Life in Abundance!

Some pictures I was playing with. I printed them out to frame for their room, but I'm not thrilled with the contrast I put in Mackenzie's.

I really like Aubrey's though

I babysat for some of my friend Kim's kids on Thursday last week... Kenzie LOVES Joshua and "KLove" (Caleb)! Here she is dressing up for her handsome prince Caleb!

We had real live big sister's that day! Hannah and Emma did a great job dressing Aubrey up!

Here they are getting her on a princess chair!

I know it's not a great picture of Aubrey, but I think Hannah looks beautiful so I had to put it up! Hannah wore this outfit here all day... I love little girls!

Aubrey is so busy pulling herself up on everything! She can stand for a few seconds by herself too!

What keeps my children so entertained you wonder?...........................

Why "I Love Lucy" of course! Kenzie asks for it! What two-year-old asks for a black and white comedy?? The two of them sit enraptured for at least one episode! It cracks me up! For the record, lunch in front of the tv is a treat... for them... and for MOMMY!

I have to tell you what I love about this last picture: First off, I love that it is Jake... how can someone grow more attractive to you the longer you know them? We've both been noticing lines starting to appear on our faces and it makes me excited to imagine growing old together with him, he is going to be such a handsome old man someday! Then I love that it is a picture of him relaxed and reading a book. I love that he's got his favorite crackers in his hand flashing his wedding band. I love that our baby is capturing his eyes as she crawls sweetly in the background. It is just a snapshot of some of my favorite parts of life right now!

Our Valentine's Day

We started our Valentine's Day preparations this week when we made a "craff" (craft) for daddy. We decorated our whole house with hearts and talked about "love day" all week!
Today two of my teacher friends were off and we had so much fun having a play date together!


Mackenzie and Aubrey love their friend Maddie! Maddie and Aubrey were due on the same day!

Today during nap Mackenzie snuck out of her "big girl bed" and took out her "'puter"... I had to take a picture before I dealt with the sneakiness issue... it was too cute to pass up! It was one of my hardest mommy moments not to laugh when she started screaming, "No! No! I need to check my email! I need to check my email!!"

We postponed of V-day celebration until tonight. We got all dressed up for Jake and greeted him at the door in our lovely attire. I had beautiful dresses picked out for the girls months ago, but Mackenzie insisted on dressing herself for this occasion and I let her. This is what she came up with!

Jake saw Aubrey and he said, "There's my modest girl!" She looked adorable in the overalls and pink skirt her sister picked out for her! Here she is showing her daddy her pretty skirt and feeling ever so proud of herself!

While Jake got cleaned up from work, Mackenzie decided on an outfit change because she needed "heels" like Mommy!

We had a beautiful candle lit, heart shaped dinner!

I made mini heart shaped meat loaves, heart shaped rolls, pink mashed potatoes... and green beans (since I'm still a mom even on V-day!)

Our not so happy Sweetheart! She didn't like her meat loaf very much!

After dinner I put on the song "Cinderella" by Stephen Curtis Chapman and Jake danced with his girls... He is such a good sport about our fussing over him!

Aubrey's dance turned into a ticklefest! She would lean her head back so Jake could blow raspberries on her neck and she'd crack up and do it over and over again!

Afterwards Jake practiced his guitar and Aubrey helped him keep a beat!

Almost standing!

She did it!!

My handsome Valentine!

Jake and I have been celebrating Valentine's Day all week it seems... or maybe it's been the past 5 years ;) He is my best friend... I just can't get enough of this boy! He leads me so well, cares for my soul, listens to my heart, holds me when I need it, pushes me thru when I need it, counsels me, makes me laugh, and loves me and forgives me so unconditionally! I didn't think I could love him anymore than I did on our wedding day, but I DO... every conflict, every trial, all the laughter, memories, moments... everything keeps knitting us closer together and our love keeps going deeper and deeper! I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend!

Our Finished Project!!

Ok... here is my bed all made with the beautiful bedspread my Mommom made for me... but in our ugly room...
We decided it was finally time to paint...


But before we got that far, we decided to get rid of the carpet. There were beautiful hardwood floors underneath!

Jake used a sander to smooth them out, then he restained them, and then did two coats of polyurethane making them all smooth, shiny, and pretty!

After we painted, we rearranged our furniture... giving us more than the little path we used to have. It's still a tiny room, but it feels so bright and cheery now that you don't feel so closed in!

All finished!

I know it is blurry, but Aubrey is quite the little mommy these days! She loves taking care of her babies with sister!

Grandmom's are the best...

Only a grandmother would buy a marshmellow lollipop as big as her granddaughter's face as a reward for potty training! The rule should have been that she had to eat it at your house, MOM!

There sure weren't any accidents today though with that lollipop as the motivation!!

More Snow!

Well, we thought we had the worst snow two months ago, but apparently this blizzard is the second worst snow beaten only by the blizzard of '96!! We have awesome neighbors that helped us dig out with their new snowblower and we are very grateful that we're not one of the 100,000 of New Jersians without power! So we are staying in, finishing a home project that I will post when it is finished, and trying to keep the girls occupied!

We've had to pull out the nebulizer again because they both have really bad coughs... Kenzie is so good at "being a dragon"...

Even though neither of the girls feel good, they are still being amazing! This is Kenzie "helping" me unload the dishwasher!! Whenever she helps it seems it takes me 10 times longer, but I love her heart! She came running to me, "Mommy, what color [spoon] do you want?" and I told her I'd like a pink one... she sorted out all the pink ones and came running to me again (she doesn't walk anywhere, she kinda skips/dances) and said "Which pink one?" I was so proud of her... she is always amazing me with what she actually knows!

Before the snow really set in on Saturday night, the girls and I headed out to Lowes to pick up some needed supplies for our project. This was Aubrey's first time sitting in a cart like a big girl!! She was so proud of herself she kept saying, "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

Laughing!

It was Mackenzie's idea to make a cake for daddy the other day. She really wanted to make him a Happy Birthday cake and was devastated when I didn't put candles on it. It didn't matter, she still insisted that we sing Happy Birthday to him before we could eat the cake! Here she is "helping me"... She did all the sprinkles herself!

Mommom gave her the game Elefun for Christmas! She has the most fun just sorting the butterflies by color... of course the preschool teacher in me is doing back-flips! My baby is so smart!!

She is officially in a "big girl bed!" And she has been so obedient about staying in it. She hasn't gotten out once! Just this morning I heard her and I went in to get her and she was sitting on the edge kicking her feet and waiting for me! I'm so proud of her for being obedient!!

On Sunday we went to Liv's one-year-old Belle-themed birthday party! Happy Birthday Liv!

Now about our little Aubrey... she has been so sick. We had the throw up bug last week, everyone got over it in about 8 hrs. but not Aubrey. It lasted for 4 days for her. She basically hasn't been eating or sleeping well for over two weeks. I took her to the dr. last week to check for an ear infection, but she was fine. She only continued to get worse so I took her back last night and by that point she had a double ear infection, RSV, and bronculitis! Now she is on amoxicillian for the ear infection and a nebulizer three times a day for the bronculitis. As far as I understand, RSV is a virus that is just like a bad cold for adults but is dangerous for babies because of what it can turn into other things... like bronchitis and pneumonia. We caught it before it got that bad, but she did get bronculitis which is a narrowing of the small airways in the lungs. Now this is all medical and I could be messing it all up, but that is what I understood from the doctor last night. She is on breathing treatments three times a day for four days and on the amoxicillian for 10 days. She is finally starting to act a little happier today... she has been so out of sorts for like two weeks now!

Snapshots of life at the moment:

Potty training a toddler while nursing an infant... yes, you can in fact get the toddler on the toilet without taking the nursing baby off!

Mackenzie sprawled on the kitchen floor saying, "Oh dear, oh dear, I fell down and broke my crown!"

As Dr. Murphy was giving me the diagnosis for Aubrey yesterday, Mackenzie had to go potty really bad... for the second time since we'd been there! I had to take her, the potty seat, and Aubrey into the bathroom at the drs office, get her up on the pot, not let go of Aubrey, get her cleaned up and clothes back on, still hold onto to screaming Aubrey, and get back to the poor waiting doctor as fast as I could... only to get back in the room and hear this diagnosis, learn how I am supposed to treat it, and hear from my little girl that she did indeed need to go potty AGAIN!! Of course this time when we actually got there she didn't really have to go...

The Tale of The Shower: I put Aubrey in the shower with me so she could breath in the steam, I figured it couldn't hurt. Mackenzie who was happy to watch a movie before I got in the shower then decided that she needed to go potty. No big deal. Well, then she decided that her nose needed to be wiped and she used the rest of the roll of toilet paper to wipe her nose. While I'm in the shower telling her that she needs to stop and her nose is all clean, Aubrey falls over and bumps her head. I pick Aubrey up only to hear Mackenzie say, "I come in too, Mommy?" Sure, why not? So now I have a toddler who can't quite get her clothes off all by herself needing help right outside the curtain and an infant clinging to me and not letting me go for anything. I finally get Mackenzie in and she decides that she needs to go to the potty... again... So now there is a soaking wet toddler walking around the bathroom slipping and sliding, a very unhappy baby in my arms, and my hair is still covered in conditioner! I felt really overwhelmed, but then I felt the Lord say from Pro. 31, "'And she laughs at the days to come'... but Julie, you can laugh right now!!" And I did... I chose to give up my agenda of shaved legs and embrace this hysterical predicament! I got out, got Aubrey out, got Aubrey dressed, got Kenzie clean, got Kenzie dressed, got Aubrey breakfast, got Kenzie breakfast only to hear her say, "Mommy, you need to get dressed!" Oh yea, cuz I've just been lounging all day........................