Eve turns 5!

Eve had her birthday at the Children's museum this year! We had a wonderful day despite the cold weather and the cold wind!

The Tesago Choir

Hannah is the 5th one from the left on the bottom row. She is wearing a white dress and black boots. They did such a good job!

Naomi is 9 months

I know that I have been horrible at keeping up with this blog. My New Year's resolution is to do much better. The kids do and say the funniest things, and I never write it down. Shoot....I don't even take pictures anymore. When you have four, you just want to make sure the laundry is done and you have food in the fridge. It has taken me about 9 months to get organized!

Eve had her Thanksgiving play a couple weeks ago. She is my sweet little pilgrim in the back!
Naomi snuck into the teepee after the performance!

She is crawling everywhere! Her favorite thing is chewing on electrical chords. We are in so much trouble!

Hooray for the first day of school!!

Hannah and Ben got on the bus for the first day of school yesterday. Oh wait a minute they are getting a four day weekend for the holiday already. Monday will be a great day. just added another picture for fun.

Back from Minnesota!

I had such a great time with my family! It is always very hard to leave! The kids at the "airpork" (That's how Eve pronounces it!) She's a goof!

Happy 4th!

We spent the weekend at the farm. It was really hot, but we had a great time! Naomi will be 4 months this week. I can't believe it.

My Sweet Eve!

What are we doing wrong?

Today, Eve walks into the bathroom and says "This isn't going to be pretty!" Ben took my camera and took a picture of his dump, and Hannah informed me that she passes gas in school all the time and the kids think it is funny. We should of never left the South. Maybe my kids would have better manners! Naomi isn't very girlie either. They are all Garretts....what can I say?

Happy Anniversary Big D!

First of all, Derek blogged about the deck. My mom said that I was mean with my post. I told her that Derek posted the pictures and wrote that about himself.

Second of all, I have the best husband that anyone could ask for. Derek...I would marry you all over again. 10 years feel like 2 years except we have four little ones running around and that would be impossible.

THE DECK

Well, Derek has finally finished our new deck. His buddy, Craig, who is in construction, really did most of the work. Derek was more manual labor, but I am really excited for him in the fact that he finished something, HAHA. We have already had two dinner parties on the deck in the last 5 days. Here are before and after shots.

Meet Sandy!

First I wanted to post Naomi at 10 weeks.

Okay, now for Sandy. Last weekend, Hannah got off the bus and this baby squirrel crawled into her hands. The kids FINALLY got a pet. They fed her cheerios and cashews. What squirrel wouldn't like cashews? They played with Sandy for a couple of hours and then I told them, "Sandy's mom is probably looking for her, and it is time to let her go." Well, Sandy did not want to go. She followed us around. It was kind of creeping me out. So, I did a little research and found that the squirrel was orphaned. Mommy probably got hit by an SUV. The baby squirrel had yet to learn how to retrieve its food, so it turns to humans for help.

Derek comes home and said he would take care of her starvation problem with a simple shovel to its head. He's so sweet....He's like, "Michelle...it's a squirrel...are you kidding me?"

I got a hold of the wildlife rehab to come and pick up Sandy. By the way, this was all going on while I was trying to have a garage sale at the house. Sandy was scaring people at the garage sale. Luckily, someone from the garage sale wanted to take Sandy and rehab her back to nature. This gentlemen had said that he had done it before. Ahhhh...yes, I saved Sandy's life from Derek and I got rid of creepy stalker squirrel.

Naomi at 2 months!

Her eyes are still blue and that hair is blonde, but almost reddish in the sun. Crazy. She has been sleeping through the night for a week now. She sleeps from 10p to 7a. I'm loving it. I do get up a couple of times in the night to check on her, because I never hear her cry.

UPDATE ON THE REST OF US:

I started running again last week. I'm only doing 3 miles a day, but it feels good to exercise again. I always gain 50 pounds with each pregnancy, so I have to work extra hard to lose the weight. Nursing alone does not do the trick for me. I have to go back to work next week, which I am not looking forward to. I'm only going to do a couple 4 hour shifts to start with.

Hannah is playing soccer and fastpitch this Spring. Derek is the assistant coach for her soccer team. Ben and Eve are also playing soccer this Spring. They are all on different teams! Sooooo, Saturday is crazy! Hannah plays from 9:30-11:00 and then goes to her softball game. Eve plays from 10:30-12:00 and Ben from 1:00-2:30. We have games every night of the week except for Wednesday (Bible Study) and Friday nights (The night I will be working).

Derek is always busy with work, but has managed to get in a couple of rounds of golf when the weather was nice. Was is the key word. He is working with our friend Craig to build a deck out back. I'll post before and after pictures when they finish. He is also preaching this Sunday for Mother's Day! Well, that's about all I have for now.

Goodbye to Alan and Julia

Hannah and Ben grew up with their sweet Amish friends. They will be moving to Ohio at the end of May. We made a trip down to Pennsylvania so the kids could say good-bye. I have pictures of these kids when they were 4 years old. What sweet memories we have with them. The kids spent the last couple of days corrupting them with DS and movies, and my kids spent one last day with them doing chores. Wish we had more time.

Slumber party..Ear piercing...Trauma

Ben had a trampoline accident yesterday. I had to bring him to the dentist on call. All three of his teeth are loose. The middle one is the worst. This is after I got the bleeding to stop. Gross huh?

Hannah got her ears pierced yesterday morning after all her friends left from her slumber party. She did great. D and I originally had said 12 years old, but we caved.

For Hannah's 9th birthday, I told her she could have a sleep over. What was I thinking with a 3 week old? I went to be at midnight, and the girls were still up. I don't even know what time they went to bed. They stayed in the playroom all night, so no sneaking out. I can't complain too much.

We did some Tye-dye tee-shirts for a craft, so they could all wear them to school next Monday.

18 days old

Naomi Sarah Garrett

18 days old

Naomi at 2 weeks

Snipity-Snip

Derek went in for his procedure this morning and did great! Can you believe that I cried while he was gone. It is something about making things permanent. I think I really lost it when Ben said to me this morning before he got on the bus, "I think you should try to get me a brother." I said, "Ben, that means that we would have 5 children." He said, "It's fine mom, he can sleep in my room." What do you say to that? Derek says that I am crazy. He is probably right.

More pictures!

I feel like Derek threw me under the bus when he sent a mass email of a picture of our family after I had her. It was so unflattering that I could of killed him. I told him that I was going to take a picture of him when I pick him up after his vasectomy on Friday and send out a mass email of him at his worst. Yes....D is getting snipped this Friday!

Here's my beauty. My horrible birthing experience will be saved for another blog. Please do not read it if you are pregnant with your first or trying to get pregnant.

Naomi's bili count is a little high, so we have to have her stuck again on Monday. I think she looks pretty good with a tan myself. I wish I were a little jaundiced right now.

12 hours old.

First bath at home.

Naomi Sarah Garrett

She is here 7lbs 140oz. this is Derek posting so I am keeping short an sweet. Mom and Baby are great. Michelle is awesome.

Pregnancy update!

My due date is in 4 days. I am 2cm dilated and 100% effaced. I think baby girl is really comfortable b/c I have tried every homeopathic option to induce myself. I won't mention all the methods in fear of that one male reader I might have. I see my doctor on Monday morning and hopefully a pitocin induction following. Pray for the baby to arrive soon and safe. I'll keep you posted.