Lucky #7!

I am writing this blog a week too late but better late than never. Last Thursday, my baby turned 7. SEVEN. Just saying that out loud is enough to bring tears to my eyes. There is just something about that number that sounds so old and grown-up. I think it is because a lot of things say "Children 6 and under." Well, Owen is no longer in that category. He is 13 days away from being a second grader.  
Owen had a great birthday. The morning started off with a special breakfast at Dunkin Donuts before school. Unfortunately, Neil had to be at work early that morning so he did not get the privilege of eating your entire day's worth of calories in one sitting. After picking him up from school, we surprised him with a trip to Toys R Us to use a gift card. He chose a crystal growing kit, a gem finder, a geode finder and a couple of small toys. Owen had requested a very special birthday dinner of hot dogs, Doritos and strawberries, so after Toys R Us I slaved away in the kitchen for all of,oh, 5 minutes :) After our nutritious dinner, we all went to his gymnastics class to cheer him on! 
We had a family birthday party for him at my parents' house in Richmond on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time playing outside together. Owen has been obsessed with sea turtles lately, so that is the theme he chose for his party. The cake turned out super cute if you ask me! :) I was even able to find a turtle pinata and cute sea turtle items for the kids' favor bags. At the end of the day, we all went fishing and Owen was the 1st to catch a fish! I guess when you turn 7 that is how it works! 

Owen continues to be a great kid. He has never really given us many problems. Yes, he has the typical attitude issues and behavior problems that most kids have but they are nothing we cannot handle. He is an excellent friend to the kids in his class and is becoming more and more caring towards his brother and sister. He does not mind helping me around the house (most of the time) and likes to be involved in anything Neil is doing to fix something or anything outside. I am fortunate to have a boy who would rather be outside kicking a ball or riding his bike than be stuck inside playing video games. He loves to read and barely watches any television. He is becoming more and more creative and his drawings are getting to be really good. He can draw a mean sea turtle!  I could not have asked for a better first born. Owen made me a mom and I thank God for him all the time.  I am looking forward to seeing what this year brings us as a family of a 7 year old, 4 year old and 2.5 year old! :) Happy (late) birthday, Owen! We love you more than I can express on this blog! 

In Like a Lion.....

March comes in like a lion, right? Well so did Claire Noelle when she entered this world 4 years ago today! What a delivery! We were so excited to find out she was a girl since we did not know what we were having. I remember the nurse having to ask the doctor over and over to announce what we were having because she knew we did not know, but the doctor did not. He took his sweet time cleaning and suctioning as we waited patiently for the carefully placed umbilical cord to be moved to the side to see what God had given us! "IT'S A GIRL!" The three happiest words I have heard...aside from "IT'S A BOY" two different times :) 

Today Claire turns 4. I am ok with it. I usually have a hard time with each birthday for each kid but for some reason I am at peace with Claire turning 4. Now 5 MIGHT be a different story :) She is such a delightful child. She definitely has some crazy quarks that drive us up the wall: cannot have bumpy socks, dirty hands, dirty clothes, wet clothes, wrinkled paper in a book or during an art project, has to have her fruit snacks opened a certain way (every time) and so many more that I cannot think of right this minute. She changes clothes at least 3 times a day due to one of the quarks mentioned above. She fights me to learn how to write her letters but I know she knows how to do it...just will not do it for me. Pray that she does it for her preschool teacher next year! Claire has the sweetest smile and most awesome dimples you will ever see. Her eyes are HUGE and dark brown and very striking. Daddy will have a hard time with this one in the future! :) She calls her brothers her "boys", hush puppies are "puppy food", "piney cones" are Honeycomb cereal, "alligator" is elevator, and "vegetables" are Lunchables ( I wish! She would eat her veggies that way!). Once again, there are more, but I just cannot think of them right now. We love her. Dearly. Even when she wakes up 2 or 3 times a night because she is not tired. We love her. Even when she is hysterically screaming because the cup at dinner is not the one she wanted. We love her. Even when she thinks her boys are going to keep a toy they are playing with that is hers and she goes in a complete rampage. We love her. 

Claire Noelle, you are dearly loved by so many people. We love having you as part of our family. We love your smiles, giggles and all out belly laughs. Enjoy your special day...but please stop growing up so fast!

                   

Only Minutes Old!

         

  On her 1st Birthday! 

 On her 2nd Birthday! 

On her 3rd Birthday! 

Close to her 4th Birthday!

Claire The Ballerina!

I  figured it was time to do a post just on Claire since I have not done one recently! Claire is in a one hour ballet, tap and gymnastics class once a week at The Little Gym here in Springfield. As she really enjoys it, she has taken a while to open up. She loves her teachers but there are just some things that Claire will not do when asked. Most of them are things that make her look silly. I guess she takes after her mama! I  have never been one to do something if I think I am going to look ridiculous doing it but I have gotten better about that since having kids...somehow they bring the silly right out of you! When the time comes to do the 30 minutes of gymnastics though, she is doing everything and doing it very well. Neil and I joke that she has a gymnast's body.  It will be interesting to see what she ends up doing in the future.

Well, the other week they had their "showcase" class which was sort of like a mid-season recital for the parents to show what they have learned so far. Neil and I just KNEW that she would not perform at all in front of the parents. We were totally wrong. Not only did she perform, she acted downright silly during the down times! I have a video but it is sideways and there is no way for me to flip it :( So, pictures are just going to have to do! Unfortunately, the pictures are not great either as she was moving a lot and the lighting was not very good. I am a mother who does not want to live behind the camera, so I do the best I can do. I am no photographer! You at least can get a taste of what she did that night :) 

A little blurry but you get the point :) Like I said, I do not want to live behind the camera, so snapping pictures as fast as I can sometimes lends to me forgetting to put it on the right setting! 

The little girl behind her talking to her mom is her friend Andi. We have become good friends with her parents as well. He is a Major in the AF too. 

Miss Keosha, her gymnastics teacher. She is EXCELLENT with the kids and has brought Claire out of her shell...a little! 

I missed her doing her flip. This was before she went around. 

A Very Merry Christmas 2012!

Christmas 2012 was the first Christmas since getting married that we did not have to get on a plane to visit family, or vice versa. It was, um, AWESOME! We left NOVA on Saturday, December 22nd at 9am to try to beat the traffic. HA! It still took us over 3 hours to get to Richmond. Unbelievable. I do not get it. But, I digress. My mom and I took Owen and Claire to see the Nutcracker (not THE Nutcracker in Richmond but it was a very good production!) and they loved it. Well, Claire did until she fell asleep in my arms during Act 2. Greg and family came over Sunday for dinner as our Christmas dinner since Neil would not be with us due to having to work the 25th and 26th. The kids decorated gingerbread houses as part of the 5th Annual Menzie Gingerbread Decorating. Owen and I started doing this the Christmas after we moved to Colorado, so 2008. Neil was in California and it was just the little guy and me. Wow, how things have changed. This year we had 5 decorating the houses (no Avery did not have one and believe me I caught grief for it :) haha) Christmas Eve was spent running around town in the morning and then Neil left for NOVA in the afternoon and we went to church with mom and dad. The church service was nice. At least the part I was able to listen to. Having all 3 kids in the service with us was, to say the least, EXHAUSTING. I was constantly shoving snacks down Ian's throat so he would stay quiet. Through some of the songs, I had Ian on my right hip and Claire on my left. That night, Greg and family came back over to spend the night at mom and dad's. The kids LOVED it. The 4 older ones slept on mom and dad's floor, while the younger ones slept in the room with his/her mom and dad.  After a few books, songs, giggles, tears, more giggles, and a chapstick incident with Lydia that sent us adults into stitches, (see picture below) the kids finally fell asleep. Christmas morning was as exciting and hectic as you all can imagine with 5 adults and 6 kids, 7 years and younger. We ate breakfast, opened presents, and the kids played, played, played and played some more. Non stop playing from about 6:30 am until about 5:00 pm when Greg and family went back home. We were EXHAUSTED. (see picture below of Ian) Ian fell asleep at 5:30 on the chair and did not wake up until 7:30 the next morning!! Amazing. Neil came back to Richmond after his shift on the 26th and on the 27th we headed to Raleigh to spend time with Neil's family. Carolyn arrived on the 27th as well from her drive from Nashville. We were able to see her beautiful new house and spend lots of good, quality time with her. Ken and Cindy took us to Pullen Park (which is a park right next to NC State's campus that has been fully redone since we were students) and the kids had a blast. There is an indoor carousel, train to ride around the park and a fantastic playground. On Saturday, we were able to take the kids to their very 1st NC State basketball game! Neil and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, since it was our first one in 10 years! It was good to be back! :) 

It was a great Christmas and being able to spend it with all the cousins made it even more special. I hope you enjoy the pictures! They may make you exhausted just looking at them...beware :) 

Neil started doing this face in pictures a while ago and I would not notice it until I went to upload the pictures (rascal). Well guess who has started doing the same thing!!

Matching PJs from Marc, Karen, Olivia and Rodger. Claire LOVES hers and seriously wears it almost everyday. I am constantly washing it! 

SO much to be thankful for! 

This is Lydia's chapstick incident. She went into my mom's bathroom to get some chapstick because her lips hurt. Grabbed Burt's Bees colored chapstick instead and came out with it all over her lips and teeth. TOO funny!

This is how the kids decorated for Jesus' Birthday! Very festive!

I think Owen was very happy to get his own tackle box and fishing pole from mom and dad!

Yes, that is my son in a box made for a stuffed pony. Not sure how he got into it. 

Asleep at 5:30 pm. Moved him into his bed at 7:30 pm and never woke up until 7:30 the next morning!

Pullen Park train ride!

Ian received his 1st official haircut while we were in Raleigh as well!

Future NC State basketball player?? Probably not, since he is totally interested in football...oh dear. 

It was good to be back! But weird to have 3 kids with us!