Blast From The Past...Sort of!

This is kind of a testing post to try out some picture editing ideas. I am desperatly trying to stream line my time at the computer as much as possible. It is nearly impossible to do anything on here with out two little helpers..."helping".



This was a date at the bluebell field...April 2005



Our wedding...





A snap shot from the ceremony...



Shortly after I bought my wedding dress... "final" fitting.





Our engagment pictures...September 2005









Well that was productive... A nice walk down memory lane. I can't believe we'll be celebrating 5 years of marriage at the end of this month. It's pretty amazing looking at these pictures and thinking about how far we've come, it's been pretty crazy!

Oh and if you visit our site (www.familyofjoys.wordpress.com ) you'll be able to see the link to the video I tried to post in our last entry...Good night, Happy Friday (well almost!).

Video

I forgot to add this yesterday...A video of the girls playing together:

I can't seem to embed it...Here is THE LINK!

Babies and Girls...

Friendly is 16 months old yesterday, I cannot say how much I am enjoying this age...She is the sweetest!!

Our Sweety!

She's learned how to go up and DOWN the steps in the past several weeks... She now wonders all over the house with quite a bit of freedom. She is really proud of these new skills.

Roo makes us laugh! She woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday and so I had her eat up in the bedroom to give her some space and time to wake up. When I went up to check on her this is what I found, a tea party! :)

Friendly was quite pleased to join in!

The guests at the party...

We've been sick this week... Roo had a VERY high fever Saturday night and woke up delirious and uncomfortable. Thankfully every one seems to be on the mend, just nursing the colds left behind from this strange virus. We've been spending a LOT of time in front of the TV ( :( ), sipping juice, wiping noses, and taking it easy.

Friendly is just growing up so much. We counted it up last night she has over 20 words in her vocabulary now! And she has several sentences that are in her own little language, but the inflection is so obvious you can understand what she's saying. When she's crying "Me ma me Mommie!" is (I want my Mommie!) and "dis MY" (this is MINE!)... She is also a HUGE fan of "No MY!" whenever Roo is near her. She's certainly talking up a storm! On the flip side though there is so much she wants to tell us about...Since she can say yes and no it's like playing 20 questions until we figure out what she's asking for. Frustrating.

And afternoon cat nap for Friendly... She is growing up so fast. Speaking of sleeping we are loving (kind of ;) ) some of the new rituals she has recently pulled out. At sleep times she ahs to round up all her babies, tuck them into her bed, and kiss each one several times before she'll go to sleep. And she wants to be put to sleep (most of the time) just like them, Mommie patting her back and a dolly as well. sheesh. But it's so cute I can't resist, she's growing too fast.

Ah, sister love... The girls are certainly challenging with that! A lot of fighting and disagreements. Two little people learning to live together, hard work. But also with that comes some really incredible things to watch. The precious little conversations over tea parties (Roo doing most of the talking, Friendly piping in with a yes, no, mine, or jabber of her own). They've started playing house, taking care of their babies and cooking for them, playing tag. Whoa! Entertaining eachother....Sometimes.

Our Christmas Tree this year... I'm sure it won't look anything like this by Christmas, at least at this rate! The girls daily rearrange the ornaments, they are having a blast with it.

Roo's favorite ornament... And angel in a "shockin"

Lots of playing happening! Glad they are starting to feel better...Wish it weren't so cold so we could GO outside!

Friendly playing hard

Well must run... Hope you all are enjoying December...More to come soon!

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving

Hopefully some pictures of the day to come...eventually.

This will have to be short. We had a bit of a freak accident (still not entirely sure HOW it happened) and my middle finger on my right hand got the short end of the deal..Well thankfully it's not shorter, just bruised and swollen with a deep (to the bone?) cut. We were trying to hurry and get the girls fed an early lunch and down for their naps before the guests arrived and (as Roo said over and over again) "the feast" began.

Well I was carrying a stone-ware plate to the kitchen and Ryan was kneeling by the girls little picnic table helping them get situated. On my way through I had to slide behind him to get past the dining room table, and as I was he suddenly stood up, throwing (with shocking force) my hand with plate into the dining room table. The plate shattered into a thousand pieces and somehow managed to slice my finger and bruise my ring and pinky fingers. We still can't figure out how it cut me where it did. It was ugly. I have never seen a wound bleed like that (literal pool with in a few seconds) and OUCH!!!!

Thankful my Mom was there to take over as Ryan was trying to rescue the girls away from the shattered mess, and I was on the verge of fainting. She got the bleeding under control and then ran to the drug store to get some butterfly tape to hold together the cut. It was still bleeding into the evening but thankfully stopped and I'm glad I didn't have to go get stitches. This whole incident has left me kind of useless. My Uncle is a nurse and he looked it over last night and said I just need to keep it elevated and stabilized. So I have been.

Last Tuesday (the 23rd) Ryan and I celebrated 21 years of friendship. The day we met was a Thanksgiving Day, it snowed and we both have vivid memories from that day. The biggest one being: I (accidentally!) slammed Ryans' finger in a door.

Yesterday was surprising. Roo was thrilled as we got a good 1+ inch of snow and she was desperate (a long with Friendly) to get out there and play in the snow. She's been looking forward to snow for months! And then Ryan (accidentally) cut my finger horribly.

I think we can call it even for finger injuries on Thanksgiving. No more! Uncanny the similarities though! :0)

We're so thankful this year. For each other, for our beautiful, exuberant, and healthy children. For our families and for God's provision this past year. And not just physically but for all the questions He's answering and doors He's opening (and closing!). It truly has been a very special year and we're just in awe of His grace. We hope all of you, where ever you celebrated had a special day...We're thankful for each one of you!

Now off to elevate my hand and watch a movie with my hubby! The girls just went down!

15 months!

Friendly is 15months old today- how is that possible?

We are loving this age, just eating up all the cute things she does. She understands so much of what is said around her. If you ask her a yes or no question she will nod or shake her head with the most solemn expression. The other week I mentioned in passing to a friend that I was going to be leaving later that evening. Friendly wouldn't leave my side the rest of the day! That evening she was crying and clinging in my lap, it was getting near bedtime. I asked 'Friendly, are you sad because I said I was leaving tonight." She lifted her face from snuggling and nodded her sweet little head. I told her Daddy would be there after I left and she would be fine.

At bedtime I reminded her I'd be back later and Daddy would come to her if she needed anything. She whimpered but nodded and crawled over to her bed for us to finish our routine. She did fine for Ryan that night! He said it only took a few minutes to get her back down when she woke up looking for me (I went to a Zumba class with some girlfriend's I don't usually go out to late evening things, too tired! ;0).

She also has started pretending with her big sister. Roo started this game in the downstairs bathroom...It sounds strange but is funny. The downstairs bathroom has this vineyard antique fruit thing...It has these life-size bunches of grapes and other fruits as a chair rail ( sounds strange, not doing the walls justice!). When Roo Girl is using the bathroom she started grabbing bunches (pretending) off the walls and going "yum yum yum yum yumm....Want some grapes? They are deeelicious!Well now anytime Friendly is in there she carefully "picks" a grape and hands it to some one or "yum yum yumms" as she eats them herself!

I love their imaginations!

She wants to do anything that Roo is doing, or we're doing...

The other night at a family gathering we were all having a glass of wine. My brother was pouring and Friendly wanted in on that action. She grabbed her little plastic tea cup and raced over to Uncle J going "ea ea ea ea!!!" (please)

No baby, it's not juice.

She had her 15mos appointment today. 21lbs 4oz and 31 inches tall,. She's grown 3 inches since her first birthday!!

We're so thankful for her, I can't believe what a blessing she is!

Silly Sayings

Roo today has been coming up with some cute things.

Today is the day we let our voices be heard and VOTE. After Roo nap this afternoon, I told her once she was awake enough we were going to head down to the polls, so I could cast my Vote.

"Mommie, are we going to ride on a Boat??"

No cast my V-V-V VOTE.

repeat a hundred times.

So we get every one all bundled up (it's chilly!) and walk over to the voting place. We walk in the room and Roo pipes up, "Where's the vote? Where are the fishies? Where's the water, Mommie?"

Later this afternoon... We were in the playroom and I said "Oh we better run up and bring Barny in, he's barking up a storm."

As I walk in the back door with Barn Roo pipes up "Barnabas! You were barking up the thunder! You need to be quiet, we don't want to get wet!"

She's cute.