hanging around

Isn't she so much fun?! This is the turning point. They're sleeping, therefore I'm sleeping & they start laughing & giggling & she's showing me little glimpses of her personality. The great awakening - 4ish months :).
She is so much fun to hang out with & the big kids think so too.
She was rolling around on the floor yesterday when I snapped these pictures....nothing great....but fun memories for me.
And to the friends in Laurens who faithfully check this blog.....I promise to bring these kids up to see yuo real soon & i am SO EAGER to see all of the work you've done!

oh boy

My boy - he's a trip. He likes to move & dance & he likes to bless the food....and move & dance while doing it.

almost 19 weeks!

The baby had just gotten out of the bath when I snapped these pictures. Man, she is so sweet & really funny. She gets mad when you stop looking at her for very long & she'll start to fake cry & then if you talk to her she starts to smail & fake cry at the same time. It's pretty cute. Anyway, here are some pis of the baby.....growing way too fast.

Monkey Booger Bread

Me & the girl making Monkey Bread:
I was pinching off pieces of bread getting it ready for her to roll & cover in cinnamon sugar. I look out of the corner of my eye & see her put her finger in her nose.
Me: "go wash your hands, please"
Girl: "why do you want me to wash my hands?"
Me: "because you have a booger on your hand & we don't want boogers in the monkey bread"
She obediently climbs down & heads for the bathroom...
Girl: "why you not want boogers in the monkey bread?"

So much she has to learn.....

Santa!! I know him.

Well, they finally came. Christmas has come & gone....and our Santa picks just came in the mail. As you can see - nothing too exciting. Everyone looks pretty confused or scared to death. But it's all in the memory, right?? We were standing in line giggling at the thought of this tradition of visiting Santa. Imagine telling someone who had no concept of Santa at all. It's a little crazy, really. I had just finished reading the Old Testament & if you've ever read any of the Old Testament you can agree that some of the things described make your eyebrows raise a little bit. Strange traditions.....
Well, trying to explain Santa to my kids, especially when one of them is so scared of him, sounds ... well, kinda crazy.
Let's get dressed up & go stand in line to sit on this man's lap. No, we don't really know him, but he's Santa & he's big & wears a red suit & a long white beard & you're going to tell him you're hopes & dreams......or something like that. And even if you're crying...we're GOING to take a picture....because he flies around in a sleigh with flying reindeer with presents for all the kids in the whole world......
It's a little weird.
But I'm in. I'll continue to live in the spirit of Christmas......
So, here are the pictures.....enjoy :)

Lee was cracking up when he saw this picture & i hadn't noticed it....but look how short he looks! Ha! I just knew he was bending down for...well, now that i think about it i'm not sure why he was doing that - but if you don't know him, you might wonder.....

New Year's Day

So it was New Year's morning & we were at the beach with some family...and for whatever reason, Lee & I decided to run the 5K that was going on at the beach. We haven't been back into running for very long. Days, actually. Just enough running that my legs are really sore....not quite ready for a 5K.
I sound like a wimp.
Well, I'm cool with that.
I have 3 kids & 1 of them is only 4 months old...and not even that, yet.
Anyway, we walk onto the windy beach & it. is. cold.
I stopped & said, "Let's just take a walk down the road. Or find a treadmill. Or a hot tub - let's just go hang out in the hot tub!"
"No. We're doing this."
The wind at our backs for the 1st half & the wind coming straight at us for the 2nd half.
We cross the starting line & it's fine. The wind is carrying us & things are good. We're having good conversation - catching up on things - talking about the New Year & the crazy year that just ended. We started the year having NO IDEA that we would be meeting Annie & now she's with us & we can't remember life without her.
So, we're running & talking - like I said....and the conversation gets deep as we hit the halfway mark - we turn & the wind is pushing us backwards..i swear.... & we hit a disagreement. I get emotional & had to stop running. I can't cry & run at the same time...at least not when I'm out of shape.
We walk.
We talk.
I cry.
And then we're just walking.
"Let's run again" he says
"You go ahead" - I was thinking I could use a little space & I couldn't run.
We're not in a fight - things were fine, we just couldn't see eye to eye on this - and he could have run on....with zero hard feelings.
But he didn't.
We walked together. Quietly.
Until we were both ready to pick up the pace.
It's one of the things that makes us work so well.
He walks with me - when I just can't run - even when he doesn't really want to.

The Photographer

All the girl wanted for Christmas was a pink "cramera" - & Santa brought it to her. She takes pictures of everything! We were helping to clean up the hard drive of the camera the other day & laughed out loud at what she's been snapping pictures of. At one point Lee said, "Look, you see each person we talked to at Best Buy"

16 weeks

Well, the baby is growing. She looks a lot like her big sister...even has a little red in her hair. She's sweet & likes people...and by people I mean attention. She will be sitting by herself screaming her head off & if you pop your head in her plain view she'll usually shoot you a smile.

Total excitement

The kids were pretty good Christmas morning. This was the big girl - sitting as still as she could at the top of the stairs at about 715 that morning.
Look how excited she is!!
And how cute are those sunglasses in her pocket :)

more Christmas eve

Just finally looking through pictures from Christmas. I never got that prized picture of all the kids in their Christmas PJs...this is the closest I got to it. This one was taken towards the end of Polar Express...so you see, she recovered & did alright.

And she made (& ate) some cookies for Santa & then went to bed.