Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Amarillo by Evening


After 11 years and four kids, Keith and I sucked it up and drove to Amarillo.  We've always flown since we had Carli.  But logistics of car seats and vehicle big enough for us all and money to fly, it made much more sense to drive.  We left at 6 am and planned stops at parks along the way.  We stopped in Waxahachie at 9 played at a park for 30 minutes.  Hit the road again and made it to Wichita Falls for lunch.  It had gotten to hot for the kids to play on the playground but just being out of the car andspace to run around helped.  We had to stop in Quanah for a bathroom break.  Made it to Amarillo by 4:30 pm.  No tears were shed and very little whining!  It was a traveling miracle!


I did work pretty hard at making sure the littles had some entertainment.  Besides their videos, Drew had magnetic roads and cars to play with on a cookie sheet, puzzles, and a calculator that functioned as a phone, "speller" and dinosaur zapper!  Maggie's favorite toy was an empty cup with a straw hole in the lid that she put pipe cleaners in and I'd dump them out.  Over and over she worked at it!  She also had magnets on a cookie sheet and playing cards to put back in the box.  The big girls colored, watched "Reba" on DVD and read.


Everyone was so excited to finally get to Naggy and Pappy's!  The first thing they did was take measurements on the growing ruler and then it was off to Rosa's for dinner!  It was early bedtime for the littles since they miraculously did not nap all day and were give out!  Looking forward to a fun few days with family!



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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Kayla Day - Finally!

Summer is almost gone but we finally got our schedule worked out for the girls to get to spend some time with Kayla!  She let them pick what to do and bless their hearts, they asked to go to the mall!  Baha!  Wore them flat out!  They had a great time and loved getting to hang out with Kayla.  They requested it not take so long to do that again...



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Monday, July 29, 2019

Better than a Belt

I've had to crack down on the girls about how they treat eachother.  Actually they get along great playing but ask them to clean or unload a dishwasher, etc and the gloves come out!  They actually argued about which way the spoons should lay in the drawer!  So when I sent them to their room to pick it up and within seconds they were screaming at eachother, I walked in with the belt.  I gave them two options:  a belt or run the hill.  They choose the hill.  So off they went and held hands on the way back.  One things is for sure...they'll be super fit or the house will be super clean soon!  :)




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Sunday, July 28, 2019

Sunday, Sunday

Carli and Ava both have decided they do not need my help getting dressed for church or even with their hair.  So we've actually been on time the last couple of weeks!  I wanted to get a picture of their different styles...and Maggie had to show her personality too.  I asked her to pls smile for a picture with sisters...and this is what we got:


She finally decided she'd cooperate just a bit to capture some pretty decent pictures of my beautiful girls.

 And I can't leave out my boys...ever wonder how we entice Drew to put "his church clothes on."  Bribe him with his favorite game and he gets dressed quicker than you can finish breakfast!



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Saturday, July 27, 2019

Blessed

It's kind of fun sometimes to walk a few paces behind my crew in public and admire the blessings God has given me!






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The Mud Kitchen

This maybe the most played in spot of not only our yard but our entire house.  Every single one of our kids from 10 down to 1 loves to play in this mud kitchen.  The big dirt pile beside it comes in a close second and the zip line that runs in front of it is a favorite too!



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Friday, July 26, 2019

Sweet Treats with Sweat Friends

When Mr. Andrew insists on treating everyone to a snowcone after work on Friday...well, you go get a snowcone!!  Timmy was at his Aunts, but Heaven and Veah got to come with us all.  :)





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Custom Wood Projects

We've been in our house for five years and ever since we moved here I had a vision for how I wanted the laundry room and pantry to function.  It took us five years of saving, planning and agreeing to what we wanted done before we bit the bullet...and had someone else do it!  Ha!  We decided it'd get done much faster if Oz, the fellow that built the girls beds, did these projects for us.  And man, he did an awesome job!

When we first moved into our house, the cabinets were in front of the washer and dryer.  A couple of years ago, Terry and Tessie helped us move them to the other wall.  Since then the laundry room has kind of been a catch all.


But now, the laundry room has an awesome space for the kids shoes and bags.  It has extra shelves above the bench.  The wood top that the washer and dryer sat on is now butcher block to match the bench and counter top.  It has already helped immensely with the shoe explosion that was our living room.  I can't wait for school to start to see how much it helps to keep the back packs out of the dining room!


I've always loved the pantry in this house.  SO MUCH ROOM!  But also so much room for making it better.  The shelves were not very sturdy and it seemed like there was a lot of empty, wasted space.


And now, we have a butler's pantry!  Dad helped add a plug so now all our appliances can sit on the counter top and be used!  Yeah for not having to haul the grill cheese maker to the kitchen all the time!!  I really like how he redid the canned good shelves and stained them to match the countertop.  And to top it off, our little fridge fit nicely under the counter, tucked away!


Oz also helped us redo our dining room.  I really had a hard time with this room because I LOVED my table.  But a 4 ft round table did not give us enough space as a family of 6 to all eat together.  And so we did some brainstorming and came up with an idea for creating a dog kennel window bench with a new farm house table.


Oz was so patient and did such an awesome job on this project.  I was a little picky about not wanting cross pieces or lots of support pieces b/c of knocked toddler heads and ability to clean.  And he did an awesome job of recreating the look of the wood on the table top.  And the dog kennel...AMAZING!  The dogs have so much more room and it it's much easier to keep clean.  Not to mention more seating space and walking space too!


The only things we have left to do to declare these projects done is the replace the dining room chandler with a pot light and the garage door so it will open to the left instead of the right.  Yay for organization, functionality and storage!!!

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Maggie is 18 mths Old!

Sweet Ms Maggie turned 18 mths old last week and had her official check up today. She's officially still the most petite Hays child of all. Weighing in at a mere 20 lbs 4 oz (18%) and towers at 30 inches tall (5%). No worries...shes a smart cookie with a head circumference of 18.75 inches (83%). 😁 Both her sisters were over 31 inches tall and weighed close to 24 lbs. Drew was a giant compared to them all!

At 18 mths, Maggie loves to talk, a lot. Her favorite words include stop it, no, hello, baby, Blippi and bye bye. She loves to wake Drew up every morning and her favorite past time is to read books, eating chocolate chips and pester her older siblings. She's become much more social and loves Bible class and staying with Tristan, Grammy and Pa while I work. She is my dare devil child with no fear of any slide or height. And yes...she's still got quite the temper and definitely the most hard headed one yet! Ha!!

And because I like to see how similar and different all my babies are at the same age...



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Monday, July 22, 2019

No Screen Time Today

I got tired of the screens.  The inevitably ended up causing fights, or disrespet and laziness.  So I forbdt it today.  I may have secretly hoped they would clean but instead they decided to cook!  Ava made nine pans of cinnamon rolls and Carli made a Lemon Blueberry Cake.





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Sunday, July 21, 2019

Pictures from Camp





 Carli and Ava were so excited to go to camp.  Granted a little nervous but excited.  As they left we were told they would not call unless someone made themselves physically ill from being homesick.  I knew Sunday night would be rough but figured after that they'd be okay.  So I was a bit surprised to get a msg about Carli on Tuesday morning.  She was so homesick they said...and she wanted to call me.  She managed to make it through to Tuesday night but worked herself up again so they called.  I'm not sure it did any good b/c she cried harder every time she heard my voice.  I was perplexed b/c Ava was my home body...and then they told me...they moved Carli from the big cabin to the little cabin on Sunday night when Ava got upset.  That's probably my fault b/c when I filled out their application I told them about Ava's anxiety but that was before she saw a counselor and was doing so much better!  So basically, Carli got sacrificed for Ava.  When they moved Carli, they moved her away from the friend she came with and some little girl made a snide comment about her going to the baby cabin and if you know Carli...she couldn't let it go.  So it festered and festered and she made a mountain out of a molehill and was miserable.  In good news, after discovering all that I was able to tell Logan how to talk to her about giving her two choices and the counselors all stepped up as did her group of girls that came with her and by the end of the week Carli actually was enjoying herself.  Shew.  What a process.  Bless her heart she got a double dose of just being a homebody!  Here are some pictures posted on the camp page from through out the week.  Ava looks like a zombie in half of them!







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Saturday, July 20, 2019

Baking Sisters

 Well, the girls are home from church camp and what do they want to do their first full day at home?  Bake.  They tore the kitchen up and baked!!


Carli decided to make some cookies for her end of season Synergy party.  It was her first time working with Royal Icing and I thought she did a pretty good job!


Ava wanted to make her friend, Kiyah, a birthday cake and then decorated it with leftover royal icing.  It turned out pretty good and Kiyah was pleased too!




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Friday, July 19, 2019

They are HOME!

The Bigs are home from church camp and the Littles were so happy to see them!! Nonstop talking, laughing and lots and lots of hugs!



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Thursday, July 18, 2019

Maggie's Baby

I can't remember my other babies taking such an interest in just one toy.  Loving it, looking for it constantly, needing it to sleep.  Maggie has started doing this with "baby."  This is the doll Grammy bought Carli when Ava was born.  Maggie prefers baby to not wear clothes and she loves to take naps with her.  Pure sweetness!






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Monday, July 15, 2019

The Twins


You know how sometimes outfits just stick in your head.  This outfit was one of my favorites with Ava.  So when Maggie put it on, I simply could not resist a picture comparison!



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Sunday, July 14, 2019

Quartz Mountain Christian Camp

Today is the day they girls and their friends headed off to camp!  I'm not sure who was more anxious...them or me!  Here's to praying for an amazing week full of new friends and learning and growing more in Christ!!


And we are so happy and blessed that Aubrey and Lainee got to go with Carli and Ava to camp!





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2020 Carli's COVID19 Dairy: Day 25

Hi! Today we decorated Ms. Roxie's driveway. She had a rock driveway so we made special paint to put on the road. On the way home, I wen...