Meet my new friends

We have been married for 8 years, owned two different homes, and moved 7 times. We have been around. In all that time we have only purchased and planted 1 tree and some shrubs. Lame. Sad. Unfortunate.....Until yesterday! We have foliage! We purchased and planted a beautiful sunburst locust, a darling weeping cherry and several lovely grasses. It's as if I have had more children, I am so in love with them. (Don't worry Kiddos, Mom loves you more than the trees). So, welcome to our new family members, may you grow and flourish! We love you!

The edible baby.....by A. Chamberlain

I have a very talented friend who took these gorgeous pictures of Griffin at one week old. She also took the darling family picture at the top of the blog. I am so grateful to have these precious photos to remember Griffin as this tiny little morsel. Thank you so much Amy, for sharing your talents!

Check out all of Griff's photos at Amy's blog. http://amychamberlain.blogspot.com/

Goldilocks has lost her locks!

So we finally did it! We cut Dylan's hair off! She has been asking for a few months and we finally decided that we would let her decide the fate of her beautiful hair. I can't believe how grown-up she looks, especially with the TEMORARY pink and blue streaks. We love our Dilly!

A date at Boondocks

Jackson and I had a special day of fun at Boondocks. I was feeling bad about the fact that his summer is only 3 weeks and the last several weeks I have been wrapped up in recovering from the new baby. Apparently I was feeling recovered enough to go battle the heat and race cars, minature golf, and play laser tag. Jackson didn't know what we were doing until the morning of our special date. He was beaming with excitement when I told him the plan. It was so fun to have some quality one-on-one time with him. He is such a big helper and is always on the waiting list at home.
Jackson's favorite activity at Boondocks was playing laser tag. When we entered the dark battlefield for the first time I suggested that we stay close together, thinking that he would be nervous. He was appauled and said,"Mom, we can't stay together, we will make a bigger target!" Then he ran off on his own. What an awesome kid I have!

So many details and emotions!

There are so many details and emotions to deal with at our house lately. Each of the kids are going through their own emotions since baby Griffin came to join our clan. Jackson is the protective brother and often gets sent to the back burner because he is the most independant (sorry oldest child). Dylan is stubborn as ever, but will sometimes ease up for a moment. Our sweet little Alex has gone through a whole rainbow of emotions. At first she was suddenly a baby again. I could see the panic in her eyes when she would say, "Hold me Mama, I'm your baby!" I reassured her that we were still completely in love with her. Then she moved on to only communicating with screams and cries, that was a fun few days. Now she is back to, " I'm not a baby! I'm a big girl!", and we are grateful for this. Love you kids!

Now let's talk about details. Everytime I have had a baby I am reminded of all the details. I feel like I need a baby survival tool belt to carry all my supplies. Diapers, wipes, burp cloth, bouncer chair, etc. I left the house today with all four kids. I felt like I was on the ball and ready to face any challenge. So I am driving in the car singing with the kids and feeling pretty good and oops, I forgot the nursing pads, dang! Don't you just hate it when you forget one of the details? Well, I made it for a while, but then sprung a leak during lunch with Devin and two of his co-workers. I'm sure no one noticed, right? Next time I will put that detail at the top of my list.