Spring Fling

Saturday afternoon was our annual Spring Fling dance performance, and it was such fun to watch Sierra and Makenna on "stage".

It was a beautiful day for it, too.  Warm temps, and even a little sunshine peeking through.

Sierra loves her Jazz 3 class.  She started with Jazz, and it's always been her thing. 

Kenners, on the other hand, has tried it all: Tap, Ballet, Jazz, and is now in Hip Hop.
I think she likes Hip Hop ;)

And Kam was just happy to finally get ahold of some Cotton Candy ;)

She'd been asking for some all day!

♥ 11 Months ♥

Taylor Grace! 
My Love. 
You are 11 months old today.
Oh.my.goodness.
I don't want to get mushy and teary, but . . . where have the last eleven months gone??? 
My baby is growing, growing, growing, right before my very eyes.

Recently you have had your very own popsicle . . .

You LOOOOOOVE to "help Mama" with chores ;)


Oh how you love your Sissies.  They provide hours of entertainment :)



Precious girl. 
Your new favorite game is tossing anything and everything off your high chair and joyfully proclaiming: "Uhhh-Ohhhh". 



You're standing all the time now.  And have even taken your first few steps.  You still prefer to crawl, because, HELLO, it's so much faster and safer!  Even still, you have a new bruise all the time!  You are constantly cruising full speed ahead.




You have four teeth. 
And it's just miserable each time you get a new one in. 
No sleep, and lots of fuss.

You're just as sweet as ever.  Giving kisses all the time.  Your favorite one to smooch is Kam.  I can already tell you two are going to be SO close.  Your eyes light right up every time she comes near.

I cannot believe that one short month from now,  you will be turning one year old!

Life is such a joy with you in it, sweet girl!

Happy Eleven Months!!!

Wordful Wednesday ~ Goin' For A Stroll

We've had a GORGEOUS week.  Lots of sunshine, warm temps.  And the evenings have been perfect for a little stroll.

Here Kitty, Kitty . . .

Taylor's gotten a taste of the stroller.
{and yes, we need a new one SO badly.  Dad picked this one up years ago for $15 at a garage sale}





Hey Gramps!


Ohhhhhh, what's that?!

Ya still back there?

And we got back just in time to enjoy the sunset.

Ahhhhhhh.

Happy Mother's Day

The job of a Mama isn't easy, but my goodness is it ever rewarding.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous Mamas!!!

Day Trip

Last week Jeremy went bear hunting, and us girly girls had big plans to travel south to visit my sister and her family.  A trip we'd been planning for ages.  Alas, Taylor and Kam got eye infections, I was battling a horrible virus, and one phone call to my sister told me that she was in the same boat.  So, unfortunately, we had to cancel.

The girls were disappointed.

So we went with plan B . . .

A day trip to Enchanted Forest

We visit Enchanted Forest every year, but typically not this early.  We had almost the entire park to ourselves!

The last time we were at Enchanted Forest Taylor was just a few weeks old :)

It was a gorgeous day.  80 degrees.  In fact, we have a whole week of gorgeous weather coming at us.  Amazing what a little sunshine can do!! 

Hope you're seeing some too!

Treasure Hunt

I've been trying to come up with a list of fun {inexpensive} activities to keep the littles entertained

this summer {or anytime really!}. 

So awhile back I was thinking that a treasure hunt might be kind of fun.

I started collecting little, inexpensive items that the girls might enjoy ~

candies, bubbles, princess tattoos, stamps . . .

stuffed them all into an old plastic ice cream container . . .

dug a hole . . .

and buried "the treasure"



Then I wrote out a few "clues" and hid them around the property.





Each clue led to the next, and, finally, the X marks the spot ;) 
Complete with shovels for digging.



They were so excited to have finally found the treasure!





I'm pretty sure it wasn't the super cool "treasure" ;)  It was the fun of the "hunt". 

Try it with your littles!

And if you have any great summer ideas, let me know.  We're composing our list!!

It's Time

I'm missing my blog.

And my blog friends.

And I'm kind of bummed that such a long stretch of time has gone by without much documentation.

So I think it's time.

Time to just jump right back into the ol' blog . . .

slowly.

I probably won't be all that great at returning emails for a bit. 

And I'll try to visit y'all, but it might take me awhile.

But y'all will be patient with me, right?

I also wanted to mention how much I appreciate all of the thoughts, and prayers, and love that has been sent our way over the last  6 weeks.  Words cannot even begin to express how overwhelmed we are by the support and encouragement from friends. 

Kelli, Christy, Becca, Sarah Kate, Jenny, Connie, Xazmin, Jenny Kate, and Macey . . .

Wow.  I don't have words.  You all lifted me up during the most difficult time in my life.  The book y'all sent {Tear Soup} is very dear to me.  My Mother-in-law's friend gave her the same book after the accident, and it's one we treasure greatly.  The notes, the scripture, the frame.  Most of all, the friendship.  Thank you all so much.  You really can't imagine how much it means to me.

{And I need y'alls addresses!  So . . .whenever you get a sec ;) }

{I know there are a few of you who are out of the loop.  And somehow I lost the post I had submitted last month.  So.  The very very short version: On March 31st my husband, his brother, his dad, and my dad went fishing.  Jeremy and his brother, Justin, from a boat, and my dads from the shore.  The boat capsized, and both Jeremy and Justin struggled to get to shore.  Justin didn't survive.  Jeremy was finally rescued after 45 minutes in very cold water.  Our family is simply devastated.  Never could I have imagined the pain we would endure.  It has been an excruciating six weeks.  We very much welcome any prayers.}

Alright.  I have to leave ya with a picture.  It's a must.

See ya soon! :)

Wordful Wednesday ~ To The Tulips

It's been a long month. 

We're sort of struggling to find a new normal around here. 

But with that, comes frustrations. 

Like, sometimes we don't want normal.

It just doesn't feel right to settle in to any type of normal, new or not.

My biggest struggle is not being "enough".

I'm not enough to take away the pain.

I'm not enough to comfort my husband so that he may find peace.

I'm not enough to ease the fears of my children.

And I've never really felt that way before.

I'm just not big enough this time.

I'm trying to make peace with that, because I know I'm not supposed to be.

None of us are supposed to be enough. 

If we were, we wouldn't cling to God. 

So there ya go.  That's where we are.

Whew.

So. The girls and I did manage to get out of the house last week to see the tulips.
We try to make it out to the Tulip Festival every year. 

It was nice.
  Fresh air.  Pretty flowers.  Sweet mama/daughter time.

Wordless Wednesday: Taylor's First Popsicle

♥ 10 Months ♥

Goodness, Miss Tay, you are growing like a little weed! 
It is so hard for me to believe you are 10 months old already.

This has been a difficult month for us, hasn't it?

Oh yes.  We've all been doing a lot of this:


But we feel so blessed to have you around, keeping smiles on our faces during such a sad time.

Your first Easter was especially special.



I love how you just pulled at the grass like, "what the heck is this stuff, Mom?"

We've even had a couple of days of sunshine.  You + sunshine = a definite mood booster!


You seem very determined to grow up on me just as quickly as you can.
You are standing up on your own now.  Just a matter of time before you take your first steps. 

I think you're going to be a talker like your big sissy, Kam.  You're always blabbing away about something.  And it's usually about twice as loud as everyone else ;)

We just love every little thing about you, sweet girl.