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Cailey's 14th and mama's thoughts

I kept asking Cailey what she wanted to do for her birthday this year but she wasn't sure. The weekend before Cailey decided that she didn't want a birthday party this year. She just wanted to have a friend over and enjoy her favorite meal, cake, ice cream, and have a sleepover. So...on her birthday eve, Anna came over for dinner. I made shrimp and linguini, salad, garlic bread, and there was juice (her fav). Afterwards God gave them the most glorious sunset while they played tupperball in the front yard. There's been lots of laughter reading stories Cailey wrote, chatting, and just being a kid. I LOVE that she's still a kid at 14 years old. She loves playgrounds..she isn't 'too cool' for anything yet.

The other day she said, "I think I'm emotionally and physically two years behind." She recognizes that she would rather play...where her peers are well past that. I think she's blessed. She gets to be a kid longer in a world that wants them to grow up faster than they should. She doesn't have to worry about 'grown up' things yet. She's growing. She's changing...and all in good time everyone will be in the same place (physically and emotionally).

Today I made her favorite birthday cake (homemade strawberry with strawberry icing) and we sang while Anna was here. Cake and Ice cream...her dessert requests.

I always want to throw 'themed' parties though Cailey did decide that she was done with themes years ago. SO...strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and no theme it was.

Tomorrow when she wakes up she will be 14 years old. That's so crazy to me. That's so OLD to me. My curly blonde toddler is long gone and replaced with this almost adult. I feel like I blinked and it happened. Some of the days with three toddlers were definitely long but man...the years were short. I saw a picture of her preschool class headed to high school and could NOT believe it!

I pray for you, Cailey girl. Pray that you will serve the one who made you. Pray that you will strive to serve others and put them before yourself. Pray that you will bloom and grow in your love for the Lord. Pray that you know you.are.loved. You were prayed for. Exactly 14 years ago this minute my labor began and I couldn't wait to see and know you. I love you, butterfly girl.
Mama

Mordecai House by Braden

     The Mordecai House was built in what is now Downtown Raleigh and was the biggest plantation in Wake County at the time. These plantation owners got money to maintain the property by making their many slaves, (120 by 1840)  grow and pick cotton. The Mordecai family continued living in the house until the late 1900’s, then the house was donated to the City of Raleigh to be a historic site.

     The Mordecai House itself was built in 1785 for the Lane family, but in 1817 Moses Mordecai married Peggy Lane and gained control of the house. It was much smaller than it is now until right before his death when Moses improved and enlarged the house. The property Moses originally bought was about 2,000 acres and helped start Raleigh. Right after the house was built, in the mid/late 1700’s everything was done in one room, eating, playing, and reading. Henry, Moses’s oldest son took over the house in 1840. Thirty years later Henry had a kitchen built in the house and gas lamps were installed. Thirty years before, Henry, Moses’s oldest son took over the plantation. In 1914 the first bathroom was put in the house.

     The hotel that Andrew Jackson was supposedly born in was moved onto the property in between 1968 and 1979. There is also a small church, used as a family chapel, that was transported here from Siler City to show what one was like. The Marks family attended it down below, on the first level in pews with friends, while the slaves watched from a balcony above. Today it is used for weddings.  There is also a law office on the property that two friends used. It is painted in blue to show you how rich the law men must have been to be able to get that color. They had to travel all over so they had fold in desks, boxes, and tables to carry around.l.

     The smokehouse across the lawn from the mansion is where the slaves would hang meat to dry, on a butchering day. The best hams and beef would be salted and hung off of the roof for when company came while the not so good meat was used every day. The kitchen is also beside the house so if there is a fire in that building, the rest of the house won’t burn down. There are drying racks on the top for herbs and veggies to dry. The kitchen there today is just a replica of what it used to be. The ‘mansion’ now has a vegetable and herb garden behind it.

     The Mordecai House currently has three bedrooms that are each set up to look like different time periods in which the house was occupied. They look like the mid-late 1700’s, 1800’s, and early 1900’s, with toys and furniture from that time. In the room setup like the 1700’s there was a bed with ropes at the bottom, then a hay mattress, next a feather mattress, and on top, lots of blankets. Around the bed either curtains, or mosquito netting would hang. The 1800’s room, including up-to-date furniture, had a basket of toys with an old View-Master, a kaleidoscope like glass bottle, porcelain dolls, and more. The last room, dating the 1900’s had electric lighting and a bathtub. The bather would stand up while a slave dumped buckets of water onto him/her. The soap used, was made of lye.

Ephram's 6th Birthday

Favorites:
Game- connect 4
Sport-tball
Food- macaroni and cheese
Meal- macaroni and cheese and fish sticks
Drink- apple juice
Song- Animals
Movie- The Fox and the Hound
Thing to do outside- dig holes in the ground
Color- North Carolina Blue
Dessert- ice cream sundae
Toy- Frank
Thing to do- watch a movie
Book- Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House)
Season- spring
Place to go- movies
Subject in School- reading
What do you want to be when you grow up?- a policeman

Braden's 11th Birthday

Favorites:
Game- Monopoly
Sport-baseball
Food- mushrooms
Meal- steak, mushrooms
Drink- chocolate milk
Song- Star War Theme Song
Movie-Star Wars III
Thing to do outside- run
Color- dark yellow
Dessert-double chocolate chip brownies
Toy- Legos
Thing to do- play the wii
Book- Percy Jackson
Season- fall
Place to go- Philadelphia
Subject in School- Literature
What do you want to be when you grow up?- an Orthodontist

Ephram's 5th Gotcha Day!

Today was Ephram's gotcha day and we did a lot of singing:). We sing "Happy Gotcha Day to You" to the tune of Happy Birthday...pretty much ALL.DAY.LONG :). Love when we can celebrate a kiddo and it's all about THEM.

Ephram was up and dressed before anyone else because he couldn't wait for his Gotcha Day breakfast:). He rode with Brian to pick up hashbrowns, a doughnut, and chocolate milk.

We did do school..but it went quick.

For lunch he wanted a Lunchable...but has NEVER eaten them if I get one so we decided to create it ourselves. So we gave him gogurt, chips with cheese, and skittles.

Then pumpkin muffins for snack.

Then Blue Gatorade and Sour Cream chips for second snack.

Lots of games, books, and reading with mommy.

Fort Making while I did school with Kinsey

And he asked for Tacos for dinner. Ephram has decided that Tacos are his new favorite dinner:). 

When Daddy came home there was tickling, card games, laughing, reading, and even a slushie for dessert.

I am so thankful God chose you for our family, Ephram. You are unique and make our family so much more fun! You love to build, create, and use your imagination constantly. You make up amazing stories...if only I could keep up and write them all down! 
I can not wait to see what God is going to do with your life and how He will use you!

I love you my sweet Ephram. Happy Gotcha day.

The day after...

 Nonny loves her grandpuppies :)

 Playing Candy Land with Nonny while Cailey was sleeping in:)

 Maisy and Zoe got pretty new matching sweaters for Christmas...which they couldn't wait to show off:)

 Cailey got a Nu Me curling stick for Christmas and couldn't WAIT to try it out. Now she's looking forward to her perm growing out so she can curl her own hair but she did a great job on Kinsey's.

 the boys were showing Poppy their finished LEGO sets

 ta da!

 the girls spent a good amount of time playing with their American Girl Dolls.

 Matt, Leigh, and the kids drove up for lunch at 12

 It was another gorgeous day so the kids spent most of it outside.

 the girlies

 they played school for a LONG.TIME. I went out for a while and I have to say it looked pretty fun! Cailey even made up a worksheet for them which was 'homework'. It had a section for math, spelling, handwriting, and English...I was impressed!

 I took these during recess

 Then told the kiddos it was picture day at school...YAY! :)

 Ephram showed Uncle Matt all the books he's written

 homework time before archery

 Ephram challenged Uncle Matt to a scooter race

 then all too soon it was time for them to leave.

 After dinner Cailey played Pente with Poppy while Nonny, Braden and I played 500.

 i don't really think this requires a caption...i mean....

the evening ended with pizza and Home Alone 2...this time I was smart enough to get pictures because it was so awesome watching them laugh as much as they did!

Christmas Day

 Since the kiddos stayed up to watch The Christmas Story with Brian last night they slept in a bit and woke to the smells of Monkey Bread and Sausage Balls.

 Per tradition they opened stocking before digging in. They were so sweet and made some great gifts for each other this year.

 ALL the boys were super excited about these Star Wars figures!

 Kinsey was SUPER excited to get her first pair of TOMS...hot pink polka dots, of course!

 And little guy loved his GIANT nerf gun

 Opening my Jim Shore Nativity figure from Ephram

 Someone was SHOCKED when they opened an American Girl Doll this year!  Kinsey got Elizabeth.

 Now it was Ephram's turn to be excited when he opened a giant LEGO set. I love looking
at everyone's faces in this picture because they are so happy for him.

 And Cailey got Elizabeth's best friend...Felicity!  They have both been retired for years but I bought them years ago BEFORE they retired and just had them hanging out in my closet for a good time.

 Braden's excitement over his giant LEGO set!

 Cailey sewed each of the kiddos a gift..pillows for the boys and American Girl clothes for Kinsey. I love that she took time to choose fabric she knew each one of them would love.

 TOMS!!

 Ephram said this was his favorite gift after opening everything. My sweet boy does love to use tape for his inventions.

 pretty pup taking it all in

 Brian used scraps to wrap my gift and I loved it :) I don't like wasting wrapping paper so this was awesome!

 We said we weren't going to do a big Christmas this year because we got the dogs AND because we are wanting to travel a bit and do experiences together as our gifts. BUT...I had all this great stuff in my closet plus gave a few 'needed items' as gifts. So much for a 'small' Christmas!

 All SIX of my Christmas babies

 after Christmas it was time for the scavenger hunt so they could find the family gift. they followed eight clues which led to....

 a plasma car!! They have been asking for one of these all year and I finally found a great deal then surprised them.

 Braden was thrilled about his new art sets (especially the charcoal set and the watercolor pencils)

 Thankfully it was a gorgeous day so they were able to spend it playing outside

 Nonny and Poppy came around 12 and gave the kiddos more gifts to open.

 and they were able to open our gifts to them.

 the boys wanted to get started on their LEGO sets right away and spent hours building them.  (ephram is also sporting the new slippers he got from Nonny and Poppy)

 Mom helped Cailey fix her sewing machine (YAY)

 then played games

 We ate dinner around 4 but Cailey was napping. I was afraid she was getting
sick again but I think she was just really tired...because she NEVER naps

 multi tasking..the baby wanted to be held while I cooked :)

 Dinner is served.

 family picture

We got the kids the Home Alone Trilogy for Christmas and watched the first one that night. They thought it was HILARIOUS and I had a blast watching them laugh :). It's moms favorite movie so I knew she would want to watch it with them.