this journey.

I'm an attached parent. And I don't mean attachment parenting. I may or may not have breastfed, cloth diapered, co-slept, did baby-led weaning. It doesn't matter. What I mean is I'm attached to my children. I've always had a difficult time being away from them for a long period of time, not because I didn't think the person watching them would do a fabulous job, but because I always missed them. And I'm the mom, I know them best. I can respond to their every need before they even speak it, because I know them. Right? I've been one to implement routine and guard naptime like my life depended on it. Because, let's be honest, my life does depend on naptime. That is when I regain my sanity. 

But God has called Andrew and I to give our children over to Him. To trust Him and know that He is God. It's hard. I'm not going to lie. One day I go from meeting my children's every need and priding myself on it. To humbling accepting many others to hold my babies. To rock them to sleep. To pack their lunches. To give them baths. To kiss their boo-boos when they fall. To take them for walks. You see, I'm thankful that God has revealed my pride and has shown me the beauty of others comforting and helping us. 

It takes a village to raise a child. 

This new journey of others entering our lives to tend to our children is just one of the many examples of how God has demonstrated to us that He will never leave us or forsake us. 

He also tells us to ask and you shall receive. Except, whoa, we haven't even had to ask for anything because beauty is pouring in. Bags of gatorade on our front door step from who knows. Giftcards slipped into our hands at church. Cards with encouragement and more giftcards. Dinners. Messages of fundraisers. We will not have to tend to our yard or house while we go through this. You guys. God loves His children. The words thank you seem so insufficient to the what we have already so graciously received. 

This enemy, this cancer, is no match for God. We are claiming and believing that "The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect us from the evil one." Thessalonians 3:3

I'm not questioning why this is happening to us. Which I can hardly believe, because that question seems to be what would be expected. God has already revealed to us why He chose us. To bring Him glory. For our faith to be strengthened. 

God chose this journey for my family. I just know mountains are going to be moved. Thank you for coming along side us and bearing this journey with us. 

This Mother's Day is going down in history as my favorite. We were able to be home and go to church and worship together. So thankful. Except poor Linc, he isn't feeling well, which you can tell by his sad little face. 

family fun night. {and an easy recipe}

The day begins with us asking the kiddos "Do you know what day it is?!" And by now, they know. The chant begins "family fun night! family fun night!" And I may or may not do a little jig while singing it. So the anticipation goes all day. Family fun night is our homemade calzones, plus root beer floats, plus family movie snuggled on the couch. Simple. But full of love.

This tradition began sometime in January for us. It happened one Friday night and it stuck. Every Friday around 4:30pm we begin making the calzones. I use the easiest recipe in the world that I found on Pinterest.

Here it is:

For the dough:
2 1/2-3 cups of flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 Tbsp of vegetable oil
1 cup of very warm water

Combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Add the warm water and oil-mix. Stir in remaining flour slowly until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead until smooth. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before making the calzone.

(In this 30 minute period turn on "Sound of Music" station in Pandora. Really loud. And dance.)

Preheat oven to 375. While preheating, roll dough out. You can either make one gigantic one or three small ones. Or whatever size you prefer. We do three small ones. (One for me, one for Andrew, and the girls share one, and Linc eats off of ours) Roll dough so it makes a rectangle shape. Put pizza sauce down middle. Then cheese on top and whatever else you prefer. We have done sweet red onions, black olives, artichokes, mushrooms, turkey pepperoni, green peppers. Then make cuts along each side of the dough about 3/4 inch in. Then wrap it by criss-crossing each cut over the center. The girls really love doing this part. We place all three on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 375.

It's a tradition that I'm sure will evolve with time as the kids grow and we want to change it up a bit. We already have plans to set up movie nights outside on a big sheet during the summer. But what I'm loving right now is that something so simple can bring us all together. Not to mention, I love not having to think about a Friday night dinner. Give it a few more weeks and the girls may be able to make calzones entirely themselves. I mean, that's really my motivation, right? To teach them so they will eventually make all the meals. [Insert evil laugh.] 

My hope is these little traditions we are instilling in our children will keep us together like holding hands. One day they may do the same tradition with their children or come back home to visit and ask to make calzones together like the old days. When they sip a root beer float memories with flood in of snuggling up on the couch watching classic movies. Some of our Friday night movies have included Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Peter Pan the Musical and Wizard of Oz.

Here I am trying to capture us in the moment, and instead I catch Naomi pinching her sister. Which is about the funniest thing ever and pretty much sums up her personality. Also, you can see Audrey could care less. Haha. 

{christmas} eve.

We spent the day up at Andrew's Granny and Popaw's, our Christmas Eve Day tradition. Then in the evening headed to my dad's. All three kiddos slept on the drive there (early morning naps, what?!) AND on the way home. I love unexpected peaceful moments.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the day:

Teaching Audrey (and Naomi, but she wasn't really interested) how to play Uno.

Watching this guy get so close to crawling.

Audrey crawling up on her Great-Popaw's lap and listening to him read Jesus' birth story from the Bible.

Right before bed, we got milk, cookies, reindeer food, and a letter to Santa ready. They were so excited! (Barbie and baby Jesus made their appearance on the front of the letter, in case you can't tell.)

Tomorrow we plan on staying at our home all day, with about 20 others joining us. I'm looking forward to having our first Christmas in our new home!

my best friend's wedding.

For months now, I mean months, Audrey couldn't wait to be a flower girl in my best friend's wedding. When I bought her dress and shoes she had to put them on almost daily. Well, over the weekend, Audrey and Naomi were the sweetest little flower girls. The rehearsal didn't go so well, it was basically a dumping fest of flowers for Naomi as Audrey kept telling her "no, no! don't do that!" BUT, come wedding day, and both girls did very well. I was one of the matrons of honor, so the girls were able to walk right up to me. I can't wait to see the professional pictures, but for now I have my nifty iPhone pictures to share.

 Rehearsal night. 

Andrew and I pretty much had to tag-team the whole weekend so this is the only picture I took of us two. It was on our way to the rehearsal, which just happened to be on his birthday! My hunk of a man on his 31st birthday!

Wedding day! Naomi is really into saying "cheese" when a camera or a phone gets in her face. 

She looks innocent. But I call her my spit-fire child. 

My best friend, Kacie, had all the bridesmaids wear pretty much whatever they wanted as long as it was cream based. It was so, so awesome. 

The gorgeous couple. They didn't see each other before the ceremony, but still got a picture together!

We drove to Chicago for the event and stayed for four days. It was so fun to spend some quality time with some of my best girlfriends. But I will say, traveling with three kids, three and under is no easy task. We were so, so exhausted by the time we came home. When we were approaching our house, we talked about how thankful we were to be going home to our home. Two months ago, we would have been heading to my dad's, where we lived for almost three months. 

There is no place like home. Or sweet flower girls for that matter. 

daddy day.

All he wanted to do was nothing today. Hang out at home and just be.

I'm down with that.

So, we had family over, grilled steaks, ate well, and relaxed.

All in our new home. It made my heart happy.

So does this picture.

Happy Daddy Day!

it's a new year.

We were able to slip away for the night on New Year's Eve with some of our closest friends. We have hung out every NYE for the last four years. Now that's pretty awesome, especially considering we all have kids. I slipped on my sparkly top and heels and even hit the dance floor. You can't stop this 21 week belly from busting a move. I've been known to break it down on the dance floor even at 7 months pregnant.

{Side note: I went to get a trim last week and ended up getting about 4-5 inches cut off. I have super healthy hair now, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss my long hair.]

I can't believe it's January. And it's 2012. No seriously, I sound so cliche, but really. This is the year our baby boy will be born and hopefully we sell and find a home that we will be in for a very very long time.

Do you do New Year's Resolutions? It seems nowadays everyone likes to call them goals. Whichever way you want to call it, I like to always refresh at the beginning of the year and reflect back on things I would like do more or less of. I just looked over my goals from last year; looks like I need to revisit them throughout the year, some I think I accomplished others I definitely did not. This year I have a couple of goals in mind--one of the main things I would like to do is be more purposeful. More purposeful with my kids, my husband, my family, and friends. To spread myself a bit for someone else. Send that card for no reason. Deliver a meal to a friend in need. Leave cookies on a doorstep. Play with my kids. Like really play. Put down my phone and play. Sounds silly, but I get so distracted with technology. A quick second here and there and it adds up. Another goal of mine is to be more savvy with our money. I used to be really good with being on a "Dave Ramsey" budget--using cash for everything. But I have definitely slipped. Mainly with online purchasing. I get so many great deal-sites delivered to my inbox everyday and trust me, it is so tempting. Time to get back on a budget. I would love to be completely debt-free (besides a house payment). We aren't far from it (silly student loan), so I know we can do it.

And my top goal: to eat a dessert from every local restaurant in in my town. Which pretty much goes against everyone elses goal to get fit. What can I say, I like to go against the flow.

So, tell me what are you looking forward to this year? Have you set any goals?

29.

Tomorrow I will begin my last year in my twenties. It's only natural to reflect on the last {almost} decade and know that these years have been good. Not always easy, but good. I'm thankful that I'm no longer trying to find my path in life, but I'm comfortable in this skin that is slowly aging. With lines of laughter and marks of motherhood.

I may not have that enormous house that I wrote about when I was ten in my little diary. But my heart. Oh, it's so much bigger than I could have ever dreamed. And to think, this year, my 29th year, it will grow even bigger with the addition of number three come May.

In my twenties, I've experienced death in one of the hardest ways of losing the woman who birthed me. I've learned that life is short. {But eternity is coming. And sweet reunions.} And sweating the small stuff really is silly. And mostly, I want to become more aware of others and less consumed with myself. This, I'm always working on.

I'm so thankful I have arrived. I'm in the now. This is life. I'm not wishing away the days or eagerly wanting to be older (I remember doing this many times in my teen years). I'm learning that life is made up the struggles and the joys, what matters, is how you respond to it all. {Often times I need to remind myself of this.}

Bring it 29. Teach me a lesson or two. I'm ready for it.

**Photos by the beautiful, Liz Russell.**

non-laboring on labor day.

I just sat here for a minute to try to think about the weekend and what all we did. And all I can recall is eating a lot and relaxing. We even managed to get in a family two hour nap today. It was splendid.

Every Labor Day we have made it a tradition to go to the local car show, where I grew up. Picture this--good ol'country folks walking around looking at old cars, bluegrass or gospel music playing down below the hill, and getting served up some mighty-fine pork tenderloin and fries. Then throw in a couple of bouncy houses for the kids and face painting, and you have a pleasant way to spend Labor Day. But what was really icing on the cake was the fact that it was only 65 degrees out all day, instead of 85 like it usually is this time of year. [I may have been a little over excited to dress the girls in jeans, long sleeves, and adorable little jackets. And I even whipped out a light scarf-eek!]

I didn't forget the sippy cups, or banana as a snack, or the two cans of soda in my purse, or the diapers and wipes, or the extra jacket, or the baby carrier, but somehow I did manage to forget the camera. So, it is iphone pictures to share.

You can see Labor Day pictures from two years ago, at the same place, here!

I do hope you all enjoyed a relaxing weekend as well!

happy birthday to my man.

We are entering a whole new stage of life. The hubster turns 30 today. I'm actually quite excited about this. I think thirties are the new twenties. [Right? Or at least I'm telling myself this because I have just a year and three months till I enter the zone.]

And you wanna know something? I just realized I have been with Andrew his entire twenties. Whoa. I think that is saying something. And so are these pictures of my handsome thirty year old husband.

Andrew and Audrey August 2010

Naomi's Birth Date, October 5, 2010

Father's Day, June 2011

Happy birthday, love!

fireworks {not so much} and firsts.

I wasn't going to blog today, because, really there hasn't been anytime. But then our firework show was rained out and we came home early. No biggie though, because today has been jammed packed full of fun. We spent lots of time splashing away in a pool and celebrating my nephew's third birthday. Then headed to what was suppose to be an awesome fireworks show, where Audrey did a very first.

She rode a horse.

Without hesitation. With much enthusiasm. Like I don't want to get off. Look at me Mama! This is saying a lot for our little reserved, safety patrol. I was so, so proud of her.

Daddy stood next to her for just a very short bit and then she just wanted to go by herself.

I love Andrew' face here, you can see what a proud daddy he was!

And now, I shall buy her a pony for her birthday. [Kidding. But wouldn't that be totally sweet?] Naomi wanted in on the fun. She was mesmerized by it. She loves animals and squealed with delight at the dogs that were there. I'm pretty sure she said her first word tonight-- dog. Except it sounded like "dolh dolh." And I died of cuteness right then.

And you know we all sported the red, white, and blue.

9pm, folks.

Now it's time to make some fruit pizza for tomorrow. And you know it's totally going to look like a flag. 



father's day {a train ride}.

This morning we skipped church and I let Andrew sleep in until 10:30. [We never just skip church, but when Naomi's nap was beginning when church was suppose to start, I just said okay.] He doesn't eat breakfast, so I couldn't do the cute breakfast in bed thing or delicious omelet or whatnot. [Just for the record, I love, love breakfast and cannot skip it. And I especially love omelets and bacon.] Then we loaded up, had a quick lunch at my dad's house, and headed for an hour drive south for an almost two-hour long train ride. I thought Audrey might get antsy by the end, but it was actually really fun and relaxing!

I wore white pants to this event. Which was dumb and I knew it would be. But I couldn't resist my new J Crew pair I scored for $10 yesterday. I put the girls in t-shirt dresses I made from my old shirts a while back.

My little fam. I love that man. This was for him. To celebrate how amazing he is. And for my dad too! Also? Isn't that the most adorbs backdrop. I might return again just to use the props for pictures.

My dad, aka Gramps, with his grandbabies. I love, love watching him love on them.

 I never had a real strong relationship with either of my grandpas, so this melts my heart.

I'm telling you, the best props for picture taking there. Look at those sweet sisters and cousins! By the way, Audrey's cousin, Jonathan is wearing an almost twenty-year old shirt from when my brother rode the train at his age!

Throughout the day she would just look at me with the biggest grin. And I would say "are you happy?" She said "yeah!"

Words are not needed for this baby doll.

It was such a relaxing Father's Day. I'm so, so thankful for my babies daddy. Audrey wants to play princess, he's in. Audrey wants to play Abby and Emma, he's in. Audrey wants to go on an adventure to look for Dora and Boots, he's in. It doesn't matter what it is, or how girly it is, Andrew is in. Just the other day he was at a golf outing for work and he pulls out a tiny Sleeping Beauty from his golf bag in front of his buddies. And he thought it was cute, which is pretty much the best thing eva. When he sees Naomi and goes in for a thousand kisses she just grins and giggles. They know their daddy, and they know they are very loved.

And he is loved, so very loved.

6 years going on 11.

[Gushy post. Be warned.]

I was a baby when we met at the young age of 17. I was practically still a baby when we got engaged at 21. And a youngin' to get married at 22. [Which brings us to almost 11 years since we first started dating-whoa, whoa.]

Here we are, six years, two houses and two babies later. I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't take marriage lightly. I don't ever want to take for granted waking up to the man of my dreams. [Seriously, folks, he is my prince charming, as Audrey likes to put it.] In fact, I still get butterflies when I get dolled up to go on a date with him. Especially when he wears cologne. Nothing like a good smellin' fella.

June 4th, 2005

For fun, I went through my old June pictures of us together and created a collage. After I made it, I realized I forgot 2006. Apparently, that wasn't my favorite year. And yes, notice the trend in pregnancies. So what does that mean next year will bring? Hmmmm...

And here we are now, 2011. This picture was taken tonight on our little date to Olive Garden to celebrate.

Now you will have to excuse me, I have some Tiramsu in the fridge calling my name and a handsome man waiting to watch a movie with me while the kiddos sleep.

easter weekend.

Despite the very rainy weather we have had, Easter weekend was lovely. Filled with family, food, egg hunts, cute little girls dressed in classic clothes, and of course, celebrating the Risen King.



[I was going to save this post for Small Style on Thursday, but I just couldnt' wait to share what they wore for Easter.]

This year I didn't want to buy anything new for the girls for Easter. They both have a closest full of adorable dresses, some of which they haven't even worn yet! Both girls are wearing dresses that their Gamma bought them. I went with classic, simple Easter attire. Audrey is wearing an older Gymboree dress and Nina shoes I bought on clearance from 6pm.com. Naomi is wearing a Ralph Lauren dress, the cutest bloomers (that you can't really see--they have her initials on the tush that my good friend, Susan, bought for her), shoes that were Audrey's from Gymboree, and Audrey's baby bonnet from her first Easter.

*

*

*

*

*

I'm so thankful for the freedom to celebrate such an important historical event, the Resurrection that changed everything for us. For you and me.