THINK

I have been wanting and trying all week to get on and post about something special that has been on my heart.  I hope it's a blessing to you, like it was to me.

Sunday our Church, Orchard Assembly of God, celebrated it's 70th birthday!  Happy Birthday Orchard! It was a great day and such a special day. Before church, Jeremy and I went through our normal Sunday morning routine of scrambling around trying to get dressed before Ella Claire wakes up and this week I also put a casserole in the oven to take to church for lunch after the service.  We arrived at church a few minutes late and Ella Claire had perfect timing with a horrible dirty diaper that I had to change before dropping her off in the nursery. :/ We have completely outgrown our church, which is a good thing, but that means if you arrive late, good luck finding a seat... especially on homecoming!  So needless to say, I found myself a little tired by the time we arrived at church, changed that dirty diaper and found a seat in the very back row.  But, the service was good and before long I had forgotten how tired I was and what an effort it was to get there.  We had guest speaker, Pastor Ken Draughon, for the morning service and he did a fabulous job! His message was very simple: to be a blessing to other people.  He used Philemon 1:7 which says, "For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother."  This really spoke to me, probably because the Lord has been dealing with me recently about this same subject.  How do I treat other people?  Are the words I say uplifting to others? Am I constantly complaining or am I being positive? Are people glad they saw me and spoke to me or when I walk away are they more discouraged than encouraged?  Pastor Draughon had a great acrostic to help remind us to be encouragers.  THINK....before you speak.

T- Is what you are about to say True?
H- Is what you are about to say Helpful?
I- Is what you are about to say Inspiring?
N- Is what you are about to say Necessary?
K- Is what you are about to say Kind?

This really is such a simple concept, but sometimes not the easiest to do on a daily basis. Our lives are busy, and often stressful which sometimes causes us to not think before we speak.  I'm going to do my best to think before I speak and try to be an encourager to others! I hope you will too! :)

                  Here are a few pictures of us recently.....

EC just waking up from a nap

just hanging out at home

See you again real soon with a fun fall craft!

new SHOES, 12 month SHOTS and a backyard photo SHOOT :)

It's a record....two posts in 3 days! I'm trying, can you tell? Jeremy and I recently purchased a new camera that we had our eyes on for a LONG time! Hopefully it will motivate me to get on and share a little more often.  A few of these pictures were taken with our new camera (a Canon T2i) but the first couple pictures were taken with our smaller sony camera.  I think you will be able to tell the difference.

When Ella Claire started walking, I knew she HAD to wear shoes.  I love sweet baby feet and for that reason, until now, I had not purchased any dressy shoes for her.  She has a few pair of Robeez, but nothing fancy to wear out. ;)  So, when Ella Claire turned one, my mom and I took her to none other than J Ray Shoes, and picked out the sweetest pair of shoes for our sweet pea.  This was such a special occasion and I just had to get a picture of her getting her foot measured. Call me crazy, but I was so nostalgic that week, that I was disappointed I didn't think of bringing our video camera along too! This is the same store where my mom bought my shoes when I was a child. 

Ella Claire happy as can be and showing us she is 1, just a few minutes before she got those mean ole' 12 month immunizations.   

Still holding up that 1, but not quite as happy after the shots.  :(  

Daddy took the day off and came to play with us at The Watermelon Patch!!

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!!

I realized a few Sundays ago, that Ella Claire dresses up each Sunday and I rarely take pictures! So, last Sunday after church we had a little family photo shoot in the backyard. You can even see Gus in one or two of them.  :) I can't believe how growny she looks in this one!

We have so many pictures of Jeremy and Ella Claire in this exact position.  She just stares at him and gives the biggest grin...so sweet! 

Love that squishy face!  See her new shoes?!?!!

This might just be my favorite picture ever! It really does make my heart melt!

 

Happy Weekend! 

Ella Claire turns 1!

This last year was by far the fastest year of my life! I honestly can not believe our little pumpkin is 1! She is such a big girl these days and so funny too! She can follow simple commands like "Go take the book to daddy." or hold up one finger when asked, "How old are you?" She will also show us her muscles and make a strain face if we tell her to "be strong"! Seriously funny to see such a tiny might do that! Since she started walking a few weeks ago, she is now a pro. She basically runs everywhere, which is great exercise for me. ;)

I found this adorable blue gingham bishop with smocked pink and green presents by Vive Le Fete and knew I wanted Ella Claire to wear it for her party. I decided to use the colors in her dress as the theme.

A picture banner with a picture of little miss each month from birth until 1 year.

Pom Pom's and Happy Birthday Banner made with love!

(The largest pom pom was hanging in the middle, but fell right before the party!)

It's been a blast turning one! Thanks for making my party so fun!!

The birthday girl ready for a taste of sugar. Her first taste of sugar!

Loving every bite!

I set a table up outside for the kids. I covered it in bulletin board paper and put a small box of crayons and a party blower at each chair. We also had pink, blue and green bouncy balls in the back yard for the kids to take home as favors and a bubble machine blowing bubbles.

fall fun

Happy Fall Y'all! I'm not real sure how an entire month goes by without me updating, but it does! I'm back and hopefully to stay around for a while. We have been busy celebrating birthdays around here. Fall birthdays are so fun! When I was pregnant with Ella Claire and realized our baby would be born in October, I wasn't completely thrilled. October was probably my least favorite month, mostly because I think of Halloween and I'm not a big fan of Halloween, or anything scary for that matter. But, now that October is here and we are celebrating Ella Claire's 1st birthday, it's not so bad. The weather has been AMAZING, and on top of that October has now been turned into pink month for breast cancer awareness, and I am loving that!

We have also celebrated Jeremy's birthday (September 16th), and my dad's birthday October 5th. Needless to say, I have had waaaaayyy too much cake to eat over the last month! ;)

Butter cake cupcakes with chocolate buttercream for Jeremy!

I made these for everyone at work.

Jeremy's cake was chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, per his request!

Carrot cake is my dad's favorite cake, so I made carrot cupcakes for him and sent them with Jeremy to work to surprise my dad.

Papa with his girls!

Ella Claire's birthday was October 6th, and we had such a fun celebration that I think I'll do a post on it all by itself. Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful fall weather!

from baby to big girl

Hello again! Here is the picture of my little daredevil that I mentioned in my last post. I had no idea 10 month olds could do things like this! One day they are hating tummy time, the next they are climbing on everything in sight!

This week also brought new adventures! Guess who has mastered walking?!? Yep! We are saying goodbye to carpet burned knees and hello to shoes! Ella Claire has been taking steps by herself for about 2 weeks now. As of yesterday, I think I can officially call her a walker. She has been walking all over the place! She still crawled a bit today when she was tired, but she is now preferring walking over crawling. I'm happy and sad all at the same time! This was her very first time to ever

wear shoes. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?

(Don't know why these pics are so small??)

Oh! I love that sweet little thing! She is learning so many new things. She will shake her head, yes if you ask her a question like, "Ella Claire, are you a sweet girl?" or "Ella Claire, are you a smart girl?" She also will hold up 1 finger when you ask her how old she is. But, that one we are still working on. She has to be "in the mood" to cooperate and hold up that little finger. ;)

We are in full blown party planning mode at our house. Well, I say we, I mean me! Jeremy just comes home everyday asking "Did you spend any money today?" or "How much money did you spend today?" I'm really not going too crazy. We are just having a family party. But, it's still hard for me to not want to go all out! I have a few projects that I am working on for the party and I can't wait to see how they all turn out. Well, I guess that's all for now. Hope to be back real soon!

double the fun

I've been gone for far too long, but I've been busy. My days are now filled with watching two babies. That's right. Two. Not one, but two! Madelaine has joined Ella Claire and me during the day every Monday- Thursday. And we're having lots of fun. These babies are as sweet as they come and I am honored to have them in my care. M is still just a tiny mite at 4 months old but she is learning new things everyday and will soon be sitting up and playing with Ella Claire. And EC, well she is into EVERYTHING!!! She is taking steps by herself now and climbing on everything. I caught her red handed standing in her baby stroller push toy a few weeks ago. I quickly took a picture (how could I not capture it!?!) and then put her sweet little feet safely back on the floor. The picture is not uploaded to my computer yet, so I'll have to post it later. It's way late now and I'll have an early wake up call in the AM, but I'll leave you with one picture of the cutest cousins in town.

water baby

This is how we have been dealing with this insane southern HEAT and HUMIDITY that I'm not wishing away! Because just as soon as the heat is gone, my baby will be ONE!! I can't believe it, I really can't believe it!

It's great for both of us! Ella Claire loves splashing and playing in the water and I enjoy soaking up every ray of sunshine that I can. This is my first summer ever to not spend lounging in a pool....so I am in desperate need of a little Vitamin D from none other than Mr. Sunshine. So, my legs and everyone that can see them are thanking me. :) As you can see from one of the pictures, Ella Claire even enjoyed lunch in the pool one day. Her favorite...Avocado. Where in the world she puts all this food that she eats I have no idea?!? Everyday for lunch she either eats an entire banana or an entire avocado. That is a lot of food!

Ella Claire and I have also been busy having play dates at The Watermelon Patch. Daphne, a friend from high school and nursing school invited us to join her and her little boy Titus to a Mommy and Me class once a week. Erin, another friend from nursing school and her little girl Anna Claire take the class too. Titus is 7 weeks younger than Ella Claire, and Anna Claire is 6 weeks older than Ella Claire. Another friend Sara Jane has been bringing her daughter Laura Katherine to the class also. Babies babies everywhere!! Fun Fun!!

The class is only about 45 minutes long and the babies play with musical instruments, and bubbles while we sing silly songs. Ella Claire loves it all except the parachute. All of the adults grab a handle and the babies play underneath the parachute. I don't know what it is, but EC crawls to me and tries to climb up my leg everytime. Silly girl! For the last 10 or 15 minutes the babies have open play. That's where they get to crawl wherever they want and play with whatever they want. The floor is covered in huge thick play mats and the rooms are filled with fun learning toys. It's a great place for little ones to go to get out of the house a bit, and a great place for mommies to get out too! ;)

Here is one last picture of my water baby enoying her bath time!