Marshall Scott

After MUCH anticipation and many months of "Mommy is he coming out TODAAAY?!", he FINALLY came! :)  Our sweet Marshall Scott Hooley arrived at 2:40pm on April 30th, weighing a healthy 8lbs 15oz and measuring 21" long.  Our biggest Hooligan by far!  Regardless of how many times we've been through this, the moment they enter this earth outside the womb, take their first breath, cry their first little cry, and are placed in my arms for the first time will never get old.  It is the most incredible experience in the world.  I feel so blessed to have been able to be a witness to this miracle six precious times.

 The proud parents :)

Best. Nurse. Ever.

 

We have been fortunate to never have dealt with jealousy amoungst our kids when a new baby arrives.. accept when it isn't our turn to hold him ;)

Charming C was carefully restrained by daddy.. at 15 months his knowledge of "gentle love" is quite limited!

It's amazing how after only a few brief moments, we already couldn't imagine our lives without this sweet boy.  Our sweet Baby M :)

Eggstatic!

Some may tell you my desire to host a neighborhood Easter Egg Party & Egg Hunt at our house just days before baby #6 was due to arrive was solely in attempt to induce labor.  If that is true, it is also a testament of how terribly stubborn my babies are because it didn't work!  But even at the end of the very swollen day I didn't regret one second of it!  We made some great new friends and had a BLAST!

Bunny hop sack races, tug-of-war, 3-legged races, egg & spoon relays, egg decorating and of course one monster egg hunt and plenty of food later, it was one crazy FUN day!

Charming C slept like a champ and missed out on the festivities but had fun relishing in all the spoils of the day afterwards.. and who can resist a baby with a mouthful of watermelon?!

"Really mom.. more pictures??"

As if that wasn't enough to squeeze into one day we then scrambled to dye eggs that evening (no pun intended..) :)

After the kiddos were all snug in their beds I went to work recreating one of our new traditions that we brought over from good ole Brazil - chocolate eggs!  Forget the bunnies, these babies are SO fun (see here: http://minutesformama.blogspot.com/2012/04/egg-hunt.html ).  Not to mention bunnies are scary sometimes.. just ask my kids.. When w stopped by Walmart on the way home from games the previous weekend we met the Easter bunny. He was creepy.  Channing agreed. After the photo Landon excitedly exclaimed, "I can't believe we met the real Easter bunny!" To which Peyton replies, "Landon - I looked in his eyes and there was a people in there." #sorrybuddyshesright #insertdejectedbigbrotherface

I bought an egg mold on amazon and stuffed each child's egg with a small toy surprise :)  Then the hubby and I went to town starting a new tradition - we had one colored roll of yarn for each child, tied it to the post of their bed and created a maze for them to follow leading them to, you guessed it, their baskets! It was SO fun living vicariously through them the next morning!  My pictures were fuzzy and horrible but you get the gist:

Unwrapping his egg :)

Chocolate eggs and Star Wars Legos.. does it get any better?!

Charming C was there too I promise ;)

Then before heading off to church we managed to squeeze in this beauty!  Talk about a productive 24hrs!!  Happy (belated) Easter everyone! :)

Got Spunk?

Not everyone in this world is blessed to have great self esteem and confidence in abundance, and I am privy as to why that is.. Princess P stole it.  It makes sense really - there's only so much to go around!  This girl kills me with her do or die personality and is constantly keeping us on our toes! :)  She only turned 4 in April but sometimes it feels like she's closer to 14!  Happy birthday to our little fire cracker P!!

Daddy popped in for a surprise visit during our birthday lunch at Chik-fil-A :)

The only thing she was set on was the color of her cake..

Because what 4 year old girl doesn't want a turquoise cake with purple frosting that resembles Sully from Monsters Inc more than your typical pink princess loving girly girl?!  It's all about the shock value, and "pink" just wasn't going to cut it! ;)

Presents were selected with care from her excited siblings :)

Charming C was already in bed but still sent his love via Shirley Temple :)

The major theme?  All things Minnie!  This girl has gone through a huge (and slightly unexpected) Minnie theme.. especially since we don't have cable and she doesn't even watch the show!

Of course we also had to have a party with a few friends which included the classics.. like tug-of-war:

In which case my husband took on 8 kids, and did NOT let them win!  Silly man! ;)

and 3-legged races:

aka lots of fun picture-worthy moments of happy kids being well, kids!   Happy birthday to the biggest kid of them all!  We love you crazy girl!! :D