Tag Archives: Ceili Rain

But wait…there’s more

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We had an overabundance of injuries last week, and then this weekend brought on a completely new challenge.  Josiah started running a fever Saturday and then Sunday Zoe and I both went down with sore throats and fevers.  Josiah’s fever tapered off and did not require medicine on Sunday.  So, I thought, we were dealing with a normal virus.  When his rash continued, and I continued to feel horrible today, I decided to take Zoe and Josiah to get checked out.  Turns out, they have strep.  And so do I.  Antibiotics are started and I’m looking forward to a night full of sleep and a day away from the couch tomorrow.

Anyway, so here’s some more amazing pictures from Tracy while I recover.

Zoe girl is turning in to a beautiful young lady!

My Ace-Man is more handsome each day (and he looks just like his dad in case you were wondering)…he’s also a little sillier too!

The Liam Dude…full of spirit, passion, and those adorable blue eyes that will melt your heart!
 Mr. ‘Siah who no longer wants to be called ‘Siah but Josiah.
 Yeah, I’m not sure what this was about…but I think it’s absolutely adorable.  He’s got the cutest outie belly button out there (pun intended)

He’s so silly.  I had to just include multiple pictures of his goofiness.
And, our littlest princess who can bake a cake and kung fu fight…Ceili Rain.
“Enough of this.  My hiney hurts.”

 This is the result of too long getting pictures done and briding with cheerios on top of a mom and aunt making him look silly.  Yeah, I know it’s mean but it’ll be a great embarrassing picture for his fiance.

There’s Mr. Bryant.  All dolled up and adorable.  These last two were actually taken at the beginning of the shoot…hence, the happy faces.
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The result…

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 So, after finishing my skirt, and the girls’ dresses, we talked Tracy into taking our pictures again.  This time Mark got to tag along.  We were so worried because it rained on and off all morning.  We almost canceled several times, but then, just decided to go for it and, while everyone got a little muddy, we survived and got what we came for.

 And now, you can see the end results of my skirt experiment, or sort of can.  It really turned out much better than I expected.  I added a white cording on the bottom that just really did it (and kept me from having to hem it!).

So, we get one picture where all but Josiah have a happy face.

 And one where all but Liam have a happy face.  Oh well…at least you can see everyone’s face.

 I believe this will be our new header.  Aren’t they just too precious!?  Props goes to Tracy who edited out the stains that were on Ceili Rain’s leggings after she went sliding in some mud.

 The boy crew!

My Three Musketeers (D’Artagnan was eating dirt at this point).
 My precious princesses!

Don’t worry…there’s more (I know you are all sitting on pins and needles waiting to see them huh?).

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To the Parthenon!

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So, back to our convention/mission trip!  On the way home, Liam was acting like he had a little stomach bug but we needed to stop to lunch about the time I saw a sign for the Parthenon.  Now, please don’t think we made a wrong turn (and crossed a very big bridge!).

No, this is the replica that is in Nashville, Tennessee.  I’ve heard about it often and had never gotten a chance to see it (and I’ve only been to Nashville once so there ya go).  I convinced Mark that that would be a good place to eat.  And it was!  There was a huge park there and if Liam had felt better we might have gone to playground and inside the Parthenon.

However he didn’t and the park restroom stalls didn’t have doors and we were all a little creeped out by that.

So, we just walked around, picked up some cicada exoskeletons, and ate lunch.

 A statue we explored while Mark took Liam to potty…again.  I can’t remember who this was but look!

Josiah found a train…is anyone surprised???

Isn’t it beautiful?!  If you look closely at the first picture, you can see the Mark and the kids standing in the columns.  This replica was built for a World’s Fair Expo that was held in Nashville.

Thus ends our adventures the first of May…but wait…there’s more!

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And then there was one…

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I’m now down to one child in diapers.  This is a very strange experience on so many levels.

First, this is the first time I’ve had one in diapers and not expecting another.  I would willingly welcome another little blessing but so far God has chosen not to give us another baby.  So, just one in diapers with no new one in sight.

Secondly, Ceili Rain has basically potty trained herself.  Since about March, she’s been going potty on and off but still in diapers.  She was, until we were visited by a stomach bug, mostly #2 trained for a long time (yes, all mommy talk leads to the bathroom). 

Lately, she’s wanted to go more and more.  And then this weekend while visiting my parents, she spent all of one of the days completely dry.   Granted it was mostly the newness of a place and wanting to explore the bathroom one hundred million times, but she did it!  I finally have decided to take the plunge and just put her in training pants and deal with any spillage.

Except the past couple of days there haven’t been any.  In fact, she’s even woken up completely dry!

She’s also got me trained.  We have rewarded her with chocolate when she goes potty and so now, when she finishes her business I get the request, “Go tee tee, choco peas.”  And if it was said any sweeter, she would be dripping with honey!

My baby girl is potty trained!  Yippee!  It’s weird and wonderful all at the same time.

I think I”ll have some chocolate ice cream to celebrate.

Big props goes to having older siblings and desperately desiring to be just like them.

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Give me Liberty…

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Retreat Center in Gleason, TN.  Basically, in the middle of nowhere.  Well, actually, it’s near Paris…Tennessee.  Yeah, that’s about it.

Anyway, Mark and I have been discussing mission trips to take with the family.  There are several organizations that offer mission trips for families but at the cost of around $500 per person.  Yeah, you do the math.  Oh, I wouldn’t have to pay for nursing babes though…that’s $500 less.

So, we were brainstorming and remembered that we knew a family that ran a Christian retreat center.  Mark contacted them and he said there were a few things we could do around the place to help spruce it up before their summer season started. 

And off we went, (keep in mind that we had not been home since the homeschool conference).  It just so happens that we scheduled this trip after the big storms in April.  Thankfully, Liberty did not get hit with any tornadoes but they did have over twenty trees down just on the road to get to the driveway.  And on the driveway a big oak (I think) fell taking two more trees with it.  There was a ton of branches and such that needed to be picked up. 

There was also a trail and a challenge course all covered with large branches from all the storms.  All needing to be cleared so campers could use their facilities this summer.

So, we cleared.  And cleared.  And when the kids and I couldn’t take the heat and needed rest time, Mark cleared some more.

 The bunkhouse on the left and the conference center on the right.  These places were really nice.
 A view from the semi cleared trail.

 Josiah worked hard.  Ceili Rain did too.  At whining.  Ceili Rain didn’t seem to enjoy the sweat and branch picking up job so much.  She mostly just followed us around begging to be held.

 Ahhh, rest time.  And satellite tv.  No internet but we could watch PBS so all was right with the world.

 We didn’t just work, we also got to play.  Well, we got to watch others play.  The directors sons were playing baseball so we got to see the two oldests’ last game of the season.  This was the first baseball game we’ve taken the kids to.  They were more impressed with the clean up crew between games than the actual game.  I don’t think baseball is in their future.
 Liam tried to climb the 10 foot wall…
 And quickly found the ladder instead.
 Zoe really enjoyed this.
 I kept my balance briefly, ever so briefly.
 Liam decided he wanted down after climbing the ladder to the wall.  We just threw him over the side and let him drop.  Not really.  I helped him down the rope and Mark caught him at the bottom.
 The big oak that fell on the road (like that needed a description).  They already had some people come and clear out to drive around it.  But all the brush was left out and needed to be moved.
 Do you see the cross in the shadow.  Pretty!
 Yes, we all slept good at night.
 Clearing…
 More clearing…
 Ace likes a challenge.
 Zoe too.
 If you can’t pull it, might as well just climb on it.  The tree was struck by lightening right near the base of it, so we used that as a little science lesson and looked at the black left from it.

 This is where we moved all the brush.  Big ol’ bonfire is acomin’!

And as we worked, Ace’s keen eyes spotted this sitting on one of the logs…

 We took the kids in shortly after this.  Mark didn’t have a snake disarming tool at the time and when he did, it had slithered somewhere else.  We still haven’t looked it up, but we’re guessing it’s a baby copperhead.

 After all our hardwork and leaving…all the brush is cleared away.  Firewood is just waiting to be moved.
And Zoe and Ace enjoyed the three story tree house!
And we actually managed a great group shot all on our own.
Ya know, I worry every time we go somewhere that the kids might get bored if there’s nothing to do.  But, we had very little “entertainment” in a one bedroom cabin and they had a blast!  Lots of games inside and out that they made up and all.  Having beautiful weather so they could go out and climb and play was a big bonus too.
Oh, and our tick count was at four.  One on Josiah, one on Zoe, and two on Mark.  He won.  Not something to be proud of.  I’m still itching and checking!
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Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

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This Mother’s Day I have racked up.  Hearing Voddie Bauchum Jr.  (and hopefully meeting him), Kevin Swanson, and Ken Ham.  And getting some other great goodies (which I received early due to our gallivanting across the southeast)…

Hats for the kids!

Nah, I got something nice and shiny but it wasn’t jewelry (thank goodness…what is a mom of six little ones going to do with jewelry???).  I finally got updated mixing bowls!  And a surprise…a mandolin (I think that’s right…it’s one of those super duper veggie slicer/dicer/julienne things).

The kids enjoyed the bowls as well.

Fashion accessory, “fun” mirror…not just a mixing bowl anymore!

I love my gifts and being able to celebrate fun and practical gifts.  For the record, I really don’t want jewelry.  I hardly wear any except my wedding ring/engagement ring.  When we got married I never really though I’d have six children.  So, I didn’t register for large family items (like a mandolin, very large bowls, etc…plus, we lived in a one bedroom apartment that was about the size of our kitchen now…not conducive to housing large items), so I’m ecstatic when I get practical gifts.  They make my everyday normal days go so much more smoother.

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Shower Curtain Re-Vamp

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Giveaways going on now!  Don’t forget to sign up to enter here and here. 

The girls’ bathroom shower curtain was made of this flimsy sheer type material.  But, it matched perfectly and I bought it four years ago and figured, if needed, I’d swap it out later when it was totally destroyed.

Later has come.  The top stitching started to tear, the hook holes were tearing and ripping the fabric.  I knew it needed to be replaced.  But guess what?!  No one makes shower curtains to match purple bathrooms in a butterfly theme.  I was frustrated with my search.  Then, I decided to get creative.

Here’s the shower curtain all spread out.  See the rip in the bottom right corner.  I had started cutting when I realized I needed to document be it success or not.

Here’s the finished product:

And here’s what I did.  I cut off right below the rip in the curtain.  I measured off the cut height and then cut off the same amount from the bottom.  I’m a big fan of symmetry.  Then, I cut a strip of fabric twice that height.  I wanted it to be extra sturdy for the hooks and thought that reinforcing by folding the fabric over would help. 

I turned the fabric right sides together and stitched the ends to keep it with a finished look (note:  when doing this make sure the fabric is the exact same length of the curtain.  I was pretty close but it was off a bit and I did have to adjust some.).  Flip the fabric right side out and press.

Take the raw edge of the fabric and pin it to the raw edge of the wrong side of the curtain.  Stitch. 

Flip the fabric to the right side of the curtain and press and stitch again.  Then add button holes (another note, make sure you measure the distance between shower hooks on a standard curtain  before haphazardly putting holes in your newly revamped curtain!) the same width as was on the curtain.

All done!  It really was super easy and went very quick. Okay, so it would have gone quicker had I not totally messed up the button holes, but lesson learned.  So, now the girls have a “new” shower curtain, and I can marvel at the fact that I found fabric with the exact same colors as the shower curtain.  Really.  It’s amazing how well it matches!  I was thrilled with my find!

Here’s another look at the curtain:

And, if you can tell, those hooks on the walls are the most adorable towel hooks I found at Hobby Lobby (disclaimer:  I paid for those and can get excited about them all I want).  I waited until the wall art went on sale half price and picked up four for the girls’ bathroom after I had gotten one for a hand towel hook.  I love them.  I think towel hooks are much easier for the kids to hang their towels up on.  And, since the bathroom doubles as a guest bath, there’s plenty of room for guests to hang their towels on it.

I cant’ believe I just raved on and on about towel hooks.  Oh well.

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Attack!

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Giveaways going on now!  Don’t forget to sign up to enter here and here. 

 So, Saturday of our Kabining trip was waaaay hot for the middle of April.  To remedy that, we hit the local Wal-Mart and picked up enough water guns for a whole trip of campers.  Fire Away!  The afternoon was full of cool water fights.

 This is how we filled up the water guns!
 World’s skinniest Sumo Wrestler!
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and Keep the Old…

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No, I’m not referring to our friends as old…it goes along with the last post…”Make new friends, but keep the old..”  Moving along…

Last weekend we met up with most of the Transue clan in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Turns out that’s the halfway point for both our families!  And, that’s also a place with plenty of KOA Kampgrounds.

This was our first stay with KOA and while we thoroughly enjoyed it, I believe our camp hosts were a little worried about having so many children.  We all survived and I think they were pleasantly surprised.  They invited us back at least.

We stayed in a Kabin and it was super nice and way easier than transporting a tent.  We did, however, have to bring all our camping supplies to eat and we had to do the community bathroom thing (which was pretty good trek with the kids each time and if we had to go during that night.  That was the not so fun part).

 They lined themselves up to sing a song.  We got a picture!

 What’s Kabining without s’mores???
 Yep, they were thrilled we stuck them together.
 Activity for our full day:  Chattanooga Zoo.  It’s small, but word has it there were a lot of monkeys loose that day!
 Liam loved watching the animals!

This little monkey was particularly photogenic that day.
 Monkeys watching monkeys…

 Mr. James.  Poor little man had a hurt arm but it just slowed him down.  Didn’t stop him though.

Ten points if you know who this little owl looks like.  It’s from a book…and a movie.
Monkeys like to climb.

 Okay, stop me if this is not the most adorable picture in the whole world!
Where to next???
 The highlight:  the indoor carousal!
Okay, that’s all for now.  The rest will have to come when blogger gets it’s act together and I can upload these pictures!

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Make New Friends

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Giveaways going on now!  Don’t forget to sign up to enter here and here.

We had the privilege and excitement of hosting this young, Young, family (hahaha), the weekend of our mission conference.  The Youngs are missionaries with Biblical Ministries Worldwide and will, by God’s grace and timing, be going to Scotland to work with church planting there.

We were thrilled to host this family and their fun children.  Their two little ones just fit right in and Nathan and Krystal (the mom and dad) didn’t seem too disturbed by our plethora of children.  Mark and I were thrilled to have them in the home and talked with them late in to the night on two occasions, not even realizing what time it was.

Yeah, I think Nathan was praying he’d be released soon from this chaos!  Ten points if you can guess who’s missing.

These are all the missionaries who attended and spoke at our church’s conference.  I’d love to get the videos for the Louks up, but I can’t figure out how to embed it in here, so I’ll just point you to their website and tell you, you must go see what they are going to be doing in Romania starting this summer!

See they fit right in…fixing toys and such.
And, Mark and I had the privilege of watching their children while they attended a ballet put on by a local company here.  They actually trusted us with their kids.  Little did they know…
I called it “twin practice” in hopes that one day God will bless us with twins (yes, you read that right…I would love to have twins although the odds are greatly stacked against us).
 Madeleine is a couple months older than Bryant.

 Pose for the camera kids.
 What are you???
Madeleine also cut a tooth while they were there.  She was pretty grumpy when we kept her and at one point she and Bryant were both competing in cries.  I smiled and saw all the other dear children covering their ears and announced that we could handle twins.  Mark laughed.  Anyway, we didn’t realize she had cut a tooth until she had kept Nathan and Krystal up all night.
Mr. Miles was a trip.  He enjoyed “playing” the Wii.  He was close to Josiah’s age and oh so much fun.
Please remember to pray for Scotland and the Youngs as they prepare to serve Christ!
You can learn more about what they are doing here:
Or go to their website:  Pray for Scotland.

And if that isn’t enough jabber, one of the reasons we were thrilled about having the missionaries in our home was because of the great influence they can have on our children.  It is our desire that our children seek to serve Christ and to bring Him glory through all they do, whether that is living in a hut in Africa or working inner city missions or a “regular” job in the states.  We also want them to be aware of the great needs that are both here in the US and abroad.  Hosting missionaries for a brief time gives them faces to the names that they hear so much about.

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