5 months old!

Marley is 5 months old today! I can't believe this, but just in the last few days she has started rolling around everywhere. I put her down on this pink blanket this morning, and when I walked back in just a minute later, look how far away she was!

She was pretty happy about it, too!

Here is a picture of Marley and Hannah from earlier this month. That's Hannah's foot in Marley's mouth!

This weekend my mom wanted to do a "practice" photo shoot for her Christmas card. So these aren't the actual photos she'll use, but they're still cute. (I think she's waiting for Wesley to take the 'official' pictures!)

This one won't turn the right way! Hopefully you can still see it.

Imagination Movers!

On Saturday we loaded up and headed to Shreveport to see the Imagination Movers! Carter and London had so much fun (and so did we!). Shelly and Wes took the babies to the Louisiana Boardwalk while we went to the show and we met them there afterwards. I wish I had a picture of Marley and Hannah in the double stroller together. You know Shelly and Wes got lots of comments about their "twins"!

Carter was pretty much his typical self--very observant and passive. London, on the other hand, really got into it. They both enjoyed it so much, they just show it in different ways. Here's a video of London doing the motions to one of the songs. At the end of the video you can see the stage and it looks like we're really far away, but really we had good seats and could see really well.

Justin and I used to go to this theater often when we were in college for the opera. Who ever would have thought that 10 years later we would be back there with our kiddos?! It was a far cry from the opera, but just as much fun!

Houston Trip

Justin and I went to a conference this week for youth ministers and their wives. We had a great time! Marley had to come with us, of course, but Carter and London stayed with their grandparents (both sets--they have to share!). The conference was really good, as it is every year, and since it was in Houston this time, we were able to catch up with a lot of our friends who live there. I drove to my parents' house on Friday with all 3 kids and Bear (our dog)--3 1/2 hours with no stops! Actually, we did go through the drive thru at McDonald's, but we never got out. We all stayed there for the weekend, and then Marley and I left on Sunday to head to Houston. I never got my camera out while we were at my parents' house or Justin's parents' house, so I don't have any new pictures of any of our extended families! Oops!

I did remember to get it out in Houston though. Here I am with Kim, one of my best friends from high school. Her two kids are the same ages as my oldest two, and I had a good time visiting with her whole family. Her parents were there, and it was fun to catch up with them too!

A friend of ours from college is a youth minister too, so he was at the conference. Here is JT and his wife, Abby:

On Tuesday, I left the conference a little early and headed to my friend Karla's for lunch. She is my other best friend from high school and Kim's twin sister. She had her little boy in December, and this was my first time to meet him. He's precious!

I set the timer on my camera to get this picture of the 4 of us. Pretty good, don't you think?

Kyle and Marley are already best buddies!

Here is a picture of Marley and Justin relaxing in our hotel room. Justin started flipping that remote in his hand, and Marley was cracking up! That's the only time I've ever heard her laugh when someone wasn't tickling her. It was the cutest thing...she just laughed and laughed and laughed!

The conference ended on Wednesday afternoon. We headed to Ikea because we had heard so much about it and there was one right near our hotel. It was fun--I've never seen anything like it! We didn't buy anything though, just looked around. After that we headed over to see some other friends from college--Mathew and Leigh and their 2 kids.

We wished we would have had Carter and London with us to play with all of our friends' kids, but it was hard enough to have Marley with us at the conference...although she really was a perfect angel during the sessions. They had so much time with their grandparents and cousins, so I don't think they would have wanted to be with us anyway.

We're glad to be home after so much time away. Tomorrow is going to be another adventure though, so stay tuned...although it will probably be a few days before I can get the pictures posted!

The Fair

We went to the fair Monday night with Shelly and Wes. Hannah and Marley stayed with a babysitter (thanks, Jennifer!) because we knew it would be too noisy for them. Here's the night in pictures:

the first ride of the night

Carter doesn't like the carousel too much, so he always rides on one of the benches. But London loves it and always rides it several times (you can see London and Justin in the background).

one of their favorites

London never looked very happy on the rides, but she had a blast! We kept asking her if she wanted to get off, and she always shook her head no.

This ride was just a little bit faster than the others, so London rode it without Carter. She's our little daredevil! Her friend wanted to ride with her, but she wanted to ride alone! He rode in the car in front of her instead.

Carter riding a motorcycle--the only kind I hope he ever rides!

Sissy and Wesley gave each of the kids a little money to spend. Carter spent his playing this fishing game (where he won a prize!)...

...and London spent hers on cotton candy! No surprise there. She's a junk food girl! (much to my dismay)

The kids had so much fun--they still have their armbands on and don't want to take them off! Justin and I forgot to have someone take any pictures of us, but we had a great time too. Can't wait til next year!

Update--Seeds Coupon!

I just got this comment on my Seeds post from a couple days ago, and I wanted to share the coupon code with all of you.

Christie!

Thanks for the kind words about Seeds! If any of your friends can't get to the bookstore to purchase and want to buy online, here is a coupon code for 25% off your entire CD purchase at the Seeds Family Worship online store - WORD09.

So glad your family is enjoying God's Word set to music.

Blessings,
Heather from Seeds Family Worship

Seeds

If you saw me at another local church this morning, don't worry! I'm not changing churches. :-) A few months ago Carter's best friend Caitlynn gave us a CD of scripture set to music. It's called Seeds of Courage, and our whole family loves it! Each CD you buy actually comes with 2 CDs of the same music, one to keep and one to give away. I've seen them in our church bookstore for $9.99, which is a great deal! Anyway...Seeds was in Tyler this morning, so the kids and I went. (Justin had to stay at our church, of course.) It was really great, and we all enjoyed it. You can visit the Seeds website here. Each song is actual Scripture, word for word. The website has downloadable Scripture memory cards that you can print for each song they sing.

Like I said, our whole family really likes the music--kids and adults! Our kids studied Jeremiah in Sunday School last week, and London came home saying she talked about Jeremiah, just like her song Jeremiah. The first song on the Seeds of Courage CD is Jeremiah 33:3: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." London calls it the 'call to me' song.

Anyway, I would recommend these CDs (there are several) to any family!

A Walk to the Park

We live near some ball fields and a playground, so this morning we decided to walk there. Carter had a great time looking for acorns, and London and Carter both had fun on the playground equipment. Marley enjoyed the ride too! When we got there we realized our camera batteries were dead, but I got a few pictures with my phone.

Happy Friday!