Our Saturday (and some Benjamin updates!)

Back in February when it was already BLAZING hot around here and I knew I had another long hot summer of pregnancy before me I knew we were going to need a better home pool option - that little 4" plastic pool has been great but it's not going to work with my three little fish anymore! Lucky for us Papa Duck surprised us with some pool money so I was able to get this great 12' x 30" pool! It's perfect for us - not so deep that Gracie can't touch but deep enough the boys can feel like they are really swimming. It even has a little pump to keep it clean so I don't have to change out the water. It's even deep enough for me to throw a float in and relax! (Side note - the first pool we bought had a hole in it so I had to take it back and get a new one - by that time J had to go to work and the kids were frothing at the mouth to go swimming so, with much "you can do it's" from my little cheerleaders I put the whole thing up by myself! There were several steps I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do by myself - let's not forget I'm 20 weeks preggo!! - but that didn't discourage my little team - they totally knew I could do it :)
Saturday's seem to be the LONGEST day for us. J works most Saturday's and most of our friends are busy spending time with thier daddy's so we usually don't have play mates.  I usually refuse to go anywhere fun like the zoo or park since everyone else goes to those places on Saturday's as well so it usually just makes for a long day for me - trying to look for more ways to have fun around the house :) Here's a little peak at how we spent much of this Saturday -

Started the morning with a little swim

My fishies!

All while this little guy hung out with me on the porch

Then we got cold and needed to dry out in the sun

Oh, I haven't mentioned that we've had a cat take up residence under our house! He's a very friendly cat and the kids love him but I have no idea where he came from. He's obviously had an owner since he's not skiddish at all around the kids and even has tried on several occasions to come in to the house (J is allergic). So far he hasn't caused to much trouble and I'm hoping he'll keep any mice away :)

Then it was time for a little dance/freeze party!

For some reason they love this game and love to put thier hands in the air or on their hiney's when I yell freeze :)
I didn't take any pictures but after this we headed to Costco to enjoy a hotdog lunch and lots of Saturday samples :) Always a good way to spend a few hours :)

After naps the boys decided they wanted to cool off in the sprinkler. Since our suits were still wet from our morning swim and I didn't want to dirty up more we just played in our undies - of course they LOVED that!

Ofcourse we had to pee in the sprinker - BOYS!

Around 4:30 I got a text from J saying it was going to be at least 8:30 before he would be home - oh my goodness - 4 more hours! what to do! So we took baths and then I surprised the kids with a picnic in the living room and a new movie. They thought it was the coolest thing since they  NEVER get to eat in the living room :) We even finished off dinner with a surprise brownie treat!
Whew - then off to bed where they fell fast asleep in spite of thier late night sugar treat! Now, what to do NEXT Saturday - probably a lot of the same :)

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and we had a great day! Jeremy surprised me with some great gifts (even a massage - ahhh) and breakfast out after church and then a little Mommy/Daddy date night. Perfect! Here is a pic of my crew :)

Now for some Benjamin updates. Since I last posted about him taking off with the crawling he has started pulling up on everything and is even starting to try and walk while holding on to furniture! Really! I mean, he's going to go from crawling to running in two months time! He also has gotten two more teeth in (up top). I think I posted when he got his two bottom teeth in. He's even big enough to sit in the big boy high chair - and lovin' it!

 

This is how I find him most mornings - up and ready to start to the day!!

God laughs...

So, back in February I wasn't quite feeling myself and even though my sweet husband assured me it was IMPOSSIBLE I was pregnant :) just to ease my  mind he ran out and got a pregnancy test and this is what we IMMEDIATELY saw

His first response was - "well, maybe you are a little pregnant" - ha! Well, we all know if you're a little pregnant YOU'RE PREGNANT :)
Of course anytime you find out you're expecting there is excitement there! Who doesn't love having a baby! But when it's your FIFTH in 5 years and your 4th child is only 3 months old to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. My pastor often quotes Psalm 2:4 "The One enthroned in heaven laughs" and that is one of the first things that went through my head when I found out. Here I am overwhelmed and stressing out and my Heavenly Father is probably laughing hysterically. See, I had just finished 21 days of prayer and fasting and it had been an A-MAZING time of closeness with the Lord. My greatest prayer was greater intimacy with Him and that I would find my strength in Him and not anything of myself. Little did I know during that time a new little life was being formed in me. Psalms 139 talks about us being made in "the secret place". That has always been such a sweet thought to me. There is always that time when you are pregnant but don't know it yet and that sweet baby is God's little secret. So I just think back on that time when I felt so close to my Father and was crying out for more of Him and He knew that soon His secret would be revealed and I would be finding my strength in Him more than I knew! And back to God laughing - if you read all of those verses it's not very encouraging but what it spoke to me was He laughs at our thinking we're in control - and I definitely know I'm not in control :)
People often tell me they can't imagine having 4 children so close in age and that I must be super mom - ha! Far from it. But I will be honest and say that with each new addition while I may start out overwhelmed we just figure it out and keep moving - and honestly a lot of that is in my own strength. I don't know if I can do that this time. From the moment I found out we were expecting again I have heard myself crying out to God, "I trust you, I trust you" over and over again. Whenever I think, "how can I do this? How will this work or that work" I quickly follow it up with "I trust you Lord". I don't understand how this is all going to work out but I know you do so I trust YOU.   I also often think on Psalm 127 that talks about children being a blessing from the Lord. And also in Luke 1 when the angel of the Lord comes to tell Mary she will have Jesus she is told she is "blessed" by God. To be blessed does not mean it's always easy - I'm sure Mary can attest to that but I'm also sure she would say she WAS blessed indeed in spite of the hard times she endured. Now my hard days have been nothing compared to hers but some days are hard, and overwhelming, and almost feel like too much. But God.  So even though I don't know how we are going to do everything - I know that He does and that He will provide me with all I need and that we are blessed indeed.

We've waited a long time to make the "big" announcement about this pregnancy. I've been blessed to have very easy, normal pregnancies - and so far this one has been no exception, however I have dealt with a lot more anxiety this time for lots of reasons so we've kind of been keeping our news to family and close friends for a bit. Finally today we had our big ultrasound and got to see him or her - all growing and perfect in my womb. It's absolutely amazing every time you get to see that little baby growing so peacefully in womb - nothing like it! So with much excitement we introduce our 5th baby!!

I'm due September 28th - 4 days after Benjamin's 1st birthday (again, He laughs). This all feels so very deja vu in several ways. One is that I've done this 12 months apart babies before - remember James and John-Mark are a year and 3 days a part. Then just the actually being pregnant at the exact same time as I was last year - everything is too familiar :)
(we're not finding out the gender until he or she makes thier arrival:)
I can't tell you how many friends have reminded me that they are the 5th in thier family lately. I think thank goodness their parents went for "large" families and how awesome all these 5th's are!  Can't wait to meet ours and add him or her to this crazy family!  The kids know and it's really a non event for them - another baby - what's new really :) James was concerned we would have to get a new car and even saw a 15 passenger van and told me I would need one of those! Um, not quite yet buddy :)

And lastly I will say that while I NEVER in a million years imagined I would have 5 children - much less 5 in 5 years I know this is God's plan for our family. I think back to our wedding verse "To Him is able to do immeasurable more than we could ever ask or imagine" Eph 3:20 and WOW! And this is just in one area of our lives - He has done this in more ways than just these children He has blessed us with. May this growing family of ours be a light in this dark world and ever bring glory to His name.

Crack. Me. Up

This is the picture of John-Mark and Gracie's class at Community Bible Study - JM is in the top right corner (He had a cuter outfit on but it was chilly that morning and no one took his jacket off!) Can you find Gracie? She's the only one really smiling. No, more than smiling she's giving a wave and a "hey!" to the camera. When I looked at this picture I just busted out laughing. This is soooo her personality. I'm here - where's the party! I know she is going to do amazing things for the kingdom of Christ but Lord help us along the way :)

Today we had planned on going swimming after Bible Study but the rain put a kink in our plans so we did what we always do when a plan doesn't work out - Chick-Fil-A for lunch and playtime with friends. Much to our surprise Mr. Chick-fil-A cow was visiting today - can you tell how excited the kids were!!! And I'm pretty sure James asked him no less than 50+ questions - Do you like chicken nuggets, chick-fil-a sauce, can I touch your neck, nose, foot - why are you here, want to play? Poor cow's neck probably hurts from nodding so much :)

Honestly, these three crack. me. up. all the time!

So lucky!!!

Being an only child all I can think is how lucky my kids are to be a part of "big" family. As I've said before - I NEVER saw myself with 4 little ones (especially not so quickly) but I can't imagine what all these guys would do without each other. I must admit that sometimes I do worry that I'm not able to give each of them enough "mommy" time - especially this little guy

But, seriously, could he be any more loved?!? 

or entertained?!?

or catered to...

this baby is seriously sooo lucky to have such great big brothers and big sis!

Already ready to rock out with the Allen band :)

 

He has become quite the little explorer since he started crawling - he's so ready to join the big kids outside! I must admit that after all the bragging in my last post about what an absolute perfect baby he is he has shown me some new sides to his personality lately. For the most part he still is pretty content but when he's not hold your ears! Lately he's decided that when he's tired of his car seat the answer is to yell. And yell. And yell. He definitely has a temper and STRONG mind of his own :)

 This last week we had a couple of performances with the kids. All of them sang and quoted scripture in their Community Bible Study show. Gracie and James are my two "performers" and love the "stage". John-Mark is more interested in what is going on around him than really singing but they all did a good job.

 These two are quite the little pair lately

 James was all business during his songs. He also had his end of the year program in our Classic Conversations Homeschool Co-Op - also a very serious performance of the Presidents song

 

When we worked on the songs at home he was constantly fidgeting so I stressed that he had to keep his hands by his sides - looks like all that practicing payed off :) We have had such an amazing time this year with CC and I am blown away by all that these kids have been able to learn! So thankful to be part of such an amazing program!

 



John-Mark was so impressed by everyone's knowledge that he passed out! 

And look who is riding his bike without training wheels!! We all couldn't be any prouder of how quickly he picked it up (thanks to his great teacher - daddy!) 

 Ofcourse John-Mark wanted to show us his mad bike skills as well - he could probably ride with out training wheels too - maybe next weekend :)