I cannot believe I haven't blogged in 8 months!! All of our babies have gotten a year older! And we've welcomed our new beautiful daughter, Sarah Elizabeth into this wonderful craziness!Saturday January 28th, at 6am, I went to the hospital to be induced. My mom was at our house with the kids. I wasn't nervous...yet. My nurse was trying to take things slow so she barely had any pitocin dripping into my IV, so after about 2 hours nothing was progressing! My doctor came in, broke my water, and increased my pitocin drip. BAM!! That got things rolling. I went from 4cm to 10cm in under an hour. I decided to not get an epidural this time. It hurt like crazy! I remember Kevin telling me "the contraction is over", but the pain never went away. I only had 20 minutes at the most of hard contractions where I didn't even want to breathe and I questioned my craziness of deciding not to get an epidural!! Poor Kevin, I dug my nails into his arm while pushing. I had no idea I was doing that!! I had Sarah out in 1 push (I wasn't about to take my time getting her out...that's a whole other kinda pain!) When she was born we didn't have a name picked out yet. After holding her, lovin' on her and seeing what she looked like, we knew Sarah Elizabeth would be her name. Sarah means "princess" and Elizabeth means "God's promise". She was 7lbs 1.7oz and 19.25 inches long with a full head of dark brown hair. It looks like she might have blue eyes. Born at 11:32 am.
I have never felt so great after having a baby!! All the nurses kept telling me I was the easiest patient they've ever had. :) (I tried on my jeans a couple days after I had her, and they already fit! A week and a half after and I was down to my prepregnancy weight!!!)
The very important food table! My favorite part of parties is the food! I love preparing a yummy menu! 
Ben's pirate ship cupcakes!
We've gone to the zoo a few times...once on Ben's birthday
and again a few days later when Neil and Aiden came to town! (That is a cow LICKING Noah's hand!!)
A few weeks later I took the girls to the zoo too!
October '11 - Neil, Tiffany, and Aiden came to town and we all went to the State Fair! We ate some great food and the kids rode a few rides. While the experience was fun, I think we'll just go to Six Flags next time! :) 
October was so much fun around here!! We went to MainStay Farm again this year, and it was just as much fun as last year! This time the Roberts family joined us. The kids each picked a pumpkin and painted it (Noah, however, slept through the painting fun after being so worn out from the day.)
We went to the Fall Festival at our church and it was fun as usual! I made a cute little costume for Sarah to wear as well! My shirt says, "I'm dressed up as my Mom!" :)
Late October Kevin started taking flying lesssons!!! He is having so much fun! And the kids LOVE going up with him!
The day before Halloween we went to Boo At The Zoo with Kevin's brothers family and the Roberts family.
November '11 - Kevin was working in Refugio for a few weeks and we missed him! So, we drove down for the weekend and spent a day in Corpus Christi and a day in San Antonio. We went the Texas State Aquarium, the Riverwalk and Children's Museum in San Antonio. It was a fun quick weekend!
The kids had their Thanksgiving feasts at school and then we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house! Lee and Kevin deep fried a turkey and it was so good! I love having it at our house every year because we have all of the yummy leftovers for days!!
We started our add-on also! We also remodeled the rest of the house with hardwood floors, texture and paint!! Here's a picture of the before: 
I found some time to make some delicious Christmas cookies!! 
December 16th - Noah turned 2! Oh how quickly my baby has grown! He keeps us laughing all the time! I asked my friend to take some maternity pictures of me. She did pretty darn good! I set the camera settings and told her the angles I wanted the pictures done...I was so happy with the end result!!! Here's one with the birthday boy!
The next day we were rearended. Ugh! Second time in a year. And all our babies were in the car...again! :(
We ended up having to reschedule Noah's birthday party 2 times and had to resort to having it at Chuck E Cheese. Booo!! I had so many awesome ideas for his Veggie Tales themed party and I didn't get to do them. I did get to make his shirt and cake though! :)
We had quite a few visitors come see us! But, my favorite part was when the kids came to meet their new baby sister! Ben got to hold her first. Noah had just woken up from a nap and was not wanting anything to do with her! But, when they came the next day, he walked right in and put his hands out to hold her!!
Monday afternoon I got to go home. My mom kept the boys another day so we could adjust to being home without alot of craziness. When they did come home it was so great to finally have everyone together!
The kids want to hold Sarah all the time! I love it!! There's nothing more sweet than seeing them love on her and talk to her. When Noah wants to hold her he will go grab the Boppy pillow, put it in his lap and reach his hands out toward her. It's the sweetest thing! They all love their Sarah so much. And they're all so careful around her...even Noah! I am amazed at how great he is with her.
She's going to be 3 weeks old in one day! And she is already getting so big and changing so much! Since we came home with her, she has only been waking up 1 time during the night. Go baby girl!! She is a fantastic sleeper! Her sweet baby coo's are just so special! I have such a hard time putting her down and not holding her all day!
Our church has been beyond amazing! Every other night since we came home, someone has brought us dinner! This is the biggest blessing. And Kevin and I are loving all the new recipes that we're getting to try. :) I'm loving not having to stress over making dinner. What will I do when the meals stop?!? :)
Since I can't barely remember what happened last week I am only going to post some (a ton!) pictures of what's been happening since last June!
August '11 - Ben being his silly, crazy self!! This kid gets sillier everyday!
Ben made cookies all by himself one day! He got all of the ingredients out, poured & mixed and placed the dough on the cookie sheet all on his own!! I was so proud of him and he was so excited to tell everyone he did it by himself!!!
August 22nd - the girls started school! Kiley is in kindergarten. She really did not like school at first. She would sit in the hall and scream! Parents were not allowed to walk kids to their classroom, and she just wasn't ready to be without her Mommy. :( Kaitlin started 2nd grade and loves it!!
September 15th '11 - We had a sonogram to find out the sex of the baby, but we had the sonographer put the picture in an envelope and not tell us what we were having! I took the envelope to a friend, and she made a cake so we could cut it open and see what we would be having! We had rented a room at Spring Creek BBQ and the next day we gathered with family and friends, ate dinner and cut the cake! We totally were convinced it was going to be a boy....so, when we cut the cake and saw PINK frosting, we couldn't believe it!!!! Everyone was so excited!! 
September '11 - Ben had a pirate party and turned 4!! He LOVED his party and loved that everyone came over to celebrate him!
Ben (wearing the pirate shirt I made him) and Kiley standing in the sand box "treasure hunt"!
Pirate cake pops!Monday afternoon I got to go home. My mom kept the boys another day so we could adjust to being home without alot of craziness. When they did come home it was so great to finally have everyone together!
The kids want to hold Sarah all the time! I love it!! There's nothing more sweet than seeing them love on her and talk to her. When Noah wants to hold her he will go grab the Boppy pillow, put it in his lap and reach his hands out toward her. It's the sweetest thing! They all love their Sarah so much. And they're all so careful around her...even Noah! I am amazed at how great he is with her.
She's going to be 3 weeks old in one day! And she is already getting so big and changing so much! Since we came home with her, she has only been waking up 1 time during the night. Go baby girl!! She is a fantastic sleeper! Her sweet baby coo's are just so special! I have such a hard time putting her down and not holding her all day!
Our church has been beyond amazing! Every other night since we came home, someone has brought us dinner! This is the biggest blessing. And Kevin and I are loving all the new recipes that we're getting to try. :) I'm loving not having to stress over making dinner. What will I do when the meals stop?!? :)
Since I can't barely remember what happened last week I am only going to post some (a ton!) pictures of what's been happening since last June!
August '11 - Ben being his silly, crazy self!! This kid gets sillier everyday!
Ben made cookies all by himself one day! He got all of the ingredients out, poured & mixed and placed the dough on the cookie sheet all on his own!! I was so proud of him and he was so excited to tell everyone he did it by himself!!!August 22nd - the girls started school! Kiley is in kindergarten. She really did not like school at first. She would sit in the hall and scream! Parents were not allowed to walk kids to their classroom, and she just wasn't ready to be without her Mommy. :( Kaitlin started 2nd grade and loves it!!September 15th '11 - We had a sonogram to find out the sex of the baby, but we had the sonographer put the picture in an envelope and not tell us what we were having! I took the envelope to a friend, and she made a cake so we could cut it open and see what we would be having! We had rented a room at Spring Creek BBQ and the next day we gathered with family and friends, ate dinner and cut the cake! We totally were convinced it was going to be a boy....so, when we cut the cake and saw PINK frosting, we couldn't believe it!!!! Everyone was so excited!! September '11 - Ben had a pirate party and turned 4!! He LOVED his party and loved that everyone came over to celebrate him!Ben (wearing the pirate shirt I made him) and Kiley standing in the sand box "treasure hunt"!
The very important food table! My favorite part of parties is the food! I love preparing a yummy menu! Ben's pirate ship cupcakes!We've gone to the zoo a few times...once on Ben's birthdayand again a few days later when Neil and Aiden came to town! (That is a cow LICKING Noah's hand!!)A few weeks later I took the girls to the zoo too!October '11 - Neil, Tiffany, and Aiden came to town and we all went to the State Fair! We ate some great food and the kids rode a few rides. While the experience was fun, I think we'll just go to Six Flags next time! :) October was so much fun around here!! We went to MainStay Farm again this year, and it was just as much fun as last year! This time the Roberts family joined us. The kids each picked a pumpkin and painted it (Noah, however, slept through the painting fun after being so worn out from the day.)We went to the Fall Festival at our church and it was fun as usual! I made a cute little costume for Sarah to wear as well! My shirt says, "I'm dressed up as my Mom!" :)Late October Kevin started taking flying lesssons!!! He is having so much fun! And the kids LOVE going up with him!The day before Halloween we went to Boo At The Zoo with Kevin's brothers family and the Roberts family.November '11 - Kevin was working in Refugio for a few weeks and we missed him! So, we drove down for the weekend and spent a day in Corpus Christi and a day in San Antonio. We went the Texas State Aquarium, the Riverwalk and Children's Museum in San Antonio. It was a fun quick weekend!The kids had their Thanksgiving feasts at school and then we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house! Lee and Kevin deep fried a turkey and it was so good! I love having it at our house every year because we have all of the yummy leftovers for days!!We started our add-on also! We also remodeled the rest of the house with hardwood floors, texture and paint!! Here's a picture of the before: I found some time to make some delicious Christmas cookies!! December 16th - Noah turned 2! Oh how quickly my baby has grown! He keeps us laughing all the time! I asked my friend to take some maternity pictures of me. She did pretty darn good! I set the camera settings and told her the angles I wanted the pictures done...I was so happy with the end result!!! Here's one with the birthday boy!The next day we were rearended. Ugh! Second time in a year. And all our babies were in the car...again! :( 
We had all of Kevin's family over for Christmas Eve. It was such a fun night! We didn't get to bake special cookies for Santa this year, so we gave him some premade ones, white and chocolate milk and apples and water for the reindeer!! Taking care of the reindeer was Ben's idea...too cute!! It was late and Ben wasn't too thrilled to be taking a picture.
We spent plenty of evenings taking a walk at our favorite park!
January '12- Kaitlin turned 8!!! This sweet girl continues to amaze me everyday! Her heart is filled with love and she is so smart. She has definitely made Kevin and me proud!! She had a painting party and it was so much fun! I made her a painters pallette cake!
At 39 weeks I was induced. :)
Kevin and me after Sarah was born! 5th time we have been this happy!! :)
Our family of 7 together for the first time!!
The girls came with Kevin to the hospital to take Sarah and me home!
My mom kept the boys for a day and a half after we came home. So, we got to ease into being home with Sarah. And the girls got extra snuggle time with their sister!
When Sarah cries, Noah will come up and kiss her head and say "awwww". So precious!!!!
