Blast Off & Sing Your Heart Out

Kennedy's school offers enrichment programs after school twice a year. The programs typically run 6-8 weeks and they are offered in the Fall and then again in the Spring and since she isn't involved in tons of extra curriculars, we typically try to work it out to allow her to participate in the enrichment program each term. They usually offer several options (art, music, science, girls club, running club, Bible study, etc.). This past Fall she chose to do a Science program. Each week they did experiments and learned different scientific things. At the end of the enrichment term, they launched rockets that they themselves put together and the families were invited to observe the launch. My Mom came over to keep Micah and we loaded up the rest of our crew to go see it all go down...or shall I say up. Ha ha ha. 

The instructor (pictured with her arms enthusiastically up in the air) was everything you would expect a scientist to be. She was incredibly passionate about all of their experiments and this one was no different - clearly :). 

Katy (Sophia's Mom) and I communicated prior to the enrichment sign ups to be certain we could get these girls in the same program because they just can't get enough of one another. Thankfully they enjoy a lot of the same things - I love Sophia's face in this picture. "blast off"!

This is the instructors husband. She was wise to phone in reinforcements because as you can imagine the kids were super excited about this whole deal. He would help them get all set up and then tell them what steps to follow to have a successful launch. 

Her first attempt was a dud so they had to make some adjustments and try again but her face after that first attempt says it all - see below. 

Womp Womp

Take two elicited much more favorable results! 

So fun! 

We essentially sprinted home from the rocket launch to eat and get changed because Kennedy had to be back up at the school a little over an hour later for a 1st grade choral performance. They told the kids to wear their Halloween Costumes for the performance so I present to you - Ariel. 

Kennedy wanted to have red hair like Ariel and I did all kinds of Pinterest research on making a wig but in the end, having a newborn and trying to craft a wig just wasn't happening so I found this one super cheap on Amazon and made her wish come true. 

Sister loves singing - can you tell? 

My Mom and Jim went with Tim to watch and help with Avery and the boys and I stayed home by ourselves. I made Tim promise he'd take bunches of pictures and he not only took pictures but lots of video so I felt like I was there even though I wasn't. 

Avery evidently loved it and was dancing and singing along. 

The wig - it was really funny and she loved it. Totally worth the $9. 

Good job getting bunches of pictures Daddy! Muah! 

Boo Bash 14' and some special moments

Every October, near Halloween, Kennedy's school has a big festival called the Boo Bash. It's a huge fund raiser for her school and it's also huge amounts of fun for all the kiddos that go. I was a little sad to miss out this year, but Micah was like a week old so um, no. Tim took the girls and this was my first night flying solo with Micah (if I remember correctly) and Grey stayed home too because we didn't think he could push past his bedtime as well as the girls. Avery was Belle and Kennedy wanted to be a cowgirl. I purchase their little Halloween outfits every year at a consignment sale and Kennedy wanted to save her outfit for actual Halloween night. So: we whipped up some country attire and called her a cowgirl. 

It was just me and the boys for the evening. 

The kids met up with Kennedy's BFF at the Boo Bash and she evidently requested to be a vampire. According to Tim, Avery took one look at her and said "ew". Ha! She's my honest one...what are you gonna do? 

The girls had a BIG time together getting lots of candy at the Trunk or Treat, 

roasting marshmallows, 

Pretending to be Halloween-themed things, 

and playing carnival games for more candy. 

Plinko. Ingenious. Makes me want to scream "Come on Down"!

Lastly, who doesn't love a blow up? Even in their ball gown! 

When I see pictures like these, it makes me realize they are probably really glad their Daddy takes them places sometimes because If I'd been there...a picture like this never would have surfaced. Gasp! Crazy child. Rest assured, she survived this maneuver.

The next day Big Jim and Honey came over for a visit. Grey loves Big Jim or "PowPow" as he sometimes calls him. He actually just loves dudes truth be told but he does seem to have a little something special going on with Big Jim and Pawpaw. The two of them are so super calm and quiet and he just seems drawn to them. It's pretty sweet. 

Clearly she is a Mom of four since she can hold a baby and play Hangman at the same time. #Momskills #justsayin'

Jim didn't have any of his own children but boy has he been abundantly blessed with grandchildren! He does real well I think...until they cry and then he summons "Honey". Hey, that's true of lots of Grandpa's whether they raised their own or not...can I get an "amen". 

Sweet little wrinkly baby. I love this little outfit - it's from my dear friend Leslie and Grey wore it too. 

Flaky baby feet. It's cute, right? Is it just me? =)

All of my babies have taken pacifiers and I've been known to say on more than one occasion that if babies don't take pacifiers, it's because Momma's didn't try hard enough. Well, I tried and tried REAL HARD to get this child to take a pacifier rather than doing this with his fingers but alas I failed and so I now have a finger sucker. I mean, he self soothes rapidly so I guess I can't be too upset. I've grown to love it.

Early Candids

Nothing like a little stroll down memory lane while blogging. Hard to believe this little man is almost 9 months old. Where has the time gone? It's literally flying too fast for me to keep up but the days keep coming and going and I'm just trying to hold on.

These are pictures that were taken in the very early days with Micah Lee. 

Here he is with his "Honey" when she came to meet him.  

Oh sweet sleeping snuggly babies. Love.

So, I've talked a good bit about my home birth experience on this ole' blog - about how different it was in so many ways. One of the ways in which it was different is that they told me I could bathe my sweet one right away. WHAT?!!?!?!? With all my others the stump had to have fallen off before I could do anything more than a sponge bath. Doesn't seem like such a big deal I guess except new babies have all kinds of stuff on them...y'all know what I'm talkin' about and if your a teensie OCD as I am - you wanna just get em' good and scrubbed clean you know? So, I was THRILLED to be able to take some baths with him in the week after having him. Baths for babies are so awkward when they are little bitty. It's like you worry about the temperature of the water and how hard the tub is and if they are warm enough (too much water is a problem but so is too little), it's crazy trying to lean over a giant tub to a little bitty baby, etc. etc. etc. Baths for us were soothing to us both and a good bonding time for me to get some one on one without the crazy of the other kiddos interfering. Tim took some pics during the very first one and I'm glad because they are really sweet. 

He would be so calm during and right after a bath. So sweet. 

But then it gets cold and not relaxing REAL quick! 

Clean and dressed! 

This girl. She's a rock star sister. I can't say enough about how amazing she is and what a true blessing and helper she's been to me since we added Micah to our brood. She is not only ALWAYS willing to help me when I ask, she offers readily and often to help in any way possible. Just a dear sweet one she is. I can't imagine life these last 9 months without her help...I honestly can't. 

Well, Marlene always said she was going to hold me to the fact that I initially said I wanted four kids. I'm thinking by hold it she meant she'd be praying really hard and clearly those prayers were answered. Here they are shortly after meeting their fourth grand baby.

Before they left to go back to WV after coming to meet Micah, Pawpaw wanted to have a prayer for us and the babe. Greyson loves Pawpaw - everything about him and he wanted a front row seat for this prayer time. A precious moment captured:

I'm so happy to announce that these visits will soon be a thing of the past because they closed on a house 8 miles from us on Monday and I'm beside myself with joy that they'll be a quick drive away from now on. Praise the Lord. 

rock star big sister....not so much rock star photo subject.....sigh

This one's better. Praise God for a rapid fire shutter because otherwise we'd have no decent pictures of these kids. 

Team Wall were some of our first visitors. Declan was much more enamored than I anticipated he would be. Such sweet and genuine smiles he had for Micah. 

I mean, honestly! Could you just die over that dimple?

I mean, I did. I do. I just died. 

Until this one brought me back. Sweet heavens. It's too much.

Oh these little people. It's going to be fun to see what the future holds for them and how close they are through it all. Cousins. Buddies. 

Those early days were a total blur and whirlwind but I'm so glad I've got some pictures to prove it was all happening. Mom, if you're reading this - know that I love you but also know that I'm not going to end up handing my fourth a nearly empty photo album and feel the need to profusely apologize when I do so (not that I would be familiar with such a scenario personally. Ha!)