Dog Gone

Since I mentioned Charlie (our Golden Retriever) in a previous post, I thought I should announce that he no longer lives with us. Charlie snapped at Edie's cheek. Jon & I were devastated. We both felt horrible for bringing him into our home. We were shocked that this happened. We had spent alot of time with Charlie before we officially adopted him. We had him over for sleepovers & took him for walks. Charlie basically didn't get any attention from his owner. I think going from isolation to 5 kids was stressful for him. My guess is that he felt cooped up during the winter months & couldn't get away from the kids. We have a consultation with a pediatric plastic surgeon next week to minimize Edie's scar. Edie is beautiful with the scar, but as parents, we want to do everything we can to help her. Here's Ellory's sleepy picture. They look so peaceful.

Homeschooling

This is what our homeschooling looks like. We originally made an official school space in the basement. Nobody wanted to go down there. I tried dedicating the dining room to our school room by hanging educational posters on the wall. In the end, it felt cold. I missed my warm, home-inspired decorations & photos. I finally came to the conclusion that one of the benefits of homeschooling is comfort. We currently don't need a dedicated space for it. Its comfortable & cozy to do school on my bed or wherever else Madelyn sees fit. Ansley (& Nolan) have been learning letters & phonics via LeapFrog DVD's that we play in the van Mon-Fri. We decided to watch only educational movies while we're on-the-go during the school week. Madelyn wanted to teach Ansley today. She helped Ansley with handwriting, letters recognition, & spelling. It was one of those moments that made my heart sing! I'm so proud of these two. Here's Nolan "playing" ABC Mouse. Love this website & love this kid! Since my cleaning lady was coming at 2:30 & Jon was working until midnight, I took the kids to the children's museum in a neighboring city. Love these photo ops! On the way home, we stopped by Chick-Fil-A. I came home to a clean house. I didn't have to fix dinner. The kids went straight to bed. No time to make a mess. I am enjoying my clean house for the night.

Back to Blogging

I decided to blog again after reading a friend's blog early this morning. Nolan woke me up in the middle of a deep sleep at 3:00 AM b/c he had wet his bed. He hasn't had an accident since I can remember. I was so tired last night, that I didn't make him go potty again before we hit the sack...lesson learned. Bring on my caffeinated Teavana tea (my new obsession)! Its been a busy whirlwind of a year since I posted last. For starters, not only am I homeschooling Madelyn this year, but everyone is home with me, everyday. Yep, that's right, no preschool. Ansley, Nolan, & the twins are busy, crazy, sweet, & sassy. Jon is in the 2nd half of his 3rd year in residency. Oh ya, we are also the proud owner of a 3 year old Golden Retreiver named Charlie. Since we're on day 2 of the new year, I'll post my resolutions so that I will hold myself accountable. Here they are, in order, drum roll please...1. Be a healthier ME by cutting out sweets, eating more fruits & veggies, being more active, & taking more much-needed ME time. 2. Love & appreciate my children & hubby more. We can never do that enough, right? 3. BLOG! Here's to a Happy 2013!

Ansley's Hair Cut

I came out of my room to discover wisps of hair all over the kid's craft table. When I asked Ansley if she cut her hair, she initially said, "No". She then blurted out, "Nolan did it". Her story wasn't adding up. After I asked her to tell the truth, she pulled out a hair ball from under neath her toy kitchen. I couldn't help but laugh. She actually did a great job. It could have been worse. She cut the side so that it looks like she got layers.

Madelyn & School

Here's Madelyn playing a pilgrim for her Thanksgiving play. Jon, the kids, & I also joined her class for a Thanksgiving feast. Lesson learned that day: get babysitter for Nolan & Ansley when spending long periods of time in Madelyn's classroom with lots of people crammed in there...it was crazy!

Madelyn won 2nd place in her Kindergarten through 3rd grade division art contest for her school! The theme was diversity. Madelyn painted an array of colorful cakes on canvas using acrylic paint. Will post picture when we get it back.

Here's Madelyn eating breakfast before school. She growing & maturing so fast. She's still my sweet Madelyn.

Sweet Babies

I'm a little obsessed with 1. Taking pictures of all my babies while they are asleep & 2. Taking pics of the twins side-by-side. Ellory & Edie will be 7 months old this month. They have started baby food but not loving it. I'm still breastfeeding. I've got my Double Blessings nursing pillow that allows me to nurse them at the same time (in case you needed a visual). They weigh about 12 lbs...still little bitties. I try to keep them on the same schedule but that doesn't always happen. Everyone asks if they are identical. My guess is no, but you can be the judge after looking at these pictures. They are quite the attraction when we are out & about. Madelyn, Ansley, & Nolan adore them. They really are the sweetest babies!

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Edie -> Ellory

Edie -> Ellory

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Edie -> Ellory

Halloween 2011

Our annual carving of the pumpkins.

I bought Nolan this Thomas the Train costume thinking he would love it. He kept it on for about 5 min, enough time for me to snap his picture.

Madelyn was creative by making her own cheetah costume out of things we had around the house. Ansley was a beautiful monarch butterfly. Nolan was Super Why. You may recognize this costume. Madelyn wore it when she was little. Since he wouldn't wear the Thomas one, I was lucky to sneak it on him.

This is always the spookiest house we hit up on Halloween night. You can see Madelyn in line trick-or-treating. She was very scared but very brave to enter this yard. Neither Ansley or Nolan would get close.

Madelyn's 6th Birthday

Madelyn's fave gift was her new sewing machine. We finally got it out of the box a couple of weeks ago. Her first project was a blanket that she made for her teacher...Awwww!

Madelyn had a Halloween themed birthday party. Pictured here is Madelyn the Ninja...Hiii_YAA!

Jon took the party "up a notch" by renting an inflatable slide.

Hope all your birthday wishes came true sweet Madelyn!

When the sun went down, we watched "Spooky Buddies" on our garage door via a projector. Moms, dads, & kids snacked on pop corn & sipped on warm apple cider.

Day Out With Thomas

Family photo with Thomas the Train. A Day Out With Thomas was equivalent to Disney World to Nolan.

Nolan plays with his identical train table at home daily, but its more fun to play with it in a real round house!

Wow...pretty impressive!

Harmony meant Ansley getting window seat 1st half of ride & Madelyn getting it 2nd half.

Nolan talked about the train ride for days.

Ansley's 4th Birthday

Ansley's Actual Birthday

When asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, Ansley said she wanted to stay home & hold the babies. So that's what we did!

I gave Ansley her birthday presents throughout the day. I surprised her with a Hello Kitty shirt & purse when she woke up. When it was time to brush teeth, she got her Hello Kitty battery operated toothbrush. In the picture, she is showing off her new notebook & "diamond" stickers.

We met Jon at Build A Bear for our family birthday party. Ansley made a rainbow bear named Rainbow Heart. Madelyn made a cat named Kitty.

After Build A Bear, we stopped by Dewey's Bakery for some cupcakes.

Goodnight sweet Ansley! She wanted to sleep in her birthday shirt. I"m happy you had a wonderful day. You were precious today when accepting your gifts. I love you so much!
The Birthday Party

I love Ansley's expressions during her party. She was humble & grateful for all the attention & gifts.

Happy Birthday to you!
(Side note for Katherine & Gary: Notice I'm wearing my new necklace & earrings you gave me. I intended to get a better picture of them but I forgot once the party started.)

Another cute cake by Carla!
Nolan cut the cake pre-party with a butter knife a couple of times. He sat at the table for 30 minutes saying "cookie" (meaning cake). He just couldn't wait!

Weekend in Boone

Us at the top of Grandfather Mountain. The record low temperature there is -32 degrees, while the record high is 83 (in 1983). It was in the cool low 60's for us. We crossed the mile high swinging bridge to pose for this picture. Our heads were in the clouds...literally! I cannot wait to go back for some hiking, sans kids.

Here's the cute black bears we saw in the zoo at Grandfather mountain. Did you know that Black Bears aren't always black? Fun fact for the day.

We spent Saturday at Tweetsie Railroad. Its an Old Western/Cowboy/Native American theme park. Jon took the older 3 on a real train ride. I took Madelyn & Ansley on a chair lift. The rest of the day was spent riding rides for Jon & the kids. I hung back with the babies, & sometimes Nolan.

Nolan rode this one by himself.

Ellory & Edie relaxing in their stroller

P.S. Me holding the twins

P.S.S. Ansley has been a very picky eater lately. One of the few foods she will eat is Parmesan cous cous. Mean mommy makes her eat it outside b/c its incredibly messy. I will find balls of cous cous everywhere in the house for 2-3 days...and that's when she eats it outside! Ansley demands to use the "sea shell spoon" each meal (as pictured).