Addie's Birthday Party

The night of Addie's birthday we had a little celebration. Aunt Brittany and her cousins, Noah and Tessa, came over to celebrate with us. Addie, of course, had no idea what was going on. But the other kids were so excited. (I think Tessa slept the whole time.)

Singing "Happy Birthday!"
Cute Birthday Girl!

When it was time to open presents, all the kids huddled around :)

She got a toothbrush, a sun hat, and a water table for the backyard. But her favorite was...

a water cup with a straw!

She carried it around for awhile and when I took it to clean it and fill it with water, she cried til she got it back :)

Then I gave her a cupcake...

She got mad at the frosting. She did end up licking her fingers and realized it was YUMMY!

One-year-old parties are so funny! She was so glad to have her water cup and to try cake though. And now the kids are counting down to the next birthday!

Addie turned ONE

She turned one on May 4th. I wasn't ready for her to be one already. The year went by sooooo fast. The days go by faster with each kid we have added to the mix. At least I am never bored, but I wish it could slow down so I had more time to enjoy my quickly growing babies.
Addie reminds me a lot of Staucie. She is passionate about life. I have been having a hard time weening her off her bottle. I just don't want to. I like feeding her a bottle. We have eliminated all but the bedtime bottle. It goes along with our nightly routine. I get the other 3 to bed and then Addie and I go downstairs. I make her a bottle, and while I do, Addie squeals with delight as she watches me make it, and gets mad when I take too long (it is so CUTE). Then I feed her while we snuggle on the couch. When it is gone she cries (real loud) and so I hold her until she feels better. And then we PLAY! until she is too tired and then I unfortunatley have to put her to bed.

She is also trying to adjust to one nap since she only needs one now. The worst part is that she needs to go to bed when the other kids do because she is only taking one nap. If I ever try putting her to bed at the same time, she cries a lot in her bed. So sad. I like our nightly rountine too, Addie!

Isn't she so adorable?!?!

If I ever let her out the garage to play in the front, she just takes off down the driveway, out into the street, and just keeps running. I follow trying to keep her from falling. I try holding her hand, but she refuses. It will be nice when she is more stable because she makes me so nervous and is so crazy that I just don't let her out front to play very often, which I feel bad about.

She is so funny and adorable when she gets excited about something. I just love it. I love watching her eat her table food. She looks so serious and I love watching her while she tries to shove a handful of food in her mouth. I love just watching her.

She tried to get the camera...

I wouldn't let her. So, she threw herself on the floor to throw a fit. I laughed at her, so then she laughed too. Crazy girl.

I love you, Addie. What a joy you are in my life.

And the other 3 joys of my life.

This was the morning of Addie's birthday and they are still in their pajamas.

It is hard to get a normal picture of Parker.

I wish they wouldn't grow. I keep thinking that maybe I could have 2 more someday after my body gets a break, but it has been a year since Addie was born, I am almost 30, and unfortunately I still hurt from being pregnant with Addie. I have been in a lot of pain the last couple of weeks and don't know why. I think this tendonitis/arthritis is going to win. I just keep trying to think of how fun the next stages in my kids' lives will be. Having them close in age means we will enjoy it all together. I am so grateful for 4 of my greatest blessings. I am grateful to be a mother.

Cute ones of Bensen

Before Easter, Bensen and Addie helped me get out the Easter baskets while Staucie and Parker were at preschool. Bensen opened all the plastic eggs. He thought the ones that opened the other way made good boats. He kept opening them and saying, "more boat." Addie crawled away for the picture.
And then while Addie was napping he wanted to play with Staucie's beads. When he went to put them away, they spilled. Good thing he is cute. He did a good job helping me clean them up.

He also likes to help me feed Addie her bottle. He usually climbs up on the couch and sits on Addie and I, and helps me hold the bottle. It is hard to feed Addie because she grips the bottle real tight and pushes down while you try to hold it up. On this day, he fed Addie her bottle on the bed while I folded laundry. What a good helper!

Bensen got a hold of my camera the other day and took a whole bunch of pictures. I didn't even know he knew how. When I looked at all the pictures, it looked like he knew what he was doing. Here are a few of them... I was cleaning the bathrooms and now I know what they were doing...

Crawfish Boil

On the last day of April our friends invited us to their Neighborhood Crawfish Boil. After living in the South for two years, this was our first time trying crawfish. It was fun to try and seasoned well, but they were sure ugly. After enjoying our feast, the kids had hot dogs, the kids played in some races and ran around.

Parker and Jude kicking a ball around with some guy.

Staucie had fun with the water balloons.

This is Staucie in the 'bucket of water' race. You can also see Bensen in the background. I think this is where he lost sight of us and got nervous. You can tell he is nervous because his hands are in his mouth. He is also walking right through the middle of the race. Poor kid. We worry about him.

And there Bensen is watching the other kids play with his fingers in his mouth. Poor thing.

Then we went over to the inflatables where some big, mean kids were pushing kids down the slide. Luckily, our kids were okay. Probably because they didn't know them.

Silas sliding down.

Staucie sliding down.
Staucie climbing up, Parker and Silas sliding down.

Jude climbing up and Parker sliding down.

Then the kids got snow cones and checked out the fire truck.

Parker drove.

Silas, Staucie, Jude, Bensen.

I did get one picture of the back of Tami. ha ha.

Then they waited in a line that took forever, to jump on the trampoline.

Isaac went first but we didn't get his picture. He did flips on it.

This is Silas. I think he liked it.

And then Staucie had a turn...

She was excited to jump but...

...then they raised her up and she looked terrified and I thought she was going to cry.

The guys kept flinging her up and had no idea she was scared. Oh, my kids.

Parker didn't even try it. He didn't even stand in line.

I wanted to try it, but was pretty sure I weighed too much.

It was a fun and busy day! Thanks for inviting us. The kids had a blast!

Addie started walking

She started walking a week or two before her first birthday, which was May 4th. She is getting faster everyday. Although I am sad she keeps growing and reaching new milestones so quickly, she sure is a CUTE little walker. I love her little walk. All day long she walks and walks.

Easter!

On Easter Sunday we waited until after church to have our Easter egg hunt. We also had dinner at our friends' house right afer church so the Easter egg hunt was later in the day. The kids were excited! We tried to line them up for a "before the egg hunt" picture...

Addie crawled all over her stuff...

And then drug her head across the floor... she was tired...

Later that day, we colored our eggs while Addie was napping. We ran out of time the day before so we did it on Sunday.

And then Addie woke up.