Reflections of 10 years...

In many ways it seems like yesterday, in others I can barely remember, but today Lily Kathryn Ivey is 10. I thought I'd share some pictures of her through the years. Most of these are from the younger years when the girl loved nothing more than to go to the studio and get pictures taken!

2 months

9 months

1 year

15 months

18 months

2 years

2 1/2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

8 years
Lily has songs. they have been her songs from the very early days. The first I heard while sitting with her for the first time alone in the hospital and I just cried holding her, because she was such a gift, the real life doll baby of all my little girl dreams, embodied in this little human creature.

The second is our song. I started singing it to her when she was just a little thing and eventually we started singing it to each other, I know one day it will carry even more meaning.

This one is just one that I can't hear without thinking of her. Mike and I used to sit beside her bed at night and sing this to her. I remember calling her from Memphis and telling her I was walking on Beale Street! We were both so excited I had to take pictures to illustrate the song.

And of course, no little girl should go without this one. I had shadow box plans for the lyrics of this song, pictures of Lily dancing, and the dress she is wearing in her two year picture. Yeah...well, It's never happened. I thought about doing it at a scrapbooking night. Have you seen me at one of those lately? =)

So, Lily Kate, my baby girl, Happy Birthday and I love you! You are my praise for today!

Bloggy Catch Up

Mike has again been complained of me lack of blogging for the last days, seems he's disappointed in his lunch time reading material. I told him he needs to start reading blogs of those he doesn't know, maybe they post more, maybe their stories are more interesting. He didn't seem to like that suggestion, so now, I will try to remember the things I have forgotten to blog lately!



Help! We Have a Biter!


This is a picture of Lily's back. The teeth prints seem to look very similar to a set owned by a local 2 year old. I'm not say there was no provocation, because most likely there was, but how to we stop this? This isn't the first or the last time this has occurred. We have recorded the episode of Yo Gabba Gabba that talks in depth about how we bite food and not friends. Now if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll share with you for a moment...



Someday, when I have nothing much to say, I'm gonna totally blog about the drug use that must go into this show, but for now I will regress to the biting. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it!!


Flower Power!

Dax brought this lovely balloon flower on a stick home from Sunday School. He ran around the house yelling "Flower Power, Power Flower!" The stick did take a minor minor timeout because it seemed to make contact with Finn more than necessary.

He then decided this needed some accessorizing and thought this spectacular piece of eye protective gear would be perfect!
He later added a red snowman bucket to his head and yelled "Fire, Fire" in a loud gravely voice. I was pleased that he allowed me to negotiate him out of this get up for our scooter ride around the neighborhood!

Praises For Dayses (this sounded cute when I typed it of it)

When the connection went down, it only took half of my posting. (this section will be shorter than the original)

Church feeling like home.

Crazy 7th graders that call me mom. (Is this a compliment?)

Unlimited long distance.

Phone calls that let you feel minutes away rather than hours away.

Beautiful warm sunny days.

Playing outside.

Chatting with good neighbors.

Old passions bubbling up.

God's way of letting you stumble upon something, lay it on your heart, and facilitate it even when you're not sure it's something you want to do.

creativity.

Baby giggles & dimples, I could list these every day!

Great notes from unexpected places.

And of course, American Idol Night!

This was a hard night, Andrew Lloyd Webber songs. I am amazed by how many times my buddy, Jesus has been part of the show, that is definitely praiseworthy! I loved that these two favorites where from shows Mike and I have seen on stage. The First is Carly with Jesus Christ Superstar. It rocked! The second is David with "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera (we sat under the falling chandelier). This showed he could take a song, pretty much not do anything different with it and sing. Have to say, he's still my fav. I'd listen to man with that voice anytime!

Praises...

Saturday morning lazy & playful family snuggling times...or times Dax can randomly roll over his parents without getting in too much trouble.

A daughter who will babysit for 20 minutes on a Saturday morning to give her parents some sleep in time even if they can't help but hear everything going on! (is it babysitting if both boys randomly show up in our bedroom anyway?)

A rainy day that turned into a beautiful sunny one!

Spending an hour outside Mike's work watching the Blue Angels fly 100 feet above our head...wow!

Not spending $40 on airshow tickets when Dax, our fearless airplane lover, spent the entire "free from Daddy's work airshow" watching from the back of the van. "I'm just a little scared" Dax said, shaking like a leaf after the first four fighter jets flew over. "Airplanes scare me a little bit" he said as he climbed into the back of the van and told us he'd watch from in there.

Finn although freaked out at first seemed to get into the whole plane thing after he got over the noise. He did have a plan though, Daddy should hold him during fly overs, Mom should snuggle him between passes.

Lily enjoyed this part of the afternoon, with no complaints!

I got some amazing picture! Must admit though, even I was a little taken back by the sound and just how close these were at first!

Strangers who will jump your van at Barnes & Noble when someone leaves the keys in and the music on when we go in the store. (I can't say too much, I did this late on Thursday night myself!)

Two children who can quietly spend time in Barnes & Noble without too much complaining.

One child who can find it in himself to hit on a little girl after he got carried back in from his first time out in the van. He's a bit loud for a bookstore, besides, the ladies were starting to give us mean looks when he took almost every Thomas the Tank Engine toy off the shelf, lined them up on the floor and told us that he wanted all those for his birthday!

A sweet little 3 or 4 year old girl who didn't get too annoyed when Dax kept squatting next to her, asking what she was doing. Each time Mike would quietly say, "Dax, lets go over here and leave the little girl alone so she can read." He would loudly reply, "No, I am talking to this little girl!" Finally the little girl explained she was counting caterpillars in her book and this impressed my darling son to no end. "She's is counting catewpiwers! This little giwrl is counting catewpiwers!" Mike then took both boys back to the van.

I found what seems to be a great book on Vaccines. Those of you who know me and the vaccine thing with Finn can laugh. I'll let you know what I think when I get through.

We had dinner out...I'm not totally sure if this was a joy but there were no dishes left on our counter, so that is praiseworthy. Again, 2 out of three kids were pretty good, and one ended up in the van, sigh...

Everyone is sleeping and soon I will be too! =)

Praises...
Wednesday nights with my girls who so take my mind off my day to day routine! (how did the poetry go?)

Bible Study on Thursday mornings. I sometimes love taking the dive way off topic into some very interesting conversations!

The great women who babysit for all of the munchkins for Bible Study and any other time we ladies gather at the church!

Little boys who still need their Mama to hold them for a while in the morning.

Beautiful Sunny 75 degree days where we can play outside and feel!

Quote of the day "Mom, are these baby pants??" Dax asked as I put a pair of shorts on him for the first time since last year. I love that he forgot what shorts were! I explained they were his and they were shorts because it was warm. "These keep my knees warm?" I said no, they'll keep your knees cool. He seemed satisfied with that.

Everyone talking to Nana while playing outside. Dax "showing" Nana his scooter while on the phone with her.

A Husband who doesn't resent me when I leave him with three whining children without much remorse, just a smile on my face!

Ladies who come pick me up and drive me away from the whining!

Thursday nights! A little Margarita, way too many munchies,a warm breeze, and good conversation. Armor to head back into the whining!

Coming home to a quite house with a husband doing the dishes!

Capturing Finn's personality in images... I know this seems to be his standard pose lately, maybe bowls aren't a good idea?


I so see the future him here. The humor, the cute little grin, the orneriness.


I think one day these will be pictures I look back on and say, I see the big him, right here!

Praises...

The "Shiner" wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be by morning light!

Dax woke up dry this morning! (but, we had several accidents today. I shouldn't have started thinking about being really potty trained quite yet!)

It was sunny, and not freezing!

We got to play outside & visit with neighbors.

I made some headway in my ebay pile.

My kids are all healthy and strong and at the end of the day no matter how much they've fought, yelled, and been mean to each other they seem to still love each other, even if they've worn me out!

America Idol night and it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it might be with Mariah Carey. Not that I don't like her old stuff, just she's not my favorite person...but it was ok. Of course you know I'm gonna share with you the performance of the night, I just can't help myself! I must say, David Cook can always take a song and turn it into something amazing and totally his ~ Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey...I'm thinking the guy should win.

Praises...

Sunshine! Now that all the windows in our bedroom are free of furniture it seems like the morning sun comes flowing in. Seems like just yesterday we were all grumbly because we needed spring. I love the feeling that it's just about to spring!

Baby smiles, with dimples makes them even better!

Only topped by baby giggles as Finn teeters on his third or fourth step and is so proud of himself!

Kids who are actually able to make a bed after tearing it apart, I was impressed with their skills...hmmm...I see bed making on a more regular basis in their future!

Mondays with no plans, my favorite kind!

8 teeth. Not sure when Finn got them all...good mama, I know...but there were three more in there than the last time I forced my finger into his mouth!

Clean baskets & drawers. You know those baskets, the one on the kitchen counter where you throw all the stuff you don't know what to do with? Mine was a good 5 inches over the top of the basket, sigh... now it's not!! I even cleaned out the drawers in my dresser where I put all my notes, cards, and other important things. Does anyone not have at least one of those drawers or baskets? If you don't, where do you put all that stuff?

Finding old notes & cards. Some that make you smile, some that make you weep.

Seeing others reflected in your hands.

Not having to go to the emergency room after Dax decided to do a flying bambino off the end of our bed rolling right over the top of an unsuspecting Finn playing peek a boo with a curtain on the floor. Dax's cheek bone came in contact with Finn's forehead. I think Finn won. He has a small goose egg, Dax on the other hand has a full blown shiner. Maybe I'll show pictures tomorrow. I love my boys!

One little two year old who insisted on wearing big boy pants to bed tonight! We'll see if that is still a praise in the morning!

Going to bed before midnight in a house full of people I love.

Praises...

Sleeping in! The boys were up at some insane hour, I don't know what it might have been but I woke up with Dax sitting behind me brushing my hair. Strange sensation to wake up to a two year old brushing your hair, actually, slightly startling. The pulling must have been what woke me up, or the smack to the back of the head with the beginning of each stroke, took me a while to realize I wasn't dreaming!

Ok, let me clarify that...going back to sleep, then sleeping in. Mike got up with the boys sometime around 7:30 and let me linger till 9:30 when all three boys climbed back in bed for snuggle time with Mom.

Snuggle time with my guys, gotta love that! Lily even stumbled in for a brief moment!

Kids who keep the "we sneaked into mom's paint and made a big mess" mess in the unfinished basement.

A new washer and dryer that wash and dry in half the time as the old one and tell me when they'll be done. Sometimes I just stand there in front of them watching, mesmerized!

Getting lots of laundry done! I really just keep going till it's all finished, props to the new appliances! How come a brand new bottle of toilet bowl cleaner doesn't make me just want to go crazy in the bowl?

A day with no phone calls...I just realized no one called today, it was family only.

Getting ready to teach the confirmation class for my favorite 7th graders tomorrow. We've been gone for a while and it's good to think about getting back into the swing of things. Addition to this praise, a husband willing to read the material and probably actually do tomorrow's teaching. (slowly getting back into the swing of things!)

Blog hopping. This is a pastime I haven't delved too far into and I probably won't. I have been quite amused tonight though! I started linking out of Nicole's blog and found myself on a yellow brick road of bloggy goodness. I must say I had some good laughs!

A clean bedroom! New bedding, new pillows, clean closet, and rearranged furniture! This does a heart good. Thanks to my parents for the bedding. I hope my Mom sleeps well in her old room with her new bedding for the first time tonight too. (I'll be sending my love and prayers your way!)

I'm posting pictures of my bedroom, because, well I want to remember what it looks like tonight. It is a teeny tiny room and although we can't paint until we move out it at least feels like a grown up bedroom for a few minutes, until the first of the munchkins sneaks in.

I realized while trying to take a good picture that my bedroom is really too small, so I had to do a few to give you the full effect, I'm sure you're just enthralled by this, aren't you? (Note the high style of the child resistant door knob cover. I wonder why they don't show those in the interior design mags?)

Since my goal as of late is to become transparent (although I struggle most not with the personal me, but my house and it's keeping!) I must divulge the following. I would not want you to think that just because my bedroom has been scrubed from light fixture to baseboard that the same applies to the rest of the house. Here is a lovely photo of my family room, notice the toys shoved under the TV cabinet? I didn't notice those till I was looking at the picture! Maybe tomorrow....

Finn's Day

Today the boys were playing in the living room, the sun was shining in and I gave up accomplishing whatever task I was thinking about accomplishing and just started snapping pictures. This worked out well, because poor Finn hasn't had the beautiful professional pictures that the other kids had for their first birthday due to the world spinning a bit out of sync lately, maybe when he's two we'll catch those bunny pictures? You think he'll notice his don't match? Will he care? Will it drive me nuts forever? Maybe if I ever get all my beautiful pictures on the wall, until then, no one but me will really even know. I digress, Finn, natural light, a window sheer, peek a boo, beautiful pictures taken by mom for free(if you ignore the green marker stripe on his cheek). He then proceeded to take his first steps! 3 of them, of course I didn't have the camera in hand then, but at least I documented what he looked like on the day he took his first steps! We are on the way now! My baby is growing up, sniff, sniff!