Christmas 2013 Recap

Our Christmas season this year was joyful and challenging all at the same time!

Earlier in December we had wonderful celebrations in preparation for Christmas. 

Will's choir sang at church one night. It is always so much fun to hear children sing songs of praise!

Will and Anna's preschool had a great Christmas program about the star that shone over the manger.
Anna was a beautiful angel and Will was one of the stars. Anna's favorite song to sing for the program was Joy to the World (my personal favorite too!)

 We went to Chickfila one Saturday morning for breakfast and to see Santa. Elizabeth wasn't such a fan of this! I was proud of the big kids for actually talking to Santa because they usually are a little intimidated by him.

And then came the week of Christmas and people at our house started getting a stomach virus. Boo! Elizabeth was sick on Sunday and Monday, James was sick on Monday and Tuesday, Jay was sick on Tuesday (Christmas Eve), and Catherine didn't feel well on Christmas morning. So we all stayed home pretty much the entire week and tried to help the sick ones, keep the well ones entertained, and sanitize the house all while celebrating Christmas!

We really tried to not over-do the gifts this year. It seems to multiply quickly with lots of children. Santa brought each child one big gift and a few small things in their stockings. Catherine's big gift was a marble run maze, Will's was a barn/tractor/horse set, Anna's was a pet vet kit, Elizabeth got a baby doll, and James got a car garage. Then they each had 4 presents to unwrap from us. And consider it a Christmas miracle, but none of the toys required batteries! We did a lot of games, puzzles, and books this year. And I tried to get things that they can play together.

Mimi and PopPop had planned to come over on Christmas, but we even gave the virus to Mimi and she was sick all Christmas Eve night and Christmas day.  On the 26th she felt some better so we went to their house for Christmas gifts and enjoyed spending the afternoon with them.

On Friday afternoon we headed to my family's. We spent Friday night at my dad's with all the cousins. Here are 9 of the 10. Next year there will be two more on this couch! The kids always have a great time playing at Papa and Kay's: feeding the cows, playing with the puppies, riding on the golf cart with cousins. On Saturday morning, Papa even took Will and Jay hunting---in the 20ish degree weather! No deer this time, but Will was very excited.

On Saturday we headed to my grandmother's house to spend some time with my mom and grandmother. We are so thankful that my grandmother was feeling well. She's had a rough few months with a broken hip and some bleeding in her brain but she was still her usual spunky self. My mom took the big kids for a walk around the farm there and taught them all kinds of interesting family and farm facts.

And now, I have finally put away the Christmas decorations and most of the toys.  We were thankful to celebrate the birth of our Savior even if the circumstances weren't perfect this Christmas. One thing we are learning by having a big family is to be flexible and make the best of the situation so that's what we tried to do!  But I'm not going to lie---I'm feeling pretty over the stomach virus right now!

Halfway to baby

We went today for our 20 week ultrasound and got to check up on this sweet little one. Everything looks great! We did not find out gender so we have to wait til May to see who this one is! With our other pregnancies, except the first, I felt like I had a clear intuition of who the baby was and what we should name him/her. This time I don't! I started out thinking it was a girl, now I think maybe it's a boy. I really don't know! And we don't have many name ideas. But we are excited to meet this new one in another 19-20 weeks! 

Hatten Family Day at the Christmas tree farm

This year's annual Hatten family day was a trip to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. Every year Jay wants to go somewhere and cut down our tree, but we usually end up grabbing on from the roadside stands or whatever seems easiest.   But this year we packed up, drove a little farther away, and found a beautiful tree. We had great helpers with cutting the tree down!

It was a great Hatten family day! We spent the morning cutting down our tree, roasted marshmallows, ate a picnic lunch, and sampled lots of types of cider at the farm. We came back home for nap time that afternoon. That night we went out to dinner together and watched a Christmas movie that night. It was a great low-key day dedicated to just our little family.

I love the tradition of having a day set aside for our family each year. It's always a different day and different activity, and the kids already have fun thinking  back over the memories of previous years.

I love our sweet family and love making memories with them!

Already 8?!!

How is it possible that our first baby is already 8 years old?? Some days I feel like she should still be 4 or 5, but then I see her--how mature, responsible, and independent she's becoming and I catch a glimpse of her in another 8 years as a teenager. That's both terrifying and exciting! 

She is such a great girl. She's the typical first born leader, strongly opinionated, and quite the planner. She's also one of the most thoughtful and compassionate people I've ever known. She loves to read, do arts and crafts, and cook. She likes to play with babies (both real and pretend!), play school, and sell things in her "stores" to raise money for orphans and childhood cancer. 

Catherine, we love you so much! Happy 8th birthday!!

(This was at her school's December birthday celebration. The babies really enjoyed dancing with her!)

Christmas tree pics by Anna

Anna loves taking pictures of our Christmas tree. I think it's the lights that she likes. Almost every day I find 5-10 new pics of the tree on my phone. So here are a few for you to enjoy! The story behind this year's Christmas tree is coming soon. 

And yes, please note how few ornaments are on our tree. Every year I give jay and the kids an ornament and they all put their collections on the tree, but that's it; probably 35 ornaments total on the tree.  I just couldn't handle keepingJames and Elizabeth out of them for the whole month! 

Moving on!

Today was sweet Elizabeth's last day of physical therapy! We have done about 10 months of physical therapy for her gross motor delay. When we started and she was 7 months old, she couldn't even roll over yet! 

In the last 3 months, she has made huge improvements in her coordination and muscle tone. She started pulling up and cruising and in just the past few weeks started walking. She is still a little wobbly but is gaining coordination and confidence every day. 

We love her PT and EI therapists and are so thankful for their help. I am sad that i won't get to visit with them each week, but am so excited to see Elizabeth do so well. She'll be 17 months old in a few days and is such a big girl now. We are so proud of you, Elizabeth! 

Leaves and Light: Exploring Fall

Finishing up October

I've been really behind with posting things lately. That's what happens during the first trimester, I guess. Exhaustion and nausea take over and anything that isn't essential doesn't get done. I'm a little over 12 weeks now and hopefully the nausea will be finished soon. It is better during the days, just not so good at night. One day/night at a time....

Anyways, after being in our family for a solid 35+ years, we sold our couch. I know. It's hard to believe. I bought another couch from a friend and worked on cleaning and repairing it, added new pillows, etc. We couldn't really justify buying a brand new couch when we have 5 small children and a dog who will likely spill something, draw something, or ruin something on it.

 We also sold the laz-boy recliner that had a lovely hole in the seat cushion and purchased two leather chairs for the living room. (Ever heard of Joss & Main? I got an amazing deal on chairs on that website. Check it out!) 

Even though I have wanted something different for a while, I still felt really sentimental about letting them go. It made me a little sad to watch them drive away in the back of someone's truck. But it should tell me something about our decorating style when both items were bought by people purchasing them for their elderly parents in nursing homes :) It was time for a change! I'll take a pic soon of the new couch and chairs.

These two cutie pies are already 16 months old. They are just hilarious. James is walking and running all over the place. Elizabeth will do a few steps at a time and is gaining confidence.  They are just so funny to watch together. They have also started showing how they like to take care of each other. James will go get Elizabeth's lovie and give it to her. And yesterday James was crying and Elizabeth went over and hugged him and patted him on the back. She accidentally knocked him down in the process, but she was trying to comfort him! They will say a few words, make lots of babbling sounds, and love to read books.  They like to get cereal out of the cabinet, dump it on the kitchen floor, and enjoy a snack together. They really like taking baths and love their toothbrushes. They actually slept with their toothbrushes one night this week. It's a blast watching them grow and learn every day.

We had lots of fun getting dressed up for Halloween. Our neighborhood does not have many little kids and no one goes trick or treating so we always go to a friend's house for Halloween. Before we headed out this year though, the kids had a small "parade" with our neighbors, meaning they walked through the cul-de-sac acting silly!

We then headed over to our friend's to eat pizza before trick-or-treating. These are the kids from just our two families. We are quite the group walking down the street and knocking on doors!

 This year the babies were super cute giraffes.

Will was Willie, from Duck Dynasty

 Anna was Sofia the First (princess)

 Catherine was a chef and carried a mixing bowl to collect her halloween candy

We have eaten way too much Halloween candy the past few days! We had a great October and are enjoying the fall weather, leaves, and looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Half a dozen

Lord willing, we will be welcoming baby #6 in May! Here's our first glimpse of our newest little one. We could see little legs wiggling already. Incredible! Every single time it is just incredible. 

It does seem a bit overwhelming at times to think about having 6 children. We feel like we are just getting our feet back under us after having twins. But God has planned this one for our family at this time and we are so thankful. 

I know some people think we are crazy to have this many children. A few years ago when a friend of mine was expecting her sixth, I remember thinking "this is getting out of control." And I even knew I would like to have a big family and I still thought that. It was very judgmental of me! 

All I can tell you is that this is what God has called us to. When I feel fearful or overwhelmed, I have to remind myself of the truth. And the truth is that He is the only one who gives life and that He says children are a blessing. So we will celebrate this life and blessing and run to Him with any fears, frustrations, or worries we may have.  

We are excited to see who you are, little baby! And you have five sisters and brothers who are VERY excited to meet you! 

He had a birthday!

Last week Will turned 6 years old! I can hardly believe our "baby Will" is such a grown up boy. He is such a gentleman and has the sweetest heart. He can also be all boy and just wants to get dirty, climb trees, play in the creek, and wear camouflage.

For his birthday, he chose to go to Papa's cabin. Jay took the 3 big kids and spent the night at the hunt cabin. The next day, Papa took them fishing. Will and Catherine each caught a fish. Papa cooked them for lunch and they ate it right up! They also shot BB guns and had lots of fun hitting the targets. 

 For lunch, we had pizza and fruit and chips with the cousins and family. Will requested cupcakes for his birthday treat. You can see how lovely and homemade these were--straight from the Publix bakery! On his actual birthday, he requested my homemade banana pudding so I treated him to that.

Will, we love you so much and are so proud of the wonderful young man you are becoming! You're such a special part of our family and are so much fun. Happy birthday!