Christmas PJs

So all of my Christmas posts are going to be in January instead of December. Things have been a little crazy around here but what else should I expect? I have three kids three and under!! Merry Christmas a little late!

Thanksgiving

Finally getting around to my Thanksgiving post...

Parker's Thanksgiving Feast. His class was pilgrims.


Maryn trying on Parker's pilgrim hat.


Carter and Parker


We went to my Aunt Katie's in Atlanta for Thanksgiving along with all of my dad's side of the family. That would be 21 people under one roof. She and my Uncle John are real troopers and are such wonderful hosts. My dad and Debbie flew in from Seattle and my cousin Jonathan from LA and his brother, Martin, from Boulder. Their parents Louise and John (aka Uncle Fester) were there from Nashville along with my grandparents, Bea and Grandaddy. Katie and John have two kids who were there, Louise (Lou Shu) and Johnny. Whew! And Joseph and Sarah and the boys too! Maryn loved Lou Shu and Parker had a great time building fires in the fireplace (uh oh) with Johnny. Everyone had a great time and my grandparents really enjoyed seeing all of their great-grandchildren. My cousins had not spent much time with my kids and a couple had never met all of them so that was fun getting them see what my life is now like.

Maryn and Grandaddy (Grandaddy or Granddaddy... which one is it?) fixing something.


That Ford loves some trains.


Isn't he the cutest?!!


Parker is a very good helper and did a great job decorating our Thanksgiving table.


more helping with Bea...


Emma and Aunt Sqeeze (aka Louise). That's a great picture of you, Squeeze.





Aren't the kids pjs the cutest! Sarah's mom got all the kid matching pjs so we could take a picture of them together. Pretty good picture I'd say considering the ages... Thanks, Granny!!

This kind of picture is what you get when you leave your camera downstairs at Katie's and go to bed early. Obviously I missed out on all kinds of fun. They (Katie, John, and Debbie) may not be too excited about my posting this picture but guys, just think of the ones I DIDN'T post! (Katie, Uncle Fester and Dede. Uncle Fester gets a random name because both of my aunts married a John and that can be very confusing to little kids.)


My cousins Jonathan and Louise. Jonathan lives in LA and flew in for the weekend and Louise lives in Atlanta.


One of the kids favorite things to do at Aunt Katie's house is to go look at the bear. Yes, that was at one time a real live bear.


Saturday morning we took a big family picture and also individual family pics. The suckers were to bribe the kids to be good. It worked pretty well. I am excited to see if the photographer got any good shots considering we had five kids three and under.


Bea and Emma in her picture outfit. Don't you love Emma's socks? They are made to look like Mary Jane shoes and come in a box with lots of colors. When/if I ever get to a favorite things post these will be on there. They also make them in ballerina shoes and cowboy and cowgirl boots. Adorable!!





I'll try not to take so long to post again. Mark keeps telling me I need to just do shorter posts and I think I found a way to save time uploading pictures- that was what always took me so long. We'll see...

Our Trip to Auburn

A few weeks ago we made our first road trip as a family of five. I have been wanting to go to Auburn for a game for quite awhile so we decided to go for Homecoming. It went surprisingly well. Mark took Friday off so we could take the day to make the drive and it did take FOREVER. Lunch took an hour and we only went to Chick-fil-A. Then we hit traffic outside of Clemson. Mark decided it would be a good time to use the GPS and see if we could find an easy way around it. Without going into too much detail... we didn't. Then there was traffic in Atlanta (surprise!) and when we finally got through it and on our way again Maryn threw up! It just wouldn't be a trip for the Rays without someone throwing up. I'm just surprised it wasn't Parker (those of you who knew Parker as a baby he threw up ALL THE TIME!) I think it took us close to 8 hours to make a 5 hour drive. Whew!

But the weekend was great!! Joseph and Sarah are always great hosts. Since a lot of what I miss about Auburn is the food I always get to choose where I want to eat - Momma Goldbergs and Niffers (Amsterdam was not accepting take out BOO!!) and Sarah made her wonderful breakfast casserole for Saturday morning.

The game was at 1:30 Saturday. Our plan was to walk around campus some and then Mark and Parker were going to the game. Miss Emma is not taking a bottle so I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to go even though Sarah offered to keep her so I could go too. It wouldn't have mattered much anyway because Parker didn't even make it through halftime. We heard the front door handle jiggle and in walked my boys! Parker had been up since about 5:30 or so... I think they had fun but it was just a little too much for a very tired little boy. Mark had to carry him the entire way back to the car which was parked, for those of you who know Auburn, at Auburn Jr. High on Samford. Not a short trek.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was listening to all of the people ask if Ford and Maryn and Emma and Luke were twins. We made quite a sight. Ford and Maryn were in one of the double strollers (remember they are exactly a week apart in age and kind of look alike- very different in height but you can't tell that in a stroller) and Emma and Luke in the other (also a week apart). It was great I was walking in the back of the group and I would hear people say, "Did you see all of those babies?!" And many stopped to ask if they were twins. Quite amusing!!

Thanks to Joseph and Sarah for having us for the weekend. We love you guys so much!!



Just chillin'



Could we be any cuter??




Parker and Daddy



We did get a cute family picture but I may use it for our Christmas card so you don't get to see it!

Side note: one of Parker and Maryn's new favorite things to do is after their bath they take off their towels and race through the house together, naked. The other night when getting out of the tub Parker says to Mark, "I want to wait for Maryn. She's my best friend." Yes, I cried. For all of their fighting they really do love each other.

Halloween and a 4 month old

One morning we played hide and seek and the kids wanted Emma to play. I put her safely in her crib to "hide."



Emma "hiding."


Isn't she a doll? showing a little leg!!



Emma often cranes her neck like this to look up at you or will do it when she's lying on my bed to look back at Parker and Maryn.



This is Maryn and Emma at about the same age. What do you think? Emma is 4 months old- as of yesterday. She doesn't have her appointment until later this month but I think she weighs about 13 pounds. She is definitely lighter than Maryn was at this age! Emma is a very good baby. She has been sleeping through the night lately which could be due to my earplugs :) I do think I could hear her if she really needed me but the earplugs keep me from hearing the little squirmies that I used to get up for. She is very smiley and loves watching her big brother and sister. For several weeks she has been rolling from tummy to back and just last week went from back to tummy.



a banana, a ladybug and a fireman

Birthday Girl

A birthday post for a very special little girl. Maryn turned 2 on Oct. 26 so we're a little late. We had a lot of fun although I didn't really like having her party on her birthday. You know me I like to spread out the celebration!!


This is the awesome present that my supper club friends gave Maryn. It's great that they all go in together and get one great thing. I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of them riding it but they have a blast. The night she got it I think she and Parker rode it at least 50 times.


This is what Mark and I got her. It makes her doorway into this little doorway or you can play with it stand alone. It even has a doorbell, peephole and mailbox. She loves it!!


My little princess. She got lots of cute dress up stuff from a couple of people and this totally cool coat from Andrea.


Maryn and baby Sofia- who really isn't too much of a baby anymore. Maryn LOVES Sofia. Isn't she beautiful? And that's her dad, our good friend Juan, holding her.


Decorating cupcakes. A fun activity and saves me some work!!


Lilly showing Maryn how to be a princess (the trunk is full of dress-up clothes).


more princess


Mark and Parker working on our backyard project. This was a major headache for mommy. Of course, I didn't have to do much work but the red clay got ALL over the kids every time we went outside, not to mention on Max. But Mark did a wonderful job digging out the yard to make a bigger space for the swing set. He also put all of the dirt around the patio so that we could take out the rotting boards that was holding it up. It looks sooo much better. Now for that wall...



Part of the finished project. Pretty impressive, huh? He dug it out all by himself- well, except for Parker's "help."



Marn helping me bake her cake.


I can't believe she's two!!

How to move a post??

I uploaded the pictures for the Oct. 14th post forever ago and then just haven't had a chance to write about them. Since then I had already posted about Cookies for Cancer and when I finally finished the post about the kids it put it before the Cookie post. Does anyone know how to move it up? If not, don't forget to check out that new post- before the Cookie post.

C is for Cookie

I thank the Lord every day for my children's health. Some moms go through an incredible battle watching their children struggle with illness that sometimes take their precious little lives. I wanted to let everyone know of this wonderful opportunity you have to help support those moms and the children. My friend Emily has taken on an amazing task and has inspired so many others to help raise money for a wonderful cause, Cookies for Kids Cancer. On Election Day all across the country bake sales are being held to raise money for research for childrens cancers. Please check out this blog to read about the little boy who inspired this nonprofit organization and this website for more information about Cookies for Kids Cancer. This blog that I have mentioned before has a very inspiring post about why we should all come together and make people aware of this organization and help raise money. Consider holding a bake sale at an election site near you or help with the one Emily is heading up in Davidson. If you would like more information please email me. We need people to help man the table and to BAKE!! What could be more fun than cookies, brownies, anything chocolate!!

The Last Few Weeks

So as usual a belated post... Mark's brother, Greg, came to stay with us for several days before heading off to Hawaii. He is moving there! What a fun place for a young single guy to live- hopefully only for a few years before moving back to the south. We can't have him gone for too long!


A recent picture of Emma


I love to swaddle my babies! No, the older two are no longer swaddled :) just having fun with baby Emma.


Maryn reading Emma a story.


A couple of weeks ago we went with friends to see Thomas... again. This time he was at the Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. It was a very different setting from Tweetsie Railroad, much calmer and much more open than being at an amusement park- and a shorter drive. It was our first big outing with all three kids and it went pretty well. One of my favorite things was the nursing/changing station. They had a room set up inside for moms to nurse somewhat privately- at least it was cool since the day was rather warm- and to change babies. The changing stations were stocked with hand sanitizer, wipes and even diapers in different sizes!





one morning before church


Uncle Greg with Parker and Maryn





Maryn especially loved Uncle Greg. She would snuggle with him on the couch and always asked where he was.


Riding the train.


Parker's firt attempt at miniature golf at the Day out with Thomas.