Conviction....

Funny faces....always
First game of the season...

Happy Half birthday, Big guy

Celebrated with a little cinnamon crunch bagle and candle..yummoh
So Creed is now 6.5 (see above) and he really is becoming a big boy. 

On Wednesday night Creed came home from church talking about how they had discussed a missionary who is going to share the gospel and teach kids to play soccer in Uganda. I was impressed with the amount of detail he remembered about the missionary.

Fast forward about 15 minutes to dinner. Creed wasn't eating and I told him to get busy eating his dinner that we needed to head to bed. He still didn't eat. I asked him what the deal was and he responded by saying "I know why I can't eat but I just don't want to talk about it." 

(Side note: Over the last several months Creed has been BEGGING for a wii. Everyone he knows has one, he promises he will only play for a few minutes a day...you know the drill. He has really, really, really wanted a wii. So, we told him he should start saving money for the wii. He has been doing chores and then also special things around the house for his "wii bucket". So far, he has raised about $12 or so.)

Back to the missionary story. So, finally I just went in the living room to fold laundry figuring he would eat if he was hungry. I looked over at him and he looked at me and started running toward me BALLING his eyes out. He sat in my lap and said "Mommy, the reason I can't eat is because I know I am supposed to give all my wii money to Rafael (the missionary) and I really, really want to but I also really, really want a wii."

It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Conviction is hard. Really hard. We discussed it. We talked about the sheer pleasure of obeying God's calling in our lives and by the end he was determined that all his "wii money" was going to Rafael. A conclusion I know that he would have come to totally on his own, but it sure was hard. 

Isn't it amazing to see that the Lord calls even the smallest to make huge sacrifices (in their eyes) and also equally amazing is to see MY baby feel a prompting from the Holy Spirit? 

Amazing. God is good. 

Happy 11 month big boy!

If you think I am super cute, raise your hand.Jude had his blood work a few weeks back. So bad I don't even want to talk about it....good news is he is free of any communicable or dangerous diseases. At the time of this photo he had no idea what was about to hit him.
Random happiness.
This is what it looks like when I try to take a shower when Jude decides not to take a nap. Normally (and I mean, 60% or more of the time) I would simply choose not to take a shower. This was going on like day 4 or something so I figured I should probably work on at least taking a quick shower (not asking to shave my legs or anything nuts like that). Welp, this is the pitiful look I got as I was getting out of the shower 1.2 minutes after the shower began. Poor baby, no body ever pays him any attention. Pitiful life. (Yes, his high chair is in the bathroom, yes I did give him a million snacks, and yes the shower still only lasted 1.2 minutes due to the uncontrollable crying).
First steps. This boy would have been walking about a month ago had I not kept pushing him back down on his tush and reminding him that he is a baby....my baby.
The wink. This is what he does when he is flirting with his momma. 
Learning to use a fork, instructed by his big brother. He is rejecting baby food in major ways. Rejecting any food that he can't feed himself, really. This boy is wanting to be independent. Again, I do keep reminding him of his baby status in the family.
The look I get when he is doing something naughty. (No, I cannot say "no" to this face, of course not.....and no, I don't feel bad about it one bit, thank you very much.)

My babies....

Got my black backdrop out for some headshots for a friend and thought what better time to take a few pics of the babes. 

Sorry I am a bad blogger lately.....little busy around here :) Nutso busy actually. Still figuring it all out. The three babies are happy (the proof is above).

Jude enjoyed his homemade chicken noodle soup tonight. He is getting to where he is not enjoying the pureed baby food so much. Urgh. I just like the ease of it, and so healthy. Still loves diced veggies though so that is good. Sleep is just off and on. Fighting the naps is a problem and nighttimes are usually pretty okay, waking one or two times....always happy and usually goes right back to sleep after a bottle. Moves around alot in his sleep. Busy boy, very content, very busy. Still loves his momma and has started saying "momma" a lot. Still not sure if it is referring to me or just talking. I'll claim that he totally knows what he is saying, though:)

Rinn just got her ballet costume for her recital today. She is totally NOT allowed to wear it until her receital, but seriously...how could I resist? She has been going through an emotional phase the last few days, poor sugar. She turns on a dime...one minute laughing and having a great time, the next minute crying big crocodile tears. On the above photos I did not give her any direction and it was HILARIOUS. She just went at it with the poses...one right after the next, it really looked like America's Next Top Model or something. 

Creed is just as happy as can be, always the one to be jovial and performing. He is currently obsessing with soccer as the season has just started. He is also obsessed about creating slideshows in imovie. Funny. He tends to obsess about things in his life.....want to work on that ONE thing constantly...never stopping until it is perfect. Hmm...no idea where he got that from. In addition, he is doing SOOOO well in reading and spelling words (I am so incredibly proud of him), it truly is amazing how time (and a little work) has done wonders. Of course, I consider him a genius.

 More specifics about other fun things later for now, I have to get some sleep.  

Circus fun and craziness

Creed was apparently trying his hand as the ring master in this pose right as the circus began. I really think this photo just sums Creed up in one photo.A little date with mommy and the big kids....

Daddy stayed home and took a nap with Ju Ju and he did great. I kept asking Jude if he had cried the whole time and missed mommy and honestly, he kind of told me (secretly, in his own language) that he did, indeed miss me terribly but didn't want to make daddy feel bad so he held it in until I got home. He did request me to hold him right when I walked in, I should probably point out. I was gone for a few hours (most of which he was sleeping) but I told Micah I felt like I was "missing everything" and that "he was probably growing up while I was gone." I think I am pretty nutso over this boy....what do you think?
We met up with the cuz's at the circus...fun times. Nice blue tongue, Max.
When asked what their favorite part of the circus was Rinny said the elephants and Creed said "all the sugar we got to eat!!!"
Have I mentioned that Rinny loses all sanity and simblance of self control when she seems a clown or any one in costume. It's CRAZY, psycho, and she HAS to hug every single one that she sees...it's like she cannot control it, even if she tries. 


The elephant ride for $10 per child for aprox. a 30 second ride....they had a blast though and they will remember it forever. Creed will talk about it forever and Rinn just wanted to pet the elephants ear.

My best buds....

So, tonight us girls got to finally do a late night get together to celebrate my birthday, like we always do- SUSHI! I really do love my sisters and momma....we have so much fun together. (I promise that I am going to try really hard to get a picture of my other sis, Kels (I like to call her my other long-legged skinny sister....how this happened to me I have no idea---WAH!!!!) Here are the things we all discussed,figured out, and how we fixed the world tonight....

1. How it is hilarious that old people (like my mom) are on facebook and are requesting to be friends with people. Also, along those same lines we discussed how Damien (Mika's hubby) will never accept or request my mom as a friend...apparently he says it is is just too weird. Also, we had the discussion as to why I still do not have a facebook and will not be getting one. 

2. How Mika's heartbroken and worried that her dog needs a psychotherapist and anger management classes, or something like that. Ha, I totally remember what it is like to treat and feel about your dogs the way you someday will feel about your children. 

3. How Sky's hair has turned totally black (chemo, I guess) and how she and Jude's hair matches. 

4. Girl stuff....can't discuss here but I am just so happy that I have my sisters and mom to talk to this stuff about. Well, take that back....I have my mom to talk to about "girl things". Generally, Sky is laughing and Mika is plugging her ears and grossing out. 

5. My mom's hair....it's always really cute

6. Mom's taekwondo, concealed and carry license, and jewelry making class (all started in the last three months)....we all call it her "midlife" crisis that she is going on.

7. Sky's purse that she ordered (see photo above). It is hilarious. So, my mom is a little obsessed about ordering in the "black market" for designer purses. She has a cliental.....I am serious. So, she makes these massive orders from her "contact" in NYC. So, all her "clients" have to do is send her the number off of the purse they want after she has sent pictures of the available purses. I may or may not be one of her "clients" but if I was (hypothetically) I would have ordered the cutest little blue coach purse for my birthday. So, on to Sky's....apparently mom had mixed up some numbers and Sky ended up with a Juicy Couture purse that is, well...let's say it's just not "Sky-ish". I think we nearly peed our pants laughing so hard (this may or may not be some of the stuff mentioned above that we discussed in point 4).

8. Something we are finally laughing about.....how Sky acted shortly after her surgery (note: This is in no way funny but it is actually good to finally be able to find humor in it). Anyway, we were discussing how sweet it was when one night she was singing a lullaby to her babies and we happen to hear and be watching her. Well, what am I saying?....we were there 24/7...she couldn't be left alone so we all basically lived over there. Okay, so anyway, we will never forget her singing, slurring her speech, and not being able to control her saliva. It was the sweetest thing ever and tonight we were talking about how sweet it was and we were really, really laughing about it. 

Oh, side note...we also always end up diagnosing somebody in the family with some sort of syndrome, disorder, something....tonight it is Jeff, we've decided he is diabetic...we are sure of it. Of course, our accuracy rating on this is about 15% accuracy (actually, that's pretty good, don't you think?)

9. Lots of conversations about the babies, how smart Max is (it's really kind of like freakishly smart, really), how sweet it is that Campbell calls her speech therapy "peach therapy", how Landry (somehow...we really cannot believe it) is the quiet one in her class, how Jonesy is about the lovey-inist kid we've ever known (that baby boy is SWEET) even when he is so sick and seeing a bijillion doctors, How Rinny is so pumped and sweet about ballet and her new phrase is "are you a big fan of _______(fill in the blank)?, how Creed really is growing up, and how JuJu is adjusting so well. 

Okay, a few more pics ( I cannot get out of here without a little bit about the babes)

The mean things that brothers do to their sisters when they fall asleep on the couch....it was really humorous (and a little mean). BTW: Yes, she does wear this outfit at some point throughout the day, EVERY day. 

Since Rinny is 3 1/2 now, we told her she could try chewing gum again (the first attempt at age 3 was not successful)....The attempt today was a raving success and she was so proud of herself....it was honestly like an hour of entertainment watching her today.
School stuff....Creed not so much into eating celery
Rinn kinda is a "big fan" of celery now.

Rinny-isms and Favorite things

Today right before school

It really is nearly impossible to get her to look at the camera when her black haired brother is around....

Full Disclosure:I am stealing the title "Rinny-isms" from my friends who used the terms "Caroline-isms" and "Norah-isms"...

So, here are some funny things Rinny says....

A few weeks back Rinn was being particularly sweet and I was just loving on her. I said "Rinny, I love you so much, I'm so glad God gave you to me." Her response "I love you, mommy, and I am so glad God gave you to me.".....Heart be still, I love that girl. So, then (jokingly) I said "Rinny, what do you want? You can have absolutely anything you want...just tell me." She said "mommy, I don't want anything, I just love you."

Her new phrases "Awesome" (you really need to hear the inflection on this one" and "Of course"

When she asks a question and ends it with "Is I?"  For example...."I'm a good mommy, Is I?" .... or, "I'm good at cooking, is I?" or, "I'm the best big sister, is I?"

After reading a princess story I say "Rinn, I think you are the most beautiful princess in the whole world." She looks at me with sheer disgust "Well, that's not very nice!" My response "Rinn, yes, it is really nice, I said you are the most beautiful princess, it's true." She says "Well, it's not very nice to Belle." 

You get the picture...she is adorable.....on to Jude....

Jude's favorite things to play with (notice I said "favorite things" not toys...oh no, not toys. Jude is apparently just like my other two children in that toys are not particularly interesting to him)

The baby gates, swinging on them in particular

The TV stand that the top hits right about the top of his head (you see the problem, right?)

The hand held vacuum

The regular vacuum (the topsy tervy one)

His sister's red hair (when I say play, I really mean pull as hard as you possibly can on this one)

The dishwasher (specifically the silverware container...you know, the ones with the sharp utensils)

The toilet (let's just say I don't generally clean it everyday but have been more diligent about that lately)

Any little tiny bity (unseen to the normal naked eye) piece of something on the floor (by play, I mean put in my mouth and see if there is any possible way I can totally freak my mom out)

Creed's stairs to his top bunk

The white kids chairs that love to fall over as he pulls up on them

And, one last story about Creed.... 

He is a really thoughtful kind of kiddo when he wants to be. Especially at church when it comes to prizes, gifts, stickers, popcorn, etc. 

He always wants to get something for Roosers. Last night, he showed up with a cute little white stuffed bear for her. After about 5 minutes he decided he did, in fact, get it for both of them, and not just for her as he had earlier stated. Ha, gotta love it. 

The things we do...

Just so you know, some posts are for others and some posts are for me to remember stuff (and you can read it if you wanna). This is one of those for me....

Seriously, could this little girl be any cuter. This is when we walked down to the corner store (on our daily walk) and got a big chocolate coin for Rinny. Heaven.

In school today we made bubbles from our pop bottle science experiments. Fun times once we got the correct amount of soap.

Rinny really just wanted to use the regular bubbles, thank you very much. 
The look of pure success when she got a huge bubble.
Okay, maybe I'll try the pop bottle kind real quick.
Yesterday when I was making lunch Creed was the substitute teacher and was teaching Rinn to write her name. He kept saying "Go swoop, down like this"...it was really cute. 
Yet another pop bottle science experiment...this is both of their favorite part of school...science (just like momma...)

Jude enjoying carrots for a snack...yes, carrots for a snack. This boy eats anything and I just know he will have gained at least a pound after being home for 4 weeks. I can see the chunk in his face. He eats an amazing amount of food (again, just like his momma :)
Rinn practicing her mean hand-writing skills...