overheard

here in my more seasoned days as a mom, I am finding that I have a harder time remembering the insanity/hilarity that comes out of the mouths of my children.  so, I’ll do my best . . .

this is a rare child-made dinner around here.  pepperoni and Canadian bacon.  mmmm.

“mom, is bacon a vegetable?” says one child aloud to the entire car

“um, yeah, it’s a vegetable” says another child

“mmm hummmmmm” says the third

“because if bacon is a vegetable, it’s my favorite.  definitely my favorite.” says the first child

“yes, bacon is the best vegetable” says the second.

and then . . . the father destroys all cheerful visions of the food pyramid by saying “no, unfortunately bacon is not a vegetable.  but it is good.  it is very, very good.”

and all agree . . .

 

“mom, have we ever had this dinner before?  it tastes a little weird but a little good.  have we ever had it?”

“no, we haven’t, I don’t think”

“hmm, well, I really think it tastes good.   I like it a lot and I think we should have it every single night.

But, my favorite food is still hotdogs.   Hotdogs are my favorite.”

“noted,” says the mama.

 

“I have two aunts.  Aunt Katie and Aunt Owlie”

“Who else are your aunts?”

“Aunt Lawra and Aunt Court-e-ney.  Oh, and Aunt Christy.”

(the child has three biological aunts, katie, courtney and laura, but I love that she is casting wide the net!)

special days

For one reason [baptism] or another [birthday upon birthday], the month of October has been full of celebration.  Despite my being rather tired, I do love a good party or reason to celebrate.  Earlier this month, we had the sweet opportunity to have our littlest love baptized at our church.  Gathering our family together along with our friends who make up our church family to celebrate the blessing of baby Hatcher was so sweet.  I felt like my heart was so full, and it was truly a joy to be able to thank God for the blessing of this adorable boy and to pray for Him to know and believe and hope in Jesus.  This go-round of baptism was especially poignant for me . . . as with our other children, we prayed and prayed for the life of this little one and were thrilled (well, Hatch had some stress-induced sweating, but that came to pass) to find out that I was pregnant again.  Having our older three a little bigger and a bit more able to understand the baptism and the celebration for our family was so sweet. 

  

have I mentioned that I adore this baby?  I could eat him up.  he is wearing the same baptism suit that hudson (I think!?) wore and that uncle christopher wore.

 

At our church, when  a child is baptized, the following questions are asked (or questions quite similar to these) of the parents:

1. Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?

2. Do you claim God’s covenant promises in his behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, as you do for your own?

3. Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before him a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

For some reason, this time, making this commitment and stating these vows in unison with Hatch felt like a powerful thing to me.  In a season of life where so much of our lives is made of what we do (he’s hungry—feed him, he’s tired—put him down, he needs to be held—pick him up), I loved stopping to talk about and pray for what our hopes are for our baby.  It was sweet to be able to articulate and affirm what we hope and pray for for sweet Hatcher (as well as his siblings) in front of his siblings!  We pray for these little ones to know and love and believe in Jesus, and to be quick to confess their sin and turn and repent—may they always know Jesus’ love for them!  And, it is always such a rich gift to know that we are not in it alone—our family and friends at church all stood with us to publically commit to loving and caring for Hatcher in Jesus’ name.  If that doesn’t make a mama cry, then I don’t know what will!

Such a sweet, special day for our family.   I am so very thankful!

 

And . . . in case you were wondering:   Yes, there have been multiple children baptized by their siblings in our bathtub since Hatcher’s baptism day.  Hilarious!

 

this, to me, is amazing.  for so many reasons . . . I love it.

Some things never change ...

[warning:  I am attempting a post from my phone, so if things look wonky, just go on and overlook it and pretend it's lovely.  Thanks!]

One of the things I am really enjoying about being with baby Hatcher is watching him do (and wear!) some of the same things that his big brothers did . . . And, now that they are older, watching them enjoy Hatcher's tricks and his sweet personality is such a joy for me!

I found these oldies but goodies and had to share!

Baby William 

 

Baby Hudsey

And, Baby Hatcher!

Oh, how I love these rascals . . . And, oh how I love a baby that can't move quickly!  Ha!  Independence is overrated in my opinion!  Here's to a slow movin' weekend! 

well.

well, it’s been a while.  truthfully, having four children is amazing and yet a complete doozie all at once.  and, well, having a baby under our roof again feels so sweet and so wonderful . . . and, means that we actually have a tiny napper again . . . so, with kids at school and a napping baby, I have been thinking again about this little ole blog.  that said, I make no promises.  none.
and, well, I guess there is some updating to do.  we have had a few significant events in our lives since I last posted almost a year ago.  so, here are a few things that you should know, dear reader:

1.  in january, 2014, our sweet w had surgery to remove the hemangioma from his eye and it was successful!  we continue to be grateful and humbled by God’s provision for our boy and our family as we have walked through his little life with that complication since he was a wee one.

it appears that we Reppards have very little trouble relaxing . . .

2.  on february 24, we JOYFULLY welcomed our precious little “googey bear” (as his sister nick-named him long before he had actually arrived) into our lives.  warren hatchard reppard, junior was born, and this sweet baby Hatcher has been smiling and surrounded by love (and some pokes and thumps and tugs and other not-so-gentle “love pats”) ever since.  He is a doll and if I didn’t have four children, I would have four more after having him because he is just so precious and such a delight to us all.

This is my handsome husband who is clearly very stressed about having a fourth child.

Oh, how we love you baby H.

oh, the love.  it’s the squeezy, touchy, grabby, squishy kind of love!

3.  in june, we excitedly welcomed another member into our family . . . we have a new sister and aunt . . . LA LA.  It’s official!  She is ours, and Uncle Critter-ford is officially hitched.  Driving to Kentucky for a long weekend with a three month old and 3 other kids 5 and under was quite an experience, but now in October, we are well-recovered (ha) . . . and it was worth every single minute of the insanity!

kentucky bound!

our 36+ outfits for our fabulous wedding events!

Sweet baby traveller!

kentucky!

and the gorgeous, mr. and mrs. crefadoor murphy

4.  in september, our sweet little babies started kindergarten.  [insert moment of silence here.]
Questions like HOW are they already in kindergarten?  HOW are we old enough to have elementary schoolers?  Does this mean we are really supposed to be grown ups?  Are we qualified for this?  Will they cry?  Will they miss me?  And, what will we do without them?  . . . all plagued me for weeks.  But now, a month into it, I will say that they are thriving, and WELL, I am one TIRED mama.  These boys leave the house around 7:15am.  7:15am.  YES.  EARLY.  TOO EARLY.  I have spent my entire life as a mother strong-arming my children to sleep in and not wake me up at ungodly hours.  And, WELL, that was all undone in a matter of weeks . . . almost six full years of forcing my children to sleep and . . . POOF.  UNDONE. 

Sister also started a new school—which seems to be sweet and wonderful like her old school . . . but it has a carpool line, and, well, that is changing my life.  Seriously. 

So, on that note, I will say, I should most likely hit the sack.  But, I will also say that @vahatch and I are much better about narrating our lives in brief snipits via Instagram . . . but, when we do that I can’t ramble on quite as much, and well, we all know by now that I love to ramble!  More soon . . . perhaps.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Girl . . .

So . . . we are having a baby!  Anna will tell you "My baby is in my mommy's tummy!"  I am right around 20 weeks right now . . . and Anna would like to give you this special message!  

Exciting times around here!  We are thankful to God for His goodness to our family!  We are just so excited about this little one!  Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow!

To remember ...

While I did awaken this morning to a wild, too-early-of-a-riser small child who had pooped in her underwear {again.  And, yes, this is the same child who cried and cried way too late last night because she doesn't want blue walls in her bedroom anymore.  Wipe it off, Mama!  Me NEEDS purple walls!} . . . Followed by her brother having a waffle crisis at breakfast not long after her other brother RIPPED DOWN the new room darkening shades from the window of her room.  And, by the grace of God, I did not lose my mind.  After all, today is a Tuesday ... and we all know my track records with Tuesdays.

And, tonight ... Tonight ended in the sweetest of ways.  When I went to kiss Hudson before bed, he gave me a huge hug and said: "Mama, my heart feels happy when I think of you."  And then he smothered me in kisses.  

Oh Lord, please let me never forget the sweetness of this!

Be still my heart!  I love this boy!

 
 
 

anyone out there?

dear little blog,

I have not forgotten you.  Some days when I am about to collapse into bed, I think "I should stay up and blog about ...," but before I finish my sentence, I have fallen asleep.  Our days are full of life ... preschool has ended for the year, the pool has opened, and my children continue to not nap and have way more energy than I have ever had in my entire life.  (If someone can figure out how to give me even 1/16 of their energy, I would be forever grateful!) Therefore, we are making sweet memories and easily filling our days, but the laundry piles higher and Hudson eats like a 6th grader, and I find myself with less and less time somehow.  My point, little blog, is that I have not completely forgotten you ... And I do hope to come back to you someday.  But, in the interim, following me on Instagram may be the way to go!

Here are a few of our latest happenings from our visit to Aunt Beth's river house (which my children referred to as Aunt Valerie's lake house--which does not exist--but, whatever!)

 

 

We had a great weekend together as a family.  I just love being able to spend our days with Daddy creating adventures! (All of our kids jumped off the diving board today!  Ahhh!). We are tremendously thankful for sweet time together as a family!

And, I will leave you with a quote from our little linguist, William:

Mom, I really wish I was a dog.

(He gave me no explanation as to why!)

And with that,  woof woof and nighty night!