Family in town

This past month we've had quite a few visitors and I haven't had time to document our weekends.

Grandma and Grandpa came up a month ago and brought up two of our nephews: Coby and Lance. The kids had a blast playing with them. Unfortunately, our kids came down with a stomach bug and our visitors ended up taking it home too. Hate that.

 
Grandma and Grandpa join in on the bowling fun!

 
We just love Beard Park, and we thought they might enjoy it as well!

Intense game of Tenzi going on!

Nanny and PawPaw came up the first weekend in November. Jase and PawPaw must have worked on this circuits kit for several hours. They started out inside and then moved in the garage and then to the backyard. It was great seeing them work on this together.

Worship time with my family! I'm so glad they got to hear the word from our preacher. So good!

So sweet. PawPaw loves his Ally. He is great with the kids. Always willing to play Lego's or hold a baby.

And with the sudden change of plans for Maebry's party, my mom, sister and brother's girlfriend decided to make a quick trip up this past weekend. They were only in town for about 36 hours, but it was good to see them. My mom was a huge help {as always} getting ready for the party.

Silly girls!

Our Deer Maebry is One

We had originally planned on throwing Mae a little smash cake party on the night of her birthday last Wednesday. Well, the night before the party we decided that it was best if we postponed it until the weekend. Finn was not feeling well and I ended up taking him to the doctor on Mae's birthday. We had quite a few friends unable to make it due to prior commitments on Saturday, but it all worked out and little Maebry had a great time.

I decided to piggy back on the colors in her room for the party: gold, white, coral, mint and light pink. I actually used a ton of décor from her room for the party, which worked out great and was cost efficient. "Our deer Maebry is one."

I made the cakes and icing for our party. I was going for simple, nothing fancy. I think they turned out just perfect. I used some toothpicks and some mini clothes pins and added the letters to the cakes.

I also made some mini cupcakes. For the little flags I used washi tape I had on-hand and wrapped it around the toothpicks. Then I cut slits out of them to make them look like little banners.

I ordered this sign below off of Etsy and had it printed at Costco. I customized it to fit her party colors and made it all about her! It is now in her room. Super fun!

The party favor table. Each family took home a Bambi book. "Hello deer friend, thank you for coming" was on the label. And they filled up a bag of goodies. Don't tell anyone, but it was Halloween candy! I sorted through it and put them in mason jars and Voila!

I printed 4x4 pictures that I took of her each month. I used mini clothes pins {my favorite} and tacked them to some twine {another favorite} and hung it up with some washi tape {again, favorite}. I plan on arranging these some how in her room on display.

The food. You know I am a sucker for fun food names. Since the focus was Deer Maebry, I went with a forest theme with the names. I'm not even sure anyone noticed the signs, but I enjoyed making them! Oh, and that little bowl of Trail Mix below...Heaven. It is a combination of Cheerios, Chex, pretzel sticks, mini M&M's, and peanuts topped with melted white chocolate chips. Original recipe is found here. Make it, you will thank me! Or maybe not if you're trying to cut back. Ha! Would be great for a Christmas gift to teachers, neighbors, Sunday school teachers, coworkers! Ok, I'll stop. But seriously, so good.

We buckled Maebry up and sang happy birthday to her! She was ready to dig in!

The cake was a hit! She knew exactly what she was doing and enjoyed every minute of it! And she was not about to give anyone a bite!

 

She slowed down quite a bit and needed something to drink before it all came up!! I pulled the cake away and called it quits! She was not messy with the cake at all, but did put a good dent in it!

She was a little comatose during present time from all the cake, but she loved all of her presents. And so did Ally and Finn!

Don't be left out of the herd...create your antlers! Fun antlers from the Christmas craft section at Hobby Lobby.

I snuck upstairs to check on the boys and they were in Heaven, Lego Heaven that is.

Happy 1st birthday deer Maebry! We love you, sweet girl!

Current happenings

I just can't seem to keep up with the blog these days. The busy season is definitely upon us. We finished up our last day of the semester with our Classical Conversations group on Monday. Hard to believe 12 weeks have already flown by. I am really enjoying this group of kids and moms, and the content I love! I feel like we are finally starting to open up and share with one another. It is nice. We had a Thanksgiving style potluck on Monday and the dads even joined us, which was special. The kids performed the timeline song they work on each week {there and at home} for the dads. Here is a little clip.

Here we are at CC last week during science; the kids were dissecting a flower and labeling all of the parts.

Last night at American Heritage Girls, Allyson had a busy night with jump roping, making a zoology poster and working on Psalm 100. She was also in the flag ceremony...big stuff right there!

The girls also practiced a few Christmas songs for a future caroling outing. So fun!

And a little rhyme they made up to go along with their jump rope time!

This evening we went to our chiropractor for an adjustment. We have been going to her for a few months now, 2-3 times a month. All of us get checked and adjusted, if needed. It is great preventative care and we feel so much better afterwards. 

Tonight Jase had his first basketball practice. We haven't even wrapped up fall baseball yet and basketball season is already underway. He knows a few of the boys from his baseball team, which is nice. We are hoping the Miami Hurricanes have a great season! 

While Jase was at practice {Daddy was at a bible study}, me and the younger kiddos went to Dickey's Barbecue Pit for some dinner. This was our first time to eat there and they ate like champs!

Can I brag on my kids for a second? They behaved so well for me this evening and I thanked them. It really made for a smooth and enjoyable outing. After dinner they each had a little ice cream and they were all smiles!

We wrapped up dinner and picked Jase up from practice. His top three things from practice tonight were:

1. Scrimmaging 

2. Lay-up/rebound drills

3. Defense

He was hungry, so we stopped at Subway. I gave him my card and ID and sent him in to order and pay. I wasn't sure how that would work, but thought I would give it a try so I didn't have to get all the kiddos out. I parked right in front and watched him go in.

He walked out with a grin on his face and held up his subway bag. When he got in the car, he said "Yes! I did it all by myself!" and handed me my card and ID. He is getting older by the minute. Hard to believe he is already 8.5 years old!

Maebry is ONE!

Our sweet girl turned ONE year old! Crazy times over here! Me and the older three went into her room and sang her Happy Birthday when she woke up!! I love that they love Mae so much, it melts my heart.

Before she woke up, I was able to make whole wheat pancakes for the birthday girl and she sure did enjoy them.

Our little Finn has not been feeling all that great the last day or two, so we headed out for a doctor appointment for him. I'm so glad we did. The doctor said that his ear looked really bad, on the verge of rupturing. She said that it was a 10 on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the worst. She said that she does say that very often. Poor little guy. They were all troopers at the doctor's office.

When we got home, the two older ones went inside, but I hung out front with Finn and Mae for a bit. Mae loved digging in the mulch and walking around.

Finn grabbed his glove, ball and a glove for me and we threw catch for a bit. He sure does love baseball. And he's pretty good for a 3 year old!

And our monthly picture on the couch. I'm so glad that I kept up with taking her picture each month. She has progressed so much over the past year.

Here is some video of her walking around the house. She is busy busy these days!

We loved getting phone calls from our loved ones to wish Mae a happy birthday. Here is one of them: Grandma and Grandpa!

And here is Mae doing what she does best!! She absolutely loves rearranging this cabinet for me! I know, I know we should put locks on them! Nah, she enjoys it too much!

Present time! She had a few things to open from us and from a couple of friends. It was perfect.

All of the kids played so well with Mae's new toys. I think I have some Christmas ideas for the older kids: Little People and Leap Frog! LOL!

 
Shawn picked up some cupcakes on his way home from work. We sang her happy birthday {for the 10th time today...we all loved it!} and she dug into the cupcake. She really didn't get past the icing and wasn't quite sure what to do at first. It was sweet.

 
Happy birthday, Maebry. We love you and thank God for you!

First Shiner

Last night Maebry was walking in our room and she fell by our bed and hit her head on our bed rail. I picked her up right and held her. I immediately saw a line in between her eyes where she got hit. Well, when she woke up this morning, she had a black eye! Poor baby girl! She slept the entire night in her bed, so I guess it did not bother her too much. I am hoping for another good nights rest, for her and me!