365 in 2015 - End of Week 46

I'm a couple weeks behind posting these. December has only just started, but things are crazy as can be! Continuing the thankful theme for November; these are for the week of November 8-14.

Completed projects: I finally finished this quilt I started when Paige was a baby (five years ago!). My sister got me back into sewing, and I was very thankful to finish this project!

Shelby: My youngest kiddo. She's growing up quickly and has changed from noticeably being a toddler into a little girl. She loves singing and dancing and playing dress-up.

Paige: My little mama. She loves holding her baby cousin Patrick or any other baby she can get her hands on. When she's not holding a baby, she loves to be up the tallest tree she can find! She also enjoys dressing up and playing with her sisters or brother.

Cheyenne: My sweet girl. She's always ready and willing to help out someone who needs it. She makes sure Jon eats breakfast and takes a lunch before he leaves for work (since he has a tendency to skip one or both of those without the proper encouragement). She loves to read and do crafty things, but she'd rather be outside than just about anywhere!

Clayton: My oldest and fastest growing kiddo. His feet are gigantic and he's steadily inching his way toward being taller than me (he can't wait!). He loves learning things at co-op or on Khan Academy, hard work, reading, and especially building with his Legos. He's always thinking up something creative to work on!

Working together: I'm thankful that my kiddos love to work together. Our yard was getting unbearably full of pine straw, so they got out and raked the driveway and the front yard. It was a lot of work, and they did the job nicely together!

Playing together: I thankful that my kiddos can also play together. They love games and enjoy playing with each other!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 20

This past week must have been a weary one for my younger girls. They have pretty much quit taking naps, but Shelby put herself to bed three times this week and Paige once! It was a theme in my pictures as I was surprised by the fact that they were asleep in the middle of the day (who would have thought?). 

A mother's day morning quick photo shoot. We were running extra early for church, so I took the time to snap a few pictures of the kids. They were being goofy (and watching the neighbor's dogs) while trying not to get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Clayton wanted to take our picture. I think he did a fine job! (I missed out on Monday, so an extra from Sunday fills in.)

Shelby's first nap of the week - on the couch.

Why can't I wear sunglasses to bed?

Both Paige and Shelby took a nap Thursday! 

Fun at Alexander Park! 

Shelby napping again. Growth spurt? Or too much activities?

Park Hopping: Alexander Park (Part 2)

I had so many pictures from our May trip to Alexander Park, that I decided to do a second post with more of them!

Clayton

Mercy

Sophia

Paige

Clayton being goofy!

Shelby too!

Avalyn

Mercy had fun going down the slide, but wasn't to sure about the rope ladder.

Sophia and Shelby

Shelby in a tree.

I don't know what it is about this picture, but I just like it! 

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Click here if you missed part 1!

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Click here to see Bethany's post about this trip!

Park Hopping: Alexander Park (Part 1)

Once school was *mostly* over, Bethany and I decided to come up with a park list to visit over the summer. It includes a lot of parks and other places we haven't gone to before, as well as some already visited favorites. The list only included one or two "regular" Gwinnett county type parks with a playground, etc. We decided to go to one of those for our first trip: Alexander Park. We've gone there several times as it's not terribly far from our house. Bethany hadn't been there before though, which is why we chose this one. The kids had a great time together! And I had a hard time choosing which pictures to post! 

Clayton loves hanging from these spinning things (what are they called?).

Cheyenne always climbs up on the big fake rock on the playground.

I took several of Clayton putting Mercy in the swing and pushing her. While this one isn't the best of the pictures (quality wise), I liked it the best for both of their expressions! 

Baby Patrick taking a little nap.

Paige and Kyle on top of the rock.

Paige loves swinging! 

Mercy crossing the bridge on the playground.

Avalyn wasn't facing me when I went to take a picture, so I asked her to turn around. Silly girl!

Shelby climbing on the stair railings.

Shelby and Sophia holding hands.

Sophia climbed up one of the trees.

Keira sitting on top of the rock! 

I got a smile from Patrick (and managed to catch it on camera)!

Sophia and Shelby played here for quite a while. Sophia kept jumping and jumping trying to grab onto the bar by herself. She came so close (see second picture), but never was able to hold on. Shelby gave it a try and didn't come anywhere close!

Avalyn and Clayton took a turn playing on this same part of the playground. They climbed up on it and hung upside down though. Avalyn hung upside down first and encouraged Clayton to do it too!

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Click here to see part 2!

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Click here to see Bethany's post about this trip! 

365 in 2015 - End of Week 4

I took a LOT of pictures this week! Almost all of all of them were taken Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday though. I had a hard time picking my favorite from those days, and I was extremely tired tonight, so I kinda rushed through getting them ready to post. I'll post more from our big adventures this week when I get a chance! 

Sunday was once again a hard day to shoot. I ended up just taking this picture of the bracelet Clayton made. He was excited to get it done!

Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day! We spent almost three hours at the park! The sky was so beautiful and my kids were great about letting me take tons of pictures in lots of different areas of the park. 

Clayton had started the grill and was keeping an eye on it while showing Cheyenne what to do as well. After it got going they sat down and were looking at their new Calvin & Hobbes book together! 

Wednesday was another gorgeous day, so we went to Ivy Creek Greenway with mom (since Wednesday's are Mamaw day!). The kids loved being able to get so close to the waterfall and want to go back as soon as it gets warmer!

Paige on the playground at church during Covenant Classes.

 Friday was my first day not getting any pictures. It was a crazy busy day filled with Classical Conversations, home for a nap (including me), and then Cheyenne and I going to the annual American Heritage Girls lock-in! I gave my camera to another young lady once we go there and she took a bunch of pictures at the lock-in, but I didn't take any while it was still Friday. 

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So here instead is a picture of my lovely mama from Wednesday's trip to Ivy Creek Greenway!

Bright and early Saturday morning, Cheyenne finally passed out at the lock-in. I snapped this picture of her right before we headed for home (to get some much needed rest)!

Alexander Park

On January 19th, we took advantage of an absolutely gorgeous day to spend a few hours at the park. We all had a great time: the kids playing and running around and me taking pictures. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and it was sunny and warm!