Oak's Birthday Camp-Out (birthday catch-up, part II)

Remember a reeeeally long time ago when I promised to post Oak's birthday pictures (which happened on *cough*June 7th*cough*).  Well, I've been on an insane nesting frenzy since then and haven't had a chance to get it done until now.  I rarely nest productively since typically the last month of my pregnancy is filled to the brim with other must-do jobs (important things like packing up my belongs, moving them across the country or city, and unpacking them...).  So, it's been a nice change to actually have a chance to funnel all that nesting energy to things I just want to get done, like spray-painting everything in sight and sewing baby blankets.  Anyway, without further ado, here's Oakie's 2nd Birthday:

Poor Oakie, he, quiet honestly, had a truly awful 2nd birthday.  He was fighting off a fever, fell out of the suburban onto the driveway and got a HUGE goose egg and scrape on his forehead, and just was all-around miserable.  We tried our darnedest to help him have fun and went camping, regardless.  I know, I know, that makes us seem cruel but Oak handles things best with a heavy dose of distraction.  He managed to enjoy himself a bit on his actual birthday and was in a much better mood the next day while camping and hiking.

Checkin' out The Incredibles

Oakie is my movie addict.  The kid would watch movies all. day. long. if I let him.

We all know the actual opening of the presents is the best part of present-opening for a 2 year old

Don't be fooled by his look of excitement.  He actually ended up hating this doll and still much prefers his sisters' baby princess dolls.

Love this one of the 2 (outta 3) boys!

Playing in the water down by the lake definitely helped improve his mood
(every time I see this picture I think about how he should have an undershirt on.  That's your voice in my head, Lib ;)

He wasn't the only one who enjoyed it, obviously...

(yes, I know those last two pictures are almost identical, but I couldn't resist posting them both)

(also, I don't know where Ezra was.  I think maybe he headed back up to camp when I came down to the shore with the camera...that or we don't love him as much.)

My great little eater didn't complain a single bit when he got dutch oven peach cobbler instead of birthday cake :)

(the candles, however, did complain while melting almost immediately)

My oldest three the next morning lounging by the fire

Gearing up for the hike!

Ezra being horribly disobedient and climbing down the edge of a mini-rock cliff to the water.

I was going to say this photo is proof that we love him enough to take an occasional picture of him...but then I realized it's also proof that I'm letting him recklessly put himself in danger.  So, you'll just have to decide whether or not you think we love him as much as the other three.

 Enjoying the view of the lake

During our mid-hike refueling break

Oak is literally manhandling Scarlett out of his backpack here.  He's extremely possessive of it, even during downtime and will kick Scarlett out of it anytime she gets uppity and forgets her place.

There was gobs of animals to be found on our hike including a couple of turtles, multiple lizards, and a few frogs (not to mention literally HUNDREDS of ticks).

Well, folks, that's all for that.  Next up...the maternity shoot post!

(unless I have this baby before I get around to it.  no promises.)

Back to School!

Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool.  I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight.  Ohhhh, back to school.

there's pretty much never a time that an Adam Sandler quote doesn't fit the bill.

Today is the first day of school for my oldest two. Georgia's in first grade and Ezra's in second. You know what that means?  They'll be gone ALL DAY LONG.  Praises be, glory hallelujah! I'm sure there's a time I'll miss having all the small savages underfoot at home, but that time is not today.  To top it off, Scarlett will start her 3-days a week, half-day Pre-K on the 28th, which we're both looking forward to. yay! yay!

Miss Georgia in her hand-picked sparkly unicorn shirt and hot pink pettiskirt all ready for 1st grade! She's super-excited to have gotten Mrs. Callahan, who was Ezra's teacher from last year, and have her bestie Baleigh in her class again.  She's a little nervous about starting up school again, but glitter and ruffles always seem to help the medicine go down.

Ezra Emil in his "smart shirt" (aka: any polo shirt) which he refuses to wear for any day except the very first day of school.  In case you're wondering, he insisted on buttoning up all the buttons since it's "the only way I can make it look nice."   Ooooh, heavens, that kid is such a natural nerd!  Don't ask me why his eyes are closed.  He insisted he was "smiling normal!" when I complained about it.  Oh my heavens, how I love that quirky kid.

Here's a few more shots from picking up the kids after school.  Our friend, Jenny, (Liam's mama) is a super-star of a picture taker and is always willing to take a few extra since I always seem to be lacking my camera.

Georgia, Ezra, and Liam (Ezra's bestie)

Liam, Ezra, Nathan (Liam's older brother), and Georgie in front of the sign out front of the school

Mr. Ez

Miss G

That's all folks!  I'll have to put up Scarlett's first day pictures at the end of the month.  eeee! I can't believe she's so old!  I can't really believe any of them are so old!

Georgia's Tea Party (birthday catch-up, part I)

Remember back a couple of months when Georgia and Oak had their birthdays?  I managed to get birthday letters up but entirely skipped any kind of recording of actual festivities.  So, in the attempt to catch-up before the summer is entirely over (school starts in 11 days! eek!), I'm posting them now (Georgia's first and Oak's to follow). Enjoy!

Georgia wanted a tea party for her 6th birthday (and first friend party), so a proper tea party I gave her.  I'm actually NOT a party planner, in the least, but it was kind of fun to flex my hostess muscles a bit and see what I could come up with.  It didn't hurt any that it was a theme I loved.  Ezra's lego party last October, while equally fun to attend, was much less extravagant.  What can I say? I'm a natural-born girly-girl :) We had proper finger foods (this recipe wins the award for being easiest to make and fanciest-looking), lemonade, made hats (general instructions found here), played pin the tail on the unicorn, opened presents, and filled those last few crazy minutes by walking around with bananas on our head to practice good posture (thanks Fancy Nancy for that idea!).  I let each girl take home their teacup with a little necklace and a bracelet set for favors (the cups were actually little milk glass punch cups that I found in a set at a thrift store...but they were perfectly adorable and fit their little hands even better than normal tea cups).  Overall, it turned out pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

I set the mood with the invitations

I had some close-ups of the party decor, but I haven't stolen them off my mom's phone yet, so this'll have to do

(ps-in case you're wondering, that's my super-cute mom who helped out a ton!)

The whole group eating like proper little ladies

The girl of the hour

She was in absolute heaven!

The girls absolutely adored the hat-making activity. It was a lot of bang for not too much hassle (although if you had asked me at 11:00 the night before while we were hot-gluing paper plates and bowls together, I don't know if I would agree with myself ;)  It was fun to see their little personalities come through their designs...some of the girls just wanted a few flowers and other girls (like Georgie) couldn't pile on enough stuff! I think they all turned out absolutely adorable!

Our neighbor friend, Lilly

Baleigh, Georgie's bestie from school

The girl herself

Miss Reese, Scarlett's bestie

Little Sister Scarlett

Cailin, a friend from church and Reese's older sister

Kai, Georgia's long-time bestie from church

I couldn't resist posting a close-up of the birthday girl.  How cute is she?! I mean, I know I'm bias and everything, but really!?

My mom insisted I take a quick belly shot with the adorable hat she made as an example for the girls.  I think I was 24 weeks here.

All the cuties together!

Proof that she did, in fact, open presents.  I just figure this post is big enough without posting them all.

Instead of a birthday cake, she just wanted pink sparkly cupcakes.  I was more than happy to oblige.

Oh, and in case you're curious where the boys were during all of these girly-girl festivities, Oak was down for a nap and Ezra was busy doing this:

so don't feel too sorry for him.

I offered to let Ezra stick around, but he strongly informed me that he would NOT be at the party.  He would go hang out with his bestie, Liam, thanks very much.

aaaand that's all for Miss Georgia's festivities!  I think my sister took some family festivities pictures on the day-of, but I don't have them yet.  So, these'll have to do!  Hopefully I can get Oak's up soon and we can move on to more recent stuff :)

the backside of childbearing

I know I really should be posting adorable pictures of my children from our multiple summer vacations (is it still considered a vacation if one takes their work (i.e.: the small savages) along?), but instead I'm being selfish and posting something about myself instead.  My bestie sent me this link since it reminded her of me.  Oh, how right she was!  It's definitely a struggle I deal with daily as I try to come to terms with this pregnancy being my last.  We decided that five was our number since I don't know if our finances, time, or sanity can stretch much farther...but it's just so darn painful.  It kills me, but enough is enough and one has to stop sometime.  So, I'm sharing it with all of you since I figure I can't possibly be the only one who mourns the end of my childbearing.  Enjoy!

Lessons learned from my trip to Indiana:

People in Valparaiso, Indiana are not particularly helpful when your car overheats.

People in Jacksonville, Illinois, however, ARE quite helpful when your car overheats.

My husband doesn't recognize when I dye my hair.

12 children, under the age of 12, is A LOT...especially in public.

Those dozen kids consume food like locusts, leaving only crumbs and sticky messes in their wake.

Dealing with screaming children in the car = high speeds = speeding ticket.

The $120 part to fix cruise control is still cheaper than the aforementioned ticket + part.

9 children, with only a single adult to supervise, can actually live through a sparklers and poppers session without a single ER visit (especially if that adult is my superman of a brother-in-law).

9 hours in the car (each way) alone with 4 small children is surprisingly doable, especially when high levels of candy and dvds are consumed.

Every single second, penny, mile, tear, and wrinkle was worth it to get to see my two best besties and their broods!

Love you, Lib and Steph!

30 weeks!

I'm on the homestretch!

I can't even believe I only have 10 weeks left (and with my history, probably less).  Part of me thinks September seems like forever away, while the other part of me realizes it's only 10 Saturdays left to get everything done.  eeek!

Happy 4th, y'all!

Hope your holiday is as festive as ours!