Pinewood Derby 2018

Nathan's cub scout troop participated in the Pinewood Derby. He was so excited to be able to build and work on a car this year. It made it even more fun to have Heidi take place as well. The girls were invited to participate as "outlaws". 

It was all very official with electric tracks, finish lines, and computers tracking times. 

Cotton candy and deli style lunches provided by Cyndy Diaz.

Heidi was one of the few outlaws to win a race!

The Super Blood Blue Moon of 2018

This event was  years in the making for. Not since Andrew Jackson was president in 1866 did the sun, moon, and earth align in a way that created a lunar eclipse, a blood moon, and a blue moon. We had to do some digging to figure out what the label meant:

Supermoon: The moon is at its closest point to earth and looks bigger/brighter
Blue Moon: Two full moons in a month
Blood Moon: The earth passes between the sun and moon and the moon appears red

From Trent's apartment at Dr. Street's office in Pikeville, KY he took this picture as the eclipse began. 

Here on the homefront we got up early to see it but were frustrated by a cloud covering the main event right as the eclipse began.

February Happenings

Matthew couldn't wait to get home to show Natalie his little mirror he got in primary.

Thomas knew how to rock these Valentine glasses and did so all month long whenever he remembered about them. 

We took our first temple trip with Natalie. She did pretty well. Although as you can see from the picture we had a few moments of sadness here and there. 

We were so PROUD of Nathan for accomplishing his goal of reading the Book of Mormon by his 8th birthday. We celebrated with chocolate cake. 

Natalie has become so alive and happy this month. Smiles are coming easily and I can see her little personality starting to blossom.

Sleeping peacefully. I could watch her all day. 

These two brothers are becoming better and better friends. This day Thomas and Matthew were outside playing and Matthew was protecting Thomas from the chickens. 

Trent is still leading the Deaf group in the Nicholasville ward. He pulled together quite the object lesson this Sunday. Here he is with Ricky Spurlock:

January Happenings

January brought a gradual return to routine for our new family of 7. After Christmas break I jumped back into most of my driving and carpooling people back and forth to school and activities. 

Little Natalie had to get into our rhythms pretty quitckly. 

A warm afternoon led to a park day during piano lessons. Oh, how I adore this little boy in red boots. 

One of my most favorite sights is a sleepy and content baby laying on my bed. Those cheeks are filling out nicely. 

Nathan decided to dress up as a pilot one day. Looks pretty sharp!

I'm having so much fun dressing and adorning this little one in pink and all the girly-ness. It really is fun. 

Matthew put the monitor on his belt one day so he could keep an eye on sleeping baby sis. He was quite proud. 

 Thomas has taken to all the changes amazingly well. He seems to be adapting to his job as a big brother quite well. 

Thomas Turns 2

Our sweet Thomas boy is 2! 

Daddy surprised him with this fun Thomas the Train cake-

It is fun to get a real life construction cone for your birthday. Instant hat!

The present opening crew. Thomas had a lot of help in this endeavor. He got a wooden mailbox and the cone. 

At 2 years old: Thomas is talking a lot, playing with his brothers, sleeping well at night (FINALLY), and still napping about 2 hours each afternoon. 

Christmas 2016

This was an unusual and special Christmas- a brand new baby in the house and Grandma & Grandpa Clayton were with us. Very neat!

We had a traditional Christmas Eve dinner together and opened some presents. 

We were thrilled to have extra characters for our nativity play this year!

I think Grandma was a wiseman :)

Helping Mary with her veil 

A very motley crew!

Gathering for our traditional pre-bed picture. It was pretty special to have a new little sister to start sharing traditions with. 

And then the long-awaited Christmas morning. Always full of such excitement and anticipation for kids and parents. 

Nathan loved opening his new NASA suit. 

A Paw Patrol backpack made Matthew pretty thrilled! 

December with a newborn

Settling in at home felt nice. It always feels nice to get home from the hospital and start the adjustment period. 

Natalie was loved fully and completely quite immediately. A fifth baby gets a lot of attention!

Daddy was excited to set up a photo shoot in the kitchen with Natalie.

It was a low key December in many ways as I recovered from birth and we all adjusted to a new baby. I had prepared for Christmas quite early before Natalie came so we just went into "autopilot". It was hard to miss some things like recitals and concerts as we wanted to keep our little one away from sicknesses. But pretty special in most all ways!