How The Princess Rolls

Under the dining room table... playing with tanks...

and practicing her smile.

Staying humble

After eight years of parenthood I know more now than ever that God lets us have kids to keep us humble. Not only will children embarrass you beyond all that is imaginable but they will also remind us of how powerless we are at times.

Just when I think I've got it together and I catch myself saying things like "Gee she thinks she has it rough, she needs to try my life.", I get a nice little wake up call.

As those of you that have more than one child have noticed any time you remove at least one kid out of the equation everything seems so much easier. It's amazing how easy one kid is after you have had the second, it's amazing how easy two seems after you have had the third and it goes on from there. Most days I'm traveling light since I only have the two babies at home. Now I must say because they are so young and just 18 months apart this is somewhat challenging but nonetheless it's less than having all 4 of them to chase after and at least I can tie the two babies down in the stroller. So today as I was frantically trying to rush out the door with just two kids I was reminded that I'm not all that great. Because really how hard is it with just 2 when you are used to 4. Ha! Jones doused both me and him in spit up so that I had to change us both. Then upon walking into the living room I discovered Harper had gotten a hold of a bottle and decided to pour the remaining milk all over my computer and my coffee table. I couldn't find a few things and I didn't have anything to wear that I liked. Then the traffic getting to my destination was horrible due to road construction and I ended up being 30 minutes late. Oh I was frustrated because I'm a keep-it-all-together kind of person. I realize that none of those events are that significant and they are fairly common in any house that has kids, but for me today it served as a reminder that I do not have it all under control.

When Fletcher was a baby and had just started eating baby food I vividly remember being in the shower one day and laboring over the decision of whether to give him bananas or peaches. I was concerned about his reaction to them and if he would like them or not. I stood in the shower and stared at the tile and cried. I also remember thinking to myself, "Oh no I'm going to have to wrestle with decisions like this for the rest of my life." I also remember thinking that my life was no longer my own anymore. I had someone for the rest of my life that was going to look to me for everything. I believe it was at that time in my life that God slowly began chipping away at my very over confident personality. Ok some may argue that I still have this personality, but I promise I'm still working on it.

Over the last several years I have come to realize how powerless I am and how I have to have help from Him. It wasn't until I was 27 years old and a major event that transformed my life forever brought me to the realization that I had been living on the faith and beliefs of others. Don't get me wrong I've always had my beliefs and faith but it took me that long to get my own deep faith and to know for myself what my beliefs were and why I believed them. No I didn't automatically change my mind one day. I went through a time span of deep cynicism and distrust. Even now sometimes the skepticism continues to creep in. I don't necessarily think that is all bad but you must find your balance. I came to the point that first I had to study for myself to determine what I believed. Secondly I stayed in inner turmoil when I let cynicism rule my mind. I was at the height of distrust in God when I tried to figure everything out. It literally made me feel as though I was losing my mind. I finally determined that I was too stressed out to try to make everything work and I had to change. I decided to relax and listen to what I had heard so many times before, to just let God take over. I am completely nothing and I can do nothing. No this isn't a one time decision and that wonderful feeling stays with you at all times, sometimes I have to remind myself everyday that I am small and can not fix the problem. I have to calm myself down and remember that I am not in control. I am happy to say that since I have gained a somewhat better understanding of God's faithfulness over the past year God has been slowly bringing things to my attention that I now realize He took care of for me and it was all because He truly had my best interest at heart and I had quit worrying about them.

Now how does all of this tie into having children. Once you become a parent there will be a time when the magnitude of your responsibility descends upon you like a feeling you have never had before. It will feel as though the weight of the world is upon your shoulders and you will then realize that that weight is never leaving. If you begin to allow all of your shortcomings to come into your mind and you feel your great inadequacies rise to the surface the thought of being successful at parenthood would be too much to bear. When I truly began to feel that pressure I had to make a decision, either I was going to buckle and allow myself to fail or I was going to humble myself before God and acknowledge that I absolutely cannot do it by myself. I was going to have to pray like I had never prayed before. I was going to have to ask and belief that mine and my children's best interests were at His heart and go on blind faith. I have to do this everyday because I have four very important reasons to seek help.


I know this blog is somewhat of a departure for me. I hope that as you read this I have come across as sincere and honest because that was my desire. I have no desire to seem super spiritual or like a know it all. All I have is the desire to share my heart. I love my family and I care very deeply about other families. A few years ago Edward and I began to get very serious about the type of family that we wanted to be and the type of parents as well as the type of couple that we wanted to be. We discussed many things and we still discuss many things in order to stay on track. We have committed that we are going to give it our all to provide our kids with a firm foundation. Now I know that our children may not always do what we want, believe me I taught high school long enough to see wonderful Christian couples struggle with their teenagers and young adults to know that their is not a foolproof formula. I have also seen those children return and I know that was directly related to the persevering love and prayers offered by their parents. I have also seen wonderful teenagers who have had lousy parenting. So I know that all situations can arise. Since I have a responsibility of being a parent I have vowed to do my part and to not take lightly my job, a job that I know is much bigger than I or any great parenting advice could ever handle and so I remain humble in knowing that I can not do it alone without constant guidance.



"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

Psalm 127: 3-5

Halloween Party '09

When we first moved into our neighborhood I had one baby and that Halloween I fixed a pot of chili and invited the grandparents over and we handed out candy. No big deal. Over the years and as my kids have gotten older the annual Hicks Halloween party has gotten bigger and better. I even tried to get out of it this year but Fletcher wouldn't hear of it. So I sent out the invites via email and facebook and got myself prepared. I am proud to say that even the boys friends now look forward to this party as much as mine do. One of my friends little boy called to make sure my party was still "pumpin" before he arrived and another asked his mom a few days in advance if we were having our party. I had every intention of taking more pics of my guests but I got busy. Anyway...

One of the funniest thoughts to me was the fact that this time last year I had NO CLUE that I would have a fourth baby for Halloween. Jones was my little pumpkin. He fell asleep just before our guests arrived and slept for about two hours through much noise. I also had a clone trooper, Optimus Prime and a Halloween ballerina. I really don't know what Harper was I just loved this tutu and I bought it for her.

Also a bigger version of Optimus Prime showed up, here he is helping with the ice.

My mom made lots of sweets for the party including this mummy cake.

We trick or treated, ate a lot, handed out candy, watched football, held babies, watched the kids play and genuinely run wild all through the house and then the night ended with a cornhole set in my living room. Most of the guests had left by this time and our friend John brought this in so he, the boys and Edward could play. It took me a minute to not stress about this, but luckily nothing got broken.

And now just because she is the cutest thing ever...I posted a few extra pictures of Harper...I'm sorry I know we are little much but in a house of boys we just can't get enough of her.

Thank you to all of our friends and family that came. We absolutely love having you in our home. And to the few of you that couldn't make it due to those crazy excuses like emergency appendectomies and swine flu, we will be looking for you next year. You really don't have to come up with such far out excuses to skip out. Ha! Totally kidding. I hope you all feel better soon. We will see everyone again next year.

Sleepover...A Rite of Passage

Last Sunday was Fletcher's official birthday but because we had several different events going on his birthday party was delayed. On Friday night I let him have a sleepover. He invited four friends from school and then there were two neighbor boys that joined in so add my two and we had eight elementary aged boys. Oh my the noise!

Edward built a fire pit in the backyard so they got to play outside in the back for a while in the dark. They thought that was great. I gave them glow bracelets to wear so that I could see them in the dark yard. They played football, ate snacks and told ghost stories. All of their ghost stories though had something to do with poop, I got so tickled just listening to them say the silliest stuff. I had good intentions of getting a group picture but you know how that goes. Instead I took these two of them watching cartoons. They all slept upstairs in the boys room. I put a big foam mattress on the floor and three of them fit on that and then the rest piled in the bunk beds or various other places. I lasted until about midnight and then Edward took over until about 2am. He finally got them to all settle down and go to sleep. I took the morning shift and fixed breakfast. It sounded like a heard of wild animals running down our stairs at 6:45am.

They were a group of very sweet boys and we actually enjoyed it. I love to hear their conversations and see them interact with one another it's so very interesting.

Also I must add the smartest thing I did was let Harper spend the night with my mom. I was scared she would get trampled by all of those boys so I sent her to Grammy's. Jones was easy since he's not mobile and he could stay in my room. So it was me and a house full of little boys.

And so it begins....

Ever since Fletcher was born 8 years ago we have noticed that it seems when his birthday comes on October 25th it marks the beginning of the holiday season for us. Like so many of you there is a lot packed into the next two months and it goes by fast. So Edward and I know to just get prepared because here comes one of the busiest times of the year.

This past Monday Fletcher came home from school and informed me that his 2nd grade class had won 2nd place in the annual pumpkin decorating contest hosted by the Bank of Cleveland. They had a very cute party at the bank for the winning classes.
The bank had lots of sweets for the kids and also had face painting and hair painting. Winston was so still waiting patiently to get a spider painted.

I also let them get their hair painted and they chose black. Bath time that night was quite messy. I had to scrub their heads several times then I had to clean the bathtub so the black paint wouldn't stain.

Harper was content as long as she had a cookie.

Jones actually fell asleep amidst all of the chaos. He is the sweetest little thing and just seems to take it all in stride.

She's Got Him Just Where She Wants Him

For 15 minutes Edward stood with Harper while she sat on the kitchen counter and ate cool ranch Doritos straight out of the bag. Why is this significant? I don't think either of her older brothers had chips until they were 4. Also Edward has never ever stood for 15 minutes and let them sit on the counter and eat. Baby girl, which is Winston's name for her, has daddy in the palm of her hand. And she was still just as cute as she could be even with cool ranch Dorito breath.

Jones Baby Dedication

Today was Jones' baby dedication....I really hate this picture of me but hey it's not all about me now is it...I think of all my kids dedication outfits Jones' was my favorite...I know you can't see it very well but trust me it was darling, I loved it. Before church of course I need a few pictures of the whole gang...Edward was doing something above my head...Jones looks a little in shock right now...

and then if Winston's face is any indicator it just got funnier...

Jones was dedicated with all of these other babies...one of them was our cousin Ella Rose...our friends, the twins, Holden and Hayden who are 18 days older than Jones...and our friend Amelia...and I think there were three others but I don't know them personally...

Pastor Hubert Seals praying for Jones and the big boys looking on...

Then we went to lunch with our family and our other friends that were also dedicated...

We had a room all to ourselves...it was so much fun because we got to share it with so many special people...the only bad part of the day was when an obnoxious Alabama fan decided to let her newborn son spit up all over Edward...poor Edward was busy feeding Jones and didn't have any hands to defend himself...Kim I forgive you, but I can't speak for Edward...

Then because Fletcher shared his birthday with a baby dedication all of those people sang Happy Birthday to him and they all loved his Dallas Cowboys cookie cake....

We had a beautiful fun filled day and we were reminded of what is most important in life.