Six Years Old! Seriously?

Can it really be that our Lainey is already 6 years old? It seems so! We've done birthday all weekend long! A party at McDonalds yesterday complete with 10 little girls of varying ages and one little boy (a brother to three of the girls), presents yesterday and today, and a dinner out tonight! So much for keeping things simple! She loved it all and I hope has made some great memories!

On our way home from dinner tonight, we heard Sarah Grace say to Lainey, "You'll be 6 forever, right Laine?" Only in mom's imagination. I fear that, soon enough, she'll be grown and with her own 6 year old and we'll be wondering where the time has gone! So for now, I'm just going to hold on to her as tightly as I can and love her forever and ever and always.

Is This Thing On?

Sorry for my delay in blogging. Life with four children is busy, busy, busy. It seems that someone is always crying, wanting to eat, or needing help with some sort of bodily function. I don't mind it most days, though I must say, at the end of the day, I'm glad bedtime has come and welcome the quiet. Let me just say that each day I have a new respect for my Aunt Janice and marvel at how she seemed to keep it all together with 4 kids running around.

Today I did a crazy thing. I took all 4 kids to Walmart and Costco for the monthly shopping. Perhaps that doesn't sound crazy so allow me to explain further; I did this without any medication or strong drink prior to leaving the house. My goal was to get out of the house early this morning so that we could get our shopping done and be home in time to eat lunch here instead of out somewhere. I grow weary of feeding them in the car and knew that I didn't want to sit in a McDonalds with all 4 of them for any length of time. We were out by 9 and home by 1 so that goal was met. I wish I could say the rest of the trip went as smoothly. Joey is his father's son and let me know in no uncertain terms that he was weary of being in Walmart and wanted out. For about the last 20-25 minutes of our time there, he cried. This was no sweet little baby cry; this was a scream of rage that said, "I HATE WALMART." To top that off, he pooped while we were standing in the checkout line and overflowed his diaper until there was poop all over his back. So, picture me pushing a cart loaded with groceries (20 pounds of cat food and 28 pounds of litter plus many other items) and Abby with a screaming baby strapped to my front trying to maneuver two other children (one running way ahead and the other lagging behind) all the while trying to remember where we parked our van. There's a reason I only do this once a month and I'm having serious doubts about whether or not I'll take all of them with me next time. I know it shall get better. The first time I went anywhere with both Lainey and Sarah Grace, Sarah Grace cried the entire time we were in the mall (approximately 34 minutes) and then Lainey started crying because I expected her to put her coat on to go outside to the car. When I got out to the car, I couldn't figure out how to get the car seat out of the stroller even though Lon had given me a lesson just before leaving the house. The wind was blowing like crazy and my hair was in my face which meant I couldn't see a thing. I was afraid I was going to shake Sarah Grace to pieces from jostling the car seat so much. I was also afraid I was going to have to call Lon to come and get us before I figured it out. When I arrived back home after being gone just over an hour, I declared, "I'm never doing THAT again." But I did, and it did get easier! So, I have hope that our Walmart trips will get better and that I won't always have people looking at me like "Oh, she needs to do something with her kids." I must say, however, hats off to one lady in the parking lot who saw that I was having a hard time and, even though she had a child of her own, stopped and asked if she could help me in any way and also to the 85 year old lady in front of me at the check out who saw things were not going well and came and helped me unload my cart. There ARE nice people out there!

We survived our heat wave last week and have now returned to more normal Northwest summer temperatures. The heat reminded me of why I'm glad I don't live in the South anymore (though it will always be home, I don't miss the heat and humidity) and why A/C is such a vital part of existence when one is below the Mason-Dixon line.

Lainey lost another tooth last week and is now down by 3. Her first two show no signs of making any sort of return so now she just has a big hole in her mouth. She's cute and is quite proud. Today she was trying to figure out how to whistle through the hole and was beginning to make progress.

My 34th birthday was quite nice. It was very low key because it was much too hot to get out and do a lot, but I enjoyed it. The girls woke me up by saying Happy Birthday and then sang to me as we had Holiday Danish for breakfast. They helped me bake a chocolate cake and later helped me eat it. We went out to dinner at Red Robin and Lainey delighted in telling our waiter that it was her mommy's birthday (I think she was just gunning for the free ice cream). I let all of the girls have the sundae so her little trick worked well. The Lord has been very good to me during my last year. As I told Lon when I got up last week, I can honestly say that when I turned 33, I didn't plan on having another infant by my 34th birthday! The Lord has plans that aren't our own, but they are very good. I'm very grateful for the blessings and look forward to what He has in store for the next year.

All Smiles

We spent part of last Saturday at a parade in Birch Bay. Here are a few (really great) pictures we got of the girls. I love these smiles and the light in their eyes!

WARNING:Sweetness Overload Below!

Here's one of our more precious moments from this morning!

What My Children Teach Me About God

I think we've entered a stage with Lainey and Sarah Grace where they feel they must constantly be arguing about something. They really do play quite well together most of the time, but recently, they've only been interested in arguing. Today in the car as we drove to Bellingham, we heard a funny conversation between the two of them. Sarah Grace provided the following instructions to Lainey, "You say, 'Yes we are' and I'll say, 'No we're not'." Lon looked at me and said, "Great, Sarah Grace is trying to organize an argument." I guess they'd run out of natural things to argue about! As I sat in the car with the girls while waiting on Lon to complete an errand, I heard Lainey say, "I don't like anything," to which Sarah Grace say (quite indignantly) "You have to like something. Don't you like toys?" As I was trying to negotiate the hostile takeover of a doll this morning and provide some discipline to one who needed it, I thought, "Why must everything be a power struggle? Why can't they just accept that I know what I'm talking about and have their best interest at heart?" I immediately was convicted and thought, "Isn't that how we are with God? He shows us the best way and we (like my children) say, ' I'll do it my way. I'll do it when I'm ready. I don't want to do what You say.'" I do believe that the Lord give us these little people to teach us more about our relationship with Him. It's hard work, but I hope I'm learning what I need to and passing it on so these precious little folks can grow up to be wise, God-fearing, Christ-loving, teens, adults, parents,spouses, and friends. My shoulders feel heavy with that burden; I am grateful not to have to rely on my own strength!

In Need of a Nap

Abby missed her morning nap yesterday, but decided to make up for it on her own time. She often goes down into Lainey's and Sarah Grace's room to play, but after a while yesterday, I could no longer hear her. I went down to check on her and this is what I found curled up beside the toy box. It didn't last too long as I needed to vacuum upstairs and once it started, she came staggering upstairs.

Nine Whole Years!

Today Lon and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's already been nine years, but in some ways, it seems that we've always been "Lon and Amy". It's hard to remember a time when he was just "Lon" and I was just "Amy". I'm very grateful for all that we've shared through these nine years and pray that the Lord will give us many, many more years together. It was a low key anniversary, but a good one none the less. We have plans for a dinner out tomorrow night and are looking forward to that. Joey will be accompanying us on our dinner date because at 3 1/2 weeks old, he's just a little too small to leave behind. He doesn't talk much so I don't think he'll interrupt our conversation too often!

The kiddos are doing well and have been enjoying lots of sunshine and time outside the last few days. I'm discovering that adjusting to having 4 is a process. We're getting there, but it's definitely taking time. It seems that at least 3-4 times a day, I have 2-3 crying about something. It seems that Joey wants to eat, Abby has fallen and hit something (I'm sure she looks like a battered child to outsiders), or Sarah Grace has gotten her feelings hurt about something all at the same time. Imagine being a fire fighter with 2-3 small fires going at once. They all need to be put out, but you have to prioritize and decide which one has potential to become the biggest blaze without attention and which one will likely burn out on its own. Sometimes two are large blazes, but they're on opposite ends of the house. Those are REALLY exciting. Add into this a sleep deprived mother, 8 loads of laundry, a sink full of dirty dishes, a dishwasher needing to be unloaded, cats needing to be fed, and 2 sorely neglected house plants and you'll understand why stay at home moms, at least this one, completely RESENT the question, "Do you work or do you just stay at home?" Let me tell you, I'd love to "just " stay at home. I do cherish the time I have with them and see it slipping by all too quickly. I look at Lainey and think, "Didn't I just bring her home from the hospital?" "Wasn't I just trying to figure out how to nurse her and get her to stop crying so much?" Where has that time gone? I look at this blog and realize that I started it a year ago tomorrow and that I talked about how Lainey had just read her first book to me. Now, at the end of one year of schooling, she's reading at a 3rd grade level. One of my friends on Facebook commented today that she needed the super human ability to slow down time. I agree completely!

Lainey and Sarah Grace wanted to get out and ride their bikes today and, while there were 49 chores needing my attention, I decided going out with them was much more important. It takes longer to put on helmets and pads than they actually spend riding, but they had a good time. Sarah Grace was obsessed with the trash truck coming down the other side of the street and had to park on the sidewalk until it had passed and was several house down the street before she would ride again.

We're looking foward to our town's annual Fourth of July celebration this weekend. The girls are very excited about the parade and Lainey has already formulated a plan for collecting any candy that the parade folks might throw her way. Lainey told me on Sunday, "I think we should take a paper sack with us so that when they throw candy, we can put it in there instead of in our pockets." Sarah Grace asked yesterday if it was parade day and if they would throw Hershey bars. Lainey is also planning when they can eat their candy and how they should eat a little after lunch and a little after supper. She's quite the planner! As she would say, "I've got it all planned out."