Bound and Determined!

I am bound and determined to get this super fun event posted. I have set down to do it many times over the last week and a half and at last here it is!

What a great place, the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum, in Seminole. Last Thursday the girls and I went there with my family. It was nice to have a family day; my parents, sisters and the kids. Laughter, childhood innocence...our family has been reminded recently to enjoy every moment because we do not know when we will take our last breath. It may be unexpected. Live each moment as if it were your last.

We all had a great time adults included and I laughed so hard I almost cried when Aunt Amy bravely showed the girls how the slide wasn’t scary and while doing so found herself a little panicked! Let's just say the girls didn't do it after Amy. (Click on the picture to enlarge it in order to enjoy the full effect of the experience! :) Love you Amy!

A couple times we found ourselves still playing while the children had moved on. I was a great time!

A Day with the Girls

We had a great day with the girls today! I love being able to spend
time with them. As they continue to grow older, these days seem to
become more and more valuable.

Today, Katherine took some of her first steps! I am sure more updates
are coming about this milestone :)

We grilled some chicken for lunch and had a family meal. Later that
evening, Liz and Katherine went with us to get dounuts (for the first
time) and ice cream. I took some pics with my iPhone then decided to
make this post. Hope you enjoy them!

-Brandon

Oh the Joys!

Wiping 101

I am just grateful I found this pile on the floor not in the toilet!

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.


Recently I have been asking the Lord to renew my vision and passion for the long and wonderful journey of Motherhood. Truly the hardest physical thing I have ever had to do, yet I remain out of shape; and one of the hardest mental things I have had to do also. I have always been grateful for the example my mom set for me and have often mentioned it here. But with more children the 75 times I say no in one day, the dirty clothes, meals with food appropriate for each family member, stuff you have to haul when you even run the smallest errand is all at least doubled. I could go on about the difficulties but I choose not to. All mothers reading this know exactly what I am talking about. I greatly respect so many of the mothers I know running the race well. After all i only have two children. :)

Never the less it is easy to find space for self pity.

The Lord is my strength! I trust Him and am HELPED! What a blessed road to travel….always being forced to be dependent on Jesus Christ, having to trust Him, having to run on His strength. And you know what, this verse is exactly right. When I do that my heart greatly rejoices!
My heart greatly rejoices!!
My heart greatly rejoices!!!
Aren’t you grateful for the Lord’s faithfulness!? Hallelujah!

These lyrics by Chris Tomlin’s song say at lot for me.

There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

I am learning to cling for dear life and enjoy the ride. Not dwell on all the things I can’t do with children but find new things I can do with children and learn to love the new things and maybe let go of some old ones, for this season.

So Much Fun!!!

Well I have just finished one of the most fun things I have done in a long time….Cake Decorating!!! I am officially not a professional but I had a blast anyways and plan on practicing more and having a great time being an amateur! Recently I met a new friend at church. Her name is Sarah. After meeting I became her facebook friend. While browsing her facebook I noticed she makes amazing cakes! So when Brandon and I had her and her husband over a couple weeks ago I asked her about using fondant. While we were talking about it she informed me you can make fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar. Who knew?! I took her up on the offer when she said she would come over and show me a few things. I invited my sister Amy to join in on the fun. (Even though I think we might be having cake wars now.)
So here are the finished products of the day! What do you think? (Ignore all of the flaws. :)

Notice my cooking skills of making a mess! My clothes are covered in powdered sugar.

So like I mentioned I was a total blast making the icing and learning how to do it and Sarah was a fabulous teacher and showed me how to do it and then she would mess it up again so I could do it. Awesome! Yay for cake decorating!

On to the family update- Things are going well. Katie-Kate has become a somewhat common nickname around her for the cutie patootie Katherine Faith. Nicknames just are so not predictable! She is barely crawling and when she does she has horrible form. I would describe it as looking somewhat like a crippled crawler as she drags one leg behind her while limping along with the other. It manages to get her to the place she really wants to be however, which is on her feet! She always goes to the nearest place she can attempt to pull up. Unfortunately those things are not always sturdy things! I do wonder if she might take her first steps early. The bumps and bruises have already begun and she begins her great adventures of motion!

Fourth of July was a lot of fun. We celebrated at the church picnic on the third. It was super hot and so I sent Katherine home with my mom. She would not have enjoyed the heat and it would have been nap and then bed time for her anyway. I was grateful for the Nana option so I could enjoy the picnic with Lizzy. After the picnic we went out to Tuterville and stayed the night there. Brandon’s parents and brothers came out too so that was a super great time! Liz didn’t much care for the home fireworks and went to bed after only a short time. She LOVED the big fireworks display we saw at Crossroads church on the 5th. They also had lots of moon bounces and cool animals and such. Again we were accompanied by my parents and Brandon’s family so it was lots of fun. Sorry but all of the good pictures (besides this one) are on our parents cameras.

Sweet Dreams

I walked by the girls room during nap time the other day. When I
peaked into the room I saw Lizzy sleeping like this!

Around our house we LOVE hand me downs. I have been wearing hand me downs/second hand store clothes for as long as I can remember and have been enjoying every minute of it. Recently a friend of mine gave me some clothes for the girls. Lucky for us she also had two girls spaced about the same distance as mine. This morning I put these adorable outfits on the girls and snagged a few pics before we left for church.



At church this morning was baby dedication. We publicly dedicated Katherine. It was a special time for us.


Saturday was Jonathan’s High school graduation. It was right during the girls nap so I planned on arriving early. Laying then down and then watching the graduation. However, they decided that wasn’t going to happen. So for about an hour and forty-five minutes I spanked, laid down again, took to potty and at last gave up and went home. I was very disappointed because I didn’t get to see any of the graduation or see any of the seniors tables in the reception hall. Ahhh, motherhood! The girls did enjoy the evening when we celebrated by swimming at Uncle Cecil’s. Elizabeth LOVES to swim!

Sorry I don’t have time for a long update but I thought you would at least enjoy a new picture to look at! Katherine Faith is almost 7 months old!!! Crazy, I know. She is setting up by herself and is eating baby food now. She is doing very well! For those of you who don’t know she looks a lot like her Uncle Justin’s baby pictures