Retired!

Today was officially my last day of work at Health Decisions. It's hard to believe I worked there for just about 4.5 years...what a wonderful first job to have out of college! I had the opportunity to meet and grow close to so many people there and it's hard to believe I won't see them on a daily basis anymore. I definitely plan on visiting every now and then to catch up, but it won't be the same. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to stay at home full time with Jack and Lilly, but I will most certainly miss my co-workers.
Last week my manager and I were talking and she told me a funny conversation she had with her 8 (is that right Kevyn?) year old son. I think she must have told him recently about some people that were leaving the company for whatever reason, and the conversation went something like this...

"Mom, you still have your friend Rebecca at work."
"Well son, she's gone now too."
"Did she leave because she had all those babies?"
"Yes, she left because she had all those babies."
"So she's retired now?"
"Yes. She's retired."

So there you have it folks...
I've officially retired to take care of all my babies!

Next time I'm having a frustrating day at home, I just need to remind myself that I'm RETIRED and this is all FUN and no work. Right?!

Gotta love kids:)

Lilly Jo's First Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Lilly Jo's first birthday party...a little late, but hey, Jack enjoyed it so much more than he would have a month ago:)
We had such a wonderful time hanging out with lots of friends and family...we are so blessed to have such great people around us who love us and our children!

I made a birthday banner for LJ's party, and was really pleased with how it turned out...unfortunately I don't have a great picture of it yet...

Cousins:)

Milana, Aubree and LJ

Cupcake pics will be in their own post due to the sheer volume of great photos:)

Lilly Jo wasn't sure how she felt with everyone singing to her...

...or about this red thing with fire on top of it...

cousins again...they're close, as you can tell!

Seth's brother Robert with his girlfriend Victoria and their daughter Aubree Lyn

Auntie Flossie with our friend H-man!

The Saunders and Jack-man

Lilly Jo and sweet Anna-girl

LJ and dada checkin' out books she got from the Marks!

lots of tots!

A special THANKS to my friend Erin who made the amazing cupcakes for the party.... check out the apple cupcakes below!!!! The woman has talent I tell you!

What a special day for LJ:)

3 yrs ago...

Seth asked me to be his wife!

What a wonderfully full 3 years it's been...I'm so thankful for Seth. He's a true servant, as Jesus Christ calls him to be. He gives of his whole self to love me and now love our family.

What a {handsome} man God has blessed me with...

:)

park time with nibs and binanas!

today the weather was GORGEOUS here so we made a playdate with aunt natalie and binanas, and met them at a park in cary. it was tons of fun and we enjoyed everybit of sunshine! milana did NOT like the sand so we stayed mainly at the swings, which were a GREAT HIT! nana even got to come by for a few minutes on her lunch break:)

one month already?!

hard to believe this time one month ago seth and i were deciding that it was time to call the dr and get prepared to head to the hospital for the delivery of our son jack lewis.

man, i still laugh at myself when i think how the dr's warned us (numerous times) to not wait long at home once contractions started, and yet we decided to call the dr for the first time at like 830pm and then didn't leave the house until 10pm, thinking we'd still have lots of time to get to rex hospital, get admitted and have an epidural put in before things got too crazy.

WRONG. try 38 min after we left the house.

hehehe.

i really think seth needs to take a class to learn how to deliver a baby, if we decide to have another one down the road...

and by down the road i do NOT mean this time next year.

seth does. but i do not.

:)

jack's such a handsome fellow...

we love him so much and are amazed at how fast he's growing. he focuses on our faces very well already and will occasionally smile at us while we're talking to him and playing with his feet or his nose.

he's definitely got a nice set of lungs, but he can be quite content at times as well.

feeding schedule is still in the works...he eats about every 2-3 hours during the day and sometimes has a 4 or 5 hr stint during the night. sometimes.

i think he's going to be an active little bugger like his big sister...and i can't wait until they can start really playing together. i know lilly jo is going to love it for sure!

sidenote...is it just me or does jack look like he's got bunny ears in this picture?

kids these days...

always chattin' it up on the latest technology...

lilly jo. feb '10

jack lewis. feb '11

bam bam? alfalfa?

nope. just ji-jo.

delish

spaghetti, green beans and apples...yum city!

playdates

Recently we've been able to have some playdates with a few friends! This has been so helpful for me because Lilly Jo is in need of some friends to play with while I'm spending time feeding and helping Jack Lewis.

Above are our friends Henry and Anna...cutie patooties!

And above here are our friends Oliver and Titus. This was the first time we've hung out with them, but I think we'll have playdates with them often:) Seth works with their daddy and they are close in age just like Jack and Lilly so I have lots in common with their mommy, Shelly:)

Looking forward to more playdates in the future...!

For Toni...

My wonderful Aunt Toni came to visit, with one of her grandchildren, Rachel, last week. It was great to see them both!!! Toni had 3 of her 5 children back-to-back, so she can relate to my situation now with Jack and Lilly being so close together in age. I don't think I want to go for that 3rd child in 3 years, but either way she'll be a great one to call and cry to when it gets tough with two youngins:)

Toni has a great sense of humor, much like my dad's (her brother) so anytime I get to see her I always enjoy being around her and hearing lots of funny stories:)

Thanks for coming to visit Toni and Rachel!! We love you!

TP

I'll let you come up with your own story using these pictures...

Lord {Jack} of the Dance

i can hear the irish music now...
:)

love

lazy afternoon

Sunday the weather was beautiful so we sat out on the porch for a bit...Jack in dada's arms and Lilly Jo playing in a pot-o-dirt...and mommy taking pictures:)