Christmas Pictures

So here are the pictures for Christmas morning....finally!
They kids had a wonderful Christmas. they got so many toys!
We opened the presents to each other first. Then the Santa Presents then finally our big gift to them....280 blocks! All cut and sanded by Dad! The nerf guns were a big hit, thanks Santa. They make whistling sound as the fly by! Joshua was asleep most of the morning so when he woke up later he got to open his presents on his own. or rather, Caleb opened them for him!

pre-Christmas fun!

Here's some pictures of Christmas eve stuff....new pjs and our gingerbread house fun. My idea of the village of gingerbread houses didn't take into account they were super tiny, thus making them extremely hard to decorate! oh well, live and learn!

Thanks Dad!

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Still my little book worm!

Madie still loves to read and we've gotten so many new books this Christmas its hard to choose which one to read! Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been re-arranging the house to fit all the new stuff. It has been quite a task. Madie is sitting our new "playroom". Also, I can't find my camera cord to download our Christmas pics...I keep thinking I will run across it but I haven't yet. I sure do hope I find it.
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Vote for your favorite house

Houses #3 and #4
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Vote for your favorite house

Here's houses #1 and #2
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Out takes

So here's a few shots from our Photo shoot 2009, with 4 children this year! Not a small feat to get all 4 of them looking nice in one photo I might add. I wish I could have taped my pleading/coaxing/directions....."Hand out of your mouth", "Don't pinch your sister" "Smile like your having fun!"

Geting Joshua to smile was quite a task, but isn't he too cute just looking?!

Caleb decided to rock the airplane pose

Taking a picture of 4 kids while standing on the bed proved to be very hard, I almost stepped on them at least twice! And notice the black socked foot in the bottom right corner...yeah, that's mine!

My all time favorite, I told Caleb to help Joshua's head stay still, looks like some wrestling move!

After two tries, we did however get a few good shots.

Finished Play house

It's Done! Here's some pictures of the new play house David built for the kids.
(all pictures of house courtesy of Elizabeth Grace)

The front of the house, love the porch!

The side view, love the windows, we are going to put shutters up on hinges so they can open and close it.

Inside the house, very roomy, unfurnished currently.

a view of the roof, taken from the top of tower.

I caught Madie taking a choco milk break, had to snap a picture she's too cute sometimes!

The kids are currently out back playing in the play house, it's an unusually warm, windy day here in Atlanta so they are taking full advantage of it. And for the record, can I just say I have one amazing husband?!

Decorating the tree

Here's some photos from our night of decorating the tree.

David showed Madie her 1st Christmas ornament and she fell in love with it. It's a baby in a cradle, so the entire night she held it and rocked it and talked to it. She even wanted to sleep with it. the next morning she woke up said Hey to David then me then ran to the tree screaming "Oh Poppy, oh Poppy...I missed you!" Then later that day she broke it.

Caleb tried to put the angel on the tree....after watching the video I thought we looked like a joke: how many people does it take to put an angel on a tree?!! I like the way he tried to use David's head to help him!

The tree looks great though, I'll have more picture later of the lights on the outside of our house!

Christmas Tree Cutting '09

Every year we go down to Worthington's Tree farm and cut a real Christmas tree. It's a tradition David's family started and we are carrying it on. This year we got two trees, on for inside and one for the play house!

Madie occupied herself with "hugging" the trees while the kids searched for just the right one to cut down.

We tried to let Elizabeth and Caleb cut the tree down themselves, but it was just a little too hard.

Then the kids favorite part....jumping from the hay stack. (Madie slid down instead) Every year they can't wait to leap off the top and fly through the air. And every year they get home and are super soar the next morning!

I also tried to capture a picture of all 4 in hopes one might work for our Christmas photo cards.....alas, no luck!

Play House

Here's the framework for the kids Christmas present from David and I, their very own play house. Tall enough and big enough to accommodate all 4 of our children for many years, and can be disassembled and moved when we move, since our real house won't accommodate all of us for much longer! We'll have more pictures later once all the walls and roof is put on.

potty training with Madie

Madie likes to take her time when going potty...she sits on the potty and talks or plays. We tell her over and over again to go pee pee and she replies "I know mommy" then continues talking or daydreaming or playing or anything other then actually using the bathroom!!!

On this day however she decided to get a bit creative with her panties, oh to be Two again!

Nice reminder

So I'm out and about running errands. Then a get behind this truck, it says "tree of Life" what a nice reminder. To follow the Tree of Life. Amidst shopping for the month and going to the bank God reminds me to always follow Him first.
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Leaving,...

Today we are getting ready to travel to Memphis for Thanksgiving. It's the first time we are traveling with 6 people, a full van! I'm excited and can't wait to see everyone. Especially because it will be the first time my grandparents get to see Joshua! So, Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had a lot of deadlines and meeting lately. I'm so happy to have a break for the rest of the week and of course can't wait to shop on Friday!!! Much love to everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving early!
See some of you all this weekend!

This week

Is going to be crazy. We've got a ton of things pack into it: filling a birth certificate for Joshua at 8am tomorrow then straight to the dentist for Elizabeth and Caleb's cleanings, Meetings, Guitar, teaching, board meetings, special building projects, oh and one for mini performance on Sunday for Refuge. I say all that to say, I will update, I have video from E's recital but I just don't know when I'll get to it... but I love you all and will post as soon as I can!

Craft day

Caleb wanted to make a doghouse for Pal Puppy dog, his special stuffed animal. He had gathered all the boxes he could find, a cake box from Madie's cake, a shirt gift box and two cardboard boxes.

After Much, much tape, and a little help here's the result. Then he wanted to paint it, and he graciously allowed Elizabeth to paint with him.

While I was waiting for them to finish I tried to capture Joshua smiling. Couldn't, I have a handful of pictures with interesting faces, but no smiles. Here's the a nice one though. I think he has Madie's eyes, which are Elizabeth's eyes, which are my eyes!

And the Finished product, tadah!!! (it has a working door and everything!)

Ever wonder how I can cook for a month with 4 kids?

The beans and pasta were bombs Madie threw at Caleb. Kept them quiet! And I only cooked 5 things today, amazing the mess it makes!
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Madeleine's 2nd b-day party

Madeleine is 2 today! Here's some pictures from yesterday's celebration.

A Morning in the Life of a Home schooler

This is what a typical morning looks like at the Gant household...all the kids gathered around the "school table" aka the dining room table!

I'm trying to get Madie to branch out to other things like playing with beans instead of her usual eating crayons. She's got an A+ in that class.

Caleb is writing so well. Here he is coloring and writing his latest master piece. I think he wants to send it in the mail to someone....

and little Joshua chills in his crib, he's studying his colors by looking at all the wonderful animals on his pack and play!

Ah, the beans. amazing how big of a mess one can tolerate for 30 minutes of peace!

Beautiful Thighs

It' our GG's birthday today, Happy Birthday GG, we love you and we can't wait to see you for Thanksgiving. Then you can squeeze these cute thighs in person!

Joshua is 8 weeks today (still haven't gotten his birth certificate ahhhh!)

He's so sweet and chubby...the other evening I was noticing his thighs

check these out! not as amazing as Madie's, we all remember her thunder thighs. But Joshua getting there!

I could just eat 'em up!

Halloween

I finally got a moment to sit down and blog! hooray!
Here's some pictures from Halloween. The first pumpkin is Caleb's, notes the squares along the sides of the pumpkin, those are his "shields" the second pumpkin is Elizabeth's, I love her eyebrows. the last pumpkin is Madie's, it's Curious George, her favorite. Both Caleb and Elizabeth were Ninjas and Madie was spider girl.

Pumpkin carving

Where's Caleb? Can you find him?
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Wednesday

So a few updates:

1. Madie is still potty training

2. Joshua is still a little stuffy (had a very rough night last night)

3. We are trying to figure out Christmas lists for the kids. (they need some new toys, things are getting old.)

4. Caleb is counting down the days till Halloween

5. David and I are counting down the days until our first date together since Joshua was born, Saturday Lunch! Noelle is watching the kiddos for us. Hooray!

6. Elizabeth is preparing for her fall guitar recital, November 11th.

7. I finally mopped the floors! They were disgusting!

8. I sent out birth announcements for Joshua, I feel so proud of myself!

9. I've become a blog junkie, there are so many cool ones to read. I think I'm following 10!

10. Best quote from Madie lately. Daddy: "Pee pee clock went off. Time to go pee pee" Madie: "Potty can wait, I'm coloring!"

Outlook for the week

So, Joshua has a stuffy nose. No fever, no cough, just a really bad stuffy nose. He's not sleeping either because he can't breathe laying down. The swing, the pouch or our arms are about the only places he will sleep. Please pray he gets over this quickly. Luckily so far he can still breathe well enough to nurse.

I started potty training Madie this week. She was trying to take off her diapers. So it is time. I'm armed with 10 pairs of panties, a candy dish full of M&Ms and the pee pee clock- every 15 minutes! Today she did well, only had a few accidents but man is she a pill to reason with. I have never had to argue and negotiate with any of my other kids like I am having to do with Madie. "3 candies?" "No, only 2" and her newest phrases are "I don't want to" and " ok enough mommy" wow, she's a pistol! I've put the living room rug up and she just runs around in a shirt and her panties and boy do we get excited when she actually pees in the potty! The whole family gets in on the praise, and Caleb tries to get a few candies out of the deal too!

We also picked up 3 pumpkins, we are set to carve those Friday. The kids are ninjas again this year and I think Madie will wear Caleb's old spider man suit. The kids want to cut out a red letter S and stick it on Joshua and put a bib on backwards and make him super baby! We'll see....

I'm just keeping myself busy with kids and housework since Refuge is off till January. Though 6 of us have a performance next weekend. I am thankful for a little time off from having to run rehearsals every Saturday and actual hang out at home instead. Already thinking about some home improvement projects we could tackle!!

Well, that's the outlook from the Gant household for now.
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Teddy bear Joshua

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Caleb Riding His Bike

Tummy Time

Who Does Joshua Look Like?

Elizabeth

Caleb

Madeleine


Who Does he look like? check out the pictures then place your answers below or on the poll!

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We have a floor!

So after way too many months, we can finally see our garage floor! It took David and me all day to organize this nightmare. But we did it. Now he is just painting our new entertainment center he and our friend Keith built. Now if I can just get my closet organized we will be in business.
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Sunday

Caleb and Joshua chilling in bed before church Sunday

I think they really love each other.....especially Caleb.


Hannah came to visit us this past weekend. She met Joshua and shopped at Ikea for stuff for her new house!

Her last little snuggle time at lunch before she had to leave to go back home to Memphis. We had a blast! I was sad to see her leave.

This is how we start the day

7am, breakfast then Curios George.
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A Family of 6

So this picture was quite an ordeal to take. We were at a wedding for one of our dancers so pretty much all of our company dancers were there. Which was a huge help because trying to keep up with 4 kids in a small historic house with a zillion other people around proved to be quite an undertaking. After 2 hours of doing this is was time to say goodbye but I had to snap a picture of our now family of 6. First though Eric, our friend, had to go retrieve Elizabeth from somewhere within the house while we tried to keep Madie from running into the street. Then I gave Jen the camera, Rebekah my purse, and Eric tried to get Madie to look at the Camera and smile. Oh yeah, What's that Rebekah? The burp rag over my shoulder? yeah, probably don't want that in the picture. everyone body say cheese.....no, look over here Madie, Caleb stand still....yeah we were a riot! But the result is worth it in my opinion and it sure does make me thankful for all my friends. Without them I'm sure we would have lost one of our kids that day!

Happy Fall

The leaves are changing colors here in Georgia and the kids are super excited it is fall. Not because it means Pumpkin pie, hayrides and apples. But because it means new winter clothes and hot chocolate. Last week they begged me to get their new winter clothes out and they have proceeded to wear long sleeves and long pants every day since, whether it is cold enough for it or not! And hot chocolate, they love having hot chocolate in the morning. I think they like to pretend it is a cup of coffee just like mommy and daddy's


Happy Fall Y'all!

My First bottle

So Last Friday I got my first bottle.

I drank it without fussing.

My mommy was even able to give me a bottle. I heard her say I was the best baby they have had yet! Score!