Summer 2016

Still playing catch up.....

In mid June we packed out and headed to our new house in TN! It was so exciting as we've been waiting for this day for many years now and it finally came! We stayed at Patrick's parents house for a week while we waited on our household goods to arrive. The movers delivered our stuff on June 16th and I stayed at our house ALL day long while they hauled all of our stuff in (they started at 8am and didn't finish until dinner time). Thankfully Debbie was willing to take the big kids to and from VBS for me and even brought me some lunch in the middle of they day. Clara hung with me all day and did great, she was entertained by all of the action and people and we found her baby walker and she got to play in an empty space I carved out for her in the living room rolling around in it for a while. Meanwhile, Patrick had to finish turning over the house in IL. The walk-through was the morning of the 16th so he couldn't leave until he handed over the keys and then had a day's drive to conquer. He got to town just as the mover's were finishing up so he was a little bummed he wasn't here to help receive the goods but it all worked out and I was just glad he had arrived at the end of that long day. We spent the next night in our new house for the first time and it felt so good to be "home." The kids were so excited to sleep in their new rooms and we were so excited to finally be able to give Clara her own room to sleep in! Patrick was able to stay through the weekend but he had to drive back to IL on Sunday because he didn't finish up his work with the Navy until the beginning of September. So for the remainder of the summer the kids and I flew solo here in TN during the weeks and Patrick was able to come home almost every other weekend. The summer definitely had its challenges with the 3 big kids exploring all of the new things they could find to do in our new home (mostly included squirting any liquids they could find like hand soap, shampoo, toothpaste, room spray, etc. all over just about any surface they could find) and me trying to maintain sanity but it was all worth it in the end ;)

June 19th was Father's Day and we were so glad to be able to celebrate it with Patrick in town with us for the morning before he had to drive back to IL. I don't remember many of the details but I imagine we probably had donuts or something like it since most of our stuff was still packed in boxes.

A few days later was Micah's 4th birthday (June 25th) and we celebrated that day by cooking pancakes for breakfast and going to eat at Chick-Fil-A for lunch with Nonny & PopPop. We have a Chick-Fil-A so close to our house now, just 5 minutes down the road and it's so great! Micah loves going there to play in the tunnels and slides so he had a great time on his actual birthday. To celebrate with the rest of the family we had a party at Chuck-E-Cheese the Saturday before since Patrick was already in town and he had a blast playing all of the games with his cousins and grandparents!
A few words for my sweet little man- Micah, you have caused my heart to overflow with love every single day with your sweet smile and hugs. You are the best big brother to Clara and equally wonderful little brother to Charlotte and Hannah Kate. You tell everyone that you are daddy's best buddy and it's so true. You open peoples hearts and bring smiles to faces everywhere you go. You have a contagious sweet personality that I don't think I can ever get enough of. I hope you never change that part of yourself. I can remember the day you were born like it was yesterday and you were such a sweet little snuggly baby from the start. I used to say that you weren't a mama's boy or a daddy's boy because you were everybody's boy. You loved everyone and you were so happy with anyone who held you as a baby. You are still everybody's boy and bring sunshine to whoever crosses your path. I love you so much and I am so thankful that God allows me to be your mommy every single day. Thank you for being you Micah!

This summer Micah decided he wanted to play soccer so off to the soccer fields we went twice weekly for practice on Thursdays and the games on Saturdays. I think he has a love/hate relationship with soccer because he loved being able to play outside and be loud with all the other boys and cousin Kyle (who coached the team) but he didn't love the actual game and having to be aggressive when trying to keep or take away the ball from another player. Sweet Micah is just content to run around and laugh with the other kids so there wasn't much attention played to the ball :)

4th of July-Patrick was able to come home for the weekend and we all went to Family Camp at Camp NaCoMe! I was working as the camp nurse for the weekend and so we decided to take the whole family along and it was the most fun thing we've done in a long time. It was the highlight of our summer and the kids are still asking when we are going back. The kids favorite thing at camp was wading in the creek and collecting all sorts of treasures in their buckets. They picked up lots of little stones with their nets and even caught some minnows and tiny little frogs. Clara was a rockstar and did great too! We slept in a room with lots of bunk beds and the kids thought that was super cool and we put a pack and play by my bed and Clara slept great in it. I think we really needed a weekend to get away and just enjoy being a family while someone else took care of meals, cleaning, planning, etc. because it had been a stressful and busy month leading up to camp. We are definitely going back next summer! Patrick had to go back to IL on the 4th so the kids and I lit some sparklers and did some small fireworks with the neighbors. It was a great weekend!

Christy's birthday-Patrick came back home for my birthday weekend at the end of July so that made it wonderful by itself! He got up early and cooked breakfast and we hung out at the house for the day. Cyndi and John cooked a birthday dinner for me and had us over to their house. They made skirt steak, roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and got me some dairy free Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert! It was delicious and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins :)

For Charlotte and Hannah Kate's 6th birthday we celebrated the day before by having a swimming party at Nonny & PopPop's neighborhood pool with the in town family. The cousins all had a blast swimming together and we swam until it was dinner time. The next day (their actual birthday) Micah, Clara, and I surprised them at school by eating lunch with them for the first time. We all loved getting to hang out and eat together at their school and I brought a package of Oreo cookies to school for each of them to share a sweet treat with their classmates! We had a joint Charlotte, Hannah Kate, and Clara birthday 2 weeks later with all of the out of town family and Patrick as well so they had many celebrations :)

Charlotte- I love you so much and am so blessed to be able to be your mom. Your love language is 'Quality Time' and you love nothing more than to just sit and snuggle with your mamma or do crafts together. As long as we intentionally spend time just hanging out with you you're usually pretty happy. You love your family so much and you show it by seeking each person out individually and doing something one on one with just that person. You also love to make crafts for everyone around you to let them know you love them. You are a big helper to me, you love helping me fold laundry and unload the dishwasher. Your favorite way to help though is by helping me keep an eye on Clara. She's crawling all over the place and you always make sure she isn't getting into places that aren't safe for her to be. You entertain her and make her smile. Thank you for being you, I love you more than you know!

Hannah Kate- I love you so much and am so blessed to be able to be your mom. You have such a fun loving personality and make me laugh most days. Daddy and I joke around that your love language is video games because you always want us to just sit with you and play games on your tablet.  You are compassionate and like to care for others when they are hurt or sick. You are kind and giving and often offer to share with your brother or sisters if you know that something you have will make them happy. You also have a mischievous streak in you and you are very curious so you love to experiment with anything you find just to see what will happen. Sometimes I just have to laugh at those experiments because they show how truly smart you really are :) You also love to help me take care of Clara by entertaining her and making sure she stays safe. Thank you for being you, I love you more than you know!