Family Birthday Party for May Birthdays~

When you have as many birthdays as we do, it may be time to celebrate the family party as a group.
That's what we did for Payne, Holly, and Calla today!
Everyone came over about 3 for gifts~

 This was Calla's first birthday party ever I'm guessing and her first one home.
She peeled the tape for her gift and opened in her own time~

We had cake and ice cream out by the pool~

Then more gifts~

and swimming.

It was a beautiful day of celebrating three very precious May birthdays!!!

Our New Biker~

Holly has become our newest biker~

Watch her go~

Good job Holly!!!

A New Biker~

Holly has been home 3 years and just today started peddling her bike~

Good job sweet girl... we are all SO proud of you!
Especially Evie!!!

This and That~

I am so behind with check ups these days so it was Evie and Holly's turn.
Holly weighed 5 more pounds than Evie and made it on the charts.
Evie is still in the 0%ile club but it's all good~

 Calla has had several firsts this week...
The first time she ever sat in a stroller and saved her mama's back!
First time she ever stood on her own two feet in the same room as Macy!
(Just a sweet photo of SJ reading to Macy ((sorry about the wall she ate behind them)))

 And Calla sat in front of her very first fire this week~

Been a pretty wonderful week!

Mother's Day Weekend~

We were super thrilled to have BC for the weekend so Savannah and Josh
could get away for their fifth anniversary!
We also loved celebrating Holly and Payne's birthday~

 Along with Mother's Day for my mom~

It was wonderful to be together!

Sunday ALL my children were home.
Scott grilled, we took photos, and hung out around the pool~

I am a VERY blessed mama/Shayshay and SO thankful the little space between me and SJ
will soon be filled by a precious little baby named CallaAnne!
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading my blog.

Holly and Nursery Rhymes~

I got a little video of Holly 'reading' the nursery rhyme books this week~

She was super proud and I think learning SO well!!!

Two New Swimmers~

Amazing that one day the bitties are swimming with puddle jumpers {which we LOVE}

and the next Evie gets up the courage to just try swimming without it~

And she DID it!!!

After that first try, she was all over the pool and even jumping off the diving board.

The next day it was Holly's turn...

only being home One Year means more fear to overcome and super courage

which she mustered up and became a swimmer just like her big sis.

Just WATCH~

They are both going off the diving board and swimming like little fish!

The pool just got way more fun for them!!!

A Happy BD Party for Holly and Payne~

Our children look SO forward to their big family BD party.

Holly and Payne surely were!

 Especially Holly since she had witnessed them but never had her own at home.

This was her first and we were all so excited for her!

I ordered a plain white cake from Publix, added their favorite toys, sprinkles, and candles~

Everyone enjoyed cake and our first homemade ice cream!

 The kids had hula hoops, jump ropes, chalk, and bikes to play with~

 Opening presents was a highlight for sure... Payne loved all his legos and Holly her Sophia toys~

 We had them close their eyes so we could give them both new bikes.

Payne LOVED his and I'm sure Holly will too in time~

A big huge thank you to all our family for being here to celebrate

7 years for Payne and 5 for Holly!!!

A super Happy Birthday for our two kiddos!

HollyMei is FIVE!~

Remember last May 1st when I posted HollyMei's birthday in China~

Wasn't she the sweetest baby ever?

And now a year later, she looks like she aged like 3 years.~

Today she woke up SO happy and excited for her big day. 

We gave her a bible and puzzles. 

I'm pretty sure she looked at every single page. 

We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and sang happy birthday~

 It was a sweet day of playing, grilling for dinner, and an ice cold swim~

No place this sweet girl would rather be on her FIRST birthday at home than HOME. :)

Happy birthday HollyMei! Can't wait for your party on Sunday!!!

Friday Catch Up~

It's been a crazy week and by the time evening rolled around, I just didn't pick up my computer to blog... thus nothing blogged.

SO the big Friday Catch Up~

Sunday evening we took a little ride out in the boat and captured these shots~

Monday and Tuesday found Ella and I testing since she is finishing third grade~

while the other kids played at my parents' house. She did GREAT!

Wednesday we had a great day of school~

and little bit of sun which we took full advantage of at the pool~

Thursday we traveled into Atlanta for Payne's SB Clinic~

 And he was deemed perfect from all four of his specialists! Very thankful!

This morning began with Holly reading a fav book around here~

All week EK has suffered with a very sore loose tooth and we could not get it out so

the team stood by her this am as our dentist pulled it ~

Brave Ella is back home spending the day with Hermie who mysteriously appeared on her bed while we were out!

Happy Tooth Day EK!!!!!

Looking forward to a great weekend!

Dentist Visits~

Over the last couple of weeks all 6 kids have visited the dentist

and all 120 teeth were healthy!

Today Evie and Holly had their very first cleaning~

 and they were both SO brave...

a huge deal with the extreme anxiety Evie has suffered but now all gone!

Holly jumped in the chair first and her many faces were priceless~

 Next was Evie and she was SO proud of herself~

We LOVE Dr. Grizzle~

 and they had to take a look at their pearly whites on the way home!

For school, I printed photos of their visit~

We glued into journals and wrote words... memory recorded forever.

A Week of Appts~

We had several appts this week and everything went pretty well.

SJ and WP had eye follow ups to check improvement~

Both looked great but still have to patch 2 hours a day

and we get to patch on their glasses 

so we picked up some supplies to make these~

HollyMei also had a checkup to finish up her immunizations

and check her growth~

 She was all smiles until our sweet nurse walked in with 'shots'

and the other kids covered their ears~

 All except Evie who asked to sit up with Holly and hold her hands~

 Now I want to keep it real here...

Evie does have a huge heart and she really does hurt when Holly hurts BUT

she is also bossy and orders her around too (big sister).

Holly has been pretty willing to do whatever

but just in the last month has begun to have her own mind about things.

Thus, serious sibling stuff goes on every single day

but good to know they have each other's backs in the hard times!

Holly cried big during the shots but completely good when the bandaids came out~

Thankful to have this appt behind us and

THIS is how the boys felt today when there were NO appts scheduled~

Love~

WP is an amazing little soul~

He loves big and serves well.

We call him little Francis Chan and he follows suit!!!

An Explosion of Language~

Music is certainly HollyMei's favorite language

and just this week her language has exploded!

She was sitting in Scott's lap last night when he asked her to sing the ABCs~

{We're getting there}

And then to count~

Evie is a great influence on her and usually a positive one (wink)~

I can tell you there is NO shortage for words around here

and 'Momma' is usually the one I hear most...

Wouldn't trade it for the world!

Great Joy in Decorating~

Yes, I decorate earlier than most but how could I not when 6 littles

lived many lonely days and nights with no anticipation of Great Joy.

AND!

It is HollyMei's first Christmas and her face said it all~

Great Joy when it was all said and done!

It was nice to get the wreaths hung~

 The trees decorated~

 and because we enjoy a fire almost everyday, 

our stockings hung on the banister~

Decorating done, Christmas cards ordered, 

and enjoying our favorite time of the year~

Luke 2:10~

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. 

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

A Day of Play~

I start a photography class with Lisa @ The Long Road to China on Monday

so I actually pulled out my 'real' camera today and dusted it off~

 EK found some snails under a rock and they all LOVED watching them~

 I wanted to take some photos of HM too~

Just A Day of Play documented with the real camera.