In November we celebrated Telia's 4th Birthday with a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" themed party that I put together in about one week. The girls had fun making pixie dust, coloring picture of Jake and his crew and eating cupcakes with treasure on them. We continue to be amazed and grateful to God for the gift of Telia in our lives. She is easy going, loves a lot, extremely imaginative and has become the peacemaker in the house. Happy Birthday T!

We have a 6 year old!

On September 8th our little girl turned 6 years old!  Un-be-liev-able!  It was the day after a huge yard sale we had so it was very low key.  She had a couple of friends over to play, open gifts and have cake and ice cream.  I didn't take pictures because my phone was messed up but a friend sent me a couple that she took. 

Happy Birthday!

Recipes and 3 to the 4

It is kind of strange that today I am 34 years old.  I feel older and yet like I am still 18 years old all at the same time.  It has been a great day full of friends and family, good food, spa time and coffee.

I have been on a new eating adventure (as I like to call it) for about 12 days now called Paleo.  I signed up to do a 30 day challenge on the Wellness Mama Blog.  This is a great website with lots of information if you are interested in reading more.  Basically, I am grain, dairy, processed foods, legumes, refined sugar and processed oils free (on top of being egg free and peanut free due to Caius' allergies).  I am adding more grass fed pature raised meats, nuts, delicious organic vegetables and fruits to my diet.  I am cooking with coconut oil and sometimes bacon grease from quality bacon.  I am snacking on blueberries, pumpkin seeds and larabars.  I am drinking water, some coffee and kombucha.  I am feeling great and excited about these changes and the new healthy foods my family is eating.  Here are some of the recipes I have already tried and approve:

To start off, tonight we made some desserts for my  birthday and they were delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (grain, egg, and dairy free)

Vegan Chocolate Fudge Brownies

along with Banana "Ice Cream"--simply take some frozen bananas, cinnamon, vanilla extract and coconut milk and blend it all together!

Here are some yummy dinners I have made

Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Arugula Salad

Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie

Brussel Sprouts, Bacon, Avocado and Lime

 Bacon Beef Butternut Squash

Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

A few sides

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Mash

Roasted Carrot Whip

Telia Turns 3!

At the beginning of November we celebrated Telia Abigail turning 3 years old. We had a great time with about 10 of her friends at her Minnie Mouse themed party.

Lots of sweet little girls 

We ate Minnie Mouse cupcakes and played pin the bow on Minnie Mouse. The girls played outside and all over the house.  It was great to shower Telia with attention this day.

Farmyard Party

Ruby turned 5 years old in September and when I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to go to the farm.  My mom has a friend who actually has a farm with animals which is what she was referring to but I figured hey, lets just run with this idea.  So, we had a farmyard party.  We had a lot of fun and a lot of people.  Here are some pictures of that Friday night.

We had fun with the food.  

Below you will see Chicken Feed, Pig Tails, Straw and Wagon Wheels

 I think this cake was really cute and really easy.  Actually, icing an eggless cake was not easy but since they were supposed to be in the farmyard I figured it was ok if it was messy.

 The Dessert Table

 I put farm animals throughout the house for decorations

 It was really hot until the sun went down but the kids didn't care and played in our backyard the whole time.  

So thankful to have a backyard and a fence

 This is seriously not even all the kids that were there.  We are missing a couple of kids and lots of babies. 

 Instead of a pinata we filled balloons with one piece of candy and then made a little pointer that the kids used to pop the balloons.  They loved it and I think the parents did too since the kids only got like 2 pieces of candy.

 Me and my sweet friend Kristyn with Anna and Ella

 Caius with his Aunt Heather

 In the side of our yard we have a dog run...perfect for pony races.  Brian ran the races with two kids at a time.  They had a blast and did not even care who won.

 On your mark...

 Gift opening time got a little crazy...we had to do some crowd control

Happy 5th Birthday!

This little 5 pound 1 oz baby is turning 5 years old today! 

Here are a few of my thoughts and ramblings about our big girl!

We are so thankful for the gift that God gave us in Ruby.  She is funny, smart, curious, generous, loves her brother and sister and loves being with her friends.

We love watching her grow into a little girl.  She asks really inquisitive questions about pirates, God, animals and anything that happens to run through her mind.  She loves to sing, dance, and do gymnastics.  She says "Lou-vey-wille" and we have never corrected her because one day she will figure it out and it is just too cute right now.  It is sad that she isn't a baby anymore but we love this new phase of watching her grow cognitively by leaps and bounds.

At bedtime tonight she said that she loved the flashlight that Mamaw and Papaw gave her.  She said that she always wanted it forever.   We said goodnight and made sure that she new that she and her sister and brother were wonderful gifts to us from God and that we hope that He gave her the good gift of children one day.

Welcome to the World!

On February 18, 2012 we welcome Caius John into the world.  He was born at 12:24 AM weighing 6 pounds 11.6 oz and 20 inches long.

Life has been anything but boring since his entrance (we'll save all those details of our crazy life for another post).

Our hearts are full and we are so grateful to God for this precious life.

Some Updates

-  I have been terrible at blogging lately but I do have some good excuses...I'm pregnant, our house has been on the market, we actually got an offer this past weekend, Brian has been working a lot, I'm pregnant, I never know where my cord is for my camera, I lost my phone for a while with most of my pics, I have 2 small children and I'm pregnant!

- YAY!  We accepted an offer on our house this past weekend!  So, now we wait to hear about the inspection and try to find  a house.  Exciting but very stressful at the same time.

- I'm being induced on February 22nd!  Ash Wednesday! 

- We decided on a name for our son which will probably not be a surprise to anyone because most people are on facebook.  I knew it was the right name when Brian did a dance around the living room after he discovered it.  Caius  (Caius we just like and may call him Cai.  It means rejoice) and John (after both of our brothers plus we love the meaning "God is gracious or generous")

- We own a minivan.  We got one out of necessity in December and have been loving the extra space.  It is very surreal to own a minivan...I am definitely a grown up.

- I turned 33 years old last week.

- On January 19th we hit the one year mark of when we lost Ezekiel. 

- I have lot of pictures from Christmas still to post...I will do that eventually

Happy Birthday Telia!

Telia turned 2 years old on the 10th of November.  She is such a sweet little toddler who is loved dearly by everyone in our family.  She talks a lot and most of the time you can understand what she is saying.  She loves her baby dolls, playing "night night" with her sister, and dancing.  Here are a few pictures over the past couple of years.

Our 1 year old Telia

A few days old at home

September post in October

Ruby's birthday was September 8th and we celebrated that day by taking Ruby and her friends Lilly and Nora to All About Kids.

We had a perfect day and took a few photos to remember it.