the reason you dedicate a baby, not a toddler...

all kidding aside...

it was really important to us, to stand before our families and church community

and dedicate the girls to our Heavenly Father.

I wasn't raised a Christian.

So teaching my children about God is something I'm learning as I go.

I don't know all the words to every praise song.

I still learn new things when i read Finley's children's bible.

but even so, my daughter is already loving God.

She initiates praying.

She loves to read her bible.

and she asks questions that absolutely amaze me.

We're not promising to be perfect parents {far from it!!}

or know the answer to every question.

But we are promising to do our best

to raise our children to love Jesus,

and to follow His teachings.

thankfully we aren't asked to do it alone.

we have the most amazing families,

the best church community,

and the most awesome kids ministry {shout out katey!}

Finley has been counting down the days until her third birthday,

because then she gets to go to the big kid room at church

SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

I remember picking her up from the nursery as a baby.

They told us, "that girl is going to be a CEO or something.

She really knows what she wants and goes for it!"

the first time we picked up adalaide, they gushed on and on

about what a "sweet spirit" she has and how laid back she was.

it makes me laugh, because they have our kids figured out pretty well.

i know this is a photo overload, but i loved all of these.

none of my pictures from the service turned out.

thankfully our good friend photographed the event,

so lets hope he got something good, tantrum and all :)

the reason you dedicate a baby, not a toddler...

all kidding aside...

it was really important to us, to stand before our families and church community

and dedicate the girls to our Heavenly Father.

I wasn't raised a Christian.

So teaching my children about God is something I'm learning as I go.

I don't know all the words to every praise song.

I still learn new things when i read Finley's children's bible.

but even so, my daughter is already loving God.

She initiates praying.

She loves to read her bible.

and she asks questions that absolutely amaze me.

We're not promising to be perfect parents {far from it!!}

or know the answer to every question.

But we are promising to do our best

to raise our children to love Jesus,

and to follow His teachings.

thankfully we aren't asked to do it alone.

we have the most amazing families,

the best church community,

and the most awesome kids ministry {shout out katey!}

Finley has been counting down the days until her third birthday,

because then she gets to go to the big kid room at church

SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

I remember picking her up from the nursery as a baby.

They told us, "that girl is going to be a CEO or something.

She really knows what she wants and goes for it!"

the first time we picked up adalaide, they gushed on and on

about what a "sweet spirit" she has and how laid back she was.

it makes me laugh, because they have our kids figured out pretty well.

i know this is a photo overload, but i loved all of these.

none of my pictures from the service turned out.

thankfully our good friend photographed the event,

so lets hope he got something good, tantrum and all :)

the reason you dedicate a baby, not a toddler...

all kidding aside...

it was really important to us, to stand before our families and church community

and dedicate the girls to our Heavenly Father.

I wasn't raised a Christian.

So teaching my children about God is something I'm learning as I go.

I don't know all the words to every praise song.

I still learn new things when i read Finley's children's bible.

but even so, my daughter is already loving God.

She initiates praying.

She loves to read her bible.

and she asks questions that absolutely amaze me.

We're not promising to be perfect parents {far from it!!}

or know the answer to every question.

But we are promising to do our best

to raise our children to love Jesus,

and to follow His teachings.

thankfully we aren't asked to do it alone.

we have the most amazing families,

the best church community,

and the most awesome kids ministry {shout out katey!}

Finley has been counting down the days until her third birthday,

because then she gets to go to the big kid room at church

SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

I remember picking her up from the nursery as a baby.

They told us, "that girl is going to be a CEO or something.

She really knows what she wants and goes for it!"

the first time we picked up adalaide, they gushed on and on

about what a "sweet spirit" she has and how laid back she was.

it makes me laugh, because they have our kids figured out pretty well.

i know this is a photo overload, but i loved all of these.

none of my pictures from the service turned out.

thankfully our good friend photographed the event,

so lets hope he got something good, tantrum and all :)

i feel the need to mention:

:: adalaide weighs T.W.E.N.T.Y pounds. that puts her in the 95% for weight, and she is off the charts for height. i was wondering why i was having such difficulty hoisting her carrier around. now i know. and now we leave it in the car.

:: we are moving! within the next month we'll be packin' up our house, getting renters in here, and moving into one of my parents properties. my mom and dad are giving us a great family discount, so that we can maximize our saving and speed up the building process {cause we're crazy and paying cash for everything-ahhh}. the house is much smaller than ours, and it's...shall we say..  a "vintage" home. but we don't care. we are so very excited to be in our ideal location...close to family, friends, cousins, and good schools! thanks so much mom and dad!!

:: finley will be having a birthday next month. she has requested a "farm party" so we'll be giving her just that. since we have a lot on our plates next month, we'll be keeping it small and simple. but, i couldn't resist putting together an invitation. i'm still learning how to use photoshop, but i'm loving that it can be used for things other than photo editing. here's her invitation, front and back.

now that i look at it, i'm slightly worried that brown and yellow looks a little poopy. oh well.

and finally...

:: i've been telling brian that i feel twice as pregnant as i actually am. i'm getting up at night to pee, my organs {?} feel like they're already migrating around, and despite my best efforts my stomach is definitely protruding. turns out my uterus "is like a snow plow on a mission, pushing everything out of way"-my midwife's words. i've been warned that i will "probably look and feel like i'm carrying multiples "!!! {you know, because it's my third pregnancy, and because my body hasn't had a lot of time to recover from no. 2} didn't want to hear that. not one bit. maybe she'll be wrong. probably not, but maybe.

that's all for now!

i feel the need to mention:

:: adalaide weighs T.W.E.N.T.Y pounds. that puts her in the 95% for weight, and she is off the charts for height. i was wondering why i was having such difficulty hoisting her carrier around. now i know. and now we leave it in the car.

:: we are moving! within the next month we'll be packin' up our house, getting renters in here, and moving into one of my parents properties. my mom and dad are giving us a great family discount, so that we can maximize our saving and speed up the building process {cause we're crazy and paying cash for everything-ahhh}. the house is much smaller than ours, and it's...shall we say..  a "vintage" home. but we don't care. we are so very excited to be in our ideal location...close to family, friends, cousins, and good schools! thanks so much mom and dad!!

:: finley will be having a birthday next month. she has requested a "farm party" so we'll be giving her just that. since we have a lot on our plates next month, we'll be keeping it small and simple. but, i couldn't resist putting together an invitation. i'm still learning how to use photoshop, but i'm loving that it can be used for things other than photo editing. here's her invitation, front and back.

now that i look at it, i'm slightly worried that brown and yellow looks a little poopy. oh well.

and finally...

:: i've been telling brian that i feel twice as pregnant as i actually am. i'm getting up at night to pee, my organs {?} feel like they're already migrating around, and despite my best efforts my stomach is definitely protruding. turns out my uterus "is like a snow plow on a mission, pushing everything out of way"-my midwife's words. i've been warned that i will "probably look and feel like i'm carrying multiples "!!! {you know, because it's my third pregnancy, and because my body hasn't had a lot of time to recover from no. 2} didn't want to hear that. not one bit. maybe she'll be wrong. probably not, but maybe.

that's all for now!

i feel the need to mention:

:: adalaide weighs T.W.E.N.T.Y pounds. that puts her in the 95% for weight, and she is off the charts for height. i was wondering why i was having such difficulty hoisting her carrier around. now i know. and now we leave it in the car.

:: we are moving! within the next month we'll be packin' up our house, getting renters in here, and moving into one of my parents properties. my mom and dad are giving us a great family discount, so that we can maximize our saving and speed up the building process {cause we're crazy and paying cash for everything-ahhh}. the house is much smaller than ours, and it's...shall we say..  a "vintage" home. but we don't care. we are so very excited to be in our ideal location...close to family, friends, cousins, and good schools! thanks so much mom and dad!!

:: finley will be having a birthday next month. she has requested a "farm party" so we'll be giving her just that. since we have a lot on our plates next month, we'll be keeping it small and simple. but, i couldn't resist putting together an invitation. i'm still learning how to use photoshop, but i'm loving that it can be used for things other than photo editing. here's her invitation, front and back.

now that i look at it, i'm slightly worried that brown and yellow looks a little poopy. oh well.

and finally...

:: i've been telling brian that i feel twice as pregnant as i actually am. i'm getting up at night to pee, my organs {?} feel like they're already migrating around, and despite my best efforts my stomach is definitely protruding. turns out my uterus "is like a snow plow on a mission, pushing everything out of way"-my midwife's words. i've been warned that i will "probably look and feel like i'm carrying multiples "!!! {you know, because it's my third pregnancy, and because my body hasn't had a lot of time to recover from no. 2} didn't want to hear that. not one bit. maybe she'll be wrong. probably not, but maybe.

that's all for now!

i feel the need to mention:

: adalaide weighed nearly 20 pounds {95th %} at her checkup. and her height was off the charts! i couldn't believe it. well, actually i could because it was getting seriously difficult to hoist her carrier around.

: we are moving! i mentioned that we have been wanting to move to the country and build our dream home. we've decided that the best/most responsible way to go about it, is to save, save, save and pay cash as we build. it's going to require some major sacrifices during the next few years, and it's certainly not going to be easy, but in the end we'll have a nice home, in a great location, that's paid off! The first and most important step was finding somewhere to live in the meantime that would allow us to save tons of money every month. My parents have graciously offered to let us rent one of the properties, and lets just say we're getting a great family discount :) We are so thankful for their generousity, and can't wait to move into our new home {which also happens to be in the country}.

i feel the need to mention:

: adalaide weighed nearly 20 pounds {95th %} at her checkup. and her height was off the charts! i couldn't believe it. well, actually i could because it was getting seriously difficult to hoist her carrier around.

: we are moving! i mentioned that we have been wanting to move to the country and build our dream home. we've decided that the best/most responsible way to go about it, is to save, save, save and pay cash as we build. it's going to require some major sacrifices during the next few years, and it's certainly not going to be easy, but in the end we'll have a nice home, in a great location, that's paid off! The first and most important step was finding somewhere to live in the meantime that would allow us to save tons of money every month. My parents have graciously offered to let us rent one of the properties, and lets just say we're getting a great family discount :) We are so thankful for their generousity, and can't wait to move into our new home {which also happens to be in the country}.

teeth, tabbouleh, and a lot of pictures

This post is going to be really random, i can just sense it...

........

The big news around here is that the babe got two teeth {bottom front}. 

Bless her heart, she was really only fussy for about 24 hours.

But, boy was it a doozie of a day/night!

perhaps, now we won't have so much of this..

{drool & chewing on lip}

she is very pleased to be sitting on her own.

......

i'm having the same pregnancy craving that i did last time.

tabbouleh.

lemon + salt = yum.

have you ever had it?

you need a lot of parsley. and i mean A LOT.

This picture is after brian had already picked for a few hours.

luckily, i had this cute picker to help me.

it makes a HUGE bowl.

but, between brian and i, it only lasts a few days.

ok, just took a break to have my third serving of the day.

thank goodness it's healthy!

........

you know how you have those parenting moments where your child

does or says something really inappropriate...

and you know you shouldn't,

but a teensy, weensy part of you wants to laugh.

we've been having a lot of those moments lately.

sometimes it's really, really hard to keep a straight face.

especially if Brian is there too.

normally we're really careful about what we listen to and watch.

but, i needed a break from listening to the same baby praise cd's over and over and over. so for about a week we listened to lady antebellum in the car.

I hadn't paid much attention to the words of the songs,

and all the sudden i heard little miss finley sing...

"it's a quarter after one,

 i'm all alone and i need you now.

and i said i wouldn't call,

 but i'm a little drunk and i need you now"

absolutely shocking to hear come out of her mouth.

so very wrong.

she's been repeating other stuff too. some stuff she's picked up from us,

and some stuff she hears from older kids {like the word fart, and kill-oh dear}.

it's good, because it's forcing us to watch our words,

even with things that don't seem that bad...like country music. 

......

i like this picture of adalaide,

because she is laughing at her big sister.

that's pretty much her favorite thing to do.

and i like this photo of finley that i took on my phone,

because, well she's so stinkin' cute.

i love my girls.