What's wrong with his eyes?

That's what my mom asked me when she first saw this picture:

Then she realized those big black circles around his eyes are just his amazing eyelashes. They are full, jet black, and a good half inch long; they frame his baby blues just perfectly.  It's not fair.

On another note, isn't this a beautiful picture?  My friend Rachel took this, and it showcases his love for his baby sister perfectly.  He truly adores Abigail, and she's quite the lucky one to have Isaac as a big brother.

sweet baby girl

Thank you Rachel for this beautiful photo!

my love

Jonathan Horton!

can you spot Genna in the sea of little gymnasts?

Olympian comes to Leading Edge Gymnastics

Introducing Abigail!

Meet the newest member of our family:

Abigail Leighla

This little cherub arrived at 11:19am on November 27, 2011 weighing in at 8 pounds 5 ounces, and measuring 21 inches long.

The birth was pretty uneventful, which is just the way I like it.

The bigger kids are all so excited she's finally home, and Noah and Micaiah seem to be warming up to her OK

Welcome to the world sweet Abigail, we're so glad you're here!

your guide to my 40th week of pregnancy

I have not made it past my due date since I was pregnant with Genna, and seeing how little Abigail has no intentions of introducing herself to the world anytime soon, I thought I'd make a handy little guide for my friends and family on how to deal with someone (me) in their 40th week of pregnancy. 
*note, in the past 4 days I've probably had a grand total of 5 hours of sleep*

1. Don't ask me when the baby is going to come. I don't know.  If I could accurately predict things like that, I'd be a very rich woman.

2. Don't ask me when the Dr. thinks the baby is going to come.  He doesn't know.  If he could accurately predict things like that, he'd be a very rich man.

3. Do not, under any circumstances, tell me when it's best for YOU, for the baby to come. I don't care, and she doesn't care.  If it seems that your schedule and social calendar is more important, I'll probably just leave you off my contact list for when she does come. I'm serious.

4. If you see me and I'm still pregnant, do not ask me "no baby yet?" or anything else along those lines.  I won't call you stupid to your face, but I'll be thinking it, and you'll be able to tell I'm thinking it.

5. If you get offended by a cranky pregnant woman, get over it.  At this stage of pregnancy, I'm not sleeping. At all. Seriously, show up at my house at 3:30 in the morning and you'll find me doing laundry or making extra cranberry sauce to go with turkey leftovers. (my laundry is so caught up that I can't even fill the wash machine at the end of the day!!!)  That level of sleep deprivation is turning me into the type of crazy person you might not want to be alone with in an elevator.

6. If you call or text me and I don't answer or respond, don't keep calling and texting.  There's a 95% chance that enough of the kids are being quiet that I'm attempting to rest.  Seeing as how I'm not sleeping, every moment of peaceful rest is VITALLY important to me.  I'm not screening my calls, I'm pressing the silence button without even looking to see who's calling so you can take heart I'm not ignoring you personally, I'm ignoring everyone.

7. Don't tell me to hang in there.  I warned my Dr. that the next person to say that to me was going to be hung up by their toes until this baby comes out. Yes, I said that to the man who has the power to write me a scrip for pain pills after the birth; that's just where I'm at right now.

8. The ONLY person who gets a pass on any of this is my dad, and my dad alone. (nope, not even my children get a pass)  My dad gets one because he really doesn't know better, and I'm OK with that. (On Thanksgiving he asked when my due date was, I told him Saturday.  He then asked what time! ahahaha!)

Some day I'll have pictures of little Abby for you to come back and see.  Until then, whatever.

what's going on with baby?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No contractions, no sign that she wants to come out any time soon.  Jeremy was 100% sure she'd come the day before Thanksgiving.  It's 5am, Thanksgiving day, and...... nothing. Don't ask me when I think she's going to come; I have no idea.  And please, for your own safety, do not tell me when you want her to come- I promise you're not going to like my response. Other than that, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

oh, how things have changed

Late last night as I was getting a glass of water, I saw the big box of dishwashing tabs we just purchased from Costco sitting on the counter.  It's a box of 200 dishwashing packs, and when we bought it Jeremy estimated it would last us about 1 1/2 to 2 months.  When I spotted the number 200 on the box last night, I bagan to think back to our first apartment, when it was just me, Jeremy, and baby Gennavieve.  Back then, a box of 200 dishwashing tabs probably would have lasted us nearly a whole year!  That led me to thinking about our laundry; why did it seem like we always had so much laundry to do back then?  It would litterally stretch down the hall- how did that happen with only 3 people?  These days we almost always have two buckets full waiting to be washed, but it doesn't seem so bad considering there are 9 of us. (although we have burned through more than a couple of washers and dryers!) Our little pantry could EASILY hold a month's worth of dry/canned foods.  Today our entire kitchen can only hold about 2 weeks worth of food.  It's rather amusing to me to think back on how things used to be, but of course I wouldn't have it any other way!

and he just keeps going

Today in the car Bella asked me where Everett is.  I reminded her that it's the city we live in, to which Isaac said, "have mercy, I thought we were in Washington!"  I began to explain the concept of city, county, state, country, continent, hemisphere, planet, universe......... Which caused Isaac to ask, "what's a planet? Does it have wings?"  Wow.  On a brighter note, Nahshon noted to me today that the feet on a tree frog look a bit like suction cups.  He gives me hope........

out of the mouths of babes

Today Isaac told Jeremy that I woke up with really bad leg crabs.  I wonder if leg crabs would hurt more or less than the massive leg cramp I woke up with?

Booo!

TOP ROW: Elijah, Bella, Micaiah

BOTTOM ROW: Isaac, Nahshon, Noah, Genna

For the record, Genna found her design in a pumpkin carving book.  She apparently was looking at the book upside down, and thought she had picked out a ghost design.  We were gone when Jeremy traced it on her pumpkin (after questioning the other kids if they were sure Genna had picked a witch design), and after she came home and started cutting it out she commented that she thought Jeremy had traced it upside down.  We compared the design in the book to what was on her gourd and figured out it was her that was reading things wrong! hahaha! 

continuing with the classics

Sadly, I had to miss Bella's show during the Chocolate Classic weekend at gymnastics, (Jeremy and I had to make a trade off due to lack of sitter) but Jeremy made sure to take lots of pictures for me.  

warm up time: 

beam routine:

floor show:

this one is my favorite picture of the day

vault:

what would a Chocolate Classic show be without a medal made of chocolate??

Nice job, Bella!

a meltdown, in pictures

Ever wondered what a two year old looks like during a tantrum with pumpkin goop on his face? Well, you are in luck!  Micaiah had a little meltdown in the middle of pumpkin carving today, and my camera was already in my hands and ready to go:

Oh, the memories

perspective

a classic weekend

This weekend is all about gymnastics as Leading Edge hosted the 20th annual Chocolate Classic.  This was Genna's very first competition, and I think she did pretty well.  She struggled with her vaults, but her floor routine was beautiful.  At her level we don't get to see scores until the end of the year, which is nice because it takes off some of the pressure for the girls.  Most importantly, she had a lot of fun and cannot wait for her next meet in January!

(her "medal" is made of chocolate)

This afternoon Bella will be heading to day 2 of the Chocolate Classic for her skills show, so stay tuned for more pictures!

pumpkin patch

We'd been wanting to take the kids down to the pumpkin patch, but our crazy schedule just hadn't allowed for it.  Thursday night turned out to be a beautiful evening with everyone at home, so we packed everyone up and headed to The Farm!

run for the pumpkins!

Caiah trying to roll his pick over to the wheel-barrow

maybe this one?

no, this one!

I found a green one!!!

still working on rolling that giant pumpkin

Isaac found his

just right for Genna

giving up on the giant

Noah thinks he found the right one, but it's a little big for those baby hands

Here you go, Noah!

(the orange and green one with the curved stem on the top is the one Micaiah picked)

Happy Pumpkin Picking!