Tears

I’m so tired. 

I’m tired of being home. I’m tired of not seeing my friends and family. I’m tired of not having anything to look forward to. I’m tired of seeing my kids ALL DAY EVERY DAY. I’m tired of being grubby all the time and not having any real reason to get ready. I’m tired of this feeling. I’m tired of feeling mostly sad all day without my friends. 

I’m such an extrovert. This quarantine mess has really got me down. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not depressed. But this is for the birds. I need my girlfriends. I need my mama. I need my Mexican food!!!

I need reasons to go somewhere “essential.”  If I don’t start getting out of this house regularly there will be more tears. Today at lunch I was draining the goop off the top of my dip...you know, when it’s already been opened and there’s goop on top. I tipped my French onion dip over the sink to drain it and the whole dang tub of dip plopped into the sink. 

😭😭😭😭😭

I for real cried. I’m not even sorry about it. It’s not just that my dip fell in the sink, I salvaged what I could and ate it with lunch. It’s just everything,  you know. It’s so hard to keep the kids away from the neighbors. It’s so hard to be here for them to talk to NON STOP all day. It’s so hard to feed them sooooo many times a day, a week?! Gosh the food. 

It’s just hard. So I cried. It doesn’t seem like it’s gonna get better anytime soon either. So if you’re out there crying too, just know you’re not alone. 

Easter sure is different this year. But I know Sunday’s still coming...and Jesus is alive!!! 

Bubby is TEN!!!

This one's for the boy. 

Today my son, my first born, my Lincoln turns 10!!!

Yes, this post is a few days late. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Double digits! I'm getting misty-eyed just typing that!

He has fierce emotions...it's AWESOME or it's terrible, there's almost no in between. He adores Lala and tolerates Aspen. Though he won’t tell you they talk, sing, and laugh far into the night while sharing their bunk beds 

He loves pizza, spaghetti, sweet tea, Fanta, and Sprite, though he doesn't get those drinks very often. His favorite color is orange and he LOVES fast cars. Ask him about Mustangs, Bugatti, or Lamborghini...he can probably give you stats. 

He is amazing at all things kinesthetic. If it has wheels he can ride it, if it has a steering wheel he can drive it, and he probably has one! You should see our ride-on toys. 🤦‍♀️

He loves to snuggle, but probably wouldn't want me telling anyone. He's one of the best hug givers I know. He's very smart and loves one-on-one attention.

This boy made me a mom. He surely holds a special piece of my heart. Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be. <3

Today we ran away

We ran away to the mountains today for a while. A bit to calm the stir-crazy we know is coming as we settle into Shelter in Place.

 Littlest said the water was COLD!!!

We were extremely careful, got near no one, touched nothing except nature, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and warm weather.

We’re seriously moving into protection mode for Anthony. He’s a front-line healthcare worker entering multiple homes on a daily basis. His transplant saved his life 6 years ago and we want to keep him around as long as possible.

Twice a day he takes medicines that suppress his immune system. He has NO way to fight if he gets this virus. He loves his job and will continue to work as long as it’s deemed safe. He doesn’t enter homes of symptomatic patients, wears PPE as needed, and cleans and sanitizes.

But here at home we’re tightening it up. No more visits, separating from neighborhood kids, and my kids haven’t seen the inside of a store in weeks. We’ll do everything we can to protect him and other vulnerable people. 

You do your part. 

#stayhome

Middle is EIGHT!!!

Today belongs to Aspen.

March 28, 2020

It's a different birthday than we've ever had. We usually celebrate with 90-100 friends and family for a big birthday bash. This year things changed. But we're trying not to let this crazy virus get her down.

To know Aspen is to love her. She loves BIG and tells you often. She's sugar, and spice, and everything nice. She is always happy, smiling, singing, or dancing. She NEVER stops moving, even when she sleeps. She is a peacemaker and would give anything she has to make others happy. 

She's crazy smart and loves to read, sometimes 2 chapter books a day! She rarely complains, never even tells us she's sick. 

She is our joy. She's so precious and happy. We truly needed an Aspen in our lives, and God delivered her just perfectly.

We’ve had a good day...in spite of stupid Coronavirus.

We started the day with presents, I had a helper making requested chocolate chip pancakes. 

We celebrated all morning by having small visits from grandparents. She got art lessons from one set, and horsey accessories from the other.

They have jumped on the trampoline allllll day and Daddy even painted her toenails mermaid colors for the occasion.

Her whole Sunday school/Children’s church group met this morning and they sang her Happy Birthday!

My girl, Carrie Setzer killed it for her mermaid cake!!!! 😍😍😍

She dropped her iPod in the fish pond 🤦🏻‍♀️

We had Taco Bell for lunch 😂😂 and went on a Bear Hunt this evening. Unfortunately we didn’t catch many sightings before she got sick in the van. 😭

She’s fine now, she almost always throws up when she has a headache, with little to no warning.

We’ll try again tomorrow.

Coronavirus

Y'all, this is crazy. Our world has been turned upside down. Our lives have been disrupted, our routines have been interrupted, our homes have become our safe haven.

Today is Day 11 of the North Carolina quarantine. 

We've been asked to stay home if travel isn't necessary. Most non-essential jobs have closed their doors and sent workers home. My own mom filed for unemployment for the first time in her life as her job is closed for a minimum of 6 weeks. 

We're being asked to stay 6 feet away from people. We're not allowed to have gatherings larger than 50, just reduced from 100. Churches are CLOSED! We haven't been to church in 2 weeks now. We're streaming online with what feels like the rest of the free world. 

We're able to get groceries, when they're available, but all restaurants are closed to eat-in options. It's drive through, drive-up, and curb side service right now. 

The craziness over groceries is really ridiculous. There's no toilet paper to be found. Riddle me this...why does a respiratory disease need you to buy 100 rolls of toilet paper? I know....in case we're called to "Shelter in Place" and not leave our homes. I get it, it's scary. But please....only take your share!

As Cindy Monroe says, just take your share of the potatoes.

On March 13, 2020 all schools in NC were closed. Teacher friends, and teachers across the country, have been scrambling to find ways to provide learning opportunities for kids at home. Moms and Dads have now become defacto homeschool teachers. Millions of kids are now home every day instead of in a secure, safe place like school. Districts are handing out lunches like crazy, offering online learning, sharing ideas that have worked for others. The Education community has TRULY come together to show everyone how amazing teachers really are. You want digital learning? Done. You want packets for home learning? Done. You want to reach out to parents by any means necessary? Done. Seriously y'all. If the educational community can do this when all the Red Tape is gone, just think about how awesome education would truly be if the "suits" got out of the way and let teachers do their thing.

For us, as a homeschooling family, you may think this doesn't change much. But I assure you it does. Our normal day usually includes an outing of some kind. We have field trips too, places we enjoy visiting and we LOVE Chick-fil-A with friends something fierce. Our co-op days are our most favorite. That's when our homeschool friends meet for joint classes and fun. We learn, eat, play, and laugh together. It also gives Mom some time to talk to people other than her children. Phew!

So here on day 11 we're still doing our school time as usual. We've done math, spelling, science, history, Bible, and music. They've watched a few episodes of their favorite shows and visited with a neighbor. I'm currently typing while listening to them fuss about the fort they're trying to build in their rooms...the big kids that is. Littlest is trying my patience by NOT napping but instead is hopping and jumping around in there. *Sigh*

They're tired of each other. Shoot, they're tired of me. They're probably even tired of their own selves. Middle is really good at entertaining herself and is really enjoying creating DIY arts and crafts for her dolls. She's found a YouTube channel that shows people playing with dolls and all the small things they've made for them. She's trying to recreate some of that. She also really enjoys coloring, drawing, painting, and puzzles. She's pretty easy to entertain.

Oldest is hard. He comes up with ideas he wants to try or build or make. Often those things are dangerous, could potentially hurt others, or are really obnoxious. He's good with video games for a bit but we're not huge on those around here anyway. He does not love reading like the Middle. She could read for HOURS! So Oldest is the hardest to occupy.

Littlest is so much fun, and so easy. She just enjoys us being home and together. She can play with anything and have fun. She loves movies, loves to sing and dance. She's almost always wearing a costume, dress-up dress, fancy dress, princess dress, etc. She is such a joy to have around and we all adore her. God's plan is so perfect...he knew we needed her even when we were sure we didn't need another baby.

So we're home. We're occupied for the most part. Hubby is still working every day. Healthcare doesn't stop. Especially not in the middle of a health crisis. His patients still need to be seen and some need the visit to be checked on. We worry about him having NO immune system for himself. We worry about him being in contact with someone who's infected and is asymptomatic. It takes 14 days to sometimes even show a symptom. That's a LONG time! We just pray every day. We pray he doesn't bring it home to use. We pray he doesn't share with his parents who are older and compromised. We pray he doesn't get infected himself as his body has no way to fight back. 

We pray.

We pray every day for us, for our families, for our friends. We pray for you. We pray for everyone to be safe and protected. 

I know it's been a while since I've posted and I haven't been keeping up. But life happens, ya know. I want to try to write things down during this time. I'm sure someone will want to look back and remember how it all went down. And it's not like we're out running around busy or anything. HA!

Yesterday was hard

God is so good. His plan is perfect. That's why He lets us completely forget what it's like to have a newborn. We're able to block out the sheer exhaustion, the crazy amount of diapers that need to be changed, and the hours and hours and HOURS spent nursing. 

This chair and I have become greatly reacquainted. 

Nursing has been really great and also very hard this time. Sweet Lorelei latched right on from the very first time in the hospital. The nurses in the baby nursery even commented on her barracuda suck reflex. It all started out great. Then the soreness kicked in. 😳 

We started out using the nipple shield to get us both into the hang of things. When the soreness started I decided to try without the shield. That helped for a few days but then got REALLY sore. So much so that I decided to take a day off and just pump. Anthony fed her bottles and let me have a break. She has taken bottles just fine from the start. That helped a bit and we started back on the shields again. It's much less painful that way overall. 

Aside from New Years Eve that was REALLY really hard, we've done really well together and she's been happy and really only cries when she's hungry. NYE was different and she screamed all. Day. Long. It was miserable. I was home alone without help for nearly 2 hours and she screamed the whole time. She was so full of gas and her little tummy was hurting. We made it through. 

Yesterday was also a very hard day. She was sooooo hungry! It was our first true day of cluster feeding. She had already nursed 7 times by noon!! (Typically she nurses 7-8 times a day!)  So yesterday she nursed nearly every hour. And she nursed for 20-30 minutes each time. So I would only have about 30 minutes between feedings to do anything. And most of that time she was still crying or fussy. Talk about exhausting!

Wednesdays are great days because the big kids go to Grammy's house for the day. It's my day to get things done and run errands. However, that obviously didn't happen. I tried to leave. I did. I packed up the diaper bag, put her in the car seat and actually pulled the van out of the basement....with her screaming the whole time. I decided it wasn't worth it. I unpacked us and went back in the house. No one wants to ride around with a screaming baby, much less try to push her around a store. 

Anthony came home early and let me go to town alone. Hallelujah!! It was really very nice to spend some time by myself without someone needing something from me. 

She continued to fuss like crazy and Anthony fed her 5 oz from a bottle over a span of 2 hours. I don't know how she could hold all that in her tummy at one time. Thankfully she slept all through church and the ride home. And it was Family Night so I didn't have to cook dinner!!

I know there will be hard days...and nights, But overall this peanut is so good, She sleeps most nights from around 9 or 10 till 3-4. She's usually awake after for about an hour then sleeps again until 7-8. She usually nurses every 3 hours or so depending on the day and what our activities are. She's definitely going ti have to be "go with the flow". She'll just be where we are, 

The weather is calling for a few inches of snow this weekend. Maybe we will celebrate her birth, Christmas, and her first snow all in her first month!

In which Daddy goes back to work

I knew this day was coming. I've been a bit worried for a while. Having Anthony home for 2 weeks has been such a blessing!! 

He has done laundry, washed countless numbers of dishes, fed the big kids, changed tons of diapers, ran errands, been my gopher, and more. Most of all, he has loved me. He has hugged, snuggled, kissed, and told me how much he loves me. Nothing is more important than that. 

It certainly helped this momma feel better after coming home with baby #3. I may have been a bit stressed and overwhelmed by the thoughts of a newborn. Through it all we've worked as a team and gotten done what needed to be done. 

So today I managed to get all FOUR of us dressed, fed, ready, and out the door. We were even on time to Little Bit's doctor appointment. HUGE accomplishment!!!! So proud of myself. 

LK and I even ran by the grocery store to get my plan ahead dinner meal. We picked the big kids up from Grammy's and headed home to do school work. What an adventure that was!

Anthony has been doing most of the schooling since LK was born. So having all 3 to myself today and trying to get anything accomplished was quite interesting. We managed. It just took an extra little while. Phew. Thank goodness for Christmas Break! We all need one. 

All the children are fed and happy. That's really all that matters. Maybe the floor will get vacuumed tomorrow. Maybe. 

Perhaps the dishwasher will get unloaded tonight. Perhaps not. 

But we're all alive!

And we're all together. 💗

Kindergarten is coming

My heart starts beating fast. I feel a tightening of my chest, like something pressing on me. I have to stop and think about taking deep breaths.

No I'm not watching a scary movie...I'm thinking about sending Lincoln to school!

Just the mere thought of letting him leave me every day makes me have what feels like a mild panic attack. And it's not because I'm some crazy momma who can't let her kids go. (I don't think.) It's really, truly because I know the world. I know what will happen to him. I've already been there and I don't want my precious boy to go through it.

People will be mean, kids won't like him, teachers will fuss at him, girls will break his heart, people will make him mad. I just want to cradle his innocence in my hands and keep it forever. He's never heard curse words. He doesn't have a vocabulary of dirty words. He doesn't know that people are often mean on purpose. He doesn't know the story doesn't always end happily ever after.

He is so sweet, loving, forgiving, helpful, and precious. He goes out of his way to help me, he adores his little sister, He loves trucks and planes and cars and trains. He loves to read books and play with his cars. He loves music and loves to dance. He loves Disney movies. He's a little water bug and would swim every day if we could. He knows who Jesus is. He knows that He loves us, no matter what. He knows that he will always be forgiven, he only has to ask. He knows he is always protected from people who want to hurt him or be mean to him.

How do I let this precious bundle that God has entrusted to me go? How do I leave him in a building filled with other children and adults and walk away? How do I know they'll love him, take care of him, watch out for him, stick up for him? How do I spend my days without him? How do we rearrange our lives to revolve around school and sports?

Right now I can't even think about it without heart palpations and watery eyes. It is a deadline that is looming over my head like a monstrous black storm cloud. Summer's ending....school is coming. And our lives will be forever changed.

I know...you're saying I should know how this works, I was a teacher. And I say to you, "Exactly!!" I know how mean kids are, I know teachers have bad days, I know things get overlooked, I know bullies get away with way too much, I know that 2nd graders talk about sex. I know some little people have seen more in their 7 years than I have in my 33. I know they'll teach him bad habits and bad words. I know he will come home mad at me some days for no reason at all.

What I don't know is...how to manage my emotions. I pray every day that God will relieve this stress, worry, fretting, anxiety. I truly don't know how I can drop him off on that first day and leave him behind. It feels like my whole world is changing and nothing will ever be the same again. I don't want to lose who Lincoln is. I don't want him to lose his personality, beliefs, sweetness. I don't want him to not see me as his whole world, his most important person, his best friend. I don't want him to be pressured into the ways of the world. I don't want him to lose sight of what's most important.

So tell me this...how do I hold it together on that BIG day? How do I walk him to class and take his picture without breaking down? How do I keep those tears away until I walk out the door? How do I let him know I'm more proud of him than anything in the whole wide world? How do I focus on this day being one of the biggest days of his life without crying like a baby? I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it. I type this while not just crying, but sobbing. Lincoln is a huge part of my world.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Can't Believe He's FIVE!!

How did this happen? How did he get so big? Where did the time go?

I've asked myself these questions all day long, and still no answer reveals itself. I have cried off and on all day thinking about the blessing that this little man is. I've reminisced through old photos looking for one from every day of his birthday for that collage. There were pictures of my sweet Moppy.

And of Anthony's sweet grandmother, Matilda.

Sweet, sweet ladies who are no longer here to celebrate this day with us. Oh how I wish he could have known them more. 

There are also pictures of all the precious people in our lives as they met our first born for the very first time.

 What amazing, supportive friends and family we have! We love you all are are incredibly thankful you all are a part of Lincoln's life.

He is beautiful, silly, intelligent, has a memory like an elephant, loves music, and is half of my heart. There is no love like a mother for her son. It's amazing how much our lives have changed because of this small person.

He loves riding his motorcycle and bicycle, he's been without training wheels since last summer, right after turning 4. He can count to 50 with minimal help. He still stumbles after 39 and 49. He can tie his shoes (though it's very loose) but it makes him frustrated most days. He can spell and write his first name and half of his last. He can remember any song after hearing it only a few times. A few of his favorites right now are the Kirk Franklin songs he listens to in Daddy's car, Still I Fly from Planes: Fire & Rescue, and we listen to a Now That's What I Call Music Disney edition CD, he knows all the words to every one of those songs! 

He loves his Legos and got several sets of Duplos for his birthday...including one of Knights and horses from us, construction sets from EE..and he plays with Aspen's Sophia Lego's too. :)

Most days he adores his little sister (though that sometimes comes out as aggravation). He just can't leave her alone. He's always touching her, trying to play with her by taking her things away, or trying to pick her up. 

His favorite places to eat are Kobe's (Japanese) and China View (Chinese) followed closely by any Mexican place. His favorite color is usually blue.

I think we're going to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate tonight...as long as he's feeling better. It stinks being sickly on your birthday. He started running a fever yesterday after nap, about 101. I gave him Advil and waited it out but the fever hung around for a while. He woke up last night unhappy and shivering so we gave him more Advil and some cough meds. Bless his heart. He slept until nearly 8:40 this morning and had a temp of 101.3 when I first checked. Anthony ran for Tylenol this morning before work so I've been keeping him on a schedule alternating meds. 

He opened his presents this morning as soon as he awoke. We got him Lego Duplo knight set and a super awesome pair of motorcycle pants! He said "This is the best birthday ever!!"

We managed to get out to have lunch with Daddy at Dos Amigos. It was rough getting there, Lincoln sure didn't feel well and he fell apart on me before we left the house. Sigh.

Happy Happy Birthday sweet boy! I pray for you every night that God would lead you where you were supposed to go...and to become the man He has made you to be. We love you more than you will ever understand. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

Today's fun

So far today we've had some pretty interesting experiences. We decided to go on a time share tour to get cheaper Disney tickets. We will never never never do that again!!! It wasn't what they told us on the phone. it was supposed to last much longer than they said, and Anthony had to raise a fuss to get us out of there. The manager they assigned to us for the tour told us that most of the people who came to view their property today would be there for about five hours and five different people were supposed to talk to them to try to get them to purchase.

Because Anthony told him pretty much upfront that we were not going to buy we were just there for the tickets we were assigned a manager instead of a sales person and he walked us through the typical spiel. And then he let us leave because we needed to pick up Anthony's parents from the airport. We did tour one of the rooms and it was super nice but if you pay $300 every month for 10 years you end up paying $30,000 for a one week stay in Orlando every year. And we saw people signing papers right and left. People are crazy.

The children are finally taking a nap and Anthony is on his way to the airport to pick up the grandparents. Then we're headed to downtown Disney for some shopping and some fun tonight.

We made it!

We literally stopped 9 times. 

The kids watched maybe 3-4 movies. 

They colored and used all the fun new stuff in their bags.

Aspen made it to the bathroom and didn't have any accidents all day!

We snacked, we ate, we watched movies.

We made it to our super nice condo around 6 o'clock. It has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths so everyone has their own space and even Grammy and Dadaw can be downstairs in their own bedroom.

The kids loved it as soon as we walked in. And they've already asked if there are pools. And Lincoln says he doesn't care how cold it is he wants to be cold in the water.

Boo traffic

Orlando traffic at 5pm is no joke. 

GPS says were only 12 miles from the house but who know how long it will take!!

5:25pm

Welcome to Florida!

We just crossed into Florida! 2:10 pm

Not bad for having stopped at least 8 times so far!!

Aspen had two false alarms early this morning but she's been excellent ever since!

They have watched nearly two movies and one short video. Thankfully we've got awesome friends and family who helped supply the kids with tons of activities for the van. Dry erase markers, coloring books, new toys, books, and babies. 

We've stopped for breakfast and lunch and now they are both blissfully asleep!! Say a prayer they rest for a while. 

We told them where we were going after eating breakfast. Their reactions were not at all what I anticipated. They were much less excited than I thought they would be. 

I'll try to post the video tonight. 

So far so good. 

And we're off!

Pulled the babies out of the bed and hit the road for Disney around 5:45 am!! We put Lincoln in the car and the first thing he saw was the GPS. "Are we going to a hotel?!" 

We made it as far as the fire department before Aspen said she needed to pee. Oooooooh the joys of potty training. 

Wish us luck!

Oh. And just like I predicted, neither child is interested in going back to sleep. Sigh

Oh Glorious Day!!

Do you know why I'm smiling!!???

That's right!!! The day has FINALLY come and I'm returning our LAST pack of diapers!!! Aspen is in big girl panties all day long! 

She's still in pulls ups at nap and night time, but I have a feeling nap will be totally fine soon. She wakes up dry most days. 

Way to go Sissy Bear!! It's taken nearly 2 weeks but it's gone really well. 

Now, if she would only poop in the potty!! 

Things I Love

I love that Aspen talks like Gollum from Lord of the Rings! She puts -ies on the end of so many things. She says shoesies, handsies, feeties, dinkies (drinks), booksies. It's adorable and I know she will grow out of it soon, so we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

I love that my babies love books. Both of them. They just can't get enough. Many times a day I will find them quietly immersed in a book. And MANY times I find them very noisily reciting it! It's something Anthony and I both truly enjoy and I'm so glad to share that passion with them.

I love that my sweet children love each other. They hold hands, read books to each other, play together, share snacks, help each other with problems, try to make the other feel better. They're so loving.

Now, don't get me wrong they FIGHT! Lots! But for the most part they are helpful and caring towards each other. Lincoln is being taught to be Aspen's protector...to take care of her and watch out for her. 

I love that before bed Aspen demands to sing three songs: Jesus Loves the little BooBoos, Jesus Loves the little Children, Jesus Loves Me. They're her favorite and she can be heard singing them throughout the day, no matter where we are. The other day she was singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs as we went through Target. We didn't have the heart to quiet her!

I love that Lincoln loves Bust'r Bus. He looks forward to going on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he's so glad school has started again. We're back in a routine and schedule. He likes to know what's going to happen next.

I love how much my kids love the Disney channel. That my sound silly but I am so thankful that we watch only Disney around here. When we go to the doctor's office or other places where other channels are playing I just hate it. They're such silly shows. I enjoy Mickey, Sophia, Doc, and Sheriff Callie.

 I love that my parents have a farm!

I love that Lincoln and Aspen can go and play and learn and get dirty. The experiences they have at their house will be things they remember forever. I loved growing up surrounded by animals and such interesting equipment. 

I love that my husband has a new kidney. The change in him, physically and emotionally, is HUGE! He's running, biking, did a triathlon again this year. We've enjoyed more time together without dialysis. We've accomplished more around the house because he's not so tired anymore. (Read: he's never tired and has more energy than he knows what to do with!) Vacations without dialysis are amazing!! His 10 month anniversary is almost upon us. It's truly amazing the goodness of God and his mercies. 

July 4, 2014

Ages...it feels like ages have passed!!

We were pretty low-key for the 4th of July this year. We headed to Morganton to see the festival, but it really turned out to be a bust. Several food vendors selling fried everything, and some guys selling junk for $6. Seriously. We played on the play set for a few minutes and high-tailed it outta there!! 

We bought some fireworks last week in Gaffney and shot those off here once it was dark enough to see them. The kids held sparklers...and we managed to escape that undamaged. Barely. It was nerve wracking this year because Aspen was just big enough to do it on her own but small enough to not really listen to how to do it properly. Nerve wracking. Surprised we didn't end up with 2nd degree burns on Lincoln the way she was shaking her sparklers at him!!

When I get my other pictures off my camera I'll add more. 

Anthony also decided it would be fun to have their first father-son camp out in the backyard. An interesting choice of nights since last year the neighbors shot fireworks until the wee hours of the morn! However, they made it all the way through the night. Anthony texted me at 10-40 to say Lincoln had finally fallen asleep. He was so proud of himself he had to rush in and tell me he slept all night in the tent. At 7:30am. Up with the sun they were. 

Aspens not quite ready to stay all night in the tent so we snuggled in our own beds. Nice and comfy. 

Our annual family patriotic photo. 

Love this bunch!!