Happy Birthday Sister {Round 1}

We had a little birthday visit from the Big Reppards, Aunt Sue, and Aunt Karen a few weeks ago, and Sister loved every minute of it!

It was a gorgeous day, so we took our little pre-party out back onto our deck!  Someone saw the cake, and despite never having eaten any cake, she wanted some!

All of my kiddies cross their feet while eating . . . I love it!

Annabug was wide-eyed while everyone sang to her!

The boys had been practicing . . .

. . . and, Hudson helped blow out the candle . . .

Lovie really enjoyed her birthday cupcake . . .

We Reppards tend to love our food, you know!

I love this one!  Go for it, sister!

Go on, Little Sissy!  Yummers!

The party-goers had a great ole time, too!

As, Sister says:  Mumm mummmmm!

Sharing?  I think not . . .

And, Dog Dog watched longingly from afar . . .

more birthday to come!

Life as we know it {in cell phone pics}

The last two weeks have been very full around here.  In the last two weeks:

My baby turned ONE.  Here she is at her birthday breakfast, waffle in hand.  I promise there are more pictures to come . . . eventually . . .

. . . and at her special birthday lunch with her Auntie Katie . . .

Last week, we headed to Maymont with some fun friends of ours.  Wader Pa-tater, as the boys call him, was very kind and shared his balance bike with the boys.  Let’s just say that my boys are obsessed with Wade’s “big boy bike!”

This trip to the petting zoo was the first time that Sister was set free from her stroller.  She had a lovely time trying to see the animals, eat the straw and dirt, and she greeted everything with a nice little bark (I think she thought that all of the animals were some form of a dog, maybe?)—it was precious!

This is my favorite picture from last week . . . I love this line-up of navy and pink!  Hudsey, Anna, William, Wade, and Holland . . . all greeting the goats and sheep!  And, just think, Anne and I met in college when these rascals were just a twinkle in our eyes!  ha!

Sister has started wearing pants (!) due to the cooler temperatures outside.  She is so cute!

And, this is a fuzzy picture, but our little ones are loving playing all together lately—I love watching them interact.  (Please excuse naked William and half-naked Hudson.  I’m not sure why they are not clothed in this picture!)

Anna has recently noticed Big Bunny in her room, and she LOVES to give her kisses and snuggles—it is so precious!

We had a fun dinner with friends this week, and the big girls entertained the little boys with the iphone—it was glorious!

And, Daddy is constantly creative with playing with the boys—they love every minute of it.  As soon as I walk into the boys’ room each morning, the first thing they ask me is “Daddy HERE? Where Daddy?”  When I tell them he is at work, they begin to moan and groan and flail about as though they have never heard of their father going to work before . . . and, today Hudson said “Call Daddy and tell him to drive in his car and come ‘OME!”  So sweet.  Good thing tomorrow is Friday!

Can you find William? (Hint:  Look for his toes)

This week has been especially wild . . . we all have colds, Hudson has had croup, and we are all very tired people.  I’m off to bed, but will share a few quick overheards before I go:

Me:  “Today, William is going to go to school, and Mommy is going to take Hudson to the doctor.”

William: “I can’t go to school.  I can’t go without Hudson!”

William did go to school without Hudson (he remembered he has lots of friends there) and had a great day.  Hudson did go to the doctor with mommy and Anna and got both medicine and a lollipop—A good day for everyone!

***

Me: “I am really tired.”

William:  “Well . . . you can snuggle with me . . . if you want to?”

who can refuse and offer like that?

***

Hudson:  mama, snuggle me, please!

(this is the beauty of the cold—snugglers!)

***

Hudson: Bye, Mommy!

Me:  Bye!  Where are you going?

Hudson:  Me going to work.  Me work at da bank.  Me work at da bank wit Mr. Kyle.

Me:  Oh, okay, I didn’t know that about you.  Have a lovely day!

***

Sugie (to me):  I need you to know that I went upstairs and Hudson had taken all of his clothes off.  He said that he was standing IN THE WINDOW SILL and he tinkled onto the bedroom floor.

***

Hatch (to me):  I hate to tell you this.  But, I think it was inevitable:  Someone colored on the sofa with a Sharpie.

Any ideas on how to get that off?

***

Anna (to every passer-by):  HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

and

Anna (to anything above her head):  BA-YOOON!!

and

Anna:  baahhhhh (Bye!)

and, with that a good night to you!

overheard

these are from today and before I forget . . .

Mommy:  I think I broke the new stroller that Anna got for her baby doll.

William:  Daddy can fix it.  He a really good worker.

***

Sugie:  William, you need to take a nap.

William:  I am not tired.  God did not make me tired.

(WHAT? OH MY.  And, no, William did not nap today.)

***

Hudson:  Me put the pumpkin in the potty.  Da pumpkin is in da potty, Mommy! 

Mommy:  WHAT?  DO NOT PUT THE PUMPKIN IN THE POTTY!  NOW IT HAS TINKLE ON IT!  THAT IS GROSS!

***

Hatch:  Have you seen the wrench that the boys were playing with?

Me:  No.

Hatch:  Oh, here it is, in the top of Anna’s baby’s stroller—you know, where all stroller drivers keep their treasures.

My baby is ONE.  So dear, so precious, and so big!  I am exhausted.  More soon!

Day #364

I should be in bed.  I went up to bed and then came back downstairs.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had to post these pictures of (a sleepy) Sister before her big birthday!

and, doing some nighttime reading . . .

remember these cute people?

Where does the time go?  I need these reminders of how fast the years go by even though the difficult days tend to creep slowly along . . . before I know it, my babies will be in kindergarten!  ah! 

And, people tell me all of the time that Sissy Lou looks like Hudsey.  I think she has his cheeks, but I think her eyes and nose are so much like William’s.  (thank you, Jesus, for healing william’s eye.) She is a perfect blend of her brothers and she fits right on in—there is no doubt that she belongs.  Oh, what sweet little people they are!  I just adore them!

Now I’m off to bed for real this time . . .

Hey Pumpkin!

Today was the day that we trekked out to the pumpkin patch . . . we happily waited in an enormous line to see the tractor and ride on the ‘ay ride (as Hudsey says) and pick our pumpkins!  It was such fun!

You may remember our pumpkin fun from last year . . . sweet boys!

And mama and sister last year (who arrived about two weeks later!)

AND . . . this year: 

We all had a great time this year!  Watching these two together just warms my heart!  Big brother likes to teach her things and snuggle her—it is so precious!

Sister may have chomped on some hay while we were there . . . and the only reason these people are sitting still and smiling is because their Uncle Brett was juggling pumpkins above their mother’s head!

And, look at this handsome love!

Hi lovie!

Look!  Bay-beee Annn-eeee!

It was a tad bit sunny out there!

And, with her favorite cousin by her side . . .

oh, WOW!  A BIG Pumpkin!

And, in addition to tractors and pumpkins, we also saw Lady BUGS!  So exciting!

Aunt Katie and AnnaBug were not quite as excited about the lady bugs . . .

We tried for a family shot, and well . . . we got one with his tongue out, one with a finger up the nose, sister with a clod of dirt in her mouth, and char-dee looking the other way!

This one was the best we got . . .

Thanks to Daddy for clearing the dirt out of sissy’s mouth!  Oh, SISTER!

William’s new thing is to say:  “do you know I like being picked up?”  Yes, buddy, YES we do!

 

Two of a kind!

Check out that tractor line!

And look at this gorgeous plaid family!

Back on the tractor!

Princess of the Pumpkins!  Little Miss was starting to get tired and hungry, but as long as she was near a pumpkin or holding a pumpkin, she was happy as could be! 

What a fun, fun day!  Tonight at bedtime, Hudson said “Thank you Jesus for the tractor wit’ da ‘hay and da ‘ay ride.”  We are all grateful for such a fun day together!