Catching Up!

Okay, deep breath, time to catch up on blogging! :)

 

(where is Amelia? I realized when I started looking back at pictures, I don't have as many of her right now - last year it was Sophia) 

First of all, I am getting a bloggy makeover, and I am beyond excited.  I love the beautiful header that Rebekka made for me, but it is time for a fresh new look.  Have you noticed there's an entire baby missing from my sidebar?  Bad, bad.

So, really I have about two months to catch you up on.  I thought I would be able to tell you some big news - that we are moving!  We have been looking for a new house for about five years, because things are getting a little cozy around here, with all these kids who keep showing up.  I have blogged several times about loving our small space, and truly I do, but we need an extra closet (right now Davis has the tiny closet off our bedroom, I have the bigger closet in the girls' room, and they have a small closet in the boys' room, and the boys have a dresser).  And we need one more room - for guests, and just to spread out a little.  We found our perfect house in the country, and have been making big plans to buy it and fix it up.  Right down to picking out paint colors and appliances.  But it just does not seem meant to be - one thing after another has come between us and that house.  We have finally just decided to stop fighting and let it go.  To be honest, we are a little sad, it felt really perfect to us from the moment we first saw it - we don't fall in love with houses like that (and believe me, we have looked at a LOT of houses!)  There is another house much closer to work and school that seems pretty close to great too... we have had our house for sale for about a month, and if it sells, then we will probably buy that house (if it's still available).  But we have a Plan B now, which I actually kind of love the most.  We are going to add a room onto the back of our house and re-do our kitchen.  So, really, I have no big news yet ha! Either we will be moving or remodeling this summer.  Both sound about as appealing as having my toenails ripped off one by one. But hopefully when it's all said and done, we'll have a little more room. 

We had a rough March.  Three of the kids had pneumonia! And then Henry got his hand cut in the door of our truck somehow, we're not even sure how, but he cut open the tip of his middle finger down to the bone.  It was horrible, and he was so sweet and brave.  He had to have surgery, and because he had pneumonia at the time, he did not do so well with anesthesia and had to be hospitalized.  He made a miraculous speedy recovery and after a month his cast came off.  His finger looks amazing, considering how mangled it looked that night.

Henry's cast just never seemed to bother him at all.

Henry is talking up a storm.  He is completely obsessed with all things that have wheels. I love it! 

Sophia has done GREAT at soccer! I am so, so proud of how much she has learned this year.  She went from being timid and not really knowing a thing about the game, to going after goals and playing her heart out!  She had her last game on Saturday. We'll miss it this summer.  Her coach is the best, and her whole team is just the sweetest group of girls.

I took the kids to a high school baseball game one evening. It was so fun! We walked to the ballpark and I let them each get a Coke and some popcorn.

I went on a Vestry retreat for my church to beautiful Petit Jean for one night.  I missed my babies, but it was amazingly amazing. This was my morning view when I opened the door of my room.

Wyatt and Henry are starting to play together.  Their age difference is the same as Sophia and Amelia, and I remember when Amelia was this age was also when the girls really started playing, and it was SO fun.  There is really nothing better on earth for a mama than seeing her kids loving each other.  People think I'm crazy for having my kids so close together, but I love that they are so close and interested in the same things.  Here are the boys in our church nursery.

Wyatt and I went to Washington, D.C. at the end of March.  I had a conference to go to (I go to D.C. a couple of times a year for work) and Wyatt had some mommy milk to drink, so I took my friend Carla with me, and she watched Wyatt while I was at the conference.  We had a great time eating amazing yummy food, and doing some fun things like shopping and going to the Spy Museum.  While I was in my meetings, Wyatt did things like go to the National Portrait Gallery. Wyatt was completely obsessed with our food whenever we ate, so he had some very fancy baba ghanoush at this restaurant (WOW!) as his first taste of "real" food.  He kinda loved it a lot.

When we got home I decided to let him have actual baby food - he was definitely ready! Sophia got to feed him.

Oh, and our trip to D.C. was the first non-stop flight from the newly named Little Rock airport, so we were on the virgin flight from Clinton to Reagan, and because I had a cute baby with me I got interviewed for the local news. I never knew people actually watch the local news anymore, until I was on the news and everyone called to tell me they saw me. It was embarrassing and I'm NOT linking to the story!

I'm so proud of Sophia.  She is a rockstar reader now, and just generally has done great in first grade. I can't believe the school year is almost over! One night Sophia and I went appliance shopping (for the new house that is not to be) and then we went out to sushi, just the two of us.  It is so fun to be able to spend time having conversations with her.

Sophia and Davis went to a father/daughter dance at her school last week.  I took her dress shopping the week before - we had so much fun at Dillard's!

 
We've been spending lots of time enjoying this gorgeous weather.  There are only a few months of the year that you can comfortably go outside in Arkansas.  It's going to get hot very soon.  Here we were before heading to the park.

And stopping for ice cream!

Can I just say... this is crazy.

I see that about once a week. I remember when I had my 1974 VW Beetle in college, I used to put $6 in it every Sunday.  Sheesh!

Some not so great things have happened with Amelia at school, and we decided to pull her out of school the last 6 weeks of the year, for her own safety and happiness.  Davis is homeschooling her, and she loves it.  Really, she is in pre-K 4 and doesn't need much schooling, but she loves it and is so close to reading fluently, so they have been working together every day.  She tells everyone very proudly "I go to homeschool!" :)

Okay, this may be the longest blog post ever.  I have a few more catch-ups and other things going on, but I think that's enough for now!  I'm sorry I have not even been reading any blogs.  Work is crazy - I worked 86 hours Easter week - and there are just tons of things going on toward the end of the school year, soccer, and ballet.