A new hat

Its been a hectic but fun few days as we've had Brad's entire family at our house for Thanksgiving weekend. The last of the guests have just left for the airport and its amazing how quiet and empty my house feels despite being home with a three year old, an eight month old and piles of neglected laundry.

So its time to switch modes...to transition from host to housewife. But I'm also making another transition this week...to speaker. On Wednesday morning I'll be driving to NJ to participate in an annual women's Christmas banquet hosted by my former church. For the past two years I've had the honor of being the emcee for the event. This year, somehow...only God knows how (literally), I've been asked to be the speaker. Although this opportunity should have me feeling excited and humbled...in reality, its felt like a thorn in my side that has had me terrified.

There, I admit it.

I feel so much guilt over the fact that God has given me this amazing opportunity and yet I want nothing more then to have it be a part of history. And yet, at the same time...I'm hoping that once its in hindsight I'll be feeling the void of having this on my plate and perhaps pondering when and where I could possibly speak again.

Doesn't make any sense, huh...I know, its totally contradictory. What is even more of a contradiction is that my talk is entitled, 'How God can use ordinary people to do miraculous things"...and yet I sit here and doubt His ability to use ordinary me on Wednesday and Thursday night to reach any of these women.

So...I anticipate this week to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. I appreciate my husband being patient with me as I have prepared for this event and supporting me by taking leave to keep the girls while I'm gone this week. If you've read this and think of it, I would covet your prayers this week that I wouldn't be my own obstacle, but that God would be able to use me in spite of myself.

So Sweet!

Ice Skating

Since we have family in town for the holidays...that usually means a tour of the Pentagon is on the agenda. We went to DC and saw some sites, did the tour, ate lunch and enjoyed a little ice skating at Pentagon Row. This is a nice area of restaurants with a courtyard...in the winter they create a rink in the midst of everything and it creates a neat setting.

This is Brad's brother, Jacob and his son Hayden...working on their pairs routine apparently.
The little kiddos, enduring the strong winds and waiting on the older kids to skate.
Mckenna and her cousin, Hayden...I think of all our cousins Mckenna and Hayden look like each other more then any of the other kids.
This was the first time that Baileigh or Mckenna had been on ice skates...but they picked it up quick since they both rollerskate.
This picture looks impressive...it almost looks as if Baileigh and Mckenna are synchronized and both preparring for a spin of some type. Not quite.

Gettin Her Crawl On

I heard Brooke yelling for me from the other room. It sounded urgent so I came running...well, okay, walking fast. There was Morgan, up on all fours. "SHE IS CRAWLING, MOMMY!" I think almost as cute as her attempts to crawl was Brooke's enthusiasm about the event. She proceeded to remove all the toys and any obstacles that may inhibit Morgan's progress...as though she was going to suddenly move from point A to point B in seconds! It was a sweet sentiment though.

Rear in the air is her first move, then she pulls her arms in a little and looks up...that is about as far as she has gone in the process. The actually forward or backward movement has yet to happen, unless rocking counts.

As always, she has a very amusing face while working on her crawl.

I love this picture of my big blue eyed girl...except she could have used a tissue, but there was no time to stop and wipe!

Apparently everything wore her out because she decided to relax and chill in this pose for awhile. I don't think I'm ready for a crawler. I'm still trying to figure out how to baby proof this home and determine where we'll be putting baby gates. I was hoping for a really late crawler...at least until after the Christmas tree.

Care to Comment?

I remember the day when I laughed at bloggers who said they didn't have anything to write about! I never imagined I would eventually have similar feelings. The irony is that I'm busier then ever, yet I have less to say. Let me rephrase that...I think I just have less energy to say it, less time to write it, and less ability to make it all into a coherent thought.

Here is my other issue...I feel like I blog less because people comment less. This is a little like "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". That said, I never started blogging for comments. But the feedback, thoughts, encouragement is nice. Plus its motivating to know that my voice is being heard and someone is reading and considering my thoughts or sharing in my adventures. I know you're still out there...I can see my counter and apparently there are still 30-40 of you consistently checking in on my daily chaos. Some of you have questioned me on my lack of blogging, to which I probably questioned you in return to your lack of commenting!?

The original purpose behind this blog was a way to share my own thoughts truly with myself...in hopes that one day I would publish this blog and have it as a journal of sorts to pass on to the girls. It is also a great way to give family and friends a glimpse into the girl's lives despite being miles away. So...since it still serves that purpose, I will continue.

But please...don't complain that I don't post enough...unless you leave the complaint in comment form. Then its acceptable.

First Wagon Ride

"Hey...does this thing go anywhere? I'm bored!"
"Oh! My sister is going to pull me...I better say a prayer first for safety!"

"Bye! See you later...I'm going for my first wagon ride!"

"AHHH...this thing is so fast! Its messing up my hair!"

"Phew...its over. Hey, that was actually kind of fun! I think I like my wagon!"

Our Final Day

We returned to the Magic Kingdom for our final day of fun.
Buddies...Baileigh and Grace couldn't look any different, but they are so similar in every other way and got along great all week.

Having fun with my girls.

Sportin her Disney attitude as we finished our day.

Animal Kingdom

These two look like trouble! They were a funny duo and got along so well!
Having fun with Daddy...

Waiting to go on Safari

While we were there they started decorating for Christmas...it was fun to watch the transformation.

We hopped over to the Studio's in the evening and met up with a bunch of our NJ friends who are Disney regulars to watch Fantasmic

Magic Kingdom

We didn't go to Magic Kingdom until Wednesday...a little Disney strategy to avoid crowds, and it worked! All the kiddos, humoring mom for a picture before we get started.
As we walked in on Main Street we could hear a show at the Kingdom...we were just in time to see all the princesses dancing. The girls stopped walking and just stood there mesmerized.

Brooke and her favorite lady, Minnie...at Chef Mickey's dinner.

The fam...getting our monies worth from Chef Mickeys.

Closing down our full day at Magic Kingdom with fireworks...no better way to end a night.

Disney Hollywood Studios

Our second day was spent in Hollywood Studios...we were led by our young tour guide and map reader, Jackson!
This meeting with Mickey was awesome...we walked in and he was standing around waiting for people...we got our autographs and pictures and left just as the line was about 30 people deep after a show had let out.

Random picture because I liked the large coke bottles...

We finished up the day with a parade...as you can see from the picture all the kids joined in on the dancing and had a lot of fun!

Larger then life, Mckenna...in an appropriate picture!

Celebrating 8...Epcot Style

Our first day at Disney was also Baileigh's 8th birthday! I think a day in Disney World including a special luncheon with the princesses counts as a fun birthday! We started off the morning by arriving just prior to the Epcot entrance opening...which means the characters were standing there waiting to greet everyone. Baileigh's "Happy Birthday" got her a little extra attention throughout the day...like meeting Minnie first thing!
Making our trip even more fun and special was the fact that we spent the week with some great AF friends of ours. After a week of living together I'm thankful to report that we're all still friends! Baileigh and Grace are just 10 days apart and kindred spirits, and Mckenna and Jackson are about 6 months apart as well as Cole and Brooke. All the kids got along amazingly well and my kids are going through withdrawl missing the Maddox children.

We ate lunch in "Norway" at Epcot at a princess luncheon.

Cinderella and our gang...how she keeps from getting food smeared on her dress our little sticky hand prints all over her boggles my mind.

Baileigh got a card signed by all the princesses for her birthday and a special dessert...in case you can't tell by the picture, she was pretty excited!

Baileigh and her buddy , Grace...they were both due October 28, 2001...Grace came 6 days early and Baileigh was 5 days late. They haven't been able to spend a lot of time together in the past years but whenever they do they seem to pick right up where they left off. They both love to read, and do math problems...I don't think they had any conflict or issues with each other all week, despite being roommates and being together 24/7.

We returned to our rental house that night and had a birthday party...including cake and some swim time in our pool.Party time...

It was kinda hard to share Baileigh on her special day, but I'm glad she was having so much fun with friends and being in Disney. I don't usually have to compete for her attention so much, I guess this was good preparation for future birthday celebrations when she is more concerned with her friends then her mommy. Can she just stay 8 forever?!

Halloween 2009

I'm a week behind since we have been out of town in Disney...so before I show pictures of our trip I wanted to share our Halloween. The girls had a great time getting to trick or treat in North Carolina with friends and family. This year I encouraged the Disney theme since we were taking our costumes on our trip...I ended up with 3 princesses and one Minnie.
We participated in a trunk or treat at a local church...it was a day filled with scattered showers but it cleared up in time for the evenings festivities.

I thought that Morgan would resist her itchy costume...instead she seemed to enjoy eating it...I found sparkles on her face and tongue the next few days...and a few other places!

My little, little, little mermaid.