these kids...

my husband has crazy strong genes.

 I feel like his genes are more dominant in my kids, than mine are.. and that is totally fine!

they look so much like him, they have his humor, his quick wit, his generous heart, his gift of flatulence and some may even have his sweet temperament ;) however.. this weekend, I saw a tiny glimpse of myself in them.

ella kate and Josiah were both in our children's choir musical (which was AMAZING by the way!). ek had a solo and jos was Fireball, one of the main characters. they both did a fabulous job and we could not have been more proud of them. after the program, we were loaded up in the car and pulled out of the parking lot when I notice that Josiah was crying and ella kate had the saddest look on her face. I asked them what was wrong, and they both started crying and became a blubbering mess. they were telling me how sad they were that the program was over and how it was just terrible that they would never do it again. :) how precious. that is totally me!! I am so emotional, so sentimental, so "cry about everything"..  it made me smile that I could see myself, but then I wanted to hug them and cry with them because I know exactly how they feel!!

so.. back to the kids being like bill. after church on wednesday, we all got home and unloaded when I realized that we left the baby's bottle in the van. I asked ek to run to the car and get it and after a few minutes, she ran back inside and said that she couldn't find it. bill laughs and says, "well, I'M going outside to van to get the bottle, because I know how you look!" (the kids usually cant see what is in front of them.. its ridiculous!) and as he is walking by, he accidentally drops the keys on the tile floor. so without skipping a beat, ella kate says to bill as she grabs the keys for him, "well, I'M gonna bend over and get these keys for you, because I know how you bend!" it was hilarious... quick wit, I tell ya! just like her daddy :)

Titus Frankin is growing like a weed.. he is 11 months old and still not our easiest baby. He has his super sweet and smiley moments, but he also is cutting teeth and is not afraid to fuss/holler/pitch a fit. He is his daddy's little clone :) he loves Josiah, mimi and yaya, he is a pro at waving bye bye and can down 2 hot dogs like nobodies business! ha! we sure do love our baby Ty!

my kids have been yanking out their teeth left and right!

Bible story time with adalyn (4 years old):

"When the bad guys killed Jesus, they made him a sign that said, King of the Judes. And Jesus cried and then he died. But he isn't on the cross anymore and he isn't in the tomb, He's ALIVE!!!!"

 Levi loves wearing his big boy "unna wears!" His favorite part is sticking his Chapstick in the front flap little "pocket".

Me to one of my daughters: "you are so pretty!"
My daughter: "thanks, I know! :) the only thing wrong with me is my hair."
Me: "oh yeah? What's wrong with your hair?"
My sweet confident daughter: "well.. Nothing really. I just couldn't think of anything else!"

 I have people who come up to me often and say, "your kids are so well behaved and you have so many of them.. How do you do it?" Well, this post is for you... ‪#‎LetsGetReal‬ We are renting our house for the Masters this weekend and the prep has been no joke. For instance: after I shampooed the carpets, I woke up yesterday morning to find my 2 year old peeing in the box fan while on full blast, then he pooped in the back yard and wiped off in the sandbox, I also am the proud owner of 3 new picture frames with no glass. This morning I woke to find ink pen on the leather couch, a beautiful blue crayon mural on his freshly scrubbed walls and a huge dead carpenter bee in his bed that he refuses to throw away because "he's cute!" Right now I am looking at he and his 4 year old wing man blow raspberries to me on our clean windows, while the big kids are rearranging logs and bricks in our (clean for once!) back yard to make fairy/troll houses. And everything needs to be spic and span before the guests arrive! So there you have it! My life isn't perfect! and is certainly never dull!

Adalyn and Levi were arguing when adalyn started whining to me, "mom, Levi is not letting me play with him!" To which Levi responded, "I NOT LEWI!!! I HIM!!" He has always said that his name is "him" or "Himmy" and today he is not answering to anything else!

I'm scrubbing my walls like a mad woman and sweating profusely when josiah walks by and says, "you know mom, you're really pretty for your age!"

Adalyn: "ella kate, you are not in charge. Momma and daddy are.. And God. He's the boss, and He's gonna get you!"

i went to put the clothes from the washer to the dryer and as I was pulling out pieces of clothes, I pulled out a full bottle of Hershey's syrup. I'm so glad it stayed shut.. ‪#‎howdothesethingshappen‬ ‪#‎anotherdayinthelife

I asked Levi (my brave bug lover) to get a dead roach for me. He walked up and said, "awww.. He's cute! Please, I put it in my pocket?"

Someone passed gas in the van today and everyone blamed adalyn (who is usually guilty!) but today she said, "Guys that wasn't me! This smells like rotten eggs and my toots smell like sneaky feet!"

 Yesterday josiah ran outside to the backyard to grab something. He slid his flip flops over his socks real quick when miley (who is 6) looks down at his feet and says, "uhhhh Siah?? Wearing socks and sandals is totes lame!" She walks off and leaves him looking at his feet completely confused!

I may or may not have just hid in the dark in one of my kids bedrooms to eat an icecream cone for breakfast.. My kids thought we were playing hide and seek. ‪#‎iwon‬ ‪#‎breakfastofchampions‬ ‪#‎theyneverknew‬

adalyn is 4!

Sweet Adalyn, you are 4 years old!!! You were so excited to wake up and be 4, but were also so bummed that you were still small. You kept saying, "hey... I thought I was 4! Why am I still tiny?" :) You love anything Barbie and princess.

You wear your blue sparkle stinky shoes or plastic Cinderella shoes every single day. Ellie and Clara are your bestest friends and Levi is your wing man. You are terrified of animals.. especially dogs. You like them from a distance, but as soon as they head your way you go into hysterics. "Boys like girls" (teen beach movie) is still your favorite movie and you would watch it everyday if we let you, and can pretty much quote the entire movie.

Levi still calls you Ina, and you never correct him. You love to draw and color. Your happy stick people are my favorite. You told me that you were going to quit twirling your hair when you turned 4, but you haven't.... and you love going to Mr. Don's class at church. You have an incredible amount of gas, and you are so proud of yourself when someone acknowledges it. Miley is your hero, and you are thrilled when she pays you any attention. You love Titus and want to be a helper, but sometimes you love him a little too much and a little too hard:) You are a joy and I am so glad that you are mine!! I love you to the moon and cant wait to see the little lady that God created you to be! Happy Birthday!

.. and just to remember.. when we asked you about your birthday date, you asked if both mom and dad could go. then, you asked if we could go somewhere inside.... then you asked if you could get sprite and the other kids get water... then without hesitation, you shouted "WAFFLE HOUSE!" :)

Funnies :)

Adalyn: "momma, are we gonna get to keep Titus forever? Cause he's SO cute! And can we keep you? Cause you're really sweet! But.... We don't really have to keep Miley.. Cause she's not really sweet to me...."

Ella kate was drawing a Christmas masterpiece when adalyn looked over and said, "oh, you did a great job ella kate! I love how you drawed that whistle-toe!" (Mistletoe) 🌲

Josiah isn't sure what he wants to be when he grows up. He just told me that it was a tie between being a taste tester or working at GameStop.. ‪#‎bigdreamer

I was snuggling Levi as he woke up from his nap. I kissed him and said, "oh, I love you!" He kissed me back, smiled at me and whispered, "I love daddy!"

Adalyn was on her 3rd wardrobe change for the day when Miley told her, "adalyn, that dress isn't going to look good with shorts on." Adalyn smiled and twirled around saying, "what? for real? I look AMAZING!!"

I'm clearly the greatest momma-chef ever. After trying a new Pinterest recipe, I serve all of my kids their perfect little dishes only to see them take a bite and turn their noses up. However, I look at my sweet firstborn who has gobbled up her entire bowl! I smile and ask her if she would like anymore, to which she replied, "ummmm no ma'am. I gagged the whole time I was eating it, but I didn't want to make you cry so I just kept swallowing it down."

Overheard a conversation tonight between a few of my kids...
One of my sweet daughters: "me and mom look just alike. we are both tall and skinny!"
Another one of my sweet daughters: "uhhhh.. Mom's not skinny."

I'm in the front yard with my kids when a lady parks her car at my driveway and walks up to me asking if she can apply at the daycare that I run at my house. I kid you not! The look on her face when I told her that these were all my kids and we homeschool, was priceless!

holidays

I have done an absolutely terrible job of keeping up with this blog. Life is busy and I need to make this more of an effort. The kids are growing at a rapid pace and they are saying and doing cute things by the minute and I try to share them on facebook or write them on a post-it, but then I need to transfer them to here so I can have them all in one place. phew... I am going to do my best to make 2015 a more productive blogging year.. fingers crossed. so lets start back with the holidays. the kids were asked to model some clothes for a friend of mine's precious boutique. they turned out so well, and I was so thankful to be given the images!

Christmas was great and busy, as usual. we spent time with both families and I think I took mostly video and not many pictures. This was Titus' first Christmas and the kids were more excited for him than he was :) I took video for all of Christmas eve and my video camera died during the middle of Christmas morning, so I switched to my camera. that's why I don't have pics from my inlaws on Christmas eve and no video of Christmas day with my parents. :(

 

Miley is 6

Miley, Miney Moe, Miney Hiney, Matilda Jane... our sweet 3rd born is 6!!!!

She is so witty. A firecracker. Full of life (and drama). A big dreamer. A snuggler. An all around easy, loving and beautiful little girl. She has no filter, and whatever she thinks in her head, she spills from her mouth. I may or may not have shed some tears from a few of those spills that she had to say about me. She bridges the gap perfectly between the big kids and the little kids. She can hang with the bigger ones, but can also play and entertain the littles. she loves being in charge of Levi and she idolizes Ella Kate.

She is a daddy's girl through and through, but I have never doubted her love for me. She smiles a lot and almost ALWAYS makes a humming sound when she smiles, like a sweet little HHHMMMMMMMM:) She loves her cousin Eve, drinking sprite, eating apples, carrots and cheese. She could sing and dance and put on a show all day, everyday. She can braid hair like a champ, loves barbies, make up and karaeoke. She carries a purse with her at all times and it is always full of random treasures that she is ready to give away. At one point at church, I saw a few little girls with little white door knobs. They looked familiar and as I gazed across the room, I realized that miley was passing them out. apparently, she took the knobs off of her dresser and was giving them to her friends:)

She always has sea shells, jewelry and money that she is dying to give away. I pray she never loses that passion of giving. She is an outside girl and although she is girly and prissy, she can get filthy in a skinny minute. She loves digging in the dirt making houses for fairies and habitats for the bugs that Levi finds. She is a great trampoline jumper and can swing super high. she hasn't mastered all of the monkey bars or riding without training wheels, but she is super duper close. She is an easy dresser... by far my easiest girl to get ready. She never cares how I fix her hair or what she wears. Although, she is starting to prefer jeans and shorts and less dresses and skirts. She is reading pretty good and is a whiz at math! The more that I type about her, the more that I want to go and wake her up from her bed and spend some time with her.

Miley, you are a JOY! Your daddy and I could not have picked a better middle girl than YOU! You have taught me more than you know and you make me want to stop and smell the roses more often. You notice things that most people overlook and you see them as beautiful. YOU are beautiful, miney moe! God has created a masterpiece in you. I love you so much! Happy Birthday.

Did I never post Levi's 2nd birthday?

Levi Nicholas, Wise, Wisey Wise, Him, Himmy, little man, Leviticus...


You have lots of names :) you are 2 years old and as busy as can be! You call yourself "Him" and you adore Adalyn who you call "Ina". The two of you are the dynamic duo. Y'all can get into mischief in a heartbeat, and what was once a clean house, or freshly painted wall, or nicely ironed outfit will be a disaster in 0.2 seconds.


You are ALL boy! You love any type of ball but baseballs and bats are your favorite. You are CRAZY about bugs. CRAZY about them! Roaches, beetles, cicadas, worms... All of the nasty ones. If daddy gets to it before you, you bust out into the flash dance running in place and crying. You sleep with a june bug in a jar.





You love to wear your crocs, you love opening and shutting doors, you love matchbox cars, and you still love having your hand in your pants😁. You and josiah are forming a sweet bond that I love. The two of you share a room and he is a great big brother to you. You love daddy. In fact, the other day after you woke up, I was kissing you and scratching your back. I whispered in your ear, "I love you.." You smiled at me and whispered back, "I love daddy!" Stinker.





Wheels on the bus is your favorite thing to watch on Netflix, you get excited whenever you see a dog and especially when you see the donkeys on the way to church. Speaking of church, you love getting candy from mrs. Lisa's office. We love you to the moon, buddy! God is so good to have blessed us with your sweet life! Happy birthday!



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