{8 weeks!}

I can not believe my little Jacob is already 8 weeks old! He has certainly been a joy to have in our home! He is such a good little guy. He is already sleeping about 6-8 hours straight at night. He is starting to "coo" and talk. He loves his brothers and sister. He smiles all the time now. He is loved so much! We're so glad he's a part of our family!

Father and Son Campout

Yesterday Darren was able to take our two oldest boys on the father and son camp out. The boys were sooooo excited to go this year! Something about "roughing it in the outdoors, with trees, sticks, campfire, tents, and hikes" that boys just LOVE.

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND LOOK AT THE VIDEO THE BOYS AND DARREN MADE IT'S PRETTY FUNNY! THEY OBVIOUSLY ENJOYED THEMSELVES VERY MUCH!

Before they left

Excited Brothers

Roasting Marshmallows

On a hike with Daddy

Cute dirty little face! ;)

Breakfast!



THEY'RE GONNA GET ME! HELPPPP!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom,
Here is the kiddo's singing to you for your birthday! Sorry I posted it a day late. We all hope you had a wonderful birthday! We love and miss you!
Love, Darren, Robin, Ethan, Ashton, Lily, and Jacob! :)

Made my day!

So today was a typical day. I cleaned, cooked, fed a baby, fed Ashton, Lily and Ethan, took Ethan to school, changed diapers, fed a baby, cleaned again, cooked again, folded laundry, fed the baby again and again and again, picked Ethan up from school, helped with homework, fed the other 3 again a few times, picked up some more around the house, did a load of dishes etc... I didn't get to the shower till 8:30 tonight. But at least I made it to the shower right? Any way, this evening our doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone and I didn't look too lovely, but owell right? Lily runs and answers the door half naked and it's my friend Kate. She is standing there all cute as usual with a big strawberry pie in her hands. She has been strawberry picking and making all kinds of goodness with her strawberries and she brought me a pie just out of the blue! I guess she was inspired to bring me some sweet goodness to brighten my day. I ate a piece without taking a picture first, but I had to take a picture despite me ruining the masterpiece first. It was sooooo YUMMY! Hopefully I'll get one more piece before my kids and husband devour it, but THANK YOU so much Kate, that was so sweet of you! You made my day with your sweet delicious strawberry pie! Friends are golden, and friends like Kate who somehow know when you need something, are priceless! ;) I'll repay you girly!

Cute Kate and her hubby

BOYS!!!!!

I'm on the phone talking with my friend Tiffany who I haven't spoken with for a long time. We're enjoying our talk, and I'm thinking to myself, "Gosh, the boys are being so great right now, they aren't climbing all over me, running through the house yelling, they are actually outside playing quietly and being good!" Then I hear the hose which is a huge "No no" in our house. The kids know not to turn on the hose without permission. I then hear the screen door being sprayed by the hose. I run to the back and see a complete disaster area. Our yard looks like a swamp, it is torn up! I only had patience enough to grab a picture of Ashton. I then ran out and became the mother from hell. I hosed down the patio, fence, chairs, kids clothing, grill, Darren's bullet proof vest, the rug. While I'm doing this, I'm silent, the boys start playing soccer thinking they are in the clear. Well now that the patio is cleaned off it's their turn. I literally chased them into a corner in the yard and hosed them down with the nozzle on hard stream to get all the mud out of their ears, hair, and butt cracks! I was sooooooo MAD! Mainly because this wasn't the first time they have played in the mud, this is the "umpteenth" time and the mother of all messes. And of course Darren is at the shooting range tonight for work. So after I hose them off it's up to the shower and straight to bed. I feel bad for yelling at them and giving them the "prison treatment" with the hose, but hey a mom can only take so much!!!!! At least Lily wasn't playing with her brothers. Boys can be so retarded sometimes! And I have 3!!!! Heaven help me!!!!! I took some after shots of the yard. It actually is an improvement from what it was before I started to clean up the war zone.

Jacob's Blessing Day!

Today Darren blessed Jacob at church. Here are some pics of the day and him in his handsome tuxedo that my mom "Grammy Sue" made him (didn't she do an awesome job?). He was a good boy and didn't fuss during the blessing. He was so cute all dressed up!

Mom and Jacob

Dad and Jacob

I'm so lucky to have this great man as my husband and these 4 gorgeous children whom I love more than life itself!

At the church

All tuckered out and ready to go home!

Mom and Jacob just chillin on the couch.

Mom, Ashton, and Jacob cuddling on the couch

My newest little handsome boy!

Cake time!

Here's some pics from Ashton's Birthday.


Cutie


Make a wish!


Yummo!


He got a tractor to dig in the dirt with, a really cool Nintendo wii game, a ninja turtle (he's really into them lately), an etch-a-sketch, and some cars from his brother.



The kids knocking each other out with big balloons.

Happy Birthday Ashton!

My Ashton is 5 today! I can't believe how fast time flies! I've been looking through his old pics and the thing that strikes me the most is how much Jacob looks like Ashton! They literally are identical as babies! I can't tell them apart. It's like a blueprint of Ashton was made for Jacob. I'm glad though, cause Ashton was the one who looked so different out of Ethan and Lily, so for Jacob to come and look like Ashton, it ties my kids all together. My Ashton was the best baby on earth. He never made a peep, he slept like a champion and never gave his mom any trouble. He has the most easy going personality. He loves his older brother so much! Ashton has brought us so much joy over the past 5 years. He's always smiling, even when he's in trouble. He loves to have fun. I just can't believe he's already 5! Here are some pics of him over the years. I can't find my 2007 files, hopefully they aren't lost. But here are some pics of him as a baby, and you can see how identical to Jacob he is. We'll have his "party" this weekend and post more about that later!

When he was born

Just sleeping! What he did best!

Absolute twin to Jacob!

1 year old

2 years old

4 years old

Will post current pics of him later! I love you Ashton! Happy Birthday!

Watch for it!

Several months ago I posted this video of our dog Yoda playing hide and go seek with my hubby Darren. It shows how excited he gets to play. The reason I'm posting again is because we sent it in to American's Funniest Home Videos (AFV) and they will be showing it this Sunday! I thought I'd post it again, so you can watch it and then on Sunday night; if you want, you can watch for our clip to be shown on AFV. It plays on ABC. Enjoy! ;)

Test Results

For those who have followed my blog through my pregnancy you'll know that in the beginning of my pregnancy I was tested for being a carrier of cystic fibrosis. The result was positive and then Darren had to be tested as well and his result was positive too. This caused great stress for the rest of my pregnancy, followed with many other doctor visits and ultrasounds. They wanted me to do an amnio, but I opted out and chose to wait till the baby was born to find out for sure. Having to wait so many months and not knowing if your baby will have this life ending disease was so hard and stressful on us. We researched about the disease and prepared ourselves for the worse case scenario. Finally after waiting for so long, his blood test is back and he is negative for having the disease. Darren and I are so grateful that our little baby will not have to go through having this. We are also so thankful that our other 3 kids did not get it either. We consider ourselves really lucky. Especially since we didn't know we were carriers until our last pregnancy. I don't think we would have had as many kids as we did, if we had known earlier. I guess there's a reason for everything. Jacob had a check up today. he'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow. He's doing so well. He weighs 10lbs even and is growing like a weed. I love this little boy so much already. He is such a little ball of wonderment. I can't get enough of him. I'm so glad now that he is a boy and not a girl. I remember being so sad that he was a boy and that Lily wouldn't have a sister, but now that I have him, I wouldn't trade him for a million girls. Time goes so fast. I'm trying to treasure the newborn phase since this is our last. I know before we know it, he'll be all grown up. Jacob reminds me of a large breed puppy. Like puppies, he is small because he's still a baby, but you know he will be big because his hands and feet are huge! Like puppies that are small with these huge feet that they haven't grown into yet. I know he'll be a big dude. He'll have to be big to protect him self from his older brothers! ;)

This weekend we grilled for dinner. Darren had placed the grill rack on the grass to do something and out ran Ethan not knowing it was on the grass and stepped right on the hot grill. OUCH! Just thought I'd add this pic. Poor kid.

One Week Old

Jacob is already 9 pounds and growing rapidly. He eats more than any of my other babies. His feet are already too big for the sleepers! He's needless to say going to be big! But he'll be fat and happy! Those make the best babies. He is a really good baby and has a sweet spirit. He's still trying to get his nights and days figured out, but he's adjusting as are all of us. Here are some pics of "Mommy and baby", His first bath from grandma, and some other shots. Grandma will be leaving on Monday :( sniff sniff. She has been a huge help and comfort during these last couple weeks. Darren, I, and the kids will miss her greatly!

4/10/2009

They change so much with each day!


Grandma and me!

4/09/2009 "smiling in my sleep!"

Getting cleaned up! 4/7/2009

4/9/2009 Interesting choice of fingers to suck!