goooooodberrys.

 a few weeks back nat and the kids came into town on her birthday, so naturally a trip to goodberrys was in order. (what did i tell you? we always get some sweet treat when we're with aunt natalie. birthday or no birthday!)

 ooops.
the classic 'drop-of-the-entire-ice-cream-cone-on-the-ground' scenario.
oh well, shaved off the top and ate the rest. and had fun looking at the melting ice cream on the ground.

look at these faces. walking advertisement i tell you. yum city.

and no i didn't forget to put a pic of the birthday girl on the blog. she refuses to have pics taken far to often...come on niblet:)

sweet treat

the new joke is that when we're with aunt natalie, the kids always have some kind of sweet treat. it's true. she can't help it. but i love it, even though i give her a hard time about it.
for milana's birthday a few weeks ago we had cupcakes outside...funfetti de-lish-ous-ness:)





someone was not happy they couldn't join in on the birthday fun:(





early harvest

with the warm winter we had, there is an early harvest of strawberries so we went picking at a local grower in apex for mom and cathy's birthday last saturday!

happy birthday {great} aunt cathy!

and a very happy birthday to my aunt cathy!! we are so excited to be able to celebrate with you and mom today. cathy we love you and are so grateful to God for you - you are so generous, so gracious and so loving. we hope you know how much we love you!

happy birthday nana!

happy birthday to you mom!! i am so thankful for you as my mother and as one of my childrens' grandmothers. you have provided us with numerous date nights, last minute relief periods, meals, and an open place for us to bring our kids and hang out when we need to get out of the house. thank you for loving us, our husbands and our children! you are special to me and i thank God for you:)

happy birthday(s)

the past couple weeks have gotten by me...but alas, happy birthday (belated) to my wonderful niece milana who turned 2 last week, seth's mom (aka granny apple) who turned 60 last week, as well as to my wonderful sister natalie who is 27 today! my sweet sugar beans is a hoot and a half! she is full of life and fearless. she is so expressive and very sweet. she's a fantastic big sister, and such a special cousin to jackman and lilly jo! i love her so much and thank God for bringing her into our lives.

granny apple, or as lilly calls her, "bee-bop apple" has a special place in our hearts. she's a wonderful, hard working, loving woman and while we don't see her quite as often as my family due to distance, we are so very thankful for her! she's thoughtful and helpful and she just loves her children and grandchildren. she's been through a lot over the past year and continues to remain steadfast in her faith in Jesus - a true testimony of God's love to all of her family!

as for niblet, i have been extremely blessed to have her as my sister. although we've grown closer over the years, the past couple years have been extra special as we've shared many mucho laughs, tears and frustrations by becoming mothers. what a joy it has been to share this time with her...she always makes me laugh like no one else. she reminds me of my dad in many ways, and she's got a way of expressing things that really speaks to my heart. love you nataboo:)

bday post #3 - Lilly Jo is TWO!!

Having a 2 year old makes me, on some level, feel old and like I'm not a newbie at being a parent anymore. Thankfully that feeling only lasts about 2 seconds before I'm quickly reminded that I'm definitely still a newbie parent and I daily need to rely on God's strength, grace, love and truth lest I crumble at anything that goes wrong or isn't easy. Which is probably 90% of the time.
Lilly Jo has been such a blessing to Seth and I - seeing her grow and change over the past 2 years has brought immense joy to our lives! Lilly Jo is a kindhearted, curious, people watcher who clearly soaks in every part of life she sees, feels, hears, smells and tastes! She has hit a huge growth spurt in her social development just over the last 2 weeks and she is talking non-stop. She tries to repeat everything you say, no matter how long the sentence. Just as with any other stage she's gone through, I absolutely love this stage! Trying as it may be to hear her repeat a phrase over and over for 20 minutes, I know she's learning so much by doing it, and I love hearing her remember things she learned a day ago or a week ago, and repeat them with excitement!
Like Jack, she had her 2 yr checkup today and also did amazing well. Thankfully she only had one vaccination, which she did great at, only whimpering slightly until she too got her 'juice' packet. She's such a trooper - we were both so proud!
Her stats are that she, too, has a large noggin (96%), is 1 inch shy of being 3 ft tall (75%), and weighs just over 27 lbs (50%). She too was very attentive to the dr as she was examined, but kept reminding us that she wanted a bandaid (not sure if she would have longed for that bandaid so much if she knew why it came to her!).
As I've mentioned before, she is much more aware that we're having a baby this go-round, and she loves mentioning her sister Amelia Katelynn, and has named her babies Amelia as well:) She pointed to my belly again today and I think can tell that it's beginning to grow a lot more. Seth and I cannot wait to see her face when she meets Amelia Katelynn and sees that she's a real person, and that, Lord willing, we'll bring her home in late May!! I know she's absolutely going to love taking care of her little sister!
We're going to begin potty training tomorrow so we'll see how this new stage goes for Lilly Jo (and for mommy and daddy)!

birthday post #1 of probably many...Jack Lewis!!!

Hard to believe a whole year has passed since Jackman {quickly} entered this world (for more on that click HERE)! It's true that time flies a little faster when you have more than one. Jack is such a joy in our lives - he's full of laughs, loud noises and energy and he just loves his big sister! Jack had his 1 yr checkup today and it went well...got 1 finger prick, in which is only response was to look at the nurse with mouth wide open as if she didn't know who he was and that she just hurt him. But no tears. Just shock. He sat very still as our dr looked in his eyes, ears, listened to his heart and belly and checked his boy parts. Taking it all in I guess:) By the time the 3 vaccinations came around he was beyond tired and so they were zero fun. But alas Seth and I came prepared with his favorite treat - "juice" packet from the store, just like the one pictured above that he got for his birthday. Who doesn't love a healthy snack for a treat?!

Jack's stats are basically that he still has a large noggin (>97%), and a small body (25% for both height and weight)! Cute little man he is:)

Jack eats only what we eat and has for awhile...he was not a fan of baby food like Lilly Jo was. He eats like a champ, most of the time eating more than LJ, drinks whole milk, and sleeps about 11 hrs a night, taking 1 short nap in the morning and a quasi-long nap in the afternoon at the same time LJ does.
He's all boy and I love it. And it exhausts me:) Can't wait to see how he reacts to meeting his baby sister in May!