Christmas Time

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

a year of mercy, grace and provision...

a year ago this morning our precious baby girl was born. ramey caroline, 7lbs 9oz. (4 wks early), 19 inches. in that moment our lives were forever changed. not because we now had four kids but because in a matter of minutes everything would be flipped upside down.

here is her first year in pictures!

it's a girl!








July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009


After today you will get the 1yr picture of our ramey caroline, who by human standards had a 10% chance of survival one year ago today and yet by God's great mercy, grace and provision she is with us now!! happy birthday, ramey caroline!


if you want to go back and read the adventure of ramey's birth then just click on the link to your right for june of 2008. may you see the greatness of our God in our story.

oh Lord, we praise you today and everyday for the breath of life you breathed into ramey last year. thank you for your yes!

Friday, June 5, 2009

daphne's dance recital...

yesterday was a wild a crazy day for us. our normally scheduled programming was not available but will return today.

daphne's second dance recital was last night and so that meant a crazy morning for dress rehearsal. now i don't know if you remember but last year was a bit of a challenge for me when it came to putting her hair in a bun. i am pretty sure i use the word "shellac" many times in that post. this year was not as daunting but still an adventure. you see, she needed to be fully dressed, with costume and makeup and hair at noon for dress rehearsal and the actual recital was not even to begin until 7pm. that's right- somehow i needed to do her hair and then try to get her not to mess it up before 7 so that i would not have to do it again. we succeeded and she looked beautiful!!not sure why she wanted to pose like this but she still looked so cute i just had to include it!
our resident goofball!! such a movie star!

at the bottom of this post is the video of daphne's recital. she is the third from the left and she's on the back row.

daphne has enjoyed her year at dance but i do think she really missed her little friend ellie. as we dressed yesterday she said, "mom, i wish ellie was here with me. we did our recital together last year."

during daph's recital henry actually had a swim meet. i don't know anything official for his 3 races but i heard from more than one source that he came in 2nd on his backstroke!! he is really doing well. i am going to try to get some better pics of him swimming but for now here is one from the other day while the girls were doing their lessons.


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

snap circuits are the coolest...

i must tell you that snap circuits are the neatest thing i have seen in a long time!! today is our science project day and my friend abby let us borrow this cool toy. basically there is a booklet with over 300 circuit projects that the kids can build. henry and daphne are on project number 6 and they have already built a switch circuit, a direct current motor & swith, a sound activator switch , used resistance and saw how it can lower sound, a lamp & fan series and a lamp & fan in parallel. this is fun for me too!! this is definitely going on the birthday/christmas list...theirs not mine though i will play too.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

it's only been five days...

look at me go... it's only been five days since my last post and i am at it again!!!

this weekend ross and i took on a little project. in our house there is this strange 48" empty space in the kitchen where i would assume a built in desk would go but that must have been an upgrade that the original owners did not go for. for the last year i have had our wine cabinet there but never really liked it in that spot.

i've wanted a desk there but i wanted something kinda old that i could fix up. i have been looking on craigs list and last week i found an old desk for $20. i figured some sanding and paint would really bring this thing to life...i was right. i love my new red desk in the kitchen!



on the subject of summer break...the first few days were rough to say the least but yesterday i sat down and typed up a schedule, or maybe i should call it, an outline for our days. you know:

6am up, dress, feed
7am swim team practice/lessons
10am chores
11am free play
etc., etc., etc.

i even included special things for each day of the week. monday we cook something together, tuesdays we do an art project, wednesdays are science days, thursdays are our ministry day- meaning we do something for someone outside of our family- like bake cookies, write letters to soldiers and missionaries and then friday is "anything goes" day.

well yesterday we cooked...sort of. we dipped pretzels in white chocolate and then poured sprinkles on top. they had a blast! i actually enjoyed it too. when i am intentional then i am not as quick to get aggravated at the mess.
today was art day...if you know me at all then you know that i am not really an artist. i am a doodler. that being said we pulled up some examples of pointillism and talked about. we stood close to the picture and then far away and talked about what the differences were. it was really need to hear their observations. we then got out paper and markers and tried doing our own pointillism pictures. henry and daphne both seemed to enjoy trying something new which was worth it to me.
after we had been working on our pictures for a bit anna wandered off to our room only to curl up on the floor and fall asleep. daphne grew tired of pointillism and so began to draw instead. this led to our first ever picture of non other than a porta potty. yes that's right people...my daughter drew a purple porta potty (try saying that ten times fast).
so there you have it- our week. we have had a great day. an intentional day. a fun day! i am thankful for each of my little knuckleheads and for the time we have together.


Lord, i thank You for every moment of today. for the way Your mercies are new every morning for each of us. thank you for hearing my cry and shining light in the dark places of my heart so that truth can land there, take root and bear fruit. this is the day You have made and i will rejoice and be glad in it!!