Celebrating Together

There are quite a few pics on this blog, and if you keep scrolling down, I put some new ones of Macie on. We had Callie and Zeke's birthday party this weekend. Many of you know Zeke has been celebrating his "half" birthday in the summer for a swim party for several years, and 2 years ago, we combined his half and Callie's "whole" birthday. We decided to do that again this year, and had a great time with family and friends. The kids were in that pool for hours! The picture you see above is Kendall, our cousin--while I"d love to give her credit for having a whole orange in her mouth, it's actually only a quarter piece! I have to acknowledge the bittersweetness of the day, all of us feeling the loss of Brad in particular on this occasion--he loved celebrating Zeke's birthday and having his parties. I believe it was just as he would have had it--swimming, friends, family, and cake! However, it really was a "super fun day" as Callie described it. It's so wonderful to watch these two kids grow, loving each other, their friends, and their family. Thank you God for Zeke and Callie!

Macie's Many Moods

Sweet little Macie is growing before our very eyes! While I have to say the "Miss Irritable" nickname I have given her is still applying, she is doing better with not being so fussy, colicky and reflux issues, etc...She is really smiling and starting to coo---it's so cute! She is good at those disgruntled faces, and she really does turn our lip out! She already has Daddy so wrapped with that one...

Almost 6

I'm feeling a little sad tonight because my oldest child will be 6 tomorrow! It's so hard for me to believe that it's been six years since that tiny 5 pound girl was born, and changed our lives forever. What fun she has been and continues to be every day. I love that she loves socks, horses and unicorns, stuffed animals more than dolls, pj's, and dress-up stuff. I love that she gets excited about picking clips for her hair every day. I love that she colors 4-5 pictures a day and writes "To Mommy From Callie" on all of them! I love that she wants to hold Macie all the time, even when she's crying. I love that she can insist she's not tired, then fall asleep before I leave the room at night. I love that she prays at the table and at bedtime, often for whatever she sees at the moment! I love that she checks her loose tooth 50 times a day and tells me "it's probably coming out today". I love that she is so excited about her birthday because she wants donuts for breakfast. She is a super great girl, and whethor I want it to or not, tomorrow is coming, and so is 6 years old!

On to First Grade!

Well, my oldest daughter's Kindergarten year is over--unbelievable!! It went so fast! She really did great--learned so much. We were very pleased with the school she was at; I felt so reassured every day to know she was surrounded by teachers and other adults who not only were there to teach her the standards of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but the values and morals we strive to live as Christians. The program was really cute, with lots of song performances and even "Pomp and Circumstance"! Grammy had a graduation cake waiting at home for her, too. You could see the pride in her face the whole evening, which was really cute. She kept saying she was "graduating like Daddy"!

Yea--HE DID IT!!!!

Bryan has finally graduated from Law School!! The

ceremony was the weekend of Memorial Day. I have to brag a little bit--he graduated Summa Cum Laude! It hasn't been easy, to say the least--tired wife, busy kids, new baby, Brad passing--but he pushed himself and succeeded--we are so proud of him!

Macie's First Bath

No, Macie is not just now getting her first bath as a 2 month old! I just forgot to put these pictures on at the time...she does better now, but wasn't too fond of the water at first!

Mother's Day

Whenever Mother's Day roles around, it's hard to think about it applying to me--to me it has always been about my mom, mother-in-law, grandmothers. This year it really seemed to hit home that it was my day, too--maybe having 3 kids now helped me realize that! I am sooo blessed to have such a wonderful husband, and 3 beautiful children that call me "mommy"!