blessed

Soooo, we got the call today! You know, the call we've been waiting on, but were still somehow surprised to get today...as my mom told me, "it's baby day!" My baby sister, who was long past ready to give birth, was finally going to bring my two beautiful nieces into the world!

the pics above and below are after Kristen's c-section, but while Avery and Macy were in the nursery having tests run...none of us (aside from Kristen and Kennard) had seen them yet and we couldn't wait until we could...we were just passing the time trying to keep FOUR kiddos entertained in a hospital room

Upon realizing that it was going to be at least an hour before the babies were going to be brought in, Darren and I decided to take the boys and Madison to the Lego store at the mall (are we brave or what!?!). When we got back to the hospital Darren and the boys dropped me and Madison off and decided to head home and wait until I called to say that the baby girls had been released to the room...

Avery and Macy were brought in shortly after and Madison got to meet her sisters for the first time!

proud daddy Kennard gets Macy out for Kristen to hold

WOW! Look at my beautiful sister...proud mama to three precious girls! I can't believe it. My heart just swelled with pride as I watched her with her girls today!

above is Avery Mia who weighed in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces and is 19 inches long

and

below is Macy Michelle who weighed in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long

Madison and Avery Mia

Nina and Macy Michelle

Poppy with Macy

me introducing Coby to his newest cousin Avery

Connor and Avery

Coby and Avery

Cale and Avery

and this is Macy while being held by Connor who insisted on holding them both

and one last one of me and Avery Mia (of course I held sweet Macy too, but {of course} I don't have a pic of it)

What a day! I am so happy to be an aunt yet again {that's one thing I'll never tire of}! As for the title of my post...Darren and I have 6 nieces and 3 nephews...all healthy, yes, we truly are BLESSED!

recap: Christmas Eve 2010

Better late than never, right? I hope so because this one's nearly a month late. Even still, I wanted to get this done so I can look back in the years to come and remember what we did during the holidays. Here's our Christmas Eve recap mostly in pictures.

After dinner we spent some time icing and decorating cookies for Santa...

When we finished decorating Santa's cookies we sat down and had some of the leftovers along with some sparking grape juice...

Then we let the boys open three gifts each. I didn't put their names on them and had them guess which three (wrapped) gifts were theirs. They each picked their own just by the shape and sound...I was quite impressed!

Then the boys enjoyed their new gifts while I made a rum cake to take to my in-laws on Christmas Day (next 2 taken with my iphone so please ignore the quality)

And lastly, Santa visited our house.

This was the best Christmas Eve that I can remember! We had so much fun as a family that night! Darren did have to work all night on Christmas Eve, but didn't have to be there until 9:30 pm so we made the most of our time together before he had to go. We had Christmas music on and everything just felt so festive. I remember feeling so happy as I went to bed on Christmas Eve!

little penguin

Cale has been learning about penguins this week in school and to end the week the Pre-K'ers will be watching the movie Happy Feet. The kids were supposed to dress up as the polar animal of their choice, thus the penguin outfit (made by my dear mother-in-law who is also working on Connor's colonial costume for next week...there is always something!!!! And while I do like to sew, I have not gotten past the point of cord covers just yet, but one day I hope that I can make these things on my own. We'll see....)

the hat was a bit ill-fitting, but Cale loved it more than anything else! (he kind of looks like a nun doesn't he!?)

Cale was so excited to go to school this morning! He said, I hope everyone likes my penguin costume! {They'd better like it!} Coby has also been learning about penguins this week so he was able to give us a lesson on penguins the whole way to school. I loved it. It is so neat to hear the boys share what they're learning with each other (and me). I learned more about penguins than I ever thought I'd know, but it was really interesting and a delightful ride to school without any arguing which was a nice way to start off the morning!!!

Darren will be working tonight during our Family Fun Friday time so it's just me and the boys. I've got to start thinking of something fun to do...I'm thinking of taking them to dinner and maybe shopping at Toys R Us to spend their Christmas gift cards. We'll see if I'm feeling that brave by the time the evening rolls around....if not, there's always the old standby, pizza and a movie!

Happy Friday!

eight

Coby turned eight on Sunday. I don't know which is the most shocking to me, the fact that Coby just turned eight, that Connor is just about to turn eleven, or that my baby will be five next month. The whole thing just amazes me really. It's so cliche and I say it all the time, but time really does fly!

Here are a few things I want to remember about Coby Lane as he turns EIGHT.....

• Coby is so loving and caring
• always takes care of others (almost like a little mom to Cale and at times Cale will go to Coby rather than me)
• he is extremely sensitive and we have to be very gentle in our discipline with him (just the slightest raised voice sends him to his room immediately in tears)
• Coby is very animated in his speaking and is always enthusiastically saying, "mommy, you're not going to believe this.....(and he'll share something about his school day)"
• Coby grew out his hair over the past year and he is very proud of it!
• Coby is always striving to make us proud of him...and we are
• Coby started Karate over the past year and he loves it (we took a few months off, but are about to start back up). I think he's found his passion!
• Coby still loves to draw. He frequently draws pictures for me and Darren.
• Coby writes letters to me and Darren and puts them in envelopes for us to find on our nightstands. He'll tell us how much he loves us and how he hopes we'll have a wonderful day and things along those lines. Sometimes he'll throw in some candy too! Did I mention how sweet and thoughtful he is? :)
• Coby loves to build Legos in his room, by himself. He seems to really enjoy his alone time, but is always so excited to have us come and see what he has created!
• One day a commercial came on TV with a house on it and all of a sudden Coby darted off to his room saying "that gives me an idea!" I asked what he was doing and he informed me that he was going to make that house out of legos...and he did.
• Coby loves to dress up in his police shirt and makeshift police belt. He has a (pretend) police radio and gun that he tucks into it. He wants to be just like daddy!
• Coby loves to wrestle with Darren and he is super strong. Darren says he could be a great wrestler because he knows a lot of the moves already and is so quick and strong. (I am NOT going to push for this, I'd prefer that he stick with Karate!)
• Coby loves going to school and likes everyone is his class, but doesn't have any really close friends ( I remember that Connor didn't at this age either)
• Coby has a girl that he really likes and I hear about her a lot (she's not in his class this year though...probably a good thing)
• Coby loves holiday decorating...if I am decorating the house for any holiday, you can bet that Coby will be begging me for part of my decor for his room! It's a battle every holiday season so I usually take him to Hobby Lobby so he can pick up a few things for his room (he's even been known to spend his allowance for this purpose) It's so cute!
• Coby is so helpful. If I need something doneI know I can count on Coby to be there to help me. He LOVES to help me. When I ask for his help, he always responds with a yes, ma'am. I love it. He is also a great example for Cale because now Cale is responding with a yes, ma'am to most of my requests rather than his usual argumentative "Why?" I have no one, but Coby to thank for this!
• Coby is such a blessing to us. I am so thankful that he is my son. We are so blessed to have him in our family. He is such a fun, happy, spunky presence in our home. I just couldn't love him more.

We had a little family get together on Sunday night to celebrate Coby. Coby has yet to request a "friend" party and until he does (or his brothers do), I just love celebrating the boys special days with family. This years menu included taco soup, potato soup, nachos, pepperoni and cheese filled crescent rolls, cheetos (because my sweet nieces LOVE them!), and lots of sweets. Here are a few pics from our evening...

Cale and Madison told me that the smoke from the candles burnt their noses!

I just love this pic of Poppy with Coby and John Michael...they all look (and are) so full of mischief. I know it looks like my dad was picking his nose, but I'm pretty sure he was just scratching. :) Right, dad?

Don't know what just happened here, but it must not have been good! T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!

Coby opens as a few of his cousins look on

I'm pretty sure that I bought this Nerf gun for Coby, but Darren is having a ball with it (me too...Darren and I have battles after the boys go to bed...I see the purchase of another one of these in the near future)

Coby and John Michael try to shoot Uncle Clint who has taken Connor hostage...sadly Connor got hit repeatedly and Clint came out unscathed (Cale's weapon of choice? Why a light saber of course!)

Coby goes after Poppy who very wisely covered his head, but that didn't matter since Coby just shot him in the booty!

I love this of my dad behind the couch making the girls giggle and Juliet cozied up in my brown, fuzzy blanket. She loves fuzzy things!

Braden insisted that Papa try on Coby's storm trooper hat! So funny!

My beautiful sister with a belly filled up with my two newest nieces, Macy and Avery...can't wait to meet them in two weeks or less!

the fam

We had a great time! Can't wait to do it again next month for Cale and Connor's birthdays.

goodbye 2010

2010

What a year.

I'm glad it's ending.

Ready for a new one to start.

Wouldn't relive this one for anything.

Wouldn't change a thing about it if I could.

Starting 2011 happier than I ever dreamed I would.

If I had to sum up 2010 with just two words, I'd say it's been tragically beautiful. This has been the absolute hardest, most painful year of my life, yet somehow the most fulfilling, beautiful year I've ever lived through. I have grown as a person so much this year and I am a better person because of the year I've had. That said, I do hope the new year proves to be a little less challenging, less painful, and very boring compared to 2010. Please be nice to me 2011. I can't take another year like this one...not yet anyway...and preferably, well, never!

Christmas isn't very far away...

It seems like it's been so long since our countdown to Christmas began, but even so, I just couldn't believe it when I wrote this out earlier today.

As I get out the Christmas decorations each year I always try to remember where I put everything the previous year, so I am documenting it here for next year. I just love looking back from year to year so this is very photo heavy and probably boring for anyone but me...

the entry way table

hall shelf

the "big" tree in the piano room which holds an assortment of many types of ornaments that are special to us (ornaments made at school from year to year plus each year we each pick out one or two ornaments that signify something special about that year)

I always try to find a police ornament for D each year...I LOVE them and would like to have a tree with just them on it one of these days

the presents under the tree

Coby wrapped gifts for each of us and placed them under the tree... LOVE IT!!!!

I framed this pic of the boys from Christmas 2006...precious and a constant reminder of how quickly they grow!

the gingerbread house that Cale made during his class Christmas party

the snowman plate on the chest in the piano room

the stockings are hung on the fireplace with care....:)

one of my believe signs and my little Santas

smaller tree with gold, red(ish), and animal prints ornaments (with my Grandma's afghan used as the skirt)

living room chest

I heart snowmen

my itty bitty tree and another believe sign

another snowman for the kitchen

the plate on which we put cookies for Santa each year

a cozy little corner for Santa

That's all I've got! I forgot to get pics of the trees in the boys rooms, but they really aren't that fantastic anyway!

I did find this though and it made me so happy! I love that Coby wrote "I like Christmas because it's Jesus birthday" rather than "I like Christmas because I get to open presents". Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas and I am SOOO happy that my boys feel that He is more important than any gift they receive. My prayer is that they always put Him first.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!