Snow Day!

Well, Friday morning we woke up and the ground was icy and there was just a little bit of snow on the ground....but since it was really slick out and we were supposed to get more wintery weather soon Matt stayed home--turned out to be the right choice!! It started snowing mid-morning and didn't stop. Lilly kept running over to the window and pointing and I am pretty sure by the end of the day she was saying the word "snow".

By the end of the day we had gotten this much snow!! The news said 6 inches!

This morning Grandma Odie fixed a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and her famous and most delicious biscuits and gravy! Uncle Greg came and got us (they only live 3 minutes away from us) and brought us back home after breakfast. It was so delicious and the roads were so deserted. No one was out. You could barely see any tire tracks on the road.

Smiling at Grandma Odie.

Reid hung out with Uncle Greg while Lilly went outside with Mommy and Aunt CiCi.

Lilly pushed this stool all around the kitchen....it kept her entertained for a while (not to mention out of their cabinets).

After Lilly's nap we went outside to play in the snow. We did a little sledding. Little meaning she sled down the hill one time.

Wiping out as she was trying to get out of the basket.

She really liked when I would grab handfuls of snow and throw it up in the air.....maybe I should've taken her out yesterday while it was actually snowing.

So cute all bundled up!

Then we brought some inside and she basically just sat around it and ate it.

Reid just stared out the window both yesterday and today--he loved looking at all that snow.

Looking at us!

I love the expression he is making in this photo. After playing in the snow, we made chili for dinner and we have rented a couple of movies to watch after the babies go to bed (Inglorious Basterds and The Ugly Truth)...life is soooo good!!

Current Weather Conditions

Just thought I would post a little video of the weather outside our house right now! Lilly keeps going to the door and pointing outside. I have to keep telling her that we are not going outside until it quits snowing. (:

5 Months & Some Randomness

Our little boy is 5 months old today! I can not believe it has been 5 whole months!!! He broke into a horrible rash yesterday so I took him to the doctor. Apparently he had an allergic reaction to something--still don't know what. That is not so comforting but the doctor said it wasn't serious. We did find out that he now weighs 18lbs 11 oz. That explains why he is not skipping any feedings--not even at night!! A couple of weeks ago he slept through the night and I thought, "ahh, here we go"--then he quit even skipping one feeding. Wrong way Reid!

But how could I ever get mad at that face??? Reid, at 5 months, you have just stolen our hearts--including Lilly's. She loves you and today even gave you her paci while she went and found herself another one. Just so we remember in the future, this is her ultimate act of love!!! I am actually still a little in shock over the whole incident.

You have the best little personality! You are soooo laid back and patient. Sometimes you will start to fuss and I need to go get something before I can give you whatever it is that you are needing and I will say "just one second buddy" and you actually calm down and give me a second! You smile all the time and you smile with your WHOLE body. It is the sweetest thing. You also giggle and coo constantly. You are so alert and watch everything very intently. You do not like to lay flat on your back--you are always trying to sit up so you do 100s of crunches a day. You are going to have a six pack before you are 6 months. Ha. You also do many different yoga positions. I.e. the swimmer position above.

You have two teeth. You have had them for awhile but you are still drooling all over the place. You wear bibs and still have to several wardrobe changes throughout the day. You spit up semi-frequently but it is getting better. You are generally always in a good mood. You sleep in your own bed and generally like to put yourself to sleep but the past few days you have let us rock you. This is great for when we are out and about and you need a nap. You stayed in the church nursery for the first time this weekend. Mommy hates leaving you with people she doesn't know but you don't seem to mind. You recognize Mommy and Daddy's voice and look for us. Today MoMo was holding you on the kitchen table and I bent over to pick something up and you practically did a back bend to keep your eye on me.

We fed you cereal for breakfast and before bed today. You eat it so good and you eat all that I feed you. I am hoping this helps with getting you to sleep a little longer at night! Fingers crossed!!! You loved eating it so much that Lilly thought that it must be really good and insisted on sharing with you. She made a disgusted face after every bite but just kept coming back for more. Haha. We love you so very much and can't wait to see what new tricks you will learn this month!

Somebody got a sucker today! I guess she thought she wasn't supposed to have it because ran to the corner with it.

All sticky--look at those hands and that precious little sticky face!

"It is sooo worth it Mom!"

Lilly was quite sensitive today and this was how she reacted any time she heard the word "no" today. She is very upset in this picture because Daddy told her to stay sitting (instead of standing) on the blow-up mattress.

She felt all better after she got to take her frustrations out through some wrestling.

Look at those beautiful eyes! I took this picture because of the little bowl she is eating out of. We got it at Wal-Mart. The top are these plastic pieces that come together so she can reach in and get her snack but she can't dump it all on the floor. Mommy tested--Mommy approved!!

This is a better picture of it. You can also see Lilly wiping her nose on her sleeve. I don't know where she learned this! I will grab a tissue to wipe her nose and she will run away and start rubbing her nose on her sleeve. Yuck!

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago at a playdate. Lilly is loving to play with other kids right now!! She cried when we went to leave a friend's house the other night because she was having so much fun!

I LOVE this picture!!!

Then, to close, tonight we are supposed to get some nasty weather and it has already started. The grass is all covered in ice! The ground is covered in ice as well. Once the ice is done, we are supposed to get lots of snow. It is looking like a 3 day weekend for most folks! I don't mind as long as we can keep our power! This time last year we had a huge ice storm and lost power for a couple of days--I do not wish to do that with two babies!!

That is all ice--I know it is hard to tell in this photo..but it is all ice!

The Babies!!

Okay, so I was going to post a couple of pictures of the babies at the top of my testimony but when I went to add them it turned out that....shreik!....I hadn't taken a single pictures of my babies in over a week. So, when they woke up from their nap--I got the camera out! Lilly is always so thirsty when she wakes up! She drinks a whole big sippee of juice.

This afternoon while she was having her afternoon snack, she kept pointing to the tv saying "E-I-E-I-E-I" which is her way of telling me she wants to watch her Neighborhood Animals video. Here she is hooked on tv.

Her hair is getting so long! This is it when it is wet.

Then, here it is dry and curly and trying to stand on her little school house. She loves to stand on things these days. She is also saying all kinds of things...more like repeating. This week she has said, "chocolate milk", "moo cow", "belly button", "I get it", "juice", "trash", and a few other things I can't come up with now. However, she has to be in the mood and then she will talk and talk...not on command though.

She also kept trying to get into Reid's jumper today so I thought I would put her in it and she would see that she didn't want to be in there. I was wrong. She had a good time jumping and playing.

Reid smiling getting ready for bed.

He is so handsome and getting sooo big. He is doing new stuff all the time and is really getting his fine motor skills!

Oh, and notice the return of the sleep sacks! I love sleep sacks! Lilly wore hers until she was 10 or 11 months. He is 4 months and he already can't straighten his legs in it. Sigh.

Lilly likes to get out of the bath tub and run around with just the towel on her head. She looks so funny...like a streaker with a cape!

This is just a little video of her playing the jumper she is way too grown up for. Haha. She was going crazy in it but you know she calmed down as soon as I got the video camera out. Ah well.

My testimony

I have been a Christian my whole life. I was raised in church and have always known about the Lord. I have led an awesome life. I don't have any sad stories or anything like that, but I do have a testimony to share. So, here it is!

I do remember when I made the conscious decision to be saved at probably about 8 years old. It was at some special event that our church was having Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I got saved Friday night and was so excited and loved it so much that I decided to do it again on Saturday night. On Sunday, my mom had to explain to me that I didn't need to do it at every alter call. Once was enough. Haha. What can I say? I was just trying to be enthusiastic?? I honestly don't know if I have ever been baptised. I need to get to the bottom of this...I suspect maybe before I was old enough to remember, but I need to find out for sure. Mom???

Anyway, for years my relationship with God remained pretty stagnate. I believed, I prayed, and I went to church sometimes. I was happy in my relationship with the Lord as it was....Mediocre....pretty surface level.

Then, a couple of years ago, Matt and I decided that we wanted to have a deeper relationship with God as a couple. We started praying together for this and began to read the book Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. What we didn't realize at the time was that in order to get this deeper relationship, God was going to have to help us change our priorities, attitude, and views on certain things. Let's just say by the time we got to Day 14 in the book....our lives had begun what would be a two year long process of turning our lives upside down and all around. Matt and I are (well, were) "plan" type of people when it comes to important things in our lives (i.e. finances, children (ha!), etc.) We had back-up plans and back-up plans for the back-up plans and so forth. So, God had to bring us to a place in our life where none of our plans were happening to show us true Faith in him and to show us that His plan is the one we should be concerned with...not ours.

At the end of this period, we found out we were pregnant with Lilly. How??? What?? We were so excited but knew it HAD TO BE His plan. Then, as most of you know, right after we had Lilly...we became pregnant with Reid...again, we did not think this was possible at that time--for several reasons. But you can't become a parent and not become closer to the Lord. Or, it would sure be hard not to. One, our prayer life increased dramatically because the entire world seems so dangerous for our little babies that we wondered how any one makes it to adulthood. Eventually, we just had to turn their safety, health, and general well being over to the Lord. (Matt is still working on this one..ha!) But, mainly because I see how much and the ways in which I love my children and get some kind of tiny understanding of the ways in which he loves us. Because I know that no matter what Reid and Lilly do, I will love them and care about them and I will do anything in my power to guide them and keep them safe. He feels that way about us too. That understanding automatically deepened our relationship.

Then, finally, the reason I am sharing this today. My New Years Resolution was to read my bible and get involved with other Christians. I will tell you that I have only been reading my bible for 3 weeks...but ladies and gents--it is changing my life!! (for the better for those who are wondering) There are two things that keep coming up when I read:

1: Speak boldly about the Lord. I have always been a "quiet Christian". The Lord has blessed my family and me personally in so many ways and I have just kept them to myself...or at most shared them with people that I knew were believers. I certainly didn't leave me comfort zone to share the work he has done in my life. I feel led to change that part of myself. Hence, sharing my testimony. Why on the blog? I stay at home with my kids...this is my way to tell as many people as possible. Over the past few weeks, he has blessed us in so many ways. All of which I hope to share soon-maybe I will do a weekly thing with it.

2: It keeps mentioning prayer and fasting. So, Matt and I are beginning a 21 day fast tomorrow. I will share details of that later..this is just about the testimony. We also found a church yesterday that we both love....we have been searching (albeit half-heartedly) for a church for a long time and are sooooo excited!!!

So, all in all after being pretty lazy in my faith for soooo many years, I finally decided to seek a deeper relationship with God. It took some personal change and growth but I have never been happier and I know that regardless of what happens this year, this is going to be Matt and I's most blessed year spiritually and I can't wait to see what happens!

Perryville Surprises!

This past weekend we did our last family holiday get together in the big town of Perryville (the big town part is pure sarcasm by the way...haha). Anyway, last year and the year before that Matt and I announced that we were pregnant at this get together! This year there was another surprise!!! But, it wasn't from us. (c: Scared you for a second didn't I?

It was from these two!! This is Bill--we were all so excited to meet Bill because he is Lynn's fiance from Australia. Lilly really liked meeting Bill and playing with Lynn.

Back to the surprise...we showed up and they announced that they were getting married that day!!!

Just a side note...I couldn't get Lilly to look at the camera for anything...I had someone else take this picture of us and she is looking right at the camera. I don't know what that look on her face is all about but that is not the point.

Getting some pictures taken before the big vow exchange. I was so glad that they surprised us and let us be a part of their special day! I totally wanted to go to Australia for the wedding but with two small babies and only one income....that was looking pretty unlikely!

Well, nobody knew about the wedding so Reid was the only one dressed appropriately for the big day! He always likes to be styling and profiling..what can I say?

Making it official!!

The wedding party. Lynn's brother Daryl was his best man and he didn't know about it either. They are pretty good at keeping things a secret!!!

The proud parents, Susan and Eddie....I am not sure but I think they might be fighting back some tears. It is okay guys...let it out! Haha.

Smooching. They are now pronounced man and wife.

The cake exchange. Lynn is from Louisiana so they did a King Cake as their wedding cake. I think Lilly ate like 5 pieces.

Bill is from Australia and at first didn't know he was supposed to feed Lynn the cake. He caught on pretty fast. They are such a sweet couple and it is so great to see Lynn so very happy!!! She deserves it!

I love that Reid is just staring at the photographer in this picture. It is also a good shot of some of the guests.

Reid--suited up and sitting on Aunt Laverne's lap.

This is Lilly with Felicia and Tim. Lilly loved Felicia and even let her rock her to sleep. That is a big deal!! Then, she wanted to stay with Felicia instead of going to Daddy...and that is monumental!!

Reid hanging out with Aunt Susan. He is so handsome.

Daryl double-fisting the drinks. Haha. That is not true. He is holding the glasses so that Karl could fill them up for the toast. I told him that wasn't the story I was going to be telling. Haha. So, anyway, that was our exciting surprise for the weekend. Good times and great memories and as always, it was so great to see everyone!!