The Race of Our Lives...

My family was attacked on Monday. Not my immediate, biological family. I've never even met most of this part of my family, and it happened over 900 miles away. But still, they are my family. We are related by our common, insane passion for an ancient sport that clears the mind, melts pounds, sharpens character, and inflicts the most joyful pain imaginable.

I've been a runner for almost 27 years...and I don't use that term lightly. I started putting one foot in front of the other at the age of 11...and NEVER stopped (except for brief breaks to birth 5 babies)...and I WON'T stop, until God decides I've taken more than my fair share of steps. (Go ahead. Start the Forrest Gump comparisons :). I'm short, have bad running form, and my lack of coordination is the source of many family jokes. But God chose running as the avenue to bless the socks off this small town girl. It's how I met my husband. It's opened doors to travel across the country and to meet friends from all over the world. It paid for college, and it even added a few more dollars to the bank account afterward. It definitely channeled high energy and a strong will in the right direction and fostered self-confidence, a strong work ethic and the type of self-discipline that I want my own children to learn. I am a runner...and I am a running fan...just like those straining toward the finish line & those cheering on their loved ones Monday in Boston.

I've raced in everything from the small town fundraiser to the Chicago Marathon;  from High School Cross Country races in cow pastures to US Championship races; and from the endless circles of a 10,000 on the track to the Olympic Marathon Trials. On the roads, on the grass, on the track...runners are different from everyone else, yet SO much like each other. Races are a special kind of sports venue that you don't just explain with words. You FEEL them in every fiber of your being. Every sense is challenged: from the sight of pain stricken faces and blister-bloodied shoes to the sound of pounding feet on the pavement just after the bang of the starting gun; from the smell of stinky socks and icy hot to the taste of dripping sweat. And every runner who's had a time goal can relate to their physical feelings fluctuating between the complete euphoria of a runners' high and an unbelievable, excruciating head-to-toe pain. Whether you're a front-running elite athlete or a back of the pack plodder, swearing you won't walk...you have all these things in common, and you cheer FOR each other.  Are there many other sports where competitors pick each other up after they've fallen across the finish line? Stand nervously at the start wishing each other "good luck" and passing along a warning to stay to the right because there's a pot hole 50 yards ahead? Encourage other competitors as they pass and urge them to stay together to catch the next person ahead? Oh, yes...we want the prize...we want to beat others...but we REALLY want to beat the clock and ourselves. We want to overcome those fears of failure or desires to give up, so we can post a new personal best.

If you've never been to a big race, do your family a favor and GO! I'll never forget crossing the finish line of the State Cross Country Championship my Senior year of High School and seeing a crowd of my friends-many of whom had never been to a race of any kind- and most of them had tears rolling down their cheeks. They couldn't believe the excitement and energy in the atmosphere...they said they felt like they were running the race WITH us. How many other sports allow ALL the spectators to stand so close they can hear the athletes' labored breathing and see the sweat pouring down their focused or pain stricken faces? Basketball fans are often referred to as the "6th man," and any runner will tell you that the right words yelled along the race course at the right moment can make the difference between a personal best and a DNF (did not finish). Runners often wear shirts decorated with their names so people will cheer for them individually, and families make signs spurring on their loved ones. My parents traveled all over the country to support me, and the final time I saw my dad's huge, proud smile was after I crossed the finish line of a big race...an image forever burned in my mind's race "scrapbook." Some of my most vivid race memories are of my husband running to multiple points on a course to tell me my position or hearing my High School Coach's motivating words when I couldn't even see him...or even a complete stranger cheering me on during a lonely portion of a long race...each word of encouragement helping me dig down a little deeper so I could keep going and maintain or regain focus. Yes, the spectators are a vital member of the running family.

I think that's why this horrid, evil act of terrorism gutted me. Road races represent all things positive: a family event with a sense of community that promotes a healthy lifestyle, self-discipline, hard work, personal sacrifice, and an indescribable camaraderie. It's an atmosphere filled with celebration and mutual respect. Competitors share common goals that are only attainable by persistently logging the miles and maintaining a positive outlook...no shortcuts, no excuses. It is a mindset completely opposite of the evil people who seek to inflict harm or to rob us of our freedom. Evil has invaded and forever changed an open, safe, celebratory event for the running family and their spectators.

Notice I said changed, but NOT defeated, nor ruined. Not only are runners relentless in their efforts, but they're also RESILIENT. How else do you describe a person who crosses a finish line puking, dehydrated, and aching from head to toe...but immediately planning the next race? When runners get injured from the constant pounding of their training, they don't quit...they hop on a bike or take to the pool until healed, and then return to running and their carefully planned goals. Guess what, evil doers? Runners are tough, determined, and not easily swayed. It is no coincidence that the Bible repeatedly references running, and that many people use it as a metaphor for life. Our sport is one of courage and encouragement. We will train harder, band even closer together, and refuse to lose to you. EVER.

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. -Isaiah 40:31

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. -Hebrews 12:1

OUR STARTING FIVE

Our "#5" at about 11 weeks in the womb (meaning only around 9 weeks after conception)
"How Great...Is Our God...?"

So, I'm sitting here with only a couple more hours of a completely peaceful house. I can actually hear the interviews on SportsCenter (instead of giving up because of the noise and changing the channel to PBS Kids or an "On Demand Show"). Yet, the silence is deafening...the peacefulness seems empty, missing purpose. Ironically, this is what I often long for at least 5 times a day :). How did I score an empty, quiet house when we have 4 extremely "high spirited" children, ages 2, 3, 5, & 7? My incredible saint of a mother: retired, volunteer responsibilities galore, nearing 70 years old...and totally selfless, full of love for her grandkids, and an amazing energy & creativity for making almost everything simply fun. She could sense my despair...complete physical and emotional exhaustion as I neared the end of our 5th pregnancy after tackling a super busy Christmas season followed by a vicious stomach bug that wiped out our whole house...without the occasional breaks that I once got from working a part time job or from my "friend-family" in VA who always helped out when needed. She swooped in and rescued our children from their tired, hormonal momma and whisked them away to Mammaw & Pappaw Danny's farm for a change of pace and scenery over 2 days & 3 nights. 

I thought I would spend every moment of "freedom" tackling a mile-long to do list. Even now, I keep feeling twinges of guilt that I'm not putting away laundry or taking down the naked Christmas tree. Instead, I have enjoyed two adult restaurant dinners and an ice-cream date with my husband, an uninterrupted lengthy phone conversation with my best friend in VA, a 3 hr lunch catching up with a dear friend with whom I never spend time (she lives just 20 minutes away, but we'll soon have 11 children between the 2 of us, enough said), and running a day full of errands SOLO. This agenda is most likely what my mom actually intended for me to accomplish...not my never ending task list that will never be completely checked off and only added to with every waking moment anyway :).

Sooo...the dog and I sit here listening to this very unfamiliar quiet, and I am reflecting on our awesome growing family. Only about one month to go (maybe even less) of being a family of 6 before we meet our 7th Crazy Crew team member...the completion of our "Starting 5" (or our "Scoring 5," depending on your sports preference being Basketball or Cross Country :). Some of you "get to know" our Crew through my facebook posts, but very few folks have had an inside peek to our total quirkiness: Anna's insanely competitive, strong, persistent will...balanced by a ridiculously quick wit and cutting humor; Joey's contagious giggle, over the top tender heart, and complete mastery of scatter-brainedness; Evie's Jekyl & Hyde-like sweet & firey sides with a skill for charming the pants off anyone who spends 5 minutes with her; and Mollie's sassy, yet somehow sweet, demanding nature that leaves you wondering HOW she just won another battle that the other 3 never could have mastered. Bobby and I try desperately to maintain control, but we're pretty thankful that ultimately, they're all in God's hands. And I just pray that despite our human flaws and daily mistakes, that we somehow help lead them to a deep, personal relationship with our Father that will guide every step of their future when we, as parents, have even less control.

And now, I feel this new baby roll, kick, push and stretch around in my belly, and tears fill my eyes as a smile overtakes my whole face and heart. Yes, I am odd...that's no surprise to anyone who knows me well. I LOVE being pregnant...yes, it's been much more challenging, painful, exhausting, and nauseating the 5th time around at age 37 than it was the 1st time at 29/30...but I could never take the amazing feelings of my body being the home for one of God's greatest miracles for over 9 months for granted! I've spent 194+ weeks pregnant since June 2004 (will be 200 if I go full-term). The sickness, fatigue, discomfort in moving & breathing, varicose veins, crazy body transformations and pains, etc. still pale in comparison to the joy of growing a precious living being. It's a phase of life that I thought I'd left behind for the last time after our 4th child was born. We "knew" we were done having babies. Four is a nice, even number, right? New home in a new city, moving on to a new phase of life and finally lots of room and growing freedom for our family of six, right? Crazy as it sounds, while my head always said "ENOUGH," my heart always said "REALLY? Is it?" I would count my kids before leaving a playground or crowded area, and although I'd see 4, I'd still feel like someone was missing. Mollie hit 15 months and I realized she was our only child to ever make it that far in life without a younger sibling on the way...and it made me really sad. However, it made NO sense for us to have another child. So I jumped back into harder training and returned to racing for the first time in six years, researched Nursing school and thought about applying for a program when Mollie was a couple years older. We had already given away EVERY piece of maternity and baby clothing and baby equipment when we moved back to KY. And I resolved to move on to the next phase of life with excitement and peace, waiting to see what doors God would open and close and praying for Him to speak to Bobby and me about the same vision for our future as we attempted our best to raise our 4 amazing children under His guidance.

Oh, He spoke to both of us, alright...LOUDLY! In the form of a positive little test...that I took 3 times to be sure I was seeing correctly, waited 2 days to relay the results to my husband, and held off until nearly the end of a pretty miserable 1st trimester before we had the nerve to share the info with family and friends!  Obviously, after the shock wore off, we embraced His precious blessing! I praise God daily for this opportunity to feel life leap inside me again...thank Him constantly for the joy on our children's faces as they talk about the new baby...and wait in excited anticipation for His guidance on just how we're gonna do all this. He knows when we get content and begin to lean on our own understanding and provision. He knows exactly what our families need to push us just past the line of self-fulfilling peace, so that we MUST seek His perfect peace that surpasses all human understanding. 

As I snap back to Momma reality and head out to pick up the wild ones and begin the mad dash of dentist appointments, basketball practices, dinner, laundry, never-ending LOUD chaos, schoolwork, church activities, and half-done personal tasks and home projects, I know I will feel challenged, overwhelmed, and inadequate. However, I have an even bigger smile on my face and in my heart after being given these rare, sweet (ok, sappy) moments of reflection on our Crazy Crew. And I am forever grateful that God made me this completely incomplete person...so that I HAVE to rely on Him and the incredible husband, family, and friends that He's placed in my life. And hopefully that humbling, important lesson is one our Starting Five will learn from us early in life :).

Trick or Treat Crazy Crew Style

Sooo...a full year has actually passed since we moved into our home in Louisville, KY. That is shocking to me in a few ways...my heart still aches for our friend-family in Virginia, as if we just left a month ago, but our house and neighborhood felt like home from day one, as if we'd been here for years! There are still many things to catch up on from the past year, but I'll save those posts for a year end wrap-up (or decade wrap up...my record shows it may take that long to update :). For now, we'll stick to some Crazy Crew Halloween news! 

We moved into our house one week before Halloween last year, so we didn't know anyone in our neighborhood (except, in true KY style, we did have about 5 neighbors stop by with baked goodies, "welcomes" to the 'hood, and even party invites). Of course, I did get to meet a few others as I roamed the community on Halloween afternoon searching for our dog...who had run out of the house after a deer racing down our driveway (1st & final time I've EVER seen a deer on our street)...and I was dressed as a clown, carrying our screaming 1 yr old dressed as a cat....while the other 3 kiddos stood in the driveway in their costumes crying that their dog was lost forever. The cursed dog was found and we headed off to our college buddy's house about 20 minutes away for an awesome party and trick or treating in their neighborhood.

While we didn't trick or treat here last year, it was VERY evident that our community LOVES Halloween and neighborhood camaraderie!! We chose to stick close to home this year and meet a few more folks in our area. All I can say is...WOW! As one neighbor stated, it is basically "Halloween on steroids"! The month kicks off with everyone starting to "Boo" each other (secretly leaving plastic pumpkins full of goodies on someone else's doorstep...you hang your pumpkin on your mailbox, and then leave a Boo treat & instructions for 2 other families to pass along the fun). Three doors down is a MAJOR Haunted driveway/garage attraction. They collect canned goods for a local food bank as admission and provide 3 options: kinda scary, 3-D very scary, and an all-out-get-trapped-in-a-coffin-while-others-watch-your-reaction-on-the-big-screen version. The attraction runs the 2 weekends before Halloween and the days leading up to the "big" night. We were out of town and had to miss TWO parties that we were invited to attend the last weekend in October. There are "pre-trick or treat" driveway parties after school, groups of 30+ kids traveling door-to-door together, and the yard decorations? Again, WOW! So we left our buckets of goodies for other kiddos on the porch with our pumpkins, took some pics, and headed out into the windy, freezing evening for our own loot. I have never seen so many running children, smiling & chatting neighbors, and CANDY!! The kids had a blast, and to say we had fun watching them would be a drastic understatement! Below are a few pics from the evening...not very many, because the lure of the waiting candy was waaay too promising :) Oh, and you'll notice that you never see Daddy in the Halloween pics. Yeah...he's the same "character" every year...a Daddy. Only this year, he informed the kids he was actually changing it up and going as "a cold Daddy."  

We got warmed up a couple weeks before Halloween with Trick or Treating at the Louisville Zoo.
 SUPER fun with all kinds of characters, and of course...candy!

Pumpkin, anyone?!?! NO! WE WANT CANDY!!!

RIGHT to LEFT: Mollie the Itsy Bitsy Spider who bit Spider Man Joey,
an all new superhero, Captain A (for Captain Anna), and her
superhero sidekick Dinosaur, Evie!

Quick on the snap & actually caught Mollie blue eyes in her festive seasonal attire :)

Baby Punkin #5!!! Momma was beyond exhausted by this time...up at 6 to prep the day and run 3 miles, Moms' Group meeting in the AM, help with Joey's school party, regular after school activity shuttle vanning, getting 4 pumped up kids ready for one of their fave nights of the year, and walking for 2 hrs around the 'hood having a blast!

2010 when I was 2 weeks away from having Miss Mollie...Hoops! There she is!!

I know folks have all different views about Halloween...to each his own and what they choose to make of it. However, we absolutely LOVE the fall season and all the festivals and opportunities to teach our children to practice their own creativity, manners, and interaction with neighbors. I LOVE the community spirit, seeing the excitement & pride of my own children and neighborhood kids when adults compliment their costumes, and seeing the smiles on older neighbors' faces as they hand out candy and hear those sweet little voices say "trick or treat" and "thank you"! And now...the Crazy Crew has already begun planning their costumes for next year...thank goodness they usually don't mind wearing their big sibs' hand-me-downs...with a story theme, of course! (see the caption from the kids' group shot ;)

ABC's & 1 2 3's...where did SUMMER with my Crazies go?!?!?

Here we go again...another Fall season, the beginning of another school year, and another moment of realization that our little Crazies are getting bigger...WAY. TOO. FAST! (My friends with college kiddos or grandkids of their own are rolling their eyes right about now...I know we'll be there soon, no matter how strong my grip or how deep I dig in my heels trying to slow down time! :)

Because I do most things out of balance, out of order, and a little chaotic, I'll probably  back track and recount some of our summer adventures in another post. But for now, a peek into our new "norm" :).

Kiddos had an awesome time at the Back to School Bash!
Inflatables, games, treats, and who needs face painting when you can get your hair colored?!?! :)

Our super big boy ready for his 1st day of Kindergarten!

He was SO excited to have an "Army" back pack...had he grown up in KY, he would have called it "Cammo" or a "hunter's" back pack...but he's spent most of his years in military-country :).

Our silly 2nd-grader! Of course she thinks she's
the "big" kid now that little bro is at school, too!

Their "true colors" :).
And yes, Joey's wearing a different shirt than in the previous pics. Kids were encouraged to wear their Stopher shirts (different color for each grade) on the 1st day, but I needed some pics of him looking spiffy for the beginning of his school days...however, this does a WAAY better job of catching their real personalities!

We now have 6 whole school days under our belts, and everyone's doing pretty well :). We're continuing to adjust to the new routine. I miss our older two a LOT during the day, but love hearing their excitement when they share something or someone new they've discovered that day, and I have to admit...the house is a LOT quieter, and running errands with only 2 children seems like a vacation!! 

The differences between the girl and the boy at school are hilarious...Anna provides so many details that it's comforting, yet sometimes nauseating. Joey offers occasional random details and took at least 4 days to be able to tell us the name of a single kid in his class :). Joey's also working hard to control his sweet impulsive nature...3 days into his school career had already earned him a "color change," and a note and phone call from the teacher because he can't seem to stop talking (I can't imagine WHERE he gets that :). Thankfully, he's still excited about going back every day! Anna continues to amaze us with her love for learning and super behavior at school (NO hint of the shenanigans she shows at home); however, the challenge is in teaching her that gloating about her pristine behavioral history (as her little bro struggles a bit in this area) is not acceptable :). 

We are blessed and extremely thankful that God answered our prayers for our children to be able to attend a great school nearby (something that would seem to be a no-brainer, but in the JCPS system, it's a very complex, and often frustrating, process). I have also been able to meet a few more parents from the school, and even attended a Bible Study at one mom's home this summer. The night before school started, some of us gathered in the parking lot and prayed for the children and staff as they prepared to return and kick off a new school year the next day...it was so encouraging and inspiring to pray with these other Christian women who also feel God calling their families to shine His light in the Public School System...what a privilege! 

Friends and Family...Family and Friends...

Friends and family...family and friends. Have you ever been so blessed that the boundary lines between the two become fuzzy? It is often said that God chooses your family, and you choose your friends (making it much easier to break ties with friends, while you are "stuck" with family :). However, our Crazy Crew has been blessed beyond measure to experience the best of both worlds! And that is what made our recent move so bittersweet (I say recent...when it has actually been a blazing fast 9 months!). 


We are so very thankful to have opportunities to see family more often. For 8 years, we were 10-12 hours away from our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We loved seeing family, but dreaded the LOOONNNG drive home...and all the headaches that go along with young kids making multiple transitions to other people's homes while being completely out of routine for days on end...EXHAUSTING and stressful!!! The grandmas (my and Bobby's moms) usually made at least 2 visits a year to the DC area and stayed for a week at a time, and we made 2 visits home to KY each year and stayed for 1 to 2 weeks. These long visits made for amazing adventures and experiences between our kids and their grandmas, but we rarely got to spend quality time with extended family or Bobby's sister's family. While we no longer enjoy week-long stays with the grandmas (my mom is only 1 hour away, and Bobby's mom is only a 2 hour drive), we do get to see them more frequently, and they can come to special events on short notice. The added bonus has been the kids being able to have more gatherings in a few months with their cousins than they had enjoyed in their whole lives combined! Spring Break visits, birthday parties, sharing in cousins' special sports moments, more trips to Mammaw's farm and to Nanny's pool. I haven't done a great job of capturing many pictures, but you can get an idea of the joy on their faces :).

I could do 20 blog posts on the fun our crew has on Mammaw & Pappaw Danny's farm!

Mollie gets sweet kisses from cousin Izzy

7 cousins loaded onto the 4-wheeler at Uncle Richard's farm!

Who says a dune buggy has to actually work to have fun...it's Izzy & Evie's jungle gym!

AND...then there are those people for whom the word "friend" just doesn't seem an adequate label. I like to refer to them as my "friend-family." You can't develop these types of relationships just anywhere. It takes time...a mutual dependency...and a few acts of God :). For us, it took living 10+ hours away from all family, having 4 babies in 5.5 years, and a husband who worked extremely long and stressful hours away from home. It took the blessing of God placing us in an area with countless other folks living out similar circumstances...landing us in a church full of military and other transient families who were all desperately seeking God's provision and surrogate families for their children. I'm not sure we would have ever developed these relationships without our children...you can't exactly "fake" complete independence when much of your sanity relies on the health and well-being of several little ones. 


These amazing ladies pray for our family, they LOVE my children, they've brought meals when we had newborns and showered us with gifts with each child as if he/she were our first (even when I tried to convince them we didn't need it), they've cared for my kids on a moment's notice when there were emergencies, and they watched out for us and reminded me of our needs before I even realized them when my husband was overseas for 2 months and I was home with a 7 wk old, 1 yr old, 3 yr old, and 5 yr old. They and their children are the ones that my kids still miss and cry for. 


Coming from a community of friends like that makes the transition somewhere else very difficult. Your kids are the "newbies," and folks don't readily accept their quirks (or mine :).  It's easy to forget that those bonds developed over time...and with need. Many people have always lived close to family, so they've never considered living out a family-like relationship with friends. You can't meet someone and a week later have them feel like a part of your "friend-family"...and sometimes you don't want to let your guard down enough to allow them to be....that would make you feel like a traitor to those you've left behind. 


We are so thankful to watch our children experience more time with their extended family, to not have to miss out on family celebrations, and especially to enjoy a slower, more simple pace of life with our own immediate family. God creates all kinds of seasons in our lives, and always with a lasting purpose. My prayer is that I will always be watchful for those around me who need a family-type-friend to lean on...that I will be able to pay forward all the blessings my Virginia friend-family provided us. 


One scary part about leaving a "friend-family" is that you realize you may not see them very often...you "have" to travel home for Holidays when you live away from biological family, but lives are busy and race in different directions that often prevent visits with long-distance friends. Thank goodness for facebook, skype, email, free long-distance phone calls, etc. to help us keep in touch...but there's just nothing quite like a good ol' visit. So that's what the kids and I did earlier this summer...loaded up the van and drove 10 hours East back to Woodbridge to visit our friend-family. I wish I could have captured a video of the screams of pure joy when our kiddos reunited with their best buddies!!! We spent hours just hanging out, participated in our "old" church's VBS, and enjoyed feeling like we hadn't missed a beat in the months between our departure and return. My dearest friend, Christine & her husband, allowed our Crazy Crew to crash their home and disrupt their 3 kids' routines for 4 nights. I know these trips may not be frequent, so I cherished every moment, hug, and familiar smile. Watching my children's excitement made the solo drive over the mountains with 4 kids totally worth it :). Fortunately, my awesome friend, Mary, did use her new camera (since I never pulled mine out of the bag) to capture lots of great shots of the kiddos...I will treasure these always!!

BFFs together again!!!! (Crazy Hat day at VBS)

The 3 muskateers...or the love triangle...LOL!

Yes...a few squabbles among the 1st borns...just shows true family-like love! :)

Spidey buds!

Ridiculous how much these 2 have grown in the last months!

ALWAYS full of fun and giggles!

SPLASH!

The Anastacio, Miarer, and Wells crews the week before we moved to KY in Oct 2011

REUNITED in June 2012!!!

Birthdays Part II (umm...yeah, that's why this is 2 months late...to go along with the Part II theme...)

Just about 2 months since my last Crazy Crew post...not bad, right? Ugghh...I definitely meant to update the blog more often than 6 times a year, and I do draft entries constantly (unfortunately, it's usually in my mind while running, cleaning, or driving...and the words almost never make it from brain to keyboard :). 

Just as I'm sure they have for you, the last 7 months since we moved to Louisville, KY have sped by and are quickly becoming a blur in the rearview mirror. Bobby & I have enjoyed a lot of "routine" adventures with our Crazy Crew, and I am becoming increasingly sentimental about our "littles" becoming "bigs" far too fast! (Seriously...Mollie is 18 months old now! Her siblings were all between 11 and 14 months old when the next bun was already toasting in the oven!) After spending most of 7 years either pregnant or having an infant (birthing 4 babies in 5 1/2 years), I barely know how to envision a future where that phase of life is complete! (Sniff, sniff!) But do I EVER realize our blessings!! I don't take one silly second for granted (I won't lie and say I wouldn't trade any of those seconds...because I would trade the fits...both mine and theirs :).

Hopefully I will eventually type out all the insights, stories, and deep thoughts (HA!) that have crossed my mind in would-be blog posts, but for now....some special pics of the Craziest little Crew in KY. I thought it may be nice to finally highlight the other March birthdays (so that Anna & Joey can't complain about Evie getting special attention; however, she is the 3rd child and deserves to occasionally get something of her own...so that's why she got an individual blog entry celebration! :)

Just a small sample of what our counters look like during the month of March!

All the kids LOVE picking their own "theme" and helping make & decorate
their own cakes! Joey chose Cars 2 this year.

Momma of the Year lost his #5 candle...oops!
He's dreaming of licking those cars clean anyway :)

Oh, yeah...my birthday is on Joey's bday, too! I HIGHLY recommend having a child on your bday...who cares how old you are when you get to celebrate through a child's eyes every year! Of course, once he's 40, I may feel differently...

Anna chose to have a "Birthday Playdate" with some of her sweet new friends from school the day before her birthday. Her chosen theme? DINOSAURS!!! I LOVED IT! They're holding up the cupcakes they made...complete with dino toppers. We also played some other Dinosaur games that Anna helped plan...

Who needs to hunt Easter eggs when you can hunt...Dinosaur eggs!!!

Dino Dig!!! Everyone got a turn being a blindfolded Paleontologist

(including the hat) as they dug for Dinosaurs, but may have ended up with other treats and surprises. And I ended up with a HUGE mess! In this pic, the turns are over and it's just a big ol' free-for-all! FUN!!

And this is how I kept lil bro occupied when the girls went up to Anna's room to dress up, sing, & dance...I distracted him with BOTH cupcake batter mixers!! :)

Anna had a performance at church on her birthday with the "Every Voice" choir...PERFECT for our little stage diva! Mamaw, Papaw Danny, & Nanny all joined us for the performance and stayed for

ICE CREAM CAKE afterward to celebrate the BIG #7!!

  

MARCH MADNESS...Crazy Crew Style!

If you've ever spent much time around our family, you know that "madness" is the norm...but you also know that we crank it up a notch to a whole new level in the month of March! Exhibit A: my facebook status update from 03-01-2012:

And NOW...let the Wild Wells March Madness begin!!! 4 family birthdays, 3 races for this momma, & NCAA Basketball Tourney...if I make it to April, it'll be a miracle...and if I don't, it will have been a blast on the way out!!! :)

There's really enough activity and craziness to blog all day long, but seeing as it's been over 2 months since my last update, perhaps I should try to knock it out one little post at a time! First up: our favorite 3 year old!!!

SOOO excited to start "Evie Day"!!

Our super sweet & sassy Miss Evelyn Grace Wells turned 3 on March 3rd! I just can't believe that our big (10 lb 3 oz. at birth), calm, laid back baby has transformed into this firey, HILARIOUS, smart, creative, keep-us-on-our-toes three year old! I really feel like her last 16 months have been a blur (the amount of time that her baby sis has been with us). She loves to parrot her big bro and sis, yet she also marches to the beat of her own drum. She loves to remind everyone else that Jesus says we are supposed to "Love one another," yet she'll also be the first to make you pay if you deny her request or refuse to let her control the situation. There really is something special and scary about #3...they seem to grow up so fast (maybe from following 2 older siblings?), and their actions remind you constantly that there is no law saying they must settle into any mold or comfort zone that you have established with the first two children!

We didn't have a big birthday blowout for Evie, but we did have a lot of small activities that sure made her feel like the birthday Princess...you've never seen a kid get so excited over such simple experiences...shouldn't we all have that perspective?  Some more pics of her special weekend:

Some YUMMY Pie Kitchen cookies for a "pre-bday" celebration with the grandmas 

How special is this? Both gmas, and it only took 1 hr for my mom & 2 hrs for Bobby's mom
to join us (instead of the 10 or 12 hr drive that it's taken our kids' entire lives!!:)

Classic Evie face...priceless :)

Surprise pre-bday trip to Build A Bear!

Making a wish on her Princess bday cake...that she and her siblings made/decorated themselves:)

Love this Crazy Crew!!!:)

SNOW?!?!? IN MARCH?!?!?
Our very first decently measureable snow of the season happened to be...on March 4th/5th! (Which is FINE by me...can't stand shoveling the white stuff...or dealing with the mess it leaves behind...or having to run on the treadmill because sidewalks are an icey mess!) Of course, Evie thought it was absolutely FABULOUS that she "got snow for her birthday"! Me: "Isn't it COOL that you got to play in the snow on your birthday?" Evie: "It's the BESTEST present EVER!!" It was definitely very pretty; however, we know it sure didn't make clean up easy for all the people in KY/IN who had just been hit with the devestating tornadoes on March 2nd. Yes, this snow came just two days after 70+ degree temps!

70+ degrees & tornadoes March 2, 3-5 inches of snow March 4th/5th,
and almost 90 degrees by March 20th!

Anna didn't even have a delay for school, so she had to wait and play in the evening.
Mollie had been sick, so she stood at the door crying the WHOLE time they were outside!

 

A lot of the snow had melted by the time Anna made it home,
but there was still enough for them to make "Little Snowy Bob."

Of course, this is all that was left of "Little Snowy Bob" by the next morning. Evie just told me today (2 weeks later) as she gazed out the window, "I wish Little Snowy Bob was here...but he's all dead and melted now..."  Kid. Cracks. Me. Up.

"I'm so happy I got snow for my birthday!!!"

Coming soon(ish)...the other 3 March birthday updates...