Photo shoot of the kids...

If you are in Chattanooga...Cobblestone Rue does an amazing job on photos...I am finding that I need quality not quantity when it comes to pictures these days and I have not been disappointed with our pictures there. We have participated in a "give back" campaign the past 2 years that earned us a free mini-session (20-30 minutes is PLENTY for my 2 busy bodies) and I am amazed at how accurately these pictures year to year have captured their personalities...

Anyway, not available for long but take a look:
http://www.cobblestonerue.com/data/web/broadrickkidsgiveback2010/index.html

Pictures from August

More updates to come but here are a few from our early August and celebration on the kids' birthdays.

Mary Susan's birthday cupcake at Whipped Cupcakes...fun, sweet time with our little girl

Surprise playset: double birthday present from both grandparents and mom&dad


MS & Bo's birthday party with friends at Riverview Park (thank you to our friend, Amber, for the wonderful pictures that captured the day)

Finally, a few pictures from our birthday surprise playset party...grandparents joined in on the big surprise on MS's actual birthday...here she is loving on her baby and brother helping open presents.

oh, and one more cupcake before the day was through :)

Enjoy the Grace.

Bucky & I listened to a beautiful sermon a few nights ago . Although the words were many (as most sermons tend to contain) there were three that remained in my mind/heart/soul/being: Enjoy the Grace. God gives us grace DAILY. Sometimes His grace gives us energy to ENJOY LIFE FULLY, other days it simply gives us the ability to ENDURE. How my days are a battle of this swinging pendulum. I have found myself the past few days repeating those words in my head as often as I breathe: Enjoy the Grace, Enjoy the Grace, Enjoy. The. Grace...as another friend said on her blog, "pray not to miss this".

Days with 2 small beings are somewhat bi-polar...some days are amazingly sweet where I feel my heart jump and tears swell somewhat constantly at the beauty in my house---sweet little feet on my floors, giggles & squeals from both children as they enjoy each other, "ABC" songs missing quite a few letters most days, books, artwork, walks...pure sweetness. Other days are...hard. My house is a wreck and any attempt to remedy the problem is amazingly unraveling directly below my steps by 4 little hands. There is screaming, snatching, tears, drama, just ugliness. Those days I feel my chest swell but I am pretty sure it is a reflection of my blood pressure bursting through my head. And somewhere in the midst of our days there is Grace poured on every inch of it---grace to ENDURE, grace to ENJOY.

Today, God's grace poured down on our family as we spent our afternoon at the hospital with Bo who so affectionately told his PawPaw after a full recovery he "broke his brain". How thankful I was to hear his words and know he was okay. I never thought that we would be celebrating a mere 4 stitches to the head and a discharge to go home. After a long, hard fall from the top of the bleachers it was the best case scenario as we watched our little boy go from lethargic/not talking/stunned to his sweet self. So scary, so awful, and yet so redeeming. Certainly "just a fall" and the first of many stitches but yet so close and so revealing of our hearts and our need for God grace daily.

So, in this moment I am able to Enjoy the gifts God has given me. I am beyond BLESSED to be a mom to two amazingly sweet children, a wife to a tender man that weeps at his sons pain, and a friend to so many that stepped into support us tonight. Pray not to miss this!

This time last year...

Last year...

And this year...

Sometimes a girl just wants to cry!

Happy Birthday Sweet baby girl. There is so much that I can't recall about this last year as a mother of two but I can remember so clearly holding my daughter for the first time. After a quick 2 hours of labor and a short 30 minutes at the hospital entered this world. My first words, "you look nothing like your brother" and how I have learned so much from that. She is NOTHING like her brother and EVERYTHING like herself. So calm, so content, so much personality, so much a gift that I could have never forseen nor asked for. What a true blessing that our God pours on us when we are blind to his grace or Plan far greater than our minds can fathom.

july

June

May

May: a month of Smiles for MS...what a happy baby. So pleasant, so sweet, so content. Bo now Potty Trained!!! Woohoo! Bucky's 1st beach trip with MS, Hilton Head with my parents. Very fun trip with our family. Bo loved the beach...his vocubulary is expanding and more understandable each day. MS LOVED the beach as well...crawling all over the place. Also pulling up by the end of the month!