It's Been a Year!

I know, I know, many have asked, what happened to your blog? I have been so busy these last few months and will try to get at this more frequently.
I cannot believe it has been a year since Amanda entered our world! Mandy is such an incredible blessing! She is now walking all over and very proud of herself. Her official first birthday party had to be postponed due to a death in the family but we will be sharing our day with our friends and family in a week or so. But of course on her day we had to have a cake. Which, by the way, she enjoyed. Her favorite gift was the horse she received from Nana. Pictured below:



She has brought such joy to our lives. Below is a video of her first steps. Taken at Uncle Gord's house:




Molly and Katie are working hard at school and blossoming into beautiful young ladies. It's amazing to me that my oldest in 3rd grade and Katie is now in preschool and knows how to write all of her letters, well, at least by copying them. :)

Medimora-Hadley State Park

On June 27th we went camping at Medimrora-Hadley State Park with two other families. We were worried because the forcast called for rain and cold weather. But we were blessed tremendously. On Friday night it rained while we were sleeping but the kids slept and in the morning it wasn't raining anymore. On Saturday, we went to the beach and went fishing! The weather was great, sunny and in the 80's. Katie enjoyed playing with her two best friends, Emily and Adrienne and they all seemed to get along really well. We cooked on the fire and had roasted corn and awesome burgers! Molly's favorite moment was catching her first fish and laying on the hill at night and watching the shooting stars with Daddy. Katie caught a fish too and was very proud to show it off! Kathy held it. Yuck! It was a great time.

First Tooth: My First Experience with Brushing

Mandy finally popped her two bottom teeth. She has suffered so much with them. It is hard to imagine she her little face will change when she gets all of her teeth. Maybe by Christmas she will have her two front teeth. :)

TNT-Who What When Where and How

Molly wrote this essay about her birthday. I was amazed that the one gift she liked the most was a book from Nana. Click on the picture and you can read it.

Don't You Wish it Could be that Easy?

The other day, as usual we were busy going about our day. The birds were chirping, I was spring cleaning and Katie was watching her favorite show "Stanley." Then all of sudden..."Poof...Bham!" The power went out. Again. This has become a almost once a month occurance. Two weeks ago it happened before. Katie has become quite use to it. She signed and walked into the kitchen where I had finished sighing myself and she said..."Mommy, the TV went boom!" I said, "No the power went out honey, that was the transmitter you heard that made that noise. " She replied ever so non-chalently, "Oh just like before day that crazy squirrel munched the wire and got fried?" I chuckled at her response and told her that may be the case. A couple of minutes later she put up her finger and said eagerly, "MOMMY! Let's call Daddy, he can fix the TV and clocks and oven. He can fix the problem!"
Don't you wish it could be that easy?

I AM SO BUSY!

I took these pictures one day when Mandy really started to scoot and try to crawl. She was very smiley that day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mother Daughter Girl Scout Banquet

It's hard to imagine that it has been one year since we went to the last Mother/Daughter Banquet. Molly has grown so much over the year. She is much more independent. She's really getting a cute personality.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

For Moms

Before I was a Mom:

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom:
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom:
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests or give
shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom:
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a milli on pieces when I couldn't stop
the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom:
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important
and happy.

Before I was a Mom:
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to
make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the
wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Send this to someone who you think is a special Mom.
Including the person who thought of you today and sent it to YOU!

I never knew how wonderful it w ould be to become a mom! Now I know how
my mom felt!

Molly's Baptism

On March 10th, Molly chose to be baptized as a believer. All week prior, she was nervous and scared. Even though she was nervous, she insisted that she would tell her testimony. She wrote it on the computer and it was all of her words. It was very touching and to make it even better Mark baptized her. It is wonderful knowing that as much as you guide your children to make the right decisions this one, a very important one, was hers and hers alone. Praise God!

Blue Teddy

Katie has a teddy blanket similar to this one. She has 2 pink ones, a white one and a blue one. They are very well loved. When Mandy was born, Nana took her out to get a gift for her. Of course she needed to get her a teddy. She picked out this one and it had to be blue because her blue one was her favorite. For the first 2 weeks every morning Katie would bust open our bedroom door, run to the cradle and put her teddy in next to Mandy. She insisted that she needed it. I walked into the living room where Mandy was sleeping in her swing and low and behold, her blue teddy was on top of her. Katie said Mandy asked her for it and then she fell asleep.

5 Months Old!

It is hard to believe it has been 5 months since Mandy has entered the world. She is showing such personality now and rolling all over. She is eager to grab toys and is interested everything around her.

Sisters and Friends

Molly and Katie bicker a lot but all in all they are best friends. Katie wants to be just like Molly and Molly gets irritated that Katie does everything Molly does. In these pictures they were being silly together. There newest wild thing to do is to do each other's hair. (Pictured as well) Wow what beauty queens!

Mandy Dedicated to the Lord

On Sunday, March 10th we dedicated Amanda Grace. Unfortunately all of the other pictures didn't turn out very good so this was pretty much the only one that did. Oh well.

THE THUMB!

Out of all of my girls, only Mandy has sucked her thumb. Molly and Katie didn't even take a pacifier. Mandy doesn't either all she wants is THE THUMB! She intensely sucks her thumb when she is hungry or her teeth are bothering her. She soothes herself to sleep and it is just adorable. She never cries a lot, except for when she is hungry or has a messy diaper. But when she does she goes from 0 to 10 in a second flat. So all I can say is thank goodness for THE THUMB!

New Business Venture

As most of you know, I will do anything to earn extra cash, as long it is moral and legal. :) I have begun to sell my growth charts. I will be posting my growth charts to sell on ebay soon. It is fun and I love to paint, so what better way then to make money on things you enjoy to do. I am not sure where it will go, but I am taking the leap of faith and trying it out. If anyone needs a unique shower gift or child's gift let me know. I am also up for painting letters (for names), and switch plates.

Katie Jr.

Here we are, 4 years later and we had to pull out the nebulizer! Mandy came down with RSV. She was pretty sick. Apparently she wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and become accustomed to the breathing treatments. Fortunately, she wasn't in need of it for long. She also came down with a UTI and has to take antibiotics, so they are suspecting kidney reflux like Katie. They will be doing testing the second week in April. In the meantime, we just have to laugh and say, "do you have to not only look like Katie but follow in her footsteps?"

The Party Planners

My two sweeties love to make parties for Mark and me. They love to go in the basement make table cloths, napkin rings and meals to make a special party for us. They so proud! It means so much to them....it is almost as if it were real. How sweet they are!

I DON'T NEED A NAP ANYMORE!

Recently we have come to the conclusion that Katie is no longer in need of naps. Mommy still is, but she really does fine without one. So our newest thing is to call it rest time. It doesn't make it easier for her because she still doesn't like to be in her room alone and rest. One day I gave her a choice to have a rest and read books in her bed or stay on the couch and read there. She chose the couch because she was "not tiered." I went about my business and tidied up the house. It got very quiet and I peaked on her and low and behold, she was asleep while reading her books. I had to take a picture. One of the sweetest things about this picture is the paint on her arm. She had a busy day....but she wasn't tiered!

MANDY

Mandy is now just shy of 4 month and is a pretty hungry already. I decided to try her with her first food. We had tried rice cereal and she didn't seem to care for it too much. So we tried the alternative...sweet potatoes. She wasn't too sure of it and ended up loving it after the fourth bite.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow another year has gone by and now I am officially in my mid thirties. It is funny how you tend to forget how old you are the older you get. I had to think about what I was turning this year with myself. Wierd. Well this is what has changed since I was 33.

1. I have a third addition to my home
2. I have made it through another pregnancy and birth
3. I have managed to loose my pregnancy weight and then some
4. My baby started 2nd grade and lost her front tooth
5. My middle baby is no longer a baby but a four year old preschooler
6. I dealt with the loss of my father and things that have been eating at me for years
7. My friendship with Christ has grown stronger
8. I love my husband more than last year (which is a lot since it was a lot last year:) )
9. I love my job
10. Life is good and rich

Overall, 33 was a great year.

New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolution this year is to keep my New Year's Resolutions that have built up over the years! Ie. keep my house tidier, loose the weight after the twins, by the way that was resolution 2003 and two kids and 5 pregnancies later! He he! I thought I would get those accomplished before I added more on my seemingly ever growing plate!

On a serious note...I had a great 2007! I started out with my prayers answered when I found I was pregnant with Mandy and had her 9 months later! She is my miracle and continues to amaze me every day! Molly has grown to be a little lady and has some deep philosophical talks with me and Katie made me smile every day! We have been truly blessed!

My First Gym Class!

For the first time, Mandy and I were able to do a fun activity together alone. I didn't realize that was the case, that I hadn't done anything alone with her until last Wednesday. My friend Tricia and Maria went to "My Gym" and we played on the equipment and Mandy, after spitting up from stretching too much, ha, ha, had a great time! Her favorite was the swing which is pictured below. Caden, Sherri and Mandy are all one month apart. Should be fun watching them grow!

Look at Me!

It is hard to believe my baby is 2 1/2 months! Her personality has just started to come out. She smiles more than any of my other children. She tried out her seat and thought it was the neatest thing to be sitting upright. Her neck is getting so strong. Today Katie was watching Sesame Street and Mandy was in her bouncy seat. She strained her head around to watch Cookie Monster and smiled. She even let out a giggle.