the little giffords

Giving Thanks (or, What a Difference a Week Makes)

2012-02-11T23:26:00.000-05:00

This has been an amazing week at the Gifford house, and I feel the need to take a moment and give God thanks for the crazy amazingness.

To understand why this week is so great, you have to know how not-great last week was. Last Monday, after months now of various tests, scopes and scans, we got the word that Wyatt has gall stones. At the ripe old age of 11. His GI doctor called to say he was referring us to a pediatric surgeon for the removal of his gall bladder. Then last Wednesday, our dentist shows me Kellen's latest X-ray, and tells me he's referring us to an oral surgeon for the removal two impacted teeth.

Surgeries for two of my kids was bad enough. But we were not prepared for the next curve ball, which we got at our 20-week anatomy scan/ultrasound last Thursday. In addition to being told our little Cinco is a boy, we were told that he had two markers for Down Syndrome, and we were being referred to a high risk doc for a Level 2 ultrasound and possible amniocentesis. Then on Friday and Saturday, we moved everything we own into a new house.

The Bible study I'm a part of has recently been discussing how God created us to be super at everything we do (with His help, of course). I usually like to believe that - that with Him I am a super-mom, super-wife, super-friend, super being. Last week, in the midst of the chaos of moving and the chaos of our lives, I felt decidedly un-super. What a difference a week can make.

This week started with a surgical consult for Wyatt, at which the surgeon told us that Wyatt's gall stones are shrinking and don't require surgery right now (or maybe ever). Then on Wednesday, the orthodontist tells us that Kellen's impacted teeth are actually in a great position (as good as they can be, for being impacted) and he thinks they'll move right into place once the baby teeth are pulled. No surgery for Kellen either.

And finally on Thursday, we had our follow-up ultrasound and genetic counseling. The Level 2 ultrasound measures 10 Down Syndrome markers, and our little Cinco had only one. (He still has an echogenic focus in his heart, but his kidneys are no longer enlarged.) With just one marker, my risk of having a baby with DS is no greater than any other woman my age, about a half a percent.

What happened between last week and this one? Prayer. Lots and lots of it, from all directions. Family, close friends, pastors.

So our new house still has lots of boxes in it, and I can't find much of anything I'm looking for. But I've certainly found one thing that I didn't have last week - peace. And for that, I am so thankful.

it's a...

2012-02-02T12:25:00.003-05:00

We're halfway through our journey to meet Baby "Cinco." Today we had our anatomy scan ultrasound where we learned that Baby Cinco is......

A BOY!

Miss Elliott will remain the reigning Princess Gifford. She was pretty disappointed with the news, but I don't think it'll be long before she realizes how sweet it is to be the only girl. Especially with four brothers to look after her!

I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going, especially considering that I was pretty miserable for about 12 weeks. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that 20 weeks is a drop in the bucket compared to the 177 weeks of my life that I've now spent carrying children (Kellen - 39, Wyatt - 38, Elliott - 40, Cade - 40 and Cinco - 20). Or maybe it's because the four who are already here are so full of life that I don't have a whole lot of time to ponder the fact that I'm actually pregnant. I do know that the second half won't go as quickly as the first, especially since I won't have the holidays to keep me busy towards the end like I have with my January and February babies.

Any way you look at it, we are so excited to meet Baby Cinco. Now we just have to come up with a name for the guy. Considering how long it took us to name Cade, we could be in trouble. Maybe we ought to just go ahead and name him Delia (that's the name we had picked out for a girl). I'm sure he'd forgive us, right?

Caedmon is 1!!!

2012-01-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

My baby boy has hit the one-year-mark, and we celebrated last weekend with family and good friends. (Wait - the family is good, too. That didn't sound right, did it?) I think I say this every time I talk about him, but he really is the sweetest, sweetest little boy. We had some official First Birthday pics taken by a pro, and I'll share those here soon, but here are some pics by mom and Carley the Great that were taken on the day of his bash.

We didn't have a cake - other than the little number "1" I made for him to smash - and instead I made (dairy-free!) cupcakes for everyone. Aren't these toppers and grass wrappers adorable? I got them from a girl on Etsy - perfect for our baby Gator!

She also made this adorable banner. Not that you can really see it.

I appliqued the little guy a T-shirt with a 1 on it - sort of. That's what it's supposed to look like, anyway. I didn't take any good pics of it, but I mentioned a professional took his 1-year pics, right? He was wearing it in some of those shots so hopefully you'll be able to see it better when I get them.

He loved opening presents! He's at the age where he actually (finally) gets that there are toys in those bags/boxes.

When it was time for cake, the plan was to strip him down to a diaper and birthday hat.

He did not love the hat.

I'm warning you, what happens next is about the saddest thing that could happen at a little guy's first birthday party. See how he's really interested in that candle flame?

Mommy wasn't fast enough. He put it out with his itty bitty finger. So. So. Sad.

There's video of this event, too, and some time when my internet connection isn't timing out every minute or so (one of the joys of living in the country), I'll upload the video for you. It might make you cry. If you have a heart.

After we settled him down, he still wasn't sure about the whole cake thing. Even when we put it in front of him without a candle, he started to cry. Poor baby.

Until, that is, he discovered that it's yummy.

I'm glad he decided to give cake another try. After all, what would life be without cake??

At one year, Cade is as tiny as ever. He weighs just 18 lbs. 12 oz. At this rate he'll be rear-facing in the car until he's, like, 4. I'm happy (beyond thrilled, actually) to report that he seems to have outgrown his milk and soy allergies! It's hard to explain to you what a blessing this truly is. He's been drinking raw milk every day now since just after his birthday, and we haven't even had a runny nose. Mommy has been enjoying (overindulging) on all those things I missed: pizza, real homemade butter, ice cream. And my current obsession - Wee Brie wedges. I'm feeling better, too, now that I'm not starving every minute of the day. And I'm finally gaining weight! After gaining just 0.2 of a pound in the first 16 weeks of my pregnancy, I'm happy to say that Cinco and I are now moving the scale. Thank you, God, for letting baby Cade outgrow his allergy, and thank you, most of all, for him! He's such a blessing.

boys with moves

2012-01-25T10:02:00.000-05:00

We had big plans for New Year's Eve to attend First Night Knoxville downtown with some friends, but because of a few sick kiddos (and my general lameness), we opted to stay in instead. So we had a few friends and their kiddos come over instead. I took almost no pictures of the evening, opting to just savor the time together, enjoying good food and conversation instead of worrying about "documenting" the occasion. I did have to bust out the camera briefly, though, when some of the boys decided to engage in a Just Dance 3 dance-off.

GOT

THE

MOVES.

WORD.

Not to be outdone by any boys wearing light sabers, little Tate decided to bust a few moves of his own, most of which still photography just doesn't do justice. I did capture this one particular move, though, and I think it's my favorite.

Thanks, friends, for a fun and memorable evening!

dollywood

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

We love to go to Dollywood, and the kids and I have been so many times this season that I sort of take it for granted - I always fail to take my camera and document our visit. But this fall we went with Sean's grandmother, and I took my camera along. We had PERFECT fall weather (it was the very end of October but so warm!), and we had a perfect day.

The place was just about empty, and Kellen and Wyatt got to ride all the big roller coasters 3 or 4 times each (sometimes without even having to get off the ride!). Cade got to ride the Ducks and Pigs with his sister - and he loved it!

Of all our trips to Dollywood this year, this was definitely one of my favorites.

wyatt's 11th birthday

2011-12-27T16:00:00.000-05:00

Wyatt turned 11 on December 1st. We celebrated at home on his actual b-day with a cake and presents. Then that weekend, he had a bowling party! These are the tshirts I made for the party-goers. They were so easy and I thought they turned out really cute!

The fronts had each child's name on them.

My friend Veronica made this really adorable bowling cake! She did such a great job and is very, very reasonably priced. Check her out!

They turned out all the lights in the bowling alley and turned on black lights, so I didn't get a lot of good action shots. But here's one of the birthday boy and his cake.

And of the rowdy bunch (plus Elliott) that celebrated with us!

christmas

2011-12-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

Every year I think Christmas could never get any better, and every year I'm wrong. Here are the six (seven!!) of us on Christmas Eve.

We spent the evening with Sean's parents, grandmother, and Eric and Allison and their boys. (We missed our Florida family - Sara, Warren and their kids!) Wyatt read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2.

Elliott and her My Twinn doll - it looks just like her!

They got matching pajamas, which made them look even more alike.

Elliott had been saying for weeks that she wanted her mamaw to get her a Dora necklace. (Don't ask me where that came from - she's not really even a Dora fan.) So after searching high and low, Sean's mom found her this 10K gold one! Elliott was thrilled.

I didn't take pictures of all the present-opening, but the boys got new robes, books, Wii games, a couple board games, and some iTunes and Visa gift cards.

Cade had fun reading Elliott's Dora book with his cousin Cohen!

I think Cade's favorite part of the evening was changing out of his church clothes and into his jammies. The kid is never happier than when he's naked. Ha!

We left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. (Elliott was already in bed by this point.)

And then Santa came over night! These pictures are from Christmas morning.

Wyatt's big gift was an iPod touch - which he was super excited about.

And Kellen's big present was a video camera. It's funny how, the older they are, the smaller their "big" gifts get.

Sean got the first 3 seasons of Sons of Anarchy on DVD.

And I got a new sewing machine and serger! I'm amassing quite a collection. ;-) I was so surprised, because my last present to open was just a really small, light box. It had a piece of paper instructing me to go to another Christmas tree and open the big boxes marked "to John from Debbie" (his parents). Sneaky little booger. You can't really tell what my shirt says - it reads "I ate the milk and cookies." I was feeling ironic, I guess. ;-) Plus I'm at the pregnancy stage where I could be pregnant or I could have just eaten too much. Ha!

The kids and their stockings.

Kellen, definitely the biggest Christmas fan in our house, wanted to savor his gift experience and chose to open his stocking later. Somehow I didn't get a picture of him. We had such a great, lazy day. None of us got out of our jammies all day. (A little note about our PJs... I have been using the same pattern to make Christmas pajamas for 3 years now, and it's such a fun way to see how my boys have grown. I had to cut Kellen's from the adult pattern this year!) We ate a HUGE breakfast, watched Christmas movies, played games, played with toys, ate a big Christmas dinner (Big Fatty's pork tenderloin - oh. so. good.) and laughed all day long! I already can't wait til next year.

CINCO!

2011-11-19T16:52:00.001-05:00

Can you believe it?

The little giffords will be adding yet another Gifflet to the fold, due mid-June 2012. That puts his/her estimated arrival at just 17 months after older brother Cade's birthday. (Saying "older brother Cade" makes me smile.) While we weren't exactly planning for this arrival, we could not be more excited about this amazing blessing God has given us. We can't wait to meet you, Cinco!

halloween in the 'brook

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

In what has become an annual tradition, we spent this Halloween with some great friends trick-or-treating in Forest Brook. (And I forgot my camera. These were all taken with my phone - which is why I don't have any great pics.) Same crew as last year, plus one new little ~~shark~~ Gifford. I'm not sure who has more fun when we get together: the kids or their parents. Thank you, Schwalbs, for always being amazing hosts!

a little boogie

2011-11-04T21:02:00.001-04:00

No - not the gross kind! The dancing kind! Some little darling in our house likes to move it, move it each and every time he hears music. I love it, love it!

pumpkin painting

2011-10-25T18:59:00.000-04:00

In what is becoming an annual tradition, Sarah the Great came over to paint pumpkins with the little giffords a couple weeks ago. As you can see this is quite a messy activity, so the kids all put on their yucky clothes and had a blast covering ~~themselves~~ their pumpkins in paint.

The finished products are a little hard to make out with all the spider web, but we have [back row] Sarah's spider, Wyatt's ghost, Kellen's evil scientist, [front row] Cade's baby nerd (painted by Elliott - that's why it's got so much pink), and Elliott's baby spider. So much fun!

three quarters

2011-10-25T17:58:00.000-04:00

My little guy is 9 months old! I took a few (dozen) pics of him on the day he hit 3/4 of a year, and I put a couple above. I honestly could've posted every single one of them, because that's how cute this kid is. I mean, those dimples... Oh his mommy's heart can hardly stand it.

At 9 months, Cade still doesn't crawl. He sort of (and only barely, really) scoots around the floor after things, but he's not at all mobile. Some mom's might freak out about that. This mom is grateful. Being able to put him down somewhere and know that he'll stay there is something I'm in no hurry to move beyond.

What he apparently lacks in motor skills, he makes up for in verbal skills. He says mama, dada, hi, bye-bye, bite and spoon (which sounds like "poo") and knows what they mean. He also says, ahem, boob. Yes, seriously. And he knows what he means when he says it. He'll repeat (or try to) just about anything you say to him. Quite the parrot.

He's still tiny. He weighed 17 lbs. and 4 oz. at his 9-month checkup. By comparison, Kellen, who weighed less at birth, weighed more than that at 4 months. He still has just 2 teeth - also strange since my other kiddos had 6 by this age. He doesn't sleep great, and usually wakes up somewhere between 4 and 6 times a night. In other words, he's pretty much the same as he's always been: a tiny little non-sleeper who has his mommy wrapped around his tiny pinky! We love you, Cade!

the giffords go to the beach

2011-10-16T15:09:00.000-04:00

Swimming. Sunbathing. Digging holes (BIG holes). Burying a sister. Napping. Taking walks. Tossing football. Having fun. Being together. That's how the Giffords spent a week at the beach!

cade's first gator game!

2011-10-16T14:57:00.000-04:00

What sort of mama-blogger would I be if I didn't at least cover all the important milestones in my baby's life? For us, a first Gator game is a major milestone, so I snapped a picture of Cade watching his first-ever game. So happy, isn't he? (And, can you believe, that outfit he is wearing was Wyatt's? *Sigh* Where does the time go?)

If we were all rockstars...

2011-09-21T13:44:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, my little Wyatt has the heart of a poet. He has been writing songs (some of them downright good, if I do say so myself) since he was in kindergarten. I've collected most of them. I think what I love most is that I find him writing lyrics off in some corner somewhere when I could've sworn he was outside shooting baskets. I guess when the mood strikes him, he drops what he's doing to write.

Apparently the mood struck today. He showed me this little ditty, and I asked him if it would be ok for me to share it here. It's not that I think it's particularly great in its structure - frankly, many of his others are better. But I love the message so so much.

If we all were rockstars, who would be the crowd?

If we all were doctors, who would be the patients?

Do what you want, go be free. Life is beautiful. You'll see.

Don't do what someone else does, just because they're you're friend.

Or don't make a job decision just because of the money.

The world can change from a smile, so be happy every once in a while.

The sound of sadness rolls through my head.

And if we all lived, who would be dead?

Do what you want, go be free. Life is beautiful. You'll see.

-Wyatt, age 10

Thanks, Wyatt. The lesson is one many grownups take years to learn, and one I'm awfully glad you're grasping at such a young age.

best friends, rain or shine

2011-09-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

These days, Kellen pretty much always has a shadow -- a little, 3-year-old, blonde-headed shadow, come rain (on their way to feed the horse and dog)....

...or shine (on their way to the beautiful Emerald waters of the gulf coast).

laundry - finally, i like this chore

2011-08-31T22:26:00.000-04:00

If this adorable face were at the bottom of every laundry basket, I'd never complain about doing laundry ever again.

omg, i haven't seen you seen you in, like, forever!

2011-08-30T14:17:00.000-04:00

I've been hearing this a lot lately: Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months!

I guess we've been hibernating. In the summer. Actually, while we've had a busy summer, the truth is that we haven't been out and about all that much because of one simple, sometimes-hard-to-swallow fact: I have a high maintenance baby. My darling, sweet Cade is the classic Dr. Sears "high needs" child. He doesn't sleep (like, at all), and prefers to spend his days - all of them, all day long - nestled in his mommy's arms. If you did see me at some point this summer, there's about a 99% chance that you saw Cade the velcro baby, too. Add to that the fact that we're still having to avoid dairy and soy (meaning I have to prepare pretty close to everything I eat at home), and the fact that he resolutely refuses to drink from a bottle, and it's no wonder I don't get out much.

You're thinking, "Surely she's exaggerating." I assure you I'm not. Until just very recently, a solid 1-hour stretch of sleep seemed like a gift from Heaven. And it usually only came when Cade was draped across me. Yes - for those who offered their well-meaning "maybe-you-should-try-cosleeping" advice, I can say I'm waaaay ahead of you. Not only has Cade been sleeping with me, but he actually insists on sleeping ON me. We've tried everything, including crying it out, which is so not in this mama's nature. After several bouts of 2+ hours of his crying, I figured crying it out wasn't going to work for this guy.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining, though. I actually LOVE the fact that he is so partial to his mommy. And, amazingly, the last few weeks have seen a big improvement in his sleeping. Last night, after a fitful start, he slept from 2:30 to 5:30 without waking. We're slowly but surely getting back to some kind of normal. We've started school at GCDS, and our days are shaping up into a nice little routine. And look, I'm even blogging! I have a lot to catch up on - we'll see if I can manage to be more diligent about posting now that I'm functioning at slightly less than zombie-level.

baby cade's half birthday

2011-07-16T15:07:00.000-04:00

My little guy hit the half-year mark on July 10th. This is the part where I say how fast it's flying by, how I can't believe how big he's getting, how I wish he would slow down. All of that is true. I'm sure it has something to do with keeping up with siblings, but sadly it seems to get faster and faster with each kid.

Here are a couple pics Wyatt took on Cade's half birthday while I was feeding him his lunch.

At six months, Cade is rolling around, trying to inch-worm crawl, and can sit up - sometimes for 5 minutes and sometimes for 5 seconds. He loves everything we've ever given him to eat, and he will eat as much as we shovel in his mouth (and usually cry for more).

A lot of MSPI babies will start to outgrow their allergies beginning at 6 months, so we "tested" Cade last week. Sadly, instead of getting better, he seems to be getting worse. I ate some chicken fingers and french fries from Zaxby's, which we know contain milk and soy, to see what kind of reaction Cade had. It wasn't good. In the past, his reactions have mostly involved the stomach/intestines. This time around, his nose filled with mucous, he couldn't breathe (literally - he was choking and gasping), and within about 10 minutes he started vomiting. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for. So, no more milk for mommy or him until after his first birthday and after an allergy panel. His pediatrician wants us to do an allergen test before we let him try anything with milk in it again. In a week or so, we're going to do a test with just soy to see if the reaction is the same. Maybe we'll be able to go just milk-free, instead of milk- and soy-free... Still limiting but easier to deal with. Either way, I'm about halfway through my restricted eating sentence... I can do it, I can do it....

firsts!

2011-06-09T13:27:00.000-04:00

Baby Cade has had a couple of exciting weeks, and has experienced several "firsts" recently.

First solids. We started him on cereal at 4 months because his pediatrician thought it might help his reflux issues (and I'm happy to report it has). He took to it right off the bat, and loves to eat! Here are a couple pics from his first solid meal. (Wyatt was my photographer, in case you were wondering why they're all taken from such a low angle...)

First Haircut. Those of you who see Cade on a regular basis are probably happy to hear about this one. He has a natural mohawk. All the hair from his temples (and back) fell out after he was born, but the little strip along the top of his head is intact. I had been encouraging it to stand straight up, but the longer it got the harder that became. Just before I cut it, his mohawk stood up about 3 inches! I decided to trim it before it started flopping over because, really, what could be more sad than a mohawk that won't stand up?

First Swim. Ok, technically these pics are from his second swim. His first swim was while I was at the grocery store. I mean, seriously. I go to the store without him for the first time EVER, and while I'm gone his daddy takes him for a swim and I'm not even there to document it! So we had a do-over. He wasn't so sure about the water then, but he has since decided that he loves it!

First Boat Ride. This kid's a huge fan of anything outdoors, and the boat is no exception. I was so worried that he would be hot and fussy and that we would all be miserable, but he loved his first little trip on the boat.

jesus meets... rapunzel?

2011-05-23T12:01:00.001-04:00

I snapped this grainy picture with my cell phone because I wanted to catch this particular moment. Elliott was "reading" a story to Cade from a small New Testament Bible. According to her, in this story, "Jesus said to her, 'you have loooooong byooful hair.' And she said 'Thank you, Jesus.'" Hmmmm..... Well, she may be a little confused, but Cade seems to be enjoying the story!

(BIG) little gifford news!

2011-05-22T22:34:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, the little giffords have been wannabe missionaries for a long time now. We're happy to say that we're well on our way to going from wannabes to a family in action. I'd love for you to check out our missions blog to find out more about our upcoming move to Santiago, Chile! Find us at http://www.missionchile.com/!

easter

2011-05-19T09:24:00.001-04:00

I had one simple goal in mind for this Easter: get a picture of my whole brood, including mommy and daddy. Every Easter this task gets a little more daunting, and I always get a little Easter-picture anxiety. Am I the only one? Turns out this year my anxiety was well warranted. Do you know how hard it is to get ONE picture of six people all smiling (or at least not unsmiling) and looking in the right direction with their eyes open?? I can show you how hard it is... Go ahead. Click on the pictures and make 'em bigger. Some of these you gotta see close-up to appreciate.

This one's our bad. The kids are essentially fine (Kellen would disagree), but my hair and whatever that face is Sean's making... Wow.

How can ALL four boys have their eyes closed? And again, my hair. Thanks, Mother Nature. And Sean, if you were wondering, was mid-sneeze. It was super pollen-y out that day.

In case you were starting to think Elliott was perfect...

It didn't take long before Cade was totally over it.

We thought a change of location might help, so we went behind Sean's mom and dad's house. It was less windy, but more sunny.

Did I say it was less windy? Never mind.

I assumed, incorrectly, that one of the gazillion pictures Aunt Allison took would be good, so I let Sean go inside and change. I was wrong. I made him get his Easter duds back on, and we went out side and tried again. This time I pulled my hair back to see if we could at least eliminate that issue. And though Cade is asleep and Elliott is barefoot, we managed to get one sorta decent shot of the crew.

As if it weren't hard enough to take pictures, this was the kind of stuff going on between shots:

I did take a few individual shots of each of the kids. These are much, much easier.

After I was done torturing them with family pictures, the kids had their annual Easter egg hunt.

Little kids hunted in the back yard, just like last year.

And big kids were in the front, engaged in an all out egg-battle. Wyatt even wore gloves for better hand traction.

Cade, of course, was just hanging around.

And I have to include a pic of our little nephews, Gavin, Nolen and Cohen.

I guess I should've started the post with these pics, since this was from first thing Easter morning. I wanted you to see what Elliott's hair looked like, if only briefly. I hot-rolled her hair for the first time.

When we were done she looked like she was pageant-ready.

Don't worry - we have no intention of entering her in any pageants. Absolutely NOT. But I bet she'd win if we did. ;-)

first road trip/cousin Addison turns one

2011-05-04T13:33:00.000-04:00

We took a road trip last week to visit some family in Mississippi who hadn't yet met Cade and to celebrate the first birthday of my miracle niece Addison.

We had a great time seeing everyone, even though we were there in the midst of some awful weather (including a tornado which touched down in Clinton, where my parents and one of my brothers live). And of COURSE they had a great time seeing Cade and the rest of the little giffords.

Addison, the birthday girl, with her mommy Chami.

Cade was partying like a rock star. He just likes to party with his eyes closed. (I mean really, how much fun can you have when you can't even eat cake? Wait... I can answer that one myself.)

Addison with her mommy and daddy. And cake.

Uncle Jon with baby Cade (see... he woke up. Eventually.)

Grammy and Cade.

Uncle Robert and Cade (seeing a pattern?).

Uncle Jon and his girl Elliott.

Pepaw with Emma Grace (Elliott's cousin) and Elliott.

Me and my bros!!!

babe cade is 3 months old!

2011-04-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

Our little Cade turned 3 months old on April 10th, and what an exciting day it was! Two of his GREAT-grandmothers were celebrating their birthdays with us.

And Cade got to take his picture with his coincidentally-matching cousin Cohen! This one is honestly the only picture where Cohen wasn't smiling (he's such a happy baby), but Cade has an adorable grin, and hey, it's my blog, so sorry Aunt Ali. :)

All right, to be fair, here's one where Cohen's smiling, too.

Aren't they the cutest cousins?

Cade is getting so big. I know it doesn't look like it next to his giant cousin, but he's growing so fast. We're still having some GI issues, but he's gaining weight and chunking up. I absolutely love his cheeks and chins. He's super ticklish and his giggle is the best sound I hear in any day. He's a rotten sleeper, but I know too well that one day (too soon) I won't even remember how tired I feel right now. In the mean time I try to cherish our middle of the night snuggling.

Just for fun, here's a pic we took of him looking all punk and thug. Ha!

Love you like crazy, baby Cade!

sweet 16

2011-03-25T10:03:00.000-04:00

The little giffords ventured to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch Florida take on BYU in the Sweet 16. And, being the diligent blogger I am, I forgot my camera. Of course. But I snapped a few shots with my phone.

Our friends Darsi and Ben, who live nearby, came to join us. It was great to see them, even if they do cheer for the [ahem] wrong Orange and Blue (they're Auburn fans).

Elliott, as you can see, was incapable of being still. ALL evening. I'd like to say it's the Gator spirit in her just bubbling over, but more likely it was the red icee she drank pre-game.

Baby Cade, on the other hand, was the opposite of a handful. This is what he did the entire game:

The evening ran a little long when the game went into overtime, but the kids were troopers. Now it's on to the Elite 8! Goooooooooo Gators!!!

milk!

2011-03-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

All of these kinds of milk are currently in my refrigerator:

Let's see, that's: dark chocolate almond milk, organic skim milk, coconut milk hazelnut coffee creamer, vanilla almond milk, single-serve organic chocolate milk, rice milk, Mayfield 1%, and oh-so-yummy Homestead Creamery chocolate milk (literally THE best milk in the world). That's a crazy lotta milk.

The reason for all this variety is my baby Cade. He's milk and soy allergic, and since he's nursing, mommy has had to remove all milk and soy proteins from her diet. That's why the almond milk (for drinking), coconut milk (for my coffee) and rice milk (for cooking). It's been a few weeks now since we got this all figured out (after a trip to the ER for yellow/green bile in his vomit. I know. Gross.) and now I can talk about it without getting frantic. It was a little - or actually a lot - overwhelming at first. There was even a trip to the grocery store involving almost no purchases and some tears (mine). Milk allergy is not new to us, but avoiding soy is H-A-R-D. I spent a couple hungry days eating practically nothing. But I've been doing my research, and there are great sites out there for folks enduring the same challenges (Intolerant Offspring and MSPI Mama are a couple of my favorites). And this book is my new best friend.

Dining out is next to impossible - especially fast food - so I pack my own meal a lot. Luckily I love to cook and bake though, and once I got my pantry appropriately stocked, modifying some of our favorite recipes became pretty simple. Quick fix meals are out the window (since pretty much all of them involve cream of chicken soup for some reason), and desserts have to be made from scratch as opposed to boxed mixes, but I'm getting used to it. On the plus side, the baby weight's making a more rapid exit than predicted. Maybe those skinny jeans are in my not-so-distant future after all.

don't try this at home

2011-03-21T14:12:00.001-04:00

I have kind of a do-it-yourself attitude. I cut my kids' hair, book our own travel and make our birthday cakes. I've even laid tile and hardwood floors (LOTS), and hung crown molding and base boards. Still, there are some things which are simply better left to professionals, and that's how I feel about newborn photography. Luckily, my BFF Adrienne is married to one such professional. He took some pics of my sweet baby Cade when he was a little over a week old. I should've shared these here before now, but better late than never right? (You notice that's a recurring theme with me. Cut me some slack - I have a newborn after all). I can't begin to pick a favorite...

(No, this isn't a smaller picture below - it's just a wider shot with lots of white space. I'm not a great blogger, but I do know how to size photographs.)

In addition to being a talented photographer, Eric also knows a thing or two about cameras. You can check him out in action at Photography Bay.

st. patrick's day/our week

2011-03-20T10:12:00.000-04:00

It's been a good week here for the little giffords. First and foremost, our husband/daddy is back from Chile. YAY!! Second, my mac is back (it had crashed. again.). The boys, or I guess I should say the "big boys" since they're not the only boys in the house anymore, had their annual standardized testing Monday through Wednesday of last week. I'm sure they did well. They are, after all, exceptional children. :) Thursday their mean teacher-mommy made them do school, but we also did a little St. Patrick's Day celebrating.

We didn't go as overboard with St. Pats as last year, but we did start our morning with green pancakes.

We followed that up with green mac'n'cheese for lunch.

Cause, you know, everyone in Ireland eats green food all the time. We were all decked out in our green shirts, and I had every intention of getting a picture of the brood at some point during the day. But by the time I got around to it, Elliott had her green T-shirt covered in dirt because she had been "planting" in the front yard (in other words, playing with the weeds and dirt in our flower bed).

Friday we went to our monthly science class at AMSE, and because the weather was so beautiful, we met some friends at Cedar Hill Park in Oak Ridge for a picnic.

And THIS pretty much sums up my Saturday:

a (big) little gifford in chile

2011-03-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

I debated about whether to post this, since some might think it's not a great idea to be advertising on the internet that my husband is in another country, but I'm so excited about what he's doing that I couldn't wait to share it. Sean is in Chile on a scouting trip for mission work, and he took along blogger, photographer and friend (and BFF Emma's dad) Eric Reagan. They've only been there a few days, and have a lot more to see, but Eric has posted a little review of where they've been so far. Check it out on his blog: Photography Bay.

elliott is THREE!!!!

2011-02-28T21:26:00.000-05:00

My baby girl is 3 years old! She had her 3-year check-up today, and I'm happy to report she's perfectly healthy. She still hasn't hit the 30-pound mark yet (she is 28 3/4 lbs.) and can wear the same shoes she could wear a year ago. So she's not gonna be a runway model or a Rockette. A gymnast maybe? Who knows. All I know is she sure is cute.

She started her birthday with some chocolate chip pancakes.

Followed by a bath (necessitated by the pancakes) and her FIRST EVER hair cut. That is, unless you count the little trim her BFF Emma gave her a few weeks back, but that was only a strand. (Apparently the girls are aspiring hairdressers - Elliott also gave Emma a trim. I *shudder* when I think about how bad that could have been...) Here's the before pic:

During the trim...

And after.

The finished result. (And yes, those are the same hot pink cowboy boots she was wearing in her 2-year-old birthday party pics. But she is growing. I think.)

She wanted a Princess Aurora and Ariel birthday party. This is the pose I got pretty much EVERY time I asked to take her picture. Such a priss.

I think she was a tiny bit excited about opening presents.

Cousin Cohen had SO much fun at the party that he couldn't hang.

Elliott and her princess cake.

Happy Birthday, Elliott!!

kellen's sweet, teenaged par-tay

2011-02-28T19:43:00.000-05:00

What does a 13-year-old do to celebrate his birthday? Chuck E. Cheese, Pump It Up and Laserquest are all in our past (whew!), so instead, Kellen decided he wanted to have a few friends "hang out." When "few" turned out to be more than a dozen, we decided to let his friends get together at Aurora, the family pool business. We were thinking they could swim, play pool, foosball, air hockey, ping pong... Nope. Know what they did? 15 or so 12-15 year olds spent an entire afternoon playing hide-n-seek - and apparently having a blast.

Kellen and his friend (and twin) Alex.

Elliott made the rounds with Kellen's girl friends. That's girl [space] friends, people. Not girlfriends. Just making sure we're all clear... :) Here's a pic of her hanging with Christine.

Kellen with his cookie cake (post-swimming, which is unfortunately when I took most of the pictures. These kids all look like wet dogs. Ha!)

Autumn giving Kellen not one but TWO sets of bunny ears. Who put icing all over Kellen's face??

Cake time!

Abby has the exact same smile in both of these pics. Very nice, Abigail.

Madison and Elliott jamming to some Taylor Swift.

LOVE the blue icing coating on your braces, Jacob!!

Shea got to snuggle with Baby Cade for a bit.

Here's a pic of Kellen opening presents, which I mostly included only because Mikey said I couldn't get a picture of him, and I did. So there.

This is a great group of kids - er, young people - or whatever. We definitely missed a few folks who couldn't make it, but we had a lot of fun! Kellen is truly blessed with some fantastic friends.

the big 1-3 (or... how in the world did my baby get so big?)

2011-02-15T22:17:00.000-05:00

The sweetest of sweet hearts, my forever Valentine, turned 13 this Valentine's Day! How did that happen? Kellen, you were the one who made me a mommy, and I thought nothing could make me happier. But I was wrong. Seeing the man you are becoming has given me more joy than I could have ever thought possible. You make me proud every day.

Here are a few pics of my funny Valentine when he was little.


I know it's cliche to say time flies by, but having a newborn around to compare to my giant teenager makes it easy to see just how much he's grown. It makes it easy to remember waking up with my newborn Kellen half a dozen times a night, and how I wished that those days would hurry up and pass. Lesson learned - like they say, be careful what you wish for. I'd never wish again for a single day with him to hurry up. I love you, Kellen!

one month

2011-02-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Baby Cade is one month old!

He had his check up today, and he weighs 9 lbs. 12 oz. and is 21 inches long. The little piggy has already gained 3 pounds from his lowest weight. (Apparently 1-1/2 to 2 lbs. a month is normal for the first few months - can you say "oink"?) That's the good news. The bad news is he's having some GI issues, and mommy gets to go on an elimination diet. :( Of course I'd do anything for these dimples...

On the bright side, such restricted eating should help me shed some post-baby weight. And since I read my own blog, here's a note to myself: Your baby is a month old. Stop trying on your pre-pregnant skinny jeans. Nothing good can come of that.

better late than never...

2011-02-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Somehow I completely forgot about posting Christmas pics on our blog. I guess I was waiting to find the time to go through and edit some of the bazillion pictures I took. I've given up on that idea, and decided to just get them up on the blog "raw" and unedited. It's better than nothing, right? Besides, I'm pretty sure that 6 weeks is about as long after Christmas as you're allowed to post pictures - I think there's a Blogger rule about that somewhere. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites.

cade: the early days

2011-01-31T13:55:00.000-05:00

For obvious reasons, I haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately. For some reason I just don't feel right sitting at my computer when there's a mound of laundry to be done. So in the few moments I let Sean steal my Cade from me each day, I do chores instead of blogging. But right now he's asleep (something I was beginning to fear he'd forgotten how to do altogether), and GCDS is on its lunch break. So I'm at least posting a few quick pics of my little guy. He's so darn cute.

Cade and Grammy (my mom) who came to stay with us for a few days after he was born. It was so nice having my parents here - I miss them!

This picture isn't staged - this is what I found on my bed one lazy morning after I got out of the shower. (Don't worry - if you look at the top of the pic you'll see daddy was there keeping a close eye on everything.) Cade's big brothers and sister love him soooo much. Although the picture doesn't indicate it, I think the feeling is mutual.

Sleeping beauty.

Bath time with big sister. Clearly she's having WAY more fun than he is. Maybe he doesn't like princess tub toys.

Hanging in Elliott's room while she and mommy play princesses - a recurring theme for the poor little guy.

Ok - I know these are supposed to be Cade pictures - but I had to throw this one in. Elliott found these ancient (like 10+ years) pajamas that used to be Kellen's and has loved wearing them around (despite the fact that they're obviously too little for her).

Daddy and the little half of the little Giffords. Poor daddy looks a little tired. That'll happen when you have two children who don't sleep through the night and only one mommy. He has been so helpful.

I mentioned in my last post that Cade came home in 4 inches of snow. Fewer than 3 weeks later, he went to the park for the first time - crazy January in Tennessee. Here's a pic of all my boys enjoying the outdoors.

Check out these cheeks (and that baby mohawk)!

Elliott was having too much fun sliding to pose for any pictures.

What a mess.

I had a real photographer take some real pictures of little man, and hopefully I'll be able to post some of those soon. Stay tuned...

introducing cade

2011-01-16T15:23:00.000-05:00

Caedmon Cross Gifford made his debut on January 10, 2011 at 2:30 a.m. I haven't been the best blogger for not sharing the news here sooner, but doing so requires me to put him down for a few minutes, and just look at that picture. Would YOU put him down??

His labor was more challenging than my last 2 (which were so brief that it would've been hard for Cade to be easier). And after 10 weeks of contractions, it was a little difficult to tell when the "real deal" had started. Sunday afternoon I started feeling a little rougher than usual, but we went to church that evening anyway. Figuring we were nearing the end of my (likely) last pregnancy, Sean took this picture of me Sunday afternoon.

After we got home from church, the contractions seemed to be ramping up, so we started timing. An hour and a call to the midwife later, we were on our way to the birth center. With my history of rapid labor, they wanted me to get there before the snow started falling. So we went in around 9:00 p.m. And we waited. Things didn't get really moving until around 1:45 Monday morning. Here's my very last pregnant pic, just before getting in the tub Cade would be born in.

And at 2:30, he arrived! My sister-in-law Allison had come to the birth center, in the snow and in the middle of the night with her newborn in tow, to be with our kids because Sean's parents were out of the country and my parents weren't coming in to town for another few days. A HUGE thanks to Aunt Ali for that! Her hardest job was keeping the impatient siblings from going crazy - they couldn't wait to get their hands on Baby Cade.

Allison had also driven out to Strawberry Plains to get Sean's grandmother, so she could be there for the birth. She has 4 grandchildren, and this was her 12th great-grandchild, and yet it was the first time she'd ever seen a baby born. We were so glad she could share the experience with us.

Getting all checked out. A perfect 40 weeker! (Wonder if there's some sort of award for having 2 babies in a row ON their due date??)

All the little giffords with mommy. Could I be any more blessed?

And the first shot of our new family of 6.

About 8:30 a.m., we were ready to go home!

Through the night, I'd been watching snow pile up outside my window. We had to take our new darling home in the midst of a snow storm!

But he was snug as a bug on the ride home. Awe. Soooo little.

Home sweet home!

His sister is definitely a big fan. She loves her baby brother.

We all do. Wyatt got a little snuggle time with him.

He's also a big fan of sucking his thumb. I haven't had a thumb sucker before!

I have to brag on my awesome husband for a bit. You know how I said Cade was born at 2:30 in the morning? And I mentioned there was a snow storm? Well, the Amazing Mr. Gifford took his big boys sledding at 11:00 a.m. that day - just a few hours after Cade was born! - because he'd promised them they'd go. We had just purchased new sleds the day before in anticipation of the big storm, and they were determined to use them.

If that doesn't make him dad of the year, I don't know what would!

the waiting game

2011-01-06T10:32:00.000-05:00

I've been away from the blog for a little while, but it's not because I've been busy having a baby. We're still waiting for the arrival of little Cade! It's crazy to think that I first went into labor at 30 weeks. After all these weeks of pre-term labor and anxiety about him being a preemie, here we are now at 39 weeks and he's still not here. I'm really not complaining. I think that down the road, we'll feel like the further his birthday is from the holidays, the better. So I'm not really in any hurry for him to show up.

Sean, on the other hand, is very concerned about how much of this snowboarding season he's missing. He can't go until the baby's born because with my history, if he were even an hour away on the slopes when I went into labor, he'd probably miss the whole thing. To make matters worse, Kellen and Wyatt got brand new snowboards, boots and bindings for Christmas which they're dying to try out. So little Cade, unless you want your daddy and big brothers to be upset with you for making them miss ALL of this snowboard season, you probably ought to show up some time before February. Ha!

christmas with the herringtons

2010-12-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

The Herrington clan (Sean's sister Sara, her husband Warren, and her darlings Devin, Riley and Copeland) came up to Tennessee the weekend before Christmas. We got together at Sean's parents' to let the cousins exchange the gifts they'd bought for each other. That's a roomful of kids!!

Baby Cade got this awesome diaper cake full of way cool burpcloths and a wipes case made by his Aunt Sara.

We went youngest to oldest with the opening, so baby Cohen went first. This is his outfit from Wyatt.

Elliott got this adorable outfit from Nolen.

Nolen got some super cool army guys, trucks and tanks from Copeland.

Gavin got the Tony Hawk Ride game from Devin.

Copeland got a Tron motorcycle dude from Kellen.

Riley got a sweater from Cohen.

Wyatt got Loopz from Gavin.

Kellen got a Gator hoodie from Riley.

And Devin got a sweater from Elliott.

What a clan, huh??

oh gator tree, oh gator tree...

2010-12-27T11:11:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago the boys and I made a traditional construction paper garland for the first time in their lives. Ours, of course, was orange and blue, so I guess that's not all that traditional, but still... I forgot how much fun it is to put one of these together!

Elliott, you'll notice, is sporting her Belle Christmas dress. Just like pretty much every day before Christmas. No one said being a princess is easy...

It got a little out of control - even after I wrapped it around each of them there was a huge pile of garland on the floor.

But that's ok - because it fit perfectly on the boys' Gator tree!

This is the first year in, well, forever, that the boys no longer share a room. So the tree is in Wyatt's room. Kellen has his own decorations, though, including a small little tree, and his nutcracker collection.

I didn't photograph all the nutcrackers. These are about half of them...

And of course, Elliott has her own tree, which - shocker - is pink, and - another shocker - covered in princesses. She redecorates it (which mostly consists of her undecorating it) 2 or 3 times a day. I'm forever going in there and rehanging the ornaments, so it never really looks all that great. But you get the idea.

hung by the chimney with care

2010-12-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

I mentioned before that I was spending some of my bedrest time making 6 new stockings for the Gifford clan. Thought you might like to see how they turned out. Is it just me, or is that a lot of stockings?!

They're all ready for Santa to fill tomorrow night!

supper time

2010-12-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

The other night I was making a big pot of potato soup. Elliott decided she needed to help. I gave her a few pieces of potato, and she did the rest.

itty bitty hats

2010-12-20T09:54:00.000-05:00

I've been looking everywhere for a brown baby hat to match our little guy's "coming home" outfit, and haven't been able to find one anywhere, even online. So I decided if I couldn't find it, I'd make it.

I'd been needing to go to Hobby Lobby to get the fabric, which is hard to do when you're on bedrest. Then it struck me - I needed brown knit fabric, which is exactly what Tshirts are made of... Hmmmmm......

A little google search later, and I found this "pattern" which I used, roughly, to make a couple hats for Cade.

I started with two Tshirts I'll never wear again. (The Poison one is from a Headbangers Ball we all attended a few years back - good times.)

Fold one shirt in half so that it's four layers thick. Draw a "bunny ears pattern along the folded edge and cut. This is a lot easier to see in the picture I linked to above, because mine's black.

After you cut, you have a hat front and back.

Pin the right sides together and sew.

Turn it inside out and tie your rabbit ears into a knot and, voila!

I also wanted to make a "one knot" hat, so I kinda guessed at the pattern. For this, you just lay the shirt flat (2 layers instead of four) and draw a shape like this one.

Cut it out - it doesn't haven to really be symmetrical (obviously mine are a little crooked...).

Pin the right sides together and sew. Since I'll have a December or January baby, I wanted the band on this one a little thicker to cover his ears. So I cut it longer and then folded it up before sewing so there will be a double layer over his ears.

After you sew, turn it inside out and tie the knot. Tada! The best part is how quick these were to make. I woke up one morning with the idea, started around 7:45, and was done before my kids asked for breakfast at 8:30. So easy!

i am number four

2010-12-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

For months now, we've been referring to our soon-to-be new addition as "Number 4" because he didn't have a name. (Well, all of us but my midwife Heather, who insists on calling him "Quattro.") I recently was made aware, though, of a movie coming out this winter called "I Am Number Four." Apparently, the title character in this book-turned-movie is an alien living among us who's on some hit list and who's number is up. So, lest anyone confuse our unborn with an alien because of this movie, we thought we'd go ahead and unveil his name.

Little Gifford #4 will be named Caedmon Cross ("Cade") Gifford. A little background helps explain our choice. We picked Kellen's name because it was Irish and it means "mighty warrior." His middle name is also Cross - he's a mighty warrior of the Cross. When we were having boy #2, we decided to name him Wyatt Cross, because Wyatt means "little warrior." And, as we searched and searched for a name for this little fella, we finally came across the name Caedmon, which means "wise warrior." Our little wise warrior of the Cross. Perfect, no?

snow day

2010-12-14T18:13:00.001-05:00

We had our first good snowfall of the season yesterday, and while GCDS was in session for the day (unlike all the surrounding school systems), we did take some time to play in the snow.

Snow angels, of course.

Little Miss Pinkalicious

My snow dudes

Footprints (Kellen, Elliott, Wyatt)

Number 4 -the only warm one among us

Mommy and the little giffords

bedrest baby shower

2010-12-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you can't go to the party? You bring the party to you, of course!

My sweet friends had planned a small soiree to help us welcome #4, but when it turned out I couldn't go, they were kind enough to relocate the festivities to our house. It was great to see them - of course these days, I think it's great to see the mailman, the UPS delivery chick, or just about anybody. I'm kidding. Having friends around was a fantastic treat, and I was so blessed by all the sweet baby boy stuff they brought.

The awesome burp cloths (which have a matching blanket), that my sister-in-law Allison made. She's very talented, no?

Had to stop opening for a second in order to have a contraction...

Definitely Kellen and Wyatt's favorite gift. No big surprise, considering what Beatles fanatics we are.

Me, a giant belly, and a bunch of baby boy loot.

My nephew Cohen (or "Baby Brudder," as Elliott calls him) had fun entertaining all the ladies.

I was surprised by how many pictures there were like this - who was taking all these contraction pictures?!?

I LOVED this cake. It looked great and tasted greater.

See - I actually did get off my butt for a few minutes!!

Sweet Ava hanging out with Cohen - aren't they so cute?!

Special thank you's are in order for Adrienne, Allison and Kristina for their hard work in putting this together - you girls are the greatest! Now we're pretty much ready for #4 to arrive. Um... no rush though, #4. You hang tight a few more weeks, 'kay?

wyatt the one man riot

2010-12-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

My baby boy (for now) turned 10 this week! I'm still scratching my head and trying to figure out just how that happened. It couldn't possibly have been 10 years ago.

I've never told his birth story on our blog, and it was a pretty exciting one. On November 30, 2000, I picked my mom up from the airport, who was in town to help me finish the nursery and keep an eye on Kellen while I studied for my first set of law school finals, and of course to be here for Wyatt's birth (he was due mid-December). We went to bed, but only briefly. Around 2:30 am, the sound of my water breaking woke my husband from a dead sleep, and any of you who know how the Giffords sleep know what a feat that is. Then - nothing happened. Nothing. No contractions. Not even a little cramping. My midwife's advice was to get some sleep if I could and come in to the birthing center around 8. I tried for a while to sleep and couldn't, so instead I thought I'd get a quick shower - you know, so I'd look fabulous in all those pictures we were about to take. Bad idea. Before I could even wash my hair, I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. We woke up Kellen, waddled to the car, and made our way to the birthing center. And just in time. We got in the room, and before my mother-in-law could even start a movie for Kellen in the nearby family room, Wyatt Cross Gifford was here. He was supposed to be a water birth, but there were only 2 inches of water in the tub when he made his debut. It was 5:03 am, about 2 1/2 hours since my water had broken.

After a birth like that - I should've foreseen what would happen next: Wyatt the One Man Riot hasn't slowed down in 10 years. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

fun with [con]fractions!

2010-11-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the calls and emails of those who are checking in on us. I haven't updated in a few days because (thankfully!) there isn't much news to report. #4 is still cooking - and still nameless. I'm 33 weeks now and had a negative fibronectin test Thursday, which means it's very likely I'll still be pregnant for at least the next 2 weeks. Amazing to me, considering I was told at 30 weeks that I could deliver within 48 hours. Thank God, and thank you all for the prayers.

In the meantime, I keep having contractions, usually about every 10-15 minutes. I think we're all sick of the word contraction around here. We've even made up different words for them. Kellen calls them "confractions" - a name he devised (not surprisingly) while we were doing math one day. Elliott calls them "tractions," as in, when I can't do something she's asked me to do, "Mommy, you need to stop you tractions?" "You tractions", not "your." And she asks in the sweetest little concerned voice. Heartbreaking.

So my tree isn't up like apparently everyone else's in the whole wide world, and we may put up only one this year instead of three like we usually do, but I'm still here and #4 is staying put. We have even more to be thankful for this year than usual!

making the best of bedrest

2010-11-17T14:04:00.000-05:00

We're almost 2 weeks into the bedrest sentence, and let's start with the good news: I'm 32 weeks now. Yay! I suppose the idea of bedrest is appealing (lounging around, reading books, catching up on correspondence), but the reality is altogether different. Still, we're making the best of it.

My parents were here last week to help out, and, because we're not really sure what this holiday season will bring, Kellen wanted to get a jump on a favorite Christmas activity: cookie making and decorating. So on top of the laundry, cooking and cleaning that Grammy was doing, she made cookies with the boys. Since the Christmas cookie-cutters are all in the attic (I hope - I actually have no idea where they are), they used our heart-shaped cutters to make all sorts of cute creations.

Recognize this blue one? That was Kellen's Cookie Monster creation. I *think* the red one was supposed to be Wyatt's attempt to make Elmo (can you tell their sister is into Sesame St?), but it turned out a little scary looking.

I'm also trying to use this time to get a jump on my Christmas shopping. Online, of course. If I don't make some headway, Sean has threatened to rent a wheelchair and wheel me around the mall and Toys R Us so he isn't stuck on Santa duty alone. The kids made their annual Christmas wish lists - I love, love, love these. Even Elliott made one this year. Bet you can guess which one's hers.

And, since I have some time, I've been working on our Christmas stockings. El hasn't had one which matches the rest of us since she came along two years ago, and with #4 on his merry way here, I figured it was time for a whole new set. Six new stockings, coming right up! They're in progress and pretty boring right now, but these things are gonna be A-DOR-ABLE. Can't wait to post pics of the finished products.

We've been doing our best to pass the time. And I have to say how unbelievably grateful I am to all our family and friends for their help: they've made meals, done my laundry, shuttled my kids around, and just kept me company on afternoons when I thought I might die of boredom. We are so blessed by all your help, and are praying you get back (and then some!) all the kindness you've shown to us.

#4 update

2010-11-05T12:42:00.001-04:00

As many of you have heard by now, #4 hasn't been behaving too well lately. Awe, that's not true. He's being perfect, but his mommy is apparently trying to boot him out before he's ready. Many of you have been praying for us, and many more of you are wondering just what in the heck is going on! For those who care to know more, here's the nutshell.

Sean and I spent the night in St. Mary's Wednesday-Thursday where I had consistent contractions every 2-3 minutes all night long, even after multiple doses of Brethine. Finally, a 4th injection got them to slow down to every 15 minutes or so, and we got to go home.

But not for long. A few hours after we got home, the frequency had ramped back up to every 5 minutes, and I was sent to UT hospital, the only one in our area capable of caring for a baby born at 30 weeks. It was that reality (hearing my midwife say, "I'm sending you to the one place that can handle a 30-week preemie") that officially freaked us out. While we were there, I once again had every 2-4-minute contractions. The bad news is, they couldn't do anything to stop them. The good news is, all the other indicators of preterm delivery are negative at this point.

So here's where we are now: we're home (thank God!) and I'm on bedrest. I'm still having contractions, but they're only about every 10 minutes now (only - ha!). And while I'm considered to be in "preterm labor," fortunately "preterm delivery" is not considered imminent. And I'm no longer freaked out. I feel all the prayers and support of friends and family, and really am trying to be good and sit still. The boys are doing everything they can to help - they've been tidying the house this morning and Wyatt figured out how to use my Tassimo and made me a cup of decaf cappuccino. Even Elliott is trying: she's using a stool to get herself on and off the potty. ;-) And (hooray!!) mom and dad are coming to the rescue, and will be here this weekend.

In short, we're doing well, and are gonna try really hard to keep this little guy put for a few more weeks. Just do me a favor, and no one do the math to figure out how many contractions I'd have if I have one every 10 minutes from now til January 15th. I wouldn't want to freak out all over again.

fall festival, field trip, football, fairy tales and facebook - a SUPER-post!

2010-11-01T16:09:00.000-04:00

We have had a busy couple of days. In truth, that's a ridiculous understatement. I'm not sure how we could've done more in the last 4-5 days than we did. Here's what we've been up to!

We started Wednesday night with the Fall Festival at our church. Sean was at Wyatt's football game and Kellen was working the event (eek - is he that old?), so Elliott and I were on our own for a lot of the evening. And this is the one picture I took of her:

Doesn't it look like she's having a BLAST? Actually, she woke up, Kellen finished his shift, Sean and Wyatt came after the game, and we had a great time with our friends.

Friday, GCDS took a field trip to Big South Fork. We took the BSF Scenic Railway in Stearns to the old Blue Heron mining town, where we got to listen and learn about what life was like there 75-100 years ago.

At the General Store before we boarded the train.

At the Blue Heron mine, below the tipple.

Hike up to the tipple.

The coal processing/railroad loading facility.

On top of the tipple (why is everything always a race?)

Entrance to the mine.

Inside the mine.

On the train on the way back (doesn't Kellen look thrilled? We had an unwanted "friend" that kept trying to get in our pictures - another kid on the trip. Kellen wasn't all that amused.)

Part of the Barthell mining town, which you can see along the train ride.

The train passing through the tunnel - woah.

After our train got back, we also took a short hike out to the Natural Arch.

The arch is gorgeous, and there's no good way to capture how huge a structure it is.

Here's a pic from the backside of the arch (where it's possible to back up a bit to take a pic without falling off a cliff). Gives you a better idea of how enormous it is.

Speaking of cliffs, is it possible for a boy to pass one without jumping off it?

Elliott, of course, was not going to be outdone by her brothers.

On Saturday, we had another Fall party - this one at Sean's mom and dad's house. We had hayrides (not-so-scary to the pumpkin patch, where the kids each got another pumpkin, and a haunted hayride for the older guests), a bonfire, and a really good time with lots and lots of friends and family.

Sunday, Wyatt had his last regular season football game, where he played like the champ he is, scoring one TD and putting up some impressive rushing numbers (he primarily plays running back). We're excited about the playoffs, which start tomorrow.

Elliott and I spent Sunday afternoon with our favorite friends Emma, Ava and Adrienne at the "Princess Wishes" Disney on Ice show (to which we scored FREE tickets - yay!) The girls LOVED it - well, except for the part with the pyrotechnics at the end. I'll be glad when Elliott outgrows her fear of fireworks.

The Princess and I.

The girls were mesmorized. They looked like this pretty much the whole show.

All the princesses together for the finale - with Mickey and Minnie, of course.

We finished off the weekend with what has now become a tradition - our 4th year of trick-or-treat in Forest Brook with some great friends.

The whole crew in front of the Schwalb's home.

The little giffords - Officer Wyatt, the World's Girliest Pirate, and Facebook.

A few action shots:

It was a great weekend, but I can honestly say that I'm THRILLED that it's Monday... Whew.

crazy pumpkins

2010-10-26T10:34:00.000-04:00

You know that at our house we love pumpkins. This weekend, our friend/former-nanny/adopted family member Sarah the Great took the kids to the pumpkin patch and we all got crazy with the decorating.

Elliott had fun just making a mess of a tiny pumpkin.

Wyatt and Kellen, on the other hand, took theirs pretty seriously. Wyatt was working on his Frankenpumpkin. I love his little albino pumpkin - made the perfect base for a Frankenstein.

Here's Kellen's Pilgrim [in] Progress. (ha ha ha - I'm so funny) He painted a face on it, and we attached straw for hair. We also did a good bit of hand sewing to turn a witch's hat into a pilgrim's hat, complete with foam-craft-paper buckle (pics below).

The whole gang sporting their finished products (you notice Elliott had a wardrobe change midway through the project. It was washable paint, but still, she was getting it all over her dress).

Close-ups of each: Elliott had to make (or rather, Sarah and I made for her) a Pirate Pumpkin. Not surprising, since she's talked of nothing but being a pirate for Halloween for about 2 weeks now.

Sarah's Wicked Witch. She found a pocked-up pumpkin which she painted green. I wish the picture did it justice. It's really great.

Kellen's Pilgrim

Wyatt's Frankenpumpkin - complete with "staples in his head and bolts in his neck." (And now you're all singing the Jibjab halloween rap, aren't you? You're not? I'm the only one who knows that song by heart already? hmmmmm.... that's embarrassing.)

family pics

2010-10-20T09:28:00.000-04:00

Back at the end of the summer, when the Giffords took our beach trip, we had some family pictures taken. I finally got my hands on a disc with the pictures on it, so I thought I'd share a few here.

Here's the whole clan

The 5 (and 1/2) of us

Me and Sean (and Baby No-Name)

Eric and Allison and their 2 (and 3/4) boys

Warren and Sara and their darlings

The granddaughters

The grandsons

All the grandkids

With the grandparents

The ones who started it all

Crazy to think that even these really recent pictures are already no longer "current." There's another grandson in the bunch now who arrived on Monday (congrats Eric and Ali, and welcome, Cohen!), and another one that'll be here in 12 weeks or so. The poor girls... they keep getting more and more outnumbered.

a great read

2010-10-17T19:47:00.001-04:00

A lot of folks who know us know that we're planning (and have been for a while now) an extended trip to South America for missions work. The exact shape and timing of this work keeps morphing, but we know it'll happen... it's just a matter of when God's timing is right. In the mean time, we've been doing what we can to prepare. One of the things I've been doing is (trying) to simplify our lives, to help us find ways to do more with less. In keeping with that goal, I'm loving this book:

A new homeschool mom friend of mine read this book and was singing its praises, so I got a copy from the library. I have since come to learn that, in addition to being a book, Simplicity Parenting is an entire online community. The full title of the book, which you probably can't make out in the picture above, is Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids. A lot of it is based, at least loosely, on the principles of Waldorf education, which isn't anything new. But the book presents the ideas in real, usable ways, and more than that, emphasizes why these things matter. You may have heard of the book or read it already. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to pick it up. Really, really good stuff if you ask me.

game day in the swamp

2010-10-06T09:53:00.000-04:00

We were in Gainesville this year for the season opener (and I'm just now getting around to posting our pictures from it a month later). We had a great time, despite the fact that our Gators didn't play as well as we would've thought.

Watching the band enter the stadium.

From the top of the stadium (where we watched the band).

The new(ish) scoreboard.

The team taking the field. GO GATORS!

Elliott loved cheering during the game. There was rarely a time when she wasn't clapping, Gator-chomping, jumping up and down or shouting towards the field. Which is surprising considering it was a million and one degrees out. She had more energy than either team seemed to.

I'm not sure what this was for. Maybe when Caleb Sturgis missed a field goal. (Or maybe I was the only one who made that face.)

Wyatt sported his Tebow Bronco's jersey.

Kellen, who really is getting so big. Every picture of him reminds me of the growth spurt he had this summer.

The whole family, minus camera-man daddy but including #4. I'm surprised he didn't get hard-boiled in there, it was so hot out.

In front of the Heavener Complex on the way out of the stadium.

Leaving the stadium on Daddy's shoulders.

apple crisp

2010-10-05T14:36:00.000-04:00

The other day I posted a very Fall-y recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Tarts. I thought I'd post another fall favorite here - this really yummy recipe for Apple Crisp. There are dozens of ways to do apple crisp, and I think you'll like this one. I made it yesterday afternoon and it was really simple, and a big hit at our ladies' bible study last night. I used half Granny Smith and half McIntosh apples, and topped the finished product with both vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. I'm hoping to get some more apples tomorrow to make another one, since the little giffords didn't get any of the one I made yesterday (and about that they're NOT too happy, let me tell ya). Bon appetit - or, since we're learning Spanish around here, I guess I should say "¡buen provecho!"

random randomness

2010-09-27T12:08:00.001-04:00

I mentioned this before, but I'm cameraless at the moment. And I really, REALLY don't like that. Maybe I'll use this time to go through photos I've already taken and edit and post them (beach, Disney). Until then, I wanted to write down a couple random things that I don't want to forget, even if they have no accompanying pictures.

First has to do with Elliott at nap time. Tuesday when I laid her down for a nap, she cried for 20 minutes. The fact that she cried is unusual enough, but what really got us was what she cried. For 20 minutes, through broken sobs and reassuring visits from mommy, she cried, "Kellen... Kellen..." I had a zillion things to do and was determined to make her nap, but Kellen couldn't handle it. He begged to get her out of bed and promised to occupy her for the 90 minutes or so she would've been asleep. I let him, and he did. I didn't hear a peep from either one of them for almost 2 hours while he played with her in her room.

Seeing how well this worked, she tried it again on Saturday. Apparently she didn't want to miss any of the football the rest of the family was watching/playing in the living room. So at nap time she cried, "I wanna play football with Wyatt," again through broken sobs, for about a half an hour. And again it worked. I know, she's good. And I'm a sucker. It gets worse.

Yesterday (Sunday), she tried another approach. It was nap time, and about 5 minutes after I laid her down, I heard her pitter patter. She wasn't crying, and getting out of bed is unusual for her. From the top of the steps she hollared, "Mommy! I lud [love] you!" She waited for my, "I love you, too, Elliott," and then she ran back to her bed. A couple minutes later: more pitter patter, "Mommy! I lud you, too!" and back to her bed. This continued, while Wyatt and I giggled downstairs, for a good 20 minutes. So what did I do? I went and got her out of bed. It may be time to give up on naps. On the (really really really) positive side, she slept through the night Saturday AND Sunday! Considering that makes, oh, the 12th and 13th times she's done that in 2-1/2 years, I may be on to something with the no-nap thing.

Next random thing - my laundry is caught up. Maybe not a big deal to you, but one day I'll read that here and marvel that it actually has been done. Even if only once.

Random thing number next - Elliott is a football fanatic. More specifically, a Gator football fanatic. You already know that, since she was 18 months old, she would stop and yell "Go Gators" (which at the time sounded like "Doh Dators") and do a Gator chomp toward any TV on which there was football. Well, having been to a few live games now, she's on a whole new level. While we watched football on TV, she spent a good portion of Saturday begging me to GO to a game. At least 100 times throughout the day, she said/cried, "I need my Gator dress. I wanna go to football game!!!" By the time Sean got home from work, it had elevated into full blown waterworks, with her begging us to "please, PLEASE get my Gator dress. I NEED to go to the football game!!!" Makes a mommy proud.

fall is yummy...

2010-09-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Last night after taking the boys for turns on the motorcycle, Sean came in the kitchen and said, "You know what I love about Fall?" I totally expected him to say something about the biking weather, but he surprised me by saying, "You're always baking something and the house smells so good." I have to agree with him - that's one of my favorite things about Fall, too.

This particular comment was prompted by these little pieces of heaven:

We're kind of pumpkin fanatics at our house. When I'm not pregnant, I stalk Starbucks to make sure I'm there on THE day they begin serving the pumpkin spiced latte, and any version of a pumpkin pie is going to be a hit with me. So to celebrate the first day of Fall, the boys and I made these pumpkin tartlets yesterday. And they are, well, just wow. I don't know what to say about them except holy cow. Make them yourself - your mouth will LOVE you. (Of course, this isn't a picture of ours. I'm camera-less for the time being, having broken mine while we were in Disney, so this picture is from the recipe. Remarkably, though, the ones we made look just as tasty - this is definitely a dessert you could serve a guest and be proud of.) Happy Fall, y'all!!!

awe....

2010-09-17T12:02:00.000-04:00

Wyatt had to write an outline in order to prepare a short essay. The idea was to teach him outlining skills (start with a main point, write supporting points for each main point), and I told him he had to write his essay in biographical form about someone he knows. (No research involved - this isn't about learning to research, but rather how to outline.) He asked if he could prepare his outline on the whiteboard before writing the essay on his laptop (why do kids LOVE whiteboards so much???), and this was the outline he prepared:

It needed a little work, but this was his first stab at it. I took a picture and posted it here because we'll erase the whiteboard soon to make room for other work, but I wanted to hang on to this forever. Can you blame me? Sweet boy.

vacation math

2010-09-12T18:58:00.000-04:00

How does 1+1+2=1? Like this:

1 vomiting toddler + 1 pregnant mommy who has to stop frequently and walk around for circulation reasons + 2 exhausted older brothers = 1 SERIOUSLY long drive home from Orlando yesterday. At some point (after I had done 2 roadside disassemblies and baby-wipe-cleanings of her car seat), I got smart and decided to do what the airlines do, and provide a little receptacle for Elliott. Poor little thing wouldn't let go of her "frow up" bag after that.

I know I really shouldn't have been taking the pitiful baby's picture, but I just had to. And apparently I had to share it with you, too. Heart-breaking, no?

Before the long trip home, we had a blast in Gainesville for the season opener and thoroughly enjoyed our week in Disney. There will be plenty pictures of our adventures soon - once my laundry pile has reached a level where I feel less guilty about sitting at my computer.

mommy's helper

2010-08-28T12:40:00.000-04:00

I love when Elliott helps me sew. I think she does too...

our daily bread

2010-08-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

Recently we've been making this bread at home, and I thought I'd share it with you in case anyone else was interested in giving it a try. I'm no pastry chef, and I've never kneaded a loaf of bread in my life. I'm loving this recipe because it's simple, doesn't require endless kneading and punching, and makes enough in one batch to make 3 loaves (bake one, keep the remaining dough in the fridge until you're ready to make another - it keeps for several days).

I also like that while it's 100% whole wheat (and preservative-free), it has milk and honey in it, so it tastes good, too. Now, if any of my friends out there make their own apple butter, I'd love you to send some my way to spread on this toast!!

Here's where you can find a link to the recipe (and some other quick, make-in-bulk bread dough recipes, too): Fresh Baked Bread

wyatt's back to school splash bash

2010-08-25T11:11:00.000-04:00

Wyatt has a winter birthday (which we were out of the country for last year), and he's always wanted to have a pool party. So we told him this summer he could have a Back to School Bash. We invited some awesome people and trekked out to Sean's parents' house, where everyone had a great time! I really didn't do a great job taking pictures (too busy talking, I guess), but here are a few from the day.

A few kids hanging in the pool (this had to be the emptiest the pool was all day - it seemed like most of the time they were swimming on top of each other).

Some of the boys playing football (which is probably why the pool was empty when I took the picture above).

Big kids standing around texting (of course).

Elliott lounging around.

Emma riding a Gator (goooooo Gators!! Her dad was thrilled that she loved it so much.)

Moms hanging around.

The swimming pool cake.

The man of the hour.

Thanks to all our friends for joining us! What a fun way to kick off the school year!

right now...

2010-08-24T13:31:00.000-04:00

Today is a birthday. When I was younger I spent these days thinking of how things would be on birthdays to come. I'm not yet old enough to spend this day looking back on how things were on birthdays in the past. So, today I'm looking around me and giving thanks for where I am right now.

Right now I am:

:: enjoying the beautiful birthday flowers pictured above.

:: grateful for a loving husband who thinks I'm way more awesome than I really am. And tells me so. All the time.

:: amazed by the recent growth - physically, but most important emotionally and spiritually - of my 12-year-old. I couldn't be more proud of how compassionate, sensitive, thoughtful and kind he is. I learn from him every day. [I love you Kellen!]

:: giggling at an exploit of my 9-year-old. As usual. He takes life head-on with energy and fire, and always a smile. He makes everyone around him laugh because he isn't afraid to laugh at himself. [I love you, too, Wyatt!]

:: wishing so hard that my 2-year-old wasn't getting so big so fast. Her spirit is one-of-a-kind, and can only be described with one word: joyful. She's convinced the world is hers, and she loves everything about it. [Elliott, you are my joy.]

:: counting myself lucky to have some incredible and true friends (some of whom are actually family - you hear me sisters-in-law). You make my life easier, and a whole lot more fun.

:: blessed beyond measure by a great big God who loves little ole me. Seriously blows my mind.

:: on pins and needles for the start of football season! (hey - it couldn't all be sap!)

Hope you're loving your right now as much as I am mine....

our littlest pupil

2010-08-22T14:41:00.000-04:00

Probably the most common question I get from people who are curious about our homeschool (besides, "are you crazy?") is "what does Elliott do all day?" I snapped a couple shots of her the other day while we were doing school:

Peekaboo!!

She hangs around the classroom with us, most often dressed as a butterfly or princess or ballerina. She "reads" books and practices her "writing" - usually on paper or her whiteboard, but not always. (I don't remember Kellen or Wyatt ever writing on the walls, so I guess she's making up for both of them.) She persuades her brothers to break from their work for "coffee" parties with her (smart girl, doesn't have tea parties). In general, she has herself a good time. No one who knows Elliott is surprised by that - she has fun no matter where she is or what she's doing. Wish everyone enjoyed life as much as that little girl!

the "one half" skirt

2010-08-16T11:11:00.002-04:00

We all have our own ways of procrastinating. Most of us - at least the normal ones - would much rather idle away on facebook, peruse our favorite blogs or watch TV than do laundry or dishes. My time-wasters are watching football (college usually, but after an 8-month drought I'll take whatever I can get) and crafting/sewing.

Last night when I should've been folding laundry, I combined my 2 favorite time drains and ended up with what I call the One Half skirt - as in, it took me one half of a football game* to make. I found the idea here for what they called "Lazy Day" skirts, and since I had this fabric and ribbon lying around, I decided to give it a try.

There's no gathering or pattern involved - just a simple elastic waist band and a ribbon hem. I can tell this kind of skirt is going to be a favorite for me and Miss Priss both - when she put it on this morning, she said (in her "voice of awe" usually reserved for all things princess) "mommy it's byoooful." Yep, we may make another tonight before dinner.

*A football game in which Tim Tebow made his NFL debut and scored his first NFL touchdown. Go Timmy!!!

first day of school

2010-08-14T09:05:00.000-04:00

I already posted that Wednesday was our first day of school, but, since peeps are always asking me what a homeschool day "looks" like, I thought I'd update with a few photos.

Kellen and Wyatt are stoked about their new laptops for doing work.

The first day of school is always "pajama day." Awe, who am I kidding? Half our school days are pajama days.

Elliott was helping me teach from her mini whiteboard. She was in a very butterfly-ish mood that day.

I have to show you some of the classroom revisions I'm so stoked about. Come on girls - which of us hasn't complained about the boring, fashionless options available for office supplies? My friend Amye wrote a very thoughtful article once for DICTA (the Knoxville Bar Association's monthly mag) in which she decried the lack of choices, and how the pale manila folder doesn't do favors for any girl's complexion. Well, ladies, Hobby Lobby heard our cries.

You can't really see them all in these pics, but I got notepads, an accordian file, file folders, a notecard holder (which actually holds our curriculum CDs), cork board push pins and even a coffee cup, and they all coordinate with the fabric I bought (also at Hobby Lobby) to make the table cloth. I used some matching dot ribbon to cover the ugly aluminum trim around our big whiteboard and to trim our cork bulletin board. Add 2 tubes of coordinating acrylic paint to give some new life to Elliott's old whiteboard easel and for our school letters, and voila, our classroom makeover!

Three cheers for GCDS!

GCDS2.0

2010-08-11T08:17:00.000-04:00

It's been an action-packed 24-hours for this prego. We started yesterday with an early morning ultrasound. Then we took in a midday movie with some super cool peeps, Kellen's sometimes-twin Alex and his mom and sister. (Warning: if you're going to see Charlie St. Cloud, take tissues. I had already read the book, knew exactly what to expect, and bawled like a baby anyway. Thanks for the tissue pack, Beth!) I finished off the day with late night coffee with my BFF and didn't get in bed til almost midnight!

Cramming so much fun in one day can only mean one thing - summer's closing and school's firing up. True enough - today is the first day of school at GCDS!

We're really excited about GCDS2.0. We've revamped the classroom, gotten new interactive curriculum, and ordered these T-shirts, which we love. I mean, you gotta show a little school spirit, right? Here's what the back looks like:

A little tongue in cheek, but perfect for this bunch of learning-loving hillbillies. (Oh we're hillbillies, all right. Just ask my family in other parts of the country.)

What was that? Think I heard the school bell - off we go!

it's a ....

2010-08-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it was almost 3 years ago that we started this blog, to announce that Kellen and Wyatt were going to have a baby sister. Remember that post? Turns out Kellen and Wyatt were totally right about their little sister being SOOOOO spoiled. Can't believe they saw that coming...

Anyway - now for today's very de ja vu-ey post!!!

Number 4

BABY BROTHER!!!

Yes, I know - I just put a picture of our little guy's manhood on display for the whole world wide web. Sorry, #4! These gender pictures crack me up - the ultrasound tech always puts an arrow on the image. I guess that's to make sure you know what you're looking at. Not that there's any guessing involved here. #4 is definitely a boy, and we can't wait to meet him!

ONE MORE MONTH!!!

2010-08-04T11:37:00.001-04:00

This is the time of year that drives me nuts: the SEC coaches meetings and media days are in the past, and there's nothing to do but wait for the football season to start. Normally, I would at least have the first couple days of fall practice to look forward to, but since the Gators are closing all practices this fall (which start tomorrow), I've got no choice but to wait for the season opener on September 4th to see the 2010 Gators.

So, since we have nothing to do but wait - let's talk football fashion! We're people of tradition, and we tend to wear the same thing on football game days all season long (unless we lose a game - in which case we set those clothes on fire). I've got some of the family ready for the year, but not all of us. Elliott's covered, thanks to this adorable dress her Aunt Sara made for her:

The embroidery says "Gator Girl Elliott" in case you couldn't make it out. When it gets colder, we'll add a long sleeve shirt and tights underneath, but she's basically good to go for the season. For me, I'm trying to decide between this:

and this:

(looks JUST like me, doesn't she?)

Wyatt has worn a new #15 Tebow jersey each year for 3 years, and I guess old habits are hard to break. We know, we know, "He's gone. Let it go." But we couldn't help ourselves, and we bought Wyatt this:

I figure he can wear it to the Swamp, because it's still orange and blue after all.

Sean has a lucky Nike golf shirt - which is the same style Urban wears - and I'm sure he'll wear that again this year (now that his "hey Kiffin" smack talk shirts are useless), but I don't know what to do about Kellen. He's had several styles of Gator golf shirts: solid blue, blue/white striped. Maybe this year he can go with orange. Or who knows, maybe we'll get REALLY crazy and he won't even wear a golf shirt! All I know is the countdown is on, and we can't WAIT to be in the Swamp a month from today!!!

still more sleepover guests!

2010-08-01T12:28:00.002-04:00

Last week my brother Robert and his wife Wendy came to Knoxville for a visit, along with my nieces and nephew, Sarah, Lee and Emma Grace. To say they kept us busy is the understatement of all time - but we had a blast boating, hiking, and spending a day at Splash Country.

Their first day here we headed up to the lake to spend the day tubing and cliff jumping. Robert and Sean decided to take the big cliff (which we think is about 60 feet).

That little black/blue dot in the picture is Robert. Need to see it close-up? I think you should (the picture of his face is truly worth a 1,000 words).

The kids had a lot of fun, too! Here's my niece, Sarah, posing for the camera.

My pictures of Lee are all action shots because, like my boys, he wouldn't stop having fun long enough for me to take a picture.

And Emma Grace's pictures all feature Elliott, since the two were rarely apart.

The kids (including the grown up ones) did a lot of tubing, rope swinging and cliff jumping. I captured some of the action, including Robert's awesome wipeout!

A couple notes about the video - when Lee was tubing, the screens were still up from an afternoon shower - sorry about that. And I didn't get any video of Sarah on the tube because Elliott was requiring my attention at the time - which is too bad because she went on a heck of a ride and had a GREAT wipeout at the end. Trust me, you hate that you missed it.

And speaking of great wipeouts, I had a bunch of pictures and video which I took with my phone of the hike we all took the next day to Grotto Falls. Sadly though, when I set my phone down on a FLAT rock to take some pictures with Robert and Wendy's camera, my phone had a little wipeout of its own. As my friend Darsi put it, the poor thing had an unsuccessful water landing - but she's now living the high life in a Smoky Mountain stream. May she rest in peace. The hike was great, even if it did turn out to be 6.8 miles (no easy feat when you're carrying a 2-year-old on your back and another tyke in your uterus)!

Robert and Wendy were kind enough to give the prego a day off after the hike (to take Elliott to the doctor for swimmers' ear), but they weren't about to rest for a day. They took Kellen and Wyatt and their 3 kiddos to the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge (which my boys are STILL talking about - they made us watch Titanic the movie yesterday!), and for a round of Old MacDonald miniature golf. We all headed back up to the mountains again the following day for a FULL day at Splash Country. Those Kanes sure know how to make the most of their vacation!!! And we definitely enjoyed having them here. Hope to see you guys again soon!

playing in the rain...

2010-07-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

As anyone who lives (or lived) in Florida knows, an afternoon rainstorm on a hot humid day is as common as fleas on a dog. So we weren't surprised when, after we got back to Sean's sister's house from the beach, a shower blew through. Rather than let it keep them inside or cause them to pout about not getting to swim, our kids and their Herrington cousins decided to make the most of it.

There really isn't anything more fun than playing in the rain, is there?

beautiful, sunny florida

2010-07-28T08:48:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, we spent a week in Florida on the gulf coast. We had a great time playing in the sun...

... soaking up the sunshine...

... and hanging with our cousins on the beach (no idea why Wyatt is posing with his foot in a bucket)...

I tried to get some pictures of Kellen hanging with my niece Devin (or just Devin by herself), but they all turned out about like this:

Apparently 14 is the age at which girls start refusing to be photographed. And 12 is the age at which boys start making goofy faces when their mom tells them to smile. Actually, come to think of it, that phase started at about 3.

We also got to see some friends from college that I hadn't seen in years. Don't we still look fabulous?

I was glad to see that the gulf coast (or the part where we were, between Destin and Panama City), still looked great. There were BP workers all over the place, but I didn't see a tar ball the whole time we were there. Whew - hope it stays that way!

death by vacation...

2010-07-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

That which doesn't kill you....

comes awfully darn close sometimes.

Probably the 3 or 4 of you who stop by here regularly have noticed that I've been away from my blog for a little while. We're in the middle of what might be the craziest Gifford month on record (and there has been plenty of competition). I blogged recently that my parents stopped by a couple weekends ago, and when they headed out, so did we - to sunny Florida to see some college friends and Sean's sister and her family. (Lots of pics of that great trip in a separate post - and by the way, the beaches of South Walton were great! Ne'ery a tar ball in sight!)

After a week at "home" on the beautiful gulf coast, we headed back to Knoxville to hang with my brother and his wife and kids who were spending a week of vacation at Casa de Gifford. We boated til dark, took a 7-mile hike, and hit Splash Country from open to just about close. (Again - more pics of our super-fun week in a separate post!)

We said our goodbyes to the Kanes yesterday, and today we head for a week in Myrtle Beach with the whole Gifford clan. Looks like I hit the 2nd trimester (and accompanying relief from prego fatigue) just in time! Still, I'm really not sure how much more I can take... I guess it really is possible to have too much of a good thing!

kitschy cool

2010-07-18T14:24:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my parents stopped by last weekend. To my great delight, my mom brought GOODIES! Not the edible kind. The even better kind - sewing goodies! She had been to visit her mom (a notorious ~~pack rat~~ collector), and helped her clean out her sewing room. And, oh boy, the treasures they discovered.

My favorite is this book:

It's a 1941 edition, and belonged to my Great Grandma Lee (whom I adored) before it was my Grandmother's. My mom is keeping it for now, but you're on notice, siblings, that this will be MINE in the years to come. Look at these illustrations!

She also brought a 3-ring binder full of crafting patterns which I love, love, love. I was able to convince my mom to leave that one with me, and I know I'll get a lot of use out of it. There was also a 3-ring binder with every quilting template you could imagine, which I think I'll loan to my sister-in-law Allison, quilter extraordinaire.

And, there were more notions, iron-on transfers, patches and crafting goodies than I could even begin to describe for you here (they filled several bankers boxes). I have to share a few of my favorites, though. Check out these gems:

I mean who DOESN'T need a leg-warmer wearing exercising panda satin patch? Who?? Or a pink elephant ready for safari?

And you can all count on seeing me sporting these sparkling beauties on SOMETHING this holiday season. I have no idea what, yet (your suggestions are encouraged).

I saved the best part for last. Any of you who've had a conversation with me in the last week has heard me utter these words, "I love my serger!" I've been asking for one for a while (for those of you who don't know, a serger is a kind of sewing machine. The kind made in heaven.) Apparently my dear mommy was listening, because she convinced my grandmother to sell hers - and bought it for me! It's an older model, but works great, and has already saved me light years on a few outfits I've made. Thanks, mom!!!

more sleepover guests!

2010-07-12T09:46:00.001-04:00

This weekend my parents stopped by for a visit on their way home from vacation - and we were so glad to see them. We didn't get a lot of time together, but we made the most of it! I caught Elliott sneaking sips of Pepaw's coffee - JUST like I used to do!!!

We squeezed in some time for s'mores and the hot tub.

We wish they could've stayed longer, but we were headed to Florida to see Sean's sister and some old friends (which is where we are now - posts on that to follow). In the car on the way to Florida, Elliott kept asking, "we going to see Pepaw?" I think she misses him. ;-) I know I do, and my mommy too!

our "little star"

2010-07-07T22:06:00.001-04:00

Elliott's a little songstress, and by far her favorite number in her repertoire is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." For some reason, though, she freezes when the video camera comes out so I haven't been able to capture it. The other day, I finally caught her belting it into the head of a toy golf club and made it to the video camera in time. Forgive the fact that she looks like an orphan with her wild hair and too-big t-shirt, but I had to snag the moment while I could.

hamburgers, hot dogs and cupcakes... mmmmmm.

2010-07-06T12:23:00.001-04:00

Our ladies' bible study had a July 5th cookout, and I was responsible for bringing dessert. Since it was a hamburger and hot dog kind of event, I thought I'd make these cute little cupcakes. I found them on the Disney Family Fun Website and have made them before - they're pretty easy actually!

The best part is that everything on it is edible: the hot dogs are rolled up caramels inside circus peanuts and topped with yellow icing, and the hamburgers are vanilla wafers with grasshopper cookies, red and yellow icing, and sesame seeds (which stick by brushing a little orange juice concentrate on top of the wafer). Here's a completely superfluous plug for Disney FamilyFun: I get cupcake and craft ideas from there for every single holiday, and everything I've ever made from that site has turned out great. If you're the crafty type, check it out!

swimming and s'mores

2010-07-06T10:53:00.001-04:00

The 4th of July at Sean's parents' house was a little more low key this year than others (for one thing, there weren't 90 people there like last year), but we still had a great time cooking out, swimming, playing a little croquet and making s'mores. And, just like years past, Sean and his brother Eric tried to set each other on fire with a bunch of fireworks. Here are a few pics from the day:

Elliott was busy watering mamaw's flowers. Too bad she was using pool water.

Wyatt was busy performing tricks off the diving board.

Kellen was enjoying just "hanging" around. (Ha ha. I'm soooo funny.)

And of course they had a good time goofing off with their cousin Gavin (who had just pushed Wyatt in the pool in this pic).

Elliott and Nolen did their own goofing off. (See the Spiderman toy in Nolen's hand? That was quite a source of contention. I'm guessing that in this picture Elliott is running to tell someone that Nolen took his Spiderman toy. Elliott, darling, for the 100th time - it's HIS toy.)

While the kids were swimming, the grown-up Giffords took to the croquet field. Is that right - field? Course? What do you call it in croquet? I guess I ought to learn what it's called, since 3 generations of Giffords take this game QUITE seriously.

Sean sizes up a shot while his brother and grandmother evaluate.

Sean's dad...

...and mom...

...and grandma, the croquet shark.

Everyone wanted to get in on the action, including Dakota, the lab (can you see the red croquet ball in his mouth?)...

...and Nolen and Elliott. See Uncle Eric cautioning Elliott to swing the mallet near the ground, NOT the knees.

To fill the time before dark/fireworks, the boys made a mess, I mean, s'mores.

Somehow Wyatt ended up with a marshmallow beard that would put Santa to shame. (And yes, I know, Wyatt's hair is short. He begged me for a summer haircut.)

I have no pictures of the fireworks, or of the kids watching fireworks. Instead, I was inside holding a trembling 2-year-old. Elliott really enjoyed the fireworks last year, but this year she was T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D. We tried to watch them through the glass door from inside the house, but she darted out of my lap and ran towards the living room screaming, "I don't yike it fireworks! I don't yike it fireworks!" Once we got in the living room she said, "I just watch it fireworks on TD (TV)." Bless her heart.

lake overnighter

2010-07-05T10:22:00.000-04:00

Since Sean had to work on the 4th of July, we decided to celebrate a little early by going up to the boat last week and spending the night.

We got in a little swimming (and of course boat jumping) before the sun went down.

When it was time to settle in for the night, Elliott borrowed her brother's book for a little light reading.

The next morning, we did a some fishing, and Wyatt caught a couple little guys.

Later in the morning Sean's brother's family came up to join us for a day of cliff diving, tubing and rope swinging fun! I put together a little montage of the action: