We have a climber!

We have noticed in the past few days that Cambria seems to have discovered her insane climbing ability. Maybe, it's just been awhile since I've had a 14 month old, but I don't remember so much crazy climbing going on at this age!
The other night we were in Avery and Valie's room getting them ready for bed and I turn around to see Cambria attempting the bottom step of Avery's top bunk ladder. I stand there to observe exactly how far she'll get, and in a matter of moments she is at the top (SO proud of herself), crawling around all over Avery's bed! We now must remember to remove the ladder during the day!
And yesterday when I got home from work, Tom tells me about how she carried the little foot stool over to the kitchen table. Then used it to climb onto the chair and from there got up onto the table. Crazy girl! I have a feeling we could be in trouble with this one! :)

Meet May Baby #5!

Tom and I had the joy of seeing our newest child this past Tuesday, through the 20 week ultrasound. Yay! We are happy to report that Baby is growing perfectly and is right on track developmentally! Praise God! As with all but one of our previous pregnancies, we chose to wait on finding out gender. Thank goodness Tom is strong in our resolve to be patient. I, for one, get to the room and falter in my resolution every time. But he did not! And, after the fact, I am so glad for the surprise that awaits us when we get to hold this new family member. There is nothing like it!

Meet Baby #5! :)

May Baby clip #1

May Baby clip #2


And, here is a rare glimpse of me by picture during pregnancy. This shot was taken on Tuesday after our ultrasound. (I know, I look huge! Can I make my excuse be because it's #5!?!!!)

20 weeks

I am so grateful to have the confirmation that everything is great with this little one so far. We're 1/2 way there!!! :)

Cambria at 1 year

At the beginning of this month I took Cambria to get her 1 yr pictures taken. It wasn't the best she's done with pictures, I think mainly because she did not have her siblings there for encouragement. And although she wasn't extremely cooperative, I think we were able to get a few cute shots. So, here are the best and the worst...!

The best...

...and the worst!"don't let go, Mommy!"

"you DID let go!"


"How about I lay down and cry, then?"


"or maybe I should just look cute and tear up your props, hmm?"
(I wonder where that silent rebellion comes from....)

All in all, we captured the many moods of Cambria. And isn't that what milestone pictures are all about?! :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Valie!!!

We had a fun and exciting Saturday this past weekend celebrating Valie's 4th birthday.
She chose to have her party this year at J&R Gymnastics here in town - and she loved every minute of it!

At the age of 4, Valie is our firecracker, as those who know her best will testify!! Life with her is never dull! She is sweet and loving (most of the time!) and extremely passionate about everything she does. She is a defender of justice and will not hesitate to let you know if she feels an injustice has been done! She will defend herself and anyone around her with no timidness. She loves fiercely and gives stronger, harder hugs and kisses than anyone I know! She also wants to be able to do anything and gets frustrated if she can't do it on the first try. For that reason, she exhibits more concentration and persistance than most other 4 year olds I know. She is excitement, enthusiasm, energy and all other action words rolled up together in one cute little package.

*I can't wait to see what God's got in store for this amazing little girl!* Because whatever it is, it will be big. You watch and see!!!

Happy Birthday, my Valie! We love you so much!

Dance Recital

Avery had her dance recital on Friday and Saturday of this past weekend. Can I just say, it was cute, and exhausting, and cute...! In fact, perhaps I should titled this post as the Week of Dance! It seemed to be all consuming last week, with group pictures at the studio on Tuesday, dress rehearsal on Thursday and the recital on Friday night and Saturday. One thing I will say about The Pointe Dance Studio that she goes to, is it's very professionally run and operated. As if all these children are being reared up to be professional dancers. And maybe they will be - who knows!!? They put on a great performance. While I was there volunteering back stage on Friday night, one of the other mom's told me, "Ms. Katherine (the owner) doesn't put on a recital, she puts on a show!!" And so she did. Anyway, here are a few pictures of Avery in her costume.

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And as a side note (if you haven't had enough cute for the day), our neighbor invited us over this weekend to pick our fill of homegrown tomatoes. The kids LOVED it, especially because our tomato plants have yet to flower for some reason!! We've known for a while that Cambria is a lover of tomatoes and will eat them until we take them away! She got a hold of one and munched on it for the entire wagon ride back to our house until it was totally gone! Gotta love summer gardens!

Graduation - Kinder Style!

Last month, in the midst of clearing over 500 bachelors degree candidates at work for my College at Texas State University, our family was celebrating graduation on the other end of the spectrum. Carson graduated from Kindergarten to 1st grade and Avery graduated from Pre-K to Kinder! :) I'm sure my pride at each (very cute) ceremony could easily rival those parents I saw watching their college grads walk the stage! Here are a few pictures.

Carson waiting with his class to "walk the stage"

With his class on stage
Checking out his diploma
:)

Avery's graduating class

So smart.... ;)
Her 2 very sweet best friends from pre-k

I can't believe I now have 2 school aged kiddos! :)

In addition to that excitement, the month of May held so many busy activities, I don't even know where to start. We had Spring performances at church and school, award ceremonies (Carson received a "Terrific Kid" award in his class), Field Days and Splash Days at school, Field trips, etc..... Not to mention, work was extremely busy for me in May.

And June is gearing up to be just as busy. The three oldest kids will be attending a Summer Fun Day Camp at a christian school here in town, 3 days a week during the summer. Summer Fun will involve swimming, gymnastics, bowling, and other activities every week. And we've hired a very sweet high school student from church to come to our home to watch Cambria on 2 of those 3 days when Tom and I will both be at work. They are very excited about all of that! I'll try to post as I can, but be patient if electronic contact slows down for me as other things occupy my time! :)

Baby #5 update: Things are moving along, quite literally! I'll be 17 weeks tomorrow and have been feeling lots of tiny movements this past week. How fun! I had a regular OB appt last Thursday and got to hear a strong heartbeat! We have scheduled our 20 week ultrasound for June 23rd, which I'm so excited about. It's always so nice to get that confirmation of another healthy baby!

Happy Summer! Check back later for more updates!