Cute as a Cupcake

Okay, so I will admit that I have the same problem as many other moms...I like to dress my girls alike. Sometimes this is a love shared by my two growing girls and other times not so much. This was one of those particular days though when I was able to convince the two to wear their coordinating outfits. I bought this outfits last year and couldn't wait for it to get cool enough outside for them to wear them. In case you can't read the shirts, they say "Cute as a Cupcake". And I must say that I believe they are indeed just that cute...the clothes yes, but the girls definitely!

Halloween

We had our traditional halloween with the Maxwell family this year. We have been trick or treating with them for four years now and have officially named it a tradition. We began our evening with dinner together as we watched the rain fall outside the dining room window. The rain settled down just in time for us to head out, but we had our umbrellas in hand just in case. Just as we were finished with our last row of houses, it began to rain. So up went the umbrellas and off we went. Stephanie was a pajama girl Katie was Cinderella It is kinda hard to tell from this picture, but Cinderella is not so very happy. She had to trade her glass slippers in for pink tennis shoes as her Cinderella shoes were hurting her feet and not up for the journey! We call these the after Halloween costumes. As J. says, this was the result of too much candy! We had a great time and while the kids enjoyed the trick or treating, we adults just enjoyed the time together.

Backyard Fun

We recently had some friends to give us a nice swing set for the girls and he and Chris put it together not too long ago. The kids have really enjoyed playing on it and it has been a great asset. On Monday, I had yard work to do so I set the sprinkler up so that it would be on the swing set. The girls put their bathing suits on and had a blast. When asked it they were having fun Steffie said, "Yes, this is better than the pool. This is the best day of my life." If only I could remind her of this on other days that she is complaining about this, that and the other.

Savannah Rapids

On Thursday, the girls and I went with the neighbor to Savannah Rapids. I had actually only been there once for a banquet and had never had the opportunity to really look around. The girls weren't thrilled to walk as much as we did, but we did enjoy the scenery. They enjoyed looking at the 'waterfalls' and all the turtles. The turtles were quite abundant in and out of the water.

Horse Show

Uncle Eddie was in North Augusta with P. for a horse show/practice. I decided to take the girls and go see them. It took us an hour to get there(should have only taken 30 minutes) because I wasn't sure where I was going and I'm not so good at navigating thru Augusta to North Augusta without the interstate. Anyway, we finally arrived and had a blast. Stephanie loved the horse and really enjoyed riding it. Katie on the other hand was a little shy and timid. She rode with P. and held onto his neck the whole time. Stephanie rode with P. and then rode by herself with Uncle Eddie walking the horse. It was quite cold in the Hibadrome, so we bundled up in Uncle Eddie and P.'s coats. I just wish they had told us how cold it was in there. Thank goodness we all grabbed a light coat before leaving!

Getting into spring

I took the girls to the park last week to enjoy the beginnings of spring weather. We met up with several other families from church and had a blast. I love the spring weather! We'll be soaking up lots of opportunities to go to the park while it is good weather outside. Unfortunately, the summers aren't always best for the park around here. We'll spend most of the summer in the water because of the heat. I'm not complaining though. Here are just a few pictures from our day.

Enamored with the new arrival

My friend A had her baby girl on March 12. We took the girls to the hospital to see her. As you can tell, they were not enamored at all by her. They were both so gentle and sweet with her. When Katie was done holding her it was my turn. As I was holding her Katie came over and proceeded to unwrap the blanket from around her. She looked at her fingers and her arms and then her legs and then she proceeded to take off her socks. It was precious. She just had to check every part of her out.

Catch up

I know, I know...I have been just terrible at this blogging thing. I am so addicted to facebook and just don't seem to find the time to blog. Please forgive me... Life is hopping along rather rapidly here. I cannot believe that we are already over half way thru with March! While the year has quickly gone by already, I must say that it has also been the hardest 2 and a half months of my life. God is teaching me thru it all and I choosing to glorify him in all situations. Enough of that...so here is what we are up to these days... Sunday-Sunday School at 9:30am, church at 10:45am...Sunday School meeting at 4:30 pm(Chris), AWANA at 6pm Monday-I am keeping a 2 month old from 6am to 3pm, drop Steffie off at school at 9:30am, laundry, pick Steffie up at 1:30pm; Gymnastics from 4-5pm, BSF(Chris) 6-9pm, attempt to go to the gym in the spare hours Tuesday-Bible study 10-12, go to the gym sometime between 4 and 8pm, swim lessons from 5:30-6 Wed-Drop girls at school 9:30am, Work 10-6, Choir practice Thurs-Gym in the morning, Swim lessons 5:30-6 Fri-Drop girls at school 9:30am, work 10-6, Sat--work?, ???? This is only the list of activities that occur on a regular basis, then there are things like sunday school parties, keeping up relationships with friends, yard work and other misc projects that somehow are a part of having a family/house. Yes, we are busy around here and this is only my schedule. Chris seems to always have way more on his 'busy' plate than I do. I must say that I am grateful that my 'busy' plate consists of a lot more hours in which to complete than he does(he works a full time job you know) Anyway, I am not complaining just realizing that life is really crazy and busy. So, what else is going on around here... Stephanie is learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. I still can't completely let go of her, but we are making progress. Katie has learned how to write the letter 'K' and 't' and we are currently working on the letter 'a'. She can almost spell her name out loud(sometimes she needs a little reminder abou the letter a). Both girls are enjoying gymnatics and just started swimming lessons yesterday which they did really well at. So, I guess that pretty much covers it for now. I'll try to update again soon.

God Shows Off

Hello everyone. I just have to share that God sure put on a show today. As many of you know, one of our ministers lost their 2 month old daughter to an awful skin disease last May. Well, since they have gone thru adoption proceedings and have just been waiting on the right child. So, today is the birthday of their baby girl. She would have been one year old today. But here's the awesome part...Today they picked up their baby boy and brought him home. I believe the call for the adoption people/agency came on Tuesday and they picked him up today. Now tell me that is not so COOL! Only God can orchestrate that! He says so in His word....I will supply all you needs, I have plans for you, I love you....What more needs to be said. Thanks God for such a wonderful reminder and display or your awesomeness, holiness, and majesty.

8 years

I know I am terrible at this blogging thing, but I have been addicted to facebook. There I admitted it. I have an addiction. Do you think there a Facebook Anonymous group I can join? Trouble is I am sure I might see many of you there too! Anyway, life here has been hectic as usual, but very good. Chris and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this past Tuesday. We went out for dinner at Bonefish and then coffee and dessert at a local coffee/cafe shop. The dessert was out of this world wonderful. It seems like we have been together forever and then like we just met. This past year has been so sweet for Chris and I. We are both digging deeper into God's word and in turn we are finding that we are being drawn closer to him and one another(duh!) Chris and I went to Hilton Head two weeks ago for a marriage retreat. It was awesome to be together and to reinforce things we already knew, but we taking for granted. God also used the time to allow us to talk and reflect on things we hadn't talked about. I highly reccommend the retreat to any married couple(young or old). I guess that is all for us now. I'll try not to make it so long next time, but no promises.

Revelation

This is what I heard at 3:30 am...Mom, there is a roach in the bathroom(Katie). Well, use my bathroom(mom) pitterpatter Stephanie, mom says to use her bathroom(Katie yelling up the stairs to Stephanie) pitterpatter (Stephanie coming down the stairs) I already used the bathroom. pitterpatter THUD-- I ran into the box(Katie's comment after running over the laundry basket in my room and dumping all the folded clothes in the floor)... I just love this kind of drama in the middle of the night!!!!

Happy Halloween

We have just commenced the Trick or Treat adventure for this year and have successfully put the children to bed. Now the candy is all ours!!!! We had a great time. The girls were Raggedy Anne and Andy thanks to grandma's sowing. Thanks grandma. They were a hit. They got lots of compliments and we heard many times that they were the cutest of the night. We thought so, but they're just our kids. The Wizard of Oz clan, otherwise know as the M. Family, joined us yet again for this year's trick or treating. It is always great to have an older one around to help steer the children the right way. Katie fell so many times in her quest for candy that I lost count. She kept right on going. We've decided that next year we will have to come up with a theme for all three of them. (this is the third year we've done this with the M.s minus the mister since he has been unable to join us until this year.) Ms. K. and J. joined us again this year as well. Everyone had a blast, but we did freeze our little tooshies off this year....

Riding Bikes

Now that fall is upon us, at least for a few days, the girls have been enjoying riding their bikes outside. They have had a blast. Stephanie likes to ride down the hill(that is all we have here--no flat ground in this neighborhood) screaming. Katie just looks funny with her little legs just a peddling. She is pretty good at it too.

Sorry the picture aren't that great. I really to read up on how to find/use the sport setting on my camera. Mabye there will be time tomorrow. In the mean time, hopefully you can get the picture.

Missing church

Things here have been crazy as you probably have guessed by my absence in blogging as well as any other event that I am normally involved in. Let's start back at the beginning of October... I went to Kansas City to visit my friend J.H. While I was gone, Katie and Chris were both sick with the stomach virus. I thought that I had escaped it, but when I got back I came down with it too. So, that took me out of church again. This past weekend I had a trip to my mom's planned and I couldn't cancel it because it took a lot of rearranging(work, babysitters etc.) to be able to get it together. So, I missed church again. This coming weekend, we are traveling to Helen, GA where Chris will be doing a talk on Sunday at a conference. We plan to take the girls to the Cabbage Patch Hospital(or whatever it is called) on Saturday, but we will miss church again Sunday morning. I am sorry to be absent from church and I do miss my church family as well as sitting under the teaching of our pastor. However, I know that there are times when you just can't help it. I will be back after next week and hopefully I won't have any more month long absences. To my credit, I have been attending services on Wednesday each week.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Chris is 32 now. He has been gloating the last month and a half that we are the same age. I am glad to say that I am younger now! We really didn't do much today which was nice. We went to church this morning and then off to Captain D's for lunch(Chris's choice). We didn't have church tonight because of the holiday(our church usually gives us two Sunday nights a year to be with the family). We had a friend over tonight for dinner. He is a pharmacy student and Chris met him thru BSF this last year. We had a nice time and Chris and I just ate it up...(we love having the ability to help out a poor college student) Enough of that side note. I was acutally able to surprise Chris for his birthday. I always struggle with buying gifts ahead of time because he watches the checkbook like a hawk so I could never pull anything off without him at least knowing I was spending xxx amount of money. I pulled it off this time though. I bought him a new LCD tv. I waited until yesterday while he was at work to buy it and I hid the receipt and hoped that he wouldn't check the online transactions until today. It worked. He even asked me after he opened it how I managed to keep this one a secret. I was very proud of myself. Daddy & his girls Chris & I(we are too excited that our Steffie can now take our picture-maybe now we'll have more of the two of us) The girls intently watching daddy.

Daddy giving Katie a kiss after opening his card.

Still eagerly waiting on daddy to open presents...they did really good keeping 'the secret' for 24 hours! I was proud of them.

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you.