Hello, is anyone out there?

A few "oldies" but goodies to share from October...

My pumpkins and their pumpkins
Carter

Peyton

Meredith

My three, enjoying a mid-morning snack while looking for skunks (aka squirrels)

I'm just checking to see if anyone reads this blog anymore...

We've been here...and we've been busy, busy, busy. I have SO many pictures to upload to the blog and so many stories to share.

As a family, we're doing great. I am trying to keep my days in perspective and I'm really starting to side with those moms who told me while I was pregnant to "enjoy these days because they go by really fast and they're grown before you know it." Yep. I agree. The days, from my motherly perspective, are beginning to get mildly easier. The kids love to entertain--me, the hub, each other, basically anyone who will give them an audience.

The boys had their first official performance at preschool. It was a joy to watch. Carter is typically a "rule follower" and he was very diligent about singing his songs. We were told the performance was a bit long according to P and his teacher let us know that he might choose to skip out early during the show. This was not the case today! He proudly sang and wiggled lots on stage. Too, too cute.

Little M has turned into quite the helper around here. A lady in the church nursery on Sunday informed the hub that Mer is a three year old trapped inside of a two year olds body. This is what I have found to be quite true. She loves to sing and dance and play pretend.

We have been busy crafting, coloring, making pizzas, napping, enjoying rainy days, and getting sneak peeks at the holiday decorations at stores around the areas. It did inspire us to decorate, perhaps a little early, and the kids just walked around the house in amazement. They kept telling me, " Mom it's just beautiful." I can't wait for Christmas this year...another perk of being the mom of three three and under.

I hope to update more pics soon...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ladybug!

Two years ago today we were blessed with our sweet, sweet baby girl. In the past year, I have watched her grow so much, in so many unbelievable ways. She has formed this tremendous bond with her brothers and has a special connection with Carter...the two of them are like two peas in a pod. Ironically, many people mistake Mer for C's twin instead of Peyton. Meredith was an early bloomer for talking and a little later for her walking...much different in her patterns of development than her brothers. Recently she has started to become such a little girly-girl...loving purses, necklaces, hairbows, and wearing her momma's shoes. Tonight her daddy has shared with me that he is thrilled his baby girl (and that she IS) is turning two...but he will absolutely refuse for her to turn three. We just can't believe that it's true...24 months ago she was born. We are slowly beginning to feel the "baby fog" lift as we are having more and more fun everyday with them and their antics and spend much of the day laughing at their "funnies." The boys begin preschool very school (a whole post in itself, I am sure) and I am looking forward to having some mornings out with my girl. My little girl who is such a precious treasure to me. I love you little Ladybug, I just don't think you could get ANY sweeter! Happy 2nd Birthday!!

I stink at this bloggin' thing!

Ok, ok. I admit it...I have failed at keeping up with the blog the past few months! But, on the flip side that just translates into the fact that we have been very busy creating precious (and wildly crazy!) memories around here.

I'm pretty much feeling like a ping-pong ball these days. The kids are keeping me bouncing in every which way this summer, in some awesome and some not-so-awesome ways! We've had fun at all of the Richmond hot spots for three year olds and under...the Children's Museum, the Metro Zoo, Lewis Ginter...all of the places that are perfect for active little ones. The not-so-awesome ways simply include basic and normal toddlerhood antics. The babes LOVE to tag-team their mamma by getting into little mischievous predicaments and exhaust me on a daily basis. But this too is a season...a sweet, sweet season that I MUST NOT rush away.

Tonight, there was one for the baby books that I just have to record. The babes were running around during power hour (that glorious hour where all adrenaline hits RIGHT BEFORE BEDTIME) and Mer got a little injury. Her lip was bleeding and her brothers were highly concerned for her. While I was holding her and attempting to console her, Peyton came up to me and said the following statements:
"Mom, I can hold her" "She's my grill (aka: girl)" "I just love her so much and want to protect her."

Me: all I could muster up was a few eyes full of tears and a "that's just precious, P." He was mighty proud of himself and gave ME a big hug and kiss. I'm one lucky mamma, that's for sure.

A week at the beach!

We're at the beach. More excuses for procrastinating on posting pictures!
Just wanted to update for my memory log. Senior moments at the ripe age of 31 if I don't record it...or maybe it's just being occupied with three kids that help me have a few lapses.

So far at this point in the trip we have:
-Seen 68 baby turtles hatch and swim their way to the ocean. What an awesome sight to behold. Last year we saw a momma turtle laying her eggs so now we feel like we have seen the cycle become complete!
- Carter learned to ride a bike with training wheels. We have been practicing for quite some time at Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw's house and his first day at the beach, he just took off! Now he wants to ride the bike ANY chance he gets. Absolutely precious.
- We went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium yesterday with a lot of the family. It was awesome to watch the kids wander in wonder of all of the sea creatures. There were huge lobsters, saltwater fish native to North Carolina, and an albino alligator. Another highlight for the kids was that we got to take the car ferry to Fort Fisher, which was a first for them. They enjoyed feeding the seagulls from the back of the ferry...and the birds would scoop down and take the crackers right from their hands! (And I must mention that I got the joy of being pooped on while "relaxing" on the beach!)
- We have spent many hours on the beach and made a trip to the Point where the sound meets the ocean. The sun was setting and it was amazing to see. We're heading back there to take pictures tonight.
- The boys have played golf a few days and the girls had a relaxing day on shopping and having lunch out yesterday. Our girls day concluded with crafting of course...we painted beach scenes on wine glasses and made picture frames to hold our HUGE family picture that we'll take tonight. There are about 33 of us here--and 5 people celebrated their birthday while on vacay.
-Today holds kayaking in the waterways and a date night for us "young folks" with little ones. WE are so lucky to have such awesome family togetherness!

Ok, so I have finally decided to stop procrastinating and start blogging again. Partly due to the pressure I have put on myself because I have now learned that I have a pretty good amount of readers! Who knew all it took was a little "leave of absence" to find out people actually read this stuff! However, I am so so far behind that I have decided to go through each file of pictures and diplomatically (aka: randomly) pick out pictures from the thumbnail files (aka: files TOO small to even see which pictures I am actually picking) and post them. With a max of 5 picks from each month...which is A. LOT. considering I have not posted pictures since late February. Yikes. Enough rambling and procrastinating...onto pictures people! :) Little Mer on Easter
The cousins doing ring-around-the rosie in the backyard during our Easter celebration. I absolutely LOVE this picture of them!

My cousin, Tyler, who is proudly sporting his UVA sweatshirt and his UVA dyed Easter egg. Courtesy of our egg dying party here at the house. From one Wahoo to another...

Meredith with her eggs. She LOVED to hunt for eggs this year! So fun!

Here's a picture trying to assemble the "Hall" family cousins in the backyard. This would have been one of those random pictures that I would have not picked IF I could have seen them properly, b/c we did end up getting some decent shots of all of them together! :)

P with his golf club on Easter. Can't have a day outside without a little putting, right?

Carter talking to one of his great aunts about Easter. They call to check on "their" babies quite frequently and the boys and M love to talk to them!

Easter loot from the bunny! Notice the raisins, toothbrush, and flashlight. What will the Easter Bunny think of next? Brussel sprouts? :)

Carter checking out his basket. Again...raisins?

Ah, finally a kid who was psyched about the raisins! Thanks Easter Bunny!

Dying eggs for the first time ever! And, we only had 2 egg casualties!

Cupcakes made with the kids...

Making Easter cupcakes with the boys (in their PJ's). And, yes, I know I have a third child. Sometimes she sneaks in a morning nap or sleeps late. Sometimes it's mommy and boy time and sometimes it's mommy and daughter time! :)

Play-doh! The kids love to make snakes, pizzas, and shapes with cookie cutters. Mom loves to clean up their messes. With enthusiasm. And sarcasm.

Cake anyone? Carter promises to share...

How about snow in July? Nope, you're not seeing things, it's finally some pictures from the snowstorm in March! :) This is Carter and the hub.

As many of you know, this was the first REAL snow in VA in a long while. And it was the first REAL snow my kiddies have ever seen. This pictures serves as evidence as to how they felt about it at first. It was cold and wet and cold and wet. Eventually they got over that and began playing. We made a snow penguin (complete with a bow tie!), many snowballs, and attempted to teach the kids how to make snow angels. After playing for over an hour, we huddled inside for hot chocolate with LOTS of marshmallows!!!

Little M in the snow. It was so deep she could barely walk!

This picture shows how much snow we actually got in March! This was the beginning of our snow adventure, before he got wet or cold!

Snuggling on the couch after playing outside in her snowflake jammies!

Our crazy family....mom and dad have FIVE grandchildren under FIVE! And, no we can never get a picture with everyone looking! :)

P looking very much like a big boy!

A family birthday picture from the hub's 33rd birthday.

And, that's all I can muster for now. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow to finish from May-July! Whew!

Just a quick update...

The last few weeks have been full of fun, fun, fun!
-- We had the great fortune of attending my cousin's graduation from high school...and we got to hear him give a speech in front of his entire graduating class (nearly 500 students) because he was the VALEDICTORIAN! Yep, first in his class of 500+ students! What an accomplishment! Tyler, we're so proud of you and we know you will only continue to find more and more success as you continue on your journey in life! We're pulling for you and praying for you on the next step in your adventure! Go Hoos!
--On graduation weekend, I got to have my two girly-girl cousins spend the night the night before graduation. We watched a movie, snacked, and painted our toenails once the kids fell asleep. Always such a joy to have my girls here!
-- King's Dominion passes are in full swing 'round here. The kids LOVE to ride the rides in "Kiddie Land" and they now are motivated to eat more of their breakfast, lunch, dinner plates so that they can grow bigger and ride the "coasters." It's adorable, b/c after many meals they say, "Mommy, I am bigger now! I can ride more coasters!"
-- They boys are learning to ride bikes with training wheels. Crazy! How did they get so big? They learned during one of our trips to Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw's house and it's so precious.
-- The kids are in Vacation Bible School this week. It's a bag of mixed emotions for me! I have had the pleasure of being at "school" with them this week as I work in the kitchen and they participate in preschool VBS. I say it's mixed emotions for me because 1. it means they're growing up! They wear backpacks to school every day with big boy underwear packed inside (minus Mer of course!) and walk right into their classroom ready to start their day. 2. It's absolutely awesome to see them participate with their group. They are doing crafts, having snacks, playing games, singing songs...it makes my heart swell each time I get to sneak a peek at them! I catch up with them at the end of the VBS day in the Sanctuary and we get to sing and dance together before heading home. It's so neat to watch them grow and explore right before my eyes.

And, yes the pics are still in lockdown. Blech. Battery becomes dead every couple of days b/c I keep taking pictures and not charging the thing. One day. It will happen. One day.
I'm off to bed to gear up for another day of VBS!
G'night!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my pictures have yet to gather enough money (aka--my time) to post bail. So for tonight, yet again, they shall remain in solitary camera confinement. Maybe tomorrow?? Maybe?
(And then maybe you'll be lucky enough to have me stop making such cheesy references to my camera acting as a jail to the proof of events around here lately.)