Happy Birthday Brooks!

On Sunday Brooks turned FIVE! It's hard to believe that our little baby boy is already 5 and starting Kindergarten in the Fall!

We celebrated him all day, complete with a party at Upsurge! He had the best day!

 SO. The funny story of the day was that I accidentally bought "trick" candles. You know, the ones that keep relighting themselves. #momfail #oops

 His cake was complete with black olives on the "pizza" because black olive pizza is that baby's JAM! #minetoo

 After the party he wanted to go to a local Japanese restaurant. At first he wanted his favorite Mexican restaurant and then changed his mind because the Japanese restaurant gives you REAL chopsticks on your birthday! :) Off to eat Japanese we went. When we got there and were being seated he started yanking on my shirt saying, "MOMMY LOOK!!" Around the corner was his favorite waitress from the Mexican place!(they are each other's favorite, if I'm being honest, she even knows him by name) She had changed jobs. (Yes, we eat there too much, lol) It MADE his day that he got to see her! And, it made hers too!

After dinner we went home to play with all of his new toys! :)

My First Skydive!

There's a little something you probably don't know about me. I'm a thrill seeker. An adrenaline junkie. And I like to do things that others don't do! Haha! If there's a roller coaster around put me on it. Any kind of theme park...I'm in! And I'm ALL IN. I love it!

I've wanted to skydive for many, many years. Since I can remember. I always said I would wait until our children are grown just in case. But, you know what, over the last year or so I changed my mind.

My birthday was April 1st and I found a place that you can skydive at the beach(Skydive the Gulf) so I booked it for the day before! It was booked for 10am and we got there at about 9:30. My Dad was jumping with me and Josh and the kids came to watch! The tandem jumpers were sitting outside waiting for us to arrive! I quickly signed a waiver(lol) and watched a training video. After that I was harnessed up and walking to the plane! It was about a 13 minute ride up to the altitude we were jumping. I just sat there and enjoyed the view! I really enjoyed seeing how pretty the water was. I was never nervous or scared at all. The staff was incredible and I felt completely safe! When the pilot was ready for us to jump he reached across me and unlocked the door! The guy I was jumping with, Luke, reached up and opened the door! The wind hit me in the face and I thought, "Holy crap!"hahahaha! The next thing I had to do was put my feet outside the plane on this little step. That was the hardest part of the entire experience just because HELLO! haha! Once I did that Luke did the rest. The next thing I knew we were plummeting 120+mph towards the earth! We fell about 30 seconds until it was time to open the parachute! After that we just glided around in the air. He taught me how to manuver the parachute to go different directions and showed me if you pull it really fast you can fly around fast! Fun, fun, fun! Once we made our way down to the ground we landed safely on our feet! There was a girl there to meet us, she was videoing. She asked me how I felt and I responded, "like I need to do it 5 more times!"

Soooooo, I think I have found a new hobby! I'm jumping again at the end of the month with my brother in law and Dad again. We are jumping in Cullman. Then I'll be jumping again not too long after that with Skydive the Gulf again...because you can jump at sunset and land ON THE BEACH. Hello. Please and thank you.

Here's a few of the pics...

Rest in Peace, Miss Chippie

On March 8th I had to make one of the hardest decisions. Miss Chippie had to cross the rainbow bridge and hop back into PawPaw's lap. It was the hardest decision for me. I can't explain how hard.

Miss Chippie was originally my Paw Paw's dog. She sat in his lap for endless hours keeping him company and watching the Braves play. He named her after Chipper Jones. We snuck her into the hospital the night before his major open heart surgery that ultimately ended his life on earth. Those two LOVED each other. After Paw Paw passed Chippie and Maw Maw grew closer and kept each other company. A few years later, Maw Maw passed away and that's when Chip came to live at the crazy house known as my house! haha! She went from quiet, old people to lively, loud people! She didn't care, we were hers! We took her all over the place when we traveled(except for China!). Her favorite place was the beach!

In the last few months her health started to decline. We aren't sure exactly how old she was but she was at least 17 years old. She definitely full filled her purpose on earth. It finally got to the point where I talked my husband into taking her to the vet and talked my sister into calling and making the appointment. I couldn't do either even though I was ok with it.

Rest in Peace, Miss Chippie. You are missed.

Spring Break 2k18!

Look at me being the cool mom with 2k18! HAHA! #imsofunny

We spent most of Spring Break at the beach! It was still cool outside so we found other things to do! As much as we travel there, we always find new things. We love to explore and find fun things as a family so we had the best time!

My sis and her fam were with us the first few days so we had lots of fun with them! We ate lots of yummy food because if you know us then that's our fav thing to do! And we spent some time playing at the arcade and riding go carts. Go cart competitions are fun when you have 11 competitive family members! :)

We also made our way to a town close by to find Dinosaurs one day! This was lots of fun! They are literally in the middle of nowhere, just off the road. There was an old dirt road off the main road so we just walked to find each one! It was a trek, but it was a beautiful day and felt so wonderful outside! Brooks is really into dinosaurs, like can blow you out of the water naming certain types, so he had the best time!

I didn't get pictures with all of them but there are four total!

We also took the ferry over to Dauphin Island one day. This was something we had been wanting to do for a while now! It's been put off because it's usually really busy...and because I get really car sick. I just KNEW being in the car on the boat would do me in! I had to focus on not letting myself feel sick! HA! I knew if I got out of the car I would be fine but it was WAY too cold on the way over to the island to do that. On the way back we did and it was fabulous!

On the island we went to the estuarium. Not sure why it's just not called an aquarium. It was FUN! We also went to the bird sanctuary there. It was basically a hike through the woods because #kidsareloud. haha! We let Brooks lead the way and walked a few miles. It was another beautiful day and we had the best time!

One of the boys walked ahead of the line leader...

That sums up our Spring Break! :) Look at me cranking these posts out!

Baby Baller!

Get ready friends! Brooks is playing baseball! This is our little slugger's first year to play. We waited until he was a little older than we did with Griffin and Peyton. Just because we KNOW how demanding baseball is around here. It's insane, really. I HATE what it has come to. Many parents acting like 2 year olds, everyone putting ALL THE STRESS on their kids, the kids never do good enough. I HATE that it can't just be fun. But, here we are!

Unfortunately, because Brooks has a birthday before May 1st he has to play up. Meaning, most of the kids on his team turn 7 this summer. He won't even be 5 until April 22. There's those politics again. *eyeroll

So, he's the baby on the team. It's ok, he can learn a lot from those older dudes. If his attention span will hold out! haha!

He's the cutest little dude!

All the Things

Today is blood day so I'm going to attempt a "catch up" around here!

Miss Priss is doing well for the most part! I feel like(I know this is weird) we have turned a corner lately. Yep, almost 16 months into this adoption thing and it's good now. YES, it was good the whole first year. But OH MY it was HARD. I feel the need to share this because I feel like not enough people do. And after talking with lots of my adoption friends we pretty much all feel this way.

Here's the thing. When you bring a cute little Chinese baby into your world everybody loves said baby so much that they want to give her anything and everything. Never tell her no. They all feel sorry for her/him. Which is understandable. But, here's the thing, while I DO feel sorry for Mia I'm also her Mama. I don't want her growing up feeling sorry for herself and sitting around waiting for others to do things for her because she's different. Yes, it sucks that she has to get blood every three weeks and be poked and prodded on. But, she's tough because of it and I want her to always be that way! I feel like I spent the first year wading through water of all the things for her and us. Let's face it, she(and Reece) just look at Josh and he's a puddle. BUT, I'm that way with Brooks(and Griffin and Peyton) so I understand. It's just different with an adopted child because there's SO MUCH. But at the same time, it's the same because she's ours the same as the others.

SEE WHAT I MEAN?! ALL the things. So complicated.

I feel like I spent last year more stressed than ever. I felt like it was all on me. I drank too much wine(where's that monkey emoji with his hands on his eyes? lol). And I gained TEN pounds. (Monkey again!! lol) But, lately I feel like things are finally clicking along! She gets us and we get her. Completely.

She tells me she loves me with all her heark(heart) and that's how I know that it was all worth it.

Life Lately

I know I say this on here ALL.THE.TIME. but life is BUSY! We've all been sick with strep and or the stomach bug over the last month or so. I think we are all finally on the mend. Hubby was sick for almost two weeks and I can't handle life without him! It was tough! And I was lonely!

Before I even begin, yes I realize the big boys aren't in this post. #teenageboyprobs I'm going to do a better job of making them take more pictures! I did have this parenting win the other day...

Yep, and I meant it! Those fries were yummo! 

This guy right here...is the sweetest! He tells me I'm beautiful 100 times and day and that he loves me so much. He also massages my shoulders. He's the sweetest little man!

Reece recently celebrated the 100th day of this school year. The kids were supposed to dress like old people...this was as "old lady" as she got! haha!

I recently went on a field trip with Brooks! We went to Krispy Kreme and Pet Smart! It wasn't a trip that a parent was required to go on..and it wasn't a big deal. But, you know what? It WAS a big deal to him! We had the best time!

Little Miss Mia got her ears pierced last weekend! She had asked earlier in the week and I talked with her about it. Then, on Saturday she flat out asked if she could do it! Once she got Daddy's approval we had them pierced! She didn't even flinch when they did it. I knew she wouldn't. She gets poked with needles all the time so she's used to it. Sad, but true. She LOVES her ear rings! And I LOVE my girly girls!

We took this on blood day this week! Those three weeks in between transfusions sure fly by. We try to make the best of it. And, of course, we love to see our thal pals when we go!

We had a Valentine's lunch date! With five kids it's hard to find a date night! Lunch dates are our new thing! He also brought coffee and doughnuts to the office for us girls that morning! Husband of the year!

Reece had Grandparent's Day at school on Valentine's Day! She really enjoyed herself!!

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year! Mia took red envelopes to her friends today with chocolate coins inside! We do our best to keep her in touch with her Chinese heritage! We'll be having a big Chinese feast at home tonight! :)