December Randoms

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Abbie

Emmie’s last blood pressure check! She had to be on midodrine after her surgery to keep her blood pressure up. Basically, she was on it for three weeks but slowly weaned off of it and each dose required a blood pressure check before getting the meds. She was amazing and her brothers and sisters had fun checking their pressure with her!

Getting ready to be a footballer.

Tobin can, occasionally, be the king of chill. Don’t underestimate him. He can also be Super Descructo Kid. But he is so cute when he chills.

Tobin helped me test out our new reading chair.

Everyone has been happy that Emmie is home! Including her buddy, Josiah.

Ya’ll, the way these littles love their big sister and the way she willingly loves on them, it melts my heart. Don’t get me wrong, Zoe can be very much a typical moody teenager but she can also be loving and caring for her little brothers and sisters. When it’s movie night, you can often find one or both of these guys sprawled on her.

Now to the furry kids. Ignore that Tot needs a giant haircut. Just focus on how these two snuggle up with each other. They are fiercely close and it is so much fun to see.

Emmie lost her first tooth! Yes. She’s just four. She did get them early (right at 3 months). But this is the earliest that we have seen our kids loose a tooth. Bryant got teeth at two months but didn’t loose them until 5 or 6. Emmie’s an overachiever.

Tobin sometimes cuddles in bed with me. And sometimes we enjoy seeing each other in the phone. Yeah, I know I have a double chin. I’m working on it now with an attitude, diet and exercise change. Sometimes, though, you just have to share the cuteness no matter what you look like. Memories for my crazy kids.

Our god-daughter’s parents sent the kids the Watch Your Mouth game…ya’ll my kids looked and sounded hilarious! They love it!

While the kids played Watch Your Mouth, Emmie rocked the wig.

How we said good-bye to our crazy 2018! Welcome to 2019!

Down to Monterey

Posted on December 28, 2018 by Abbie

On our free day, we headed down to Monterey. We were blessed to have friends who had just happened to move there this past summer. Not only that but when they knew Tobin was coming, they were willing to watch him on surgery day. Then when we realized we had to be at the hospital at the crack of dawn, they offered to watch him overnight! I think they enjoyed their time with a baby in the house again. But boy, i sure did miss him.

We spent our day sightseeing and playing and visiting. It was a great birthday indeed.

We drove out to Big Sur. It was a very harrowing drive for me (big bridges and driving on the edge of a cliff were quite terrifying for me). The view was astounding though!

On the way down from Big Sur, we stopped at a beach and stuck our feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was ice cold but Emmie couldn’t get enough of the water! Tobin enjoyed it too.

We drove over to Dennis the Menace Playground. It was huge and the kids played and played! After that, we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf. I was thrilled that we saw several sea lions and even a couple of otters out in the bay! Such a fun treat. I could have watched them all day.

We left Tobin that evening after he nursed and then headed back to Stanford. It was time for us to focus on surgery day.

Nerd Tour

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Abbie

So, on a free night in California, Mark tells me we have to go eat at In-and-Out Burger and that the Android statues for each operating system were on display at the Googleplex. Lo, and behold, Googleplex (Google’s headquarters) were right near an In-and-Out Burger. So, off we went with a slight eye roll from me.

But then, we got there. They had all the statues in a back lot. But they all looked so cool! And, yes, even I got excited on the Nerd Tour.

Emmie fell asleep on the way to the statues and was not in the mood for pictures or giant statues.

Tobin, at least, thought they were pretty neat.

On the Hunt

Posted on December 22, 2018 by Abbie

For Ace’s birthday this year, we gave him a unique experience: A scavenger hunt through Operation City Quest. Groupon has several options and companies to do city scavenger hunts. It just so happens a local city was on Operation City Quest’s website.

We finally decided to do the hunt in November. And oh my! It was so much fun! We saw a side of the city we had missed in so many other visits. The kids loved acting goofy and we all enjoyed just spending time together.

We all would highly recommend a scavenger hunt for a fun family outing!

Happy Birthday Tobin!

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Abbie

Our Wild Thing turned one in October! Tobin is every bit the rambunctious, fun and happy wild thing that he was when he was born. He brings us so much joy and, at times, scares us with his bravery to try anything.

Our friend Mr. J helped us celebrate at our church care group by bringing a cookie cake! And a sweet teddy bear!

Tobin’s Wild Thing cake. It suited him well.

He seemed to enjoy the cake!

I even found a Wild Thing shirt with matching pants and hat. Yes. He was adorable!

Doughnuts for a birthday breakfast? Of course!

Tobin enjoyed opening presents and the paper proved more fun than the actual gifts!

This boy is definitely going to keep us on our toes. We love his adventurous spirit. Mark and I both say that Tobin is our comic relief when bear things a little too heavily. We are going to love watching him grow this next year.

Perfectly Posed 2018

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Abbie

Our annual pictures turned out amazing, despite the fact that I totally didn’t even think about the leaves not changing colors yet (we had a late fall season this year). I chalk it up to a wonderful photographer and bribing my kids. Ya’ll, don’t judge. The only time I bribe this crew is for family pictures which we use for Christmas cards, grandparents’ gifts and to plaster on our wall for a whole year. The proof is in the pudding. Ya’ll see for yourselves.

Our perfectly posed picture. Good but not really our personalities jumping out like the one below.

If only Malachi was actually looking at the camera…but this was my choice for our family picture because it’s us.

These were just two of the amazing pictures of my girls! Seriously, aren’t they precious?!

She shot this picture as it started pouring rain and we realized we didn’t have a boys picture. They regrouped. She shot this one picture. Then we ran like wild fire to get out of the rain.

My kids melt my heart! Picking just one of Tobin was too hard. We managed but I had to show off the other ones:

We’ll just call these his one year pictures. Emmie’s pictures were equally as hard. How do you really choose a super heroes one good picture?

You Got a Friend

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Abbie

Emmie is such a social kiddo. She absolutely adores making friends with kids her age. And let me tell you, she could care less if they look different than her or act different than her. She just really cares about people and making sure they are included in everything no matter what. Her sweet friends seem to care about her too which is even more special. So, of course, I had to get pictures of her friends before we flew out to California. Those pictures were great for her to look at post surgery and helped us see some good Emmie smiles. I just had to share those pics of her adorable friends.

E and Emmie were in ballet together last year and E’s mom and I hit it off when I found out most of her kids were adopted from Ukraine. Their family didn’t do ballet this year but I was so excited that E’s brother and sister took a theater class with Ceili Rain. Emmie was thrilled too because E had gymnastics right after theater and Emmie had ballet. They got an hour play time together for ten weeks and hopefully, they’ll get that when they start back in January!

Emmie’s last ballet class before surgery was the dress up class. It’s safe to say that the whole reason Emmie loves ballet is for her friends in class…especially C. They seem to be growing closer and when C’s mama texted me that C reached out to hold Emmie’s hand during class (totally unprompted and totally uncharacteristic of C), my heart melted. These girls and their teacher (also in the picture) are absolutely adorable together.

C. had a special birthday before we headed out too. It was a princess/super hero dress up party. Naturally, Emmie had to come as Super Ems. She loved meeting Arial! And the cupcake frosting!

Seeing my girl love on others and want to have a good time with others is such a treat. She seems to get just how and what a person needs. Ya’ll, this kid is loud and boisterous and fun around her siblings. C doesn’t like that and Emmie is never like that around her. She can sit quietly with her but then turn around and yell and scream with her other friend, E. I love watching this part of her personality grow.

September Randoms

Posted on December 15, 2018 by Abbie

Our picture journal of random happenings in September.

Another scoli-mom told me about these brace undershirts called Brace Buddies. I was pretty impressed with them. It took Emmie awhile to warm up to change but in the long run, the ones we purchased made a nice addition to her brace undershirts. And they are fun to play hide and seek in!

Date day with Mark and Nacho Mama’s! It was yummy!

Our local downtown is fun and entertaining. We love seeing all the light boxes painted up and Mark insisted I get in a picture with the Godfather of Soul.

On another date night, Mark and I were deep in discussion about Emmie and her brain but stopped at a Starbucks drive thru. When the lady asked how we were doing, Mark was honest and said, “Meh.” The barista was incredibly sweet and gave us not one but TWO drinks for free. AND made it a venti. When we told her we were going through some things with our daughter possibly having surgery, she was even more sweet. We love these little “God hugs” to remind us we are not alone.

Tobin was checking out his new bike seat. I can’t wait to take him on adventures.

Emmie decided one day that her doggy needed to be adjusted. One of our loving chiropractors, Dr. H agreed to help doggy out.

Left is Tobin at 10 1/2 months. Right is Malachi at 18 months! My little chunky monkey T!

Braces help with breakdancing! Who knew?

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Pit stops

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Abbie

We broke up our long drive to and from the beach with pit stops. On the way down, we stopped at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and park for lunch. We got attacked by ducks and practiced our performances on the outdoor stage and checked out the fountain.

On the way back, we stopped in Tuskegee. We gave the kids a choice between the Airmen Museum or George Washington Carver’s home. The kids had just finished listening to an audiobook on George Washington Carver but didn’t know much about the Tuskegee Airmen. So, they voted for the Tuskegee Airmen museum. Ya’ll, if you are anywhere near Tuskegee, Alabama GO! It was a great museum that honored the men and women who worked and trained there. We were all so impressed. Once again, the kids didn’t want to leave! They loved reading all of the information. My heart was so happy.

We spent an hour plus in the intro hanger before we actually made it to the real museum. We had no idea we weren’t in the real museum until we ventured to the other one!

Flying Angels

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Abbie

Mark and I have never been to the Naval Aviation Museum and made this a top priority. We also made sure we went on a day the Blue Angels were practicing. The kids have never seen them fly. It was a very, very hot day but the kids persevered and enjoyed the show! They also really enjoyed the museum. This was the first time my kids have been to a museum and were sad to actually leave because they didn’t see everything and read everything! Progress!