Lake Vacation

Last week we went on vacation!  It was a great relaxing time with my side of the family.  We swam, slept, ate, and laughed, all while chasing babies! 

Each evening, Carter, London, Marley, and I would sit out on some steps to watch the sunset.  Justin and Wes were always out wakeboarding at that time.  Here's London sitting with me:

The last night while we were sitting there, Justin decided to take the canoe out.  Carter and London wanted to go too, so Justin asked if I minded if we missed our sunset, but I said they would see it from the canoe.  While they were out there I got my favorite picture of the trip.

After we got back, Justin made this video of the highlights of our trip.  I hope you enjoy our vacation!  :-)  You can also see more pictures on Shelly's blog.

Father's Day 2010

For Father's Day this year, the kids and I headed to Piddlin' Pottery to make Justin something.  It was so much fun!  Here is a picture of Carter getting his hand painted...

...and here he is pressing it down onto the plate.

Then it was London's turn.

Marley had actually done her hand first, so she was just hanging out while all of this was going on.

And here is the finished product!

Daddy loved it and now we just need to get a stand to set it on.  I know this is something we'll always be glad we have!  But most of all, we're glad that we have the daddy we have--the best one in the whole world!  We love you!

Marley's Birthday Party

I posted about Marley's first birthday, but I never posted again after her birthday party.  Here is her cute invitation that Shelly designed...

...and her cute cakes (the big one was for the adults and the small one was just for her):

She loved digging into it!

Marley will pretty much eat ANYTHING.  She eats dog food, sand, bugs...really!  She tried to eat a LIVE june bug last Friday.  I barely stopped her in time.  I'm getting a little nervous that she doesn't have taste buds.  So we knew she would put her hands right into her cake and eat it up, and she did! 

All of her cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents came (except for Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amy who were in Spain!) and she loved being the center of attention.  It was a fun day of celebrating.  She had a little fever that morning but then perked up before her party.  That was the last time she's had fever and it's been about 3 weeks.  Our sweet girl is all better!

Mother's Day 2010

I know this is late and out of order on my blog, but I just had to post this picture.  Justin took it right before the kids went to bed on Mother's Day.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Big Accomplishments

CONGRATULATIONS, DADDY!  We're so proud of you.

That's right!  As of May 7, Justin is a seminary graduate!  Amen!!!  He now has his Master of Arts in Christian Education.  And most importantly, he is finished with all that studying!  :-)  He has tried to have us call him Master now, but you can imagine how that is going over.

Justin's parents made it possible for him to go to seminary.  Thank you, Bob and Judy!  We couldn't have done it without you.

Adam graduated too--congratulations, guys!

And our sweet friends (and brand new parents!) Melanie and Alan came to help us celebrate.  You guys are SO KIND!

And we also had another big accomplishment today--Marley used the big potty!  I'm not joking!

I don't want to give too much detail here, but sometimes Marley has a hard time pottying in her diaper.  I thought it might be a little easier for her without the diaper restricting her.  I could tell she needed to go and was having trouble, so I set her on the potty and she went right away!  12 months old and 5 days...it's a record at our house!  But I like the convenience of diapers too much to make this a habit.  I'll continue when it helps her, but besides that, we're sticking with Luvs for now...at least until she can walk to the potty!

Funny that these 2 events would both be labeled "Big Accomplishments" in my life, huh?  :-)

Happy 1st Birthday, Marley!

 

Marley has had a tough week leading up to her big day!  Last Thursday morning, bright and early, she had tubes put in her ears.  It went just like everyone said it would...she was only in surgery for a total of 7 minutes or so, and even though she wasn't her usual happy self when I first saw her, she perked up soon after.  The nurse commented on how happy she was several times!

She did well that day and we even went to dinner for Justin's birthday that night.  The next night though, she threw up 3 times!  We still don't know what that was all about...

 

Then it just kept going downhill from there!  Poor darling can't get well.  One of her tubes ended up being blocked, but after giving her more ear drops, both ears have finally started draining.  If your kids have had tubes, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, but that drainage is yuck!  I can't believe she had all of that in her ears.  I'm so glad it's coming out now!

So finally yesterday we thought we were on the road to recovery.  That afternoon I noticed she had a few bumps on her.  I figured (hoped!) they would just go away.  Surely she couldn't have something else, right?  Wrong!  She is covered in these bumps.  They look just like chicken pox!  That's just my opinion though...when Dr. B saw them today he said that's probably not what they are, especially since they're not in her hair or mouth.  So right now the diagnosis is a viral infection.  She's running a fever with it too, and she did with the ear problems also, so she's had fever for a long time!  We go in for her well check (yeah right!) tomorrow, so we'll see how she's doing then.

We didn't know what we would do for her big day with all of this going on.  She was still up at midnight last night (she's been up a lot at night!), so we snapped this picture of her right when her birthday started.

 

After staying up with Daddy until 1:30 am, she ended up sleeping most of the day today (2 1/2 hour nap this morning, 4 1/2 hour nap this afternoon, and back in bed at 9!), but we did squeeze in a little fun family time this evening.  She opened a few presents and ate a brownie, which she LOVED.

 

 

 

Her actual party will be next weekend with our families, and that's when she'll have her real cake.  If you think about it, please say a prayer for her!  She needs some healing in her little body.

We love you, sweet Marley!  Happy birthday, precious girl.

Silly London

Last week I picked London up from school and it was really bright outside.  I was holding her hand, and when I looked down at her, this is what she was doing:

And then she said, "Look, Mommy.  I can still see like this even though my eyes are covered, because I can see with my mouth."  Okay, then!  That would be a pretty good skill to have, I guess.  And apparently London has it!

Oh, and just because it's a big deal to me and this is a post about her anyway...today is the second anniversary of the day London started to walk.  You can see my post about it last year by clicking here.