Granny's

I picked Mom up this morning and we drove to Meridian to hang out with my Granny. I haven't seen her since we helped her move from her apartment, so it was nice to visit. Elias was a charming little gnome and the big kids played with the cats and dog. Granny held Cole for a good while before he started looking for me. Granny lives with my uncle in a really nice mobile home. It's huge. I told Zac I'd be down for a place like it if we could find some land in the woods somewhere.

We had a nice time. It was an adventure for the kids, taking a ride out of town and such. I wanted to see Aunt Trish and Anna, but both were busy taking tests until the evening and Mom was ready to leave early. Hopefully Aunt Trish will pull something together for Father's Day so we can visit more family.

Quality Time

Having a lot of kids means I don't get a lot of one-on-one time with them. I've started picking one day a week to spend with each and take him or her to do something, just us.

My first outing was with Elias. I left the other three with Zac and my Number 3 and I went to Target's Starbucks for a coffee (me) and a cake pop (him). Next, we hung out at PetSmart looking at fish before heading back home for brother snuggles and a nap.

My next outing was with Leah. She wanted to get frozen yogurt, but it was Sunday and many places weren't open for the day or hadn't opened yet. She was disappointed and feeling a bit emotional, so I bought us some coffees and went to PetSmart to pet the cats. It wasn't long before she forgot the frozen yogurt, but convincing her we did NOT need a cat was another story. She's a fun kid to hang out with. She's quirky like Emily was.

It was super hot, so we came home to pick up the rest of the fam to try out a new ice cream shop called Ice's Corner. It wasn't bad, but I'm gonna skip on raspberry and almond next time. The flavor combo wasn't what I expected, though the colors looked like a bouquet of roses.

My next adventure will be with Jac. He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet, but we'll find out.

Cole 5 months

Baby Cole is FIVE months old!

He can almost sit up unassisted, but will roll over onto his back or go completely forward and get upset. He can also kick his legs really hard and scoot himself from a sitting position to laying down. He's starting to feel okay with tummy time and has been reaching for toys and pushing himself up with his arms. He can roll from his tummy to his back, which makes him mad. When I walk in the same room he's in, he will twist his whole body and head around to find me, then start crying because I'm not holding him (lol). I started letting him sit in Elias' walker and he's been pretty good about sitting. He often prefers it to the swing. He also enjoys watching Friends. I've put on other TV shows and movies, but Friends is the only one he turns to look at. Just recently he started refusing bottles, so even with breastmilk or formula, he won't take a bottle. It's a little stressful when he's in the church nursery, but if he's in the harness, it's not a big deal. He's also teething like crazy right now. So much drool and random fevers. I don't see any teeth yet, but he definitely has some ridges getting ready to pop through. And he bites hard! Breastfeeding is starting to get me anxious because I've been bitten a few times already. Not cool!

C-Spire

Some pics from this month's C-spire meet-up. 

Jac, Leah, and Zac made it to the finals in the Smash Bros. tournament, but none won this time. Elias brought his remote control car and made a few friends and Cole slept most of the time. My back hurts from carrying him in the harness, but Zac took turns with me a few times. I'm not sure if we'll be able to go next month as it falls on Leah's birthday and she hasn't really mentioned if she wants to do anything special. She already has her hamster and we're going to New Orleans for the concert, but plan to do something fun for her and Jac while we're there. It's a toss-up between the zoo and the aquarium. She's just indifferent and really wants to go to the beach. We may plan that a little further out, say June or July.

Gardening

I started my "garden". Nothing fancy, just a few containers on my patio for now. I'm excited. We went to Home Depot and I picked out some seeds and a blueberry bush. Our green bean (singular since we only planted one to see how it'd grow) and marigolds are sprouting up nicely, but we're still waiting on the carrots, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and zucchini to peek out. We kinda jumped in blindly, but I'm staying positive and checking online information to make sure we're keeping our thumbs green. I've also been liking getting my hands dirty and spending time outside.

Easter 2019

Happy Easter!

Last night, we dyed eggs and prepped Easter dinner (which is basically Octoberfeast). This morning, we woke up early and the kids rummaged through their baskets for early morning treats. We planned to go to church for what we thought was at 9:30. We arrived two minutes early, but after double-checking, learned we were actually 30 minutes late. Oh well. Elias suggested Cracker Barrel since we had skipped breakfast, and who are we to say no to such a reasonable request? It wasn't a long wait, not very crowded, and it was nice just sitting together. We came home and the kiddos hunted eggs in the back yard. Zac and I cooked dinner and stuffed ourselves to the brim. I'm thinking I might go to bed early, ha.

Random

Mom offered to take us out for dinner, so the kids chose McAlister's. I haven't felt like cooking lately. My shoulder has STILL been hurting from those stupid sit-ups in February. Luckily, the pain isn't constant, but in the mornings it's stiff and by the evening, I'm sore from carrying Cole around all day. Anyway, the broccoli and cheese soup is my favorite and now it's Elias' and Leah's as well.

Strawberries

Today, we met up with Jessie and her guys in Louisiana to pick strawberries from Ms. Heather's Strawberry Farm. We planned to wake up at 6am in order to arrive at the farm by 9am, but neither Zac nor I heard the alarm until the 7:30am one went off. Awesome. So, I texted Jessie, let her know we were heading out ASAP and we rode through the chilly morning to our destination.

We first went to Ponchatoula and paid for parking near the Strawberry Festival that was happening today as well. However, after asking Jessie where she was, she was 11 miles away in Albany. A misunderstanding, but whatever. We met up and it was actually a fun day picking fresh strawberries. We filled about 3 buckets to bring home, so I'm sitting in my bed typing while breastfeeding Cole and eating strawberries.

Jessie had to go to work, so we left the strawberry patch with three buckets full of strawberries, as well as a container of chocolate-covered strawberries (which disappeared almost instantly), and visited with Kenny for a little while. He was working, so the visit was brief. The kids were hungry, so we headed to Chookies for a poboy and catfish, followed by snoballs. Did I mention I got a sunburn? It figured I'd get burned by the sun on an overcast day.

We made it home around 7pm, just before the weather went bad. We drove through some tornado warnings, but the power didn't turn off and it only rained a bit. The kiddos were bathed and in the bed on time, too.