What an Exciting Week!!!

Here are lots of pictures from this exciting week!!

Mackenzie chewing on a piece of crust for the first time!

Discovering that she can pick the grass!

A pretty ecstatic Uncle Andrew!!! And for a good reason!!! He proposed to the most gorgeous, godly, funny, wise, thrifty, generous, smart, beautiful girl in the world and she said YES!! He rocked it out as far as engagement stories go too! He woke her up at 4:30 a.m. (my mom wants everyone who hears this story to make sure they know that SHE was there when this all happened!) and then had his mom drive them to the airport where they got on a plane and took off for Orlando. Amy had no idea what was going on or what they were going to do when the got there. He took her to Epcot and when they reached Canada he proposed with a letter that he had written to her a year ago (BEFORE they started dating!) saying how much he loved her. She started crying knowing what was coming and he pulled out the perfect, antique ring he had bought for her months ago... she said yes and they had a blissful day saying "I love you" and planning their wedding! They're hoping for an October wedding... so it's going to be busy!

The second most beautiful ring in the whole world!!! (Well, mine rates 1-10, so make this the 11th most beautiful ring ;)

Our sick girl... you'd never know it by this picture, but she was up with croup all night Friday. She sounded like a barking seal, it was so scary... in the morning her daddy took her out to the hammock so she could breathe in the cool morning air. I love this picture!!

These next few are from Angie's shower! It was so beautiful! MarieAnn and Vicky did such a good job putting it on! Here is the plate that we all got to sign, and the favors we got to take home in the background.

Here are the flower arrangements that MarieAnn made herself!!!

Here's the surprised Angie... ok, she said she saw my car... bummer...

Would you believe the woman next to the bride-to-be is her mother!! She looks like a sister, I think!

Here's all the bridesmaids! 1 sister, 1 best friend, 2 sisters-in-law-to-be, and 3 cousins!

Here's Melanie playing the toilet paper bridal gown game! Great job with the games Vicky!!

Our team won for the most beautiful dress.... although the competition was steep, I rocked it out with my toilet paper earrings, bracelet, and ring and that put it over the top!

Lianna was a beautiful bride with the veil over her face!

I was cracking up when I saw this!!! (and hoping she wasn't suffocating...) She did this herself... not once, but twice before we went to bed tonight... I wonder how I'll find her in the morning!

I woke her up when I took this one, she wasn't very happy with me when I took her out of her hiding spot!!

Well that's it for this past week! Coming up this week my parents are away in Cancun so we get to have Stephen stay with us the whole week and we are SO excited!!! We have big plans so hopefully we'll have many exciting pictures to put up next week! Thanks for checking in!

Some pictures from last week

Here are some highlights of last week. We enjoyed so beautiful weather!! Uncle Stephen was showing off his skateboarding skills to Mackenzie and she was cracking up! Later he had this idea of getting her on the skate board for a little photo shoot... "god-uncle" Noah was very helpful for this shot too. They are both the most incredible 10-year-olds when it comes to babies... they are so good with them and Mackenzie and Ella love them so much!
Here's our little girl exploring the sandbox for the first time (trust me, I was in the background with wipes on hands ready for her to stick a mouthful in her mouth!) Friends Gracie and Judah met us at the park... it was a fun day for us mommy's to hang out and for the babies to explore the big "castle park!"
Look at her... she was so good about just exploring and not eating!! There was only one attempt to eat it and she was rescued just in time! So, this could have been a really cute shot, but instead Mackenzie decided to wail the minute I put her down on the grass! It looks like Gracie is patting her on the back telling her it will all be ok! I was pushing my luck, after a full afternoon at the park, our little girls needed a nap! I swear I didn't do this... this is just how she puts herself to sleep! Usually she has that soft bunny/blankie thing over her head, but when I peeked in yesterday it was her blanket! It cracks me up how she sleeps with stuff over her head all the time... she got that from me and I got that from my dad!

We are RICH!!

God showed me today just how rich we are! I had the privilege of having my mom and her parents over for lunch today and through conversation I was amazed again at all I've been given. I am so grateful for my godly heritage... both of my parents were raised in godly households. My Nana and Poppop are with Jesus now, but I get to enjoy a wonderful relationship with my Mommom and Poppop... and for years I got to enjoy a relationship with my great-grandparents too (who came to know the Lord later in life, but no one waited for heaven with such great expectation as my Gamu did!) Over lunch today I got to pick my Poppop's brain about this election, health insurance, and Jake's job and I received such encouragement from all of them about how I'm doing as a mom. It was such a privilege to receive so much affirmation from them about what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. I never have to doubt there love for me... they are so proud of everything I do! And the way they love Jake is so sweet... my Poppop was going on and on today about how smart Jake is and how he thinks ahead. It is so nice to hear so many wonderful things about my husband from a man I respect so much! And they adore Mackenzie... Poppop was continually saying just how smart she is (mingled with stories about just how smart my mom was as a baby!) They are such a joy to be around, they love each other so much and are just such grateful people... I want to be like that! Poppop is so enjoying working three days a week now, he is so grateful that he gets to do things like have lunch with his wife, daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter... and it means so much to me that that is how he likes to spend his time!

Here's a video of Mackenzie showing off for Mommom and Poppop... they were so proud of her!

What a Thursday!!

On Thursday we went over to Julia's house... we had so much fun! I got to visit with my good friends Julia and Lily (she's from Covanent Fellowship) and our babies got to all play together. Grace, Caleb, and Mackenzie were all born within three weeks of each other and it is so much fun to get together. We're all new at this mom thing and we all have babies about the same age... God is so kind to give us this time to spend together! We are so grateful for our husbands who work so hard so we can stay home with our babies and have fun days like this one! This was really comical... watching them "play" together in the playpen... it required constant supervision, but I was no help cuz I kept taking pictures even when they were taking each other out....
Lily took this picture of me and Mackenzie outside the icecream store!
Julia treated us to ice cream... and we treated our babies... look at Grace's face, I don't know, do you think she wants some??
I LOVE this picture... yummmmm.........
Look at those chocolate lips!
What a fine day for some swinging... her little feet were so excited!
Notice the spread toes... she didn't stop kicking her feet once!
She passed out on the way home....
So did Gracie... Caleb was the only one going strong, he never gave in to nap time in a stroller!
My two encouraging friends, Lily and Julia, and our quad-annual (is that a word?? What do you say when you want to say four times a year?) get together... last time we were together our babies were all 4 months old... so much has happened in less than 3 months! When we get together this summer we'll probably have some crawlers... hopefully.... I think....

These girls are so encouraging to me. We're all in the same season and there is something so refreshing about getting together with other women who are going through the same joys and challenges as I am. No one is as joyful as my friend Julia (ok, besides my mom, but that's a given) and I am always so blessed when I get to hang out with her! She is so good at pointing me to the Lord and her house abounds with Bible verses stuck on everything and amazing art work that she and her husband have created! Lily is such an encourager and speaks with so much wisdom... she's also one of my go-to girls for natural health stuff too... she has a real passion for it and I can learn so much from her! I am so grateful God brought these two encouragers into my life and I am so excited to walk this road with them.

First Time In Sunday School!

This was a really fun week! It started with Mackenzie being a big girl and going to Sunday School for the first time!! I didn't leave her in the whole time, but she did really good and Miss Jaimie and Miss Adriane were so kind and patient with her... protecting her from all the mobile children. She's not a shoe in yet for Sunday School since she can't really defend herself, but she sits up so good that I feel comfortable leaving her for a little bit... so she can get used to it and so can I! Homeschoolers Day Out this week... with friends Liam and Lizzyboo...
After a walk we took this week.... before it warmed up so much! So cute....

A Nice, Calm Week

This was a nice, relaxing week. We were home a lot more than last week and Mackenzie got back on her napping routine... for a while there she was only doing 1/2 hr. naps and that was crazy... thankfully she's back to taking her 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hr. naps twice a day, and then sometimes a little catnap before dinner. She is much more pleasant when she has her sleep... and so is Mommy! This Friday we went over to our friend's house to play and have lunch and here is a picture of their twin girls pretending to be Mackenzie with grapes stuffed in there cheeks! Aren't they so funny?? They thought of that all by themselves!
Here's a video of Daddy feeding her carrots... she's pretty excited as you can tell!