April Pics from my Phone

Since I haven't done a weekly highlight post in a couple weeks, this can be more of a monthly highlight instead! :) 

Kevin and my dad spent two days staining/sealing our fence.  It looks even better and I didn't think that was possible!

During the first week of April, Charlie wasn't feeling well and he was limping around the house.  Turns out he sprained his back right foot.  He had to stay locked in the dog kennel for days so we could let his foot rest.  I let him out one evening after the kids went to bed and he climbed our bear :)

Allie is still going to her ballet class and loving it!

The kids still love the chicks.  Just a side note, I do not approve of them being in the house!

And speaking of the chicks, the coop is coming along and should be done tonight or tomorrow.  

I've been obsessed with cast iron skillet cooking this month!  My friend Sarah uses her cast iron a lot and I had never really used it until we visited them.  My favorite thing to make is her biscuits.  

Krissys expressions kill me.  She is growing out of the moody toddler stage (obviously we still have mood swings and you can see that in the pics!) and turning into a helpful little girl that helps "mother" all the other kids.  

These brothers are the best buddies!

We spent last Sunday at CLV and I snapped these pics on my phone!

I picked this lily of the valley at my parents cabin and it made my kitchen smell so good for days!

We played outside on every beautiful day!

April was a great month and I think May will be even better!

Austin @ 15 months

Normally, he's an easy going, happy little guy!

Austin is going through so many changes so quickly these days!  Hes 27lbs (94%) and 34 inches tall (100%).  He's talking up a storm and has approximately 30 words in his vocabulary.  He loves to take things apart and put them back together.  He also just started officially walking two weeks ago.  He would take steps here and there, but it took him awhile to get his balance figured out.  Now, there's no stopping him.  :)

You know that saying that "every kid is different".  Well, all my kids have been pretty similar.  Some were a little slower at talking, others seemed to have a weaker immune system, but in general, I haven't had too many curve balls from kiddo to kiddo.  

Austin threw me a curve ball this last month and I had no clue how to handle it!  I felt like an inexperienced first time mom all over again.  Head Banging.  That was the curve ball.  Did any of your babies ever do that?  He would get mad or frustrated and hit his head on the hardwood floor, repeatedly, as hard as he could.  I had never seen anything like it.  I couldn't believe the goose egg and bruise he gave himself.  

I had just talked to his doctor about his behavior at his 15 month check up and she told me just to ignore the behavior.  He knows it gets my attention, and he does it to get a reaction from me, so I'm supposed to ignore him.  That approach made sense, but Austin was even madder I was ignoring him and it resulted in him hitting his head harder and more frequently.  I called the doctor because I was seriously concerned he was going to give himself a concussion.  They told me the same thing as before (ignore the behavior), and also said I could look for an infant bicycle helmet for him to wear if I was concerned.  

I talked to my mom and she thought I should do the opposite as the doctor says, and give him more attention.  If that's why he was banging his head in the first place (to get attention), it seemed like a better solution to my problem.  So, I ditched the doctors advice and I've been telling him "no" or "ouch" when he hits his head.  I stop what I'm doing to give him some positive attention (reading a book, rocking him, playing cars with him).  He is the 4th baby and definitely doesn't get the attention the first one or two kids got, so I'm trying to get better about that! 

This was the bump and bruise from his afternoon of head banging.

The next day, Austin was pushing his toy train across the floor and fell head first and landed on the exact same spot he hit yesterday.  You can't see how far this bump was sticking up off his head, but it looked like a golf ball under his skin! It was horrible!

I rocked him to sleep so I could ice his little head.

Usually, when we'd set him down after holding him, that would provoke his head banging.  We've come up with another solution - we will set him in the jumper.  He loves being in there and we can still give him attention but keep our hands free for other things we need to do!

Dream Dress

I  had written last week about wanting a different wedding dress for my wedding.  The story behind it goes like this...

I had my wedding dress for a long time!  It was exactly everything I had envisioned.  The lace, the strapless neckline, the beautiful train - and it even had a fantastic bow on the small of my back that went all the way down my train.  It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen.  That is until I was browsing a wedding magazine.  There was an ad for the Melissa Sweet wedding dress that's pictured below.  I dreamed of ditching my my "old" dress for this new dress.  I knew it was selfish of me, so I didn't say anything to anyone about it.  Days later, my mom flipped through the wedding magazine.   That evening she said she found a beautiful dress that looked like it would be so pretty on me.  I was curious as to which dress she was talking about and low and behold, it was the exact same dress I had been dreaming about.  This seemed like more than just a coincidence, so I convinced my mom to go to Abbingtons Bridal in Owensboro (it was the biggest/nicest dress store around when I got married!) to see if they carried that designer.  

 

We talked to the store owner and he said he personally knew Melissa Sweet, but he didn't carry her dresses.  He said one of her gowns would cost $2500+ (he guessed the gown I liked was more in the $3500 price range) but he said he might be able to find a knock off if I wanted him to look.  We both agreed that it was too much to pay for the dress, and I walked away content with the dress I had.  

I saw the dress on an episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" about 4 years ago and was jealous of the ladies that got to try it on.  I know it wasn't meant to be, but I still look back at the dress and wonder if I would have liked it as much in person as I do in the picture!

Here Chicky Chicky

Yesterday was our anniversary (I'm sure you knew that from the previous post!). We didn't plan anything special because we are actually celebrating tonight!  In some random texts back and forth throughout the day, I let Kevin know our friends, The Gaisers, had just bought some chicks and they were able to buy them individually at the west side Rural King as opposed to groups of 25 that the east side Rural King was selling them for.

We've had several chicken discussions lately.  Kevin has been researching them nonstop and I have said all along I didn't mind us having them as long as HE was going to take care of them.  I've heard they can be messy and I didn't want to deal with another thing on my plate.

So, Kevin got off work at 2pm yesterday and told me he was going to swing by the Rural King on the west side and "just see" if they had the breed of chicks he was wanting to buy.  And of course, they did.  

So for our 8th anniversary, Kevin bought us 8 little chicks.  There are two different breeds (4 of each).  It's definitely a fun and unique gift that we will probably laugh about and tell our grandkids about.  Speaking of the kids, they all adore these baby chicks!  I'm freaking out about salmenolia on their hands and they could care less.  They constantly ask to go out and see them.  

I won't lie, I became attached to the little fuzzy babies as soon as I saw them. I worried about them all evening and was anxious to wake up the next morning to see if they all had made it overnight.  So far so good!

I'm sure I'll post more about them as they get older and we get the coop built, but for now, I just wanted to let you know that we added chickens to our already crazy lives. Hello farm fresh eggs! :)

I Still Do

Today is our anniversary...8 years!  Our wedding day seems like it was yesterday, and we blinked and had 4 kids (and 2 cats and a dog!).  It really has gone that fast.  Looking back at pictures, there's things I'd change and do differently if I got to do my wedding all over again.  Just to name a few things, I'd:  hire someone to video tape the wedding, brighten up the bridesmaid dresses, and go buy that Melissa Sweet wedding dress I had seen in a magazine that looked like it was made for me!  On my wedding day, all those things seemed perfect though.  I guess that's why it's fun to go back and reminisce about the day.  Just to see how we've changed physically, emotionally, & spiritually.

We've learned a lot in 8 short years.  I don't think we will ever be able to call ourselves pros in the marriage department, but I'm proud of us for sticking it out during rough times and enjoying all the good times.  We've loved all the big milestones (babies, new house, new pets) but it really is the little day to day things that make any marriage what it is.  Packing his lunch, him bringing me home a rose, making his favorite meals, him picking up groceries on his way home from work so I don't have to get out with all the kids. 

One of my favorite Christian bloggers/writers/speakers wrote this on marriage and I found it easy to relate!
"The first five years of my marriage were really hard. Two sinners coming together with loads of baggage, unrealistic expectations, and extremely strong wills.
There was yelling. There was the silent treatment. There were doors slammed. There was bitterness. There was a contemplation of calling it quits. There was this sinking feeling that things would never, could never get better. That’s when I first started hearing the 3 lies:

• I married the wrong person.
• He should make me feel loved.
• There is someone else better out there.

I believed those lies. They started to weave a tangled web of confusion in my heart. All I could see was all that was wrong with him. I became so blind to his good. I became so blind to my not so good.
I ... flipped to 1 Corinthians 13 again. This time instead of reading it like a list of what love should make me feel, I read it as if I could decide to make my love fit these qualities. My love will be kind. My love will be patient. My love will persevere. Not because I feel it — but because I choose it.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t overnight. But slowly our attitudes and our actions toward one another changed. And I stopped believing the marriage lies and replaced them with 3 marriage truths:

• Having a good marriage is more about being the right partner than having the right partner.
• Love is a decision.
• The grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s greener where you water and fertilize it

I know marriage pain and I know marriage redemption. Building a bridge between those two realities isn’t easy but it is possible.
Our bridge was the culmination of a lot of little love decisions."
I love that - little love decisions and that's my goal for the next year of marriage.  Find ways to show little love decisions.  And maybe get wedding ring tattoos.  :)

Here are some of my favorite wedding pictures from the over 2000 I have!

I had a bridal session with the photographer before the big day.  It was great to put on everything and make sure I wasn't forgetting something!

Flowers that lined the aisle.

I just loved my bouquet.  I had begged for bleeding hearts in my bouquet, and my Unlce Ray made it happen for me!  And the jewewls in the roses were one of my favorite touches!

Getting all put together with my sister and mom's help!

Kevin and I decided to see each other before the ceremony.  I knew I'd be weepy so I wanted to get it out of my system before everyone saw me walking down the aisle!  I cried, he didn't... until I was walking down the aisle, which almost made me cry again!  

Our wedding party.

Mr. & Mrs.

Our reception was at The Centre in the ballroom.

My centerpieces were stunning.

Our wedding cake I made!  My mom and I were up past 1am finishing icing all the layers, and we were up bright and early at the reception hall building it and adding all the flowers!  It's one of my favorite memories!

I chose to put my cake topper next to the cake and top my cake with flowers. 

Kevin's groom's cake. 

My uncle Ray helped with so many of the flower arrangements!  The flowers were beautiful!

First Dance

Father/Daughter dance.  Kevin gets emotional at weddings thinking about the day his daughters get married! 

We had a slide show!