We took our ZOO to the ZOO

Alternately titled: 

 "We have a LOT of kids and we took them to the ZOO!"

When we were on our recent family vacation, we received so many comments regarding the number of kids we have.  People often said things like...

"Wow!  You have your hands full!"

or

"Wow!  That's a lot of kids!"
or
"Wow!  Are they all yours?"


I found it somewhat interesting that we stood out as having a lot of children considering I often feel like we don't have that many in comparison to several of my friends who have six or more!  But I guess by societal norms, we do, in fact, have a lot of kids!


And so today, when we met three families at the zoo for a morning play date, those odd looks and "under the breath comments" about the number of children we had increased in number as we literally had a ZOO at the ZOO!

{Our little Zoo}

{Making Silly Animal Faces}

In case you didn't count, that's 13 kids!  And to top it off, there were 2 more babies that were not in the picture and 2 babies on the way (one being born TOMORROW)!  So if you're keeping track, that's SEVENTEEN kids among 4 families!  


So we may be different than the norm and we may stand out when we take our kids places, but I'm so grateful to have good friends who have also embraced an openness to life.  


These are good mom's.  They may have a lot of kids, but they are good mom's... mom's who bring snacks and feed my children when I forget my own snacks, who pick them up when they fall, who watch them and keep them from wandering off when my back is turned, who fan them off when they are hot, and who give them many, many playmates to enjoy!  I'm really grateful for these people... even if we do sometimes resemble a ZOO!

{Emily's face makes me laugh on this one.
She is the most cautious of the bunch!} 

{Monkey's visiting the monkey's}

{Feeding giraffes}
{I should add that I'm also thankful for mom's who bring cash to the zoo and loan me money so my kids can feed the giraffes!}

{Mary did it!} 

{Guess who DIDN'T?!}

{More monkey's}

{Yep!  It's a ZOO!}
{Good Job to Noah, Jack & McKenna for smiling and being aware that we were taking a picture!}

Little Things {Spring 2012}

At the beginning of April, tragedy struck a family that is very dear to my heart.  Matt Nagel, a childhood friend whom I've known for many, many years, suddenly passed away from a massive stroke.  Matt's sudden passing shook me to my core.  His dear, sweet, amazing wife, Molly, is raising their daughter on her own.  And not a day goes by that I don't think of Molly and how she must miss all the "little things" about the life she is now grieving.  


It's so easy to get carried away with life; to let it all pass by without taking note of all the little things that actually define life.  


I hate that I do this too often; not pause to soak it all in.  It should not take a terrible tragedy like Matt's to remind me to savor each day; each moment.  But the reality is that it has.


So as I think about Matt and Molly nearly every day, I also try to remember to celebrate and take note of the little things more often.  No one is promised tomorrow.  I pray I never have to grieve the "little things" about my life with my family of six.  But I also pray that I don't need a tragedy to remind me of how blessed I am.


As I share these pictures and document some of the "little things" I have loved about my life this Spring, I do it with a heavy heart.  A heart that grieves for my friend, Molly, and the "little things" she misses about her life with her beloved Matt.

Holtzman Family

Little Things {Spring 2012}

{Cute Hair}
Molly's hair looks super cute in pigtails.  And she thinks it's fun to be just like her big Sissy.  And so I snapped one last picture of her sweet pigtails before we cut her hair into an even cuter bob!

{Fishing}
Noah got his own tackle box from his PaPa for his birthday.  And with the exception of baiting the hook and touching the fish, he loves everything about fishing!  When his Great PaPa came to town for Abby's baptism, he made sure to tell him to bring his tackle box and fishing gear too.  Noah's Great PaPa is as close to a professional fisherman as we know, so Noah was super excited to get a chance to fish with him.  I think his great PaPa was pretty happy to oblige!

Vance loves to fish too.  It was his very favorite thing to do with his own dad (I think it even beat playing golf).  And so it's sweet to see him fishing with Noah now... plus a few  girly girls and neighbor boys!

{Learning New Things}
Noah learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  It took only about an hour on a Sunday afternoon and he was riding like a pro.  He had no big spills and no scrapes or bruises to show for his accomplishment.  He was beyond proud and excited about his new ability and I especially loved watching him and his Daddy tackle this new skill together.  

 

{A Lesson by the Big Boys}
Noah had his friend, Owen, over for a play date one day when rain was imminent.  I captured them teaching Emily about the rain cycle on the rain cycle wheels they made at school.  They were so enthusiastic in their teaching methods and she soaked in every second of the attention they were giving her!

{Backyard Neighbor Play}
The next door neighbor boys have adopted our backyard as their own.  They come over nearly everyday to play.  And I love it!  The boys all play really well together and occasionally, I catch them being pretty sweet to the girls too! 

 

{Rattle Play Date}
The "big kids" are so anxious to "play" with Abby.  They begged me to get out her toys and when I did, she was instantly the center of a rattle play date for four!  I guess a baby can never have too many rattles!

{Picnic in the Park}
On a weekend when Vance was enjoying watching KU play in the Final Four in New Orleans, I took the kids on a picnic in the park; blanket and all.  It was a first for us!  After lunch, Noah and Emily taught Molly about the wonder and joy of blowing dandelions while Abby stopped crying for few minutes and actually slept!  

 

{A Late Night in the Storm Shelter}
I have been beyond terrified of tornadoes since I was a kid.  My parents used to call me "tornado brain" for my constant obsession with them.  I always had a shelter prepared in the small space beneath our staircase stocked with pillows, flashlights and other survival necessities :)  My parents thought I was nuts, but indulged my fear and precaution.


My fear of tornados has not waned much as an adult.  I still fear the Spring weather, but have learned to not overreact (for the most part).  But one night this Spring, a massive tornado threat was the top news story all over the national news.  Apparently, the conditions were as dangerous as they have been in many years and Wichita was right smack in the bulls eye of the threat.  Several high schools even canceled their proms!  In all my years of living in Kansas, I don't ever recall the local news people being so insistent with their warnings to be prepared for this threat... they told people to get shelters ready and told us what to put in them!  


And so I put my childhood shelter making skills to use in our storage room!  
(Excuse the awful phone pictures!)

When the sirens went off around 10 pm, I tried not to panic and put on a (mostly) brave face for my kids (particularly my mini me "tornado brain" Noah).  A tornado did hit Wichita that night.  Homes were destroyed.  Fortunately, no one was killed and our house was fine.  After all the hype, it turned out to be a semi-fun night hanging out in our makeshift shelter!  Oh, and Emily... I carried her sleeping body to the shelter, plopped her in a chair, put a helmet on her, and she never opened her eyes through the entire ordeal!

Noah playing his DSi

Vance's mom is behind the pillow :) 

Vance with his helmet (that didn't fit) and some crazy eyes!

Me and Miss Molly with our helmets

Emily in her helmet... sleeping through it all!

{Cute Clothes for Easter}
It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I have a slight obsession with dressing the kids in matching clothes!  And the more unique, the better!  As always, my sweet friend, Melissa, made my day with these super sweet and super cute Easter dresses for the girls.  I couldn't help but grin watching Molly walk with those sweet ruffles down her back!  And, of course, Noah looked pretty handsome too!

{Sister Friends}
It is such a delight to see the friendship developing between Emily and Molly.  I always wanted a sister and I hope so much that all my girls will grow up to be great sister friends.  My two oldest girls play so well together.  They laugh with each other, help each other, trust each other, and do all girly things together.  Most mornings, I am treated to some kind of costume or dress up outfit that they have put together... their combinations always make me smile.  And so does their little sister friend relationship!

{Pinterest Treats}
I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest.  It's great for getting ideas on anything and everything, but it often makes me feel like a complete and total failure!  I find myself looking at all the perfectly organized and beautifully decorated homes where amazing birthday parties are held and crafts are made that would make Martha Stewart jealous and thinking "Who has the time to do all of this stuff?!"  Nevertheless, I used Pinterest for a few treat ideas this Spring...  Pot of Gold Rainbow Cookie treat bags for a St. Patrick's Day party and Pencil Vases for Teacher Appreciation week.  Even though the ideas were not my own, the work was mine and I was pretty tickled by how they turned out!

  
{Long Lashes}
Emily has been blessed with phenomenally long eyelashes.  The are like fans!  I adore them and tell her often how pretty they are.  It seems that our little Abby just may have inherited those same lashes too.  Lucky girls!

{A Bit of Shade}
We have no shade in our backyard and it's just downright hot out there!  Two years ago, we poured a patio and did some landscaping that included an attempt to create a bit of shade in our backyard.  Amazingly, in those two short years, the trees have grown enough to provide us with some nice early evening shade.  We've created a little sitting/eating area on the patio that is in our new shade... I love it!  We've been enjoying the Spring evenings in this space and even ate our first meal outside in our little bit of shade!

{Just Plain Cute}
No words are really necessary here.  This is just plain cute!

 

{A Few Firsts}
Molly was treated to her first mani/pedi with Mommy and big Sissy.  It was a complete waste of money because she couldn't sit still long enough for them to dry, but she was pretty proud to be joining us in the girly pampering!

 

Emily decided she wanted to try playing Tball this year.  In anticipation of her first practice, we actually had to buy her a pair of shoes and shorts she could wear to play ball as she owns nothing sporty at all!  She hit the ball and caught a ball at her first ever Tball practice and when she was all done, she ran off to play "Princesses" with her teammates!

{SMILES}
Once again, Noah has a new smile!  He lost his first top tooth!  And the other front one is hanging on by a thread!  And for those wondering, he did not leave it for the tooth fairy.  It resides in his tooth box (that I wrote about here) as he waits for the price of teeth to increase!

Abby is a smiler!  She smiles more than any of our babies ever did.  And it is so fun!  All we have to do is make eye contact with her and she smiles her huge grin.  Her sweet little smile is infectious and has earned her the nickname of Smiley McSmiles :)

{Baby Toes and Baby Rolls}
Enough said!

{Afternoon Naps}
Again, enough said (other than that I wish it were me sleeping during said naps!)

And last, but certainly not least...


{Taking the Time to Smell the Roses}
Or hydrangea's as the case may be!