Thursday, April 28, 2011

Happy Easter






We had the priveledge of celebrating our Christs resurection with family! We spent the morning at church with our church family and then the afternoon at Granny's with all Kevins family! We even got to meet Kevins cousin Daniel's new son Trit from Thailand,they just brought him home last week! Seeing Trit with his new mom and dad was such a beautiful reminder of Christs adoption and love for us, as well as what God gave up to adopt us HIS SON!

Avs birthday



Averis birthday party is this weekend but her actual birthday was not over looked! she started her morning with a flower from her daddy and a balloon from her mommy. She then went and had breakfast with her daddy at krispie kreme. After lunch her and I had some one on one time at Divas and Dudes, a salon designed specifically for kids, we got mani pedis!She ate up all the attention, she decided she wanted purple glitter for her toes and that her and I both had to have orange finger nails and hers were dotted with white and green and had flowers on her thumb!What fun! We ended the evening at Chick fil A or "chicken lae" as Averi calls it and had chocolate cake with purple icing for dessert!HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

26 weeks...


count believe I am this close to 3rd trimester!!!! We are currently setting up Rei's nursery and working on combining the girls into one room, we are so excited to meet this little fella!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

18 months



Sofia Pearl is officially 18 months old! I literally can not believe my "baby" is that old!I dont know officially how big she is but I know she is on the petite side, although she thinks she is as big as Averi! She is the funniest little thing and has the cutest almost alienesque voice. She is talking up a storm, loves to snuggle, loves to read books, if we leave her in just a diaper she will take it off so pants are a must with her! She is fearless and climbs everything, touches everything (including bugs that totally terrify Averi) and screams with delight the loudest scream you have ever heard! She is a fit thrower, we are working on it but sadly the fits and "bad attitude" have come in full swing! Averi is her best friend, she follows her everywhere... she is a mommas girl for sure but Daddy is finally winning her over a little bit. She is preparing to be a big sister and talks often of "baby" growing in my belly and always has a baby in hand at home, she rocks them, feeds them and takes them for walks in her little stroller!She loves to be rocked and often says "rock please rock please" and points to her rocking chair before we lay her down, she never falls asleep being rocked and after a couple minutes she points to her crib and says "nap please nap please" it is one of the best part of my days to have her cuddled on me and resting so sweetly, even if only for a few minutes! She is quircky and hysterical, she never stops laughing! We adore everything about her!

Averi's 1st joke...

so we were riding in the mini when averi dropped her sippy cup, strapped in her car seat she could ofcourse not reach it so she said "mom can you get my cup" I looked back, it was out of reach I told her I couldn't reach it, she laughed a little and then said to kev (who was driving) "daddy...you get my cup..." Kevin laughed and said "no baby I'm driving I cant reach it"... this really had Averi giggling, she then turns to Sofie (who is also strapped in her car seat and obviously unable to reach her big sisters sippy) and says " Sofie (uncontrollable giggling) you get my cup...hahaha" I love THREE!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Happy birthday Averi Noe'l

Averi is officially a three year old! She is such a gift from God, she is the funniest, wildest, sweetest, most compassionate, loving,helpful and beautiful 3 year old I know! She has always been mild tempered... she LOVES her little sister and tries so hard to include her! She is nearly potty trained with the occasional number 2 accident... she loves to have her nails painted, sings about everything, loves "little people", baby dolls, anything that involves going outside, her new best buds are my friend Kims boys Tripp and Ty...she plays so well with them and talks about them often! She knows the fruits of the spirit, she prays for every meal, knows Gen 1:1, several bible stories, her ABCs, she can count to 15, recognizes all shapes and colors, and is learning the day of the weeks! She is a joy. Our greatest prayer is that she will come to know our Lord as her Father at an early age... we know her kind nature and loving spirit could go far in sharing Christs love to the world! She is beautiful, and we are honored to call her our daughter...here is a little video to honor 3 years with our 1st baby!


Friday, April 15, 2011

the desire of my heart...

So I know fully and without a doubt that God placed me at my job at the time he did for a reason. This job has been the most rewarding job outside of my work in our home that I have EVER had. I love my coworkers dearly, and I LOVE what I do, I feel my job has purpose and I feel it is an honor and priveledge to invest time into ever the smallest, sickest and littlest of Gods children. This job has taught me how much I've taken for granted, having two healthy full term daughters for one, easily concieving my children, the fact that my children are growing in a home with a mom and dad who love them and love the Lord instead of an abusive home or foster care, the fact that when I had my children I had an amazing supportive husband and family and wasn't a terrified teenager, the fact that I've never stood by and watched my child be seriously ill or die when there was literally nothing anyone could do to save them... all these things I took for granted! I am blessed, I am incredibly blessed and God has used this job to show that to me again and again.
In that I feel working is taken my time with my babies so young for granted, I know with confidence that I will never look back at these years and think that having a few extra hundred dollars a month will be worth being away from them. We have a wonderful babysitter, i could not ask for better. But me working has made everything very difficult... here is a week for us in a nutshell... our church has no Sunday night church (well it is the same service as the AM service) So typically I work Sunday Monday and Tuesday from 645pm until 7am...whitney comes monday tuesday and wednesday to let me sleep, she typically has to leave by 2 so if Kev can he will sit with the girls and allow me to catch a little bit more sleep if not I get up at 2 and take over, these days vary but I typically try to work the 1st part of the week when I am on my work stretch I am so incredibly worn out that sleeping showering hugging my babies for a few minutes eating and going back to work is my life... Wednesday nights Kev has had to go to louisville as he has class on thursdays (so we havent seen each other since sunday and he doesnt come home until late thursdays) if we are really lucky we get friday and saturdays together (much of it spent on house work and laundry) then we go to church Sunday mornings I nap and head back into work. During the midst of this I plan playdates for my days off, I meal plan, one of us gets to the grocery, We play and play and play with Av and sof as much as possible, we are each leading a college small group,working in the college group every sunday,me attending a womens bible study, Kev has his own demanding full time job, Im growing another child, laundry is a constant, dishes are a constant, sweeping, mopping, cooking, bathrooms, vaccuuming and dusting must all happen, and at some point we like to have a night just the two of us atleast once a month! Needless to say, this schedule is killing us! It is a tough spot, when you love your job and enjoy making a paycheck to help your family yet you love your family and that time more but worry about the financial end of it...it is REALLY hard to know what to do...
So after us having a 3rd child sank in, I began to pray, and to be honest I began to battle God, I felt me working was a necessity. God told me other wise... I could hear him clearly saying to trust him... so I began too. I relinqueshed controls of our finances to him more then I ever have, I bagan to want to tithe instead of feeling just as if it were another bill. And suddenly Kevin got the news he will ba able to graduate this may instead of next december with only one more jterm vs 3 more classes,GOD IS GOOD! Kev wont have to travel nor will we have the added expense of his school and that is a HUGE financial burden lifted, after I pay for childcare the cost of his schooling is almost equal to what I take home. Kevins company is expanding and growing and their is opportunity for him to hopefully recieve a promotion... and no matter how it works out God has granted me full peace in our decision for me to stay home after Reiter arrives... ideally I will come back one weekend a month because I truly truly truly love what I do but we will see if that is Gods plan or not. I am nervous and excited about the next steps in our life, I am excited to be back with my babies and hopefully after we adjust to Rei get back into our more regular routine!I am excited to do the job that God has given me and that provides me the most joy and fulfillment and that is in my home.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Ohio weekend











Av, sof and I headed to OH for the weekend to see my best friend their aunt Lala! We shopped, we visited the Childrens Musuem, we ate, had a mini Easter Egg hunt, and decorated cookies!It was a fast weekend but so much fun! Thank you for opening your home to us Aunt Lala!

Swimming...




Averi has been asking since december when we can get out her princess pool and she can swim, and why we have had some nice days none have been nice enough for that! SO instead we put on the swim suits filled up my big tub and in the girls went for 45 minutes of pure fun! Averi is all about showing Sofie how to lay on her tummy and swim, and Sofie as fearless as ever is all about joining her swimming while she throws her face in the water and laughs!What a joy they are!