stranger things have been said I'm sure

Tonight I made pancakes and hot chocolate for dinner. Bella took a bite of pancake, made a long sigh, and said "this country is going to the dogs." Trying not to laugh I asked her where she heard that. She took a sip of her cocoa, looked me straight in the eye, and said very seriously "I read it in the paper this morning." Mmmm-K. We do not get the paper nor does she read yet.

you want me to do what?

Last night Isaac brought me a roll of duct tape and a yellow folder and said "make a house". I stared at him for a moment and said "you want me to make a house with this?". He very seriously replied "yes." ......*stare***blink*blink***stare*...... Certainly this must be something he's done with the older kids so I called Genna in to ask what it was that Isaac wanted exactly, as Isaac is very stubborn and will settle for nothing less that whatever he has dreamed up in his head. Genna said she had no idea what he was asking about. Isaac then took the duct tape from my hands, yanked off a long piece, and handed it over to me. Clearly I was taking too long to get started. I thought for another moment about how I could bend the folder; perhaps make it into a tent? I then decided this was taking way too much thought for something that would certainly be ripped up in an hour, so I rolled it into a tube, slapped the duct tape on and told him it was a telescope. Luckily by this time he had forgotten he wanted a house and was happy as could be. I think he played with it for all of 10 minutes before it was discarded. What did I ever do with all my time before I had kids?

*the picture above has nothing to do with the story above, but I thought it was cute and shows how intensely he works on things

Beautiful

While visiting the Reiniger Family blog (Chronicling Our Precious Heritage), I came across a link to one called Stuck In Customs. The link is to the right, under blogs I visit. The photographs are amazing, but my words really cannot do them justice. Go take a look and travel around our beautiful world.

The votes are in!

The blue team wins again!

Today was my anatomy scan ultrasound, and we found out we are adding another bundle of blue to our crew. The older kids were really hoping for a sister, and it seemed most people thought or hoped it would be another girl. I really didn't know what it was going to be, but I can honestly say that the only thing that matters to me is a healthy baby. Jeremy and I took Genna to the ultrasound today, and my mom watched the other kids. Genna was pretty bummed when the tech said boy, but then her and Jeremy had all of us cracking up with crazy name ideas. He is measuring right on track, and was very wiggly! He was twisting, turning, kicking, hiding his face........ basically getting ready for life with 5 older siblings! FOUR SONS! I cannot believe it. God has been so good to our family, we are very blessed. I'm honestly excited to see what life is going to be like with Isaac, Nahshon, and this little bean. Elijah has such a gentle spirit that he doesn't quite have the same "brotherly" relationship that Isaac and Nahshon are already developing. I can't even imagine though the amount of food it's going to take to feed them; we are going to be Costco members for life!

Now, here is the problem: we don't have a name picked! We had a girl name ready to go, but no boy one. Anyone have any suggestions? Here are the names of our children so far:

Gennavieve Lauraleigh
Elijah David
Isabella Leighana
Isaac Whitley
Nahshon Jeremiah

I guess you could say we kind of have a system for naming our sons. Our boys all have first names from the Bible, and their middle names are given after family members. (David was my grandfather that is passed, Whitley is to honor my dad since he has no sons to carry on his last name, and Jeremiah after my hubby Jeremy) We don't know what the middle name will be for this one, but we are considering Gregory after Jeremy's brother who joined the Marines this past summer. We have about 19 weeks before this little one joins the world, so let us know if you have any good names we can use!

Christmas Picture Overload

We had a rare treat this Christmas.......snow! It was snowing by the time we woke up on Christmas morning, and just kept on snowing until the early afternoon. It was beautiful. Christmas was pretty relaxing this year. The kids had a good night's sleep, and I talked to them before they went to bed about my "expectations" on Christmas morning so it wasn't a super-chaotic-free-for-all around the tree. (they get to open their stockings at the same time, but all the rest of the gifts are opened one at a time from youngest to oldest. This way they have to take the time to really look at their gift and appreciate it rather than just toss it aside and go to the next one. Plus, it allows me to actually get a few good pictures :) Much to my pleasant surprise, they sat in a line when opening their stockings so I was able to get some pics of all of them together) So, even though you didn't ask for it, here is a picture overload of our Christmas! (5 kids on Christmas = LOTS of pictures!)

First look at the Christmas goodies


Everyone with their stockings

Nahshon was much more interested in the stuff under the tree

Genna is super excited about her Pet Shop Cub while Elijah is trying to show her his Alvin and the Chipmunks DVD

Isaac is still working on his first item.........

more goodies

Isaac was very proud to get his first pack of big-boy underwear in his stocking, and they are Elmo too!

Genna's gift from Santa, just what she wanted!

Buzz Lightyear from Santa. The one and ONLY gift he actually cared about!

New baby doll from Santa, the birth certificate says the doll's name is Bella

Isaac got a big truck full of blocks from Santa

Nahshon's new toy that spins, flashes, and makes music from Santa

I don't know if I've ever seen a 7 year old so happy to get clothes on Christmas! That girl just loves everything

My Little Pony house

Fire Truck Puzzle

New alphabet "puzzy" for Issac, he loves wood puzzles

Nahsh tasting his new dino friend

I started a tradition with Genna a couple years ago of giving her a theme gift, and she absolutely loves and looks forward to what the theme gift will be. This year it was a Hannah Montana trash bin stuffed full with bath and beauty products

Just a boring shirt for Eli

Go Fish!

A new big farm book

"It's a moo" he said

little cuddle bug

candy treat boxes filled with sugary goodies

The best present ever!

After the kids opened up gifts at home and played for a bit, we headed over to my parent's house for lunch and more gifts from grandma and papa.

what a cheeser!

A Hannah Montana watch!!!

Curious George doll and the Curious George DVD!

New purple boots for Bella

More books for Issac

Sesame Street books for Nahsh-man

A Hannah Montana sleeping bag! (Genna sort of had a Hannah Montana Christmas this year)

The Snow White doll she'd been asking grandma for

Isaac watching daddy put together his new bike

Nahshon trying to help daddy with the bike

He's off!

Nahsh with a new toy, and getting a bit tired of the camera

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Christmas Picture Delay

Yesterday afternoon I took a nap and woke up horribly horribly sick. I have the flu. YUCK! My mom gave me a wonderful Audrey Hepburn movie trio for Christmas (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, and Sabrina), and I stayed in bed most of the day watching them and eating Cheerios. I'm feeling even worse tonight, so I'm going to turn in early and hope for a good night's sleep and maybe I'll wake up a bit better. I'll post pics of the kids on Christmas in a couple days when my head stops pounding. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas

A tradition my parents started when I was a kid was a new pair of PJ's on Christmas Eve, and it's one that I have carried on with my own kids. That way they have nice snuggly pj's to go to bed in on Christmas, and they look nice for pictures on Christmas morning! We have sugar cookie dough firming up in the fridge, and in just a bit we will make some cookies for Santa. After cookies the kids will watch a Christmas movie in their room with a cookie and cocoa, and daddy will read a story when he gets home, before bed. Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas!