Aiden @ 9 Years

Aiden Thomas, you are 9 years old!

You are so special to your family! We can't believe how fast you are growing up. It seems like it was just yesterday we were taking these pictures.

 

Our firstborn who stole our hearts!

 

(Daddy's hair is crazy!!!)

Celebrating your 1st birthday with LOTS of family and friends. Over 50 people came to your party!

Your 2nd party was all about Elmo, your favorite show at the time.

Your 3rd birthday, just 10 short days before you became a big brother.

Your 4th birthday was a pool party.

Your 5th birthday you shared the spotlight with your brother and you both enjoyed a train themed party.

 

Your 6th birthday was at Larry's Pizza.

 

 

Your 7th birthday was spent at home with your family. 

 

 

Your 8th birthday was with family at Dorey's (which is now closed) and you got a guitar.

 

You continue to practice your guitar and look forward to playing specials at church. You played "Silent Night" and Momma sang with you at Christmas. At Easter, it was 5th Sunday services and you played "Jesus Loves Me" while you and your siblings sang along. You plan on playing again with Momma the next 5th Sunday too.

 

Working hard in the garden with Daddy.

 

You are my right hand man. I honestly don't know how I would make it without you. You walk with your baby sister when she is fussy and you have a great deal of patience with all of your siblings. You take good care of your dogs and are very compassionate when it comes to animals. You might have your Poppa's tender heart. You enjoy reading and listening to audio books. You tell us you want to be a farmer when you grow up. You are a hard worker. You help your Daddy with yard work and love spending time with him. Recently you and your brother took a float trip with Daddy and Uncle Beef to the Buffalo River. I am still hearing stories about your overnight excursion!

 

You also enjoy drawing and drew this picture for your Uncle Beef of your trip to the Buffalo.

 

We feel so blessed to be your parents and watch you grow into a young man. Our prayer is that you will continue serving the Lord and seek His will for your life. We love you Aiden Tommy and are so proud of the man you are becoming!!!

Fun with Bubbles

The next day after Ava's party, she was nice enough to share her gifts with her brothers and sisters. We went out to play with her bubbles, jump rope and hula hoop. Here are some pics from our fun morning.

Party Time

Our family was invited to a birthday party for a special little boy whose family attends church with us. Daddy had to work, but Momma and the kids went to celebrate Jacob's first birthday.

There were lots of outside toys which kept the kiddos very busy, my kids didn't even want to stop to eat cake!

The Barbie jeep was a big hit, even for Aus!

Aiden enjoyed riding the scooter.

Looks like trouble!

The puppet show was also a big hit!

Patiently waiting for his cake.

Baby Jacob is so cute and we feel blessed to know him and his sweet family! Happy Birthday Jacob!

The Zoo

Back in April, (I know this is June!) we went with our friends to the Memphis Zoo. We spent the day seeing some animals, did lots of visiting and then met up for dinner after leaving the zoo. It turned our to be another late night getting home, but we had a lot of good fellowship with our friends. Here are some pics from our zoo trip.

Most of the kids checking out the meerkats.

Austen

Ava was very hungry at this point and not very cooperative.

Aiden

Addy and her Daddy

Ava's holding on tight!

 

Everytime we go to the zoo, we have to get a picture of the kids on the cow.

2010

 

2012

2013

 

And of course, who wouldn't want to attempt a group shot with 17 kids?

 

 

Arynn says, "Enough with the pictures, Let's go home!"



Dixie Cafe

Before we went to Garvan Gardens, we met our friends for what was supposed to be a lunch date. Somehow we ended up crashing their party and tagging along with them to Hot Springs.

Daddy and his "Baby Dog"

Ava is proud of her ice cream and the fact she is sitting at the "big kid" table.

Aus always has smile!

These two boys get mistaken for brothers we when go out, I have even overheard someone ask if they were twins. I agree they may look alike, but their personalities are even more alike!

 

We love Dixie Cafe and eat there way too much! On Saturdays from 11-4 they have Family Day. You can order an adult entree for $6.99 and add a kids meal for $1.99, this includes a drink and free dessert for the kids. Since the girls don't eat a lot, we just order two kids meals and they share with the boys. We can eat at a sit down restuarant for the same if not cheaper than what we pay for fast food. Not a bad deal for a family of seven. We even have our favorite waitress who knows our drink orders if that tells you how often we visit! 

Wordless Wednesday

Easter

Easter Sunday was very wet at our house this year. Usually we dye and hunt eggs with the grandparents on Sunday afternoon, but because of the weather, we just stayed home and did nothing! I have to admit that I am getting slightly spoiled to a Sunday afternoon nap.

 

Mimi has been working on lots of sewing projects for her 3 girls. She made the older girls' gowns for Christmas and Arynn is now getting to wear hers. Mimi is so talented and the girls love to see what she has made for them.

The girls wearing their gowns made by Mimi.

We have "Cinnamon Roll Sundays" at our house and Aiden likes to fix breakfast. Obviously I cheat and buy the cans, but the kids like them just the same. After he got breakfast in the oven, he wanted to hold his baby sister.

Aiden getting some cuddle time with Arynn.

Arynn has been trying out the bumbo and seems to like it. I guess her cheeks just got too heavy and she had to rest them for a minute. :-)

Arynn needed a power nap before church.

Mimi also made the girls' easter dresses. I will have to get a better close up picture, this was taken as we were leaving for church and we were already pretty late if that's believable!

Our little chicks.

Easter fell on 5th Sunday and at our church we have specials during the evening services. Aiden started taking guitar lessons last fall but only got to take them for a few months. He is still practicing and knows 3 chords. At Christmas, he played Silent Night and I sang with him. He wanted to play for 5th Sunday and Ava said she wanted to sing with him this time. Aiden worked on writing down his chords for "Jesus Loves Me" and they practiced together. Austen decided to join in last minute and Addy was not going to be left out. Ava had a bit of stage fright, but Austen was able to carry them through. Addy had a wardrobe malfunction and was without shoes when they started singing. After Nana buckled her shoe, she showed up for her part. This was the video Nana took with her phone. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Poppa Kenneth!

Poppa's birthday was at the end of March. He usually heads to the lake around his b-day time, so I made sure we got to celebrate before he left. We like to take the grandparents out to eat for their birthdays, just because we are quickly running out of room to entertain at our house. One of our favorite restuarants we like to go to for big events closed this year. So we decided to cook and we took dinner to Nana and Poppa so he could stay in his comfy chair.

These kids were waiting as patiently as possible.

Jake grilled steaks, which were wonderful, the girls and I fixed a salad and copied a cake from our Fort Rock trip. It was so yummy, I had to try it! It was a pretty big hit, you can't go wrong with chocolate cake, condensed milk, cool whip and heath bar!

Daddy held Arynn while I was serving cake.
I caught him tasting it before he had a free hand to eat with!

Arynn was being sweet and cuddly.

Poppa doesn't like to hold "new" babies.
I think this is only the 2nd time he held her.

Nana, on the other hand, can't get enough of her grandbabies!

We ate too much and stayed too late as always. We hope Poppa knows how much we love him. Happy Birthday Poppa!