Counting our blessings - and there are more than five!

Hi all!

Today was a good, happy day. We are so very blessed in many ways:

We are blessed with good friends who are really family. Aunt Pam (in the red shirt) was there for my birth, the births of my brother and sister, Isaac's birth, and even the quints' birth (whew!).
Aunt Cynthia, too, has been one of my treasured aunties for as long as I can remember.

This photo was taken tonight around the table: I love how Marcie is licking the table, and what a mess Will (front and center) and David are. Seth is grinning away at Aunt Cynthia, and Aunt Pam is at the helm as usual, spooning food in as fast as she can. Even Seth ate really well, thanks to the delicious stew Thera (another one of our great blessings!) made the kiddos. Please keep praying Seth eats and drinks progressively more of his daily nutrients and that all the babies stay healthy - huge blessings we cannot and do not take for granted!

We are blessed with a plethora of toys and playmates!

Marcie likes to climb everything, even into her toy box. She's the real Queen of the Heap. She's quite feisty in defending her toys, turning in circles on her little bottom to evade the would-be toy-napper (usually Will, behind her in this photo), who's then forced to crawl around and around her. She'll complain out loud and eventually put the toy in her mouth and crawl away at top speed if necessary.

David is on the far left. [We find the pacifiers are really an eardrum-saver at times, another blessing! It's hilarious to watch the kids do perfectly in-sync swaps, as though each other's might taste better.]

Will has started walking all over now! He doesn't take more than a few steps at a time (I think his max was 10 today), but he's doing it more and more. He walks like a sumo wrestler or like a muscle-bound cowboy who's spent too many days in the saddle. It's adorable, and he's very proud of himself. And Seth loves to walk holding on to one finger only! He's insatiable, walking as often as he can.

We are blessed with close-knit, loving families on both Gavin's side and and mine.
This photo was taken at Dad's birthday party last night; we were trying to recreate an old photo taken back when it was just us five Petersons. I am so glad we're now blessed with Courtney and Calvin! I LOVE my in-laws on both sides! Tomorrow is cousin Levi's and Aunt Jody's birthday (Gavin's nephew and sister-in-love). A very happy birthday wish from Texas, ya'll! ;)

We are blessed with five healthy, [mostly] happy almost-one-year-olds who were due November 3rd, 2012, but have actually been in the world since August 9, 2012 and beaten the odds by miles, thanks to God's gracious Hand at work in them and in answer to the prayers of thousands of people.
We can never fully express our gratitude to the Lord and to you, at least not on this side of eternity!

(These two photos were for my dad's birthday card. He had the shirts made for their first birthday.)

I bet you all remember who was born in what order? Just in case: Will, David, Marcie, Seth, Gracie

We are blessed with TWO girls! I am so, so, so glad that I got my little girls. I remember the ultrasound when we found out the sexes of the babies: the first three were boys, and I started getting a little panicky that we wouldn't get even one girl, when I really, really wanted two girls and three boys! I know we don't often get exactly what we want, and that in those cases the Lord has something much better for us, but I'm very glad His best for us included Marcie and Gracie. :)

The other day Gracie was crawling around while holding a disposable aluminum 9x13 pan with only her tiny teeth. It was nearly as big as she is; she could have sat in it quite comfortably! 
There are so many funny things each day (the blessing of HUMOR!); I wish I could film it all and remember!

Well, I'd better close as I am tackling the care of all five on my own from 9:00 to 1:00 tomorrow. We'll see how it goes! The many, many gates up in in our house help contain the crazy, and the days have been gorgeous. (Blessing upon blessing) The kids are loving being outside, and I love watching them. Will I be able to get any laundry or dishes done? We shall see! Report to follow . . . 

Love and gratitude for caring, praying, and being part of our "extended family" of blessing!

Carrie

P.S. We're having the quints officially dedicated to the LORD this coming Sunday, second service.