Happy 5th Birthday Chloe!!!

Well, it's a day late...sorry Chlo. I can't believe she's 5!! Every time one of the kids turns another year older, it just seems so unreal! Time goes by faster every year!

Singing Happy Birthday

Spotting a present

"I like it Mom!"

Who doesn't love money?!?!

Opening Grandma's gift

She's so excited about everything! :)

I love you so much sweet girl!!!

We're taking the kids to World of Fun on Sunday for both of their birthdays. That's what they wanted instead of a party...which is fine by me. So I'll be posting pictures of that soon! They're so excited to go! Oh, and they've been taking swimming lessons for a couple of days now and Laney's doing great! Chloe, on the other hand, is very scared of the water. She hates going all the way under and she won't let go of the instructor when she takes her in to practice kicking or whatever. I don't know where she gets that from...Mike and I both love the water. It kinda makes me sad...I hope she gets over it.

Laney's story

We found out we were expecting our first baby on Dec. 8th, 2000, after my dr. called with results from a blood test. It was just a routine blood test to check cholesterol and all that and she said they would test it for pregnancy. She told me she would call the next week with the results, so imagine my surprise when the phone rang the next day and it was my dr. on the other end. We had no idea...we weren't expecting it at all!! Well, of course we were thrilled!!! We found out we were having a girl around the middle of March and we were so excited! I'll admit that I always wanted to have a boy first, but when you see that little face, everything changes and you know that God gave you the exact one you needed.

I was set to be induced on my due date, so after 10 hours of labor and 45 minutes of painless pushing (thank you epidural), she was born on August 15th at 6:43pm. She weighed 7lbs. 6oz. and she had some dark brown hair and a very olive complexion. People kept telling me that she kinda looked like a little Indian (Native American :D) baby.

I'm so happy I had a girl first! She was an extremely good baby...smiley and all...and didn't cry hardly ever. She did have a problem with Mike making the sound of a car, however. She would pooch out her bottom lip, and get so upset...it was funny! She's always been a little snuggle bug and still comes up to me and just wants to sit together, or snuggle. She likes to act like a baby, which gets a little annoying at times...and she still sucks on her finger and plays with her hair when she's tired. She is our girly girl and she's a little scholar. She loves school and was in the advanced reading groups last year! She loves to learn!!! Right now she is in karate, and although she sometimes doesn't want to get out of bed (at 7:30 on a Saturday...I mean, who does, right) to go, she loves it and will probably stay in it for a long time! She was in ballet for a little while, and really liked it, so we're thinking about putting her back in it. She's the type that hates to quit...she tries to finish everything she starts. She's very sensitive and has such a soft, kind heart. We were at the store earlier this year when it was still chilly outside, and I didn't have a coat on, and she was so worried about me being cold. She kept asking me if I was okay since I didn't have a coat or jacket or anything. She's such a sweet little girl, and although she does fight with Chloe sometimes, she usually does think about other people first. I hope she keeps her sweet disposition all through life. She's very into animals (especially horses) and says she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. :) She's such an awesome big sister and such an amazing help to me! She thinks she's Elijah and Isaac's other mommy...she baby talks to them and tries to calm them down when they're upset. They both love her so much! Her and Chloe are very close and I'm sure they'll be best friends growing up! I love to sneak down the hall and listen to them playing in their room. They say the funniest things when they don't know I'm watching :)





I couldn't imagine my life without my snuggle-bug Laney! I love her so much and every day I'm thankful that she's in my life and that I was blessed to be her mommy!

Another one??

Many people have asked me if Isaac will be our last baby and I've always answered with a definite "Oh yeah". But for the past month or so I've been having thoughts (that I've been calling "moments of insanity") about possibly having another one. I know everyone is like, *gasp*, are you out of your ever-loving mind??? But, I've been rationally thinking through this...no, really. So since this blog thing is kinda like my journal, I'm gonna put down here everything I've been thinking. Bear with me please.
Okay, so yeah, 5 kids is alot, but if you think about it, people back in the old days had that many all the time and they got by...even without the modern conveniences we all so totally enjoy! I don't feel like I'm losing my mind yet with 4, so really, what's one more?? Of course, I have those days when I wanna pull my hair out, but who doesn't? Even moms with one or two? And I always get by. I love my kids more than I could ever even try to explain, and God has blessed us, honestly, more than I could ever even imagine...times a million! Mike is on board either way. He's the best husband a girl could ask for. I love his guts! :) Really, I don't know what I would do without him...he truly is my best friend!!! I guess I could put this into a pros and cons type of thing. Yeah, lets do that...

Cons:
1. Another baby = more money (duh)
2. We live in a 3 bedroom house. Where would we put this kid?...in the broom closet? under the stairs? in the garage?
3. College costs...oh my...
4. I wouldn't be able to go back to school as soon as I would like to (no, we're not thinking about trying for one right now, but I was planning on going back for my nursing degree in a few years...when we would be trying, or already pregnant)
5. I would never hear the end of it from people..."you have 5 kids??" "Can you count??" (yes, I've already heard that one) "You guys know what causes that, right??" (a favorite by many...and they all think they're the first to say it, and that they're so incredibly funny.) "Wow, you're busy!" (I'm thinking, right, and you're not?...how am I supposed to respond to this?) And my personal favorite... "Are they all yours???" ...uh, no, we just picked some of them up off the street. What? They looked so helpless. moron....sorry, I just can't stand when people ask me that, it irks me...
6. Oh the fights...
7. I would be most likely be in my 30's by the time it was born (I know, 30 isn't old...this is just a stupid reason. I'd delete it, but...I'm not going to...
8. We'd be a family of 7. Like, "Hall, party of 7, your table's ready" Yeah, that would just be our immediate family...we'd almost be to the point where they would automatically add the 18% gratuity to the bill.

Okay, that's pretty much all the cons.

Pros:
1. Another baby!!! YAY!!! Oh the cuteness :)
2.We'd make room for this one. What are bunk beds for anyway, right?
3. I really want another one!
4. What's stopping me from being a pregnant college student??
5. Another deducton on our taxes. Oh yeah!!
6. I could show everyone that thinks I'm crazy that it's OKAY to have a large family, after all, what else is life for?? Obviously, other than serving our totally awsome God!!?? You can't take earthly possessions to heaven with you, but you can teach your kids about salvation!
7. Raising another little life to love and serve our Lord!!
8. The last one counts for 2 :)
9. I could use my other names that I really love!
10. We'd break the boy/girl tie we're sporting right now

Well, there we have it. Pros wins. I don't know if that means it's set in stone that we'll have one more or not, but I just wanted to get all these thoughts on paper (read: computer screen)
I was scheduled to have my tubes tied on November 12th of last year and couldn't bring myself to do it. Does that mean anything? Probably not, but there it is.
Okay, I'm done. Like I said before, if we do decide to have one more, it won't be for a couple of years, so don't expect any announcements any time soon :) Unless something happens and we have another surprise! It's been known to happen with us...that's how we have 3 out of 4 now! Laney, Elijah and Isaac....it was Chloe we tried for :D I just want to say one more thing. We are praying about this and we have dedicated all of our kids back to Christ, so we just want His will to be done in their lives and any other little lives that may come along. I'm totally confident that He knows what He's doing!

Cardboard testimonies

LOVE this!!!

">

Big boys

Isaac has grown so much within the past 2 weeks! He's learned how to crawl the right way, he pulls himself up onto furniture now, and he's drinking from a sippy cup. Ever since he was born, he's refused to drink from a bottle, which made it difficult for me to leave him for more than 3 hours. He probably hasn't had more than 6oz. of formula in his life. When I nursed my other kids, they would take a bottle here and there if I wasn't around to feed them, but nope, not Isaac. He wants only his mommy! :) Which, of course, I can't complain. But he found Elijah's cup on the floor the other day, and started drinking from it, so that was it. I went out and got him one of those cups that has handles on it to make it easier for him to hold.







We're leaving Friday morning at around 5am (yikes!) to go to Oklahoma for the weekend. Mike's grandparents live down there and the whole family is gonna be there, so it will be nice to see everyone. This will be the first time I've packed 6 people for a trip!! It's only 3 days, so it won't be too bad to pack for, I guess. Mike wants to take our big water slide for the kids, and I want to take the exersaucer, and all of the suitcases (obviously), so needless to say, our van is gonna be jammed. I'm hoping that since we're leaving so early the kids will sleep most of the way!







OK, time for pics...








Isaac has toes just like mommy! :)










My sis got these overalls for Elijah. He looks so cute in them! :)

This is when he found Elijah's cup. He wouldn't let it go!