New Year, New Rules

Our Sweet Little Bear

The boys are in love!

Crimson bed


Sound asleep, the kids wear her out.

My cousin, Cymber's wedding. Ella, Reese and Molly were flower girls and Macie was an acolyte.

Mark was the officiating minister at Cymber and Kyle's wedding and did a GREAT job!

Handsome crew of ours

I sincerely doubt I have anyone that checks in on our blog anymore. It's been since September that I've added anything. I really cannot believe that. I say it all the time to Mark, "I don't know where the time goes." I honestly do not feel like I have time to do much of anything that doesn't revolve around the kids and while that is usually quite fulfilling, the days just seem to blend one right into the other.

So in this New Year that begins today, I hope to update our blog much more frequently and have the ability to document our lives and those of our children. They have changed a ton since September.

Let's see since September, we've had a few things happen in our household. Max started school at Marshall and after the first week we decided to move him to St. Anne's Catholic School. It was the right decision and we're thrilled they had an opening for him. He did not feel such a huge pang of anxiety because he knew lots of kids there already from playing in the local baseball league and swimming. He fit in right away and has done really well in the classroom too.

October we played baseball a lot! Having the ability to play Fall ball here is just so much fun for the whole family. Since we had three boys playing we pretty much lived out at the ball fields. Max moved up to the junior field this Fall so we all adjusted to that. It's a major league field except for the distance to the home run fence. Max pitched a few times and got a few nice hits but as usual he wasn't pleased with his performance. Ever the perfectionist he wanted to do better. We continued to emphasize the adjustment to the new field and hopefully some of what we said sunk in.

Ben learned a lot on the field this fall too. He stepped in as a relief pitcher and his little face just lit up when he came through in the clinch. He was put in the GT class this year at school and has surpassed all of our expectations. We knew he was exceptionally bright, of course, but he does what he wants to do in his own time so we didn't know how he'd adjust to the pace. Well on his last report card he had all A's and one B. He's also gotten pretty preoccupied with his appearance as of late if you know what I mean. We try to be patient and encourage his attention to detail but when we're trying to get out the door it can often pose a problem. He's a little charmer though.

Mark Thomas had an excellent season on the ball field. Their team was undefeated and he pitched as well. Having three sons on the mound is not something I really would have wanted especially with the intensity of our local league but it can be really thrilling when there's an awesome victory. So we pray for those kinds of games. His hand healed up just great and we're now paying the bills.

Short little side note there just because it blows my mind. We spent 8 hours in the ER that night and never, I repeat NEVER saw a physician. We required no other supplies except for the small little package they opened at the time of suturing and one little package of gauze and some tape. Well the bills finally arrived a few weeks ago and the total for seven little stitches came to $2545!!!! We had not yet met our deductible for the year because thankfully we have really healthy children and we really don't ever go to the doctor so we're paying $765 in addition to the $100 I paid in the ER that night. I will not get into an insurance discussion here but needless to say my thoughts on insurance are the way we're billed for things continues to be an issue of discussion in our own home.

Ok, back to MT. He's still a pistol and if anyone is reading this blog anymore we'd appreciate prayers for him. We just want to continue to emphasize all the wonderful things we see in him and know that God has such great things in store for his future; so we try to focus on the positive. He can just downright rule the roost at times and that's not always a good thing.

Ella has totally adjusted to the classroom. After her first six weeks we had a conference with her teacher and she was supposed to be reading around 50 words a minute by the end of the school year I believe and she was already reading nearly 80 words a minute. Her teacher told us she scored nearly a 100% on all her subjects and then laughed and looked at me and said, "you know, she really could be doing better." She got an American Girl doll for Christmas last week and is just head over heels for "Bella". Mark thought she'd like it but not near as much as I knew she would. She kept saying all day on Christmas, "I just never knew I'd love her so much." Ever the girl we're thankful for her presence in a house full of boys!

And lastly our new addition. Bear. The boys have been wanting a dog for months since we had to find a new home for Shiloh. I had been the lone hold out. I began looking online months ago but still just couldn't bring myself to give in to their request. So I finally settled on a boxer and found a local litter on a website I had looked at and we went to pick up our new little pup yesterday. She's just precious! We decided to name her Bear in honor of Alabama's BCS appearance this year. I had wanted to name her Bama but Mark said no so I told him it had to be Bear then. After the famed Bear Bryant of course. We'll be very excited to have her in attendance next week when Alabama kicks the butts of the Longhorns. Nothing more to say there....enough said.

Above are pics from the last few months. Enjoy and please check back again. I promise to update more often.