A Little of This and a Little of That

Life over in the Skains family has been just as crazy and busy as ever. Keeping up with life and  a family of 7, and home schooling my big girls has definitely had it's challenges, but it feels as if we have officially settled in to our new normal.  Lynlee is 6 months now, and every time my babies get to this 6 month age it seems to settle down a bit and that we have sort of found our groove. Maybe, just maybe I will be able to squeeze in more time to blog again?!?

We had some fun visitors a few weekends ago. Jeff's brother and his family came for a few days and we of course had such a great visit.

A couple of weeks ago, all 5 were looking extra specially cute, plus I have very few pictures these days of all of our kiddos.

This girl... what can I say. She still makes me laugh all the time! She is full of a great big personality but still only really shares it with her family. She is always saying silly things that make Jeff and I laugh. The other night as I was tucking her in she asked me "Have you been 80 yet?". Made me laugh!

She loves doing funny poses, and funny exagerated dance moves. One day I have got to get it on video.  The other day, as we were starting school, she came and sat down dressed like this claiming she was a spy!

This very special night, we got to go on a Mommy Adalyn shopping date at the mall. She had been saving her money for a new lego set, so we went out to dinner and then to the lego store. I love getting some one on one time with my children!

This girl loves her Daddy! On this particular night, we had just finished dinner, Jeff had grilled and we were enjoying dinner outside. She just climbed up into her Daddy's lap and asked if he could cuddle! That made his heart melt.

My oldest! This girl is your typical first born for sure. She is the other mommy of the family, but the good thing about that is that she is an amazing helper and she absolutely loves helping and taking care of her little sisters and brother. She is a smart girl, and she is constantly saying and doing things that just take my breath away and make me realize even more that she is growing up way too quickly. The other night she came downstairs, after everyone was supposed to be in bed and I was cleaning the kitchen. She said "Mommy, can I stay up a read for a few more minutes. I spent my whole time looking for the book of Hosea in my Bible and now I want to read some of it." Really? Yes! The other day she decided just to start copying the book of Acts on her own. She even wrote at the top that Luke wrote Acts. Well, I was thinking that Paul wrote Acts, and when I said something about Paul and Acts she very kindly said "No Mommy, Luke wrote Acts." She loves loves reading books and she always tells me her favorite book is her Bible. Just little sweet things that she says that remind me that she is slowly but surely getting it. 

On this particular day we were just sitting in the backyard talking. She was trying to think about what kind of pet she wants and how much money she needs to save. Funny thing is this girl is deathly afraid of dogs. So she claims she wants a pet, however she wants a pet that stays in a cage and that she can keep on her dresser. I think it hasn't clicked yet that a pet is a real animal that needs to eat, and pee and poop and be held. But during this discussion I just kept looking at her just mesmerized by her beauty. I'm her mama and I'm completely biased, but I just think she is a beautiful girl!

She has been getting extra brave with Lynlee lately. Just picking her up on her own. I came in Landons room the other day, and she was sitting there holding Lynlee and reading to her and Landon. It was so sweet. Now sometimes she is too brave and sometimes she forgets that I actually Lynlee's mommy, not her. Ha! She likes to take over sometimes.

And here we have my little cutie Avery Brenna. She is my spirited one! She just enjoys doing whatever Avery wants to do, ha! But she has a smile that will melt anyone, and she loves telling me the cutest stories that are usually about me and her going on a date. She loves to talk about her sisters and brother being her "buddies". The other day she told Aubrey and Adalyn, "you guys are my buddies, and my whole family is my buddy. Oh and God, he is my buddy too." Cracked me up! This girl loves to dance and do cart wheels which she completely taught herself to do on her own. She is dying to be a part of school time, so occasionally I will give her something to work on. She is smart!! She blows me away all the time with the things that she knows. She is a good big sister to Landon and Lynlee, but sometimes she likes to pick on her brother and take his favorite and claim they are hers. Oh dear! I love this girl, and I love that I can still hold her. It's going fast so I know that I have to take advantage of this fleeting time! Love my 4 year old!

These girls, they can be just the best of friends, but they sure can turn quickly on each other!

 The other day, for our science lesson, we headed outside with our nature notebooks and went on a hunt to find some neat things about Spring. The girls found a caterpillar and decided they wanted to keep it to see if it would turn to a butterfly. They named it and we spent a bunch of time researching what kind of caterpillar it was so we knew what to feed it. Well, two later... and I think we killed it! Oops!

Now this particular day cracked me up and it's hard to see in the picture. They have all been enjoying eating meals outside lately and I'm not complaining! So as I was taking lunch out to them I noticed the blue bucket in the middle of the table. If you look close you can see it's full of yellow "flowers" (really weeds but I let them think they were beautiful), They picked them and put them in a "vase" to make the table pretty. Ha! I Love that they did this!

Here's a better look.

My boy! What can I say... I am way to smitten for this guy. He is just too much and pretty much everything he says and does makes me laugh (except the two year old fits, those don't make me laugh). He just has the sweetest smile! He loves anything to do with trains and is train impression can only put on a smile on your face. He loves making trains out of everything. He even made them out of his cheetos the other day.  I love having conversations with him. Most of the time I only understand a few words at a time, but they are great conversations. Yesterday I was out on the trampoline with all four and we were playing duck duck goose. It was his turn, he went two times around the circle "uck, uck...", then he got to me and said really loudly "oose!!".  Then he just laid on the trampoline and cracked up laughing. I didn't even get to chase him. We all cracked up laughing at him! He also just got a new hair cut and he looks especially handsome!

Those sun burned cheeks... I melt!

This is not the best picture, but he was just so enthralled with his trains. This boy thing still seems new to me, so all the car, train, airplane, helicopter noises just make me laugh!

He loves the trampoline, especially when Aubrey goes out with him. Its so cute. The other day they were caught up in a conversation!

He sometimes loves his baby sister. But if she tries to reach at him, or pull on his shirt or something he quickly tries to get away. 

Papaw just sent him a sweet gift in the mail, his very own t-ball set and he was so very excited! Now we just need to get him a boy bike so he doesn't have to ride the pink one anymore. Although he does love the tinkerbell scooter!

And my sweet sweet baby. I love this cutie! I have a bunch to say about this one but it will have to wait for her 6 month post coming soon!

5 Months Old

How can it be that this sweet baby girl is about to be half a year old already. The days are flying by so very quickly and Lynlee Noelle is changing a little each day. Month 5 has been a good month, she is sleeping better, takes a bottle again from anyone and is okay if mommy needs to leave for a bit. She has a had a few big accomplishments this month, one being learning to roll from tummy to back now. She loves this new freedom and rolls all over the place now. No more baby staying one in place. I have a feeling it won't take her long to figure out how to crawl and then we are really in big trouble! Her next big accomplishment is she started eating solids just this week. All she has had so far is oatmeal and she is a fan. She took right to it and absolutely loves it. In fact she usually giggles through each feeding. This girl is such a giggle box. It doesn't take much to get big giggles and smiles from her. One of my favorite parts of the day is when she wakes up from her naps, every time I go get her she gives the biggest smiles and kicks and kicks. Melts my heart instantly! She also started babbling with some new sounds this month. It's pretty precious. She has finally been sleeping 11 hours now and I'm really hopeful the sleepless nights are behind us. She is still an excellent napper which I'm so thankful for. I needed a good napper this time around! She loves her sisters and brother and enjoys watching them and being held by the big girls. She still loves her bouncer and just being where she can see me. I love this girl more than I have words to express. I love baby snuggles, giggles and babbles.

Moments that take our breaths away...

You know those days as a mom... those days that don't seem to end, when you feel guilty looking so forward to bedtime when you finally get a moment to breathe. Those days when you pray continually for strength yet you are just plain exhausted from tending to everyone's needs, trying with all of your might to do it all and do it all well. I know what you are thinking... that would be every day in my house. Yes! Mine too! The moment my feet hit the floor in the morning it's go time. I immediately jump into feeding the baby, then getting breakfast for the other four, change diapers, then clean up the kitchen, get everyone dressed, then make beds, get the baby down for a nap, get the school lessons going for the older 2 while still trying to spend time with the middle two, then... then... then...

In the midst of juggling it all we tend to just go through the motions, just moving from task to task, trying to keep all the balls in the air. But it's the moment that you stop and take a breathe, step back and just be the audience to your children as they get lost in dancing to a song or reading a book to a younger sibling or listening to their conversations in their make believe play that actually take your breath away. You see God has incredible gifts for us throughout our days, throughout our very mundane days. When I am aware of those gift, those blessings that He created just to put a smile on my face, those moments reveal to me how incredibly much God must love me and how real He really is.  I watch my children in awe sometimes, in awe of the amount of love I actually have for these 5 little people. Gods love for me doesn't even scratch the surface of the love that I have for my babies. And then the fact that He chose me for these 5 precious children just blows my mind sometimes. I feel so inadequate for this intimidating job of raising 5 humans, to teach them, to feed them a bazillion meals, and then ultimately lead them to the One who made them. Yet He trusted me. He gifted them... to me.

I had a moment like that today. Well I know I have moments like this everyday, several times really, but I'm not always able to recognize it.  My husband happens to be gone for a few days and honestly I usually dread the days when he is gone. I may throw a little pity party for myself and pretty much realize that I'm just going to make it through. I'm definitely not going to make any extra effort for anything great. Awesome right? Today I told the girls we needed to have some clean up time, but we would listen to some fun music while we cleaned. When we finally finished, a song that the big girls have been learning a dance to in choir came on. They immediately started performing their dance for me. I was holding Lynlee on my hip, Landon started dancing right along with them and Avery was singing the very sweet lyrics as she sat next to me.  That was the moment! I just sat there and watched them, listening to the words coming out of their mouths, watching my two year old making silly dance moves, holding my sweet 5 month old with her sweet soft cheek right next to my own, and then my 4 year old snuggled up next to me singing those same words. Tears began trickling down my face. Here I was, barking orders, sticking to our ever present schedule, but when I finally stopped  I just got to soak in the  true joy and gift of motherhood. The blessing of spending my days, every day with my children is just something I truly feel thankful for. In that moment God reminded me to stop and enjoy, because the days are fleeting.

Being a mom is tough work, whether you have one or ten. It's hard! But what if we approached our days with our little ones as gifts, if we purposely were looking for those moments in our days where God whispers to us "I created this for you". You will be blessed, your marraige will be blessed, your children will be blessed, your home will be blessed simply by you being sensitive to God's little gifts. Not that you won't have long days, because we know a mom's job never ends. But those little moments are what keep us going. Those moments put smiles on our faces and tears in our eyes, but  most importantly allow us to  recognize the presence of the One true God, who made you...who created you for a purpose.

2 Chronicles 16:9
"The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."
I do want to live fully committed to Him, in every aspect of my day!

Here are just a few recent pictures of my crew that just make me smile. These pictures are nothing fancy, just moments throughout my days that make me step back for a moment and be thankful for the chaos!

He loves when he wears pants with pockets.

This was on my birthday, which was a pretty great family day.

 My boys. This picture just makes me smile.

 Aww, my love with my baby. Not much better than this!

Avery was so proud of herself when she learned to write her name! Big girl!

These two are the best of friends and their friendship makes me smile. They were very proud of this lego restaurant they made. 

I love when I walk in a room and I find two of my kids like this. 

This boy...

All four looking at one magazine together! Seriously?!? Just a sweet moment.

Oh I am crazy for the toothless grins. My baby girl... she is a treasure.

This was on Avery's birthday just after I finished putting her jamberry nails on. She was so excited!

A moment with just him and I reading together. Love spending time with him!

 More of those smiles!

Oh these three. This particular Sunday I was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen up, but instead decided to come spend time with them outside and I got to be part of a cheering crowd for a few incredible races between these three. 

My oldest sweet girl. She loves loves to dress up, and I love that at seven years old she still comes up with funny costumes. I love that I get to spend my days with her, hearing from her heart and watching her grow and learn.