Anna Kate's 2nd Birthday

On April 9th, our baby girl turned 2. Can you believe 2?

Isn't she just so precious!

She was not feeling well on her birthday. She ran a fever of 101 and 103 all day. She was just miserable and so were we. Thanks to Motrin she was able to enjoy the rest of the day and all of her presents. Thank you Stuart Adams who invented ibuprofen in the late 50s. (grin)

She was serious about blowing out her candle.

We ate KFC and then she ate her CAKE and ICE SCREAM! She loved it! This is her new smile that started the day before her birthday. It is hilarious!

She got a new kitchen and a lot of food.

Hamburger anyone?

Chef Anna Kate is taking orders!

I love this little girl!

Things that make you go hmmm....

Hmmm......I wonder if this is what the author had in mind when this verse was written.

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 25:24


Actually he was fixing something on the roof. He is my hero!

Happy Easter 2010

This weekend has been full of Easter activities as we remember Jesus sacrifice and His resurrection.

We love have been hiding the Resurrection Eggs and going through the Easter story using the eggs as a great visual tool. This morning we made Resurrection Rolls for breakfast. This has become our Easter morning tradition.

This has been a great weekend and we have enjoyed sharing this wonderful season with the kids.

Here are a few pictures from the church Easter Egg hunt yesterday, church last night and church this morning.

31

If you remember when I turned 30, i decided to list a few goals for me to accomplish. I did fairly well but as you can see I didn't get all of my verses memorized. However, I did memorize 13. I will be adding it to my list for this year. Also, the more I thought about the Home Management Folder I couldn't decide if it would work for me right now. In addition to what I listed, I ran in the St. Jude Half-Marathon.

1. Memorize 24 verses (2 each month)
2. Run Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4th
3. Read the following books

• The Heavenly Man
• 90 Minutes in Heaven
• Disciples of a Godly Family
• There's Gotta Be MORE!
• Love and Respect
• Don't Make Me Count to Three
  
• One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven

5. Complete a Home Management Folder
6. Paint and Decorate the Playroom
7. Decorate the Living Room
8. Facilitate a Bible Study
10. Do a self-guided study through the Book of Proverbs

Year 31 Goals

1. Read through the Bible in 2010.
2. Memorize 24 verses this year.
3. Read the following books

• Crazy Love
• Forgotten God
• Family Driven Family
• From Clutter to Clarity: Simplifying Life from the Inside Out
  
• Grace-Based Parenting
• Devotions for Sacred Parenting

As you can tell, I am not going to be running this year and that is because I am having a BABY!

Five

At five....

You still want to be like daddy. For your birthday, you received Georgia boots that look just like daddy's. You are getting taller and wearing size six pants now.

You look more and more like daddy.

You are reading, writing, telling time, counting money and infatuated with numbers.

You are in your last year of Cubbies and you continuing to hide the Word in your heart.
You love soccer and recently basketball has become a new favorite sport . The Georgia Bulldogs are you favorite team and red is your favorite color.
Of course, you are silly like other five year old boys!

Bike tricks are something you learned from the neighbors. Since you learned to ride without training wheels, when you were four, there has been no stopping you.
Since the day you entered our lives it has never been the same. You continue to grow into a mature young boy that amazes us at times. For weeks, I asked you to stay four but you told me that you "had to turn 5."

You are a great big brother and I look forward to seeing you with the new baby. Our prayer is that you continue to see that your brother and sister are your best friends, that you are an example to them both and that you will choose wise decisions.

You have become much more sensitive and I pray that you will truly know and love the Lord, live out the fruit of the spirit and that it will become more than a fruit basket to fill every day.

This year will hold many changes for you and I pray that you will hold on to the truths that we are teaching you.

You are learning the difference between truth and make believe. Remember the Bible and all that it contains is the truth, which means Jesus is truth! Continue to hide these truths in your heart and love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength my son.

I am so thankful that God allowed me to be your mommy! You bring me joy and hope for the future!

And One More Equals Four!!!

As I mentioned in this post, Jim and I don't celebrate valentines day but this year was extra special. Valentines morning I was able to tell Jim that we were pregnant with our fourth baby.

It didn't take long for me to start feeling pregnant. At 5 weeks, I started getting sick. Not actually "getting sick" but my usual nauseous feeling all day and especially after I eat. Jim has been very helpful but very thankful that I have been sick.

On my birthday, March 19, we went for our first appointment and ultrasound. In just a few short seconds, we saw the little heart beating really fast at 180 bpm and then the little bean started moving and kicking. We have never seen any of the others move at this point in the pregnancy. It was so sweet. Although, Jim did jokingly tell it to move as much as possible in the womb because we need a calm baby to join our family in October.

Once we got home from the visit, we told the kids at lunch. They were all excited. Throughout the day they would ask me about the baby. Jake and Judd tell me it will be a boy and Anna Kate says girl. Before putting Anna Kate to bed, I asked her if mommy was going to have a baby and she proceeded to tell me "I am the baby" and then she said " I am the little sister."

On Sunday, we announced to the church using this picture.

The greatest gift you can give your children is siblings.

I will be sure to keep up updated throughout the next 7 months.

A Day at the Park

It is hard to believe but it was in the upper 60's yesterday. We enjoyed the day outside. In the morning we went to the park. The kids enjoy going to the park and I enjoy taking them so it is a perfect match. I love the warm weather!

Jake Turns 5

Is it true? Can it be? This morning I opened my eyes and my first born turned five.....

Here are a few pictures from his party and his birthday. He wanted to have a Georgia Party so we ordered a bulldog cake. Ms. Arlene and Mr. Warren at did a great job. Once again, Jake wanted to have a pool party with just a couple of kids. This year Mema and Papa were able to join us for the festivities. He was happy that they were able to come up.

HaPpY VaLeNtInEs DaY!

Valentines Day in our home is very different than in most homes across the nation. It really doesn't exist.

Jim and I decided before we got married to pretty much ignore the whole day. We have just forgotten about it. Jim is thankful that he doesn't have to rush out on Feb 13 at midnight to buy me a card, way to expensive flowers, and candy that I probably don't really want.

What we do celebrate is how much we love each other, but we do that everyday. Marriage isn't proclaiming your love one day a year, it is being consistent the other 364 days a year that really show how much you love your "valentine."

1. When was the last time you served your spouse? Love acted out is serving
2. Love your wife so she knows you’d lay down your life for her. Continue to date her and admire her. Share a hobby-find something you can do to have fun together.
3. Love is laughing often
4. Are you patient? Does your love crumble quickly under the weight of unmet expectations
5. Do you spend more time trying to fix yourself than your spouse?
6. The Bible says, “Do not let the sun go down with you are angry.” Love is forgiveness.
7. Have you determined that divorce is not an option? Love is commitment.
8. What is your spouses love language? The love languages are fairly simple: acts of service, time, physical touch, gifts, and words of affirmation. Learn them.
9. Words of affirmation are a love language for all men.
10. Men will lead when given the chance. He cannot lead unless you give him the confidence to do so. If you love your husband, build him up. Confident men do not seek love outside the home.

These are not original ideas but ones that are always good to hear again especially on this day of love.

s"NO"w Fun!

Once again we woke up to snow a covered yard. This was my Facebook status
"Jake just said, "It has snowed three times and it is not Christmas." Jim said, " The novelty of snow is really wearing off." Stephanie says,"I like snow in Georgia. It only happens every couple of years!"
What do you think? Do you like the white stuff?

Judd goes to the dentist

Today Judd went to the dentist for the first time. He did really well. I was proud of him. He was a little nervous but he sat still and opened his mouth. He did start getting frustrated when she was brushing his teeth. He did not like the texture of the toothpaste but he loved Mr. Thirsty, the suction. His first visit was a success.

It is really hard to believe that he is old enough to go to the dentist.

Winter is snow much fun!

Last Friday it started snowing...and it snowed...and snowed... and it didn't stop until Saturday at noon. When it finally stopped we were covered with 9 inches of snow and ice.

We spent the next four days stuck in the house because all of the roads were covered with ice. We even canceled church on Sunday because the parking lot was a huge block of ice.

The kids enjoyed it somewhat but not nearly as uch as they did in March. The ice made it harder to play with and make snowmen. Jim took the boys sledding the first day and they enjoyed sledding down the neighbors hill but that we pretty much the extent of our snow fun. However, my big boy Jake thought it was lots of fun to shovel snow and ice.

This is our house around noon on Friday!

After enjoying an afternoon nap, Jim took the boys back outside to play with the neighbors.

Anna Kate DID NOT like standing on the snow!

Judd enjoyed making snow angels again this winter.

This is Judd sitting on a sled that is being pulled by a 4-wheeler. Are we redneck?

Once again the boy is eating snow! This is his yearly tradition!

Look at that hard worker. He makes me proud!

Look at his snowman. He was so proud!

Finally, I was able to get one picture of the three of them in the snow. This was the best one.

Finally, the baby girl started to enjoy the white stuff....