Big Big/ Big Lil/ Lil Lil

I have three kids.

WHAT?

I know that I've had two of them for close to two years, but it just seems crazy.

It's like I woke up this morning looked at the three of them and realized what was happening.

I used to dream of the days when I would be mama.

Not playing dolls. Not babysitting. Not just being the aunt.

But I would be the Mama.

And those days are here and I'm afraid they are slipping through my ever tightening grip.

Here they are in the shirts my sister got for them...

They say Big Bro, Big Sis, and Lil Sis

And what really bothers me is that one in the middle there.

She was really my first baby.

When the kids came to us, "L" was just about out of the toddler stage. He was 3 and though he had these cute little chubby cheeks...he was no longer a baby.

But that little girl, there standing so tall. The one who nows demands pig tails, panties and all day long is protesting... "I do it my self!"

She was a baby when they put her in my arms.

She couldn't really talk, she was wobbling with her steps and I gave her a bottle as I rocked her to sleep every night. She was 11 months and was such a pudgy, lovable baby.

Now just look at her.

When I hold her now, those long legs hang down past my waist.

Yesterday, I went to get her up from nap and she was still half asleep.

I carried her into the living room and snuggled her on the couch. As I was doing this, I realized how rare it is these days. When I was pregnant I was too big and tired to carry her around like she used to want me to. And now I'm always busy holding/changing/feeding Liv and she is soo busy doing her own thing...that we rarely find that spot that we were constantly in just a few short years ago. I know I cannot reverse time or even slow it down. I also know every new stage and season brings it's own joy and sweetness.

But I do know that I treasured those few quiet moments that it was just her and I.

Her feet dangling against my thighs and her slow breaths on my neck.

She snuggled close and then would look up at me with those big brown eyes.

I just kept thinking....my baby you'll always be.

barefoot.

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” - Anne of Green Gables

This time of year makes me giddy and gives me tons of energy. It makes me want to cook new recipes, create, rearrange things and reread all my favorite books. I want to camp. Paint something. Buy some new high heels. I have so many photo shoot ideas. My kids are going to love that!

Anyways, here is to sunshine, cool breezes and being barefoot.

Tu Tu Cute Tutorial

My niece had a Fancy Nancy party and asked the little girls to wear tutus.

E's tutu was getting really short so I thought I'd make her home.

So I found some ideas online and gathered up my brute to go to Hob Lob.

You need to get 2 yards of tulle.

I decided to make a multi-colorful one... so I got 1/2 a yard of 4 different colors.

And I got some grosgrain ribbon.

You first cut all the tulle into 3 in. pieces.

Tie the grosgrain ribbon (that is used as the belt) to two chairs.

Take the pieces and double them over.

Hold the connected U shaped portion over the ribbon and bring cut ends through it.

Below is a picture I found on google to help show you how to do this part.

And then you keep tying and tying.

and tying and tying

and well, you get the picture.

Then you can push them together for more poof or spread them out to cover more range.

This one poofed together perfectly went around and fit my 2 year old.

Here she is Fancy Nancy style.

I even put a few of the extra tulle and ribbon pieces in her pig tails.

At the party, Aunt April gives E a make over.

She did such a great job decorating for the party.

Isn't this a cute make over table!?!?!

The birthday girl with her friend. Soo cute.

Here are some of the Fancy Nancies all dolled up.

Happy 6th Birthday, Em!

I cannot believe how time has flown. I remember just how you looked at Livingston's and E's ages. I'm so proud of the young girl you are becoming!

In my head....

Randomness exudes!!!

I can't help but think of this hilarious joke that the Man and I keep laughing about.

John has 38 candy bars. He eats 28 of them. What does he have now?

Diabetes. John has diabetes.

Ok, nothing about diabetes is funny, but for whatever reason we cannot stop cracking up when thinking of it. I think it might have something to do with our love of sugar...laughing a way a serious issue. : ) denial.

Also, I'm soo happy everytime I go outside or actually anytime I even open my blinds.

Sunshine is a drug to me.

I LOVE it!!!

We've been spending lots of time out in it.

Sadly, we haven't gotten out of our bad habit of watching too many cartoons. It's just so easy when I need to get something done or get a little shut eye : ) At least Super Why is teaching them to sound out their letters and all kinds of good reading skills!

This is my new hair cut...please don't mind the screaming baby in the picture. It's not fixed the greatest, but this is the best picture I have right now. Maybe soon I'll scrape off the baby spit up, wash my dirty hair and actually put on some cute clothes to take a good pic. But I do love the hair style and can't thank my stylist/friend, Leah enough. She always does such a great job.

Okay, here is the thing....my kids NEVER fall asleep anywhere besides their beds and their car seats. I always thought it would be so cute if she fell asleep in her high chair or he fell asleep watching a movie...but NOOOO. They never would. But the other day they were having room time and we hadn't had naps that day. They both fell asleep. She crawled into her bed, but L fell asleep playing. It is soo cute. I took these pics on my phone.

Don't you love what he used as a pillow : )

and the fact that his room is soo clean : )

Another still random tidbit but way more exciting.

I enjoyed macaroons from London.

So lovely.

My sweet friend, Rach, brought them back for me from her adventures in Europe.

Made my week!

My last bit of randomness is my other drug of choice...kissing baby feet!

: )

update on our nest...

Thought I'd write out an update on our little chicks!

This past week, a big moment happened for us. The worker who will present all of our info to adopt the kids came to do her visit. So everything will be ready once we have one more important hearing. We'd like to ask everyone to pray that this hearing will be in April and that we could possibly have our adoption finished in the summer before our boy starts Kindergarten. We think this would make for a better year for him to have our last name and everything settled before he goes. But the Lord knows best so we are trusting in His timing (though it has been extremely hard). We had to go to an educational review before the judge this past week to check on the children's development. We dressed up real pretty and of course I had to get a pic of my three little cuties!

Aren't they soo cute in their spring duds?!?!

i have to say...look at that babies tan! She has got such a great complexion...our other two will catch up. They always get great tans over the spring/summer months!

And here is our children in descending order of ages:

Livingston is One month...this post is a few days late. She was actually one month this past Thursday.

I can't believe how much bigger she is than those first few weeks. She's really packing on the ounces! : ) I want to take her picture every month with this teddy bear from her Great grandparents, Papa and Key. I'm sure one day we'll think it looks small compared to her. I'm really not ready for that yet.

So for my records here are some things to remember about you at one month:

*You are about 8.5 lbs. 21 1/2 in.

*Eating has become much easier and you wake up better to eat now.

*You still would sleep (most nights) through the night if I'd let you.

*Your eyes are getting more blue and you look around all the time.

*You smiled for me once while I was talking to you.

*The noise from your loud siblings and parents don't seem to bother you at all.

* Finally, you are starting to wear 3 month clothes and are in a size 1 diapers.

*You love to be held and would like it best if you could always sleep in Mama/Daddy's arms.

*You've had one bottle from Daddy while Mommy went to the Hunger Games with her friends Jess and Rach.

*You've been to church twice, to Madisonville on a date with Mommy/Daddy, to Evansville twice to take/pick up Aunt Rach, to the salon with Mommy (they passed you around the whole time) and to your grandparents houses.

*You are the joy and excitement everywhere you go!

We love you Liv and are so glad that you are in our family!

Here are just a few more of her one month pics...

Oh and thanks Aunt Mer Mer for my super cute onsie!

*And also from the girls post under the Magnolia tree..that tutu for Liv was a gift from her Aunt Mai Beth. It is the most fluffiest/cutest tutus I've ever seen!

Preperations

My favorite part of holidays is the preparations.

I love to plan.

decorate.

bake.

One thing we've done to prepare for Easter is talk about why we celebrate it.

We also do activities that surround the traditions of Easter too.

The other day we painted wooden eggs.

It's messy fun!!!

Even our friend, Haley came over to join the fun

I want all of our family traditions to point back to Christ.

My baby girl is very into art...I wonder if she'll be artist.

My kids love the song above and sing it often. It is just music to my ears to hear them singing about the resurrection of my Lord. I'm sure it is a joyful noise to Him as well. I pray they always praise Him for His work of salvation!

What are things your family does to prepare for Easter?

Those few moments...

Started this post yesterday, but didn't finish it until now....

There are those few moments when you are leaving a place for a new chapter that the world stands still. I can remember several from my life. Most impacting were hearing my Daddy yelling at me to hurry up as I quickly looked around my room to see if I forgot to pack anything. I was leaving for college and all I could think was how uncertain I was. There I was freshly 18 and heading to a new world all by myself. My eyes scanned my daybed that I'd slept in since I was 12, my bulletin board that held prom/homecoming pictures and all the other mementos of my life up until this point. I had such a confident childhood and was loved/supported in everything I did. Now I was going to a place with no one cheering me on and a whole of life that was yet unknown.

Then there was when I had just shoved the last box into my beat up pathfinder and ran back in to say goodbye to my college roommates. The rooms that had been filled with so much laughter, groups of friends and lots of dirty laundry : ) was now completely empty. It's so funny how something that had become home was now just stained carpet and blank walls. We sat there on the floor where our dining room table used to sit. The place where we worked on homework, played card games and shared meals with our friends. This home had represented a season of life where I learned who I really was and discovered what life was all about. And now it was finished. We sat there, no one wanting to be the first to leave. Sure we all had plans, things we were headed to do. But everything after getting in our cars driving away from this place seemed so uncertain.

Another time that seems more recent, but was actually four years ago in the next months was moving from my rental into the home I was going to share with my husband. I was to be married at the end of the summer, but we'd already bought our home. So we thought we'd save some money if Scott stayed at home and I moved into our new house so I stopped paying rent at the other place. I had made a few trips, but packed up the last of the stuff myself. I remember my pale peachy pink walls that I painted knowing that one day when I was married I wouldn't be able to decorate soo girly. I took down my white shears off the windows and stacked my last pile of shows in a bag. I remember thinking of how I felt like such an adult after renting this place with my friend. I had a full time job, was living in my hometown and coaching my old high school's cheerleading squad. I was living with one of my best friends and we had such a great setup sharing this roomy house. This was it....no more late night girls talks, having fun parties with our shower food or always having someone to give fashion advice. I loved living with girls and had no clue what it was going to be like sharing a space with a boy. Though I was extremely anxious, I know I felt a sense of uncertainty as I looked around before leaving that empty room.

As you can see, all the uncertainty was for nothing. God has watched over me and gone before me in every season of my life. But I think those few moments where everything slows down and you take in all that has been, before moving on is very important. It's good to respect where you have come from and have a healthy fear of what is to come. As long as we trust in the Lord, we can know we won't go alone wherever it is we are going.

Well, I experience another one of these moments....I recognized it right away. I purposely, stopped packing the last of my things and took it in. Scott had taken the kids and most our things to the car. A nurse was getting a wheelchair to take me and my four day old infant to meet them in just a few minutes. It had been a chaotic morning because I honestly didn't think my doctor was going to let me go home due to high blood pressure. So after jumping for joy when she said I was, I quickly started packing up the massive amounts of belongings we had collected the five days we'd been in the hospital. The kids had came, we all ate lunch and several staff had came in to do the releasing. The kids were tired and EVERYWHERE. So after they were gone and it was quiet, it seemed odd. I looked around and couldn't believe this was happening. I couldn't believe I had given birth to our baby girl, or that I had survived all the crazy moments of the last few days and most importantly, that I was leaving to take her home. Really, wasn't she too tiny? I didn't really have breatfeeding down yet? What would we do with her during the night without the wonderful nurses help? There was so much uncertainty clouding my mind as I held my newborn close while the nurse backed my wheelchair out of our mother/baby room.

Just as before, God has been with us. It hasn't been easy. We've never done the newborn thing. Yes at times it's been super nutty having THREE. We've had sleepless nights (though not many...she is such a great baby). I've shed a few tears. Scott has come home from school to find me passed out with baby on my chest and my older two watching their fifth episode of Curious George. But we are making it. I know I wouldn't have made it though this first month without the Lord's help (plus my awesome husband and wonderful family/friends support).

Now I just want to freeze time....I'm not ready for a new season. I think I have a little while though! : )

PINK PINK PINK

Did this little photo shoot for a frame in my girls room.

It's all about the pink.

I used a magnolia tree and it's fallen blooms for a backdrop.

it was such a beautiful day

aren't they sweet.

enjoying the weather.

and being barefoot.

tutu cute..even though she is mad

can't believe how big she is getting....so beautiful

did just one black and white shot

they really are soo cute together!

one more of my baby...precious

These last three are options for the frame...it's a square frame, that is why they are cropped this way. Let me know which is your favorite. I know it is hard to really see because of the hearts, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The difference between the one above and below is E is looking down in the first and she's looking at the camera in the last one.

Please place your votes!