Beach Week 2015

Here, have some pictures from the beach. This will be our last spring Bumgarner beach week -- with school schedules all varying between the cousins, we are moving it to August next year. More reliable for warm weather, and a schedule that doesn't rely on spring break, which is different for all the cousins in different school systems. This house at Holden Beach has been really good to us over the years, and for our last April trip, the weather was spot-on perfect.

Reading on the beach means he is a child after my own heart.

We have reached a magical age where they play together and don't get sand on me,
and don't... need me. So I can close my eyes and the beach is relaxing again.
WE MADE IT.

Hey Nathan Y U look like a teenager?

Charlotte talked Brad and Marija's ears off, but what are rocking chairs for?

These two are still cousin besties.

Nathan would only allow himself to be buried in sand
if Uncle Sean suggested it. No one else. No one.

Mark was helping the kids see the dolphin he spotted.
But let's be honest, all I was thinking was *dat ass*

Just kidding, I love him more than life itself.
(Not kidding though, with the ass, I mean.)

I taught him the selfie art of LOOKING AT THE DOT.

This trip is seriously one of the best things we do every year. Thank you, Dad. For real. We love it and we love the time together and we love you.   <3 p="">

Thanksgiving + Birthday

We spent Thanksgiving down at Lake Wateree with Mark's dad and stepmom, which was exactly as chaotic as expected and exactly as tasty as expected, too. We drove down with Ali on Wednesday and spent the night with all four kids, then Nick and Barbara (and Mark's stepsister Emily and her family) all got there on Thursday.

At one point we had Opa and Oma on the couch with all the grandkids to pose for pictures, and it went something like this:

-- which mostly cracked us up. (Why do we never remember to take pictures til someone is walking out the door and someone else is desperate for a nap?)

On the drive home, we stopped at a Waffle House for dinner (these travelers are thankful for some places being open on Thanksgiving, although you probably won't convince me it's necessary for, like, Macy's to be) and we had a cold little booth and Charlotte was super upset and really struggling* to say what she needed, but once we got past that and ate some waffles and perked up, we all said what we were thankful for, and it was kind of great.

I love my family so much.

Also, it's Marky's birthday today! And I am thankful for him, most of all.

{insert a million heart emojis here}
{and maybe a turkey one}
{and another heart for good measure}

Happy birthday Mark! You are my most very favoritest, ever! And happy Thanksgiving everyone!

*post for another day, coming soon

A Birthday Pie, a Pinata, and a Tire Swing

We went to Mt. Holly a couple weeks ago for the day, to see my sister and her family and celebrate little Liam's birthday. I can't even believe he and Charlotte, the Bumgarner "babies," are now three. Wasn't it just a minute ago Ashley and I were pregnant with them, bumping bellies and laughing about them being kissing cousins? Stop growing up, babies!

But, three he is, so we went to a big family birthday gathering to celebrate.

My kids both loved and were terrified by the Grices' tire swing. Uncle John swing them really high; the shrieks and laughs were something in between fun and fear. He and Liam seem to have a daredevil gene that my children do not.

Yes, Charlotte is bottomless. I was trying to prevent a poop/underwear situation. Three is fun, y'all.

They also strung up a pinata for Liam and all the assorted cousins, and everyone got to take turns trying to smash it, but not blindfolded because again, three. Charlotte hit that thing exactly as delicately as you'd guess she would've.

It was so very Charlotte. It made us laugh.

And the cutest thing all day -- Liam doesn't love cake, he loves pie. So Ashley made him a birthday pie. So awesome.

He sang to himself. Also awesome.

It was a fun playful day with family and grandparents and uncles, and we had a late drive back but it was worth it. Happy birthday, sweet Liam!

Charlotte's Birthday (I Made a Ginormous 3 Cake and Threw Sprinkles)

Okay so Charlotte turned 3 last Friday, of course, and my sister was here, of course, so we were surrounded by a many cousins, of course. And it was chaotic and joyful and somewhere in the middle of it all, Ashley and I managed to turn two big ol' bundt cakes into a giant number 3.

(I figured this was my year to do it, since bundt cakes are made for curvy numbers like 3, and I won't have a 3-year-old again. But then Ashley pointed out I could save the idea and use it someday for an 8, and then Mark pointed out that "someday" would be next year and NO, NO, NO SIR YOU HUSH YOUR MOUTH.)

Anyway. Charlotte turned 3. We made cake. She and Liam helped.

We baked two bundt cakes and then Ashley and I cut chunks off until we could kinda stick them together to make a big 3 (you can see this also involved... adding some wedges back in. I'm super professional over here). Then we frosted the whole thing and threw sprinkles on it.

No, literally. I threw the sprinkles. If someone has a better way to get sprinkles on the side of a cake besides just kinda... tossing them? and hoping they stick? PLEASE TO INFORM ME. (In related news, there are still a lot of sprinkles all over my deck table. Which is better than the kitchen floor. But... there are many.)

Meanwhile, Charlotte spent most of the day trying to learn to hold up three fingers to say she's three. (She just learned to do two, and now she has to change? Life is tough, yo.) Anneliese helped her a lot.

But she still isn't quiiiiiiite getting it.

Almost, okay yeah now put that one down... okay that one up... wait now maybe with less anxiety in the eyes... okay yeah you know what, good enough. Three!

At some point during the day, Marky went to the grocery store to get some balloons, and he took the birthday girl with him, and apparently one of them decided she needed A GIANT OLAF BIGGER THAN SHE IS. So, we own this now:

I have no words for that thing. Secretly it scares me a little. She adores it, of course. IT IS BIGGER THAN SHE IS. Okay just needed to say that again. I'm done now.

that is a *lot* of cousins for a birthday lunch!

Anyway so then we opened presents, including a new purple cape (soo-poo) which she put on and has barely taken off since that moment, and had costco pizza and cake (the Goettsch Birthday Special™) and after a scramble for candles where we came very close to putting one candle on her cake and letting her blow it out three times (how do we not have candles? it was just Nathan's birthday!), we scraped three together and sang to her and all was merry and bright.

And then we ate cake for days and days, because hello, two giant bundts. Good thing it was actually delicious this time.

Happy birthday, Booler!

Ashley Came to Visit!

Ashley came to visit last week! With her babies! In case you're curious, this is what my bonus room looks like with all my kids, plus Ali, plus Ashley's kids:

SOMETHING SOMETHING LOTS OF BABIES. (My favorite is Ali in the middle, like wuuuut is happening here.)

So, all those babies. We took them swimming in the pool, we played on the playset out back, we (tried to) let some of the big kids (Liam, Anneliese, Nathan) have a sleepover together, which failed spectacularly, but eventually everyone rested up and cheered up.

And let the record show, Sully allllllmost did his first real crawling at our house.

Let the record also show, I sometimes work on my lists while sitting by the pool DO NOT JUDGE.

Let the record ALSO show, Anneliese really really adores babies, especially her cousins.

Also, you should know that yes, Liam and Charlotte are still pretty much besties.

Always glad to see Ashley!!

At Home, Three Baby Girls

I'm at home with just the three girls -- Anneliese, Charlotte, niece Ali -- for a few more days, til Nathan's school is done and he makes our fourth for the summer (right now Ali comes a few minutes before he gets on the bus, and goes home a few minutes after, so I'm not doing a whole lot of juggling all four yet). Since my girls are done with preschool, and we are learning to work around Ali's naps, we have mostly just been home a lot for these past couple weeks. Which is... weird for us.

Anneliese continues to want to feed Ali at every chance possible:

Charlotte continues to insist for hours on snuggling with Ali, then hugs her for ninety-ish seconds, then is like, "okay thanks I'm all set, please give her back to mommy and Anneliese now." But it is cute while it lasts:

I continue to look for quiet activities for the big girls (whoa, is Charlotte one of the big girls now??) to do while the baby sleeps:

(Anneliese painted this to tape in Ali's crib upstairs, because she is the most adorable big cousin ever, yeah I said it:)

Charlotte continues to put on anything and everything she can get onto her person by herself, most often her cape which she wears while proclaiming herself super, which she pronounces soo-poo, and no one better ever correct her:

Some days are really fussy and I'm stir crazy, and some days are easier. And some days, this wee one gladly takes selfies and takes a bottle, and those days are pretty okay.

So yeah, we're figuring it all out.

Ali

So hey, thank goodness, right as our own kids are growing up and moving into new big-kid territory like dance recitals and orchestra concerts and such, we have now added another wee one to our midst. Babyhood continues! Or something.

Little cousin Alana will be spending days with us while her parents are working, and she is just about the sweetest neice I could have ever dreamed up.

She has red hair! She is super serious! She makes me squeeeee.

So far she has done mostly pretty well joining into her big cousins' routine -- walking to the bus stop in the bjorn in the morning, running errands and getting groceries, taking a few meals on the go, and learning to nap through the sounds of play and squealing. She fusses about it some, but it will smooth out and we will find our new normal.

She is a girl who loves to nurse, so she is still protesting the bottle for a few minutes at most feedings, but she takes it quite happily from Anneliese, which is both super helpful for me, and also freaking adorable.

(Yes, I totally feed her myself, many times. I just don't have pictures of that.)

I know there will be days that four kids will feel overwhelming, and I actually spent the early part of last week in a fit of nerves about what it means to take on another baby for a 9-5 schedule (something I've never had to abide by before, when it comes to parenting breaks, since Mark works a rotating shift) -- but after a couple of days with Ali, it feels right and lovely to spend our days with the cousins all together.

(Even if she doesn't seem as enchanted with Daniel Tiger as my kids do.)

So, yeah. Get used to seeing more of this sweet next Baby Goettsch face.