That Little Peach of Mine

That little Peach of mine turned 8 years old last week. She is turning into such a wonderful young lady. She's strong, sensitive, smart, compassionate, loyal, sincere, kind, loving, genuine, and just all around wonderful.

 I always say she is the one who gave me the title of "Mom," and that I'm forever grateful that she came into my life. It seems hard to believe that she is already 8 years old. I remember when I was 8 thinking that for as long as I'd been alive, that's how long I'd have to go to school to become a doctor. I couldn't believe that my life equaled the same amount of time as post-secondary education for future doctors--I didn't think of it in such a detailed manner back then! 

 

And now that my own little girl is 8, I'm simply in awe. I just can't believe that somebody so young can have such an affect on me. Since I've known of her, she's made me a stronger and better version of the same ol' me. I sometimes contemplate where I'd be or who I'd be if I'd never been given the gift of my first born daughter. Honestly, I have no idea what I'd really be like, but I bet you a million dollars that I wouldn't be nearly this happy. Even on the worst of days, the fact that I have my wonderful children, my sweet red-head included, is all that I need.

Peach, someday when you're 16 and you read this, I hope it brings you happiness. Even if we just had a fight or even if we just went shopping together, I hope you know that I love you the same as I did yesterday and the same I will tomorrow.

Someday when you're a 22 year old college student and you read this, I hope you remember the laughter you brought to our family. Your wit is so awesome. You have a better understanding of humor than most adults.

When you're in your later 20s you might be trying to find your place in this world. And that's okay. It takes time to really learn who you are. It takes patience, mostly with yourself. And also with me. Because you see, my natural instinct is to jump in and save you. To rescue you and give you all the answers. To tell you everything is going to be alright. To hug you and hold you until you feel safe. And I realize that when you're exiting your 20's you may or may not need me in all the ways I would like to help. Just know that you can call me anytime--oh, wait! You said you'd still be living with me, so just yell up from the basement. I'll come talk it our with you.

Someday when you're doing the mom-thing, and you're sleepless in suburbia, you better call on me. I want to come hold those beautiful grandbabies you always talk about giving me someday. I will soak up their sweetness, hold them on my shoulder, place their heads in the palm of my hand and stare. I will, of course, look at this child and think back to 2005 when I held you. When I laid you in my arms and watched your chest rise and fall. When I noticed every little movement on that soft newborn face of yours. I memorized your eyes and that funny thing you'd do with your tongue when you stuck it out. I always gave you my finger to hold. I'll give your babies the same love and affection.

And someday, when you're older than I am now, I may or may not be here in this world anymore. If I am, I hope you are helping me to keep my hair looking nice and my nails freshly painted. I do like Bingo now, so I'm sure I'll love it come the  year 2070. I hope we get to do lunch together. And I will love watching you become a grandma and enjoying your grandbabies. But if I'm not here in the physical world, please know that I will be watching over you. Just because time passes, lives end, and people move on, doesn't mean anything about us will change. My love for you will still be real, and it will still be in your heart forever. The love that we share will someday be passed down to your own children because love is legacy. The way in which we show our love, our kindness, and care is taught to our children. You are already a very loving young girl, and I know you will keep the love alive with your babies someday.

Love you, Peach!
XOXO~~MAMA~~XOXO

Mr. Hunk turned 11 months

Never mind that he is less than one week away from being one. Can we just agree that this fact is irrelevant right now? Okay, good!

As Hunk turned 11 months, his crawling (more of an ape walk) was perfected. I started thinking about him turning one. Then I started crying because my last baby is turning one. And then his 11th month suddenly became all about me.

But really, it's all about this little guy right now.

HAHA! I only kid. But seriously, this little smile...

oh he's such a littler charmer.

And he lays it on thick.

Like layer upon layer of buttercream frosting on dense, moist cake thick!

He's in size 12-18 month clothing. A size four diaper. And he doesn't wear shoes, so I don't know what size he is.

BoBo likes to feed himself everything from chicken, turkey, beef, apples, carrots, cucumbers, berries, to puffs. Yes, he still eats those things. Snacking on the go at it's finest.

He doesn't really have a favorite toy. He just likes to get down and explore everything. He still likes to clap his hands, wave bye-bye, and he kind of blows kisses. He sticks his hand up to his mouth and just kind of leaves it there. He also will roar like a lion. It's pretty adorable. He is also starting to figure out where his nose is, but he also will randomly take both of his hands and pat his head. We're not sure what this means. It may just be a way for him to get attention. HAHA! He's still pulling up on furniture and toys, but he hasn't taken any steps. He's really not interested in standing much either.

Have I mentioned he likes attention. He's kind of a ham! He thinks it's hilarious to smell his little feet. He isn't a fan of most diaper changes. He's tuned in a couple of times to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And he still loves for me to rock him at night. It just brings such wonderful closure to our day together. I feel completely blessed to call this little boy mine.

 His sisters think he hung the moon.

 He may or may not have five beautiful young ladies totally in love with him. Always wanting to play with him.

He knows how to charm these little ladies for sure.

And they most certainly know how to charm him as well. 

 Have I mentioned he's a guitar prodigy?

Or wait... I mean a ukulele prodigy....

No, I'm only kidding. But he does look darn cute with a little one in his hands, doesn't he?

I'm so glad this little boy decided to join our family. He is the most perfect addition we could've ever hoped for. Love you, BoBo!

Softball 2013

I wanted to share more pictures from our softball season.

 Both girls had a terrific season.

 This was Peach's first year in 8U--and she loved the more competitive spirit of the game.

 And Bug played her second year of instructional ball. She's starting to figure out the game more and more.

 Peach's team went to the tournament with a higher seed, and we ended up barely losing to the team that took 2nd place. So, I think that they were pretty darn good.

 Both girls were so much fun to watch!!

Summer Lovin'

{It should be noted that I wrote this awhile ago}...

I'm so sad that this summer is winding down. I can't believe that it's back to the reality of book-bag-checking, early-morning-waking, coffee-cup-drowning, night-activities-racing, and last-minute-birthday-planning. I'm actually quite comfy here in the land of last minute plans, impromptu trips to Sonic play area, feeding six kids at lunch time, cuddles whenever we want during the day, and really just having my kids with me.

I really do miss them so, so much during the school year. So much that, if left to my own selfish ways, I'd pull them out of school and home school them just so I could spend more time with them. And I only say that's selfish because I personally am not in a place in life right now where I can teach them well and like they deserve at home.

I'm just not ready to miss them yet--actually I'm never ready to miss them. I don't like being without those turkies. But I know, that like all things, even the really good things, it must come to an end. Our summer holds many special memories for us.

Miss Boushka did a soccer camp in early June. We had her try out soccer to see if she liked it before we signed her up to play fall ball. And she liked it. She's such a Copeland girl.

The older four girls were all in swimming lessons. The older three were in the same class, and Boushka
(being that it was her first year) was in the beginner class. She was not a fan of the water,which I thought was odd since the last time she was in it she was practically a little fish. But things change over the course of nine months. They all enjoyed their lessons and actually progressed some. I enjoyed seeing them grow more confident.

Daddy went out of town a handful of times. We mostly had fun while he was away. And I only say mostly because... well, I'll explain later. But we did have some movie time. Cuddle time. Painting nails time. And more cuddle time.

Now to explain the mostly...I have this theory that every time Matt is out of town, somebody in the family gets hurt or injured. Sure enough, the last time he was out of town we ended up in the emergency room for a concussion (and an ear infection I had no idea about) for poor Boushka. She fell at her sister's softball game and hit her head on the bleachers (we think it was bleachers--I didn't actually see her fall).

Bobo at sister's softball game

About 10 minutes after she fell, she vomited. I took her to urgent care, but with her symptoms and the fact that she had a bump on the back of her head, they told us to go straight to the ER. So off we went, and it was a long night. The poor little gal was so tired, and ultimately we ended up having to get her a CT scan. She was very scared, but eventually a sweet grandmotherly nurse saved the day when she turned on a youtube video of the new Despicable Me movie. We got her all calmed down and the CT actually came back clear. We picked up meds at 12:30AM and headed for home. I'm so happy she didn't have anything worse than a concussion. And I'm still sticking with my theory.

Brownie lost her first tooth on July 2! And of course the tooth fairy came to visit. Another $5 donation to the college fund!

July 4th was as fun as ever--except this time we got the added bonus of having Auntie in town. We ate good food and shot off fireworks like most Americans.

We also did some swimming and general lounging. Of course, this was the day after Matt got back in to town, and Hunk seemed like he had an ear infection.

So I made our 2nd trip to Urgent Care that week, and sure enough he had one. But we did get to enjoy the evening with family, and that's always a blessing.

Three days later, and still within the same week Matt left town, there was yet a third trip to urgent care. I was in the middle of sanding and painting our old dining room table when Peach came out complaining of earlobe pain. I took one look and fuh-reaked! It looked super bad and totally infected. Since I was drenched with sweat, daddy handled this emergency. Luckily, the doctor was able to finally get the earring out (after using surgical tools and causing major pain for a little red). It left a big gray scab of dead skin. Blech! But it's all healed now and she has good earrings in. 

Our anniversary was a couple days later, and we didn't do much. My friend, Traci, watched the babes for us so we could enjoy a couple hours sans-kids. We came home and tried to cook dinner, but it was a bit of a disaster. Something with the grill was off, and we basically spent the whole two hours cooking. But it was still nice to have some P&Q!

Here is the fried zuchinni--this was my contribution to our anniversary meal

The next week Miss Bug had Kindergarten Camp. Oh my goodness, she was so excited.

Who am I kidding, I was thrilled. I knew she would love every minute of it, so I was happy she got to go. She had a lot of fun and even made a new friend.

She brought home a cute game, a tote bag she decorated herself, and helpful worksheets (that I had the best intentions of helping her complete for fun before school started--I'll let you guess how I did with that).

Bug also started gymnastics for the first time in July. She absolutely loves it!

Brownie has been doing gymnastics non-stop since she started after Christmas, but she actually has her last class tomorrow. She's taking a little break, but she'll be back at it soon.

Peach also started gymnastics back up after being out for a couple of months. She missed it, too. I honestly enjoy watching them learn new moves, or stunts, or whatever it is that they do. But seeing them grow, literally by leaps and bounds, is amazing.

The week after K-camp was when my sweet doggy took a turn for the worse.

 I was going over to mom's house nearly everyday just to spend time with her, try to get her to eat/drink/potty, loved on her... you get the idea. We only had a couple of days between putting her down and leaving town for a mini-vacay. It seemed the busy never ceased... but does it ever? NO!

We went on a mini-vacation to my mom's hometown earlier this past month. We were gone for a few days to a small, western KS town.

We were able to stay with my uncle and aunt, and we had so much fun staying up late, eating good food, swimming, and visiting with family. We went out there during their County Fair, so we got to see a parade, enjoy a BBQ, and even see a movie, The Bell Boy, on the library/courthouse lawn. My aunt and uncle even got me a cake for my birthday--one of the best cakes I've ever had. And as for that parade, Hunk thought tractors and horses were just about the coolest thing ever.

Since being back in town, we have been trying to get caught back up on life. It's amazing how difficult it is to leave your house, if even for a few days, and then try to catch up on everything while still raising six little babes. I remember leaving town back when we had just a few kids, and it was not this hard to come back home. Anyway, I think we're mostly there--like 80%. It doesn't help that I've been traveling back and forth to Kansas City every other day with Brownie since we've been back in town. It takes at least half a day to drive to her appointments and get back home again, and then I'm so tired it's all I can do to stay on top of the survival needs. Regardless, I am enjoying having the babes all home. I wish this is how it always was--well, the "them being home" part. Not the chaos part--well, some chaos is okay, just not as much as we have right now.


The two big girls, my sis, and I all went to the Taylor Swift concert in early August. Grammy bought tickets for their birthday presents. I think it's safe to say they had a blast!

 Florida Georgia Line was also there. They opened for Ms. Swift--what a fun band.

Proud of their new t-shirts.
We all went out to Applebee's at the Legends for dinner. It just so happened there was some sports game going on, so parking was a nightmare. But we made it to the concert in the nick of time!


We also went to 2 different VBSs. One was called E-Week at my former MOPS church. The girls loved it, and we really want to do it again next year. Each day they got to learn a new skill, and one day they packed school supplies for charity. A really great program for my big littles.

 Here is one of my littles trying to teach me knitting without a needle--a skill she learned at E-week!

Scrunchie playing at the carnival for VBS finale.

The next VBS was at a church I can't wait to attend again (softball has to end first). The four older girls all went. It was in the evening, and it was a carnival theme. The pastor's family are friends of ours, and they are some of the sweetest people we know. And they happen to understand big families!!
Thrown into the mix of summer activities is a host of little side trips we took to the library,

adventure mobile, book mobile, birthday parties,

 Girl Scout parties,

play dates,

 the mall, the movies, the park, getting ice cream,

 and the fun things we did at home like play in the water,

 build forts,

catch the toddler red-handed in the Nutella jar,

playing in the sand at Sonic

-
and put boys in girl clothes.

We did have fun trying to stick to our schedule, too. I designed an activity for each morning, and then naps or personal time in the afternoons. Well, I'll just say we tried! The schedule went like this:
Mondays: (am) library/(pm) naps/mom chores or work out
Tuesday: (am) outside activity/(pm) special time with kids
Wed: (am) kitchen/(pm) naps/mom chores or work out
Thurs: (am) Trip/(pm) special time with kids
Fri: (am) quiet time/(pm) swimming for rewards for good behavior

We never actually made it to swimming for a reward. And no matter how awesome my intentions were, we rarely got the chance to stick to our schedule. But it was always there as a back up when we were bored or maybe even found a free minute. I think as the kids grow and we aren't on a "baby" schedule so much, a master schedule like the one above will certainly come in handy.

And of course there was softball. Peach and Bug played from May (when we had to cancel games due to snow--seriously) to the end of June, and Peach played in a tourney in July.

I so enjoyed watching them play ball, and I always treasure family time at the ballpark. Both of their teams had a blast from what I can tell, and I know both girls really enjoyed their time playing ball. I'll post more of softball in a separate post.

Oh, and we went to dinner at the country club with my Aunts and the rest of my family. We even got a cute picture of our whole family. And one of some of our babes.

Anyway, I'll post about Brownie's trips to KC in another post. For now, I'm going to go catch some sleep so that I can enjoy the next few days with my kiddos.

{And I did enjoy those last few days of summer--despite the gray, rainy weather}