Abel's 4th Birthday

My baby turned 4 yesterday!  It literally feels like we were planning out his high risk delivery just last week.  I know I say it every birthday, but it really does go by SO quickly.  He had a great weekend of celebrating!  He takes after his mom and drags it out as long as he can!  Friday night we ate his favorite, pizza at Mr. T's, Saturday we had his family party and went to Chick-fil-a, and Sunday, his actual birthday, we took his cousin, Sadie, to Krystal and the Aquarium for an afternoon of fun, and we made spaghetti that evening.  He had a great weekend!

If I had to use one word to describe Abel, it'd be hilarious.  You never know what he's going to say next, and every emotion and thought is written out on his face.  He talks nonstop, and he's so easy to please.  He wants to be in the middle of whatever his brothers are doing, and it's hard to convince him that he's still smaller than them and can't do everything they do yet.  He loves playing outside and has really taken to Birdie since we got her.  He just gave up his paci yesterday, and while that breaks my heart, he hasn't looked back!  I'm still his #1 girl, and I'm holding onto that as long as I possibly can.  He likes for me to lay down with him every night, and we typically read a book, sing Jesus Loves Me, and say our prayers.  He's not as into Curious George as he used to be, but I'm not letting that go that easily.  Now that he's 4 and almost in pre-k, he can't wait to start playing soccer next year.  He's ready to grow up as fast as possible, but this momma just isn't ready to let go!

A Little Life Update

It's been a little while since I've done a life update, so I'm taking advantage of our rain day to write one.  Here's a look at what we've been up to!

• Cooper:  Coop is 9 years old and loving 3rd grade.  He's come out of his shell a bit this year and is participating in the school chorus program and wrestling.  Next month he starts tennis again.  He has a sweet little group of friends he talks about all the time, but he's still content to play all by himself when he comes home.  He loves watching movies, and besides me, he was the most excited when Disney+ rolled out this year.  Out of all the boys, he loves having dogs the most, and he genuinely loves playing with them every day.  He'd spend his entire afternoon outside on the trampoline, happily out of the reach of his brothers.  He loves sitting in the hot tub with Andy, and he thrives on having jobs and responsibility around the house.  I feel like we've reached the "preteen" stage with him and his attitude, but for the most part, he's still my sweet boy 90% of the time.  
• Clark:  Clark is 7 and as moody as they come.  😂  One minute he's elated and the next he's crying about something.  He's been like that his whole life, so I would expect nothing else from him.  He's still sweet as sugar, so he makes up for those mood swings pretty quickly.  Despite the way he acts every morning when he wakes up, he loves school and loves seeing his friends.  He currently has one of highest (if not the highest) amount of AR points in 1st grade.  He absolutely loves reading.  We're almost finished with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and he can't wait to take the AR test.  He did wresting this year too, but he wasn't a big fan.  He still loves to golf any time he gets a chance, so he's looking forward to spring just for that.  He desperately wants a gaming system, but we're holding out on that as long as we possibly can.  
• Abel:  Abe turns 4 on Sunday, and that's absolutely breaking my heart.  I signed him up for pre-k a few weeks ago and then cried my eyes out.  I can't believe my last baby is getting so big.  He never shuts up, and he's hilarious.  He says the funniest stuff... I have no idea where he gets it.  He wants to do EVERYTHING his brothers are doing, and they easily get frustrated with him for that.  He got moved up to children's church this week, and he was so excited!  He loved going to the big kids' class.  He still prefers me to everyone else, and I'm holding onto that as long as I can.  We've been talking about our vacation this summer, and no matter how many times we tell him, he still thinks we're leaving for that any day now.  He's ready for summer and to have the boys and me home all the time.  We recently joined the Tennessee Aquarium, and out of all the boys, he loves it the most.
• Pets:  We're currently up to five pets.  😳  We now have three lizards and two Goldendoodles.  We added Birdie at Christmas.  The first several weeks we thought she was going to be standoffish and unaffectionate, but she's coming alive now.  Even though Bear acts annoyed with her at times, he really loves her.  I was worried he'd be upset with addition and it'd be a lot of work, but having two dogs together has been great.  All the lizards are trucking along, happiest when they're being ignored by the boys.  
• Andy & Cass:  Andy has been really busy with work recently, and he's set up quite the little office in our upstairs loft area.  When he's not working, you can find him wishing for pretty golfing weather.  Golf season has started back up, and we both enjoy watching that every weekend.  We also watch tennis any time it's on.  We're slowly making our way through the entire Seinfeld series.  It's hilarious and we laugh hysterically every episode.  I watched the first episode of You the other day and quickly realized that wasn't my cup of tea.  I'm reading as much as I possibly can, and I've read 9 books so far in 2020.  
• Family:  We currently have memberships to the Chattanooga Zoo, Tennessee Aquarium, Rock City, and just added Lake Winnie to the mix.  Lake Winnie doesn't open until May, but we're really excited about it.  We had a Dollywood membership last year, and while we loved it, we've decided to wait a few more years before doing it again.  We're ready for spring weather so we can go to all these places regularly.  We're hoping to book our summer vacation soon.  We're about 95% sure we're going to go to Sanibel Island off the coast of Ft. Myers... we've just go to narrow a week down.  I'm definitely ready for the beach after all this dreary weather we've had!

Thanks for reading this long post!