Five on the 5th {August}

I probably should change the name of my "Five on the 5th" posts to "Let's post a photo of my five boys whenever I get around to it."  But I won't because at least this is keeping me accountable to get all the boys in a picture once a month.  So that's saying something, right?

This one was taken in Lubbock, Texas.... the cotton capital of the world.  It's a mural that is in a random part of town.  The boys were NOT feeling photogenic at all, but we got a picture, and really, this is how they normally look.  Their little stances.  Who would have thought that 5 kids from the same parents could all be so very different, and BE so different?

Five on the 5th {June & July}

June on our "trip" to Dallas

Can you tell this picture was taken in the morning?  The morning of Asher's 10th (sniff, sniff) birthday. They were all showing their love for him :)

Five on the 5th {Easter Edition}

I know.  I know.  You've been hanging around your computer waiting.  It's April 5th, right?

Here they are, in our casual Easter outfits.  Actually, I looked high and low for some cute Easter attire.  Something cute, but not too cutesy.  Cheap, but not too cheap so that it looked cheap.  And I ended up with nothing except clothes for myself.  It was the usual.  GAP was so cute but too expensive.  Old Navy wasn't cute enough, and Target didn't have anything.  Bad Target boys section.

It's the weekend (yay!)  What are YOU doing this weekend?  I'm doing the Color Run with a good friend in the morning.  The weather is supposed to be great, so I'm excited.  We have baseball galore.  I'm cleaning house tomorrow after the race.  And then church on Sunday to wrap it all up.

Five on the 5th {Piano Edition}

The three older boys take piano and recently played at Junior Federation.  They all played well and were relieved to have it behind them in this picture.

This is the "official" five on the 5th pic.

This is them at home before we left... 

... all looking very handsome.

This is just before they went in to play.  Lots of nervous energy here.

Samuel ran to me right after he was told the score he got and gave me the biggest hug.  I savored the moment and loved that a hug for me was what he wanted to do first :)  He's getting older and I don't expect these public displays of affection to last for too much longer.

This is just after they were finished playing in the recital.  I think what they were thinking about most in this picture is lunch.  Off to Canes we went to celebrate with chicken fingers, french fries, and Dr. Pepper.

Good job, boys!

Five on the 5th (February)

And it's actually on the 5th!!

All dressed up in their plaid for church.

I've always had a thing for plaid.  This pictures makes me very happy :)

Five on the 5th {January}

Our friend (thanks, Josh) works at a car dealership and surprised the boys with a BIG bunch of balloons.  Our entire house smelled like latex.  Good thing we're not allergic ;)

Anyway, I had to snap a picture.  We took this picture right when we got home from church.  I didn't plan the color coordination, but we do have a green, red, and blue theme going on here.  Fun how that just worked out that way.

Hope everyone has a good Monday.  Mondays are big school days for us.  We work hard all day.  After a long weekend (we don't do school Fridays), it's always a bit of a shock to wake up and get going.  But after a cup of coffee, it feels a lot better.

What are your Mondays like?

Five on the 5th {2012}

Here you have it... all five of them in a photo every month of this year.

Any ideas on what to do with this collage?  I'm lacking inspiration these days.

I'm so very happy to have these pictures.  I wish I would have started it sooner.  Whenever I look back at my photo albums, I wish I had more pictures of them all together and more with me in them.  I'm going to try to get out from behind the camera a little more this year.  I'm a part of this family too, right? :)

Happy Friday!

Five on the 5th {Wrapping Up the Year}

This was some time in October... it's the best one I have.

November, putting up the decorations.

December, Christmas morning.

Five on the 5th {September edition}

 I know it's almost Christmas but I have some posts to catch up on.  This is one of the first times we were able to enjoy our new back yard.  We found this slip and slide during the move.  I think I bought it on sale post season a couple years ago and then forgot about it.  The boys were more than happy to throw on their suits and and dive in.  

I love this photo because they are all together having so much fun

Such a fun way to beat the late-summer heat.

And I can't help but show you the rest of the sequence.

Because sweet Joseph...

He's just so darn cute.

Thank you for all of your kind comments and emails about my last post.  I'm working on writing more, but it's a slow process.  Right now, I'm enjoying these five little guys immensely as we slowly begin our Christmas traditions.  God has been so good to us.

Tomorrow is December 1.  Can you believe it??

Happy weekend!

Five on the 5th {July & August}

In July, just before we had grass.

On the way to Branson, somewhere in Arkansas.

Spy Night at camp.

Olympics night.  We were cheering for USA.

Five on the 5th (late again) Mother's Day Photo Flop

Sometimes it just doesn't work.  

The boys were all cute and coordinating in their navy and aqua for Mother's Day.

But they weren't feeling photogenic.

They were either not looking.

Or looking like they were the most miserable children on the planet.

The pictures just keep getting worse.

The goofy one turned out the best, I think.

The boys and me.  I'm not sure that there's a worse pic of Asher and Graham.

But even a bad photo is better than no photo at all, right?

Happy Mother's Day to me.

Five on the 5th (actually the 21st, oops) and Walls, and Thoughts on Walls

 The boys are standing in my favorite room in my house.  Is it the living room?  Is it the kitchen?  Is it the master bedroom?  Nope.  It's the mudroom.  And I'm so thrilled to be able to have one, it makes me giddy just thinking about it.

This is my Five on the 5th picture.  I guess I was pretty busy on the 5th and forgot about it.  But better late than never.

I think we left off with sheet rock.  It was hung and for the first time I got to feel the shape of the rooms.  This is the kitchen.  Under that window will be my kitchen sink, with lots of dirty dishes.

The view from the kitchen to the living.

Excited about these beams.

Somehow Graham is NOT very excited in this photo.  Being the big brother gets old at times, I'm sure.

A cute brother shot.  In front of their future bed.

Always something to mess with in the back yard.

The boys got a kick out of the guys walking around on these.

Doesn't it look a little bit fun?  

I've been so impressed with all the workers at the house.  They work hard.  They get there in the morning and don't leave until dark. 

I've not used to people working for me (except my children... ha!).  Walking on the job site at times has been a bit difficult, because I know these guys are building us a house that is nicer than the one they live in.  And I really can't stand that feeling.  It makes me wonder what they must think of me.  Of our family.  I didn't grow up in need of anything, but I definitely grew up without much extra.  I learned a lot from that.  I learned to appreciate the little things.  And there's a part of me that doesn't like that our kids won't grow up that way.  But at the same time, it will be so nice (and a luxury) to not be all crammed in a house.  There are moments I feel fine about it, and moments I feel like it's too much.  

Just being honest.  All these emotions in home building.  Who would have thought?   I guess it's not all concrete, nails, sheet rock, and tile.

5 on the 5th (a little late) April Edition

5 boys very excited to see their bunks framed in.

The Foundation + Five on the 5th

So much has happened since my latest update.  I'll fill you in on the excitement in my posts later this week.

Where did we leave off?  Well, we were preparing for the slab to be poured.  It rained hard for a couple of days while we waited, but we continued to visit the lot and look nearly every day.

I'm fairly certain that girls don't do this when you ask them to pose for a photo.

Or this.

Or this.

Special thanks to our camouflaged friend who made that particular day all the more fun.

Then on February 15, I got this text.  "Urgent!  Just told that they are pouring your foundation and will be finished pouring by noon."  This is one of the benefits of having a great builder.  They let you know about fun things like this.  We quickly packed some snacks and headed over to the lot.

This is Will (on the left).  He's our builder.  More importantly, he's our friend.  When we arrived, he was already there checking things out.  The boys had a million questions for him.

This is what we saw.

And some very large trucks.

Very large.

They stood and stared for quite some time.  

Cutie.

The front porch.

Eating a banana while he watches all the commotion.

Smoothing out the cement.

Happy boys.

Fun jumping over the exposed sewage line.

We put the boys' handprints in the foundation before it dried.  

Nathan wasn't quite sure what we were doing.

Joseph.

Samuel.

Asher.

Graham.

All five of them.  And their ages under their handprint.

Our fearless builder.  So great to have him here for our big day.

My five on the 5th pictures for this month.  These are from the next day when it was dry enough to walk on.

Cute boys sitting on many future memories.