5

My goodness! I can't believe this little chickie is 5 years old today! Time flies when you're having fun! :) GG, you are a joy to our lives. You add much sparkle to our days! It is such a blessing to spend my days with you. I love how you love to learn. I love how out of nowhere you'll say, "Mommy, I love the Lord.". I love how you love your family. You are a sweet, smart, beautiful girl. Beautiful inside and out. You are a wonderful daughter and a perfect little sister and a perfect big sister! 

We love you! 

Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and Shep

15

Where has the time gone. My sweet Sophie Sunshine is 15! Sophie, you are the light of our lives. I'm so proud of who you are becoming. God is growing you in Him and it is an awesome thing to witness. It has been a great year for you. You were baptized this year. You were made new!! You bring us so much joy ever day and you'll never know how proud we are of you. You are loved! Now, if you'd just get to studying you can get that permit!! :)
We love you Sophie!
Mom, Dad, GG and Shep

38

What could that number mean? Could it be the number of peanut m&m's I've eaten today?? Or the loads of laundry I've done? Or the times I've said "Don't tackle/hit/pinch/or tackle your sister today!"?

None of the above. It is my AGE! Yikes, 38. Seriously?

I know it's not old but it's almost 40. I'm really just kidding. I've never been that concerned with my age. I enjoy my birthdays and I consider getting older better than the alternative. But this year has been tough. What with our move and all the financial crap that has been going on. I feel old. I'm achey and fat and my hair is falling out. I know that it is just the stress of this year. I am ready to feel better. I've had some blood work done just to make sure everything is ok and I'm ready to start up my exercise/walking/eating right routine again. Right after my cake tonight. ;)

My lovely husband and oldest daughter surprised me last night with an iphone. I was so excited and have been having lots of fun taking pictures today.

And I'm also trying to decide if I should twitter. Or tweet, whatever. I guess probably not.

 So anyway, that is it. 38.

I think it'll be great.

My September Girls

I forgot. I forgot to do a post celebrating my most favorite girls on their birthdays. 

I didn't forget their birthdays though. We had a wonderful get together with some family and a few of Sophie's friends over. It was a nice day.

My sweet Sophie turned 14. Can't believe she's 14! She has such a sweet spirit. She's a good mix of sporty and girly. She's always been like that. She has a "boy"friend now. It's a new experience for all of us. She's handling things in a good way though. She has a heart for the Lord and I am so proud of that. I'm just proud of her. She will always be our Sophie Sunshine. 

And our little G-nut Peanut turned 4. She thinks it feels GREAT to be 4! She is my girly girl through and through. She loves her Barbies and she loves fairies and she loves to dress up. She wants to be a rainbow dolphin trainer when she grows up. She is very aware if you are laughing at her right now and sometimes she says the cutest things and we laugh and she thinks we're laughing at her and she gets upset. She wants to be taken seriously. She can be very high maintenance sometimes and, in all honesty, I'm still learning a lot about her. How I handle certain situations with her or discipline her changes a lot. I'm learning what works best. She loves her sister and brother and mommy and daddy. My favorite thing right now is how she looks at herself in the full length mirror while reciting Barbie movie lines or singing songs. Maybe Broadway is in her future :).

So Happy Birthday to my girls. Life is so good because of you two. 

And I love you both like a rock!

TWO!!!

This sweet guy is two years old today! 

Welcome to the terrific twos.

It's gonna be a great year!

Look at me, me ,me! I'm three ,three ,three!

Today, our little Geneva Grey turns three years old. Three years ago at 3:21 pm she made her appearance into this world. And she made us a family of four. 

I think three will be good to her. She's glad to be getting bigger now. She wants to do ballet. She is a princess most days but she likes to be a mermaid too. She is a girly girl through and through. We let her open presents yesterday and she was so excited. She said " Oh my!" and "I can't believe this!" She is independent and spirited and sweet and has a flair for drama. She's everything a three year old should be. 

And she's ours. That's my favorite part.

To our sweet G-nut peanut,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

We love you so much. We hope your third year is a MAGICAL one! 

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and Shep

13

She's a teenager. Thirteen years ago today at 1:23 pm she came into this world. Changed my life forever. How does this time pass so quickly. It just seems like yesterday she was asking me "Wanna play forgefer?"

And I know no matter what, no matter how many years pass, she'll always be our 

Sophie Sunshine.

I love the independence she's getting. I love listening to her thoughts on things. Her name means "wisdom". And this fits her perfectly. She is an old soul and I love that about her. 

Sophie,

Happy Birthday today sweet girl. We love you with all of our hearts and are so proud of who you are becoming. Congratulations on being a TEENAGER! I know you're excited. Just don't give us to hard a time, okay? :)

With lots and lots of love,

Mommy and Daddy

and GG and Shep

One Year

 

He's one year old today.

But he'll always be our baby.

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy Shep.

We love you more every day.

Love, 

Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and G.G.

Happy Birthday

To my Hubby

who is 

35

today.

I love you with all my heart. 

Thank you for all that you are to us.

Happy Birthday

Beaches and Birthdays

We went to visit the Daddy where he is working in Dothan, Alabama this past weekend. Oh, how we have missed him. And he's missed us a little too, I think. It was a fun visit. We decided to head to the beach Sunday since we were only an hour away. Aside from spending over an hour looking for sun hats for the two little ones (that they didn't even wear!) it was a great time.

I had a great idea to get a really good picture of the kids for maybe a christmas card or something. Or at least just to have a picture of them together on the beach. This is how they all turned out. I was a little bit stressed out about it. Then I decided just to let them have fun and play. 

GG literally just walked up and down the beach. Up and down and everywhere. Never looking at my camera. Too busy for any pictures, Mom. She called it her " big sandbock".

She'll look at the camera though. 

She's growing up too fast.

I don't like  it.

walking

Oh, and it was also my birthday on Saturday.

36th birthday.

Yikes.

the marathon birthday weekend

... we survived! :)

September 12th through the 14th are always a crazy few days for us. Sophie and G.G. are exactly 10 years and two days apart. So we can't really have a birthday party together for them. This year Sophie really didn't even want a party. She just wanted a couple of friends to spend the night. Which was fine with me. I picked them all up from school and they came back and hung out at our house for a while. Josh has been out of town but he made it home in time for dinner Friday night. We ordered pizza and then had cake. I took them to a late movie that night. They loved that. They got all dressed and ready and when we got there they wouldn't let me sit with them. Oh the joys of being a mother to a pre- teen. They did let me sit in front of them though because I told them I wouldn't share my giant bag of m & m's I smuggled in. Bribery always works.

Anyway, it was lots of fun and Sophie had a great birthday. I can't believe she is TWELVE!!

As for the pictures below. G.G. broke my digital camera Friday so the only thing I had to take pictures was our video camera. Not great quality. But we did get a new one on Sunday, so GG's pics are better.

GG wanted so bad to be one of the big girls. It was so funny hearing her try to talk as much as they were. 

Sophie's favorite cake. The " best sheet cake ever" recipe by Pioneer Woman. It was a hit.

She was surprised! She got a pair of shoes she really wanted but didn't think I would buy. I love those moments.

Our birthday card mantel.

So Sunday was GG's turn. We had a party for her at a local park. It worked out great. The kids had a lot of room to play and roam around. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and just had a great time visiting with everyone. I was worried about the weather, but the rain held off. It was overcast and a little windy. That was actually great though because it wasn't horribly hot and we had a little breeze to cool off.

Sandbox time!

She picked out her Dora cake at the bakery. And even blew out the candle by herself.

Time for presents! She got the hang of this pretty quick!

She hugged her friends goodbye.

And this is what happened before we even were out of the park. 

Completely pooped! 

I can't believe they are 12 and 2! My girls are growing up. 

2

2 years ago today, my second little angel baby was born. She made me work a little harder than the first. And that still holds true today. She is a spunky, opinionated, independent little two year old. Due to some complications after her birth, she got to bond with her daddy for about an hour before I could hold her. And she is a daddy's girl, that is for sure. 

She absolutely lights up our lives. Her sense of humor kills me. She is so funny. She makes us all laugh out loud just about every day. She loves her big sister and copies everything she does. She adores her baby brother and greets him every morning with a "Moning li'l buddy".

I am so proud to be her mother. She is such a blessing in our lives and I can't imagine it without her in it. 

Happy Birthday G.G.!

We love you with all of our hearts!

Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and Shep

12

12 years ago today, September 12th at 1:23 p.m., my first angel baby was born. She was a hefty 9 pounds 8 ounces. She came quietly and quickly. She cried a little but then they handed her to me. And my life was forever changed. I remember one of the first things I said to her was, " We are gonna have so much fun". I just knew she would be my little partner. My best little friend. And she has been. She made me a mother. And I am forever grateful that she is my daughter. 

Happy Birthday Sophie Sunshine!

We love you so much

Mom, Dad, G.G. and Shep

Happy Birthday to Grandma Whiting!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday Dear Grandma ( & Mom)!

Happy Birthday to You!

We hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday! So sorry we can't be there to help celebrate.

We love you so much and thank you for all you do!

Love,

Josh, Kristi , Sophie, G.G. and grandbaby #3

Happy Birthday Grampy!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Dear Grampy!
Happy Birthday to You!

We are thinking of you on your birthday and hope you have a great day!

Thank you so much for all you do!

Love,

Sophie, G.G. and grandbaby #3

and Josh and Kristi

Happy Birthday to My Grandma

Happy Birthday to You!


Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday Dear Grandma ( Nana )!

Happy Birthday to You!

Grandma,
I hope you have a very Happy Day! I'm sorry we're not there to celebrate with you. We love you so much!
Can't wait to see you!
Love,
Kristi, Josh, Sophie, G.G. and great grandbaby # 10 ( i think :))