14...Happy Birthday "H"

Seriously?!? 14? How'd that happen?

I always knew growing up that I wanted to have kids. I knew that I wanted to be a mom. There was never any question at all in my mind if I would have kids. The only question was how many and I decided long ago that 6 was a good number. I missed, but not by much.

14 years ago, my life changed more than I ever could have imagined.



I knew long before I ever had him that I loved him with everything I had. I never knew just how much that was, until I laid eyes on him.



I think you can never really "get it" until it happens to you. I know you can love and know what love is, without ever having a child, but there is no love in the world like a mother has for her child. There is nothing in the world that a mother would not do for her child. She would jump into oncoming traffic for her child, she would scratch someone's eyes out for her child and she will fight till the end for her child.



I knew long before I had you, that my life would change. I knew I would love you. I knew that there would be nothing I would not do for you. You are and always will be my first true love. There will never be another like you. You have taught me so many things about not only life, but about myself.



You are an amazing big brother. Your little brothers adore you. I love to see you with them. I love to see the way you love them and look out for them. I love the way you stick up for them. I love the way you carry them around and do whatever they want you to do.



You are just like me. You are hard headed, you are strong willed, you are confident, you are cocky, you are a pain in the rear sometimes, you are so smart, you are opinionated, you are loving, you are caring, you worry.



You are dramatic, you are funny, you are loyal...



You make me smile. You are goofy. You are playful, but sometimes you take it too far. In your own words, "You are awesome!"



I am proud of the young man you are becoming. I am proud to call you my son.



You are helpful, you make me laugh.



I love that we are so close.



You have brought me such joy these past 14 years.



I love you with all of my heart.



Sometimes we are a little too much alike.



I cannot believe how much you have grown up in the last year.



I cannot imagine my life without you.



I can remember a time when I thought I would never be lucky enough to have children. The thought of that broke my heart. I will never forget the day I found out that you were on your way. I have never felt such joy and happiness.



You have continued to bring happiness and joy to my life since that day.



You are the light of my life.



I hope that you have the most wonderful birthday ever.



I still cannot believe that you are 14, it seems like just yesterday you were 4 years old.



It seems like you have been a part of my life forever, but in the same way, it feels like you were just born.















Time goes by way too quickly. You are in high school.



I remember taking you for your first day of pre-school. You did not want to go. You cried and cried when I tried to leave. I ended up getting a job at the school that year so that we could still see each other during the day.



You have always been amazing, but you are turning into an amazing young man.



I cannot wait to see what God has in store for your life, I just hope that it does not come too quickly.



You will always be my baby, no matter how big or old you get.



I love you with all of my heart and soul. I hope you have an amazing day.



Happy Birthday! I love you.

Tomorrow, this guy...

Tomorrow, this guy will be in high school...



Tomorrow, this guy will be in 1st grade...



Tomorrow, this guy will be sad and lonely...



These are my guys...



I cannot believe how big all of my boys are getting. My first baby will be in HIGH SCHOOL tomorrow morning! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home, all 7 lbs 9 oz and 19" of him. I will never forget what it was like seeing him for the very first time. For my entire life, the only thing I could ever imagine being when I grew up, was a mom. I honestly do not remember ever wanting to do anything else. Sure, I had jobs that I thought of doing, but they all took a backseat to wanting children of my own. I always said growing up when anyone asked, that I wanted 6 kids. I got pretty close! This boy has been the joy of my life for the past 13.11 years. Becoming a mom nearly 14 years ago is by far the very best thing in the entire world, I cannot imagine my life any other way. This guy will be on the varsity soccer team this year. This guy is growing up way too fast. This guy is still his momma's guy. He might not always admit it, but he is. This guy makes me happy. This guy makes me want to pull my hair out. This guy is the light of my life. This guy is a fantastic big brother. This guy loves his siblings more than he might like to admit. This is my big guy.

My second baby boy will be in 1st grade tomorrow morning! I cannot believe that my baby is going into 1st grade! That seems so grown up. He likes to say, "On my next birthday, I will be 7, then I will be 8, then I will be 9, then 10, then 11, then..." When he does that, I still think of him as my little guy and nearly argue that there is no way that on his next birthday that he will be 7! That seems so grown up! I mean, I know he is 6, but turning 7 on his next birthday? No way! This guy LOVES school, I hope it stays that way. He loves to learn, he loves to go to school and have fun with his friends. This guy is a good boy. He is laid back and care free. I wish I was this guy! He makes me smile. This guy is funny. He is loving, caring and the light of my life too. This guy loves his family. He would rather be home with his family than doing anything else in the world. This guy is a pleaser. He loves to make us happy. This guy wears his feelings on his sleeve. This guy makes friends wherever he goes. This guy has my heart in his pocket. This guy was hard to come by and had a rough start in life. This guy is my world. This guy is his mommy AND daddy's baby and we would not have it any other way. This guy loves to be around people. This guy is an amazing big brother, he loves his little people like you would not believe. This guy, who is normally calm and sweet can grow fangs and be in kill mode in 2.5 seconds if anyone messes with his little people. This guy LOVES cheese quesadillas. This guy can read. This guy can do math. This guy amazes me every single day. I am going to miss this guy tomorrow. It killed me to send him to pre-school 3 days a week 2 years ago, kindergarten nearly sent me to the crazy house last year, and 1st grade is making me cry. This guy is my best friend. This guy is everyone's best friend. This guy has his very first non family best friend. This guy will have a great day at school tomorrow.

My smallest baby boy will be 3 this month, in 17 days to be exact. You have got to be kidding me. There is no way my baby will be 3! He is still too little to be 3. I call him my little guy. He says, "I not a wittle guy!" Unless it works in his favor, then it is "I just a wittle guy!" This guy is hilarious. This guy is his own little person. This guy has a totally different personality than the others. This guy is independent and hard headed. This guy begged to go to school this year. This guy will be starting pre-school next month. This mommy is not happy about that, but I know he will have a great time. I had no intention of sending him at 3, I figured I'd wait until he turned 4, he had other plans. This guy is the sweetest baby ever. This guy is beautiful. This guy is a wonderful big brother. He loves his baby sister with everything he has. He talks to her, he kisses her, he wants to hold her, he gets upset when she cries. He wants us to always make it better so she will not cry. He asks, "I kiss huh (her)?" This guy also had a rough start. This guy scared us. This guy continues to scare us. He is a daredevil, he has no fear. This guy has had more knots and bruises on his head than all of the other children combined. This guy is tough. This guy has a mind of his own. This guy will give us a run for our money. This guy is mine. This guy loves all things dog, cat and Disney World. This guy loves ALL THINGS DISNEY WORLD! ALL THINGS!! He loves trains, trucks, firetrucks, garbage trucks...he is a man's man. This guy loves to get dirty. He loves crocs. He loves cheese. He loves life. He loves his people. He does not meet a stranger. He makes friends with everyone. This guy has my heart. This guy pads his pockets with rocks. This guy will be sad tomorrow because his 2 best friends are going back to school. This guy will cry and say that he wants to go to his school. This guy loves his big brothers. This guy makes me smile.

I am the luckiest mommy alive to have these guys in my life. They (along with their sisters *and daddy*) are my life. I cannot imagine my life having turned out any other way.

Tomorrow, I will be sad too...

One of those weeks

Have you ever just had one of those weeks? You know the kind. Nothing gets done, the house is a wreck, every dish in the kitchen is dirty, there are clothes that need to be washed, dried, folded and put up, you cannot walk through the living room without stepping over a little tykes cozy coupe, a dump truck, a garbage truck, a bouncy seat, a radio flyer caterpillar, a Pottery Barn Kids Everywhere chair, a dancing mickey mouse and who knows what else.

The last few weeks have been so hectic around here. "H's" baseball season started a month or so back and we are now in full swing. Sometimes we have 3 games in one week. Last night we had a game that was about an hour away. Those are exhausting. We have a few coming up that are at 8pm. Ugh.

We have been gone so much lately, or busy doing something, or having sick kids, or appointments or baseball games, or field trips or school plays or birthdays or....you name it that I feel like I have not had a single moment to get anything done around here that needs to be done, much less doing anything that I might want to do. *sigh*

I am hoping things start to slow down here sometime soon, not thinking that is going to be happening. Three more family (as in people who live here) birthdays just this month.

Anyway, enough with the rant. Just wanted you to know I am still alive, just buried at the moment!

Old McDonald's Farm

Last week was our spring break. It was nowhere near long enough. We are still trying to get used to the time change and were not ready to get up Monday morning and go back to school, for that matter we were not ready to get up this morning either!

We met some friends at a little petting zoo on one of our days off. The kids had a great time. While we were getting our things together for the day, "E" decided that he was going to read to the baby. It was the cutest thing. He picked out their children's story bible and "read" to her from that. She was a little wobbly in the bumbo chair so I did not leave her down there long but had to get a picture before I got her out.



"H" spent most of the day being the best big brother ever and carried "E" wherever he wanted to go. I think "E" was not feeling too good that day so he enjoyed getting the attention.



When he was not hitching a ride, they held hands and walked around the place checking things out.



There was a huge sand pile, that made me nervous. My kids do not "usually" like getting dirty at home. They are the plan ahead to play in the dirt kind of guys. BUT, we have been to a few birthday parties where sand was involved and I actually had to bathe them before we were able to head home. For that reason, I was afraid that they were going to go hog wild in the sand. "I" is the only one who played in the sand and he did not wreck himself too terribly bad. He had a great time playing in the sand with his friends from school.



Then he and his BFF "G" played a little tether ball.



We rode the train all together once. Then "H" and "E" rode the train about 826.4 more times. :) They rode so many times that "E" finally fell asleep. It was too cute.



Four silly little chickens!



A "hiccup" as "E" Called it, sitting on the roof of one of the pavilions. Every time it made it's noise, not sure what to say it was doing, "E" wanted to know where the "hiccup" was.



Big brother carrying little brother, again. Or should I say, still?



Petting the goats.



"E" was excited about going inside and petting the goats, until he got in there. He was not real sure about them once he got inside. He was pretty apprehensive about touching them at first. I think it is funny how he is leaning in yet still holding on to big brother's hand to protect himself.



Still not too sure about the little goats.



I guess he decided that he was safe so he let go of his protectors hand.



Waiting in line, trying to decide if he really wanted to ride the pony.



"I" was very excited about riding the pony.



Each time after he rode the pony, he would get off and run back around to get in the line.



I think he ended up riding all of the ponies except for one.



I wonder if the ponies ever get tired of just walking around in a circle, all day long. Ugh, I know I would.



He finally decided that it looked safe so he gave it a try.



AND HE LOVED IT!



I bet he rode the pony 5 or 6 times himself. I know the ponies must get tired of making that trip in the circle because I sure did. I know he was not feeling well because he was having fun but did not hardly smile at all. Poor little guy.



All of the kiddos looking at, petting and feeding the cow after the million combined pony rides!



"E" checking out the bunnies inside their house.



Trying to feed the bunnies. He kept saying he wanted "to hold it, bunny." I love the way he says things. He is growing up way too fast. He tells me all of the time, "I wanna hold it, baby" talking about his baby sister. Or "I love it, baby!" He just melts my heart!

Oh, and if you are wondering where the girl children are in these photos, it was really windy so we tried to keep the little princess in her carrier as much as we could and big sister had gone to spend the night with a friend the night before so they could go skating.