Happy Thanksgiving

In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of preparing for Turkey Day I wanted to pause for a minute and reflect on a few things I am thankful for. I am so blessed in my life that it is hard to know where to begin. To start I am grateful for God's continual love and blessings, unconditionally, no matter how many times I turn away from him. I am grateful for a husband that challenges me to be my very best and is always ready to make me laugh. No one can change my mood faster than my dear sweet Eric. I am grateful for all of my children with an extra bit of gratitude for the healthy arrival of our 6th this year, Autumn Elise is a treasure, that last piece to make our family complete for now. I am grateful for friends, I have not had many in my adult life because we have moved so many times it has been hard to sustain a real friendship so the friends I have are very precious to me. I am thankful for parents that are healthy and loving and open their arms & house to us at any turn for any reason, they are a true blessing. But if I had to choose what I am most grateful for this year, if it is just one thing I can put to the top of my list it would have to be my sister. She has been there for me so many times I can't even count. She has gone above and beyond the call of sisterhood and has taken rank as my best friend (aside from my husband, of course). She dropped her life for me as my due date approached this summer. She left her husband home alone while she came to stay with me indefinitely to make sure I was not alone during the birth of Autumn. She never hesitated, she never mulled it over, she just did it. She is always a phone call away with a kind word or a sarcastic comment to make me laugh. We talk every day, usually several times a day and I think I just take for granted that she is always there. So I wanted to take a minute and write down how truly blessed I feel to have her as my sister and my friend. She is my never ending source of cheer and comfort, even in the worst of times. I am not eloquent enough with words to express how beautiful she is as a person, friend, sister, mother, wife, daughter, woman. Everyone who knows her is blessed just to share time with her and I am lucky enough to be her sister. I have so many things & people to be thankful for this year but Christina tops the list.

Random Ramblings

I seem to be under the misguided impression that I need to have pictures to add to my blog or it's not worth the effort. But I felt it was time to just barrel through one post without pictures.

We have had a lot happen in the past month or so. A lot of traveling, packing, moving (more about that in another post) and finally unpacking & trying to get settled while preparing for the upcoming (actually, it's here, isn't it?) holiday season while adjusting to a new baby and 5 more in tow. This isn't complaining, I am so glad we are where we are but *whew* it's hard to come up for air in the middle of constant motion.

I hit a wall on Monday, I just couldn't take that first step to start unpacking, it seemed so overwhelming. Unpacking is usually the easy, well, at least fun, part of moving but I think I am still a bit post-partum. When to my rescue swooped in my dear, dear friend & her 3 precious jewels. She is such a get-it-done person, she helped to unpack most of my kitchen (no easy task) and even brought dinner. A real meal in our new home with the kitchen nearly finished, it was just the jump start I needed. The next day, I was able to organize & put away our bedroom, I even color-coded the closet. I really think I would still be sitting in a house filled with boxes if she hadn't been there. It is amazing how God gives you what you need just when you need it. I hope to be able to come to her rescue one day or as many days as I am needed.

My kiddos had so much fun, unpacking with their friends, using the boxes in the yard and then breaking them down for the trash. It was a huge help to me to have the boxes out of the house.

How do you repay such a kindness, maybe a tea party? Hmmm......

What Kind of Flower are you?

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

Autumn in the Air

Abby is Mommy 2, she is my extra set of hands, she & Erin are the reason Katy is so spoiled & Autumn is well on her way. I couldn't ask for better kids.

Seth is the PROUDEST big brother!


Notice the look of fear on Autumn's face as Katy (2yr) swoops in for a hug & kiss.



"She's screaming Mom, just take the picture."






"Yes, you may admire me."



Erin overseeing her friend, Britty, while she holds Autumn.

Abby sharing her sister with Mary. Consider yourself lucky Mary, she doesn't share her with just anyone.

These next 2 photos are pretty funny. It shows the effects of having 4 sisters on my 2 little boys & yet they still remain quite masculine. They were playing outside when Seth decided to bring me a rock he found. I noticed he was wearing work gloves & a doo-rag while carrying a purse to keep his treasures in, it works for him.

Here is Jack showing off the wood he has skinned (he made walking sticks for his sisters) while holding a doll, but in his defense it is a boy doll. Too cute!

These are shots at the Corn Maze in Chattanooga, TN. I took my mom & the 3 youngest.






Hanging out on Nina & Papa's new deck...


Aren't they sweet...

Cashen Crusades

We have been so busy lately, new baby, new school year, planning a move, traveling. It's hard to know where to begin. Life was quiet & calm until Autumn was about 3 weeks old.

We stayed close to home, enjoyed visits from family & friends, snuggled with all of our babies and just relished the transition from a family of 7 to a family of 8. She has been an angel of a baby. When she hit 3 weeks we decided to spend a week with Daddy in AL. A week turned into almost 2 weeks. It was cramped (in his little apartment) but we had so much fun just being so close to him & visiting with friends while he was at work. We can't wait to get back full time. On our looong drive down I told him I couldn't wait to wake up & see the ocean.

This is what I had in mind...

This is the view from his apartment with the Mobile Bay in the background. That is a Yacht Club behind the trees.

This is what I got...

We stayed at this fabulous condo in Orange Beach for our first weekend there, it was so much fun, the kids had a blast. I could go on & on about it but I won't. It was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We played at the playground, went to the beach & the bay, looked for houses, went shopping, & showed off our newest addition. She was a trooper through the whole trip.

Then back home for 2 days before we were off again to visit Nina & Papa. This trip held a few unplanned pleasures. The original plan was to arrive on Thursday, visit with my sister & her kids, get my haircut that evening (my first time away from Autumn), on Friday we were supposed to leave the boys & Katy with my Mom for the day & head to Atlanta to meet friends at the American Girl Store and Bistro, Friday was also my Mom's birthday so we were going to celebrate her birthday with the family on Saturday. Anyway, our friends came down with a stomach bug and couldn't make it to the AG store. We were so bummed about not getting to see them. I thought about taking the girls anyway but since it was my Mom's birthday & my sister invited my 3 oldest to a not-going-back-to-school picnic with her homeschool group I thought it would be fun to spend the day with my Mom & the younger 3 kiddos. We had so much fun. It was a nice mother-daughter bonding day. We went to a local coffee shop for Cappuccinos & then to a local corn maze. This wasn't quite what we had expected. It was so hot, way overpriced, the kids were too young to really enjoy the maze, it was during a school day so the hayrides & extra stuff were not running, we got lost in the maze, we finally made our way out, got cold drinks & headed over to the little kids play area & petting farm.

This was the fun part, Mom & I relaxed & visited in the shade while the littles played on the playground & ran through the hay maze (more their speed). We also stopped at a local deli for lunch. My older bunch had a blast with their cousins & it turned out to be a great day all around. Well, except for our friends at home sick. The next day was fun when my sister & her family came over to my parents to help celebrate Mom's birthday. Christina, Dad, & I cooked dinner while we all visited & the kids had a great time.

Then home for a few days, we were able to sneak in a play date with some local friends at the playground before we were on our way back to AL to visit Daddy for a long weekend.

It has been a whirlwind few weeks. We are finally back home, trying to declutter a bit before major packing starts next week (I think). We think we have found a place but have been sluggish in finalizing the details. If that gets settled then we should be in line to move in between Nov 1st and the 15th. So we are back to the grind with Autumn in tow, she is growing and changing by the second. Her siblings are just ga-ga over her, so are her Momma & Daddy.

She is such a joy & at almost 8 weeks old it's hard to believe she hasn't always been here.

Autumn's arrival!

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the weather because we all know it is still way too hot outside but it seems a few degrees cooler to me minus baby!
Before I begin let me just say that I made some mistakes & rush to judgment out of fear. I was afraid of going into labor while Eric was in AL & he wouldn't make it to the birth. I was afraid of delivery, which just monopolizes my every thought as the time approaches. I was afraid of going into labor while my midwife was out of town (she will be this upcoming weekend).

So when my midwife told me I was 3cm, 50% effaced, with a ripe cervix & she could prod me along to get this over with I was more than happy to just go for it. She pocked & prodded, broke my water & let me lumber along for about 7 hrs while we waited for the labor to get intense. We filled up the pool, truly a wonderful way to go through labor. I did dilate to 7cm but the labor was no big deal, nothing more than heavy cramping. I'm not sure if it was the water or just the labor itself but the contractions never got too bad. So, at 7cm my midwife decided it would be a good idea if I pushed during the contractions while she "massaged" the cervix to help dilate. This was the most painful thing I have EVER been through. I am not a screamer, actually, I'm very quiet & focused during delivery, usually, but not this time. It felt like my whole body was being split in two. After the head was out the shoulders would not budge so I had to get up with the head out & change positions to deliver the shoulders, again, not a good experience. But then she was here, on my chest, tiny and gorgeous and a GIRL to our surprise! It is not an experience I want to relive but it was still worth it when I look into that tiny face and smell that sweet newborn head. She is an absolute doll that has melted my heart. There are no pictures of or during the birth, I am not one for being photographed naked, fat, & writhing in pain so I will share some pictures of our first few days with baby Autumn. She is the light of our lives as you can tell from her siblings proud faces.

Guess what we did this weekend?

Birth story coming soon...