Not 'Dos Dough'

I had a fancy evening planned. A group of girls was gathering for a dear friend's bridal shower, and the attire for the evening was cocktail. Woohoo!

Little J was watching me get ready. As I finished my hair and makeup, I walked to the closet to put my dress on. After slipping it on, I stepped out of the closet to ask Andy for help with the zipper. That's when J saw me and said, "Oh Ma. You sure look pretty in dat dress. Not dos shoes dough. Day are not dat pretty."

She's right. Oh but how I wish I could wear my slippers everywhere!

My Boys

I love my boys! I'm so blessed!

Games!

We're trying something new. J, A, and E still need to go to sleep by 6:30 in the evening, sometimes even 6 pm. But C and M are getting old enough to stay up an extra 30 minutes.

It's been lots of fun! We have been able to do things that J and A can't quite fully enjoy yet. Thanks Aunt Kari, Uncle John, and Jennifer!! The games have been a huge hit during this special time.

Roly Poly

M and J were playing outside when I heard squeals of delight. They were screaming, "Roly poly! Roly poly! We found a roly poly!" I ran to grab the camera to capture their excitement.

After taking a few pics, I looked closer at the strange bug in J's hand. Nope, not a roly poly. Just a little black bug. Poor little bug. God never intended for him to roll into a ball. But put him in the hands of a determined 3 year old, and into a ball he will go.

I just couldn't bring myself to tell them the truth. This treasure of a story will remain mine until they can read the family memories for themselves.

Caught Again

Andy just can't get enough of this girl.

Smooch

I caught Andy making out with E. She even puckered up for him!

My Tulips

This is one of the treasures Andy gave me for our anniversary. We decided not to do anything special to celebrate. We didn't want to spend the money. And it's tough for me to get away from E since she's still nursing so frequently.

But of course Andy reneged on the deal. He came home with a gift bag full of treasures for me. I got flowers, some wooden spoons, a silicone hot pad, chocolate, Lysol (to be explained later), and more chocolate. I'm thrilled with my wooden spoons! I love wooden spoons, and these are really nice wooden spoons. They are fabulous!

Pretty Girl

Little E is growing up, and she sure is pretty. Andy's having so much fun loving on her.

Waffle Attack

A's still learning how to eat a whole waffle, rather than having it torn into smaller pieces. He's doing well, but he tends to attack the waffle. He's definitely a boy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow! What fun!

We had a special Little Debbie breakfast. The girls loved their heart plates and napkins. And of course they were thrilled to find white cream inside the heart cakes. Who says you can't have dessert for breakfast?!

Here are a few pictures from our fabulous day!

And the grand finale ... the most exciting part of the day. Andy bought a rose for C, M, and J. There were so excited! He also got them each a card that sings "My Girl." They were thrilled!

She's a month!

Baby E is one month old! Life for her is still eat and sleep. That's about all she does. We do get occasional 10 minute stretches when she's awake, and it's so much fun! When she's awake, she's very alert and interactive. She smiles and coos - lots of fun.

She's doing great! She still nurses every 2 hours during the day, but that helps her pull off an 8 hour stretch at night. I put her down at 7 PM, and she's out until 3 AM. After a quick 20 minute feeding, she's back down until the morning. We've got another good sleeper. Good thing since I love my sleep!

Snuggle Buds

Another rare moment caught on film. Yes, that's A's drool collecting on Andy's shirt. Big boy was out. He sure loves his Dada.

Where's my baby?

Tuesday is laundry day. I spend a large part of the day in the laundry room and closets. After finishing up in the kids' closet, I headed back to the laundry room. As I passed through the kitchen I noticed E was not in her bouncie chair.

Where did she go?

I glanced back into the living room. Nope. Dad doesn't have her in there. So I continue to our bedroom, and what do I find? Two snuggle buds. Andy loves having a baby in the house.

Happy 7th!

Guest Blog: Andy

Dear Lydia Marie,

Happy seventh anniversary, my love! Can you believe it’s been seven years? It feels like it was just yesterday that we tied the knot, but at the same time it’s hard to remember life before marriage. How did I survive and enjoy life without you? My mother used to tell me that I’d know when I met my future wife because I wouldn’t be able to live without her. And that certainly was the case when I met you. You complete me. You make me a better man. You bring so much joy into my life. You are the joy of my life. Beautiful. Godly. Submissive. Supportive. Intelligent. Athletic. Musical. Clean and organized. Stylish. Fun. Wise. It becomes more obvious every day that you are definitely God’s answer to my daddy’s prayers while I was growing up: “Lord, please raise up a wonderful, godly wife for my son.”

Seven years is a long time, but it’s only the beginning. I don’t know about you, but my love and devotion for you are stronger now than ever. I’m still just a rookie at loving and leading you properly, but I’d like to think that I’m better at it now than ever before. I look forward to many more years of life with you. I want to take you (just you) on a seven-day cruise. I want to build our dream home together. I want to stay in a cabin in Colorado together during the winter. And so much more! And who knows, maybe God will give us some more babies. Can you believe we already have five? Aren’t they the best little treasures in the whole wide world? After three I felt a little overwhelmed, but after A, and then E, I think God has grown my heart for five more! I love the challenge of being their father, and of providing the ideal environment for their development. When they reach eighteen, let’s have them ready to take on the world for Jesus Christ!

I love you, my Lydia. You’re my best friend. I wish I could just put you in my pocket and keep you with me all day every day. I just know that 2009 is going to be our best year of marriage, family, and ministry together. You’ll always be my number one.

Semper Fidelis,

Andy

No more curls

It was time. It was probably beyond time. Big boy had to get his first haircut. I waited just as long as his manhood would allow. (Strangers were beginning to question his sex.) I just hated to lose his precious curls, but now they are gone. And my baby is no longer a baby. He's a little man. A very handsome little man.

He did an amazing job. Everyone was so impressed at how still he sat, and he didn't fuss a bit. He certainly stole the show at the beauty shop.

Happy Birthday!

So what does a father of 5 do to celebrate his birthday?

First, he sleeps in ... to 7 AM! Then as he greets his son at the crib, he gets slammed with the stench of poo. Off to the changing table. After cleaning up a messy diaper, he decides the boy needs a bath. And hey, why not throw 3 more in the tub while we're at it?! After bathing the kids and helping them get dressed, he settles into his recliner to hold and shush the baby to sleep.

Happy 29th Birthday Andy!

Life is fast and furious, but Andy made three comments throughout the day that I want us to remember.

"Ooh... now this is nice. The perfect start to my birthday." (in the morning while sitting in the recliner with E)

"I'm 29 - the last year of my 20's. But hey, what other 29 year old can you think of that has 5 beautiful children. I'm way ahead of the game." (during our I-Hop breakfast)

"Thanks hon. This is heaven for me. It's a beautiful day. I'm sitting outside in the sunshine, surrounded by my beautiful, healthy family. I've got a great, new book. This is the life." (this afternoon while at the park)

Life is good, really good. We're so blessed. And now we even have a programmable coffee maker! Andy can wake up to coffee rather than waiting for it to brew! Thanks Nana! Andy is beyond thrilled with his new coffee maker. It's already programmed and ready for tomorrow morning!

Like Father, Like Son

Little A's already in training. Each day Andy listens to at least one sermon. This morning he had his buddy listen with him. My boys.

Big feet

We got to go to the circus a couple weeks ago! What fun! At one point, Andy was pointing out the clowns to M.

Andy: Look M! Look at the silly clowns! See their big feet!

M: Actually Dad, I think your feet are a little bit bigger.

He does have big feet. Like I've said of my M before, she calls it straight.

Missing Nana

We were in the truck, leaving Nana's house. We had made it about 30 minutes out of DeRidder when I heard *sniff sniff* *sniff sniff sniff* *sniff sniff*. What in the world? I turned around and saw C, tears running down her face. She was weeping.

Me: C hon. What's wrong?
C: It's not just me Mom. It's all of us. We just miss Nana so much.

Then I look around and see M and J frantically trying to wipe away the fast flowing tears. We talk a little while about how much we love Nana, and how it's hard to leave, and how we'll have to plan another trip to DeRidder soon, and how maybe we can call Nana later, etc... Problem solved, right? I thought so.

But about 20 minutes later, Andy glances back and sees J crying.

Andy: What's wrong my J? Why are you crying?
J: I'm just so sad Dad.
Andy: Why are you sad? What happened?
J: I just miss Nana. That's why I sad. I want Nana.

My girls love their Nana. I've even been told by M that Nana is a lot nicer than me, and for that I am so grateful.

Super Bowl Party

A couple of weeks before the Super Bowl, Andy asked me if we could have a few friends over to watch the big game. I thought it sounded like lots of fun, but I asked him to do one thing before he invited anyone over. I asked him to please check to see what TV station was covering the game. You see, we've got rabbit ears - no cable. And we get most major networks really clear, but we can't invite people over to watch a fuzzy Super Bowl.

So Andy checked and was devastated to discover that the game was coming on NBC. No way! We don't get NBC. ABC, great! Fox, great! NBC, NOT great - not even good - not even okay. AUGH!

Not only could we not invite anyone over, but now we had to find somewhere to watch the game. Nana get ready because here we come!!