8 years ago today...

8 years ago today my amazing husband proposed to me!

I found the little book I made of how Brian proposed and all the fun cards from our engagement party this weekend. I love reading our sweet story and looking at where we are today, it's amazing how time really flies. I feel beyond blessed to love Brian more today than ever! Happy Proposal Anniversary...a new holiday right?!?

Our little girl...

Our little girl is getting bigger by the minute around here. She is about as ready to have a little baby around here as we are...which is slightly concerning:-)

The last three days Ella has gotten out of bed with a completely dry diaper. She goes and sits on the potty and goes peepee all by herself! I have intentions to potty train her before this baby, but now I'm really believing she could maybe do it without my help...here's to hoping! We will see how different boys and girls really are when it comes to potty training.

Snow Day?!?

Thursday morning we had just a touch of snow. My mom bought Ella a new swimsuit when we were in Dallas for market this week. Ella insisted on wearing her swimsuit around the house all morning...on the coldest morning yet:-) The boys still had school, but LOVED sledding at Gingerbread. Hopefully we will have a little more snow again this year!

Time with Claire Bear

The Caldwell's have been staying with us and we LOVE it! My kids absolutely adore sweet Claire. Monday morning Drew was meeting with a friend so my kids completely entertained Claire for most of the morning. She was so sweet and would just follow them wherever they went!

Ella is enjoying "Cwer Beer" the most! She got her into this little chair and proceeded to feed her apples and oranges all morning. It was such a fun morning and made me even more excited for this little baby to get here. The boys loved playing with the girls, but Ella was so pleased to have a little buddy too!

Birthdays and Family Night

Sunday afternoon another of Port's friends from school had a birthday party. Jake and his mom both called our house on Saturday night making sure that Haynes knew he could come too! We told Port if we got done with church and lunch in time we would stop by...luckily we made it for a little bit of the party.

The kids got to take a tour of the Museum and then had a room for treats!

Haynes loves his fun new hat! It's super sweet to see all of Port's friends love on Haynes. They all know him and are so kind. Haynes absolutely loves it!

Port had a great time with all his friends from school!

We knew that our week was going to be pretty crazy so we had a family night in the house. We ordered pizza, played games, and Daddy let the kids watch a little movie. We were waiting expectantly for Drew, Mary and Claire to come too!

These are the kids Christmas bean bag chairs. I haven't quite found a spot for them, so they sit in the dining room and are pulled out ALL the time. It's pretty fun, but they will have to find a home eventually:-)

Ella and Mommy's boots

Ella's favorite thing to do in the morning when I am getting ready is to go into my closet and put on my boots. They are always a tall pair that cover her entire legs, but she manages to walk around the bathroom in them. She found my heels from the wedding and decided that they were even more fun to wear. (Unfortunately my camera didn't really get a shot of her shoes...)

Bryce and Savannah's Wedding

Port, JuJu, Haynes, Champ, Lolli, and Ella

Savannah and Bryce

They had a fun treat table that the kids immediately enjoyed!

These two were pretty cute together!

This might have been my favorite part of the wedding. Kooper was dancing and then the kids would imitate him, it was adorable! The kids had the best time dancing all night long. When we tried to leave, Ella was still making friends on the dance floor. (I love Ella's face in this picture)

It was such a fun wedding! Congratulations Savannah and Bryce!

Happy Birthday Emma and Dylan!

Saturday afternoon we had two birthday parties at Bart Conner and they overlapped for about an hour. Our sweet friend Emma Doke had her birthday first! The kids had a blast playing around the gym, but let's be honest the daddies had just as much fun!

When it came time for snacks Port filled his plate...no fruit, chicken, just extra cookies and brownies. Where does he learn this from?!?

Singing Happy Birthday to sweet Emma!

Haynes and Beau...never far from each other!

Next was Dylan's birthday party! Most of the boys from Port's class were there, so they had the best time! The kids loved playing in the gym extra long and the extra treats. Our kids were exhausted by the end of the afternoon!

Library with Haynes

Ella and I joined Haynes class on their trip to the library a few weeks ago. Haynes and his friends were beyond excited to see us. When we got on the bus I wasn't sure how we were going to work our seating arrangement because they were all so excite to sit with us. Needless to say, I didn't get great pictures because a full class of 3 year olds is a handful! This was their line waiting to go into the library. (Yes...Ella fits in quite perfect with this little class)

Story time had to be our absolute favorite! She is a truly gifted story teller, the kids LOVED it! You can barely see the back of Haynes head and he's sitting next to Ella with her pig tails. He eventually wanted to sit in my lap...there's not much lap room these days!

Our final part of the trip was taking a tour of the back of the library. The kids loved it and I was surprised that they would let all these little ones go through. They did a great job! Such a fun field trip and getting to spend time with Haynes and his friends!

Worship

We've had a few days of pretty great weather, so the boys have LOVED playing outside. One of their favorite things to do in the backyard is worship...It's actually pretty funny! They love turning on some old "Sunday School Worship Songs" like "I'm in the Lord's army!" as loud as possible. Then they start making their own instruments. A great example is this smoker Brian got for Father's day a few years ago, it's only been used a handful of times but it is a GREAT drum!

Haynes would prefer to march on the hot tub and beat my sweet little tree for his instrument. He will usually find a stick of some sort and start conducting his brother and sister.

It makes me laugh when I think about how our neighbors must complain about that CRAZY loud kids worship in the backyard:-)

Monday night...

Monday night was Whitney's last night in Norman so we just offered our house to be a place for people to come by and say by, watch football, and eat some treats. I also realized that Monday was Port's 1/2 birthday so we told him we were celebrating that too! (Port has been asking if he is 5 1/2 for about 3 months) Port thought it was the perfect party with all the friends that stopped by and Whitney.

Ella and Asher were playing quietly and when I went to find them they had snuck into Whitney's room (the nursery with a blow up bed on the floor) and got under the covers together. When I walked in Ella pops up and says, "Cheese!" and Asher hid under the covers. They were so funny!

SnOwFlAkEs!

Monday morning it snowed for just a little bit! Port and Ella were at school so when we picked them up we raced home to play in the snow...unfortunately it had stopped and was melted. Since it was SO cold we decided to make snowflakes instead...

We love "projects" around here! So everyone found a seat at the bar and "patiently" waited for mom to get everything together.

I actually gave every kid a set of scissors and we started making a variety of snowflakes. It was super fun talking about how every snowflake is perfect and different just like the way God made us!

We were going to glitter but the mess was already got out of control...so we went to coloring instead:-)

Markers did end up on faces and snowflakes...

We had a great time being creative, messy, and talking about God's creativity! I just love days at home with my sweet kids!

Playing at the mall

Friday Port was out of school, so we decided to head to the mall after Mom's prayer and picking up Ella from Music school. We met Brooke, Asher, and Lawson at Chickfila and then headed to the play area. This was how we got Asher and Ella to walk with us to the play area...aren't they precious!

I was quite impressed with my kiddos...we decided to head into the mall without a stroller to see what would happen. The kids did an AMAZING job of walking together, holding hands, and obeying! (This might sound silly, but really I don't go anywhere without restraining at least one child in a cart of some sort!) Just a few steps closer to preparing for our sweet baby to come...

Jump Zone

The weather this week has been CRAZY cold! Wednesday after BSF I decided to surprise the kids by taking them to JumpZone in Moore. We paid $7 for the boys and Ella was free, then played on these fun slides, swing sets and obstacle courses from 12:30-2:45. We had so much fun and can't wait to do it again!

Port was so fast at sliding I couldn't hardly get a picture of him. He found a sweet friend from Gingerbread and couldn't stand the idea of leaving...so we stayed a little longer!

Ella was great at all the slides too! I actually only had to rescue her off a swing set once because she was scared of the moving floorboard. She was a pro at climbing and sliding down the slides. (I was beyond thankful not to have to climb the slides at 32 weeks pregnant)

Haynes, as you would imagine, was never more than a step behind Port. He mostly loved the basketball obstacle course. I think he probably played basketball for an hour of our time there. He would occasionally get the ball stuck on top of the rim and run to find someone to help him-I love watching my boys learn to solve problems on their own.

We had a great afternoon together and can't wait to go back. Next time we will bring some friends to play with too!

South Africa Bound!

Whitney went home to spend a few weeks with her family at Christmas, but came back for a few days with friends before she left yesterday! (Whitney, Drew, Mary and Claire all moved in for a few days. I'm not sure who liked it the most us or the kids!) We had a little going away dinner for her at Hideaway after celebration. We are going to miss her so much, but are beyond excited for all the amazing things God has waiting for her in South Africa!

*Brian and I had talked about how Whitney leaving might be difficult on our sweet kids. We also decided that since the Caldwell's would move in as she moved out, then as the Caldwell's move out our new baby should arrive, it might not be as tramatic...

Tuesday morning we all said bye to Whitney before we left for school. I happened to stop by Port's class to surprise him and he had the hardest time with me leaving, it was really unlike him. He even got so teary the teachers had to help him recover as we left! I got in the car and started praying and just felt like the Lord said, "He doesn't really know how to communicate that he is sad Whitney is gone." Oh my...my heart just broke for my tender hearted 5 year old. He was better when I picked him up and we got to talk about missing Whitney, but being so excited for what she is doing in South Africa. Port decided that he just really wants to go visit over this next year, and I agree completely! The next day we had another tearful goodbye at BSF, so we are still working through the emotions of missing our sweet Whitney.

Avery Grigor is here!

My kids LOVE babies! We are a bit like a circus when we enter a hospital room. You are super excited we came, but relieved when we are gone:-) Haynes was the first to insist on holding baby Avery.

Ella was next in line and didn't want to give her up!

Great practice for this big sister:-)

Port was the most patient, but is honestly a pro! He is quite curious about all the details of having a baby, feeding the baby, etc. This could be interesting?!?

Brian and Gerod

Best friends since college and celebrating sweet Avery together!

Waiting to meet Avery Grigor!

My friend Megan called and asked me to take Gracie up to meet her new baby sister since her car wouldn't start. When I put Ella in the car the girls squealed, "Hi!"

Headed up to meet Gracie's new baby sister!

Avery was already here and we got to see her in the nursery with her daddy. Gracie was so excited to see her daddy and new baby sister. Kerri was recovering and doing great!

Owen, Ella, and Gracie

Waiting patiently to see the family!

New Year's Resolutions

We talked about New Year's Resolutions at house church. Somehow Brian started talking about brushing and flossing...his favorite thing! We love asking God what He wants to do this next year in our family and making a plan. Happy 2011!

Collin and Sarah Morgan!

Collin and Sarah got married on New Year's Day! It was an absolutely beautiful wedding. We absolutely adore this couple. We expect amazing things from this marriage!

*Brian was the backup pastor for the wedding, because Kerri was due on Tuesday. This meant if she went into labor Brian would have done the wedding. On our way to the wedding Gerod calls Brian to tell him "Kerri's water broke and they were headed to the hospital. He left the notes with the groomsmen and good luck!" I think Brian actually believed him for about 10 seconds...Gerod did a great job:-)