We found out this eve that Lily will have a 

GIRL

cousin!!!

Let the twirling begin!!!  :)

We are so excited and praising God for the sweet & healthy girl growing inside of Aunt Jessica!!

Thanksgiving 2010

 Our Thanksgiving was similar to ones past.  But we missed Mike's brother's family this year!!  Its so nice to be close enough to see both of our families over the long weekend.  

We had Brunch at Kathy's on Thursday morning and enjoyed time with Mike's parents and the Murphys.  The new cute kids table was a hit!

 We did some relaxing

 and playing

Thurs eve, we go to Mike's aunt's house for a turkey dinner with the Kain side...

(i love my husband, isn't he handsome!)

Mike's cousin has a beautiful new baby who we enjoyed seeing.

 Lily also enjoyed this baby doll

and tried to steal the football from cousin Charlie ;)

 Peter and Liam had a blast playing together

 and eating cake together

and seeing Great Grandma (it was her bday last week!) and Great Granddad

Friday morning, our little family of 4 relaxed around here, which I loved.  We had pumpkin pancakes then Peter and Lily chased each other around the house squealing.  :)

 We headed to L'ville mid-day on Friday.  I didn't take many pics there but I did find this one with my two favorite girls on my camera.  We also got to see Glenda and J&J.

Saturday afternoon, we headed back to Richmond for some more time with the P's.

Peter is quite taken with Liam...

 They had TV ("JB") time with their dogs, Jip and Spicey, as they caught up on Clifford!

 One last pretty pic of the girl.

We loved seeing each person on both sides.  Thanks to our moms for feeding us yummy food throughout the weekend w/o any contribution on our part.  We are blessed and thankful for our sweet families.

I am excited that its the season of Advent.  I've not always been a big Christmas person, I don't love the hype, shopping/gift buying, and I don't love cold weather, snowflakes, Santa, etc.  But as I've been thinking about Advent and the anticipation of celebrating Christ coming and looking forward to/ waiting for his Second Coming, I feel joy in that!  As much as I am thankful for the good life we have and ALL there is to be thankful for, I also often struggle with feeling the weight of living in a world where things aren't right (people die, my soul isn't fully satisfied, there's cancer, poverty, etc), how exciting is it that Jesus came to save us!!  I am looking forward to a month of really thinking about that.  Right now we get a taste of what's its like that He is making things right/ redeeming (we are assured through Jesus' blood that our loved ones are in heaven, we see His work in us, around us) but one day, oh, one day things will be fully right.  So we will anticipate, wait and celebrate this Advent season! 

Melt My Heart

My children are both good sleepers (PTL!) but so different in their ways.  Peter often falls asleep in the car (near naptime) and always transfers well to bed.  Lily is my amazing nighttime sleeper but she doesn't fall asleep as easily in the car and usually rouses when I bring her in, then goes back to sleep.  Today was a different story. They both fell asleep on the way home from the store and Lily stayed asleep in my arms- oh, my heart!... a sleeping love in my arms!  (and don't even get me going on the site of her legs in tights.)

And the boy, he is so big and heavy that I can hardly hold him for long but some of my sweetest memories are of just sitting on the living room couch and holding him while he slept after coming in from the car (when he was a smaller boy, before Lily was our girl), then taking him up to bed.

FYI: 

I purposefully didn't crop to be realistic about the mess that is often my house.

Celebrating Maw

I took the kids and we drove down to Paw & Maw's house for the day last Wed b/c it was Maw's Birthday.  It was perfect b/c others were already gathering there in anticipation of Thanksgiving.

Peter enjoyed a ride on the tractor with Uncle Henry.

 After lunch, a ride on the lawn mover with Paw was much more enticing than a nap.  This is what eventually happened... :)

 Maw got some birthday snuggles from the girl.

 Maw had yummy brownie-peanut butter birthday cookies.  They were too-licious!

It was a fun start to Thanksgiving weekend!!

A Very Yellow Day

It was a beautiful WARM day today- made me happy!  We all took our long sleeves off as we got out of the car to go to the grocery store this morning so we could soak up some sunshine and warmth.  Then I noticed that Peter and Lily were both wearing yellow, so I thought everyone in the store must think its a little wierd that I put both of them in YELLOW, of all colors (tho I do love it!)  As we were checking out, I looked down and noticed that I too was wearing yellow!

I raked, raked, raked while they were sleeping and then we jumped in the yellow leaves!  How fun!

I did want to get a pic of the 3 of us in yellow shirts and yellow leaves but seeing as how the pics went with just 2 of them, I couldn't pull it off...

Lily now points out the buses to Peter ;)

It was a sweet day and much needed time outside in warmer temps.  Thank you Lord!

My Girl

I know I've mentioned it 600 times but this girl... she is just the prettiest, sweetest thing I have ever experienced.  She was such an easy baby and now to see her little personality coming out, its just toooo sweet.  I've told Mike that I just want to freeze her at this age... 

I don't want her to be t-w-o.  He said he doesn't want he to be f-o-u-r-t-e-e-n.  

DONE!  No more growing up, Lily Bug!

This morning, I went and woke her up at 11am!  She was soaked so she got a bath all alone.  I realized that I've probably rarely taken bath pics of just her.  She was quite the ham for me!  I just love these pics b/c they totally portray the *JOY* that radiates from her!  How did we score this child?!?!

Over the weekend, we were out to eat with J&J, she's standing in the booth next to Mike and she randomly says to him in her *sweet*, *girly* voice "HI DADDY!!" as she pats him on the shoulder then just leans in, puts her head on his shoulder and *smiles*!

Can you see all her sleep wrinkles from having slept so long?!

She is doing much better with her separation anxiety.  She is still sad initially but has made it thru nursery every time for the last couple months, even at new places.  She's started telling me "bye" when I put her down for sleep... I always feel like that is a big step... they are understanding that we're saying bye but will come back.

And she'll grab my face ever so gently, a hand on each cheek and say "Hi Mommy!" in her sweet voice.

She loves to give little puckered lip kisses- too sweet!

Lily Bug P, you are such a blessing to us.  Our hearts are full of joy b/c of you!

Needing a Lift

We headed to southwest VA for our second annual fall roadtrip to visit John and Jessica.

We had such a good time.  Peter was SUPER excited to see Uncle John and play rough.  It was just fun to spend a low key weekend with them (and see the growing baby bump)!!

On Sat, they took us to a historical farm in Jefferson National Forest for a little walk.

 Not that he needed convincing, but we sold the trip to Peter by telling him he'd get to see lots of tractors (in addition to Uncle John and Aunt Jessica, the real attraction of course!).  And it didn't disappoint.  We found this fancy tractor on our walk!

 Lily finally warmed up to Uncle John when he gave her rides.  :)

This boy was also happy to get a lift!

 And could this pic be a flash forward... will it be a boy or a girl in their future?! They'll find out in early Decemeber!  YAY, we can't wait to find out.  (I forgot to get a shot of Jessica's belly but she looked adorable!)

 And JD had to snap this last pic of his baby mama!  ;)

Thanks, J&J!  We had a great time!