Summer Recap 2017: Week 11

Casey was due on July 20th (Thursday). She had Carter 2 weeks early so we were all pretty shocked that she went past her due date this time around! Saturday morning we knew was BABY DAY. We just didn’t know when. I explained to the kids that we were going to need to delay our “Yes Day” plans and they understood. I think it’s kinda good when disruptions like these happen as I know I struggle personally with being “go with the flow” and sometimes you just have to! 

We had a very chill morning waiting on “THE CALL” Zach decided to head on back that morning and miss the rest of his meeting to make sure he’d be able to see the baby! 

When Casey delivered Carter it was CRAZY fast. I missed out on getting to wait at the hospital as he was born while I was on my way. This time I wasn’t about to miss it! I love thinking about all my family and friends gathered in the waiting room when we have had our babies and I’ve never gotten to sit in the waiting room and wait for someone elses baby (Colt was born when Zach and I were in Mexico, We had JUST had Kye when Payton was born, and Carter’s I was on my way there!). I got to the hospital in time to say hey to everyone and about 3 min later we got word that he was here and healthy!!! There wasn’t much waiting for that moment but I’m glad I got to be there for it!

The waiting more came after he arrived, which I’d never really thought about. But when my babies are born I nurse and then we take the time for older siblings to meet the baby etc before allowing family back. It worked out great because it gave Zach enough time to get to the hospital and we all hung out in the waiting room waiting for our turn! 

Camden was born at 12:46 PM!

We didn’t know the name until we met him which was really fun 🙂 

He’s SO perfect!!!

Carter was ADORABLE. He was so sweet with Cam and was taking pictures of all of us in the delivery room 🙂 

Casey always amazes me! She had situations with both of her deliveries where she stood firm, stood her ground, and was thankful she did…and she looks beautiful doing it 😉 So so proud of her and so thankful for this precious blessing. Camden has a purpose and we’re all so thankful for him! 

The hospital changed their policies and now allows nieces and nephews to come visit in postpartum! We got the kids up from naps and made a stop for SNOW CONES before heading up there! We have a new snow cone place in town (Snopocalypse) and it’s AMAZING. 

Yes, bibs were needed!

You can get your snow cone filled and covered…so it has an ice cream filling in the middle and some cream on top. It was SO yummy!

On our way! We pass the hospital on the way to church and we often talk about how all three of our babies were born there and how special of a place it is to us. I’m so eager to see where the story of Tab will unfold!

So. Much. Sweetness. 

Loving on their newest cousin!!!

I had to get a video of Kye as he was just SO adorable rocking Cam the whole time! 

While we were there a nurse came in to check up on Cam and the kids were each able to listen to Cam’s heart. How awesome is that?

Britt filled out his guest book 😉

Zach took the kids home so I could stay awhile and visit. Casey got her first post-delivery shower and I held Cam the whole time. I felt SO BAD bc I was supposed to lay him down in his crib to sleep and I forgot and ended up holding him the whole time she was showering. I was just soaking up that baby sweetness. Gah y’all I can’t stop saying it but he’s just so, so perfect. 

I promise buddy we’re working on a BFF cousin for ya!

SUCH a day filled with JOY at the newest blessing in all of our lives!

This is my life on Sunday mornings. I’m the forever trash collector. 

I was originally supposed to have the girl’s day that day but decided to hold off a week so I’d be available to spend time at the hospital with Casey (well mostly Cam ha!). I went up during nap time and got some more great quality time in! Robyn ended up showing up at the same time I did which worked out great too. 

He doesn’t look like a newborn AT ALL! He looks like a “TV Baby” ha! I think his nose is my favorite because most babies just have like little pudge noses and he has such a defined nose, it’s adorable. He’s also got his Mama’s lips and just looks like her to me! 

Courtney’s crew came just as we were leaving! Payton looks SO OLD here!

Monday was our first ever YES DAY!!! I read an article awhile back about allowing for one day where you children completely plan everything from start to finish and you agree, within reason, to everything they want to do. I thought it’d be a great, fun thing and would be an opportunity for Kye and Britt to work together on their decision making. I gave them the warning that I could veto things but basically just let them plan everything out. 

I was impressed with their list. Mostly because it was SO SIMPLE. This is such a lesson to us y’all. Our kids don’t crave big, grand gestures (or even tons of junk food), they just want quality fun time together! 

Item 1: Breakfast! They wanted bananas, pop tarts, and “special cereal”

Item 2: Swimming at 8 AM! They wanted to swim first thing in the morning which was  a little too chilly for my liking but at least it did mean we didn’t have to use sunscreen ha!

It actually started RAINING while they were swimming…I called it quits but let them keep going for it as long as it didn’t thunder. 

I love Tess’s arms up!

Sexy Lifeguard haha

Just an FYI: allowing your kids to play with bubbles on a back slab porch isn’t smart. It was covered in soap and SO slippery!

Item 3: Watch movies. They specifically wanted to choose something from Netflix which is kinda funny b/c they know they can only really watch Disney stuff anyway! But they chose Lilo and Stitch 2…

(I adore how we have a massive couch and they choose to huddle up together)

And A Goofy Movie 2. 

Item 4: They all got to choose their lunches: here’s Kye’s, Britt’s and Tess’s!

Item 5: Kye wanted to spend nap time teaching Britt how to play Mario Kart (she got to skip nap)

Item 6: Britt tried bubble gum for the first time (and swallowed it ha!)

They did allow me one decision and that was stopping by the UPS store to ship off some birth mom presentation stuff!

Item 7: The Fun Factory. 

This is a place you don’t often see me blog about…because it’s one I avoid attending ha! It’s way, way overpriced for games but the kids wanted to do it so I used $10 and told them that’s the max I’d spend on tokens. They brought their own money and Kye opted to buy a few more tokens with that too. 

Here’s a couple videos from our Fun Factory Fun!

Britt playing, Tess playing

They had SO MUCH FUN and loved getting to cash in their tickets for prizes (which took forrrreeevvvverrrrr)

Item 8: Pizza for Dinner! 

Item 9: Blue Popsicles (very specific) for dessert!

Item 10: NIGHT SWIMMING! 

We even let Tess stay up for it (because we did it super early ha!)

Item 11: Big Kid Sleepover in the Playroom (with ALL the fans)

The day was a HUGE success and will probably be one of their favorite memories from summer. I can for sure see it becoming an annual tradition as we ALL enjoyed it. It’s fun as a parent to get to say YES when it can so often feel like we’re always having to say “no.” 🙂

On Tuesday we had family pictures so I wanted to stick close to home. I spent the day cleaning house and getting things done so I’d only have to “get ready” once which would help look my best for pics 😉 I even took some time during naps to lay out to have some fresh color! 

I’m reading The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe so Kye and I can watch the movie together! I don’t remember ever reading it? Y’all it’s SO GOOD! (Kye read the whole series, I’m probably only going to read this story from it because I’ve heard that it’s the best one). 

Zach got home from work and we all got ready for pics and on our way to meet Lindsay we could SEE the rain. It was BAD. 

Pics were rained out. BOOO but the kids enjoyed their post-picture bribery treats anyway 😉 

Zach has agreed to let me get the house cleaned a couple times a year and I wanted to have it done before Tess’s party. It’s always so stressful trying to deep clean my house with the kids at home AND putting together a party. It was AWESOME not having to spend that time. Last year before our home study the kids all went to their cousins houses and I cleaned non-stop all day long. I timed it and it took me 7 HOURS and I still wasn’t completely done. This cleaning crew? Under 2 hours and my house was SPOTLESS. It’s worth it for time management alone! 

I thought I’d help the cleaning crew out and get out of the house but by the time we left, they were almost done anyway! Ha!

Where do we go in the summer when we gotta get out of the house? Wild Adventures, DUH. While there we actually realized it was the last week they’d be open during the week (kinda dumb on their part since school didn’t start back for a couple more weeks). Glad we had one last morning of fun with friends!

Sweet Girls!

Kayla came with us so the big kids were PUMPED to actually ride a rollercoaster ha! Poor Tess cried and cried because she wanted to ride too. She might be our daredevil!

She was able to ride the hopper. And cried most of the time so maybe I take back the daredevil thing ha!

I love the looks of PURE JOY!

Such a great morning with Lindsay’s crew, Kayla, and Robyn’s crew!

Tessie is finally braving all the slides!

And loving it 😉

This is how she feels about it being time to go!

These two click SO well!

Came home to a super exciting surprise…my magnet for being an annual pass holder FINALLY arrived. 

I love watching the girls play, they are so sweet together!

Finally putting the instapot to use! I was super intimidated but I’m getting the hang of it!

On Thursday it was also “mission keep the house clean” so I took the kids to the grocery store!

We took Casey dinner that night so my kitchen did get a little messy 😉

Tess was straight CASHED!!!

My favorite game to play with the kids I used to babysit for in college was called Blink and now my kids love it too!

I tried to make as much of the food in advance for the party as possible. I used store bought dough for some Mickey cookies and they turned into big puffy Mickey blobs. My GENIUS husband suggested just using the cookie cutter to cut them again! Perfect!

Friday our whole day was spent party prepping. The kids loved helping!

Something new I’ve never made before and it was a HIT!

She’s changed so much since her first birthday..but still as cute as ever!

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Emily Parker

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