the one when I ingnored my children

Today I intentionally ignored my children as they played outside at the water table so I could do this. I may have a problem...

It's things that Chloe Belle says. so precious...

the one with subway art

I have always loved subway art and wanted to make some of my own, but I've never taken the time out to be so frivolous. But I did tonight and I had soo much fun! Here it is-verses from my James memory project!

Here's the awesome post that told me all about how to do it! yay!

the one about batman

I understand that my blog is pretty cheery kitchen-kids-Jesus fare, but I really need to complain, and if you can't complain on your own blog, well, then, there's no hope for us.

I saw The Dark Knight Rises yesterday. I am  HUGE Batman fan, and have been since I was a small child.

I HATED IT. Three hours of my life that I will never get back. In addition, Christopher Nolan ruined a little of the Batman lore for me.

I spent some time reading reviews of the movie for the first time this morning, and was glad to find many people who agree with me. Read this:

Without dipping my toes too far into spoiler territory, there's a difference between closure and closing, and by choosing to make The Dark Knight Rises not just his last Batman, but the last Batman, Nolan essentially tells the story that should never be told, and does so in a way that leaves the status quo so cracked that the only way to put Humpty Dumpty back together is to reboot the thing yet again. Which is a shame.

from Zaki Hasan's review.

This story should never have been told. yick.

the one about summer so far

 Lily met with an AMAZING occupational therapist for 6  weeks. Praise the Lord, she is finally enjoying eating, she's learned how to swallow solid foods, and she's gained a little weight! BEST part of summer so far!!!

 Chloe Belle has spent tons of time playing with friends, and generally being awesome. No surprise there.

 Lily isn't so much interested in spending time with friends as she is being cuddled and treated like a baby at all times.

 I started keeping Brooke Allen three afternoons a week. Chloe Belle is facinated by her. Lily mostly tries to crawl over her.

 Every week we have a fun new color on our fingers and toes.

 Lily has spent some time exercising all stylish and 80s style.

 I've loved being a stay at home mommy and playing with these two all day long.

 We started having tea parties. Monkey is a big fan.

 Check out that little pinky in the air. She's a rockstar.

 Fourth of July with favorite people. Love these kiddos.

 happy.

And of course, Chloe Belle has gotten some quality time with her #1 favorite: "my Noah" as she calls him.

 We've been to a dozen weddings this summer. I love Mrs. Coats!

 Mrs. Lang

 I don't think this was for a wedding, but they sure are cute!!

 Mrs. Hall-this was hands down the most fun wedding I've ever attended!

 Having fun at Chris + Brooke's wedding! So pumped for Kate + Bradley!

I love my man.

the one with pictures

My life is fuller than its ever been. I have lots to say. I have no time to say it. So, here are a few facebook albums that I put together tonight. I haven't even been taking the time to do fb albums, but somebody made a comment this weekend about how we aren't doing for the second child what we did for the first and it made me mad so I spent an hour making albums. Ridiculous, right?

general springtime cuteness

thomas the train day of fun

spring break

my brother got married!

the one where I explain myself

Hi there. I don't know who will read this, as I haven't posted in 3 or 4 months. Maybe Bethany?

Anywho. I'm not blogging anymore, as I'm sure you can tell. I really don't want to give this up permanently, but it's looking more and more as if that's my reality. Here are my explanations:

1. These little ones rule my existence.


2. Sometime in November my computer died. I had a 7 year old Dell laptop to use, but let's be real, it wasn't quick or easy. We just got a new computer and I've inherited the 5 year old MacBookPro that is struggling but still pretty rockstar. This may or may not have an affect on my blogging.

3. Adam started graduate school in January. Now, I'm not here to complain or tell you that our life is busier than yours, but one teaching job+full time graduate school+super busy college ministry+two crazy kiddos+laundry+dishes=no blogging.

I'd love to blog more. Lots of awesome things happen in my life that I want to tell you so you'll laugh and lots of hard things happen in my life that I want to tell you so we can share honest life.

We'll, there's me. Maybe I'll be back soon, maybe not. Hope you are well and loving Jesus.

Here's my latest Facebook album, it should help a little with updating you on the girls.

the one with a little more Halloween

the little pumpkin

happy sisters

buzz, pumpkin, spidey, ariel, and a little ladybug

the trick or treaters

happy halloween!

the one where I had fun

So I wanted to post each day with my attempts at fun. Well, at least my intentions were good.

Monday night: coffee with my sweet friend Kristi after the kids went to bed. We talked babies, blogs, and Jesus. And I had a peppermint mocha. sweet.

Tuesday night: I did laundry. oh well.

Wednesday night: Worship + Study. A night with college students, worship, and the Word is always good times.

Thursday night: UMin Pumpkin Carving contest. Always one of my favorite nights of the year.

the winning pumpkin

two of my favorite girls. sweet Emily is a master pumpkin carver.

I love this one. I think Kara is seriously doubting my pumpkin.

Friday night: celebration dinner for my husband: steak, macncheese, edamame, and ooey gooey cake: all his favorites. Yay for getting into grad school!

Saturday: AK took CB to ToysRUs and bought her presents, perfect birthday party for sweet Abby Cossiboom, and took sweet pumpkin pictures of the girls. (pics to come)

super fun week!

the one with Sunday night's fun

I haven't done anything crafty in months. So, Sunday evening CB and I packed up and went to the store so I could make some Halloween fun. Who cares if Halloween's just a week away?

We bought a bunch of monster decorations a few years ago at Target. I made a monster banner to match. This first picture shows the little monsters I patterned the banner from:

I had to make it large to hang from the doorway and out of my own little monster's reach.

Here are two close up shots so hopefully you can see it more clearly:

boo! Happy Halloween!

the one with the week of fun

Sometimes I feel like we live life 100 miles an hour. The past two weekends have been great because we actually slowed down. Last weekend Adam and I went on a date, we went to the Pumpkin Patch, and we had a picnic at Aldridge Gardens. It was so refreshing. This weekend we spend Friday night with friends and babies, we went and got yogurt as a family and played on McAdory's football field.* These two weekends have done some serious good to my weary soul.

I've decided I'm going to continue having fun this week. Laundry is going to go undone. We'll have sandwiches for dinner. I won't clean anything. I'm just going to have fun-in the middle of the week!

Stay tuned: I'll post each week night of fun! Join me this week-ignore some responsibility and have some fun!!

*If you're not on facebook, here's a link to my fall album that has pictures of our past two fun weekends plus more!

the one when I'm sitting on the couch

I have had a stressful day. A stressful week. A stressful six weeks. Maybe the most stressful ever. I wrote a lot of stressful posts [in my head] on the car ride home today, listening to two babies scream their heads off for an hour straight.

But as I'm sitting here on the couch in my quiet house, I'm grateful.

Grateful for a husband that I'm crazy in love with.
Grateful for two baby girls who make my life so rich.
Grateful for a mom who has been so helpful.
Grateful for the best big sister ever.
Grateful for good friends.
Grateful for a beautiful ministry to college girls.
Grateful for all this provision.
Grateful for chocolate when I'm feeling stressed.
And Grateful for a God who rejoices over me with singing and who quiets me with His love.

the one when I'm brief

It's been a hard couple of days around here, no energy for a fun post.

Two things:

1. I made this soup for dinner tonight, and it was rockin awesome.
2. Lily has found her voice, and I love it.

the one where we say goodbye

Sorry I talked about something major happening and then left you hanging. Although, all the emails and texts I got about it made me feel good-glad to know someone's reading this.

Last week we said goodbye to Jimmie and Max. We got our guys the first year of our marriage and they've been with us each step of the way. We love them. We love snuggling with them in bed, watching them have mighty battles, Adam loves to bury his head in Jimmie's neck-he's convinced Jimmie smells great. We love precious stupid little Max and his desperation for affection. Probably most of all, we've loved watching Chloe Belle fall in love with them.

For several months we've known we needed to find a better home for J&M. Having two babies in 15 months turned us into bad dog owners. We didn't give the guys the love and attention they deserved. We're also planning on moving next summer, and we didn't want to be tied to a place that would work for them too. So, after months of discussing it, we decided to let them go. God provided an awesome family for the guys. They are getting tons of love and attention.

I miss them-I miss Jimmie's serious look of total devotion, I miss Max's earnest heart, and I miss hearing Chloe Belle shout "woof" whenever she sees them. But, I am so so glad they are with a family who has the time and energy to love them well.

Goodbye buddies. Thanks for being a part of our lives.

best buddies

first family photos