Fall, Football & our busy lives...

So fall is here!!!!!  I could not be more excited for this beautiful season!  The weather is definitely making its changes!  We are in the 4th week of school!  It's going great and the morning groans about getting up & the nightly homework battles are in full swing!  Sam started his 2nd year in preschool and is loving it!  He get so excited to go to school every morning!  He goes three days a week!  Jacob's 2nd season of football has started.  His first game is this coming Saturday!!  He is on the Volunteers!!  His skills have improved even more and we are looking forward to sitting on the side lines and cheering him and his team on!  Martial Arts is going great as well!  They go about twice a week!  Jacob has his first belt test tomorrow and will move up to a yellow belt upon completion of this belt test!  He is SO excited about this!  Dylan should have his first belt test in the next few weeks!  Church activities on Wednesday evenings are also back in swing!  Jacob's annual Fall campout with Daddy is in a few short weeks.  This time last year left Dylan pretty heart broken that he couldn't participate, so this year Daddy is taking a weekend before their camping trip to take just Dylan camping!  This will be Dylan's first time actually camping and he is thrilled!!!  They are going to Red Top Mountain in two weeks! College football has started and my phone goes crazy every Saturday telling me scores and highlights of the games!  That is about how I get to watch games these days because even if we are home on a Saturday my house is so crazy, busy & loud I can't really focus or watch any games! One of my other favorite things about fall is also right around the corner..... the FAIR!!!!!!!  We love the fair... everything about it!!  The crazy people, the rides.... the FOOD!!!  We typically go several times, even just to walk around!  To me nothing screams fall time more than the local fair!!  Sam is at such a fun age and will really get to enjoy it this year!!  Summer is now over 2 months old!!!  I can't even believe it has been 10 weeks since she entered this world!  She is such a blessing and wonderful addition to the family!  As to be expected she is SO easy going and is down for anything!  She just glides along with everything we have going on and is always a pretty happy baby! She sleeps 12+ hours a night now and takes great naps during the day!  She is smiling and cooing and filling my day with sunshine!  She is now fully bottle fed as she struggled too much with nursing!  This was a huge struggle for me as I love to nurse my babies and did the boys for a year!  I was devastated at first but have now learned how much easier bottle feeding is especially with our busy days!  We are on the go a lot!  She is weighing in at 12 lbs and is 23 1/2 inches tall! Big girl!  She had her first belly laugh the other day that was just so cute!!!  And today she woke with her first fever and took her first trip to the Urgent Care :-(  All is ok though!  We stay on the go a lot with  our weekly activities but we love it!  I have a hard time finding time for the simple things like laundry & grocery shopping but as long as were together who needs clean clothes and food right?!!  HA!  Until next time..... Enjoy pictures from the last few weeks!!

Sam's first day of 2 year preschool!

Football Kickoff Day!  Go Bucks!!!

9 weeks!

Summer at the cardiologist getting her EKG!

Summer's first belly laugh!

My boys!

They look a lot alike here!

Summer sick at the urgent care! 

"Ay Ya"!

The boys recently signed up for Martial Arts!  They love it!  We hope it helps in our constant efforts to teach them respect, patience and self confidence!  They love it so far and it is so cute to watch!  Sam enjoys trying to copy there moves while shouting "Ay Ya"!  Pretty darn cute!

Back to School!

So school is back in and the best part of it all..... ROUTINE!!!  Bed at 7:30 and up at 6:00! We have a pretty big year this year.  Dylan started Kindergarten and Jacob took the big step to 3rd grade!!!  We went the week before and met teachers and saw classrooms!  They both have awesome teachers and were so excited for the first day!  Dylan being a Kindergartener got to take a practice ride on the bus the Friday before when the buses do the practice runs!  He loved it and was even more excited for the first day!!  Monday morning came bright and early!  The bus came at 7:07am!  Noni and PaPaw came to see them off and we all stood outside and waved as they rode off for their first day!  Dylan knew exactly where to go because he has been to their school many times to see Jacob.  Jacob is now in the further end of the school... the "upper class" section of the school.  3rd grade is definitely a big step up from 2nd!  A lot more work and a lot more responsibility!  A week has come and gone and we are now moving into the 2nd week!  They are both doing great and are very tired come 7:00 at night!  We have been very proud of them both but especially proud of Dylan because he has had fantastic behavior!  He has received two red tickets which are special and are only handed out when a teacher or someone notices exceptionally good behavior!!  God has blessed them both so far and I pray He continues to do so in their adventures, learning and behavior!!! See pictures below!

Summer Grace's Birthday!

Our Summer Grace was born on Tuesday July 5th..as of tomorrow 6 weeks ago!!!!  We celebrated the weekend before her birth at the lake for the 4th of July!  We had the best family weekend of swimming, boating and fireworks on the boat!  It was a great end to our little family of 5!  Jeremy and I stayed late Monday night to go on the boat with the boys & my parents to watch fireworks.  We left afterwards and got home around midnight!  We were up bright and early to be at the hospital at 9:00am!  My c-section was scheduled for 10:30am.  When we got there we were put in traige for pre-op bc the actual pre-op rooms were full!  I got gowned up and ready.  They monitored Summer for a few and attempted SIX.... yes SIX times to get an IV in me!  Can you say painful!  The nurses tried 3x and the first IV team nurse tried twice and finally the 2nd IV team nurse got it in.  This of courser resulted in us being late to the OR.  After walking back to the OR, getting my spinal and starting the surgery, Summer Grace was born at 11:16am!  I was a nervous wreck after my last two being in the NICU so I prayed and prayed and listened very carefully to her cry!  She was perfect and healthy... all 7 lbs 15 ounces and 19 inches of her!  Instantly in love!  Daddy had to leave the OR with her before Mommy because it was so cold in the OR and Mommy's surgery was taking longer than usual because of my tubal and tummy tuck!  I arrived in the post-op room greeted by my husband and new beautiful daughter!!  We nursed and bonded for the next hour!  It was amazing!  After that we got moved to our post partum room to be greeted by big brothers and family!!  The boys were SO excited to see her and of course instantly wanted to hold her!  The stayed and visited anxiously for her to have her first bath!  For the next three days we loved and kissed and loved and kissed on our sweet Summer!  We had visitors and of course may more visits from big brothers!  On Friday morning we got discharged and were off to our house to become our family of 6!  The last 6 weeks have been great!  The first couple of weeks were an adjustment naturally but with the help of our amazing family we survived!! Summer had "issues" with gaining weight in the beginning but has definitely caught up. At her one month she was 75% in her height and weight at 9 lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches.  She is growing and eating like crazy now and is starting to smile and stay awake a lot more!  Below are several pictures from pre-birth, hospital and home since!  God has blessed us beyond measure and we could not be more grateful for our FOUR beautifully amazing creations!!


“From the fullness of grace we have received one blessing after another” -  John 1:16

Getting ready!

Headed home!!

Our first big outing at the Tellus Museum with Grammy!

Another big outing at Stone Mountain with family from Ohio!

Summer's first train ride @ SM!

Blog slacker!

Yes I have been a blog slacker but I DO have an excuse.... Try FOUR kids!!!  I need to blog Summer's birth story and the days/weeks surrounding her arrival but for now with as usual short time... Here are some pictures of her and a video from today!  She will be 4 weeks old already this coming week!

Blog feature!!!!!

I am SO proud to share that Sam's 2nd birthday party that I worked so hard on was featured on a popular party blog!!!!  I had way too much fun planning and setting up his party!  It took many deep thoughts, research and late nights but turned out great!!  I made most of the stuff myself but did have a little help from Etsy!  We chose Under the Sea because Sam had been so in love with the movie Finding Nemo!  I didn't really want to do the whole Disney/character theme so chose something more generic yet close enough!!  Turned out great if I must say so myself!  Check it out here!!!!!

http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2011/06/under-the-sea-party-sam-is-2.html