Friday, April 23, 2010

200 Posts?!

Wow I have written 200 posts! How many of you have been following since I started this blog?

Okay- enough about that :) I am in the mood to reminisce a bit. Show some cute pictures of me and Joe and our ever growing family through the last 10 years of marriage and dating...

Dating Us


Newlywed Us

Us after Joe's graduation


Us plus 1


Us plus 2


And then we added a third- still no picture of all of us together.

My first picture with my kids...

Lilia

Lacey


Matthew


Here are some side by sides with Joe and the kids...

Lilia


Lacey


Matthew



And a picture of Lil counting Lacey's fingers:

And Lacey counting Matt's:


Some cute smiles from my kids:
Lilia





Lacey




The Girls

Matthew



And a few funny pictures worth sharing...

Lil drawing her own bath

Lacey getting in the bath by herself

Newborn Lacey- sound asleep

Buttered up Lacey

Sleepy Lilia

Lilia blowing bubbles on Lacey

Matthew thinks he's SOOOO funny...

Now- it's late and it's past my bedtime. Time to take the advice of the following pictures.


Had a good nap?

Joe and I couldn't bring ourselves to kill a sleeping creature. Soooo- Edna is awake and back in full swing! And we are still trying to decide how to dispose of her...


She has dug herself a new hole, and I managed to get a few pictures of her.
Standing up... kinda hard to see from the angle I got the picture of.


She's kinda cute. Too bad she has GOT to go!

She was pretty good at posing for me, and didn't run away until a car drove by and scared her.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A few things to catch up on...

First up- Lacey...

Lacey has been all sorts of cute lately. Her favorite saying is, "Just a second." She says it on an hourly basis, and it makes me smile almost every time I hear it.

She also loves going to church, though she says she likes "Going to Jesus."

She and I are about to try round two of potty training. The first one was a total bust when I went into labor and all thoughts of potty training went out the window.

The other day, she decided to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich, and after making it, she came up to me, placed her hand on my back and asked me if I wanted to eat her "sammich." The sweetie! What makes it even better? This is what I found when I took off my sweater later that afternoon...
(this is the back of my sweater... and two little hand prints from the jam...)

Then there is my Lilia. She is such a sweetheart most of the time. She is well behaved, and so darn cute.

She has learned to tie her own shoes, and does so for ANYONE who walks through our door. First she shows them the left shoe being tied, then the right! To celebrate, we bought her a pair of shoes that need tying.

She is going on her first elementary school field trip tomorrow. They will be going to the zoo. (Speaking of- I should probably finish writing my post about the zoo trip we took a few weeks ago)

She is a great reader, and a smart kiddo. She likes doing her homework, and delights in making Matthew smile.

Yesterday I asked Lil to go get the mail outside. When she was getting her shoes on, the dog got all excited, thinking she was going out too. When Lil left without the dog, this is what our dog did.


She just sat there, staring at the door, until Lil came back. It was pretty funny.

Finally, Matthew.

He is such a sweet baby. He has started laughing a little, and is getting so big! He is almost 3 months old, and is a whopping 14 pounds!

He is such a happy baby, but just like my other kids, he has a very pronounced frown. And unfortunately I can't help but laugh every time I see it! What makes it even better is that he will frown, which makes me laugh, which makes him smile. Until I stop laughing, then he frowns again, so I laugh and he smiles, and the cycle continues...

See?

We recently had pictures taken. And though I can't post the pictures on my blog without the watermark on it, I figure its safe to post a picture of the pictures hanging on my wall, right? Well I hope so, cause I am gonna... :)
Hope you are all having a fantastic spring! I know ONE CREATURE that is... (stay tuned to hear more about this...)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

How'd I manage THAT?!

I think I have hit a new level in mourning... Two days ago marked the 12th anniversary of my father's death. And I didn't even realize it until today when I read a blog about the importance of April 7th to this friend, and the date sounded familiar to me. After thinking about it for a few minutes I realized why. April 6th (though a VERY important day in the history of my church) was marked 12 years ago by the saddest day of my life...


And here I sit, and I am glad to see that April 6th no longer seems to hold that pain for me, yet I find myself a bit sad that it doesn't. I guess time does eventually heal all wounds, doesn't it? Just last week I was talking to a friend who has recently lost her father, and I was telling her that the pain will slowly ebb, it will get better, it will get easier, and as it gets easier, it is sad to look back and realize that it doesn't hurt as much. That, though you miss him, you are no longer in pain over the loss, or at least that the pain is lessened...

I didn't expect to prove my point so easily. But I guess that is life. It keeps going, and going.

I miss you Dad.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Matthew's Blessing

Last Sunday was Matt's baby blessing. About 2 hours before church started, he decided to have an allergic reaction to SOMETHING and threw up ALL over himself and his swing. Luckily, his blessing outfit was still safely tucked away, and wasn't anywhere near the accident... Also, we were lucky to not have a repeat incident. So- about 15 minutes before church started I got him dressed, and off we went! Joe gave him a beautiful blessing (at least as much as I could hear of it- Lacey was being a pill), and afterwards we came back to our house with the family for some good food, and family fun! There were about 53 people here, and lemme tell ya- the house was PACKED! But I do love my family, and am so grateful they could all make it! Honestly though- if EVERYONE in the family had made it, we would have numbered much closer to 75 (since with Joe's and My immediate family alone we have 67)! Still- we had a great time, and I was glad to be able to share that time with the family.

Here are a few pictures of Matthew in his blessing outfit and with his blanket- made for him by my mother.