Life Lately

While trying to stick with my promise I made of posting more often here I am. 

Here's a little bit of life lately for the Sasses.

Here we are on Halloween on our way out for trick or treating. We have our cowgirl, blow up chicken, skeleton, Princess Peach, dinosaur and panda. I love the array of costumes we had this year! Our neighborhood, as per usual, was very quiet but we had a great night! I think our neighbors appreciate we come trick or treating because besides us there's only a couple more groups that come through.

Archie is growing so fast. He's now 4 months old and just started rolling over this morning! One year has passed since we found out he was coming and when I tell you this has been the fastest year of my life, I definitely mean it! 

We've had some pretty chilly mornings at the bus stop and looking at the forecast it looks like those are here to stay. It's funny the older I get the more I don't mind the cold. I feel like that's usually the opposite for people. But getting outside and feeling that brisk air feels a heck of a lot better than being smacked in the face with heat. Just my opinion... :)

This is Archer's little getup he wears to bed every night. His love to dream swaddle under his sleep sack. It keeps him feeling secure but also warm. Add this to the things you do as a sixth time mom....woah that's still wild to say! SIX KIDS! The get-up may look funny, but it usually gets the job done. Most nights Archie sleeps from 8pm-6am! He does have some nights he will have me up once (on average), I’m really looking forward to a consistent full night's sleep…but at the same time it won’t last forever. So, I’m enjoying this time while I can. 

Kensington is such a huge help. She really was meant to be a big sister. She's always jumping in to do whatever it is I might need and loooooves being on baby duty. One cool thing Kensie does now is she will read to Smith every night before we tuck him in for bed. They both absolutely LOVE it and look forward to that time all day long. It helps us a lot because I can get Archie settled down for the night and Mike can take the dog for his nightly walk. Teamwork makes the dreamwork! 

My favorite show ever is One Tree Hill. When I found out Archer was a boy this is the first thing I bought for him. Truth is, if he was a girl I would have still bought these and just threw a bow on her head. LOL! But if you know you know, these pjs are awesome!

We spent much of our Friday fall nights at the football stadium and had a blast cheering on our home team and our favorite cheerleader! 

Speaking of our favorite cheerleader, Kamryn had such a great time cheering this fall. She's decided to try out for winter cheer too. Try-outs are this week and the team cheers for basketball. (Hello her living out my One Tree Hill dream! Maybe she’ll meet her Nathan Scott? LOL! Kidding….kind of!) Cheer has been so great for her. She’s come out of her shell and is even a little less shy and more confident. I’m so happy for her! She's made some great friends and has memories that are going to last her a lifetime! 

Plymouth South won the Thanksgiving Day game against Plymouth North. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to the game. It was pouring rain, and we decided having a baby it probably was the smarter choice to stay home. We watched the game on YouTube and even got to see Kam in the halftime show. She did great! There weren't many people at the game, so I think a lot of people had the same idea as us. Kamryn was frozen to the bone and exhausted when she got home. The night before she was out with the other cheerleaders TP'ing the senior boy's houses until VERY late, followed by a sleepover with the entire cheer team. Isn't that such a fun tradition?! High school for Kam is off to a great start!

When she got home, she jumped right in the shower to warm up and then immediately had lots of “yummy foods” as Kam calls them. I didn’t take any pictures on Thanksgiving, but we had a fabulous day with family.

This picture just cracks us up! Usually, I order my groceries online and we go and pick them up, but this night went grocery shopping because we only needed a few things. I looked down and realized we were just piling the groceries on top of Archie. His face is priceless!!

Archie had his first taste of real food! You wouldn’t know it by his face above, but he actually really liked it. He’s done great!! So far, we’ve tried pears, apples and bananas. He’s a huge fan of the apples and bananas and not so sure about pears. We’ll get there. Next, we’re going to try some veggies! I’m curious to see what he’ll think of those. 

Since Kindergarten Tenley has gotten some PT and OT at school. Just a couple weeks ago she graduated from PT. They had a little celebration for her, and she even got to have her big sis come! Doesn’t Kensington look so grown up and proud in this picture?! I just love their bond and pray they always remain the best of friends and each other's biggest fans.

I’ve been calling them sugar and spice since they were born, and this picture proves just that. This was the night before Thanksgiving, the girls decided they wanted “curly hair” so after their showers I French braided their hair. Being a girl mom is so much fun!!

Archer is ready for his first Christmas and looking mighty big and handsome in this picture, if I do say so myself. Baby's first Christmas is such a special time and I'm doing my best to soak up every second of it. It truly never gets old. I could do this again and again for the rest of my life.

Well, there's just a snippet of life lately for the Sass crew. It's pretty funny that out of all those pictures the only one I have of Logan is Halloween and you can't even see him. 12-year-old boys don't really want their picture taken. But Logan is doing what Logan does best. He's doing great in school and kicking butt at boxing!

 

Grateful

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are no words to explain how incredibly grateful I am for this not so little family of mine. I am thankful for God's grace and how he has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. Sometimes I look at my husband and these great kids and the ordinary life we've built together... We have a roof over our head, food on our table, 6 beautiful happy healthy children and so much love and laughter every single day. Last year I had just found out a few days before Thanksgiving that I was pregnant with Archer, and I was hiding it from everyone, this year I've got my dream 6th baby in my arms. I am one lucky girl and it's important that I take a step back and realize this is my one precious, beautiful life and I recognize that because it really is a blessing. It needs to be said, life is not perfect and there's a lot of things I wish were different, but I'm reminding myself this year that no matter what the circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for. This life is everything I've prayed for my entire life, and for that I am eternally thankful. 

Happiest Thanksgiving wishes to all of you!

We hope you have a happy and safe holiday!

xoxo, Kristen

Happy Birthday Smith

 

Happy 5th Birthday to Smith!

He's been such a gift to our family since the day we found out he was coming. Logan prayed for a baby brother from the time he was 2 years old and then FINALLY he got his baby brother! Smith came into this world at a record pace, only making it to the hospital 20 minutes before his arrival. A moment I will never ever forget. He's had me wrapped around his finger ever since. The bond Smith and I share is so different than my bonds with my other kids. While I can tell you my relationships with all 6 kids are uniquely special, there's something about my Smith. Everyone jokes that he's my favorite, but I don't pick favorites. When Smith was 3 months old the world shut down as Covid hit. I got to spend so much time with him without having to rush my other kids around. Smith taught me how strong I am. Between my unmedicated labor and delivery to juggling a new baby and all that comes with a global pandemic and 4 more kids. It was a wild scary time and most days I didn't know how I would do it, but I did. And I had my sweet baby with me every step of the way. So, while Covid sucked, I will forever look back on those days with a smile. Smith made those days more bearable and even special. God knew we needed him when we had him, He always knows. 

Smith, I love you too much!! These past 5 years have flown by in a flash. You have made every day happier and brighter. You have my whole heart forever and ever bubby! It's so perfect your birthday falls so close to Thanksgiving because we are all so. thankful. for. you. 

Happy 5th Birthday, sweet boy! xoxo

She's baaaaack

Has it really been almost 4 months since the last post?!? I feel like I start all my blog entries like this. There's just no time ... and it weighs on me to get it done, but to motivate to do it is another story. However, I'm really really wanting to find that motivation because I would love to make this part of my weekly routine. I know the instagram world is blowing up with influencers and content creators, but I have to be honest, I love a good old fashioned blog post. I can't be the only one. Or maybe I am? Who knows? We're about to find out. Today is just a "what is on my mind" post...like the good old days.

We just celebrated Kensington's 10th birthday! How oh how has 10 years gone by so fast? Every year around her birthday I always am reminded of how we changed her name. My phone is flooded with Facebook memories and pictures and there's my sweet baby girl who we named "Elliot Bree". I'd be lying if I told you even 10 years later, I'm not hit with a knee jerk reaction of regret every single year when I see those posts. You see, 10 years ago I was so much different than the person I am today. I was extremely insecure. I craved outside praise to make me feel worthy. I wanted the approval of everyone around me before I could make a decision and therefore was beyond crippled by decision making (something I still kind of struggle with today but not nearly as bad). If I'm being completely honest, if there was a way I could go back in time I wouldn't have changed her name. Truth is, if Archie was a girl we probably would've named her Elliot Natalie. I still so very much love the name Elliot with the nickname Elli, and I kick myself that I cared so much what everyone else thought. Although, most people loved the name Elliot when we picked it, I just couldn't bring myself to commit. One odd look and it set me off on hmmm did we make the right decision? Ultimately it set me off to the point that we actually did change her name. Something similar happened very recently with Archie, and I realized then how much I've grown. A friend of mine, who I love dearly, was very surprised we chose the name Archie, and it was very obvious Archie was not her first choice. I found myself, just like 10 years ago, second guessing my decision. However, I had the foresight to know I'd regret if I changed a name I loved dearly just because someone else didn't like it. And here I am just a couple months later still loving the name we chose for our boy. Anyone have a time machine I can borrow? The funny thing is, Kensington loves the fact we changed her name. She likes that is makes her unique. She even tells me that someday she hopes to have a daughter and wants to name her Elliot. So maybe, just maybe I'll have a granddaughter named Elliot someday? 

I wonder if I'll ever be the girl that totally 100% doesn't care what anyone else thinks? I certainly don't care as much as I once did but caring what others think seems to be so deeply engraved in me, that I don't know if it'll ever go away completely. One fun fact is that Kensington's name is still Elliot with social security. Everything else was changed over 10 years ago except that. It's a relatively easy fix on that end, we just need to make an appointment and give them a couple papers, but just something we keep forgetting we have to do, as its not pressing and doesn't affect anything except when we claim her on our taxes. I joked with Mike just yesterday that before we change it, we should give Kensington the choice if she wants to be Kensington or Elliot. LOL! Can you imagine?!

As per usual, I'm going to end this blog post claiming you'll be seeing more of me around here. When I sit down and type out my thoughts it is so incredibly therapeutic for me. I just love it so much! I do need to cut this one short though because my boys need their mama, and I've got a lot to get done today but thank you for reading!

Let me know in the comments, any big choices you've made in life that you regret?