Not my finest Mommy moment.

Well, momma said there'd be days like this.  Momma didn't say what those days would look like or how you were supposed to handle those days.  Tuesday was one of those days, definitely not my finest mommy moment.  I would not even write it down because the children thankfully probably won't remember it (except for Carter and he just has a scary memory), but it's moments like these that help you appreciate all the grace given by the One who loves us better than any parent could, and it's days like this that makes us appreciate the really good days that momma probably wasn't referring to in the song.  

We have been traveling so much and had not done our usual grocery shopping yet.  I was making breakfast, an old faithful, oatmeal.  Yes, you can probably imagine where this is going.  Our kitchen is small, and all of the children were up under my feet, which is perfectly normal and almost expected.  I turned around to take the oatmeal to the table, and I don't know if I slipped or tripped over one of the children, but I did something causing the burning hot oatmeal to go flying all over the kitchen and all over Tilly and Summer.  It was awful.  I remember it felt like slow motion, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.  Summer was screaming hysterically, so I was frantically wiping it off her legs.  And then there's Tilly, standing over in the corner, whimpering a little, but not really making much noise.  I put the girls in a cool bath to clean off the oatmeal, and that's when I noticed Tilly's hand.  It looked worse than Summer's legs, probably because she never cried or screamed, so I didn't get the oatmeal off very fast, and it just burned her little fingers.  Ugh.  Break my heart.  I don't love gory detailed pictures of nasty injuries, but I did want to document this moment, so here is my sweet Tilly at the doctor's office, a day after the injury.  

That same day her hand blistered, and then the blisters popped (cringe) during her nap.  By the next day, they looked bad, so we went to the pharmacy, where they gave us some cream for burns, silvadine and an anti-biotic ointment for her.  David texted his friend from home, who is a pediatrician in Little Rock an up close picture of the wound, and he said we needed to see a doctor, so we went.  The nurse practioner could not believe that Tilly was not complaining or crying in pain.  In fact she asked Tilly if her finger hurt, and Tilly confidently replied, "No!"  She has been the sweetest little patient.  It's no wonder her name means "strong in battle."  She was definitely named appropriately!  Wednesday night, we put a sock on her hand for our trip to church, and she never took it off.  In fact, it was still on her hand the next morning when she woke up.  The good news is that her little hand is going to be fine, and she is going to be fine.  I also recognize that there will be many other days like this with my sweet little ones.  I just continue to pray and ask for grace for each day and each moment, so that I can better handle these days momma keeps talking about.  

Goats on the roof.

So upon leaving Unicoi State Park, we headed over to another Helen attraction, Goats on the Roof. Crazy, I know, and the name really says it all.  

There are goats, real ones, living on the roof!

And you ride a bicycle to get the feed up to them.  

Or you wind this machine with your hands.  

And boy are they so excited to get the food.  Sometimes, they don't even wait for it to make it all the way to the top!

A group shot of all the cousins, minus a tired Story, who was chilling in her stroller.  Thanks, Hollands, for a wonderful weekend.  We always love our time with you!

Unicoi State Park.

Last week, David was the speaker at a youth retreat in Oakwood, Georiga.  Our friends, Holly and Glenn, are the youth pastors at the church.  I know Holly from college, and we also worked camp with her in Nashville in 2004.  The first night David drove back and forth, but then decided that would quickly get old by the end of the week, so we loaded up our party of six (we've been doing that a lot this summer) and headed to my sister's house.  They are always so quick to welcome all of us, and we have the best time with them.  Our children play well together. . . most of the time, ha!  Noelle lives in Cleveland, so her part of the world is so nice and peaceful.  Friday, we headed over to Unicoi State Park to play and burn off some energy.  

Of course, I brought the camera along and snapped a few pictures.  Sweet Tilly taking a minute to smile at me!

Summer and Haleigh climbing high!

Zoie and Tilly!

Story is SO busy!  She's a climber, so we have to watch her every move.  She thinks she's as big as the others, too!  

Oh, how I love those sweet baby legs.  

And then there's Carter, who is such a good sport with all these girlies.  

Summer has incredible upper body strength for her age.  She went all the way across these monkey bars several times.  I was so impressed!

My girls love to swing!  Summer and Tilly would have spent hours had we let them.  But, we had other important places to see.  Stay tuned. . .

Wordless Wednesday.

Wyoming.

A week ago, Carter and David traveled the blue skies to Buffalo, Wyoming.  Our church partnered with a church there for a week doing missions.  During the mornings, our people did some light construction around the church facility, and in the evenings we helped to host backyard Bible clubs in several of the neighborhoods.  What an incredible opportunity for my boys!  So thankful they were able to do this together.  They flew out of Little Rock on Friday afternoon, and landed first in Denver, Colorado.  From Denver, they flew on a very small plane to Sheridan, Wyoming.  

David and Carter spent the night in Sheridan before meeting up with the rest of our group on Saturday afternoon.  

Here are some more members from our church arriving in Sheridan from Atlanta.  

David loved the scenery and the weather in Wyoming.  It was much different than the hot and humid summer we have been having here.  

More than the scenery though, he loved the wildlife.  You can view more pictures of their trip here, including lots of pictures of wild animals.  

I love this picture of my two boys, so handsome!

Here is Carter going door to door passing out fliers for the backyard Bible club.  What a great experience for him!  I think at this house Tom and Jerry (his new favorite) was playing on the TV, and he did not want to leave, ha!

Playing at the park!

Playing with Audrey and Amelia, his two new friends.  

Carter and David.  During this photo opp, David got tree sap all over his hair, and it took him forever to get it all out!

Carter and Miss Grace, a sweet lady from our church.  He is quite smitten with her. 

So, while I was laying in the pool in 100 degree heat in Arkansas, David and Carter were playing in the SNOW!  Crazy!

More animals.  I think these are antelope or maybe gazelles.  

Carter got to cross over the border into Montana, adding to the number of states he has visited.  

Carter with the Wyoming sign just before boarding a plane to come home.  

Carter, I hope this is a trip that you will never forget.  Your daddy loved having you as his traveling buddy.  He told me most every night when we talked how very proud of you he was during this trip.  He was proud of your good attitude, and he was impressed with your servant heart.  We pray, Carter, that one day God will capture your heart, so that he may use you to reach others for Him.  Mommy sure did miss you and Daddy while you were gone, but I'm so thankful that the two of you had this amazing opportunity together.  I love you both!

Summer and Tilly's princess party.

I have so much blogging to catch up on, I hardly know where to begin, but I think it best to just pick up where I left off.  We spent a week in July with Papa and Gigi (the girls and I) while Carter and David went to Wyoming on a mission trip.  During that week we celebrated our two eldest princesses, since we won't be with David's family again for quite some time.  Now there's one thing Gigi knows how to do and that's throw a party!  She did such a great job with the sweet decorations for the girls' party.  

My girls are so into princesses right now, so it's only apporpriate that we plan a party accordingly.

All of our children just love balloons, love them!

Here are the two princes of our house helping to celebrate before their big trip.  

Cupcakes for the princesses.  

I love the expressions on their faces in these two pictures, so excited and full of anticipation.  

Pure joy!

If you didn't already know this about our Story girl, she loves cupcakes!  

Our handsome boy.  His sisters sure did miss him while he was gone out west.  

Tilly so proud of her new princess doll.  

Summer posing with her new legos from Aunt Karen.  

Tilly excited about some legos, too!

We have a thing about balloons at our house.  They are so much fun, and our children love them so much, but we don't allow our children to play with them.  When David was younger, a family friend lost their younger child after choking on a balloon, so we look at them, use them to celebrate, but we always let them go up into the clouds.  

Thank you, Papa and Gigi for helping us to celebrate our two princesses.  Thank you, too, for hosting us while the boys were away.  We loved our time with you.  David and Carter took the camera on their trip, so these are the only pictures I have of our time in Arkansas.  Thankfully, my SIL came to visit later in the week, so you can check out her blog for some more pictures of our time in Arkansas.  

Wordless Wednesday.

Happy 4th birthday, Summer!

Happy 4th birthday, my sweet Summer! I can't believe that you are FOUR!  What a fun and super fast year this has been with you.  Let's see what you've been up to. . . 

Here you are last summer at Papa and Gigi's house.  We traveled to Arkansas for a family reunion in the month of July.  While we were there, we celebrated your birthday!

You got your teeth cleaned for the very first time, and you were so very brave!

We celebrated your birthday on the actual day with a doughnut breakfast!

You played soccer for the first time. 

Daddy and I took you and Carter to your very first Braves game, and you both had so much fun!

We spent some time with Mama and your cousins in August to celebrate Tilly's birthday. 

Miss Lou gave you a back to school hair cut.  

You spent lots of time playing with Carter and Tilly.  I love how the three of you love each other so much.

Here you are on your first day of school at The Heiskell School.  Miss Nancy and Miss Kacy were your teachers. 

We spent many HOT Saturdays watching Carter play soccer.  You and Tilly loved cheering for your big brother!

I would say without a doubt your most favorite thing you did this year was take ballet with Miss Chris.  

Here you are with Carter sporting your cowboy duds for Western Day at school.  

This was nursery rhyme dress up day.  You dressed the part of a Christmas nursery rhyme.  "Christmas comes but once a year, and when it comes, it brings good cheer!"

We visited the pumpkin patch, and you wanted your picture taken in the sunflower field.  

Here you are with the pumpkins!

We took our first trip to New Orleans.  Here you are beside the Mighty Mississippi.  

This year for Halloween you were Rapunzel.  So pretty!

My sweet little ballerina.  

With Carter ready for Hilarious Hat Day at school.  

I got to observe your ballet class in November.  I was so very proud of your hard work.  You are a beautiful dancer!

Here we are at Lowe's picking out our Christmas tree.  

Getting ready to ride the Pink Pig, one of our favorite Atlanta traditions.  

Christmas pictures at church.  

Getting ready for the Christmas program at school.  You spotted Daddy in the crowd.  

At Cafe du Monde in New Orleans with Daddy.  

We celebrated Daddy's doctoral graduation in December.  

This is you on Christmas morning, so excited and wearing all of your headbands at once!

Having some sister time with Tilly.  You are such an amazing big sister, Summer!  

On New Year's Day, we celebrated Christmas with our cousins at T's house.  

In early January, we missed an entire week of school due to snow.  We had SO much fun playing at home together!

Playing with Story in the kitchen.  Your little sisters love you so much!

Papa and Gigi came for a visit.  

Here we are on Valentine's Day after church all dressed in our reds and pinks.  

We had several picnics at the park.  

For spring break, we spent the week in Little Rock with Papa and Gigi.  We went to one of Daddy's favorite places for lunch, The Purple Cow.  

This was the day you were fitted for your ballet costume at school.  You were so excited, and I was so thankful to have my camera handy!

In the spring, we ran in several 5ks.  You and Carter loved to run in the kid's races!

With your best buddy on one of our family date nights!

This was Wacky Wednesday at school.  You got to dress so silly!

You made me this picture when I came to your class for Muffins with Mommy!

Here we are at the Muffins with Mommy!

In June we went with Papa and Gigi to the beach for a week.  It was so much fun!  

You and Carter having fun at the splash park in Destin.  

Summer at Grayton Beach in June.  

At the end of June, our church participated in VBS.  Here you are on the last night singing your songs.  You loved the music!

I adore this picture of you, my sweet girl because it captures the essence of who you are, fun, loving, beautiful, and just excited about life.
Happy 4th birthday, Summer!  We are so thankful that God picked us to be your parents.  It has been the most fun watching you grow up these last four years.  Thank you for being such a sweet big sister to Tilly and Story.  You are kind and helpful and nurturing.  Mommy and Daddy love you just the way you are, and we pray that God will continue the work He is doing in your life and use you in a mighty way to bring Him glory.  We love you!