Its great to be 8!!!

don't forget to click pictures to see them supersized

Here is what Sierra wanted for her birthday this year:

• ice cream cake

• a sleepover with her friends (but only 2 because if she invited more than that, she'd get a headache, so she says)

• and a realistic baby doll that looks like her

• a pinata

We were thankfully able to accomplish all 4 wishes!
Especially since she (and her brothers and sisters) weren't able to have birthday parties last year, because mommy was on bedrest with Nattie in my belly!



Here are the girls!
Cae and her bff in the back and Sierra and her 2 very best friends.
I wanted a pretty group picture, but Sierra decided to make her silly face!



Soooooo I tried again!



Voila! Her very own baby sie-sie.

It is VERY hard to find a baby with red hair and blue eyes!
The red hair is hard enough, but then typically, the few red headed baby dolls either have green, or brown eyes, instead of blue.
But this little baby has big blue eyes, just like my baby.

She looks and feels so real, and is simply beautiful in person.
She is "Morgan the Ballerina" by Ashton Drake.



I know Sierra will take such good care of her baby, she has lots of practice with her little sis!
And by the way, if you ask Sierra what she wants to be when she grows up, she always says "a mommy, just like you"



Caeleigh and her BFF!

she's eight years old!!!

i cant believe my little curly girl is 8 today!
(click on the pictures to see them supersized, she looks like a porcelain doll, and she still does, except now she has cute freckles and a few missing teeth...
...dear God how i miss those curls)
so bittersweet!
my precious baby girl with the big blue eyes!
her party is today as well....
...i'll be sure to take pictures and upload them tonight!
i cant wait to give her her special present from bob and i!

pierced ears

Cae, Sierra, Nattie and I all had a girls day out last week.
Daddy took Bobby and Carson for a boys day out and they played miniature golf, where both boys beat daddy and got a hole in one!
The girls wanted thier ears pierced.
Sierra was the bravest and chose to go first!


Next came my fraidy cat preteen bean!





Nope, this little bean who hates being strapped in, did not get her ears pierced!
My rule is to wait until they are old enough to ask for it, and truely want them done, so that we can do what we just did........make a fun day of it!
After the ear piercing, we had some soft pretzels followed by a relaxing visit to Borders!

nightime swim!

I try and swim with the kids each day (nattie included).
Its so relaxing.
So after dinner last night I thought it would be fun to go swimming before natalie's bedtime, that way she didnt need any sunscreen, or her sunhat.
Here are a few pictures of us, and of the other beans underwater.

rump shaker

I rarely have issues with the beans intentionally hurting one another.
They have been raised since birth with the following rules:

• No taking the Lords name in vain

• No saying the word 'hate'

• No name calling

• No using your hands in a hurtful way (no hitting kicking, etc.)

The beans never seem to break rules 1 and 2.
RARELY break rule 3, i'll hear the occasional 'your a poopy butt' but they are usually being goofy with eachother, so i just give a warning.
The last rule, is the only rule that never gets a warning, if someones hurts someone else intentionally, its straight to Time Out (which is on our staircase, and is one minute per year (so carson 4 minutes, bobby 6, sierra 7).

When they go to time out, i explain to them exactly what they did, and why they are there, and tell them i will see them in x amount of minutes.
When thier time is up, they need to tell ME why they were there, so that they understand, and then they need to apologize to the person.

I honestly rarely need to use time out....during the school year, hardly ever, however now that its summer, and everyone is home, i may need to use it once in a while.
We lead by example and follow the same rules (never say hate, never take the Lords name in vain, Bob and I have never name called OR hit eachother or the kids, so thats easy.
I really feel they learn what they see.

So here was our situation:
Sierra comes in crying "Carson BIT my buttcheeks waaaaaaaaah"
Now, remember my rules, straight to time out for hurting someone, right?
So its "Carson, WHY did you bite your sisters buttcheeks?"
He is crying at this point because she told on him.
And he WAILS "Cause she was shakin' it in my FACE"

Well, dang, if someone was shaking thier rump in my face i might bite it too!
I wonder if Bob ever bit MY butt?
hmmm.

By the way.......yes Im well aware that today is Video monday, and I missed LAST video monday (shame shame) so I owe TWO video's today.
I'll get 'er done, promise!

sleeping beauty

I cant help but kiss her up all day.....i love her so very much!

Video Monday! frogs and booboos

I've decided each monday will be video day, which means I HAVE to post an updated video.
This way, I can be sure i'll take new ones each week.


Carson caught a froggy in the back yard.
He also got himself a big booboo from running around the pool which is not allowed!
If I had a bad booboo like that, i might not be smiling so big, but he cant help himself, my brave little boy.


Alright, here are 2 video's of the kids with their frog friend...make sure your volume is turned up, they sound so cute!

peek*a*boo

my perfect, perfect little peanut

Happy 4th!

So, we're a couple days late but thats okay!
Look at crazy bobby...always pullin' on his dingalong!

3 months, and Heaven sent!

Oh my gosh, you all have no idea.
This sweet baby girl is........AMAZING!
The best way I can describe the way she makes me feel is....a natural high.
She's so GOOD. So special, so soft, so smiley, so angelic!


I cannot believe she is 3 months old already!
She celebrated by having some yummy baby cereal (mixed with apple juice for some sweet goodness) for the 1st time.
She gobbles it right up.


If I could only freeze time for a little bit.
I can whole heartedly say, that I soak up all of her sweetness during the day, every single bit, and I am so thankful that thanks to my husband, I have the ability to do so.

our fun family project

So!
I bought little flower seed packets, along with 4 of those terra cotta pots, and matching plates to sit under them.
I already had 5 bajillion things of paint and brushes, stencils, etc.
Each bean (minus the littlest bean, nattie) decorated their pot however they chose.
My only input was to make sure once they were finished decorating, that I would paint their hand, so I could capture a small piece of time, and have their handprint forever on the bottom of each plate.


Below are the plates. Top left is Sierra's, top right, Caeleigh's, bottom left is Bobby's, bottom right, Carson's.


Sierra's pot on the left, Cae's on the right.


Bobby's pot on the left, Carson's on the right.


Total cost of project $ 10 bucks.
Family time together making memories......priceless.

Tommorow we add the soil, seeds, and water.....stay tuned to see what grows!

my favorite place

Here is our favorite summer place....right on our own back porch!
Literally, we are out here 90-96% of every day!
From coffee in the morning, to swimming, swinging, rocking babies, and catching fireflies at night, it doesn't get ANY better than this.
Screening it in was another of my sweet, hard working husbands accomplishments a couple of years ago!

swingin' the days away

My sweet, hard working husband built our little beans a swingset.
We specifically wanted this to hold just swings, and eventually, we will build a slide/fort area under our trees.
There are 3 regular swings, and one double seater glider type swing.
Natalie and I like to swing on that with Carson.
Speaking of the littlest bean, she's got her own swing too, that we will switch out when she's a little bigger!
Here's the view from our porch, followed by the view from our trees.