Flashback Friday

After almost losing {all} of my digital pictures, I've had to go back through and reorganize things from the recovery.

When I click on 2010, one of the first sets of pictures that pop up are those last few weeks of {belly pictures}.

This time last year, I was very, very, very pregnant with the little girls.

There was very limited {sleep}.

Many {aches} and pains.

But without a shadow of a doubt, we knew we were incredibly {blessed} to be where we were...only days away from being 38 weeks.

Not much has changed. 

There are still sleepless {interrupted} nights, although much fewer and farther between.

My arms and back {ache} at the end of the day from carrying around over 40lbs between the two little girls, but I've certainly developed some arm muscles.

And we are still, without a shadow of a doubt, incredibly {blessed} to be exactly where we are.

But what has changed is this:

(that was almost 13 lbs of baby right there almost a year ago to the day...holy wow I was huge!)

And what joy and happiness this brings me to see these sweet {serious} little faces staring back at me!

(thank you Lori for this great picture you took for us at Thomas' party!)

Almost a year later.

Then again, maybe a {whole lot} really has changed!

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

Psalm 139:13-14

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

disclaimer #1: no one was harmed in the making of this post.

disclaimer #2: our children do wear clothes in addition to panties/bloomers on a semi-regular basis. but only semi.

disclaimer #3: i had absolutely nothing to do with this! i was attempting to load the dishwasher and everyone crawled/walked out of the kitchen. it got too quiet. fast.

and this is what i found...

now...

a.) you tell me who you think was behind all this?

and

b.) can you imagine the mischief these girls are going to stir up once the little girls start walking. and talking. and Addie starts driving.

i'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Happy Wednesday!

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

Outdoor Babies

*disclaimer on my firsts post: although I try really hard to make things fair in the now for our 3 girls, if anyone compared 1.) the number of pictures, 2.) the number of posts, or 3.) the number of documented milestones (or documented anything!) of the girls and Addie...Addie would win by leaps and bounds!

But to make up for that (or not!), I grabbed a few pictures of the little girls outside the other day.

This fun slide was a gift for Addie a few years ago. It stayed inside in our living room for a long time until it a.) became too big (with the other toys) and b.) became a potential hazard for Addie and Cady.

So outside on the deck it went and was still played with almost as much. Addie still loves it, and now the little girls are going to be able to start enjoying it too! It's just their size!

I love how Audrey Kate is looking at me and Anne Perry is looking at her. They are just so sweet together!

A tad on the serious side, this little girl loves to stand up and hold on but hasn't quite figured out how to go from standing back to sitting...which results in some tense moments.

And this adventurous little girls isn't afraid to get dirty! She crawled right through the hole and onto the cool dirt...and didn't miss a beat!

Now I've just got to get that ant colony that I found later that day after I took these pictures! Thankfully the little girls standing there didn't disrupt them like me moving it did!

Our Easter was very low key this year. I didn't get the girls dresses finished, so I'll have to post pictures of those later. But we did enjoy a fun day with just us and an Addie Easter egg hunt! So, as usual...pictures to come!

A quick story:
Addie's teachers at school used the Resurrection Eggs to tell her class the story of Easter.

Addie came home and was so proud to show me her eggs she found during their Easter Egg hunt.

She sat at the table, and I asked her what she was doing. She told me:

I'm looking for Jesus (as she opened each egg).

Me: Well where is He?

Addie: (very matter-of-factly) All the eggs are empty. He's not here. He rolled away!

Oh how I love her!

"...for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it...The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead!..."

Matthew 28: 2b, 5-7a

A Few Firsts

I'm a {first} born.

Therefore, I make painstakingly sure that almost everything is fair and even with our girls.

Or at least I try to.

5 puffs. 5 puffs.

half a sandwich. exactly half a sandwich.

fill cup half full. other cup half full.

a toy in each hand. a toy in each hand.

3 pictures. 3 pictures.

Except I can't seem to get Addie to let me take as many pictures of her as the little girls will let me take of them.

And just because Audrey Kate can walk behind the shopping cart walker doesn't mean that Anne Perry can too.

And just because Anne Perry hams it up for the camera in multiple pictures at one time and Audrey Kate just smiles, doesn't mean I shouldn't post what I got!

See. Wasn't that a fair mention of each girl?

Nevermind.

So this is a {first}.

A terribly uneven assortment of pictures.

A video of one and not the others.

Thankfully, I don't think anyone is keeping track.

But just in case they are...I'll make it up later ;)

-----------------

The little girls have been using sippy cups with soft spouts. But someone (Anne Perry) has figured out that if she tumps it upside down and presses the spout on her highchair tray that water comes out.

Fun. Right?

Not so much to clean up unnecessary soggy food off the tray.

So Addie and I got their big girl cups (with tops) out the other day and gave them a try.

This is what Anne Perry thought of them:

And Audrey Kate gave me the sweetest smile ever!

But the new spout didn't keep Anne Perry from at least trying to get the water out...

Instead she learned a new trick!

And Addie begged me (another almost first) to take her picture with her Addie cup in the double stroller.

I was happy to oblige but had to crop it something serious since her most favorite attire consists of panties only these days!

And remember that {first} video of one that I don't have of the other...did I mention we have a cruiser?

She's getting faster by the day!

It amazes me how quickly these little girls are growing! This was only a month ago, and I can see such a difference in them in so many ways!

(Anne Perry)

(Audrey Kate)

And someone who didn't want her picture taken, but I managed to get one that at least looked like it was intentional (another almost first!).

But same happy girls!

So thankful for their smiles. Their health. Their laughter.

Their love.

And I'm thankful none of those are a first!

Roll the Ball

After morning naps yesterday & while Addie was still at school, the little girls & I walked down to a grassy park near our house.

They ate a snack, stood up next to the wagon, crawled all over me...

...and rolled/threw the ball to each other.

Although not quite as "organized-playing-together" as earlier, I thought they were still super cute rolling/tossing/dropping the ball to each other.

It's never to early to start practicing for those athletic scholarships...is it? (I kid, but there's always wishful thinking, right?)

Happy Friday!



Ps: all of this was done on my iPhone...so please excuse any glitches/cut off heads due to another baby crawling on me & the all around quality of this video production!

the Finnster

yes. I am dedicating an entire post to our dog.

because he's kinda like our 4th child.

he's sweet. patient. mostly calm. and soft as he can be.

consumes his entire dinner, lunch, and breakfast.

sleeps through the night.

oh, and he eat shoes.

we've lost 3 shoes in two weeks to this little guy, 2 of which have been Addie's.

but the coolest thing happened early yesterday morning.

one or the other of the little girls likes to get up somewhere between 5:30am & 6:30am to eat.

Finn likes to head outside and lay in the cool dirt when the little girls wake him up.

this morning was no different.

Anne Perry was up at 5:30 and Audrey Kate up around 6:30.

But I woke up at 6:15 and for some reason started worrying that the workmen might have been in the backyard yesterday and possibly not closed the gate all the way.

I got up without my glasses to get Audrey Kate and peaked out the kitchen window.

The gate was just cracked enough that I could see it without my glasses (ok, so it had to be cracked enough for an almost blind person to see...because that's me without my glasses/contacts).

I calmly went back and got them.

It was open.

I took a deep breath. We've had him two weeks. He's fit perfectly in our family, our life, and our home (minus the shoes he's eaten). We just got him fixed Monday.

I was heading to the backyard praying that he was still back there when I heard a whine at the front door.

And there he was. He was so happy to be inside. So happy to be home!

...and he'd been waiting for us at the front door!

I'm thinking it's confirmed:

he's a pretty awesome dog.

Wordless Wednesday

(captured by Daddy!)

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 

Lamentations 3:22-23

Flashback Friday

oh wait. I can't do a Flashback Friday without pictures to flashback with...

my pictures are still being recovered.

yes, we're looking at almost a week here.

So thankful for Paul's computer knowledge

and patience.

But have I mentioned recently how much I love these girls?

Their smiles. Their laughter.

Even their sweet tears.

And I love

their seriousness

their sweetness

and their silliness!

And I love that Addie is wearing a dress that used to be my friend Didi's little girl's & that the little girls are wearing dresses that my mom made for me that I wore & that Addie wore as well!

Happy Friday!

Recover

-ing

pictures.

Because this was me a mere 4 nights ago.

And after throwing up my hands in the air,

 

I gave up and went to bed.

While some of us were laying around

Thankfully my sweet husband wasn't so quick to give up.

And it's been his bright idea

that's been

recovering

retrieving

rescuing

repairing

restoring

my pictures.

By the time it's done,

it will have taken over 110 hours to actually

restore

the files.


While there are still hours to go,

I feel pretty safe doing a little rejoicing,

or relaxing in the cool grass,

regaling in a little fun,

and relishing in the relief

that I will once again have accessible pictures of our precious girls!

Today I am thankful for my patient, persistent, phenomenal husband who can solve presumably preposterous problems!

Precisely, my dear Watson. Precisely!

What did you do on your Friday night...?

Weekends are so different now that we have 3 kiddos.

They involve naps

and playing

and birthday parties

and spending time with friends and family

Ok. So they aren't so different...

...but this one also involved cooking.

Yes, cooking! I'm so thankful for our friends Mandy, Chad, and Cady.

As Addie says, Cady is her bestest friend!

But in addition to being an amazing cook (among other things of course), Mandy is an incredible organizer!

And because of her, our freezer is now stocked with 8 meals and 2 sides.

Seriously? Seriously!

I'll let Mandy tell you more about that!

After Mandy left, I sat down to download some pictures and blog about Finn's story.

And there was nothing on my {external} hard drive.

Let me repeat that: there was nothing on my hard drive where I store all of my pictures!!!!

0 bytes out of 983 gigabytes.

Zero

Nothing left of over 30,000 files.

And I proceeded to have a complete and utter meltdown!

After many tears and Paul attempting to figure out what happened, we discovered that somehow my hard drive formated itself.

Yes, I know I'm giving my hard drive more power than it deserves...but I didn't reformat it. Addie didn't reformat it. Paul didn't reformat it. No one reformated it!!!

There is no explanation, but I'm praying what Paul is doing will recover 3 years of our pictures.

And today he's going to buy two additional hard drives so we have a backup and a backup of the backup.

Seriously? Seriously!

But the whole reason I sat down to blog {at 12:30am} was to show you these pictures of our boy.

We knew we would get another dog sooner than later.

We're a dog family. Ok, I'm a dog person. Well, really, I'm just an animal person!

But I started realizing that Audrey Kate was becoming very fearful of dogs we would be around. So I started looking at Golden Retriever rescues and moved to shelters in search of a Golden mix.

What I found though, was nothing short of amazing.

Finn was relinquished to a local shelter on March 11th because his family had too many dogs (um, don't get me started).

He became part of our family on April 4th.

I have no idea why he remained in the shelter for as long as he did.

He is so gentle with our girls. So kind with Addie. So calm.

His coat is in perfect shape. He is heartworm negative. He's a great age, being halfway through that puppy stage.

But I think he stayed because he was meant for our family.

Sure, there have been some ups and downs. Some accidents on the floor. Some barking and whining in his crate at night.

But as a whole, he is simply an amazing dog!

He loves to lay on the cold bathroom floor

or in the bathtub.

On the cool dirt outside or underneath our huge magnolia tree.

He hasn't been mean to the cats, but he's clearly chased them enough that they are {on their guard}. You think?

But who could be afraid of this smile?

There will always be a special place in our hearts for our Abbey girl. No dog will ever replace her.

But we are so thankful to have found another perfect dog for our family!

Welcome to the family Finn-ster!

Let's Party!

Who knew how much fun (and work) it would be to pull off birthday parties for our girls.

Invitations. Planning. Cakes. Decorating.

But I think this year tops the list

...in fun.

and in work!

I should have known the first birthday party would have to be rescheduled when the first cake started like this:

Thankfully having to reschedule because Addie was sick gave us a little more time to create this:

and put the finishing touches on all these Sweets...

And after all those sweets, we had to make sure we didn't cause any cavities.

My favorite part used to be the cake. Now I think it stresses me out! But after my friend Anna told me about gum paste, life cake decorating became so much easier! Thank goodness for googling cake ideas!

Addie's appliquéd outfit, made by Rie Rie with fabric that Gramma helped choose, turned out pretty cute if I'm allowed to say. And after threatening bribing her with time on her playground, I actually got some pictures!

But I think this has to be one of my favorites!

The party was more than I could have ever imagined! The rain held off so we spent most of the time outside.

Daddy grilled 300 56 hot dogs.

And so many sweet friends and family came, all the way from Atlanta and Augusta!

 

(I would have never made it without my aunt, Nana! She called me Thursday and asked to come help! Thank you Nana for all you did!)

And even sweet Kennedy (Thomas' baby sister) came in her sweet lollipop dress! Can we say adorable?!?!?

But after everyone ate, it was time for cake. And for a little girl who sings Happy Birthday all.the.time. to everyone else, it was pure bliss to hear everyone sing Happy Birthday to her! And it was that moment that caught me off guard, as everyone begin to sing. Friends. Family. Moms and Dads. Children. I didn't know Happy Birthday could be so beautiful until it was sung by people who truly love my little girl and our family! Blessed. So very blessed!

I loved watching her face and smile! And finally it was time to really blow out the candles!

The pull pinata was a huge hit! Since we had so much candy inside waiting for the kids to make goodie bags with, there were small toys: rings, necklaces, bubbles, bouncy balls, etc in the pinata.

Oh. And a handful of suckers. You think the birthday girl was excited here! (thank you Erin for taking these pictures!)

As I look back on this day and the days (or weeks) preceding it, I am reminded at what amazing, precious friends and family we have! I had family helping me finish painting the kitchen. More family here the day before and day of tirelessly working to get things straight and ready. I had friends who helped me bake cakes, make chocolate covered goodies, had Addie over to play for the morning, even one who brought a yummy mexican dip to the party, and two in specific that were fervently praying for things to go smoothly. And then there's my husband who kneaded color into gum paste and stayed up late with me to finish the cake in addition to everything else he did!

Amazing. Precious. Selfless. Wonderful.  

Thankful. Blessed. 

Happy Birthday our Big Girl! We love you 

and so do many, many others!