Remember Me?

I've not been blogging much lately. When something has to give this is at the top of the list. I hate it, because I love being able to write about our family, but there are days lately where I'm barely hanging on, so bloging isn't really on my radar. Ha!
We've had several great things going on lately. On the eve of her seventh birthday, KK asked Jesus to be her savior. We had been working through a great workbook with the kids in our family worship time about being a Christian. KK and Addi really started asking a lot of questions about salvation about half way through, so after we were finished Manly and I sat and talked with each of the girls individually to see if they were ready.
After talking with Addi we decided to have her wait until she understands things a little more, but KK was ready, so we prayed with her. She was so amazingly excited! It was so refreshing to see that sweet excitement over her salvation. She was also really excited about getting baptized. She's been talking about being baptized since she was 3 and Olivia got baptized. It was honestly like a dream come true for her. That was why we were sure to ask her lots of questions  to be positive she knew what she was doing. We were confident in her knowledge and that she was also feeling that tugging feeling in her heart. It's such a special moment when a child accepts Jesus.
The next day was KK's birthday! After breakfast in bed(she chose a Stoby's cinnamon roll) we all got ready and headed over to our local MOPS meeting where Manly and I had been asked to share. I have been watching a lot of 19 Kids and Counting, and I just love that when they go speak somewhere she has her kids share a song because music is really important to them. I had decided I wanted to include our kids in some way to our talk, and because we also love music I decided I'd have the kids sing. They loved being part! They were so darling and did such a good job being well behaved before hand and singing out loud and clear.

Daddy giving her breakfast in bed. She was already dressed, but wanted to eat in bed. Ha!

 

Thanks to one of my MOPS friends for snapping this pic and sending it to me. If any of you girls got it on video please send it to me. It was the singing Smittle's debut.

 

After MOPS I took KK to see a movie at the theatre. This is all she wanted for her birthday. Sweet girl LOVES food and movies! She had it all planed out. She wanted to get popcorn and a drink and go see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2." Because it was a special day I even splurged and got her a deluxe movie theatre kids meal. This is a really big deal for me because I'd usually just pop my own popcorn and bring it in my purse! HAHA! She loved the movie! We drove through and got her a kids meal at McDonalds, which is another VERY special treat for our poor deprived kids. It's the little things...

When we got home Manly had to go to work for the rest of the evening, so after nap I took all the kids to Target for KK to do some birthday shopping. She bought herself some new movies she'd had an eye on. Afterwards I took all the kids by myself to Marketplace so that we could get some chocolate messes. This is KK's favorite dessert! She chose this over me making a cake. The kids were so well behaved, and I was really proud of them, so we stuck around and played checkers in the waiting area. While we were hanging out a really sweet family came through and we started chatting. It turned out that the mom was Cindy, Michelle Duggar's BFF from the show!! It was so cool! She was super nice.

SHE is a mess!

 

Yes, I switched her out for a smaller one since she got to have one to herself. I split the bigger one with the little kids.

 

My happy foodie, KK. Happy Seven Years!

 

We have had a ROUGH month with Manly's current schedule. He's rarely home because he's teaching two classes and also working a full-time load at the practice. I'm so thankful for work for him, but it's been tough for me and the kids. Last week he had a speaking engagement in Little Rock, so we went along and visited the new library there. I have to admit I wasn't much of a fan of the way the library is laid out, but the kids still had a great time. After reading for a while we went outside and I let them run around on the trails. It was a fun fieldtrip, and gave us a little more time with Manly. After he was finished speaking we ran over to Sams and had LOTS of pie samples. A fun day.

I'd love to have some of these letters that say something like love or family or something in my yard. These are out in front of the library. Eli was snoozing in the stroller. 

 

 The kids loved this "circle bridge." This is on one of the trails at the library. I think it's called the Hillary Clinton Library for those of you wondering...

Mia loves cherry pie like her momma.

 

My little tiny baby boy has had a terrible double ear infection for the last two and a half weeks. We are on round two of antibiotics. He's been so healthy until now, so I'm thankful for that, but these last few weeks have been TOUGH on us! He's also teething like a mad man, so he's been pretty cranky. I was able to soak up a few moments with just him this morning when I brought him into my bed to feed him his bottle and he went back to sleep. In stead of getting up and putting him in his bed I just laid there staring at him. I just wish I could stop him from growing up. It's going too fast. I can't stand him not being a baby!! He's still going to be MY baby no matter how big he gets!! Hoping he gets to feeling better soon!

Can you believe how big he is!?! BOOO!

 

My sweet boy getting to get down and dirty outside for the first time.

Turns out he thinks he's a squirrel. I fished about 15,000 acorns out of his mouth. Nasty!

 

Love this picture as it really captures the wonder in his face. He's always watching around him and trying to figure things out. He heard a sound above and watched as a plane flew over our house.

 

My favorite age is the second year. I mean, yes, these little dears try their best to be in control of every situation, they scream and fuss and pee on just about everything in site, but there is something so wonderful about learning new things each moment of the day.  My Mia is coming into her own around here lately. She's a total ham! She likes to make us laugh, loves her brothers, and is her momma's girl! She's completely potty trained herself in the last few weeks, and has been the easiest of all the kids aside from Addison. We've just got to get her screeching under control! That girl has a scream you could NOT imagine!!

Mia wearing her bib as a "Pharaoh hat." She came up with that on her own.

This girl is too smart for her own good, and full of so much JOY. So thankful to have her in our family.

 

The little peeps swinging. Mia will say, "I love my baby. I love I-say-uh too. I love you too. I love monkeys. I love my Wee-Uh(Olivia) too." She says this about 15 times a day.

So, we're making it. It's been, like I've said before, a rough year, but we're making it! Hang with me, I'll write when I can, and we'll live life together. Until then, I've got quizzes to grade, pizza pans to soak, and laundry to put away.