as, potted the little flowers. Jeremy took them to the dollar tree where Matthew got me the "Laugh" frame and Andrew got me the "Solar-powered Dancing Flower." Then at church this morning, they "made" me some bath salt! I also got cards from Jeremy and Caleb and they made me Toaster Strudels for breakfast and wrote "Happy Mother's Day" with the icing! 

I love all 4 of my sweet boys, so much!

Swinging!

Tonight we had a LIFE group social at the church farm, everyone had a really nice time, including Ethan! I took his little fire truck riding toy with us and he was all over the place on it- riding among the big kids! So cute! This was also the first time he has been on a swing set... he loved it!

Major Downsizing!!

My mom and dad got a divorce a couple of years ago so my mom has to sell her house :( It's been on the market for a really long time and the price kept getting lower and lower and lower. After the last price drop, she finally got an offer on the house and is in the process of moving... into this travel trailer!!!! She isn't allowed to live with anyone (alimony issue), so she is going to live in the travel trailer while she adds on to my grandmother's house- making a separate house that she can connect down the road. She got the travel trailer today, so I asked her to take a picture of it in front of her house for me. She is going from 6700 sq ft to 200!!!  

Big Boy!!!

Ethan is almost 15 months old and still has no interest in walking! I'm glad... makes him a baby a little longer :) He has gotten a little more brave lately and will let go when he pulls up on stuff so he can use his hands. For this picture, I had Caleb stand him up and then jump out of the picture... I snapped it just before he crumbled to the ground! He's a big chicken, but I'm glad!

First Sucker

Ethan woke up from his nap on the wrong side of the crib!! I was trying to help the twins with their homework and he wasn't cooperating, at all! The twins were eating blow-pops that they got in one of their birthday gifts, so I decided to give Ethan a dum-dum to see if it would make him happy... IT DID!

Liquid Gold!

When Ethan cut out his midnight feeding (a long time ago), I pumped every night for a month to build up a supply of breastmilk. I wanted a good supply because when I had emergency gallbladder surgery when he was 5 weeks old, I didn't have any stored up to give him while I was unable to nurse him and he had to have FORMULA!! I couldn't let that happen again!! Anyhoo, He took bottles occasionally up until September when he suddenly refused to take one. At that point, I only pumped when he had a bottle (for relief and to replace what he used from my stockpile). So, the most recent date on this milk expired 2 months ago and I finally got up the nerve to throw it away today (cleaned out the fridge and freezers). It was 33 bags, each with 5 oz... that's more than a gallon and a quart of LIQUID GOLD!!!!!

Coupon Helper

 

Beginning of the month means its time to clean out the expired coupons!! Ethan LOVES putting things in and out of containers (we find his pacifiers hidden all over the house), so I put him to work putting the coupons in the trash as I threw them in the floor... it kept him busy for a while!!

Twin's Party!!

Here's a picture from the twins party today. You can't see it, but Jeremy and my brother had the field lined and that black thing is suppose to be an outfield fence. We had 35 kids and 25 adults here for the party! I set up a concession stand for the food, we had hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts, snow cones, drinks, and airheads. The kids (and Chad Winn) loved it! We were worried about rain, but God blessed us by the rain stopping a couple hours before the party and starting back up when it was over... Prayer Answered!!!