2 months, Thanksgiving and more!

This post is going to be all over the place - but there are lots of pics so it should be a good one :)
Sweet baby David turned 2 months this past Saturday. Almost at 8 weeks on the nose he started sleeping from 10:30 until 8 am - woo hoo! Now that we're all getting a little better nights sleep around here I've been trying to get in to a better routine with the bigger kids and do some fun Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts and get out of the house more. Some days are better than others :)
Here's what David has been up to since his 1 month post :)

Lot's of smiles and grinners

Lots of late night convo's with daddy about life, politics, baseball, and those crazy big brothers and sister he sees running around all day :)

 Thankfully lots of this - I've said it before, I'll say it again - Miracle Blanket - you truly are a miracle!! Snug as a bug in a rug :)

And lots of just hanging around and being cute! 

I'm not sure what he weighs now but he is BIG. He's fitting in 3 months close perfectly.

I attempted to do his 2 month group picture as well as try and get a good Christmas card pic in our new Christmas pj's - WHAT was I thinking!?! Here are some of the good, the bad, and the ugly (and there are lots more that didn't make the blog - just more of the same :)

 James - when did he become such a big boy!! He's killing me. So sweet and handsome - I could eat.him.up!

 There are LOTS that look like this :) Benjamin wasn't wanting to sit still and pretty - always trying to escape :)

 Love this one - JM looks spaced out, Ben looks like he wants to eat something and David is just about over it all!

 Daddy making everyone laugh

  Benjamin blowing bubbles :) 

Every year my mom buys the kids their special Christmas pj's (or makes them). This year she bought these plain pj's and my sweet friend Jen helped me personalize them with these ADORABLE appliques! Love them! Gracie sure has grown up a lot since last Christmas! Love this sassy girl!

 All these blue eyes around here! Could they be any cuter!?!

I'm always trying to make sure we're doing things around here to teach the kids the real meaning of Christmas as well as showing them how to serve others. This was the first year we participated in filling a shoe box for Samartin's purse Operation Christmas Child. I explained to the boys what we were doing and even showed them several videos on youtube of testimonies from children who have received similar boxes then we went out and filled them up! They did a pretty good job of not asking for things for themselves. They would pick something out and get so excited and I would ask, "do you want that for you or the little boy we're sending gifts to?" A few times they wanted it for themselves but they always quickly were happy to give it away - proud mamma :) After we filled our boxes I let the boys dictate to me what they wanted to say in a letter and then highlighted it so they could copy it.

 My favorite part was after we filled the boxes and put our letters and pictures in them we all laid our hands on them and prayed. Each boy prayed specifically for the child that would receive his box. We pray everything each boy needs and wants will be in the small shoe box we sent and that if they don't know Jesus yet this small gift would lead them to Him. At one point James asked me why God doesn't just send things to kids in need - aha! perfect way for me to talk about how God uses us to be His hands and feet and help take care of all His children. Praying they are understanding this more and more every year.

I don't know what got in to me the  week before Thanksgiving but I turned in to Betty Homemaker - wanted to cook with the kids and do crafts. We made a couple new recipes I found on pinterest - in the pic above we're making home made granola bars - not too bad.

 

 Then I was feeling pretty bad about not having done any real "Thanksgiving" crafts with the kids. I mean, I'm supposed to be homeschooling and I'm pretty sure James was the only 5 year old in America that had yet to make a hand turkey this season :) so I got to searching the internet to find a few things I wanted to do. We didn't make hand turkeys but we did make turkey puppets. I used the hand prints to make "leaves" for our Give Thanks Tree. Each of the older kids did several hand prints and then I (or James) wrote down different things they were thankful for. They were all over the board with what they were thankful for. John-Mark was actually quite "super spiritual" which is a nice change from the boy that told me he was glad the soldiers put Jesus on the cross :( So I don't forget here is what each of them said:
James - playset, Goldie, jacket, Lego's, Sleeping bag, Football pj's, baseball glove, and bat. (When I asked him if he was thankful for any of his friends or family he replied that he had already been thankful for them - apparently he was trying to think outside of his normal list of "thankfuls" :)
John-Mark - his first answer (without any assistance from me - I promise) was "I'm thankful that God is the only one that can save me" followed by being thankful that Jesus is the Son of God. Then he added Buzz Lightyear (who actually came to a very sad end only a couple weeks later when he attempted to see if he could fly from the top of the play set - as you can imagine he found out that he can not. He lost his head, an arm, and part of his wings :( Lastly he was thankful for "the food that papa Duck brings" - whenever my dad comes to visit he always picks up lunch and brings it for the kids. Apparently JM really likes the food he brings :)
Gracie - Jesus, God, (she was kind of following John-Mark's lead here), flowers from Daddy, all her brothers, Mom-Mom and Papa Steve, mommy's scissors, trees, and her bunny :)

 This little turkey is.a.mess! He is 14 months now and all.over.the.place! He can climb on pretty much any piece of furniture in the house -yesterday I found him SITTING on David's head who was sitting in the bouncy seat on the coffee table - Gave me a heart attack! David didn't make a peep and didn't seem to care one bit - I on the other hand was a little shaken up :)
I have yet to post about his "spells". None of my other children have ever done what he is doing so the first time it happened I really thought he was dying - seriously, I was in hysterics! About a month ago I was making breakfast and he wanted me to hold him so I picked him up for a minute and then put him back down so I could finish flipping pancakes - he was NOT happy about this and starting pitching a fit, which led to him holding his breath while he cried, which led to him falling to the ground and turning blue (yes, BLUE), then when I picked him up his eyes rolled back in his head and he went stiff. Did I mention I was hysterical! I was yelling his name trying to get him to breath. Apparently he briefly passed out (which is a good thing - per our Dr. passing out is God's way of our body taking over. Once you pass out your muscles relax and you start breathing again.) While this isn't super common, it's not super uncommon either. Since that day he hasn't had any spells as bad as that one and as soon as he gets really upset I just lay him down on the ground (so he doesn't fall and hurt himself) and start blowing in his face. As of yet he's been able to catch his breath before he passes out but it still worries this mamma - even though rationally I know his passing out isn't going to kill him it's hard to see your baby turn blue, go stiff, and start twitching like they are having a seizure! We're praying he grows out of all signs of this soon!

 Little Miss Priss - my big 3 year old girl. How do you like this look? Hot pink pants, play shirt and clear glass slippers :)

 On Thanksgiving we drove to Huntsville to have lunch with my mom and Papa Steve - Here is our crew in the car on the way up - It's official - the van is full to the max!! This was the only picture I got the entire day! Guess I was busy or something :) J and I did get to go on a quick date and go see Lincoln while the kiddos played with the grandparents. It's getting harder and harder to go on dates and find some one to watch ALL the kids :)

The day after Thanksgiving J had to work of course but one of the boys favorite friends, Beau, was out from school so we took the opportunity to meet up at the zoo. Luckily Beau's daddy was off too so I had lots of help with my crew - I even took all 5 of them on the carousel (John-Mark had been begging to go so I gave in). This was a first for Benjamin - can you tell he was happy about it!?!

 Love this handsome boy!

Mr. Rodney was so gracious as to give Gracie a ride on his shoulders - I couldn't help but snap this picture when I saw it - nothing says Merry Christmas like a little crack :) hahaha!

Happy Birthday to our Gracie Belle!!

Friday, November 9th was Gracie's 3rd birthday! Jeremy and I both said we can't believe she's just now turning three! She is so smart and does so much that we always think of her as older. I honestly can't think of too many things that John-Mark can do that she can't!
As always we started the morning singing happy birthday to our sweet girl then opening her presents from us and her brothers. James and John-Mark were so excited about getting her a gift - they have been talking about what they were going to get her for months -lip gloss! (We have friends with a 5 year old little girl that has her own lip gloss - that is where they got the idea - and the fact that she likes to go in my purse every day and put on chap stick:) They also got her a Hello Kitty necklace and bracelet, little make-up bag, and bubble bath. We got her a new princess dress up dress with shoes and tiara, the Cinderella movie, and some cute new dresses. By far the lip gloss  and chap stick were her favorite! She carries her little "lip gloss" bag around all the time and puts some on about every 5 minutes - and the boys love it too (but don't tell Daddy:)
After presents her birthday breakfast of choice was chocolate chip pancakes. Then for her special birthday lunch with daddy she wanted pizza. She cracked us up at lunch when she asked to pray and we all held hands and bowed our heads and then she proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to Gracie - and we all just listened and Amen'd at the end! When Daddy got home from work he brought her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. A perfect day for our one and only princess :)
Sunday we had her Pink Princess Party! This is the first year she has a had a party with anyone other than family and she has been so excited about it! The boys always have a big summer pool party or slip n slide bash so I was trying to figure out what to do for her - and who to invite. Most of my friends have boys so she doesn't really have friends like they do yet. But we had fun with a few sweet girls. Of course I didn't get a pic of everyone but the girls that came were Emma, Ali, Emma-Katherine, Ava Ruth, Naomi, Nally, and Fallon. Mom-Mom and Papa Steve, Papa, Nonny, and Chrissy also came to celebrate with us. We're so blessed by all our family and friends that came to celebrate the life of our sweet Gracie Belle!!

Dear Gracie -
Our sweet and sassy baby girl! You add soooo much more to our family than just all the pink that was introduced in our home the minute I heard your daddy say "It's a Girl!!!"
Over the past year your personality has really blossomed and it has been too fun watching and "hearing" you grow over this last year. Just like me, your daddy and your oldest brother James you LOVE to talk, and talk, and talk :) You also LOVE to ask why and why and why. You crack us up with the things you think about and ask. Just the other day out of the blue you asked my why the itsy bitsy spider climbed back up the water spout! Ha! Deep thoughts :)
You are a beauty and bring smiles to everyone who meets you. You love to act silly and make people laugh. When you get in trouble you also like to get silly and giggly in the hopes that we'll forget what you were getting in trouble for - sometimes it works :)
You are sooo smart! It's really hard to believe you're only just now turning 3. You love to be read to and I won't be surprised if you are reading on your own by this time next year since we're teaching James and John-Mark I'm sure you'll be right there with them.
You also love to dance and sing and just like me you can hear a song once and almost know it by heart. You love to sing and worship with me in the car. I think your favorite worship song right now is Hillsong kids "Let your light shine" and you ask to hear it any time we're in the car. Nothing makes me smile bigger than when I look in the rear view mirror and see you singing and dancing in the car :) My grandmother LOVED to sing and dance and tried to get my mom to do little numbers to Barbara Streisand but she would have none of it. Then I came along and loved all that stuff so I thought for sure if I had a little girl she would not - but lucky for me I get a little singer/drama girl too. Yes, you definitely can be dramatic when you want to be :)
You are a fun girl that loves to play with your brothers and any little girls that cross your path :) Anytime we're at the park if you meet another little girl you will run off with her and play until it's time to leave. You still call your brothers "the boys" which I think is sooo sweet. Now you have the two younger "boys" to refer to as well.  I think you are just the perfect combination of girly and tomboy. You love pink and lip gloss but also wear your brothers old New Balance tennis shoes to play in and fly down our drive on the mini four wheeler :)
One of your favorite things to do is look at your newborn photo album and point out me and you and everyone in the family. I think you pull it out atleast once a day to look at and talk about. I need to add more pictures to it - it stops at about 3 weeks and Benjamin and David don't even have one!!!
Now that you and I are for sure the only girls in the family you always call me "your girl" and if you want to sit by me and someone else has already taken that spot you'll say, "but I'm your girl" :)  You continue to be quite our sassy sister and I'm pretty sure you tell me at least once a day that you're not going to be my friend anymore only to quickly change your mind and grin and say "I still your friend mommy".
This year you became a big sis for the 2nd time and while I think you wanted a little sister you adore both your little brothers. You love to hold David and kiss him all the time. You also are a great big sis to Benjamin and you two play together quite a bit. You love to tickle and chase him - and he loves it too - most of the time :) You are also becoming a great little helper doing things like grabbing diapers, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping, really whatever I ask you to do - except clean your room. You and John-Mark will do anything to avoid cleaning your room :)
It amazes me to think about how God placed you so perfectly in our family. Smack in the middle of all these wild and crazy boys. The perfect spot for the princess :) Your brothers love you like crazy and there may be times as you grow up that they drive you crazy but I hope you always remember what a lucky and special girl you are. I pray the love and protection you get from all these boys will be a great reflection of how much your Heavenly Father loves you x1000!!
Love Love Love you sooooo much baby girl!!!

Birthday Morning

Putting on our new lip gloss :)

Princess Grace

Love the heels! She was too funny in these. They are quite slippery and she has to walk VERY slowly to not trip in them but she HAD to wear them all morning. It was too cute watching her scoot around the house :)

Birthday Lunch

This was the first time we ALL went out to eat since David was born and surprisingly it went very smoothly. Thankfully David slept the whole time and the kids were too busy chowing down on pizza to get in trouble :)

The party. I am in no way a super party planner/decorator but I do the best I can and try to make it special for my babies. I made a fun little tutu table skirt and these cute little glitter princess bags for all the girls to take home with lots of princess goodies :)

When I pulled out all of Gracie's princess costumes for her to pick which one she wanted to wear for her party she went with Minnie Mouse (even though she's not really a princess it was her birthday so whatever she wants:)

Sweet friend Emma. Gracie was sooo excited to have all these little girls to run around with :)

Sweet Ali Rae!

Precious Emma Kathryn - she has two older brothers too that are close in age to James and John-Mark and her Daddy and Jeremy have been friends for years. It's so fun to get to do life with all these friends and watch our kids become friends too!

The princess cake. A tradition I guess I have started is making all the kids cakes or birthday desserts. I always try to do something special that I know they will love. This year a made a princess cake for our princess :) Now, it's no DreamCakes but she loved it!
These last two pics are to show both her sassy and sweet sides. Can you tell which is which? Ha!

"Mommy, I not going to be your friend and  more"

"Mommy, I am going to be your friend"