J IS ONE!

Maybe it is fitting the last post I did was a bday post - though I've skipped one so backtracking will be required. Blogger finally decided to get with the program and allow the uploading of the HEIC pics from the iPhone so that is going to significantly help the blogging cause... 

With my mind on my Crunchies and my Crunchies on my mind

Sometimes when you are the sixth kid and your mom says you don't really need anything you end up with two massive balloons and tons of crunchies and yogurt melts. 

E and Papa took the reigns of cake baking since Grammy was tied up with wedding stuff. They made a white cake with chocolate pudding icing - big hit. 

It was windy and the candle didn't actually light but J loved being clapped to at the end of the song. 

He wasn't skeptical of the cake like some of his older siblings have been. 

Sweet satisfaction

Happy!

Wanna share? 

First birthday success!

Happy birthday J! E has been asking me a ton if I can believe you are actually one and my answer is yes I actually can believe it. Your first year has been a wild ride from lice to tongue lasering to COVID to preschool. I can believe it. You are a quiet in the calm of the younger three. You just starting crawling in the last few weeks - which is fine by me. We weren't sure if you were ever going to eat food but now you love it - especially Crunchies. You love the pool and get super tan when you are in the sun. You are still nursing in the mornings and evenings making longer than any other Kibbe. Of recent you love it when I whistle and have moderate success whistling back much to your older siblings amazement. It sure has been a year unlike any other but your sweet snuggles and chilled out demeanor are welcomed light amidst the chaos.  

Just for your viewing pleasure, the outtakes it requires to get a HALFWAY decent pic courtesy of the class clown... 

The best of the best of us eight

The Tenth Birthday that Wasn't...

E has been planning her 10th bday since about 364 days since her 9th birthday. I told her she could chose a party with all her friends (we don't do huge friend parties) or going out to a nice dinner with just me and Papa or whatever. She had decided on Harry Potter themed and either an escape room or Rip and Drip in the front yard. It finally got to the point in January and February I told her she wasn't allowed to discuss birthday plans until a month before her birthday. Well then COVID changed everything and we went back to our traditional family birthday and we are hoping to let her have her big friend party for the big ONE-ONE...

She was very particular about where she wanted people sitting and wearing her yellow sunglasses 

The big girls were suuuuuper excited about the gift they gave her because they knew she'd love it. Though I will say the watch that she was given has definitely been on her wrist ever since and if she wasn't our timekeeper before, she certainly is now and will set alarms to let us know when we should be leaving (I wonder who she gets from!)

Grammy's cake did not disappoint as usual

A decade has flown by with our first born, guinea pig!

Queen C turns Three

C turned the big THREE a few days ago: 

                            

E suggested the Teddy Grahams for decorations

She BLEW through her presents

She has been able to slow down and appreciate them since

YAY CAKE!

C somersaulted on her third birthday!

C got a new helmet to go with her new bike but she probably needs to wear it more often than not

The kids loved picking out and wrapping her gift

She lost her Baby Shark phone so I knew she'd love a new one

Happy Birthday C! You are a wild child with a big heart. We can't want to see what this year holds. 

Drive Thru Kindergarten Graduation

Last week M had her final day of kindergarten... 

There's always a celebration/graduation and of course this year looked waaaaaaay different than in years past.

Everyone drove up and stood by their cars and the kids were called up one-by-one to say a few line about kindergarten 

I know M so desperately wanted to give her BFF a hug... She talks about her all the time and I know they miss eating lunch together and swinging on the monkey bars. That makes me sad to think about

They each got a cupcake - because no party and not food at school - much to the siblings chagrin. She had that after dinner and then we headed across town to a classmate's house for an outside movie. Which was blast! 

So even with all the weirdness going on... not a bad way to end kindergarten. 

Corona-Tine Weeks Ocho y Nueve

Linking up with Kelly ... wrapping day 63

---1---

Passing on my LOVE for hammocks to my children...  

Speaking of hanging out.. 

Lee and I have been sitting out on the front porch most evenings and contemplating life and Corona and the weather and work and kids and everything and this showed up

It was truly majestic and the pics don't do the colors justice.  A reminder of God's covenant for sure. 

---2---

I still drag everyone on our normal morning and sometimes afternoon walks... 

I thought C was wearing one of the girls hoodies but it turned out to be mine.

No personality at all...nope 

R knows I love flowers

---3---

In my spare time (hahahahaha) I've been inspired to fill up the walls with puzzle and other assorted frames... 

I'll have to post my weekend progress on the girls room. E's begging for a wall color... maybe in the fall? 

---4---

The boy needs a haircut and I told him he could not buzz his hair like Papa just yet.

Great excitement around the house one day last week was... 

So entertained. 

My guy

He's getting so big, if I sat and thought about it long enough I could cry. 

---5---

Double Digits: 

She's got a book problem. 

I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (aloud) to the group this week (so we can watch the movie) and it is AWESOME. We are loving it!

Enjoying her new bday skates : ) 

E BEGGED to turn on the sprinkler Friday night and I made her call Lee to confirm which was oh so wise on my part because once she fiddled with the front sprinkler for 15 minutes she drug the back sprinkler all the way to the front - much to Lee's chagrin the next afternoon (but I told him he couldn't be mad at them because 1. he approved it and 2. she was being resourceful). C may have been better suited in a bathing suit because she didn't realize clothes are REQUIRED 

---6---

The Puzzle Report:

We are onto another puzzle... Six maybe? E has claimed this for the nursery and I tend to agree with her. The brighter evenings has afforded the big girls a little extra neighborhood freedom so puzzling into not what it used to be but its okay. 

---7---

Wildlife Report...  

The girls were collecting ladybugs for the "Ladybug Hotel" - they were having a hard time keeping them in so we opted for the hotel theory. M has to do a bug project for school and she chose a ladybug. I was hoping she'd find a round rock and paint it red (they have gotten into the painted rock selling business in the afternoons) but that didn't happen. The project is due Monday and all we have so far is a styrofoam sphere. 

Thanksgiving Dinner and St. Francis

E nearly stepped on this during one of our morning walks. We hoped that by not touching it, its mom would come back and teach it how to fly. 

Last night I pulled a tick off of Lee. It hadn't fully burrowed??? but it did bite him because a small part remains stuck under the surface of the skin. Praying that it is not a lyme carrying tick.  Oh and M saw a black snake slithering across the back yard today which was a topic of much conversation. 

7QTs - Completely Clear Calendars (in May)

Linking up with Kelly ... it has been 7 weeks... 

---1---

Week seven. 49 days of Corona-tine. 

I think the dashboard in the van pretty much summed up my feelings generally for the week. All the warning lights flashing and not much to be done except buckle up and power through. The kids whininess and their need (and understandably) for help with school work was a rough one. I really just need all the school stuff to be done. 

Fortunately Lee comes home to a house that looks like a bomb went off and starts in the kitchen and works his way back in the clean up department. By the time 4-4:30 rolls around I have just about no ounces of anything left for cleaning up. Yes the kids do help but usually there's always dishes to be washed or crumbs to be wiped or dirt particles to be vacuumed. 

ALWAYS. 

---2---

C continues to live out her days to the fullest: 

They involving exchanging video messages with her dog-cousin Wayne who she shares striking commonalities with. This week's video exchange provided some much needed humor. Wayne said told he got in trouble for chewing things. Well this week C 

1. While on our morning walk picked up rocks from our neighbors' driveway and put them in her mouth?!!?!? and only took them out when scolded 

2. Stuffed the last 3-5 strawberries in her mouth - so A couldn't eat them. Leafy tops and all

I promise I don't make this stuff up.

---3---

I know what you are thinking... 

No they didn't jump in the puddle in the ditch but I bet they would have. The weather this week has been oddly cool. I don't think we have turned on the air or heat in weeks. Our power bill was nearly identical the past 2 months so hopefully we will go for another month of low-ish bills. 

Lee always takes/picks/chooses the worst weather day as his stay-at-home day with the kids which means very little outside time - I don't envy his position for sure. 

---4---

I don't think I need to say more!

Love him. Love him. Love him. 

J and I went on a blind date this week. A blind date with his/our family's (new) pediatrician. It was weird. It was highly anticipated because I/we adored our (old) pediatrician. It caused a huge quandary because 9 days out of 10 you probably don't think about your kid's doctor - until you do or until you need something or you go to the pediatrician 55 million times in a month. Then you care... a whole lot. Anyways we survived and we are going back. 

---5---

Injury Report: 

Nothing major in the injury reportage this week. Just your basic run of the mill falls and cuts and scrapes. A got a fresh one on his elbow. The girls and I trekked up to play soccer tonight and I freaking pulled my quad on the first kick of the game. Playing thru it now vs in high school is basically impossible or will cause further insult to injury. Getting old is the pits. 

---6---

The Puzzle Report:

Another puzzle in the books. Another bare wall filled. I love this puzzle. E said that I could hang it up in our room which I where I was planning on putting it whether she liked it or not. I do need to find a puzzle that she wants in her and R's room. 

I need to print some wedding pics and a few others and just play the waiting game so I can get Lee to get his hammer and level out and decorate! It is his FAVORITE! 

---7---

Thoughts on the week...  

M and A had social Zoom meetings this week. It was sweet. M was super happy to socialize. A, well, he clammed up - but we have high hopes for next week's meeting. 

As we begin the month of May it is definitely cause for a pause. May is always suuuuuper busy. I used to dread it but I came to embrace the crazy. Everything is ending and everything happens all at once. Lee is super crazy busy. 

But then Corona happened sooo.... 

Nothing is happening. No end of year activities, programs, soccer games, swim practices, AHG. We should be heading up to Virginia this weekend for a choir competition for E. That was bound to be wild because R, M, A&C should have had soccer games and I would have been coaching two of them and I would have needed to get a sitter for them. Plus I was going to try and figure out a way to ride roller coasters with E at Busch Gardens so that mean J would have needed tending to as well. But all that's not happening. 

Next weekend we should have been having a massive 10th bday party for E. I told her could have a party with all the friends (which we don't do). She was going to have a Rip and Dip inflatable water slide and Chik Fil A. It was going to be a big deal. Then on Mothers Day we would have gone to Duck Donuts to get her bday breakfast after church. 

Then there should have been a smattering of everything happening at school. Teacher Appreciation Week, Field Day, end of year parties and programs. I remember our last few Mays (2019, 2017) and I while I have come to appreciate a slower pace I think I'd like to be hustling around rather than having an absolutely empty May.