Santa Parade and Fireworks

To kick start December we went out as a big family!!  Nana and Pop-Pop included -we loaded up 9 people see what we thought would be a fun Christmas time parade.  Meh.
BUUUT...the fireworks were great.
Well worth the wait.
We parked near Daddy's new workplace and took 2 strollers - double and single to find a good spot. Sometimes it's hard to maneuver strollers and children, but we were glad to have them as seats for tired legs. ...I can't tell you how many times I've thought of plopping myself in a stroller over the past few years....  I stop when I envisioning it breaking upon impact.
Ha.
The parade wasn't really anything great.  Just ho hum.
...Even Mr. Ho Ho Himself wasn't seen until the end.  And he was parading on top of a loud firetruck.
Where's the candy, big man?
...there were some entertainers that passed out candy, but most could not calculate correctly.  We'd get one tiny peice of candy thrown our way.
Thanks....but it's easier for us just not to have anything at all than for my 4 sugar addicts to decide who should be the one to get it......

A good mom is always prepared though, so you know I had a purse-full o' snacks.  I passed them out and we passed the time until the finale.
THE FIREWORKS!
Oh, fireworks...I had forgotten how much I love you.
And how the KIDS loved you!
It had literally been years since I had seen them....pre-Cale most likely.  So....7 years, at least.
Everyone oohed and aaahhhed appropriately except for Megersa.
He was cold.  Honestly MOST the time that kid is in a great, if not super-hyper mode, but NOT when he's cold.  I swear he turns into a blob of unconscionable tears.
He had donned rain boots on instead of snow boots.  (I have since come to realize the rubber keeps out the water, but brings IN the cold, so I can't blame him entirely.  I just didn't cry.  ...cuz I'm a big girl! ;))

I always enjoy experiencing things through my children's eyes.
It's something I said to a girlfriend of mine the other day - you can never really explain the joy that comes with raising kids to someone who doesn't have kids.
...I'm not trying to hop on a soapbox or anything: Please, reproduce at your own risk. 
But can I just say that love for a child cannot be matched ANYWHERE.
Believe it.

HERE'S TO A GREAT START OF THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!!

(*sad above picture of the fireworks does not depict the beauty and wonder of the actual ones.*)

Thanksgiving

Thanks.  And giving.

Giving Thanks.

Sometimes God requires you to give more than you think you have.
This Thanksgiving He has required the most of me.
While I normally would fight it, and still sometimes find myself trying to 'put up my dukes' I am always always much happier to please Him.

The relationship of God as our Father has become more real to me since having children.
Real in that I realize how childlike I still am.
Hey Dad, would you mind coming with me here?  Could you tell me what to do about this situation?  I need help with this Dad.....
Please. Please.
Thank you. Thank you.

Oh yes, we CAN do things without any help from anyone.  BUT not everything.  And certainly not as best they can be done. 
We need instruction.
We need correction.
We need discipline.
We need love.

And we need to be thankful for it all.

9 years and 5 kids later

 God has blessed us abundantly.

November 5

5 has always been my favorite number.
I always chose to be #5 for any sport.
I have 5 kids...
I even like the look of the actual number.  Big round belly, nice little cap on top.
It's cool.

So when I got Megersa's referral on November the 5th, 2009, I just thought that was something extra special.

His little face has been in our heads and hearts for 4 years now.
He's a fabulous kid.
His 4 year old little self is still pushing all the buttons that a preschooler does...he's still trying the lying thing even though I feel like he MUST know he's not good at it.

But he is loving.  Especially with baby Neve. All my boys love their sister, but Megersa is the first to want to crawl around and play with her.  He gives lots of hugs and likes to dance with this hilarious booty pop. (I really should get a video of it.)
Constantly asking us questions about animals - specific to "which runs faster and why."
Challenging our sanity as all of our children do, and expanding our hearts in love.

Here's to your referral day, Seka!! :)
LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN!

Fall 2009:

 

Fall 2013:

Shepherd Pie

This kid.
Oh man.  He is by far our funniest kid.
So creative...so carefree...
Rarely influenced by anyone else.
He will be a leader someday, I am sure of it.
....starting with his fashion trends:

Halloween 2013

First themed Halloween.
Mario Brothers.

Halloween actual day got rained out so we did some trick or treating Nov 1.
Doesn't matter...candy is candy, right? :)


Here's our cast of characters:
Cale as Yoshi (note: this is not an actual Yoshi costume, but Cale didn't know, and I got it for $2 at the end of the previous season) -
This kid really gets Halloween.  He was pumped to get going... was a little impatient waiting for his little brothers who lagged behind, but overall was just in his element.  He waved at his friends and was showing everyone his loot.
He's a great kid.
...so old looking!


Megersa as Toad - 

Megersa did a fabulous job keeping that big poofy hat on.  I give him a lot of credit.  Just minutes before we took off on the 1.5 mile neighborhood trek he fell down and scraped up his knees and forehead (can't see it here...it wasn't terrible).  But he sucked it up in the name of CANDY!  He did pretty well obeying and staying close and walking the entire way.  He makes a cute toadstool, huh?!




Thad as Luigi -
As Thad's 2nd walking Halloween he did a great job.  Kept his costume on the entire time and really did well with obeying when he could and could not eat a peice of candy.
I'm glad we brought the stroller and the ERGO because the littles needed time being strolled or carried.  Truth be told, both twins got more recognition than any of the others and man, they were eating it up. :) 




Sheppy as Mario -

As always, Shepherd deems things worthy of himself.  Even though he announced to many passerbys "I Mario!"  He didn't even notice that he was technically the top dog of this crew.  At least didn't brag about it.  Which is probably the best choice costume for him.  He is cute to the max, but what a slow lil buggar.  Haha.  He rode on Daddy's shoulders quite a bit of the way, and took a few stroller rides.  Happy to get up for more candy, but when he was done, he was more than willing to take a ride while he tried to entice anyone to "open more tanie."

Neve as Boo - I'm not entirely sure there was really anyone who noticed she was technically part of the Mario gang, but she participated! I snuck her bites of candy from the ones I snagged and she happily chomped on the cookies that were passed out from Subway.  She was in great spirits being carried or pushed through the town.  Towards the end it got a bit cold so I kept her bundled (plus, she was super messy anyway).  Happy girl participating!  Next year I'm sure I'll invest more in her costume.  Well...at least more than a white hat that was drawn on. :)  

 

And there's the whole gang together -
What a great looking bunch right?!







And a few more candids:

8 & 9

You know when something in your life happens and it's so significant, that while the rest of your life presses on you find yourself stuck wondering where the weeks and months went....
Well I've been stuck there for 3 month now.

Neve is 9 months old.
I missed giving a status update on her 8th month.
I am really lagging behind...

This girl of mine is a spit-fire. 
She started crawling just after the 7 month mark.  And now is quite efficient.  Can even make it up a step or two.  She's beginning to cruise around furniture (albeit slowly). 
She is starting to find entertainment for herself.  Usually they are not actually toys...  She enjoys getting into tupperware or the snack cabinets.  Not usually making a huge mess either.  It's fun to watch her from afar.  She enjoys things with lids, and for her over-achiever self she can unscrew some of them and tries to put them back on correctly.
Neve still makes her snarly face which I think is just hilarious.  The other day she was in the tub with Cale and kept snarling at him.  He returned the face and for about 5 minutes straight I was dying of laughter because baby girl held her own.  Cale broke down in hysterical laughter about a minute in, but we both kept her going.
She's still very much a momma's girl.  Prefers me to all others, which of course I cherish!  There is a soft spot in her heart for her Daddy though.
I think it was just around the 8 month mark that Babs cut 2 teeth.  I feel like if my memory serves me correctly it was either the day before or after.  Seems like she's working on some others.
Her sleep is hit or miss.  I only nurse her in the early morning (around 6:30a) and generally she goes back to sleep.  The time change though is always the pits.  Throws everyone off.
I hope things can straighten themselves out and she can start going back to sleep until 8:30a or so....
(*time to remind myself some day all my kids will be teenagers and we will most likely have to drag them out of bed*)
Neve's favorite song is "twinkle twinkle little star" - oh my baby loves that song.  As soon as she hears it being sung (initially it was only Daddy who could sing it, but now she allows everyone) she starts dancing.  Her dancing is in her upper body.  Neck...torso...shoulders.  And girl's got rhythm already. :)
At 9 months she's down to 2 naps.  Usually around 11am and then in the 3:30-4p range. Makes it fun for more family outings in the evening knowing naptimes wont be a hassle.
What else?
A few weeks back we all got struck with the flu. Every kid was a victim of the pukes.  And the poops.  It was hard...especially with so many kids...and especially with a tiny baby.  Uck.  Glad we are past that phase.  .....not sure why I'd even wanna add that.  But its a factual thing about her age.
Oh, she also got a horrendous cold with a cough that rocked her little body every time it came out.  That was tough.
She loves to eat.  And she's not super picky.  She will try almost anything I'm trying.  And opens her mouth and makes this squeal or snort until I give her a taste of what I'm having.  It's cute...most of the time.   And she loves her binky.  She does have an adorabe little binky face. :)
I'd say she's about 18 lbs now.  Her looks resemble her brothers in lots of different ways, but her petite face and smaller sized head (yup...big brothers have big noggins) set her apart visually.
...Neve just melts our hearts on a daily basis.  Her blonde seems to be getting longer every day and her eyes are so bright it would be understandable to base our infatuation solely off her beauty, but it's her personality that seals the deal in our hearts.
She's so spunky.
And Neve is bright and radiant...just like her name describes her.
I love her.  Love love love her.
Couldn't imagine these last few months without her.
I could post....oh, about a million pictures of her in the last few months, but I'll try to narrow it down.
This was what I made after her 8 month:

 And then there's all these:

Those are just from month 7-8.  Now here's month 8-9: