happy daddy's day to the one they love

to the daddy who still gets requests from each girl nightly..."dad can you rock a bye me tonight?"   With each year that passes their conversations grow a bit more serious such as what happened on the bus to what they ate for lunch :) but it's always a safe place to cry if it didn't turn out to be such a great day. Dad wins for being the best listener in this house.

He is our planner for outdoor activities & after all the hassle he makes our time together worthwhile

Bringing six babies into this world is a big deal & during hectic moments we could both agree that 3 was enough, then 4 was enough, then 5 was enough but then he would say...'you & I both know that there is one more' so here we are at the final six!

they love their dad because he loves treats as much as they do

Here we are when we took a drive to Lake Tahoe last year as he was doing his best to convince his family that moving to Reno would have its benefits

This picture is from Summers dance recital from last year & her daddy remembered to get her a rose but this year I went to her recital with just the older girls & at the end she asked why I didn't have a flower for her...so I guess I'll be sending James alone to the next one!

 Taking the time to teach his girls to ride a bike

 One day soon he will be teaching his boys how to be spiritually strong as well as trying to get these weights off the ground

Here is the poem that Summer wrote...

Father's are a special thing to have

a man that's very loving and caring dad.

I never want to leave you

even if you're dead.

Yes, fathers are a special thing to have and our little ones are blessed to have this one!

(we will do all we can to keep him alive)

Tommy boy is not even 2 years old yet

 and he's already outgrown our dining room chairs

10 weeks old

 our bald little guy sometimes reminds me of daddy warbucks, without the cash of course. For the past few weeks he's been a happy sweet baby & I'm so grateful b/c the first two months were long and sleepless...may have something to do with a dairy/soy sensitivity.

 His cheeks are a firm chubby, & at times his double chin can make him look like Jiminy Cricket
He smiles whenever you talk to him
He likes to make lots of bubbles on his mouth and Tessa refers to this as 'boiling'
He cannot hang out on a blanket on the floor b/c Thomas instantly wants to lay on him like he does with his sisters (we call him Thomas the tank for good reason)
We are so grateful for this little big blessing to be in our lives and complete our family.

The Lovely days of May

 I wish my secretary could pull out the picture from 6 or 7 years ago to compare when Liza, Summer, & Tessa were just chubby little toddlers running around this slide

Let's just say that the first 2 months of his life will be a blur b/c of tiredness but here he is showing huge improvement in his sleeping habits

 The girls have a rule that only during the time that Thomas naps can they plan their own american girl tea party

 thomas has his own rules to live by too...

'CLOTHESING' IN ON ME!

Jody came to save visit us and guess what she labeled me as...

a CLOTHES HOARDER!!!

The nerve, the audacity, so harsh but so

true.

pictures of my laundry room before she even arrived, I took these shots so I would motivate myself to work for the 'after' shot of an empty room-clothes washed & put away

in the picture below please notice the bins in the background  (she is also cleaning up baby boy at the same time while lecturing me)

 Little did I know that Jody would instead have me give them all away rather than waste my time in the laundry room.

 We gave away about 12 large, very full bags of clothes & shoes. She's tough I tell you. She wouldn't put up with any whining, whimpering, justification or pouting. No longer could I hold on to items that Amelia would grow into b/c no girl needs 3 of the same dresses & she would not allow me to hold onto any pants with the knees too worn (Summer hid her favorite jeans that had two big holes in the knees) I believe Summer & Tessa play on their knees during recess. She also would not let me hold on to any ugly t-shirts no matter what name brand they were. A friend with 2 girls was very happy to fill 2 trash bags of treasures & Goodwill got the rest. It was tough. It was real. It was tiring. But I hope to one day be a recovered clothes hoarder. 

 She did reward me with my favorite cookies

 and thee best chocolate cake ever...really, I mean it

and homemade chicken fried steak, it rocked so I advise you to pressure her to put all these recipes on her blog immediately.

Thanks for my new life nanny McJody. Although I still need you.

What were we thinking that we could actually plan around a forced due date? OH well, it was a fun week to gain an extra 3 pounds and having Tammy with me kept any disappointment or depression far far away.
We set an induction date 5 days before actual due date so we got Tammy a plane ticket 2 days before that so we could play & go out to lunch before she would be stuck at home with me and new baby but instead we had to make a new induction date for a week later b/c I wasn't even close to dilating so we kept busy in and out of the house. Experimented with Coke to clean off the hard water stains from our water dispenser...it worked

Amelia finally had someone to play kitties with her on the floor

finished reupholstering the dining room chairs

This is Tammy's idea of a planned breakfast (slightly different than my moms :)

mopping floors for exercise

Arrived at the hospital 8am

Mom flew in to town at 10:30am & was happy to rub it in that it was not her that was in labor

and Tammy was quite happy about that as well

but by 11pm she was getting a little tired, she tried to blame it on her age. Thank goodness she lasted another 53 minutes to see the face of her newest grand baby...I have the sweetest picture of my mom crying but if I posted it she would disown me :)

but I can show Tammy's red eyes with a smile

he may have been the longest labor but his delivery was the shortest with only 2 pushes and just like that he had finally arrived & was very content once he was perfectly swaddled

Lots of oooh's and awww's from these little people

Thomas made sure his aunt would not forget about him so he gave her plenty of kisses

It was sad that she only had a few moments with Reid before she had to fly back home but so grateful she got to witness his birth

one of the few moments my Mom got to sit down...she was hopping or running the whole week long & she spoiled me with healthy meals at my bedside & the girls miss getting notes in their lunches

We love staring at him b/c he is the cutest miniature person we have around here & he gives us the funniest little old man looks & when he stretches out his legs he always toots...that's great entertainment around here