going so fast

It feels like just yesterday this little girl was a newborn and now she is already four months old. She has always LOVED her baths and gets so relaxed in them. She falls asleep while she is in the bath, but now that she is a little older it isn't as often.
Such a cute chunky monkey
Brytlee thought she needed to keep Adison company so she jumped in the sink with her.
All of Adison's sisters just adore her. They can't get enough of this little sweetheart. Every time they walk buy her they have to stop and kiss her, hug her, and talk baby talk to her. They all love to cuddle with her in the morning right after they all wake up.


this is the girls just talking to her. I love the way they talk to her in the cute little baby voices and so sweet and soft.
It is so easy to make this baby smile, but it has been a challenge to get her to laugh, so anytime she does we all think it is so cute and such a big deal.
Adison started to roll over at 3 and a half months and she didn't really like going onto her belly so she would just go to her side and then kick over fast. Now that she is four months old she can go from her back to her belly and her belly to her back. She has started to like her belly a little more, but still prefers her back. She is such a good little girl about just laying around and playing with toys. She is a has such a high pitch squeal that lets you know what she wants. It is funny that you can tell by what noises and cries that she makes that she is letting you know exactly what she wants.

So I said to myself......

I have been thinking about something a lot the last little while, and I don't have it figured out yet. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. And when things don't go our way I try and tell myself "oh maybe if that would have went the way we wanted it to, (like Ryan playing more football) he would have gotten hurt, and it would have effected the rest of his life, so it is a good thing that he was done". Or like when someone tells me that they are going to rent our house and then they back out after I had to kick our previous renters out, I am trying to tell myself, "maybe they would have been bad and not paid, and maybe there is someone that is going to move in that we need to get to know......" I know I am weird, but I always try and put a positive thought on something crappy that happens. But because I am not perfect and because I make mistakes, I can't help but think sometimes, now did this not work out because of something that I have done wrong. Or when I do something wrong, I beat myself up so bad and worry that something bad is going to happen to one of my kids because I did something I shouldn't have (even if it is something like talking bad about someone, or swearing). I have always had this inside of me and in some ways it is a great thing. It is the reason I never drank or did drugs, because I always had this feeling that if I did I was going to die in some weird way, or the future that I wanted wouldn't be possible, (like I wouldn't be able to have children or all my kids would be deformed and messed up because of what I did) My sister always makes fun of me..... when I need to make a decision or my kids are not with me, so many of these thoughts go through my head and it can be very disturbing. So what do you think? Do things always happen for a reason, and out of something bad do you always find something better? And if you do mess up, will things be altered? And my next question is.... does any of this even make any sense?

Harry the snake

Grandpa Harris found this big blow snake and it turned into a little pet. All the grand kids love playing with it, and holding it....

I had to take all these pictures so I could send them to my brother Chris who is scared to death of snakes and spiders.... Alexis has always loved snakes and when she was younger she found a little garden snake during one of Judy's family get togethers, and so was so excited to show everyone she just ran up to the table where Judy and all her sisters were eating and put it right in the middle of the table and said, "look, a snake" everyone jumped up faster than I have ever seen them move....


This is Chase's new wife, and I was a little surprised to see her handle the snake. I thought she would be scared of them but she loved holding it and was really good with it.
after a few weeks we thought it would be hungry so we found this cool mouse to feed it and thought it would be fun to watch the snake eat the mouse. But instead they played together for about a hour, and then the snake got sick of it and killed it, but didn't eat it. I was a little disappointed.

Alexis's Birthday

My little Alexis turned 9 years old this year. She is growing up way to fast!!!! Her birthday always falls at the end of the school year, and for some reason I never learn my lesson to plan her party a week or so before school is going to end so she can hand out the invitations. We made them on night, handed them up the next day, and had the party the day after that.... But I was surprised with being such a slacker how many of the girls were able to come. She had a great little party, and we started out just playing at our house and making bracelets, and then after a couple of hours we headed to the pool.


Adison and I just hung out on the side of the pool and watched all the girls and made sure that I didn't have to jump in to save anyone. Adison was such a good girl and just smiled at me and slept most of the time.
I am not sure if she was trying not to laugh or what face she is making in this picture but I thought it was funny.
All the girls hanging out..... keeping your eye on 9 girls, plus Brytlee was a little crazy, but they were all really good.


Brytlee swimming in the pool. I made her put a jacket on so I didn't have to worry about her AND all the girls so much.

Alexis is such a good girl, and I love her so much. I am so lucky to be her mom!

Softball

Softball season is now over and the girls had a great time. This is one of Elizabeth's first time getting to be on a team and she was so excited. They were on a great team, and had a really good coach.
I loved having Alexis and Elizabeth on the same team, it made it so easy to go to the practices and make it to games without having to run back and forth to two different games. Mickey was also on their team so it made it fun to watch her also.




Alexis at catcher. All the girls loved being the catcher because you got to put on all the cool gear

Alexis was a really good hitter and hit a couple of really good home runs

Elizabeth was also a great hitter and loved to hit. She could have had a home run but didn't know if she could keep running or not and stopped at second. It was a fun time watching them and helping out with the team.

Love at first sight!

It is so crazy that you really can love someone the second you see them! That is how I have felt with all my girls and my love for all of them just keeps growing and growing. Little Adison is 3 months old now and she is just growing like a little weed. She is such a good little girl and she smiles whenever you look at her. Her smile can light up the whole room, it is just the best thing ever. She is starting to scoot on her back and turn in circles a little, and can not keep her hands out of her mouth. She has the cutest cry and you can't really even really call it a cry, it is just a very high pitch, Aaaahhhhh so cute! Adison is on a really good schedule and knows when it is time to lay down for a nap, and she knows when she is ready to eat, and she really knows when it is her bath time and then bed time. She loves her bath, and will sometimes throw a fit until she gets her bath if you are not on time for it. When she is in the bath she just lays still and stares at nothing, she doesn't really want to be talked to or played with, she just wants to relax and enjoy her bath. Tonight after I got her out of the bath I was putting her lotion on her and she let out the cutest little giggle. It was the first time she has ever laughed so I kept doing things to try and get her to laugh like tickling her and blowing on her belly, but she just smiled. Then I sneezed and she laughed again.... oh it was so cute. There is nothing cuter than a baby's laugh! I am so sad she is growing up so fast and it almost makes me want to have another one right away, but then I see how fun she is getting and how sweet she is and I just want to enjoy every second I can with her for a while. All my girls love her so much and are so great with her. I love watching them talk to her and they get so excited when they make her smile or see her do something cute.

Kindergarten Graduation

Elizabeth is Graduated from Kindergarten! She had a very cute program that we were able to go and see. They all had a letter of the alphabet and each one said something that they did that year that started with that letter, and then sang a song that went along with it. Elizabeth can sometimes be a little shy and not want to show off at all or sing in front of a crowd. But she did so great! I was so proud that she knew all the parts and every song and all the moves to the songs.




Elizabeth's part was X is for all the eXcellent parents that helped us through the year.

Elizabeth got her certificate and she also got a special award for only missing one day out of the whole year!
Lizzy and her teacher Mrs. Murray. Elizabeth loved her teacher and learned so much this year. She is such a smart little girl and she always does her best that she can. I am so proud of her for how hard she works at her school work.
I love my little Lizzy so much!

Cute kids

Adison is always so cute and happy in the mornings. I was so glad that I grabbed the camera and caught these cute pictures but I am so sad that Alexis wasn't in them.





It is so amazing how strong of a spirit this little baby has. It has made our house feel so peaceful and happy. I just can't help but feel so happy and my heart is so full when I see this cute little baby. It is so funny because before I have a baby I always worry.... "what if I don't love this baby as much as I love the others" or dumb things like that. But the second I see them I am sooooo in love with them. My heart at times has felt so full that I thought there was just no room left but my love for my family is endless and my love for them grows more and more each day! And that also goes for my husband! I love him soooooooo much and he is just perfect for me!
I feel like I am so blessed when I see that I have four healthy happy little girls and I am just spoiled. It isn't things that make me happy, it is for sure my family!

For Kate's birthday this year we had her birthday party at a gym. It was a lot of fun for the kids, and they all loved it, but I think the adults had just as much fun or even more fun than the kids did.. I loved doing gymnastics again. I could still do a lot of my tricks, and even was brave enough to do a round off back handspring on the bouncy floor. (I was really sore the next day from all the tricks I did, but it was still a lot of fun) This also made me a little sad because this is the kind of gym that I was able to go to when I was a kid, and I really want my girls to be able to go to this kind also. The only gym close to us is a hole in the wall and all they have taught them in the two years that they have been there is a cartwheel.
Julie doing her toe touch (very impressive) only two and a half months after having a baby!
Ryan Jumping into the pit

The girls doing back flips hooked onto the rope things
Lizzy could do flips like crazy. She got started on her back flips and just kept going and going and going.
Alexis was a little chicken. She has a thing with heights. But she did end up doing a few back flips.
Denton even got hooked up and did a few back flips. I took some pictures as fast as I could so I could get from start to end.


Ta da. Not bad for an old fart huh.... JK!
Alexis was having a very rough day that day. Before we went to the party she fell on some bricks and scraped her leg up a bunch, and then at the party she was running and fell and hurt her hip, some more of her legs and her hands.

Lizzy thought this was so funny to be carried by Jackson!

I am 30

I had a birthday last month and it was so great! Ryan and I were able to go on a date with just the two of us. Ryan's dad came to the house and watched the baby and all the girls. It was a little hard to leave her but it was nice to be able to hang out with Ryan. We went to dinner at my favorite place, the Indian Oven. Then we were going to go to a movie but there is just nothing out that even looks interesting, or they do look good and they are R.... so we went shopping and that was just fine with me.
I thought it would be hard to turn 30 this year but it really wasn't a big deal at all. I still feel the same, and it still feel like I should be 18.....