A Baby, a Birthday, and a Wedding

I have a lot to catch up on. Homeschooling does not allow me as much time to blog as I had gotten used to. In case I don’t get another opportunity to blog again soon, I decided to condense several big events into one post.

First, we have a new nephew!!

This “little” fella weighed in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces! His parents and three older brothers are ecstatic about his arrival. Miss M and I got to snuggle with him for a little while this week.

Secondly, Miss M turned TWELVE last week! You may detect a hint of shock in my words here, but that’s only because there is NO WAY I am old enough to have a twelve-year-old!! But seriously, she is everything I could ever have hoped for in a tween-age daughter. She is bright, polite, responsible and super sweet. She has been helping me with the younger kids since she was four years old, and she rarely complains.

She is starting to help my sisters-in-law with their kiddos as well, which is great because she loves her little cousins.

I don’t think I would be homeschooling right now if it wasn’t for her. Not only is she an excellent student, she is a wonderful teacher’s assistant as well.

Happy Birthday, Miss M!

And last, but not least, we had a family wedding last weekend. With a family as big as my husband’s is, there have been a lot of family weddings. But it has been four years since the last one and we were ready for a PARTY!!

The bride and groom were all smiles all evening.

Everyone looked so nice in their fancy clothes.

Big D was an excellent reader

Mr. H was ready to dance,

But he didn’t last long. He and Banana cut out early.

The rest of us had a ball.

We did the Y.M.C.A.

The Sprinkler

“Shout” (a little bit softer now)

The Macarena

And I always get a special bonus at family weddings. My husband actually dances with me!!!

It was a great night. Congratulations Uncle Beaker and Aunt Mad-dog!!!

First Days

Yesterday was our first day of school. Since we are homeschooling this year, things were a little different from previous first days of school. Last year the kids’ “First Day” picture looked like this.

This year it looked like this.

We still had to wake them up for school. And they still looked incredibly tired during breakfast.

Instead of desks they each have boxes for their books, notebooks, folders and pencil cases.

But they still had lots of work to do.

Things went relatively smoothly. Even the little ones kept themselves busy.

I thought it was a great first day. I am hoping for a whole year full of great days!!

And speaking of first days, Banana had her first day at a new preschool today. She will be at school two afternoons a week, when the big kids and I can work on more involved projects (and Mr. H naps.) Banana was so excited this morning and couldn’t wait until after lunch when it was finally time to go.

It may be a few weeks or more until we are actually in the swing of things, but I feel like we have had a great start!!

What A Season!!

Miss M’s softball season is finally over. But the climactic ending was worth the extra length. Her team won their division and made it into the City-County playoffs. They won their first game in a close and exciting match-up. It was so much fun to watch!

The second game was also a nail-biter. And it didn’t help that the first half of it was played in the rain. Our team was down by 2 in the bottom of the seventh (the last inning), there were two outs and Miss M came up to bat. I have to admit that my heart was in the pit of my stomach. Nobody likes to make the last out of the game. Not to mention the out that would cost the team the playoffs! But she whacked a ball past third and was able to get on base just in time for the next batter to hit a home run and tie the score. Two batters later the game-winning run came in. And I thought the first game was exciting!!

The last game was not quite as exciting, but it was awesome just to be in the City-County Finals. The team was short three players, one of whom was a pitcher and a power-hitter. Miss M played first base for the duration of the game, and she did an excellent job, visibly impressing even the other team’s coaches. It was hard for the girls to get many hits off of the other team's pitcher. Even the top of the lineup was struggling. The other team was up 7-0 by the second inning. Our girls brought it up to 7-5 by the bottom of the fifth, when the other team was up to bat. They were able to pull off eight more runs, whereupon the umpires automatically called the game over because of a 10-run “Mercy” Rule. Our girls were upset by the loss, but even more upset by the fact that they weren’t given a chance to catch up. There were some tears, but at the same time there was a GIANT trophy – much bigger than you would expect the Runners-up. Each girl on the team also received a nice plaque. Coach (Dad) expressed his great pride for his team and made sure the girls knew how cool it was to be the second best team in St. Louis in their division. It really was an unbelievable experience.

I am such a proud Softball Mom/Coach’s Wife.

Weekend Pix

I just had to share these cute pictures I took over the weekend.

Miss M holding her new baby cousin.

Banana deep in thought.

Mr. H lying in a field of clover.

We had a fun and busy weekend. We went bowling with a homeschoolers' group on Friday, attended an ice cream social at church on Saturday, and on Sunday Miss M's softball team won their first City-County playoff game. And what an exciting game it was!! I had so much fun watching Miss M and her coach (Dad) at the game yesterday. I cheered so loudly that I was nearly hoarse afterwards. I am so proud of both of them. And I'm looking forward to the next game tomorrow night!

Slip’n and Slid’n

Yesterday we got together with the G.I.F.T. (Getting Interracial Families Together) group for an outdoor game day. We had a water balloon toss, sack races, and fun with a giant parachute.

There was also a Slip-n-Slide. It was the first time that my youngest two children had ever seen a Slip-n-Slide. I know. They’re deprived children. Ask my dad about the time he brought over a box of Twinkies. My kids had no clue what they were.

Anyway…we tried explaining the concept of running up to the edge of the slippery yellow strip and tossing yourself onto your belly for a wonderfully wet ride with an exciting splash at the end. It sounded simple enough, but for some reason the kids weren’t getting it. They were all sliding on their knees, which is a clumsier trip, and not all that likely to get you to the big splash. It wasn’t just our kids have trouble with this concept either. I heard one of the little girls say, “My mind says ‘belly’ but my body says ‘knees’”. Many of the parents were shouting out their best slip-n-sliding advice. My older boys eventually got the hang of it, but Banana was still having trouble. We finally just had to shove her all the way down.

Mr. H just crawled down it until he got to the little pool at the end.

But once he figured out how much fun it was to play on the Slip-n-Slide, it was hard to keep him off of it. I was afraid he’d get plowed over by the bigger kids.

Thankfully he became interested in the playground while the older kids finished up with a water balloon fight. It was a fun afternoon.

…Aaaand we’re back.

Sorry about that, folks. We were dealing with some “technical difficulties”. There wasn’t anything wrong with my computer, but I was technically swamped with difficulties. There was end of school-year business, a major family vacation, Girl Scout camp, sports camps, and Vacation Bible School to name a few. FINALLY, July is here and the calendar looks do-able again. Baseball is over for the boys, and Miss M is close to being finished with softball. We survived!! And, despite being away from the blog for three months, I am still here.

We had a great time visiting Disney World. It was the longest trip we have made so far, and the kids were actually pretty good in the car. Once we arrived at Disney, we were off and running. We were always busy, but we were able to see and do pretty much everything we wanted to in less than a week. Mr. H and Banana stayed at home with their grandparents to take care of them. Feeling guilty about leaving them behind, I cried everyday for five days straight. Of course they were absolutely fine at home being spoiled rotten. The rest of us enjoyed Disney so much that we decided we have to go back again in another five or six years when all the kids can go with us.

As soon as we got home we had three straight weeks of activities. We had tennis camp, basketball camp, Girl Scout camp, Vacation Bible School, and theater camp. Not to mention the baseball/softball practices and games. Add to that a wedding shower for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law, a visit from my out-of-town cousin, my 14th wedding anniversary, Father’s Day, and a (paying!) gig with the band. Needless to say, I was ready for a long holiday weekend for the Fourth of July. It was nice. It was made twice as nice with the addition of a new niece. Baby Abbey was welcomed into the world with fireworks and sparklers.

Despite all that excitement, the biggest development for me was simply a letter…a letter that I had been writing in my head for months. I began researching the idea of homeschooling my three oldest children for the last part of the school year, and I was really excited about what I was learning about it. I wanted to try it, but was very concerned about making such a big change in our family. I went back and forth on an almost daily basis, and the stress of making the final decision was beginning to weigh on me. I was worried that my kids would be really upset, even angry about my decision; and that was keeping me from pulling the trigger. June 30 was the deadline – when tuition at the kids’ school was due – so it had come to a head that last week of June. I finally broke the news to Miss M, expecting drama and tears. But she was very cool about it, expressing her feelings very clearly – a mix of fear and excitement. I told her those were my feelings exactly, and we shared a hug. I wrote the letter to the kids’ school immediately. What a good way to start!!

Now…the real work begins.

Mr. H is ONE!!

Even more unbelievable than C.B. turning SIX is the fact that my baby boy is one year old. I feel like we were just bringing him home from the hospital. I know every parent feels this way...why does it have to go by so fast??? To help convince me that a whole year has actually passed, I have put together a month-by-month photographic review of Mr. H's first year.

Happy Birthday, little man!

Gotta Love St. Louis Weather

They say if you don’t like the weather in St. Louis, WAIT. Allow me to illustrate…

We went to the country house to play on the beach this weekend because it was sunny and seventy degrees. We made sand castles with moats, buried ourselves in sand, and just had fun being barefoot on the beach. I even had to get out the sunscreen! It was lovely. This morning when I went to put our clothes from the weekend into the washing machine, I found sand rolled up into the cuffs of my son’s jeans. I took them outside to shake off the sand and I noticed that snow was falling. Good grief!

Also, it’s opening day for the Cardinals. Should we expect a "Snow Delay"? Hmmmmm.
GO CARDS!

C.B. is SIX!!

Every year on our middle kids' birthdays, we write letters to their birthmothers highlighting that child's activities and development. We also include a dozen or so pictures of the child for her to see. The adoption agency keeps these letters in a file and passes them along if the birthmother asks about them. We have letters for all three kids from each year of their lives saved for them to read someday. They are also fun for keeping family and friends up to date about how much each child has grown and what they are doing. Here is this year's letter for C.B.'s birthmother along with some of our favorite pictures.

Dear Birthmother:

It was a little like a news flash for us. “This just in… C.B. six years old…Parents in shock!!” But when the shock wore off, the celebrations began. We took him out for dinner for his birthday last week, but he still has two birthday parties left to go. He will have a party with some of his friends from school this weekend. He will also share a big party with quite a few extended family members closer to the end of the month. We have so much to celebrate with this special boy.

C.B. started Kindergarten this year. It took him a while to get used to going every day of the week, but it’s no big deal for him now. He’s pretty good about getting out of bed in the morning and getting himself ready for school. However, we usually have to remind him to tuck his shirt in before he heads out the door every morning. He has been working very hard on reading and writing. He is getting better at sounding out words and he’s taking more care when writing now. It is so cool to watch him improve as the school year continues.

C.B. weighs 35 pounds and measures 41 inches tall. He is still on the low end of the pediatric growth charts, but the Endocrinologist we had been seeing has released C.B. from his care. He told us that he expects C.B. to be a “late bloomer” and that he will probably peak at about 5’8” or 5’9”. He and his three-year-old sister are almost the same height, but that doesn’t seem to bother C.B. He knows he’s still the big brother.

And speaking of brothers, C.B. has another one. Last April we brought home a new baby boy for our family to love. Our fifth little one fits right in with the rest of the crew, and he is spoiled rotten by his big brothers and sisters. C.B. loves taking care of his baby brother. He even wants to know when the baby will be old enough to move into his room with the big boys. What a sweetie!

C.B. has signed up for another season of baseball. He won’t be on big brother’s team this year, but we hope he will enjoy playing with some of his buddies from school just as well. He will also attend basketball camp and Vacation Bible School. We also hope to sneak in a couple of camping trips this summer. We are actually taking the biggest family vacation in the history of our family. We will be visiting Mickey Mouse and the rest of the gang at their home in Disney World. We are looking forward to making some wonderful memories with the kids.

We want you to know that over the past six years our gratitude for your precious gift to us continues to grow. You should also know that we think of you and pray for you often. Know that C.B. is a happy, healthy little boy who is eager to learn and that he will always know how loved he was – from the very beginning of his life. Again, we hope that all is well with you and your family. We welcome any correspondence from you to us or to C.B. We will be sure to write you every year around his birthday and include pictures, of course. May God bless you and watch over you!

Sincerely,
C.B.’s Mom & Dad

Where does the time go?

People have often asked me, “How do you find time to keep up with a blog?” Well, lately it looks like I can’t. Which is funny because I don’t feel like I have been particularly swamped these past few weeks; but I truly have not had time to sit and compose something. I really don’t have time right now. I’m just feeling guilty for not writing something about C.B’s birthday yesterday. He’s SIX already!! I will post something more detailed about that soon. I am also heading to “Mommy School” this weekend, and I will probably have more to say about that as well. Hopefully before another two weeks goes by!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!