The Easter Bunny came

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was a really busy but lots of fun. We went to Beaufort on Friday to spend the night with Ward's Dad and family. We had a great time. We got to spend some time with our niece, Ellis, and she and Anna had a ball playing on the floor together. Sallie loved playing with Addie and got to take a boat ride with Grandaddy. We came back late Saturday night and woke up here at home Easter morning, went to church, had a great lunch and then naps. Our church service was amazing and packed and by nap time the girls were all tuckered out. The girls were out of school all last week for Spring break and I was very happy for Tuesday when they started back. Trying to juggle school schedules and work schedules was hard. I am posting some pictures of the weekend and Easter morning.

On another note, Anna is now sleeping in her pack and play upstairs in our playroom. We have decided that we have got to get some sleep and can not be waking up radomly through the night with her cryinhg. It has really been great. As far as we can hear, she has been sleeping through the night. Just kidding. I do have a monitor and she does wake up occassionally but i just let her cry. It has gotten much better and she only wakes up crying every now and then. I feel really bad by letting her cry but know that she is fine and this is best for her. Ward and I have got to get some sleep before we loose our minds. Anna started clapping yesterday and it is so cute. She is really starting to do those fun things that I remember Sallie doing. She is not crawling yet but it won't be long. She is trying. Can not beleive that my baby is 8 months now. I know that I say it all the time but she is really just growing up to quick. Sallie told me yesterday that she can not wait until Anna can walk. They are going to have so much fun together.

Easter is Coming

It has been a while since last post as I tend to get more behind now then before. I have been really busy with work lately. I feel like it has been so time consuming lately and I could not put my finger on the reason why. Turns out, I have been working a lot and I guess my expectations for myself have been really high over the last month. Turns out, I was the top producer in Columbia for this quarter working only 30 hours per week versus my co workers working 40 hours per week. I won a competition and my prize...a new ipod. Anyway, I was very excited but am going to slow down now!!! I have been stressed and now it is time for me to enjoy Spring Break with the my girls and especially Easter. I sure hope that my boss is not reading this :) Enough about me...we are really excited about Easter and Spring approaching. I love the warm weather and we have spent a lot of time outside lately. Anna is growing like a weed and saying a lot lately. It is all babble but a lot of it. She is pretty close to saying Da Da and of course Ma Ma has never been said. We have been working hard on it though. Sallie has been a talker for a long time now but she is getting a much bigger vocabulary. She was talking on the phone to Ward while he was out of town last weekend and was asking where he was and then paused and said "anyways, Mama wants to talk to you now." I was dying laughing. I guess this means that I say "anyways" on the phone a little too much. Sallie has been busy at school preparing for Easter. The Easter bunny came to their class and they had a Easter party. They have been learning about Jesus and the reason that we celebrate Easter. We dyed Easter eggs last week and have been on many Easter egg hunts. We are celebrating Easter here in Columbia this year and are looking forward to it. We are really looking forward to the summer, going to the beach, taking the boat out, and just hanging in the sun. Sallie got enrolled in the summer program where she attends school but Anna did not get in as her class was too full for the summer. Not sure what we are going to do with Anna this summer but are actively looking. With Easter approaching and all the new beautiful blooms on our trees and flowers in our yard, it makes me reflect on the beauty of our world and the blessings all around. I Hope that everyone has a Happy Easter.

We celebrated with McRea on Saturday for her first birthday. I can not believe that she is a year old. We had a great time at her birthday party. Happy Birthday baby Crea!! This also means that Anna's birthday is not too far away. How is my baby close to a year old? Here is a picture of McRea when she was born April 10th 2008 and here is a picture of her on her 1st birthday in her birthday Tutu

Our May is already looking really busy! We have lots of birthdays to celebrate in May, Mother's Day, and we are also finally getting Anna Baptized. We have been waiting to get her Baptized because we have been in limbo with churches. We are members of a church but seeking something a little smaller and searching for that church where we felt we were being called to serve in some way. We have been visiting a church for almost a year now and love it just were not sure if this was where God wanted us. We have felt in the last couple of weeks that we could very easily fill a place in this church so we are joining in the next couple of weeks and getting Anna baptized sometime in May. We are so excited and can't wait to see where God calls us to serve at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church. We will keep you posted!!!

Tea parties, boat trips and more

Sallie has really gotten into having tea parties lately so I decided to post a couple pictures of our tea party last week. Sallie's tea parties always consist of diet coke. She never wants to pretend or use water. Her baby got to sit in on this tea party!! Won't be long before she and Anna will be having tea parties together.

We took Anna on her first boat ride this weekend and had a great time. The weather was beautiful and it was really warm. We only expected to be out there for about 1 hour or less and did not pack the sunscreen. Anna fell asleep within the first 20 minutes of our ride and we covered her up with shirts and sweaters however her little hands were hanging out of the side of the covered area and got a little sun burnt. It has not seemed to bother her. I felt horrible. Anna slept on the boat for about 2 hours. I guess we know the secret for a good nap. Sallie had a blast as always and really wanted to get in the water but it was freezing. We are looking forward to the summer already!!

I was looking through my pictures the other day and came upon some boat ride pictures of Sallie. I found some of almost this same time last year and nearly cried!! Sallie looks like such a baby compared to now. This was only a year ago and wow she has really grown up. Thought I would post. My girls are growing!!!!

I got some cute shots of Anna the other night after bath so I will post those as well. She is in that cute stage of grabbing her feet now. I remember Sallie getting her picture taken at this stage and love those pictures!!

Cousins and Friends

We have had a lot of fun with our cousins and our friends and here are some of our pictures...

Dear Anna.....

Dear Anna,

Happy 6 months!! Wow, time really does fly by. It seems like just yesterday I was saying that you were 3 months old and your Daddy just told someone the other day that you were 4 months old. You are sitting up now and have developed a little personality that I just love. You are so sweet and your smile lights me up. You make me work hard for my smiles but always give me one. You love your big sister and she is always guaranteed a smile from you. She can just look at you and you smile. You are a troubled sleeper but I think that Mama has just spoiled you a little. We are going to have to work on that. You love your rice cereal that we have started and eat your vegetables well too. You are a good eater and it is starting to show. You have the cutest chubby legs I have ever seen. Your teachers at school love taking care of you and talk about what a good baby you are. You really are a good baby. You love your johnny jump up and look like a little frog in it. You will jump for long periods of time. I am such a lucky Mama and love you more than you know. God has truly blessed us with two healthy and happy baby girls.

Mama

Dear Sallie......

Dear Sallie,

Happy 2 1/2 day. I can not believe that you are 2 1/2 years old. You are the smartest, cutest, sweetest little girl I know and you will never know the joy that you bring to me. 2 1/2 years ago I did not know the joy that you would continue to bring into my life. You have made me the proudest Mama ever and I am so thankful for you. Your sweet little voice brightens my life and your pitter patter in the morning over to my side of the bed always makes me smile. You are such a wonderful big sister and Anna is so lucky to have you. You are so helpful with Anna. You have adjusted well to sharing your time with me and Daddy. I am so proud of you for that. You have a mind of your own and if it is on your mind then you are going to do it. You are funny and laugh a lot and you love to sing and dance. You remember crazy things that I did not even know that you heard. You like routine and if you do it once, you think that it is what you are going to do forever. You love your pappy and lovee and do not want to give them up quite yet. You love chocolate hot mints and must have one on the way to school in the morning. You must have a icee at target and have to ride in the car buggy at publix. You love going to the grocery store with me but are not always an angel while there. You like to exercise with me and get "wet" after you are done. This means that you are sweaty. You love school and look forward to going every day. You are always up for a adventure. You are not afraid of a stranger and will talk to anyone. Your new thing is to ask "why" about everything. The "twos" have been hot and cold and I am sure that they will only get hotter and colder but I would not trade a day of your life for anything in this world. I love you so so much..... Mama

Our famous dog, Jack

I know that this blog is about my children however this entry is about Jack, our dog. He is such a wonderful dog that has been through bringing home two new babies to our house and handled it so well. Jack will take any attention that he can get these days (poor dog). I caught Sallie inspecting his ears yesterday and listening to his heart with her doctors kit and the sad thing is that he was letting her because he was getting some attention. Poor Jack used to be my #1 and now he is my number #4. He went everywhere with me and even slept at the end of my bed. Jack is lucky these days to get a Pat but he loves me unconditionally. I need to get better about this and show him more attention. Anna loves Jack as well and laughs when he starts barking or running around the house. Jack is such a good dog and has brought a lot of Joy to my life pre babies and pre marraige. Ward was not really a dog kind pf person before we met and he fell in love with Jack quickly. Jack is now bringing joy to Sallie and Anna even though Sallie is sometimes not so nice to him. We are working on this as well. Jack has recently learned a new trick that I think is pretty cool. He has learned to climb the latter on our play set and then slide down the sliding board. I think that this is pretty incredible. He used to do it going after a ball. Now he likes it so much that he does it on command. I am posting pictures of this. I really want to send it to funniest videos!!! Let me know if you think that we will win.