Hillarious

Well the situation isn't all that hillarious...3 babies at my house all day on Thursday! Mrs. Beth is going to see a taping of Dancing with the Stars this week. So to help out, all of moms are taking a day off to watch teh kidlets! I'm not that scared, but it is a slightly daunting task. I don't know how Beth does it day in and day out! In order to hlep us with the babies Beth sent us schedules with what each baby does through out a typical day. Thanks for that but the real treat was the picture she attached...I thought y'all would enjoy it so I am attaching it for you! Enjoy!!

Camryn is closest, Boston is in the middle, and Hailey is in the back...AWESOME!!

more pumpkins

Pumpkin patch for our pumpkin

Never before had I cared about pumpkin patches. But this year I was like a crazy woman trying to find one that would live up to our expectations. Thankfully Molly and her family have been visiting a pumpkin patch for many years. We joined them this year and this is what followed:

Michael Michael Motorcycle

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my brother's accident. How quickly the time flies. I have been reflective today about what happened and how it affected all of us and me. Normally I don't use the blogosphere to actually talk about things, but this was worthy of mention. Michael challenged us to love one another last year. This year I have a new challenge...

Why is it that we are not happy? As a society, we are not happy. As a workforce, we are not happy. As a people in general, we are not happy. My answer at first had to do with the economy. We are in a recession so we are not happy. Money is tight so we are not happy. But then I realized that even when things are going great people are not happy, I am not happy. A popular actress said on her show last week that she wished something bad would happened to her because then she could justify the way she felt. She was unhappy. Her train of thought really resonated with me...

Sometimes (or a lot of the time) I find myself finding the bad in whatever I am thinking about, talking about, or doing at that moment. Why am I like that? Why are we as a people like that? I know I am making very broad statements at the moment about most people, so I apologize to those who don't understand what I am talking about, but in general I have noticed people aren't happy anymore. It's almost as if there is something missing in our lives.

The Sunday school answer is, that there is a Jesus shaped hole in my heart, and only He can fix it. While that sounds juvenile, it is so true. My brother came back from the brink of death 1 year ago today. Ask him if he is mad about it or why it happened and nothing negative will come out of his mouth. Through this experience he has relied on the Lord for everything. Michael laughs all the time and is happy everytime I call. Why is it that I have everything I could possible want or need and I am not like that? Why can't I be joyful?

I will have to ponder on these questions more to reflect on my life. I know that this kind of thing doesn't change over night, but if I continue to do nothing things will stay the same. Our Christian radio station, KSBJ, has challenged it's members to live a joyful life. To show Christ's love solely through our actions. If Christians act sad and depressed all of the time no one will want to be around them, let alone be like them. I challenge you this year to find joy.

Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
-Robert Schuller

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.
-Mother Teresa

I cannot understand why those who have given themselves up to God and His goodness are not always cheerful, for what possible happiness can be equal to that? No accidents or imperfections which may happen ought to have power to trouble them, or to hinder their looking upward.
-Francis de Sales

Eyes

I really can't tell what color Hailey's eyes are. What color do you think they are?

Bath Time #2

Yup, she's drinking the bath water!

Speaking of mohawks...Hailey just had to try it...so a special thanks goes out to Malachi, the inspiration behind this fro'hawk!

So this is literally how Hailey learned to crawl. I think she was afraid to try out of the tub because crawling can be a scary thing. You know there's all the coordinating that has to take place between the arms and legs. And then there's that whole pesky face/floor thing! So she learned how to crawl in the tub and then took to exploring the open floor!

Check out that booty! :-)

Bath Time

Check out Malachi's Mowawk! He is sooooooo cool! Hailey prefers to sport the afro puff. She's going to single handedly bring it back, you watch, she's gonna do it!

That's my girl...kick that boy! You show him who's boss when you're in the tubbie! And you eat that turtle! Show that turtle who's boss when you're in the tubbie...now I'm starting to sound weird huh?

I think it's so cute how they both shove everything in their mouths! It's like a magnet for babies!

Straight face, smiley hair

Wait a minute! Straight hair, smiley face. That's what I said!! ;-)

Stuffin' her face with her raspberry chew toy...sounds like a dog thing, but it's really a baby thing!

I just thought this picture was super funny and should be shared with the world.

Thanks to Sam (one of my former students) for holding Hailey for me while I volunteer at church!

Why wasn't Hailey in Sunday school? Good question. She had some bug bites and that escalated to chicken pox which escalated to Camryn getting kicked out of Sunday school...just in case! ;-)

Cousins...sort of

John has a cousin named Brandon. This is Brandon's baby Nicholas. Nicholas and Hailey are about a week apart in age. This was their first meeting, as shown by Hailey reaching for his face in awe. Technically they are cousins, officially they are second cousins...but who's counting anyway?

Trying to...

Crawl.

This is a picture from before she could actually crawl. But you'll notice she has been trying for awhile!!

Hailey VS Hero

I love this picture. That is the top of Hero's head. I like to pretend they are going to battle each other...especially now that Hailey can crawl. She chases after the kitties...secretly I think they love it. Hero walks just close enough to her that she can pet him...it's really cute!

Remote...control

In case you were wondering...that's Hailey's remote!

This has got to be one of the cutest pictures I have ever seen! You can see that her little arms are wiggling around and then those big eyes!! ahhhhh I love it!

This is super gross....look closely...look very close...can you see the line of drool extending from her mouth allllll the way to the floor?? Look closely! ;-)....... That's my smiley face drool!

baby doll pictures

Yummy...

Yucky...

Dollies!

I have thought a lot about what kind of girl I want to raise. Everyone is always so hopeful for a boy when they find out they're pregnant (guilty), but once I found out she was a girl I began thinking...what kind of girl do I want to raise? John and I decided that we wanted to raise a girl that loved God, valued family, and wanted make the world a better place than the way she found it. That's why we decided to surround our baby with other babies! If you are looking for something to get the little girl she would love some baby dolls. We only have a couple and they are all "baby" baby dolls, so...Help us raise a family lovin', God fearin' little girl!

Uncle Matt and Auntie CC's baby shower

So this just goes to show you how behind I am in updating the blog...their baby shower was in August!! But I thought better late than never, right??

We had to do Matt and Courtney's maternity shoot kind of early because Matthew is being deployed to Iraq. So I wanted to get another couple of shots in while we could.

This is Matt and Courtney on the beautiful stair case in the clubhouse where they hosted the shower.

This is just one of the super cute outfits baby Walker will be sporting! He is due around Thanksgiving, so please pray that the timing will work out that Matthew will be home for the delivery.

And I had to add a picture of Matt looking like a goof ball! Show off that baby magic Matt, show it off!

:)

Updates...

Ok, I hope you are ready for this! I was soooo sick last week that I literally couldn't even bring myself to log on to the computer. I may have thrown up in my kitchen sink...and I may have peed my pants from throwing up so hard...and I may have...yeah I think that's enough of that for now!

So I have a lot of pictures to up load that you have GOT to see! And not only will the pictures be coming in full force with this update but the new things that little Hailey can do will be coming in full force! Are you ready for this??? Now in the words of a very fun Disney ride, "Buckle up folks cause you're in for a wild ride!!"

New things Hailey has done...
-She is crawling!! Took her long enough but she's finally on the move!
-She is eating like a pig! 2 containers of baby food, a WHOLE slice of bread, half a banana, and a hand full of puffs. She just kept her mouth open last night until I put more food in! Maybe the crawling is making her extra hungry!!
-Talking like crazy. She says da-da, ba-ba, ba-da (unsure of what that means), ah-da (we think that's mommy), eeeeeeee, and she can sign "milk" and she's almost signing "please"
-Standing up in the crib. I don't like this one so much, but what are you going to do?

I hope you enjoy all of the pictures I send. I will not be collage them because many people have commented that the collage is not easy to print. And as we like to please our captive audience, we will not be collaging this batch of pics. ENJOY!!