this girl

this sweet little girl is up and walking.  i love this little one, so much.  she is my baby.  i never understood the whole "this is my baby" thing until she came into our lives.  now that i know we are not having any more little ones, not going to do the baby stage again, i feel that i understand that whole my baby mentality.

so, here we are at just two days shy of 15 months and she is up and moving.  at first it was six steps in our bedroom this morning.  i was so excited to see this that i yelled to the others and everyone came running into our bedroom, my husband with shaving cream still on his face.  then it was seven steps toward daddy.  we went to grandmas house for dinner and she was walking all over the place, every time with a huge smile on her adorable little face.

and there we have it, another milestone and first for Averie, and another last for us as parents. 

how very bittersweet it is.

my girl, she's a smart one {& rlw}

while on a walk today, our sweet Laine was "reading" a book.  she thought it was a bible, since when we do read it it talks about God, but it happened to be a kids Veggie Tales devotional book that we've had for some time, and boy does it look like we've had it for years!  anyways, as i'm enjoying the downhill part of the walk I hear Laine reading as she's riding along in the stroller.

"it's good to love your children, and Jesus, and God."

yep, she's a smart one.  kids keep things simple, at least at her age.  what a wonderful reminder that one was for me today.  the only other thing i'd add to her list is my husband.  and by loving those listed you will love others as well. 

now, on to real life wednesday...

finally getting back into the routine of walking again.  i started this about 3-4 weeks ago, trying to walk three to four times a week.  well, that went really well on week one and two, then came week 3 and four...stomach flu for two kids, plus going away for a couple days to be with my family for some family business, on top of other things i'm sure.  so, i did walk number two today.  we drove to a hilly park not far from where we live.  the sun is shining here today and it's about 82 degrees outside.  needless to say, it was so nice to get outside and walk, talk to the girls, and just plain get out of the house!

i guess that's not too much of a rlw post...but there you have it, just keepin' it real around here, that's simple all i've got today!

Happy Easter 2013!

we had a simple day of church, naps, an Easter egg hunt, and my husband smoked some meat on his smoker for dinner.  it was an enjoyable day.  i hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter!

real life wednesday

things have been going pretty routine around here.  how about you?  is your wednesday going normal, routine?

we are potty training around here this week, round number two for our sweet Laine.  you'd think that since we're on our third run of potty-training that we'd be pros by now, but in reality i have come to dislike potty-training more and more with each child.  i'm secretly hoping that kiddo number four will just magically teach herself how to use the toilet.  ya, i know that isn't really going to happen...but a momma can wish, right?

well, when Laine was on the potty this morning her hair barrette of course came out of her hair and fell into the toilet, yuck!  i might have been more inclined to just flush the thing down the toilet, but it used to be one of my barrettes when i was a child.  so, i ended up sticking my hand down in there and getting it.  really it sounds worse than it really was, if anything, Laine only tinkled in the toilet a tiny bit...could have been much worse.

the boys had a minimum day at school today.  so i decided to surprise the kids with an impromtu trip to the park.  i loved hearing their excitement when they found out what we were doing today. 

that's about it for this wednesday.  i enjoyed surprising the kids with a park trip.  now it's back to normal again...laundry, dinner, dishes, stories, bedtime, and getting ready to do it all over again.

happy wednesday to you!

another one bites the dust

as a kid, i don't think that this grows old, ever.  Tanner lost another tooth this morning, the excitement is the same with every lost tooth.

this is a short post, but i will be back tomorrow for real life wednesday for sure!

a new year, day, & goal

we decided to get out of the house today and go do something outdoors.  the temps were a little cool, but the weather was great.  scattered clouds allowed for the sun to warm us up on and off.  we had a great afternoon together.  here are a lot, and i really do mean a lot of pictures to give you a feel of what our day was like.

 



 

 

 

last night as a family we wrote down some ways in which we felt blessed and thankful to the Lord during 2012.  everyone had a few things to put on the list, with the exception of Little A of course.  our oldest decided to get out his mini spiral notebook and copy down some of the things that we were adding to the list.  i loved how he got it when it came to writing these things down.  then as we drove in the driveway this afternoon from the park he had added another item to his own list and shared it with everyone before we got out of the car. 

this just melted my heart.  it was one of those moments when you sit back and think to yourself "okay, we are doing something right when it comes to this parenting thing."  then he helped his little sister by getting her baby doll out of the car and bringing it to her, without being asked to help out.  mark said something to me like "can you believe how sweet that was?"  we have moments like that more than i realize i'm sure, but lately it seems like the kids have been in this funk, arguing often, etc.  this was just such a sweet way to end an already great afternoon.

as this new year kicks off i'm starting something new, a goal for 2013 that i want to keep up.  two years ago i participated in the ssmt put on by Living Proof Ministries.  i had every intention in the world of memorizing the twenty-four verses of scripture and even trying to fly to Houston for the celebration at the end of the year.  well, the Lord had a different plan.  i found out that i was pregnant with Little A in june of 2011.  shortly afterwards i was hit so hard with morning sickness that mostly everything fell on the back burner, including my memorizing verses for the ssmt.  well, here i am starting again this year.  i will try to post all twenty-four verses here, the 1st and 15th of each month.  let me know if you are doing this as well, will you?!  here is my first verse for 2013, do you remember it from my previous post?  i loved it so much that i thought it was a great way to the start out the new year.  it's not too late to join in on the memorization team.  just follow the link above and join!

i pray that you had a great first day to the new year, and that in some small way you were encouraged as well.  i'd love to hear how you spent the day or about some new way that you have been encouraged lately.

real life

the boys are home today, Christmas break has started.  we ate breakfast a little late, watched a morning cartoon, still in our pajamas, and legos/toys are all over the place.  this is my real life.

the munchkins

 Little A's first Christmas this year

 

 our four fun children

 

these pictures are from our tree decorating evening.  the kids did a great job.  the three older kids were really into it this year, and so excited when i pulled out one of their ornaments.  i remember hanging my very own ornaments as a child.  i only have one from my childhood, it's from my very first Christmas.  i always hang it on the tree every year, no one else get to do that one.

 

i hope all of you are enjoying this Christmas season, hopefully slowing down a bit and really reflecting on what this time is all about, the birth of Jesus.  i'm taking it easy this year on presents, making a lot of them myself.  i will have to do another post on that when i have more of them done.