On the Hunt…

With all the hustle and bustle and indecision on our part about whether to pack up five kids (two of which were sick, remember???), we did manage to squeeze in a few of our Spring/Easter traditions. 

One of which was the kids receiving their spring baskets (and not from a mutant rabbit with a bow around his neck) on Saturday.  Not sure if I’ve mentioned this (but I probably have for the past three years) but we give them baskets full of about three things on Saturday instead of Sunday.  It’s easier than wrestling chocolate away from them…they have plenty of time to play with/watch/remember what Resurrection Sunday is about…Resurrection Sunday is reserved for the actual celebration of Christ’s resurrection not chocolate and food (oh, and traveling six hours away to watch a shuttle launch).

Another tradition is dying eggs and adding those to our Resurrection eggs and hunt them.

At the time, Liam was drugged with acetemetophin so he was good to go. 

Josiah was not on the other hand.
Ceili Rain enjoyed the swing.
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CeiRai-isms

She’s a bit quirky…

(umm, that’s how she drank from her cup on the trip to Florida)
…and a tad bit apprehensive about much of anything.  She’s the first to actually not like being thrown in the air.
Oh, and sometimes…when you’re in a hotel room with five kids…she’s the one…
That has to sacrifice a bed*…
But she’s okay with that!
*No, we did not make her sleep in the nightstand console.  She just kept crawling up into it.  And when I told her to go nite nite, she cuddled with her giraffe and laid her head down (but she didn’t really go to sleep).
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To the Beach

After watching the shuttle blast off into space at 6:21 a.m. (no more than 10 minutes of our life and almost an hour to get back on the interstate), we headed to the hotel to change the kids out of their pjs and eat a free breakfast (which felt really weird since we had been up for several hours at this point).  We checked out and drove about halfway towards home and then made a pit stop.  As we were driving the kids asked where we were going.  Mark just casually mentioned that he thought they would enjoy a day at the beach.  Four resounding “YES!” were yelled from the back of the van.  So to the beach we went.

I’ve been to Jekyll Island, GA several times now.  I love it there.  It’s small, peaceful, and full of some rich history.  And it’s beautiful.  Now, I’m not talking white sand, Gulf of Mexico beautiful but Spanish moss hanging from every oak tree, waves crashing up against the rocks beautiful.  The whole island is virtually flat which makes it a great place to go on casual bike rides (and you can bike the whole island in one day easy).  We didn’t bike but I so wish we had had the time to do it.

However, we did hit the beach…

This was the last day of Josiah’s bug and just didn’t want much to do with the ocean.
Ceili Rain was about three months old the first time she went to the beach.  Having no recollection and not being the daredevil of the bunch…
She didn’t much care for it.  And as for the crashing waves…
she preferred mommy’s secure arms.
I can already imagine how much this therapy session is going to cost her!
She did manage a smile when she saw daddy had the camera.
And when she watched her brothers and sister in the water.
You can only imagine how much fun these three had in those waves.  Liam tried to talk Mark into going in so they could get deeper.  He, respectfully, declined (honestly, playing in the ocean in April in Georgia…it’s a little frigid).
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To Ge and Granddaddy’s House We Go

A weekend trip to Granddaddy and Ge’s kicked off our travels for several weeks.  This was the first time we had traveled since Thanksgiving.  If you know us well, then you know that’s unusual for us…Mark says our family motto is “Go!  Go!  Go!”  But, God had other plans for a few months.  We were home in December trying to make sure Bryant stuck around to full term.  Then January and February brought illnesses and snow.  Finally, March has rolled around and with the pollen came a chance for us to visit family. 

Aside from the drama of a not so daring Ceili Rain having to endure a puppy yelping at her (which caused her to cry which caused the dog to yelp more), we had a great visit (and the dog and Ceili Rain got used to each other and she only fussed at the dog one time later on when the dog took a toy away from her).

Escaping…from the barking dog!
Granddaddy had the best spot to view the game.  He was also a great lap to cuddle into after playing outside all day!
This was the first time the kids really enjoyed the Wii.  Ge and Granddaddy have all the cool toys!
On the way home, Mark indulged my cravings and we ate at the number one place to eat for processed foods!  The Varsity!  Yep, I thoroughly enjoyed my fried onion rings and chili cheese dog and frosted orange.  Yummy!  Of course, we all payed for it dearly on Monday…but this was the first time we ate here since before we had kids.  Moderation people…that’s what it’s all about 🙂
We’re making her a spokesperson for yummy chili dogs!
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Caught!

One of the first things Josiah asks me in the morning is if Ceili Rain is up.  Most of the time it is because he can hear her chatting and playing in her crib.  The other morning he told me he wanted to go see Ceili Rain…which buys me time to get breakfast finished while he entertains her through the bars in the crib.  This particular morning I peeked into the girls’ room to get Ceili Rain and found this:

Actually, when I first saw them, they were both sitting up and Josiah was entertaining Ceili Rain with the duck he’s holding (it flaps, sings and makes noise…which she loves)…this is what I found when I got back to the crib with the camera.  Yep, that’s pretty sweet.

And this is their busted look!
When Josiah gets up from a nap, if he can see Ceili Rain right off the bat, he is not grumpy at all.  He loves his little sis and she is equally enamored with him!  It’s safe to say that if they slept in the same room, he’d be cuddled up with her every night.
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Such a Pretty Girl

*

She is a busy little girl these days.  She crawls to find her brothers and sister (well scoot crawls).  She loves to pull up on things and is trying to figure out how to climb up on them.  So far, she’s only mastered our two steps up from the playroom/office/schoolroom/craft area/library.

I was trying to get her to sit in the Pooh chair.
She took the opportunity to stand up and dive towards my lap.  This is a fun game that we hope will turn into a step and then dive…and then a step, step and dive, etc.  
*My grandmother would freak out if she could see that hair in her face!  Trust me…I’m working on training it to comb over…these were just taken when it wasn’t!
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Welcoming Spring!

With the new warm weather and not much pollen (yet), we are heading out more and more.  We’ve discovered that Josiah is a boy’s boy!  He loves playing in the dirt and more than that getting muddy and covered in it.  This is funny because if we are eating a “finger” food, he requests a wet washcloth beside him to clean his hands every five seconds.  Not so outside though!  All bets are off when it comes to the mud and dirt.

Being that Ceili Rain is a “Spring baby” she hasn’t been outside much.  She’s just not been able to get used to being out on the grass…so we are now beginning her introduction to the outside world!  To help, she gets a walker toy so she move about on the grass and get used to the feel of it!  She enjoyed it but not when I had to divert her around the holes!

Yummm…grass!
I throw these pictures in here just for sport…you enjoy getting that neck exercise don’t you?
So, the rest of the kids enjoy playing in the dirt and mud but they use tools and are “very” careful with their hands.  Ace didn’t tell me what he was making.  Liam made a cake for me.  It was chocolate.  He has my heart.  Zoe made a house with a door.
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Ceili Rain is One Year’s Old!

 It’s official!  We now have a one year old!  Ceili Rain turned one last week and we celebrated in style this past weekend.  It has been quite a year with the little miss.  She has been such a treat and blessing to us.  The best sleeper yet…and our rested selves is probably why Mr. Bryant is on his way 🙂  She is very busy and very active.  She loves to be where the action is and wiggles and squirms until she get there.  Her crawl is more like a hop/scoot but she gets where she wants to go.  She’s pulling up and cruising and will even stand for a few seconds before diving into someone’s lap.

Here are her stats:

19 lbs. 7oz. (25%)…that’s an upgrade on the curve and not quite tracking with Super Wy (who is five months younger than her).
29 inches long (50%)

And here’s what happened after we talked with Dr. B and the nurse came to give the shots:

When it came time to get shots, Liam and Josiah stood near Ceili Rain’s head.  Josiah reached up and touched Ceili Rain and said, “It’s okay, Ceili Rain.”  Liam admonished him.

“No Josiah she’s going to get shotted!”

When I told them it was okay, they both started patting her head and trying to love on her.

Josiah did not like her getting shots and said, “Ceili Rain got shots and hurt.”

Sweet little CeiRai has some pretty protective brothers!  This will play to our advantage some day (insert maniacal laugh here)!

 We are so blessed to have our CeiRai.  She has definitely filled all of our lives with laughter and joy!

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Quick Update

I’m anxiously waiting on Mark to get video up so I can post a great video of Ace dancing to TobyMac.

But, in the meantime, we’ve been busy celebrating a little one’s birthday!  Yep, Ceili Rain, our little princess amidst the princes…has turned one.  We celebrate in grand style with her best buddy, Megan. 

We are starting a busy four weeks with swim lesson for three boys among other things.  My goal, today, is to get pictures up so that all can see our CeiRai’s celebration and what else we’ve been up to.

So, stay tuned…life here will be up and running shortly.

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