Balloons

Yesterday afternoon I took all four girls to the grocery store for essentials to get our pantry stocked back up. It is never ideal to bring all four with me on a trip to the grocery store, but they were pretty good and my sanity was actually holding up pretty well as we pulled into the checkout line. I joked with the cashier about barely having room for food in the cart due to all the space that the girls were taking up and then got started unloading.

About that time one of my manager friends Sam came over and asked if the girls wanted a balloon. My first instinct was NO... but because they had been so good I gave in and sent the littles off with her to select four nifty helium filled balloons. Truth be told I was probably just buying myself a few minutes of peace in the check-out line. I could see them, but I couldn't hear them. Ahhhh.....

For the rest of the day the balloons did nothing but cause trouble!

• On the way out of the store it was difficult to hold hands while also holding on to the string of the balloons and we had to stop to re-group several times on the way to the car.
• In the car I kept yelling, "Keep those things behind my seat.... Do Not let them drift into the front of the vehicle" over and over again while they hit each other with them and pulled each other's strings.
• Then, of course, the unthinkable happened- Sarah's balloon "broke" while I was unloading groceries. She was completely devastated, as were all her sisters.
• The three remaining balloons became impossibly tangled to the point where I had to cut them and retie the clip that prevented them from flying away several times.... oh, how I wanted to just let them go!!

The only saving grace of the balloons was the quick science lesson we had in the car on the way home: helium gas inside is lighter than air= they float. I think they got the gist of it. They were even asking if helium is what makes swimmies (or floaties or waterwings, whatever you call them) help people float in water.

Fast forward to tonight:

On the way home from Family Night Supper at church I was talking with the girls about what is on our schedule for tomorrow. Someone in the back piped up, "Don't we need some groceries mom?" I told them we had all the groceries we could use for now and they all started to whine. Then Maggie and Kate both started begging at the same time, "Please, mommy.... our balloons are getting really low. We need to go back to the grocery store." That's when Ella added, "Yeah, Sarah's busted and mine is almost out of gasoline."

Here's hoping the balloons are a very, very rare treat at our local grocer or I'll never be able to sneak away to the store by myself again!!

Valentine's Party Pictures

Ella

Maggie

Kate (please excuse the hair, she wore it in pigtails all day and decided to pull it down at 5pm)

Sarah

The girls and I went to church last night for the children and youth Valentine's party. They played games, had fun, made the cutest little heart shaped frames.... hence the dorky posed photos above. Ella and I spent the afternoon making and decorating the cake. She was so proud to show it off! One more Valentine's Day kids celebration and two birthday parties on Saturday then the sugar high will hopefully begin to fade!

Christmas Program...A Cast of Characters

This year our church Christmas program included quite a cast of interesting characters. Maggie, Kate, Sarah, Rylee Ann, and Emma Grace all made their acting debuts... Ella, of course, got a head start last year when she and a couple of buddies were angels.

The young actors waited with a fair amount of patience during the rehearsals prior to eating pizza with the big kids because really the youth group does all the "work" of the play and these guys just got to enter on cue and look cute!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed being "princess angels". Maggie, Kate, and Rylee Ann thought it was pretty cool, but Sarah was absolutely in heaven!

Jackson played an adorable puppy dog... he had all the girls cracking up with his antics.
I didn't get a photo of Ella and Laurel during the actual performance because they were never standing still together, but they opted to just be "regular angels" so that they could wear their pretty Christmas dresses instead of the princess costumes like the little girls.

Sweet Emma was the show stealer with her boogie to Frosty the Snowman. I don't know how the youth group held it together while she was dancing away!?! It was adorable.

The youth group did a fantastic job of making the show go on while this rogue crew of little ones traipsed all over the stage. They really did an amazing job!

Thank you Cindy, Lora, Kim, and Dusty for allowing the girls to take part in this special tradition! I look forward to many, many years of exciting Christmas pageants to come!!

Campmeeting 2009

I was a little lax this year and didn't carry my camera around with me all the time, but I still got some cute photos of the kiddos at Campmeeting last week.

We only attempted to spend the night once, and after coming home at 11:15 pm I determined we would wait until next year to try that again.

Not staying the night didn't mean any less fun for the four silly sisters though. They made it to children's time every morning at 10am, and we ate dinner and went to the evening service most every night once we were all finally well.

What's not to love about sandy playgrounds, wonderful fellowship with family and friends, and home made ice cream every night!?! We're already looking forward to next year!!

Son Rock Kids Camp: Day Two

My mission last night was to snap at least a couple of photos of Ella hard at work and play during Bible school all the while managing the chaos that is Maggie, Kate, and Sarah in the midst of the 2-3 year old class on the super large campground Bible school campus. It was a challenge, and I had to use the zoom a bunch, but I got a couple to at least prove that she was there!


The craft for last night was t-shirt painting... except, the kids painted on a fish and then the t-shirts were pressed down onto the fish like a stamp. They turned out really cute, but by the time the 'Lil Buddies group got down to make their shirts the fish were smelling pretty ripe! Ewww...

We happened to be in the arbor for snack time for a few minutes while Ella and her red team there too. This was my only close up opportunity and I flubbed it!

I'm not quite sure whether it was the 2.5 hour nap or the fact that her BFF Campbell was at Kids' Camp last night, but Ella was especially excited to be there. Can you tell how excited she was by that precious smile? Nearly every time I saw the red group those two were holding hands..... so sweet!!

As for Maggie, Kate, Sarah, and I, we are REALLY tired. We were at the campground until 9pm last night, and once again they had to have baths before I could throw them in bed. I just can't stand the thought of putting them down all sweaty, sticky, and covered in bug spray!

For tonight I plan on leaving all my cameras and extra stuff behind. I'm taking a mini mommy media break. I did take a super cute video of the 'Lil Buddies group doing their camp chant last night, so I'll try and figure out how to post that here soon.

Son Rock Kids' Camp: Day 1

Tonight was our first night of Bible school. The girls had a great time.... I'll be exhausted by Wednesday night, but they are all having a ball!! Contrary to what the pictures show, Ella was there too, but she went with the "big" kids, while I stayed with the 'Lil Buddies group.

All the way home from the campground, a full 30 minutes after their usual bedtime, my sweaty, dirty, crew chanted.... Who Are We?... SON ROCK KIDS!! Who Are We? ... SON ROCK KIDS!!

Church Camping Trip Spring 2009

The girls followed up a very late night on Friday last week while I was on my girls night out with another very late night on Saturday as the five of us went over to Tugaloo State Park and met up with a large group of folks from church who were camping there.

Oh, and we managed to squeeze in a friend's 4th birthday party that afternoon before hand. That means we compounded the lack of sleep with too much sugar, traveling for around an hour, more of the too much sugar and junk, lots of fun and fellowship, and then another hour car ride home. I carried four sleeping beauties in to bed on Saturday night way past bedtime and dropped them without brushing their teeth or even changing their dirty clothes! Nobody even blinked or rolled over.

Perhaps that was a little Mother's Day gift to me because the behavior that I got out of the girls the following day was exactly what I expected.... BAD! Happy Mother's Day to me. We always have a great time when we visit the church campers. The girls beg to stay.

I understand the draw.... there are lots of kiddos and no shortage of fun. There are friends and cousins, and friends who are cousins.... aren't we blessed?

Wrapping up, I know I say this every time, but I think we really should give "camping" a shot once Scott is home from Iraq. I mean, they can't be any worse the following day if we stay overnight in a tent, right?

Trauma, Drama, and an Angel

Yesterday, after the choir's Christmas cantata, we headed off for our large, extended family's Christmas luncheon. It is usually great fun. Since my granddad Pop C is one of 13 children, many of whom had large families themselves, we are absolutely covered up with cousins of various ages when we all get together like this, and the girls love it!

It was right after lunch that our little mishap occurred. Ella and cousin Cayden were chasing Kate when Ella fell face first into the corner of a square, metal, flower pot.... though Sarah still declares it was a "fower potty" that Ella fell into. Her chin got all gashed up, and we had to make a quick trip through the fast track of the emergency room courtesy of cousin Nick.

Ella was pretty upset about the prospects of having anyone even look at her face. I was wearing my fuzziest black sweater, and when the 100's of well meaning members of our family inquired about her before we left, she buried her face into my chest. I'm sure everyone thought I was just worried about my sweater, but I really hated to see all that black fuzz accumulating in her wound! It was pretty gross.

On the way to the hospital Ella insisted on placing her obligatory "I'm pitiful" call to her aunt Kari who is Ella's go to person when she is feeling especially downtrodden for some reason. They had a nice chat while Nick drove.

Once there, the part that actually took the longest was getting it cleaned up. Remember the previously mentioned black fuzzy sweater? Then a few steri strips, some glue, and a plain band aid later, and she was good to go.

Ella was relatively quiet on the way home. I assumed it was because she was tired from all the crying she had done earlier. Once we reached Donna's house to get the girls, she was covering her chin and hysterical saying she was not getting out of the car. Here's the funny part: she wasn't upset because she was hurting or anything. It was pure vanity! We finally figured out she was just mortified because the band aid that they gave her in the er was an ugly, plain, brown one! She refused to be seen by anyone while she had it on. However, as soon as we got her a pink Hello Kitty band aid she was miraculously all better.

And then she went on to perform beautifully (and by that I mean stand quietly with her 2 cohorts at the back of the choir loft and sing in the chorus at the very end... just as they were supposed to) in the children's Christmas pageant at church. Once I okay it with the other parents I may add a couple more cute pictures from last night, but in the mean time don't her little eyes look puffy and isn't that band aid adorable?!?

Advent

I just read the most amazing Advent post by Ann at Holy Experience and wanted to share it with all of you. Please go, read it, and be inspired to search for Christmas this year!

Wordless Wednesday- Prissy Girls

Okay, not exactly wordless, but check out the shoes each of the girls was wearing at our church's most recent family night supper... perhaps this blog should go by Four Prissy Sisters instead. Thanks Ms. Brenda and Ms. Amanda for the great new collection of "clipity clops"!

You can find more Wordless Wednesday posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

The Last Family Photo for a While...

Last Sunday we had a luncheon after church. When we were all done eating, and the girls had their fill of the playground, we took a few minutes to try and capture a great family photo since it will be a year or so before we'll get another complete one. As it turns out, the front porch and steps of our church made a perfect location for our little photo shoot.

Above, the girls are all lined up... Ella, Maggie, Sarah, and Kate.

Sweet Miss Kate




A very lady-like Miss Ella

Miss Sarah- just hangin'

Gotta love Miss Maggie's grin

And finally, our last family photo of 2008. Scott made a few thousand copies of these to take with him. I hope it wasn't because he questions my ability to post up to date pictures of the girls regularly now that he's away!?! Don't worry, my mission is to document it all....

Mossy Creek Campmeeting 2008

A place for family traditions.... in a sense family and friends become one in the same here.

A place for historical traditions... we celebrated the 150th year of Campmeeting at Mossy Creek!
A place for young and old alike... the younger kiddos from our tent sat outside on quilts during most of the Sunday service while some of the older folks rode to and from the arbor in golf carts.
A place for children to learn about worship, Jesus, friendship, and traditions under the care of many wonderful people... (thanks Aunt Bee, you did a great job with the children's time!).

A place to make new friends....

... and soak them with water!
A place where there are always extra loving, helping hands... (thank you so much Hannah for all that you did for us!!)
A place where we made some really neat crafts...
A place where the growth in all our families was incredibly evident...
... this table wasn't necessary just last year because only two of the seven children sitting around it here were even feeding themselves then.
Little Miss Emma says..." hey, better plan on making room for me down there next year guys!"
A place where my four little girlies stayed up and outside late enough to hear crickets for the very first time....and they were absolutely scared out of their minds!
A place that's always been good for hangin' with cute boys...
A place for being silly with your sisters...


A place where everyone eagerly awaits the wonderful food that makes it's way to the table...
... and anticipates the yummy home made ice cream for dessert after church every night.
A place for digging in the sand....
A fine place for chatting and being silly with your very best friend...
A place for cute pictures that we'll use against them one of these days...

It was crazy busy for us this year at the campground with 8 kids in our tent who are 3 and under, but we wouldn't have it any other way. What a joy to watch them all experiencing some of the same pleasures that we did as children. One of these years my hope is that campmeeting will become a place where we can slow down for a little while and just enjoy spending time with those we love, but until then bring on the craziness! We are absolutely tired to the bone now, but we'll recover soon enough. I can already tell that the memories made are priceless because of the banter among the girls about camp meetin'. Until next year....