Haddie's birthday

Hadassah Lucille, you are one year old.  This one is hitting mama hard.  I am generally a very excited for each new age and stage with you kiddos.  But you, my surprise baby girl, you getting bigger is hitting me like a ton of bricks.  Not all surprises are good, but Haddie Lu, you are an amazingly wonderful surprise.  I had no idea how much our family needed you.  It has been such a joy to watch your daddy fall in love with another baby girl.  It has been sweet to watch Zeke take on big brother to his sisters in a different way from big brother to Ben.  Ben has loved you from the minute we told him we were having a baby.  He is always the first to want to hold you, still when you are fighting to not be held.  I can not wait to see the friendship you and Ellie will have.  She has already babied you and been sweet, but there are peeks of sister rivalry already.  

And you my girl.  You have been the best sleeper we have had, thank you so much for that.  You are so laid back and go with the flow about everything.  We need your nap to be cut short? You roll with it.  We need to feed you early or later than normal?  What evs, man.  Brother or sister climb all over you? You climb right back.  Things are getting loud and crazy around here? You respond either by popping that beloved thumb in your mouth, or by joining in and letting everyone know that you too can be loud and crazy if you choose.  We need to drive around for 9.5 hours looking for where we could possibly move?  Cool, you just take naps and get snuggles when you can.  

Sweet baby, we pray that you will continue to grow into a woman after the Lord.  We desire for you to know His saving grace early and that you will not waiver in your pursuit of Him.  We can't wait to see you do great things for the kingdom.  We pray that you will be close to your siblings.  We love the relationships that we can already see forming between each of you.  It's fun to see who pairs off to spend time together.  We love you more than we can even describe.   

Haddie's First Birthday Party

First Sleepover

We had our first friend sleepover.  Max came over for a couple nights after his little brother broke his leg.  We decided to have a blast together.  We saw a movie, went on walks, played a ton, and even worked out together.  We love how well our boys get along.  We have been blessed with this friendship.

Thumbs up

Movie snacks

Loved the movie!

4 out of 5 kiddos swinging

exercising

First day of school

Well, we did it.  We sent him to kindergarten.  I walked him and neither of us cried... well I didn't cry until I got back to the car.  He had a great first day.  He was a bit nervous, but we are really excited about his school and the year he is going to have.  And for now, we just know we have to make it to July 26 and then he has a break ;)

First day of school pic!

Ben wasn't as excited as Zeke

Once he got settled, he hugged me and let me leave

Soccer

We signed the boys up for soccer this spring.  Spence is coaching and the boys get to be on the same team.   I love that their practice and games are all on the same day.  It has made life a bit easier. It does make for a crazy day playing soccer in the morning and then church later in the evening.  

3 down, 1 to go

Once the boys went back to school for their spring break, I went into hard core potty training mode with Ellie.  She did such a great job.  It's only been a couple weeks, but I she is pretty much trained.  She has been dry overnights and naps for a few months now, so we ditched all diapers after a couple weeks.  

Little booty

Charlie was around for moral support

And of course Jake was there too

Zeke's first Heels basketball game

Spence got to take Zeke to his first basketball game with Mr. Carl from church.  He had the best time.  Thank you Carl for loving our Tarheel loving family and sharing with us. 

Haddie pictures

First bath

Itty bity girl

Shelton girls all together

Going to the lodge...

Before school started we went to The Great Wolf Lodge in Concord.  We stayed for two nights.  We will definitely be going back.  We stayed in a room that had a little private bunk bed area for the boys.  Ellie stayed on a pull out couch bed.  The first night everyone was exhausted and fell right to sleep.  The next night however, Ellie learned to get off the bed.  Spence and I spent a great deal of the night walking her in a stroller around the waterpark.  Despite all that, we had such a great time.  The most shocking thing of all was Zeke.  He was so brave and loved everything he tried.  He went down water slides, loved the wave pool, crossing the lilipads, and just splashing and swimming around.  Ben enjoyed sticking close to mom and dad but still enjoyed the wave pool.  Ellie had a blast in the baby area, but really wanted to be in the wave pool.  We loved how safe each area was.  There were multiple guards who never stopped moving.  They provided vests for the kids to wear while swimming.  The boys can not wait to go back.  Oh, and Ellie who kept us up all night, literally fell asleep while I was carrying her in the park.  Yes, on me and my big ol belly.  

First Days of School

The boys are attending a new school this year, TLC for Preschoolers at Tabernacle Baptist Church.  Zeke is going 5 days a week and Ben goes 3 days.  I am loving that there will be low numbers, the kids eat lunch there and they have specials classes (music, science, yoga, Spanish).  And bonus we have lots of friends there. 

Zeke's first day was September 3.

Ben's first day was September 4.

He insisted on me taking a picture of his backpack :)

My big boy

He lost a tooth!  He lost a tooth!  My baby, who worked so hard to get those teeth in, who cried and fussed and was up at night teething what seems like days ago.  Two days before his birthday, lost his first tooth.  And neither Spence or I were even there.  He pulled it out with Nana!  But he called and sent me a picture.  I still can't believe it.