Wordless Wednesday - The Many faces of Griffin

I sure do love that boy!

Walter Henry - 10 months

Walter Henry you are TEN Months OLD!!!!

You weigh 17 lbs 6 oz.



You wear a few 6-9 month clothes but most of what you wear these days is 6-12 months.


You wear a size small diaper cover with infant (green edge) prefolds.


You are beginning to wonder why Mommy poses you next to the cowboy every month. :)

You have 6 teeth.

You eat lots of table food but you still haven't figured out a sippy cup.

You have become quite the Momma's boy and reach for me if someone else is holding you.

It amazes me the way you react to Griffin and Ben. Most of time just seeing Griffin causes you to laugh and Ben invokes fear. LOL Madisyn and Ty are good at calming you.



You nurse 4 or 5 times a day.

You take two naps a day and sleep about 11 hours at night.

You say Da-Da and "talk" all the time.

Your "crawling" has advanced to getting your stomach completely off the floor and rocking before you revert back to rolling and scooting backwards to get where you want.

You got your first hair cut last month.

You attended your first out of state auction.

Your arms are almost always moving, especially when nursing.

You have started to pull up but don't seem to know what to do and get stuck half way.

You still suck your middle fingers on your right hand. Madisyn calls them your "sleepy fingers".

Thursday Tips 3/25

Today's tip doesn't have to be for large families. :) My dryer has been giving me a hard time for about a year now so I've gotten up close and personal with the clothes line.

We installed a couple of retractable lines outside so we can pull them out and I can hang our clothes over concrete. So that's tip #1 - check out retractable lines so you don't have to wade in the soppy yard to hang out clothes. OK, maybe it's just my yard that's always wet. Hanging over the concrete keeps me from tracking mud back in or clothes getting dirty when I drop one.

Sometimes our dryer refuses to come on and I have to get something dry {like sheets from one of the bedwetters} - I have an indoor line. Another retractable line is installed in the closet, runs to the far side of the room and back in the other side of the closet.

And the last tip, hang your hang clothes on hangers and clip the hanger to the line. When everything is dry, it's a cinch to put the clothes away and when they are on hangers, they take up less room on the line.

Melissa has already posted a tip that stepped on my toes. Go check out Coffee with Me for more great tips!

Oversized Load

We went to an auction recently with Kent. This is the way to get around. ;)

1st Haircut

Although I've been through this a few times before, it's so hard to say goodbye to cute little long baby boy hair.

It was time, Henry needed a "big boy" cut. Daddy fixed us up with plenty of before shots.

Mr. Ervin has given all our boys their first cut. He keeps planning to retire, I guess he'll have to make special arrangements for our family. ;)

Henry did really well. I held his hand(s) while Kent took some pictures and videoed the event. Henry is becoming such a big boy and leaving the baby stage way too fast. He is up to 6 teeth and starting saying Da-Da this week.

He wasn't sure about the whole getting his hair wet part but he never shed a tear.


Almost done.

And now the afters.

See, he's turning into a little boy.

Is it too late to change my mind. I really think I wanna go back and get the little baby.

They grow up way too fast.

Love and Laundry by Point of Grace

Thanks to Jess for sharing this!

Announcing

Lynden Rucker !

We headed over to Conway to meet the newest member of the family. One thing lead to another and by the time we got there, Raegen was already in bed. Ben was extremely disappointed. He wakes up every day asking to go to Rae-Rae's house.

Mimi couldn't get off work so Granddaddy is staying with the Stain family to help out a bit. Robin has some pretty funny pictures that I hope she'll share of Dad teaching Billy a few things. ;)

You think she was excited to hold the baby! LOL That girl loves babies. I had to pry Lynden out of her arms.



It was getting late so we couldn't take a million pictures - this is what you get with 6 kiddos. :)

Thursday Tip 3/18

Today's tip is brought to you by the Memphis tourism council {OK, not really but I'm sure if they knew about it - they'd be all over it ;) }.


What child doesn't love to visit all the great animals at the zoo. My tip pertains specifically to the Memphis area though I know there are deals like this in other areas.

Current admission rates at the Memphis Zoo are $15 for adults (ages 12 and up) and $10 for children (ages 2-11). Parking is an additional $5. For our family, admission would run $75 for a one time visit! The problem with paying $75 to visit the zoo is that I then feel the need to see it all to get my money's worth. Trying to see everything in one day with littles is exhausting. The solution - purchase a family membership for $100. Parking is free for members and a bi-monthly magazine is also mailed out that keeps us up to date. There are also other discounts (a percentage off in the gift shop, discounted birthday parties, etc). For us the best part of the membership is that we can come back as often as we like so I don't feel like I have to see everything all at once.

And that is my tip. Search for family memberships to your favorite places to visit so the visits can be kept low key (ie short) and when there is a toddler melt down - go home and come back another day.

Be sure to visit Melissa at Coffee with Me for some other great tips (I'm loving the one I got from Beck about using our Klean Kanteens on a daily basis - What a great idea!!!!)

Zoo Reunion

Last week the kids and I were headed to the Memphis Library to pick up our school books for the next 3 weeks and decided to made a stop at the zoo. I announced our plans on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to join us. Alison and Ruth took us up on our offer. Alison was in our Bradley birth class last year and this was the first opportunity we had to meet up.

I need it recorded for all posterity - the kids and I were early! We actually got to the zoo about 15 minutes early (after potty breaks even!) so the kiddos played on the playground while we waited.

It's amazing how quickly playground skills improve. I didn't have to help Ben with anything. Henry was in the wrap, so all I had to do was watch.

When we were almost to Memphis I realized that I forgot my camera. My husband bought me a DSLR because I'm such a photo bug and I ran off and left it at home.

Most of the playground pictures were taken with the camera on my phone. It's amazing how technology has changed. The camera on my phone is far superior to the first few digital cameras we owned and we thought those were something! ha! Thankfully Alison saved the day and sent me a copy of the pictures she took as well.

I told them to be careful on the monkey bars, I didn't want any keepers thinking their beloved animals had gotten loose. :)

It turned out to be a bit cool but Henry stayed nice and toasty wrapped on Momma.


Aren't our friends adorable! Ruthie is turning 1 tomorrow and she is just the cutest thing! I love her red hair and blue eyes. I had a great time walking and chatting with Alison. It's nice to hang out with other moms.

I was surprised at how well Ty did with the horses. He sure has calmed his movements greatly over the last year or so. He used to dart around and the animals were scared of him - not any more!

Climbing on the cow for a group shot is a zoo tradition.

Photos with people hatching in the eggs are another must do. I need to see if I can find the picture of Uncle Kirk hatching - that's one that should be framed. :)

The kids were so excited to see that the python had been replaced. A python died last year and they last time we visited, the cage was empty. They don't get their joy over a new snake from their Momma!

See what I mean - Don't you just want to pinch those little cheeks!?!?!?!

I don't know how many times I have been to the zoo in the last 5 or 6 years but this was the first time I had ever seen the pandas out of their glass enclosures.

I don't know if Alison will trust my judgement on a good time to visit the zoo again. Soon after we got to the new Teton Trek exhibit it started to rain. Henry and Ruth got their first experience of being out in the rain but I think everyone dried quickly.

Thanks for joining us Alison and Ruth! We had a great time and can't wait to do it again!!

The Eagle Has Landed

The kids and I made a flying trip to Conway on Monday to put this guy in his new home.

Yes, that's really what he weighed and Yes!, this is my "little" sister's child. We all thought Raegen was big at 9 lbs but it's obvious Lynden has no intentions of being the 'little brother' for long! LOL

{As a side note. One day fairly soon after Robin and Billy married I saw a plate hanging on their wall. It had Billy's birth stats. If I remember correctly he weighed 10 lbs something at birth. I asked Robin if she knew he was so big at birth when she married him. Birth weight alone seemed like reason to stop dating him, but alas it was too late! HA! }

Relationship trends in our nation

I was looking through my Facebook profile the other day. Ty's birthday hadn't been accounted for so I still had him listed as 6. :)



As I was browsing, the relationship status portion caught my eye.

Under the listing of to whom I am wed - it says "Cancel Relationship".

That phrase got me to thinking. We have become a society of easy. If it isn't easy, then quit. We can de-friend someone with one click, we cancel marriages with the movement of a finger, we walk out on children because the government will "take care of them".

Honestly, I'm not a real political person but the politics of late have really hit home. As a society, everyone wants someone else to shoulder the load. Free food, free housing, free health care. What has happened to caring for yourself and family? I was listening to the radio lately and a woman called in that had been receiving unemployment benefits for over a year. She felt the new proposal to extend benefits to 99 weeks was a step in the right direction but still not enough. The radio host asked her several questions which lead to her stating "I will not deliver pizzas". Why not? It's better to free load off the government than provide for yourself? I understand that pizza delivery boys don't make the income of a former professional. But unemployment benefits aren't that great either. When/How did we become a society that has decided that certain things are beneath us? Why is any individual "above" so much? That person is beneath me, that job is beneath me, that car is beneath me, that store is beneath me - Where does it stop?

Relationship difficult - push a button and it's over, no job - rely on the government instead of taking on a undesirable job, don't have the finer things - charge it on a card and then default. What a sad state of affairs.