Five years and counting...

Five years ago, today I said, "I do," to the man of my dreams. Happy Anniversary, Matt! Thank you for five wonderful years and two beautiful children. The Lord has made such a sweet and thoughtful husband and father out of you. It is my blessing and honor to walk by you as your wife! I love you with my WHOLE heart!

A Thanksgiving we wont forget

This is my grandmother. Today she went to live with the Lord. It was sudden and very unexpected...she was young and healthy so needless to say the shock is overwhelming. There is so much that I would like to say, but am afraid I simply can't muster up the courage to do it now. Though I am happy and can rest in the fact she is in a much better place I am sad for the rest of us that will miss her so much. I will say that if I had known that the last time I saw her would be THE LAST TIME I don't know what I would have done differently except for maybe hug her a little harder and a little longer! It most definitely was not the Thanksgiving we were hoping for, though we still have so much to be thankful for and so many blessings and praises to the Lord. That is Papa John sitting beside her...I fear he aches the most. He kissed her on the lips today after she was gone and said,"What am I going to do without you?" So, Lord I pray right now that you hold him in your arms tonight and for the days to come, give him the strength and comfort he needs to get through this and take care of his health, heart and spirit during this time. Please equip the rest of us to love and care for him and each other and give us the necessary words, actions and encouragement to give him what he needs as well. And, Lord, thank you for the time we had with Nana and for what she meant to us.

Our little brother...

Cale at 9 wks.

and at 10 wks.

What a WONDERFUL little brother the Lord has given us. Cale is such a joy! He coos and grins constantly. He is interactive and the boy can EAT! We started giving him rice cereal this week...I couldn't believe it. But, he was ready and he does great with a spoon, though he seems just too young. Matt keeps telling me to "cut the cord" that "he's a boy", BUT I refuse at 11 weeks to cut any proverbial cord!! I can't believe how quickly he is growing, I'm just trying to soak it all in...before I know it I'll be watching him walk off into the woods with his daddy and my "cuddle time" will be something of the past. I won't think about that right now, I'm just enjoying the pure sweetness of him touching my face and giving me wide-open mouth kisses...it makes me weak in the knees!!

The Halloween that wasn't...

Well, needless to say we missed Halloween this year. Ella slept right through it! Little bitty was just so exhausted from the weekend activities and her party that she knocked out from 6 -9:30 pm. But, missing the actual festivities didn't stop us from playing dress-up the other day. So, here is what would have been...

Introducing Ariel and Prince Eric

"Kiss the girl" or boy in this case!

Partay!!!

Here are some pics as promised from Ella's party in South Carolina. We are so thankful to Josh for lending his new house and to MeMe for all the planning and preparations. Yes, it was difficult for me to relinquish those responsibilities, but Matt's mom did a great job and in the end it was wonderful to just relax and enjoy the celebration with Ella without having to worry with the hosting duties. Ella had a GREAT time, we have such wonderful family!!





The birthday princess!!





MeMe, Josh, Aunt Bernice and Diaunt (aka Aunt Diane) prepared some delicious food!
The cake that Ella loved so much she didn't even want to cut it!!
Opening presents...

"Thank you, Emma!"
"Cupcake? I think I might!"
Blowing bubbles and enjoying some nice, South Carolina weather!
Baby brotha enjoying the festivities from the comfort of a lap:)
Ella spent a considerable amount of time trying to catch Josh's cat. Between that and the sugar, this is what happened. Sadly, the closest she came to the cat was it's bed!My "sleeping beauty!"

South Carolina 2009

We made our annual trip to South Carolina to visit with Matt's family this past weekend. This was a big trip for us, seeing as how it was Cale's first road trip and Ella's birthday. We thought it would be fun for her to get to celebrate her birthday with some of the extended members of Matt's family since they don't usually make it down for her party. It was a busy weekend and she had a blast. We went to the zoo Thursday, the pumpkin patch Friday and her MeMe threw her a party at Uncle Josh's new house on Saturday. I had my camera and took plenty of pictures, but neglected to take the proper pieces of equipment which resulted in a rather lame post on Ella's birthday BUT we're home now and I can properly document the occasion!


This is from the day we got there and officially the last picture of Ella as a two-year old!!

Birthday morning opening presents.

Loving on "big" Marie.
Modeling her new rain coat from Uncle Josh and light-up Cinderella slippers!
The Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia:
Watching birds bathe with Josh...I should mention that this was right before one of the birds landed on his back and left him a little present on his shirt!! NICE, thanks bird!
My three-year-old!!!!!
Don't fear. This was the "petting" part of the zoo and she was DETERMINED to touch the rabbits!
This child LOVES, LOOOVES animals. She wanted to touch, ride, kiss, feel or pet everything!

Riding the carousel. Josh rode with her, she wasn't alone. We all had our duties...Josh had Ella, Matt had Cale in the sling, I had the camera and MeMe had the diaper bag. It takes a village to go to the zoo:)Cale slept through the entire adventure, but he woke up for the exit!! "Hey, buddy!" And Happy Birthday Baby Girl!
My handsome man!!
We all got some good rest!!

Dinner at Big's and the pumpkin patch:

Ella, MeMe and PaPa








I will post pictures from the party at a later time. It is a post all its own and this one is clearly long enough for one day...my motherly duties are calling!!

Ella is 3!!!!!!

Happy Birthday my darling girl!! Our lives were so richly blessed 3 years ago today!!

We love you Ella bear!! You are a wonderful daughter and big sister!