Happy Birthday to Blake!

Ten years ago from this moment I was in labor at Lodi Memorial Hospital.  They induced me at 8:00 am and even though I was dilated to a 2 when I went in, I never went farther than 4 during the next 16 hours.  Ultimately they chose to do an emergency cesarean because Blake's heart rate started to slow down quite a bit and  my cervix decided it was tired and started to close up shop.  

By then it was pretty close to midnight, so they gave us the choice of having the New Years baby for Lodi, CA or the tax break for 2001.  Since I was slightly out of my head from the Stadol that they slipped me when I wasn't paying attention, Chad made the decision in favor of the tax break.  

No surprise there!

Since that moment life has not been the same. 

 Once you become a parent your world seems to tilt a little and never quite regains the balance that it had before.  I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing though.  That imbalance tends to keep you on your toes to prepare you for the little curve balls that parenthood will throw at you!  

Just before they made the first cut my doctor (Dr. Dodd) asked us if we had decided on a name.  We had narrowed it down to two:  Blake Evans or Matthew Dean.  We liked both names but just couldn't decide.  When Dr. Dodd asked us it was like the room got just a bit brighter. 

 Chad looked down at me and said, 

"Blake Evans McGhie".

I couldn't have agreed more.

A few minutes later they pulled Blake out and I just remember him sounding like Donald Duck as he flailed his little blue fists around, looking for the jerk who pulled him out of his nice comfy haven!  

For years I have told Blake that he was born at 11:46 pm...turns out I was wrong! Trevor was born at 11:46 am.  Oops!

Ten years later I am so proud to be able to say that I am the mother of Blake Evans McGhie.

He has brought us so much joy this past decade.  He has made me laugh, he has made me cry and he has become someone that I can rely on to help me when I need it, a lot of the time without being asked.  

Since we didn't have a fancy digital camera for the first part of Blake's life I had to go back to the scrapbook that I made for him to get some baby photos.  You may or may not be able to tell that he didn't enter this world as a redhead.  

His hair was kind of a light brown with blonde tips that stuck straight up for the first six or seven weeks of his life.  It started to fall out at around three months old and so Chad gave him his first hair cut.

After a few months of being bald his hair came in blonde and finally at around 8 months old, it darkened to the ginger color that it is today.  

Ten months old

Three years old

This kid doesn't do anything small. 

 He crawled at five months, walked at nine and could do a complete 360 jump by the time he was fourteen months old.  When he puts his mind to something he usually will accomplish that thing with time to spare, whether it be reading the entire Harry Potter series in six weeks or learning a new skill in baseball.  We are starting to see glimpses of the man he will become someday, complete with a stubborn iron will and ego like his father!  

We are excited to see what the next ten years brings!

Only one breath to blow out ten candles...I hope he made a good wish!

Happy 10th Birthday Blake!

Merry Christmas!

December has been such a crazy month, I just kept telling myself to make it past our anniversary, then my birthday, then Sophie's birthday, then Christmas. 

 Now Blake's birthday is looming on the not too distant horizon, but luckily things have calmed down a lot so we can just sit back and coast through the last remaining days of 2011.

Despite all the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks we have managed to celebrate all of our special occasions with style and fervor!  Christmas was not left out of the celebrating.  

We started the festivities off with the annual pajama party at my parent's house on Christmas Eve.  My dad made a great lasagna and we had salad and french bread to go with it.  I brought cheesecake tarts, Jennifer brought different kinds of truffles (she could seriously give Sees a run for their money) and Karen brought some tasty gingerbread cookies for dessert.

Karen brought a little snowman craft for the kiddos to put together, which they all loved. 

 After that was done and cleaned up my dad read from the scriptures and we talked about the true meaning of Christmas.  

We lost several of the little ones at that point, but the bigger kids paid pretty good attention and we lured the little ones back with promises of opening gifts.

Then we got down to opening up gifts from each other.  I was super stoked to get a tortilla press from my folks!  One thing I really miss about living in Texas was being able to go the grocery store and buy fresh tortillas.  I have a decent recipe to make my own, but the press will make it so much easier!

In the end we gathered everyone up and made them sit through some family pictures.  The first one pretty much sums up how the kids felt about this:

Then it was time to load up and head home.  The boys went to bed really well knowing that good things awaited them when they woke up.  Chad and I were able to get everything out and done by 11:00, then we collapsed into bed ourselves.  I was the first one up (I usually am on Christmas!) at 6:00 am and went around waking everyone else up.  We knew we needed to start that early since church started at 10:00 am and we had to be there on time for Chad to conduct.  

 I spent weeks agonizing over what to get for the boys this year.  They haven't gotten many new toys the past few years because this house is so small I just couldn't imagine where we'd put anything new, but in the past few months I started to realize that Blake and Trevor have grown out of a lot of their toys and needed an infusion of more age appropriate goodies.

Santa brought Blake and Trevor Harry Potter Lego sets and Kade got a Smokey fire truck that talks and interacts with him.  Sophie got a baby buggy that she loves to put her "babies" in (she now has three that she carries around with her, thanks to a thoughtful Grandma and Grandpa Peterson!).

Everyone seemed to get things that they loved.  

Chad got a new fuzzy blanket, a popcorn popper and some apple cider, so he was a pretty happy guy.  We  got a sweet deal on a Kinect for our Xbox360 from my brother, so we used the money that Chad's grandma sent to get it and some games for it.  Kade got a dog pillow pet that he has been asking for and some Spiderman rain boots (that I got for FREE using my Disney movie rewards points!).  Sophie also got a cradle for her babies and some sippy cups with straws.  I got money for some new clothes (yay!), since mine have gotten a bit big lately (double yay!), some new lotion and the Inheritance book from the Eragon series.  The big boys got more Legos and all of the Harry Potter movies, so they were thrilled.

After the gift opening we all got ready to head to church.  Several days before Christmas one of the boys was complaining about Christmas being on a Sunday and having to go to church.  I had a talk with him about why we celebrate Christmas and the fact that while it is nice to open gifts from each other and play with new things, if Christ hadn't been born and lived a perfect life and then sacrificed it for us, not only would we not have Christmas, we also would not have been able to be together as a family forever. 

 He agreed and I didn't hear any more grumbling about going to church from anyone (except maybe Chad because he had to conduct, which is not his favorite thing to do).

I was really glad we were able to be at church on Christmas Day. 

 It was so nice to be surrounded by people who really love the gospel and made the sacrifice to be there on such a special day.  There was a neat Spirit in the chapel as people greeted one another.  

The music was wonderful and the speakers were very good, even though one of them only had an hour or so to prepare since our Bishop got really sick and couldn't make it at the last minute.  You should have seen the look on Chad's face when he got the call from the Bishop.  Deer in the headlights is the best way to describe it since speaking is his least favorite...next to conducting!  Luckily for him, the first counselor in the Stake Presidency is in our ward and was presiding over the meeting, so he was prepared to step in.

I wish I had been able to sit in the Chapel for the whole meeting and listen to everything, but Miss Sophie decided to rebel and wouldn't sit still for me at all.  At one point while I was taking her out she saw Chad on the stand and started leaning and calling for him to come save her.  I was pretty worn out by the end of the one hour of Sacrament Meeting!  

We had to wait for Chad to count tithing so we were just sitting in our pew when one of the missionaries from the other ward came up and started talking to the kids.  In his hand he had four little crocheted stockings with candy canes poking out of them.  I don't know if he could see how tired I was of dealing with the kids or what, but he offered his candy canes to my children, who gladly took them and were quiet (even Sophie!) the rest of the time we had to wait for Chad.  I am so grateful to Elder Webb for his little sacrifice, it reminded me of the reason I was there.

After church we came home and ate sandwiches and then we all settled down and either took naps (Chad and Sophie) tried to sleep but ended up giving up and reading (me) or played with new stuff (Blake, Trevor and Kade).  I then made a wonderful ham with real mashed potatoes(!), brussel sprouts (Chad's favorite) and crescent rolls.  My parents had been making the rounds during the day and ended up at our place for a dessert of banana pudding and cheesecake tarts.  

It was nice to see them and to just sit back and relax after a long day (for me anyway!).  

The one black spot of the day was when my niece, Emma (who was spending the night with my parents after giving her parents h-e-double hockey sticks the night before) decided to climb over the child gate we had set up in the boy's doorway so Sophie couldn't get to their Legos and fell on her arm coming down.  My poor sister spent over five hours in the ER yesterday to find out that it is broken :-(.  

I always hate it when things like that happen at my house.  Poor Emma (and poor Jennifer!). 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you a very Merry Christmas

 from the Tennessee McGhies!

Happy Birthday to Sophie Brielle!

 Holy Cow!

Can you believe that my beautiful little baby girl has gone from this:

To this:

It amazes me that one tiny little thing can change so much in twelve short months!

To celebrate Sophie's first birthday we had a little get together with my family at my parents' house last Saturday.  Unfortunately, Sophie came down with a nasty ear infection the day before and had to be put on an antibiotic.  The day of the party her temperature ranged from 101 to 105.  We finally got it down in time for her to enjoy being able to play with her new toys.  

Someday she is going to be really upset that she spent her entire first birthday party in just a diaper...
and she had the cutest little birthday outfit too!  What a waste.

The bakery gave me the little smash cake on the left for free.  I thought that was sweet of them.

Hanging out with an ice pack on her head to cool her down.
You know girlfriend is sick when she won't touch her favorite food group ~ CAKE!

Chad is so entirely smitten with his baby girl...
I feel sorry for any man who will have to live up to his expectations for her someday!

The other kids were not impressed by Sophie's lack of enthusiasm in opening her gifts, so they helped her out a bit.

She liked this one so much her eyebrows raised a little...that's pretty good when your temperature is 105!

She finally gave up and just laid down, she really likes her phone from Aunt Karen and Uncle Adam though.

After another dose of medicine and a bath to cool her down she was ready for a little action.

I love how Mary and Joseph are sitting in the cupboard.  Around the back of the kitchen is a little bbq...the little kids insisted on roasting up the nativity lambs and goat.

Chad added the flair to her diaper, apparently she wasn't festive enough for him.

I love how she is surrounded by presents, but she went hunting for her "baby" in the end!

Tonight for her actual birthday we got a pizza (her favorite food other than cake) and we broke out the little smash cake that the bakery gave us for her on Saturday (that she was too sick to eat).

You'll have to stay tuned, I'll add those pics tomorrow...I am wiped out tonight!

Happy 1st Birthday Sophie Brielle!
I have thanked the good Lord every day since you entered my life, and I will continue to do so (probably until you become a teenager and get smarter than me!).

Thank you for bringing some pink into our very blue world!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Goodbye twenties.

Hello thirties.

I spent my twenties making this:

Shout out to Becky for taking our family photos for us!
THANKS!

And now I will spend my thirties enjoying them! 

Man I sure do love those guys.  

Christmas Shoes

Have you heard this song?

Yeah.  As hard hearted as I am, it always makes me tear up.

I have been waiting to do this post for a few months partly because I was waiting until we put our Christmas tree up and partly because I didn't think I could type it without bawling the whole time.  

Back in October Blake had the opportunity to go to Nauvoo and some other parts of Illinois to do some family history work with my parents.  

It's not very often that he gets one on one time with anyone, so it was a really good opportunity for him.  They left after school on a minimum day and were gone for four or five days.  

Before he left I gave him some spending money.  One of their first stops was the birthplace of President Lincoln and he got himself a red, white and blue baseball from the gift shop there.  

The grave of one of my great, great grandfathers...give or take a few greats.

He had a really great time.  Every time I talked to him he told me about where he got to eat and seemed to be pretty happy not to have to share his meal or drink with one of his brothers!  He is a lot like me and loves history (probably because I have dragged him to historical places since he was six weeks old) so this trip was right up his alley.  The fact that he was able to see where some of his ancestors are buried was pretty cool too!

In Nauvoo my parents took Blake to the little area where they have activities for the kiddos.  Blake was all macho and confident that he could easily take on the 12 year old kid who would become his opponent.  This is how it turned out:

Needless to say, he was pretty humbled by this experience...but he did make sure to mention that if the winds had been just a little different or the sun wasn't in his eyes...blah blah blah.

Anyway.

My parents took him into one of the souvenir shops and he spent a lot of time picking out wooden toy guns for his brothers and a cute little pink sock monkey for Sophie.  He picked out a neat little bottle cap magnet for me, and my dad chipped in to help him pay for these things because he ran out of money pretty quickly.

He and my mom were standing a little way away from the counter and he was telling her how he really wanted to get me something nice but he was out of money.  My mom explained something to the effect that I would be happy that he remembered to get something for his brothers and sister and I didn't expect anything more. He said, "But it was her money."  He was worried that I would feel like he had wasted it.

Apparently the shop owner overheard their conversation and told him to come to the counter.

He said, "I have something that I would like you to take home to your mother."

He proceeded to take three sun catchers out of the window, wrapped them up and gave them to Blake to bring home to me.

I don't know if Blake understands the significance of this event.  My mom has told me that the value of all three are upwards of $50.

They are stained glass and the design on them is a replica of some of the windows that are in the Nauvoo temple.  There are three different sizes and I knew as soon as I saw them that they would make beautiful Christmas ornaments.  The biggest is too big for our little tree, but here are the other two:

The smallest of the three.

The middle sized star.


The weekend he brought those home to me I had gone through a pretty rough time.
 I am still dealing with the fallout from that weekend, though it is getting better.  I have received many little reminders that the Lord is watching over me and knows my needs and those of my family.  I do not need "things" to make me happy, but these little stars have brought me such peace.  They have been sitting on my dresser as I counted down the weeks till I could put them on our tree.  Now that they are up there with Christmas lights shining through them I can't help but smile when I walk by.

I was reminded of the song I mentioned earlier when my mom told me how Blake obtained the stars for me.    The last part of the song says:


I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about


I wish I knew the name of that shopkeeper so that I could thank him myself. The compassion he showed my son and the selflessness of what he did for me shows me that there really are good people out there still.  I hope that Blake will remember his kindness and learn from it as well.  


I also hope that as you go through this Holiday Season you will be reminded of the gifts our Heavenly Father has given you and that you will know that you are loved.


*And now I am going to go find a box of Kleenex.  I'll get one for you too, if you'd like.*




 

  

Toddlerhood

Chad said it best the other day when he said that we no longer have a baby in the house, 

we have a full blown toddler folks.

I should have known this would happen eventually, this aint our first rodeo after all.  But it is still kind of bittersweet to watch my last little one grow into a walking/talking little fiend at a mere ten months old!  

However, it is just too darn hard not to be in love with her, so I guess we'll have to just celebrate her triumph over crawling!  Sophie really has been walking for a week or two, but in the past few days she has spent more time on her two feet than on her knees.  

We officially have had to come out of the denial that she was only partly walking and graduate her status to full blown walking.  Like I said, bittersweet!

She's pretty pleased with herself though!

Besides her determination to learn how to follow me around on two legs, she has also been working on:

getting her first, second, third and fourth teeth

shaking her head "no" when you ask her a question

nodding her head when you ask her a question

saying "no no", "bye bye", "hi", and we are pretty sure she says Blake, but it sounds more like "Day"

her first ear infection (a few weeks ago), and I think she is working up to a second

laughing her head off at the boys and their otherwise under-appreciated bodily functions

If you ask her where her baby is, she will wander around until she finds the dolly that she sleeps with at night, then she cuddles it and laughs and gives it kisses.

She was trying to keep up with the boys but they got too fast for her and went into their room and shut the door so I swear I heard her yell "Boy" from the front of the living room...it sounded more like "Bo" but she was on a mission to find them!  If they stay in their room too long with the door closed she will start smacking it and yelling for them to come and worship her.

She recognizes a lot of the family members that she sees most often and she really seems to like her Grandpa Mike.  He comes to get her from me at Church so that I can deal with Primary stuff and she always lays her head on his shoulder or pats him when he takes her from me.  

He and Chad almost have to arm wrestle each other for the honor of toting her around on Sundays!

  I really appreciate everyone's willingness to watch her for us...sometimes I even get a little jealous!

It probably gets redundant, but I honestly can't remember what life in this place was like without her happy little soul wandering around!  

Daniel Smith Colonial Days

Several weeks ago we found ourselves on a Saturday with pretty much no Church related business to attend to (something that pretty much only happens once in a blue moon) so we decided to take advantage and head up to a place called Historic Rock Castle up in Hendersonville, TN. 

 Now, it really should only take about an hour to get there, but if you are a McGhie you are naturally predisposed to taking the longest route possible while stubbornly refusing to ask for directions. 

Of course, I may have had something to do with the fact that we got lost a few times...but, ahem...that is another blog post.  

After a really long drive we finally made it and I am happy to say that Chad and I remain on speaking terms...

though at the time that was a lot to ask ;-)!

I had read about an event that was going on there called Daniel Smith Colonial Days. 

 It is basically like a reenactment of what life was like for early settlers of Tennessee.  People come from all around to do demonstrations and sell things that they make like soap, knives, musical instruments, clothes, furniture, etc.  

 A lot of the vendors just set up a canvas tent and sell their stuff outside it, 

so it was cool to be able to see their set ups. 

 One of them even had a brass bed, dining table and washstand. 

 That is my kind of camping!  

Trevor checking out the handmade knives that some guy made and was selling.
You can kind of see one of the tents in the background.

This type of thing is right up my alley since I love history of all kinds, and Blake is right up there with me.  Trevor is cool to go along as long as we promise to feed him, Kade is happy if he can run a little bit and Sophie is happy as long as there are plenty of people around to adore her. 

 I think Chad was just happy that we finally got there and that it didn't cost too much to get in.

  If you care to learn more about Rock Castle or the event,

 check it out here.  

Anyway, I was looking through the pictures that we took with our little piece of junk Kodak camera and I came across some that just made me smile. 

Why, of course I will share them with you! 

You're welcome!

The house is located on a really cool lake with expensive houses all around it.
 Chad was drooling over the private boat docks.

Blake playing an instrument that sounded a lot like a Dulcimer,
 but it wasn't one and I can't remember the name of it.

Kade trying out his mad skills with the musical instrument that I can't remember the name of.

Sophie and Chad humoring the lady who talked our ears off about the musical instruments
 that I can't remember the name of.

The guy who actually makes them (and probably knows what they are called),
he also knew how to play them  really well.

You can't really tell here but he was about five feet off the ground...kind of wish I had one of these to put him in  "time  out" every now and then!

When we first got there they were doing a demonstration of Native American dances and
different styles/purposes of them.
 Chad and I were a little worried that guy's skirt was going to fly up and give us all another type of demonstration. 

This guy had a nice fake French accent.
 Rock Castle is behind him.

The back of Rock Castle...I'm always a sucker for a cool looking old house.

I seriously wanted to put this guy in my diaper bag and bring him home with me.
 I am pretty sure that would be illegal and more importantly...Chad wouldn't let me.
 I think he was still mad at me for giving him bad directions.

Check out the cane that he made!  He said he is making a whole series of canes with souls peeking out of them.
I like to think his name is Geppeto...but I think it was Bob.

Attempt  #1 of trying to get a decent picture of the kids with me.
 Check out Kade's face!

Attempt #2.

Imagine me smacking my forehead with the palm of my hand.  Oh Trevor.

At first I laughed at this one because my boys actually thought we wanted to document them drinking their root beer,
 and then I noticed that Kade is quite literally showing his tail!
 Oy vey.

When I first saw this one I was like, "Oh finally!"
Then I saw Trevor's tongue.

 Oh well, maybe next year!