Five little fingers

It's official! This July a new miracle will be joining our little family!

Just Sunday morning cute

 Elizabeth is constantly bringing me her toy camera and asking me to take pictures of her. She just smiles forever and loves to have her pictures taken. She is really growing up lately--even big enough for pigtails!

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas with Craig's family in North Carolina. The kids were a little more excited about Santa this year which was fun. Ethan got a new tricycle and Elizabeth got a baby doll stroller for her doll. Neither of them really knew what to do with their new toys but we are getting there:)

Sankt Nikolaus Tag

We had fun celebrating Sankt Nikolaus Tag this year with the kids. We had them leave their boots by the door and Sankt Nicolaus brought them some fun prizes! I realized after we all ate our candy and looked at the calendar that I was actually a day off. We must have been pretty good because he came to see us even though Mommy is going crazy and got her dates mixed up!

Three Years Old!

Three years ago this little boy came into our lives. Three years ago he made me a mommy; a name I respond to with great satisfaction. Three years ago our lives were forever changed for the better.  God blessed us with this perfect little boy who every day teaches me love, forgiveness, honesty, and lots and lots of patience. He is hilarious. He is charming (ask the older girls at church). He is my handsome little boy who keeps me on my toes, is fully potty trained, sings all his ABC's everywhere he goes, and pants like a puppy dog to every stranger we meet. I love him.

Now that he is old enough (and talking well enough) I wanted to interview him. Here was his response:

favorite color: purple--and always has been
favorite show or movie: Busy Town, Curious George
favorite food: beans and rice
favorite toy: puzzle and stuffed animals
favorite song: ABC's and Old McDonald
favorite book: Young McDonald
best friend: Corey (one of the young women at church) Callan, and Annie (and I would like to add Mommy and Daddy depending on the day:)
favorite place to go: Frying Pan Farm and North Carolina
profession of choice: Daddy

Ethan LOVES fuzz as you might remember so we got him an entire bin of fuzz for his birthday! He loved it needless to say!

Landscape Woes

We decided to get rid of our old bushes. They looked HORRIBLE. Unfortunately, they were like four miniature trees, that were 30 years old, and very well rooted--practically into the house. It took a real man to get this job done:) It looks considerably better now that we have planted new bushes and flowers.

Here she comes!

Look at the that crazy hair! I think the wind caught it just right!

Elizabeth has decided to walk now! I knew she could for a while now but just hasn't had the motivation. She saw some of her friends at church yesterday walking though and I think that did the trick. She stood up and took about 10 steps like she had just been waiting for the right moment to tell us all she actually already knew how! We were so happy that Craig was there for it since he missed Ethan's first steps because he was on a business trip. Although he did have to leave a few hours later--we were glad he could be there for the special moment:)

2012 Fall at the Farm

I love fall. I love the food, the colors, the final release from horrible hot humidity, the sudden disappearance of many bugs. Oh, I love it:)

This year as part of our celebration we went to the frying pan farm park fall festival.  We usually visit the farm about once a week, but this trip was extra special. They had all the old machinery up and working--including the massive apple cider press, the logger and lots of other exciting tools. We saw baby piglets just two days old--they were adorable! We enjoyed apples, honey, and a hilarious puppet show. If you have never been to the east for a fall festival you need to do it--seriously a highlight of the year. Here are some pictures of my adorable children enjoying themselves.

She is One Year Old!!

 Elizabeth is one year old! What a party we had! Grammy and Grampy came up for the occasion and we all enjoyed her favorite cake--strawberry short cake.

I know everybody always says "I can't believe it's been a year!" well, I really can't believe it. I really can't believe it. We love Elizabeth more than I can say. She is sweet in every sense of the word. Her little smile it the best thing ever.

A couple weeks before her birthday she had no teeth. She now has seven teeth. They took their time but showed up in full force ready for birthday fun! Once we can get her sleeping again at night we will all be a little happier.

I imagined this to be a gloriously adorable photo with all the colorful balloons but I could not for the life of me get her to look at me. Baby photography is serious business!

Her favorite toys are balls. She LOVES balls. Big, little, smooth, rough. If there is a ball within a mile she will crawl (with one little leg pushing) as fast as you ever saw a baby on all three move to get it.

Some of her skills right now include backing down the stairs--for which Mommy is very grateful. Also she is remarkably good at somehow stealing anything from Ethan in the car. Unfortunately I can't see how she does it because I am driving, but somehow she ALWAYS ends up with whatever Ethan is holding. She also loves to irritate Ethan. She will steel his toy, crawl as fast as she can with it to our bed and throw it behind the head board so he can't get it. She thinks she is hilarious. She also loves to wrestle with Ethan. She is only 5 pounds high junior so they make a fairly good match and they are hilarious to watch tumble around.

Elizabeth also loves music. Sometimes I turn up the radio and we all have a dance party. (Sometimes I forget to shut the blinds so if you drive by you might be in for a show) Elizabeth loves its. She bounces, waves her arms, yells along. I can't wait to enroll her in her first dance class.

There are so many things about this little girl I wish I could write down. I hope she knows how much we love her. How beautiful she is. How much her Heavenly Father loves her and expects of her. She is my little princess, and in truth a perfect daughter of God.

Happy Halloween!

 Ethan decided he wanted to be old McDonald for Halloween. The crazy thing is Elizabeth said she wanted to be a prize winning piglet! So they went great together:) They both played their roles like they were born for it. You can't see in the picture but Ethan has a cute beard we drew on and Elizabeth has a curly pig tail. They were adorable. They raked in the candy, and now we just have to plan what we can dress up for next year!

Of course he hated getting his hands dirty!