7 years ago today.....

.....was the best day of my life!!! I married my best friend. I am so thankful that God brought Tim into my life. We have been through so much and I am so happy to say that we are so much stronger today than we have ever been. I love you baby!!

The birthday madness continues...

December is INSANE in our house with birthdays. But oh so much fun!! Yesterday we had the combined family party. And the theme was cupcakes. I made the littles tutus to wear. And they were adorable. However, both of the little birthday girls were cranky, so we didn't get a good picture. So stay tuned as I dress them all up again and threaten them to get a good picture! LOL

Here are some that we did get.



This is the "in process" shot of the giant cupcake cake that I made.

The decorations

Madison with her balloon bouquet The cake (It was so cute that I didn't want to cut it!)

Vivi with the pinata

Madison really liked this part of the party

We were even able to get a picture of the elusive tween. This was her party too, although she is adamently against the mommy paparazzi.

This may be the only shot that you can see her cupcake tights and shoes

Madison loved her Samantha book. She is really into American Girl this year.

Are we done yet?

At least you can sort of see her cupcake sweater here.

A few people brought small gifts for Leah which was so sweet. She did so good yesterday.
Yeah, this is as close as I got to a picture of their tutus.

My baby is 12!!!

I can remember it like it was yesterday, which is surprising since I can't seem to recall her name half the time. I was very young and very scared. Our birth experience was less than stellar. I didn't know about interventions like I do now. So of course we had every one. But regardless, it was one of the best days of my life. I didn't know at the time how profoundly this little baby would shape my life. I didn't know that God had sent her here to help me grow. I didn't know how we would make it. And I didn't know how I would take care of her. But God did. He protected us both and provided for us when it seemed like there was no way. She loved me even when I was not qualified at all to be a mommy. She was a wonderful baby. So full of smiles and laughter. We are so fortunate to have Mackenzie as our daughter.

1 month old

3 months

Mackenzie and my mom

Mackenzie with mama and paw paw

She loved the johnny jump up. It was one of God's little gifts to me. My mom used to rave about how much I loved it when I was a baby, so it was sweet to me that Mackenzie like it too.

1st time on an airplane

.

Always smiling

At the lake with mommy
I am so thankful she didn't break her neck. What a far cry from the Britax seats we must have now!

1st dance recital Dressing up
Playing with her daddy One of her karate trophies On "our" wedding day. We were a package deal. Precious to me
She has grown up to be such a beautiful young lady. We love you Mackenzie!!

Causing a ruckus at church

So we are visiting a new church. We have been a few times and are trying to keep our kids in the service with us. I swear Vivian associates the building with eating. As soon as we walk in the door, she is asking for snacks. It's a small congregation so there's no way of not causing a scene. Today we came prepared with snacks and talked the whole way there about how we are going to wait until the preaching starts to have snack. Apparently the almost two-year old brain retains all information except the fact that there's no snack until after we sing. She asked the entire time! Then three songs in, Leah has to go potty. So we tromp out and back in. Then the sermon starts and we all break out the snacks. Then Vivian wants to talk it through. LOUDLY. Her brain also doesn't seem to understand whispering. So the entire sermon I spend shushing her and rotating raisins and goldfish. And the cup. Can't forget the cup the she completely downed in two secs and proceeded to throw on the chair next to us and make a deafening sound that she thought was funny. We manage to get almost through the sermon and then we have to have another potty break/nose-blowing break. I think it's just an excuse to visit every potty that we can.

All in all, they did pretty well. Things started to get ugly when we started communion so Tim took them out for that. Which is always good b/c they always want to know why everyone else is having a snack that they can't have.

A first for me

I have been a parent to 4 children over the span of 12 years and now fully know they are all very different!

We put our pre-lit tree up the other day and realized that some of the lights weren't working. So we went back and forth about what to do. Since I am a nut and was worried about the thing catching on fire, I decided that we should just string lights on it and use those instead of the prelit lights. So yesterday I hang the 1st strand and start discussing with Tim how it looks terrible, etc. I turn around and Vivian is holding the lights. So I take them from her and explain that they are no touch, the tree is no touch, etc. I go back to the lights and try to figure out a way for them to look normal and I hear "CRUNCH." This child ATE ONE OF THE LIGHT BULBS!!! I almost died. Thankfully they weren't plugged in. I scooped her up and looked at her. She wasn't bleeding or anything. I could only get one tiny piece out b/c she had swallowed it. So I called Children's and the lady actually laughed at first. She said, "I have never heard of that before." The lady is asking me a bunch of questions while Vivian is playing as if she didn't just ingest glass!! We determined that she's ok and we just need to be on poop patrol for a couple of days. Joy!! After everything calmed down, I took her over to the tree and showed her the lights and said "we don't eat or touch the light." She pointed to her mouth and said" MINE!! All done."

Dude wook!!

...translated "dude look." You know you're saying "dude" too much when your baby says it!!