School Spirit Day

My goal for this second week of school was to make it up to the school to have lunch with each of the kids at some point.  It's not the easiest feat with a new baby that is nursing quite often.  Also, the kids lunches are 3 different times, all 30 minutes apart (Callie is at 10:15, Jacob at 11:15, and Josiah at 12:15).  So after each of their lunches is 30 minutes before the next kid has lunch.  It took  me 3 different days, but we did it!!  Of course, Josiah would NOT have wanted me to take his picture, with Jacob I just forgot, but Callie LOVED having me take her picture!  :)

 The last Friday of every month is School Spirit Day - the teacher gets to dress down and wear jeans and all the kids wear their school colors - green and gold.

 Jacob was SUPER excited to be the first one in his class to bring home the Class Pet, Spike.  I can't tell you how thankful I am that Spike is stuffed and not breathing.  Jacob informed me that Spike had to do everything we did, and we had to take pictures to be included in the journal, so here is Spike watching Phineas and Ferb...

 Here is Spike having a snack....

...and here is Spike cuddling with Baby Judah!  :)

It's Official!

We really DO have 5 kids!  Oh my...

Just Because He's So cute!!!

Sidenote:  he's gotten a lot of clothes with guitars on it - I LOVE it!  It fits with his rock star hair :) 

Boys Night Out

Chick-fil-A put on a Father-Son Football night, and so David took the Josiah, Jacob, and Caleb out for a boys night!  They were so excited - especially Caleb!!

 Apparently they had a little ring toss game :)

They had a great time.  They had a cute little table football game and it had all different kinds of questions on it.  The hilarious thing was that Josiah and Jacob answered them differently almost every time.  For example, one question was this: "The game is on the line.  It comes down to a field goal attempt.  Would you want to be the one to attempt to kick the ball?  Or would you rather sit on the bench and have one of your teammates kick it?"  Josiah said "Sit on the bench.  Definitely.  Too much pressure if you miss."  Jacob said "Kick the ball!  I would kick it and we would win the game!"  They are very different boys :)

Thankful for Chick-fil-A that believes in having activities to strengthen and encourage families, and thankful for my husband who takes the time to create these memories with our kids!

It's A......Boy Again!!

 On Saturday evening, I got a text message from Kelli that she had been having contractions for quite a while and they were staying pretty regular.  I was FLOORED - her due date wasn't until September 10!!  But it certainly looked like this baby was coming early!   I was information central, so I texted my parents and sisters that Kelli was off to the hospital.  She and Scott took Joseph to my sister Kristen's house, and she headed to the hospital late that night only to be sent home shortly before midnight.  She was annoyed.  I told her not to worry about it - that her body was definitely getting ready and she should have a good night sleep.  Sent a text message to the family telling them it was a false alarm and good night.

Was up feeding Judah this morning at 6:30 am only to get a text from Scott saying they were BACK at the hospital, Kelli had been admitted, and the baby was coming today!!!  I couldn't believe it - I figured it would be another few days at least, but no!!  Sent ANOTHER text to the family saying this time it was for REAL - and the excitement began!  I kept my cell phone very close to me, and will confess to texting during church as Scott was keeping me posted on Kelli and the baby.  :)  I couldn't believe that just two weeks after having my baby, Kelli was in labor!  My mom was a total mess - she had JUST gotten home from being at my house and helping with MY new baby!  All during our pregnancies, she had said she was so worried that we'd have our babies at the same time and she wouldn't be able to be in both places at once!  :)

Kelli did great and baby Samuel James was born that afternoon and weighed 7 lbs 3 oz.  I was thrilled that he came before my kids' choir kickoff that evening - I don't know that I would have been able to text during that!  :)  He was happy and healthy and everyone was doing GREAT!  It's a good thing I didn't go late with Judah or maybe they would have shared a birthday!  :)  Welcome to the family Baby Sam!!

Big brother Joseph and Little brother Samuel

Sunday normalcy

Felt good to be back to church this morning.  I got the 5 kids dressed, fed, and out the door at 8 am.  Was rehearsing with the choir at 8:30 am (found a very willing friend to hold Judah for me while I sang), and enjoyed the morning to worship at Northside.  It was Promotion Sunday for the kids and so they were excited about their new classes.  They did inflatables, cotton candy, sno cones, and hot dogs after church for the kids - so they definitely didn't want to miss that :)

Moms and babies :)

 Chatting with my friend Lisa - she had twins 6 months ago and is holding the girl half :) - Harper is such a cutie pie!

Sunday afternoon naps - the best!!

Prescott Glen Kids Triathlon

Big morning today!!  The older boys were going to be doing their first triathlon!!!  A couple of months ago, we saw a sign at the pool about a kids' triathlon coming up.  There is a family in the neighborhood that we know whose oldest son was going to be planning a kids' triathlon for his Eagle Scout project!  The boys were so excited about it and signed up immediately.  They took it very seriously and "trained" for it for the last 6 weeks or so.   They both were in separate age categories and had different distances they would have to swim, bike, and run.  The biggest thing for both of them was working up to the swimming part of it (probably the hardest part of training for ANYONE's triathlon!!).  They are great swimmers, but you do have to work on swimming repetitive laps.  They did great though and were ready to go by the time Saturday rolled around!!

 David headed down with the boys to get their "transition area" ready.  I, of course, was running around the house looking for Jacob's goggles that Callie apparently had been playing with and put "somewhere".  (Never did find them...).  That kind of stuff makes me crazy...

 Lining up at our pool

 Josiah was SO excited...and a little bit nervous too, I think :).  The boys had practiced earlier in the week (in the POURING down rain) and both had a time that they were hoping to beat :)

 Jacob was at the other end of the pool with his age group...definitely a little bit nervous :)

 The spectating crew (Judah was in the stroller - sorry, no pic of him!)

 The younger kids started first and they did a staggered start.  Jacob dove right in!  

 Yep...he's excited now!  :)

 Time to transition for the bike ride...

 Josiah's turn for the swim now...

 Jacob finally got off for the bike part...

 ...as Josiah was finishing his swim.

 Josiah wasn't messing around - he was trying to beat his record!  :)

 And he's off!

 ...then head out for the run!  (notice the big grin still on his face!)

 Josiah finished his bike ride...

 Josiah setting out for his run now!

 The finish line!!!

 Finish strong Josiah - and he did!  Sprinted at the very end...the boy is a bit competitive!

 Josiah went straight for the gatorade..

 Jacob went straight for the blueberry bagel :)

 SO proud of them!  They did awesome and totally loved it!  I hope our neighborhood does it again next summer - it was a huge hit!!  (And totally made David jealous - now he REALLY wants to do a triathlon!)  And yes, they beat their times!  :)  Josiah's time was 14:39 and Jacob's time was 13:11.  They were super pumped!

(they loved this part - writing on their arms and legs with sharpie :)  ).