Happy Thanksgiving-Festival of Trees

My gym monkeys or princesses?

For the one God gave me

Holding Caroline for the first time (not sure why its so blurry)
Holding Claire for the first time
Our first Anniversary in 2003


Happy Birthday Love-welcome to your "mid-30's!"


So 5:30 pm is my favorite time of the day...quite ironic considering its the most chaotic time in our home. However in the midst of fixing dinner, entertaining the girls, phone ALWAYS rings during this hour and just being ready for the day to be done-the most magical thing happens like clock work every day.

The garage door opens and the sweetest sounds of 'daddddddddyyyy' start to fill our space. There are smiles, arms reaching, voices squeaking, and 2 girls latching, grasping, and grabbing for whatever 'daddy' they can fight for.

Bags, lunch boxes, coats, coffee mugs-whatever-hits the floor and its the most priceless picture I could ask for. He loves them deep. He loves me deep. He is the one God gave me and I am thankful!!!

The days are long, the work is busy, the world pulling from every direction but for that moment in time the world stops and its nothing but pure love and joy.

I patiently wait my turn for a kiss, hug, body bump or whatever quick second of contact I might get as two littles are permanently attached to his body.

He is the best daddy ever (except for mine of course :). His love for them is pure, it is real and it is meaningful. He wants them to know him, love him, & want him to be a part of their story. He is amazing at equal opportunity-which is sometimes an unreachable goal. His heart is big for them. He is patient, calm, smart in his teachings, quick on his feet and seems to get the best love from both of them each and every time.

I can vividly remember March 1995 and on our first date at Mac & Bobs I spilled my drink-but my heart was full that night and my stomach had butterflies-I. WAS. IN. LOVE. I remember every car ride home from school or cheerleading practice (pretty sure I wasn't even supposed to be doing that). I can remember the day he left for college. I can remember the only one path our cars knew between Radford and Charlotte on 77. I can remember the evening of August 31, 2001 when he asked me to love him forever and always. I remember one year later to that very day when we both said 'I do.' I remember EVERY moment of our honeymoon! I remember starting our married life together in the unknown: moving to Richmond, our first anniversary, moving to Charlotte and buying our first home, job changes, making friends, finding a church family, adding Gabby to our family, having THAT conversation in a playful but serious way when we decided we were ready to start our family. Losing something that was more precious to us and changed our lives forever. Grieving together. Rejoicing together that we were going to give it a second try. March 23, 2008 when Claire came into our world. Saying goodbye to our dog-the one that started it all! Deciding together that the world was calling and needed him to make a difference....him leaving me and a one year old for 20 weeks. Moving to Knoxville. July 14, 2010 when Caroline came into our world. October 16, 2011 when we lost something we didn't even know we had. And every other small and momentous event for the past 16 years and 8 months.

So for 17 birthdays I have celebrated one man-the love of my life-but this year I am more thankful than ever that he is my life, he is my husband and we walk this side of Heaven together-forever.

Happy Birthday to the one for me! I Love You!!!

PS You really aren't old.....yet!!

Happy Birthday Daddy

30 Days of Thanks

I had every intention of doing this task for the month of November: Sitting down each day and intentionally listing and thanking God for my blessings. Well, best laid plans fall apart but here are my 30-just all in one list...

November- {a month of Blessings}-

1 healthy children
2 faithful friends
3 preschool for Claire-the ability to financially provide this experience for her
4 my mom
5 my dad
6 our extended family & all the love that is there for our children
7 every life long memory of my grandma-wish I could give her a huge birthday hug today
8 our church
9 music class for Caroline-it is her passion
10 forever friends who fill my heart
11 federal holidays-love having daddy home those days
12 Chris' heart for soccer, kids & giving back-what big life lessons we can learn from little people
13 our Sunday School class members and leaders
14 my Caroline-she is 16 months old today
15 PEP Moms and what it has brought to my life
16 my in-laws and how they LOVE their granddaughters
17 my siblings & our special family of 5
18 my husband, partner, & best friend...happy birthday today!
19 our family of 4 and whatever our future may hold
20 our small group at church-such amazing couples
21 my health
22 being able to be a stay at home home
23 my Claire- she is 44 months old today-ha!
24 HAPPY THANKSGIVING-what a great family day
25 is it bad I am thankful for shopping??!!
26 date nights with my honey
27 Chris' health
28 wonderful neighbors and our best friends
29 Chris' job stability in a not so stable economy
30 my marriage-I cherish it more every year-we're working on number 10!!

Out of the mouth of Claire...

Just a few laughable moments for your enjoying pleasure!

~oh mom-you look beautiful today-when your fingernails are painted it makes you a real mommy!
~(when talking to grandma on the phone) mom-she has to call me back, she was riding the alligator! (remember that means elevator in Claire's world)
~mom-daddy had to go to the doctor today for his check up (physical therapy) but he doesn't have any boo boos like you do!
~mommy-you're my best friend, but mom, so is Caroline and so is Daddy, so.....(think she was confused at how to let me down easy!)
~mom-I just saw the nail lady-lets go get our nail (that would be mail!)
~new words: familiar, second of all, well actually, that's not right mom, what are we going to do with daddy?, Caroline is cracking me up!
~wow mom-I am so tall-but don't forget when I get taller I can get my ears fierced (pierced)
~you know what I want to be when I get big mom-I'm going to be a mommy.


LOVE THIS GIRL!!

Caroline-16 months old

who has static?
pushing her babies at the toy store
Coloring and doing some art workLoves playing in purses!



Oh she is my funny bone! She makes you laugh like you have never laughed before. She is pure joy, laughter, smiles, and fun! I feel so bad that this poor child has had no update since she turned one, but here a little attempt to reprieve myself as she turns 16 months!

At her 15 month appointment she weighed 21 pounds and was 31 inches long. She still isn't technically walking on her own but she cruises everywhere, loves to walk pushing anything that will move with her and LOVES to walk holding your hand-especially her sisters! On Monday November 7th she stood up on her own from the floor and took what I am calling her "official" first steps. She has taken several more over the last week but she gets so excited and moves so fast that she loses her balance very quickly (the child does nothing at a slow speed)! She is super proud of herself and loves for you to tell her 'good job!'

The child is the best communicator I know that doesn't operate with words! haha! She still loves to say things but is much better at observing, listening, pointing and shaking her head. She does her Caroline style 'yes yes yes' by smiling the biggest smile, throwing her hands up in the air and shaking her head yes as fast as she can! And like any other toddler her new favorite words is 'no'-but I have to say its the cutest word she could possibly say with this sassy look on her face!

What she loves:

BABIES
books
puzzles
crayons...oh that is a fun one!
BABIES
music of any kind-instruments, songs, dancing
gabby
her best friends-Hadley, Drew, Kennedy
BABIES
her big sister
her Daddy coming home from work
Bubble Guppies TV show
BABIES
playing in the dishwasher, the pantry, my bathroom cabinets, my Tupperware drawer
her 'ba ba' (pacifier) and her 'lovey' (her soft pink bear/blanket)

Although she is a sweet loving cuddle bug she is DETERMINED, INDEPENDENT, and STRONG WILLED! She thinks she can do everything- on her own- in her own way- in her own time and everything Claire does.

She is definitely the forth piece to our family puzzle and we love her so very much!

What makes my heart beat??

THESE SWEET AS PIE FACES!!!!

Poppa's Girls

having a little red velvet cake
Poppa took Claire to the Disney store and this is what they came home with!
The girls trying to 'help' fix my vacuum...it had been making a funny noise and after some serious investigating Poppa opened a trap door and pulled out a brown magic marker! Should be a Dyson ad-the thing was still running just making a noise that wasn't normal-pretty impressive and funny-true symbol of how crazy our home is!

Disney on Ice

A fun morning-just the girls
Caroline loving the show
Claire & Grandma
Claire loving the show
Both girls on cloud 9!

Thick as Thieves

my sweet girl #2
planning and scheming
walking their babies
playing in the bilibo seats
my sweet girl #1