Happy Thanksgiving

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We celebrated Thanksgiving at Ge & Granddaddy’s house this year.  Be prepared for the goofiness that  is our family…

 Emmie got to meet Uncle Jay.  Next to daddy, he pretty much hung the moon.

 Black Friday (okay, late night Thursday) shopping yielded lots of treasures between Aunt Yaya, Ge, and I.  But the Apples to Apples game was an immediate hit for the kids since it was too cold to go outside.

 This is my nephew, E.  We’re super excited that he has almost survived a full year of 13.

 Ceili Rain is just excited to have a big cousin who is willing to give some cuddles.

And make goofy faces with.  Aunt Yaya taught her how to do the “fish” face.
 Malachi and Bryant were driving a truck in one of Granddaddy’s fun chairs.

 Aunt Yaya and cousin J showing us how to properly pose for pictures. 
Emmie has been a dog baby since she first noticed that there were furry little things running around our house.  This visit proved it even more.  When Pepper, my yippy “sister,” would bark, Emmie just blinked or yelled back at her.  But Rusty, my grumpy ol’ “brother,” shocked us all.  Once evening he plopped himself right beside Emmie and waited.  This is what she did…

 Baby and dog adorableness…holding hands!

 Rusty isn’t a “baby” dog so when he did this we were all quite shocked.  Then, when Emmie was ready for a nap and Mark picked her up, Rusty huffed at us.
 Granddaddy and Emmie got early morning cuddles the whole time we were there.
Ge snuck in a few too.
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Birthday

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I had a lovely birthday this year.  My parents came up the day before and watched the kids so I could take Emmie to her well check.  Mark took me shopping the week before because…well, because my clothes were getting baggy and falling down.  It’s a good problem to have.  
Mark made my chocolate cake with chocolate icing and Zoe suggested we had mini chocolate chips.  Fully of yumminess.
We live in a military town which means a lot of “transplants” come here and stay.  I love meeting new people and trying new foods.  This summer, some neighbors recommended a Hawaiian barbecue place.  We were more than happy to try it out.  Mark and I tried it out on a date night and loved it.  So, my birthday dinner request was for the family to experience a bit of Hawaii in our little Southern town.  It’s not a fancy place but the food.  Oh, the food is awesome!

On Friday nights they have Polynesian dancers.  My little dancer, Ceili Rain, loved it and just had to get a picture made with the dancers.

My other birthday request was to get our bedroom painted.  I spent several hours in our dark brown room when Emmie was born.  I grew tired of the color and wanted a lighter color…a blue.  So, I grabbed several paint samples and stared at them for several months before deciding on one.  Mark painted it the  weekend of my birthday and I couldn’t be happier.  It’s bright and more welcoming.

This is the painting in progress.
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When Grandpa Comes to Visit

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With my birthday coming up, Ge and Granddaddy came up to visit and volunteered to watch our crew while I took Emmie to her six month check up.  The kids are used to going to well checks but it was a treat for them to not have to go.  Confession time, it was a treat for me too.  Doctor offices can be a tad on the boring side, but Ge and Granddaddy always find something fun to do.
 Granddady and stairs means everyone can get some loving!

 Ge brought a sugar cookie decorating kit.  I walked in right as they were finishing up decorating and the kids were none too thrilled I had come home so soon.

Their creations:

 Um, yeah.  Get right on cleaning that one Ge!

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Emmie is Six Months!

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 Emmie turned six months last month.  It’s safe to say, she’s growing like a weed!  The week we made this picture, we had to pull out her twelve month clothes.  Her torso and the cloth diapers made snapping onesies near to impossible.  So, up a size she went.   She had a great check up with Dr. B.  She’s a bit slower on her milestones than her siblings but she’s still within normal developmental range.  She’s sitting up and grabbing at objects and even manipulating them in her hands.  Bless her, having a mama who is a social worker, and a grandma and aunt who have masters in special education…this baby is being watched like a hawk.

She continues to be a delight to our family.  The kids remind me daily that she is definitely the favorite for them.  All of her adventures these past six months have reminded us to not take a single day for granted.  She is truly a gift.

Here’s her stats:

17 lbs 13.2 oz (84%).  A week after her well check we had to go back in because she was sick (nothing serious…just a normal infant virus), she weighed 19 pounds…over a pound in a week…This kid loves her milk (because she doesn’t eat baby food).
27 inches long (90%)

Miss Ems decided that she wanted to sit up for her photo shoot this month.

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October Randomness

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 Liam’s Lego Creation.  It was a volcano disaster.  Note the fallen village people.
 Emmie got her first bite of food.
 That about sums up her thoughts on baby food.  We’re still working on it but she prefers mommy or soft foods she can hold to eating mushy foods from a spoon.

 Liam took a quick picture of us for Grandmere.  Not too bad if I do say so myself.
 Mark’s kid chains.
 Emmie was still working on rolling over in October.  This is as far as she would get.  Those hands.  They slay me.
 Dinosaur bones make a yummy chew toy.

 Emmie loves Ginger.  Even though Ginger is a bit skiddish around her, the feeling is mutual.  Ginger checks on her regularly in the evenings and when Emmie is crying Ginger looks for me or Mark to go get her.  This is the best I can do right now.  I’m looking forward to seeing their relationship grow.  She’s our first baby to actually take an active interest in the dogs.

A few weeks after the food introduction and she’s slowly getting the hang of it.  Okay, not really, but she did enjoy a few bites.

 Helping daddy build a patio extension.

 A neighbor invited Ceili Rain to a birthday party.  She got to “meet” Elsa.  Her world was rocked.

 We got Mark at home for a whole week as he worked on training online.  Contrary to popular Facebook belief, he was actually studying here.  Not sleeping.

 Emmie still does not have a ton of hair.  So I made her a hat. 
It’s an owl.  And she approves.  I think.
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Our Bunch and Wedding Bells

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We enjoyed attending L and E’s wedding.  This was Mark’s cousin and we enjoyed celebrating their marriage.

 As predicted, Ceili Rain only left the clip in her hair for less than an hour.  But at least it looked pretty in a flexi.

 Yes, there were a few kids missing running hither and yon.    This was just before attempting our family pictures.  All twenty-three of us.

 So, we started to leave the wedding and noticed the bride and groom’s perfectly clean car.  We just couldn’t have that.  Luckily, Aunt B and I had toilet paper in our vans.  Uncle B supervised the decorating.

 Okay, he actually instructed too.  Thanks to him, the kids now now the proper way to roll a car.

His esteemed students at work.
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Cousins Visit

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After we finished up in Kentucky, we headed back to the headquarters, also known as Papa and Grandmere’s house.
The kids enjoyed the time to just run around and visit with each other except these two.
 They had more fun whacking each other in the face.  Our girls are such cuties.
 Grandmere had her pick of babies to cuddle.  A got some good snuggles in.
 Of course, all cousins utilized the zip line.

 Cousin O loved carrying Emmie around.
 Papa and  his boys
 Before breakfast, the chess board had to come out.
 And after breakfast the chess board had to come out.   The two players had some consultants this go round.
Ceili Rain got lots of Uncle B cuddles.  
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God’s Creation

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Despite all the rain, while we were at the Creation Museum it was almost all beautiful.  We decided to tackle the gardens and petting zoo first.  It was absolutely beautiful.  
Somehow we got a picture of Mark with his parents and brother…pretty cool!
The rest of these were taken from someone in our bunch.

 Cousin J taking a picture of Ace or Liam or Zoe.

 All 17 grandchildren with Papa & Grandmere.

Zoe and her cousins G and O decided to do the ziplines on day two.  Despite a bit of drizzle, they managed to fly fast and have fun.

Brothers with babies during devotional time.

 That’s a bunch of characters!
Malachi thought the lecture on the origin of the races was very intriguing.  Um, sort of.
We didn’t get many pictures on day two because of these adventures:
We walked out to the van to load up that morning and discovered a tire going flat.  We deposited half of the kids to Grandmere and Papa and took the other half with us.  I grabbed a giant load of clothes and Mark dropped Emmie, Ceili Rain, Malachi and me off at the laundry mat.  Mark took off to find a tire repair place.  I did laundry.  He fixed cars.  We eventually met up and made it back to the museum in time to see Zoe fly down the zip line.  It was quite an adventurous day.  We thank God that we did not have to get a new tire.  Just a nice quick fix.
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On the Road Again…

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We took to the road the first part of October but not for another doctor visit.  We met up with Mark’s family in Kentucky to take advantage of the free kids admission to the Creation Museum and celebrate the wedding of one of Mark’s cousins.
Traveling was tough but not because of the kids.  It rained.  A lot.  Both on the way to Kentucky and on the way Papa & Grandmere’s house.
Emmie took it mostly in stride.

I spent a lot of time on the phone chatting with a friend or staring at my crochet project.  I was doing all I can to avoid looking at the rain and the mountainous roads.  We’re pretty certain we came close to a tornado or what was trying to be one.  We’ve never seen rain go that sideways or more ominous looking clouds (except when we have seen tornado clouds).  Thankfully we never saw a funnel.

There was a break in the rain on the way to Papa & Grandmere’s though.  We took advantage of a billboard advertising a dairy farm near by.  There was plenty of space for the kids to run and rock and stretch their legs.

 And a cattle dog that thought she needed to herd kids.  

This was on the way home from the wedding.  A misty fog…or at least we thought it was a misty fog.  It actually was a fire pit near the lake.  Oh well.  It was really cool.

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