Anniversaries and Birthdays!

This past weekend was great. Steven took the kids to Charlotte on Thursday afternoon since I had to work Thursday night and he was going down for work anyways. Obviously they had a great time, as always, at Nana and Papa's house.

 Friday I had a (routine) doctor's appointment then was able to sleep until Steven and I left for his TEST. Obviously, Sadie has very little concern (here she is while he is taking the test, helping Papa water the plants).

The dreaded exam that he had poured hours of his life into. It was a stressful and prayerfilled 2 hours and thankfully..... HE PASSED! I have my husband back and am so excited. And if he ever considers higher education I just might have to put my foot down. After that we headed down to Catawba, SC, to the Harmony House Bed and Breakfast. A lovely little B&B just south of Rock Hill, in celebration of our 7th anniversary. We went to downtown Rock Hill for a nice dinner, pulled through the Baskin Robbins drive thru for dessert, and had a delicious breakfast the next morning. I tried to upload pictures from the beautiful

Harmony House Bed and Breakfast but all I could get to work was the link. Check it out!

On the way back to my parent's house we found out that Eli had thrown up overnight....and Sadie was going to follow suit a little bit later. Unfortunately we had to postpone his party until the next day, but to be honest it was kinda sweet since they both just wanted me to hold them for several hours each. Even though sick kids are pitiful, unless they're in a whiny mood, it's also enjoyable.Thankfully by Sunday everyone was well so after church we had Eli's party. Here are most of us, 9 adults and 10 kids! And that's just family. Mama and Sadie had made the cake on Friday and decorated it with farm animals. After blowing out the candles (actually Bennett got to them first, we re-lit them so Eli could have a fair shot), we let every child pick an animal off the cake. That seemed exciting enough, I shouldn't have bothered to get party favors!

Here's my little man being shy during the Happy Birthday song, something Sadie never would do!

But he ended up a pretty happy guy! Happy Birthday to the sweetest 2 year old I know!

Pregnant Sadie and Girl's Night.

 As I know I've mentioned in the past, Sadie is very resistant to going to sleep. This is usually what her bed looks like when I go in to check on her and turn off her light. This was done with very little light, too, if you're wondering. The other night when my Mom was in town she went to check on her and told me to come up and bring my camera. Looking closer at her I realized what was so funny......

 Apparently Sadie is now expecting too....and not just 1, but 2 of her favorite stuffed animals! The next day I was at work and my Mom asked her about it. She put them back under her shirt then starting jumping around, saying that's how they come out. I wish.

 This weekend marks the annual guy's beach trip that Steven has planned for several years now, 8 maybe? (I posted about this trip last year in "boys will be boys...") Last year Jenn and Maegan came for a short visit during the beach trip so we decided to do it again this year. The more the kids multiply the more fun it is to get out of the house while our husbands are gone. This year 5 of us got together at my house on Friday afternoon with the kiddos, most of them spending the night (which meant 4 moms and 9 kids!). We had a total of 10 kids in the house, ages and 5 and younger. In a few years we might feel like the Duggars when we get together!

 We had three precious ones less than 6 months old and they were troopers, here they are on their baby mats, trying to survive the rest of the gang running around.

 Eli is quite outnumbered, as you can see. Evan (in the first baby picture) is only 4 months old but in a year or two will help balance out the girly-ness. He seems perfectly happy here, though!

Not sure where Sadie's clothes went (that was popular all weekend), but apparently it was time to chill out and read a book.

We had a great time together, thanks girls for being willing to pack up your families and bring them over! Sadie can't stop talking about her friends. Hopefully no one had any serious meltdowns and everyone got a good nap in Saturday. It was well worth it and I think we have us a tradition...

Single Parenting

Steven's work has been crazy the past few months, and we are both getting quite tired of it (especially me!). There is an end in sight, so he says, in the next month or two. Sitting here tonight by myself, after pretty much single parenting it all day, makes me so thankful that I don't do that all the time. It was one of the hardest things to do tonight getting Sadie to go to bed, I'm not sure how we created such a monster, maybe it's genetic, or maybe it's payback (that's my parent's vote I'm sure). She finally stopped asking to come down and watch one of her shows to "sometimes Daddy lets me watch American Idol with him....". Wrong night, babe. And the answer is still "No!". Eli, on the other hand, has started sleeping in a big boy bed and couldn't be better about it. No tears, no getting up until morning, it's amazing. Here's my guys, Eli is getting ready to watch his Daddy play indoor soccer. Now every time he sees a sporting event he says "Dough Daddy!" 

 In other news, we are trying to make sure our kids learn loyalty and how to handle disappointment, so we've turned them into Wolfpack fans. Sadie's first experience was a good one, however, since Steven took her to the NC State/Clemson game and they actually won! She was excited, but truly it had nothing to do with the victory and everything to do with meeting Mr. Wolf and holding one of the cheerleader's pom-poms. Being a cute 3 year old helps you get on the floor without tickets, apparently.

We love you Daddy, and are ready for you to slow down and spend more time with us again! In the meantime, I'm off to bed.