Mother's Day Cookout

 A cookout was the perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day, even if we did it a day early (because we knew it was going to rain all day Sunday). Some hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire just hit the spot! 

And of course, you can't have a fire without some music.

This kids even got in on the cooking action.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by family!

My Philippians prayer

(My babies from two years ago, they have all grown so much!)

I recently came across a few verses in Philippians (I love the books of letters!) that have since become my prayer for myself, my husband, and my children. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the people of Philippi, and this originated as a prayer from him for them. I have taken it, written it down in several places, and daily pray it over my family.

Philippians 1: 9-11
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what it best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God.

These verses are packed with so many things that I desire desire for my family. I have prayed for so long for discernment to know what is truth and what is not, that our love would continue to grow more and more and would have Christ in the center, and that we would seek to know God more. Interestingly enough, when I read over the chapters in Philippians a few weeks ago it was other verses that stuck out to me. This time God opened my eyes to these and I loved them immediately! It is wonderful how God can take the same verses and speak to you differently at different times depending on what you need.

Have a wonderful day!

Friday Fam part deux..... some pictures!

I realized today that I haven't taken any pictures the last several days, mainly because it would be all snot and drool. But, with the beautiful sunshine coming through the windows this afternoon, I just couldn't help but capture some of the creativity.

For example: henna shmenna, who needs fancy henna ink when you have markers? If you enlarge this picture you will see the beautiful artwork on miss Libby's hands, and some on her face as well.


And then after the art session, Libby decided that it was her birthday today, so she made her own cake, put her own candle in it, and sang her own birthday song.



And then blew out the candle.



When I asked her how old she is on this birthday, she told me that she is 1.



And 5.



And throughout all of this fun, Hudson looked the same as he has looked the last several days..... pathetically adorable. Ps. that's not drool on his shirt, he moved when I was trying to have him drink his probiotic and I spilled it all over him. That is a tear in his eye, however. And, yes, snot in his nose.



And just because he's the family clown, no illness would keep him from giving me a smile or two...


or hitting the camera. Yes, he's a hitter.


And now, have a wonderful, renewing weekend!

Friday Fam...... Our week

Remember this chair? This week has sort of slipped by for me, because I have spent most every minute of every day in that chair. I am so thankful for my mom, who has come over to help hold Hudson so I could get some things done, and she helped to get some of the clutter picked up. Thanks, Mama!

Hudson is starting to feel better, though nights are still hard and he still has some congestion and coughing. Hopefully in a few more days we will all be free from illness and we'll all feel good for the first time since Christmas! We've had a little break from the frigid weather (it got up to 40, I think, yesterday, which is about 40 degrees higher than it's been), so we've been able to breath a bit.

I hope you have had a good week!

Friday Fam.... A week in our home

We have had some very very cold weather this week, including below zero temps. Libby still wanted to go outside, though, so a very good friend of mine came over with her two girls, and the two older girls went out to play in the snow (Hudson and I were out there, too, but he was on my back). Once they were chilled to the bone (which didn't take very long) we all came inside and the girls warmed up under a blanket. I find it very comical to see pictures of Libby and Mallie together, because though Mallie is so much taller than Libby, she's only 3 months older.
And today we went to see our wonderful chiropractor, Dr. Letty. This is a monthly thing, and Libby does really well. Hudson still cries, but he'll get used to it. Our visits to Dr. Letty are life savers, because by the time that four weeks roll around, boy we all need it.



Have a great weekend! Try to stay warm, and if you live in warm weather, I wish I was there!

A Year in Review

I apologize for being fairly absent over the last week. As you know, we got sick, but Libby really got it bad. We finally took her to the doctor to get some medicine to stop her vomiting after 4 days of her not being able to eat anything without throwing up. That was Thursday, and she's still trying to get some energy back. She still isn't eating much, but she is at least able to nurse a lot and is keeping it down.

Anyway, since I didn't get this out before the New Year (did that really happen? It is a fog in my memory), here it is now. Here's a bit of a recap of our last year, beginning with little Libby, at barely 21 months old, "listening" to her soon-to-arrive sibling's heartbeat.


This is Scott and Libby near the end of my labor with Hudson. The looks on their faces pretty much sum up the way everyone present feels at the end of my long, drawn-out home births.

And so our family's third (first one being Daddy and Mommy's, second one being when Libby was born) love story began on the snowiest day in January. As you can tell, my pelvis was very unkind to his poor face.



















We have had a year full of growth, blessings, love, giggles, tears, and sleepy mornings. I look forward to this next year of more growth, new adventures, lots more giggles, lots more love, and many more blessings. I wish you a very happy New Year, and I pray that your next year will be full of whatever you wish it to be full of.

What we've been up to (lots and lots of pictures!)

Lots of posing... (ps. these matching shirts are the brain child of my mother-in-law; every family has their own color; ours is red (yay! Go Bucks!))
Lots of playing...

(Libby actually posed for this picture. She was getting me food and drink while I baked (below) and she said, "Mama, take a picture of me getting your drink," and then she held this pose while I shot the picture. How funny is that?)
Lots of baking...

More posing...
Libby's pretty Christmas dress (if you enlarge the picture above you can see her pretty sparkly shoes that she kept pulling up her dress to show everyone)
The anticipation on Christmas morning!!!...
And possibly her favorite gift...
Sorry it's taken me a while to post. It's been a little hectic around here with Christmas starting last weekend for our families. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great time with family, and we're ending it with a bang with a missed weekend trip to my Dad's house because Scott is upstairs puking. Big bummer (truly!). It's time for the children to make up lost sleep, and for me to clean this house!

How did you celebrate this year?