Photo Tag

I've been tagged by Kristen at A Family is Forever to complete this photo tag. I have to admit that I have seen it on other blogs and was just curious. The rules are to go to your picture files and go to the fourth folder and pull out the fourth picture. I like Kristen have photos on multiple computers and here is what I found.....

This first picture was taken at the shower thrown at our church before Graeme came home. One of our friends bought this gift for the future big sister. I love the outfit she is wearing!

This shot was taken last Spring as Lily was getting her hair done for her first dance recital. She was so into her first recital. It was great to remember this time as this week she dances in the local performances of the Nutcracker. She will be in five shows across four days...pray for us during this crazy week!

This sweet shot was taken last fall during a visit from my Mom. It is Lily holding her Bitty Baby who she has named Dee Dee. She wore the same skirt for her Party last week.

This adventure in photo hunting has been fun so I now tag Cora at Waiting 4 Little Miss What's Her Name, Kristy at Franceska's Journey and Allie at Adopting Quincie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY WEN!!!!

Today is Lily Wen's fifth birthday. I can't believe that she is five years old! We celebrated last weekend with a Fancy Nancy birthday party with her best friend Lily D. They both turned five years old - five days apart. Here are some pics from the party~

Fancy Lily in her Fancy Nancy outfit!

All of their fabulous friends!

Make a Wish

Lily Wen and Lily

Opening the presents

Graeme really enjoyed cleaning up!

The Lilys

Life is wonderful with your best friend at your side!

At the end of the party, Lily Wen wanted to send the balloons to Papa Jim.

Heaven bound

We had been talking about sending a balloon message to Papa Jim. It was so sweet and so sincere to do so at the end of the party. She really is growing up.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We are celebrating a quiet Thanksgiving at home with the kids. The plan is to watch the parade in PJs all morning! Wes is going to cook dinner today with a small ham for our family. Tomorrow we are celebrating with many friends at a much larger gathering. We are also looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree! We won't be home for most of the Holiday so we want to get our tree up early so we can enjoy it before we leave for Louisiana.



Lily made a tree of blessings for a school project and it was so cute. She was thankful for her family, friends, books (that's my girl) and last but definitely not least...Sprite and Cheese!



This season I am most thankful for 2 women whom I have never met and will most likely never meet. They live on the other side of the world where this holiday is not even celebrated. I don't even know their names or how old they are but I am forever thankful and grateful to them for the precious gift of life they have given to me. I know they both must be beautiful because Lily and Graeme are so beautiful. They must have blessed hearts and a quiet strength that I can't even imagine to do what they did. They are never far from my thoughts for because of them, I am very blessed and my life is filled with Love that I could have never imagined.

Resurfacing

Do you ever get so overwhelmed that you just need a break from it all? That has been me for the last few weeks. More things on the to do list than one person could possibly get done in the time to do it. Lots of STRESS! I read some of the blogs where people discuss all of the Joys and Difficulties in their lives. I admire their candor. There are some things that I struggle to talk about let alone blog about. I just needed a break. I feel like I am almost ready to resurface. Hope you are all well and I am looking forward to catching up soon!

Home at last!

I have the most wonderful children! They did great on the trip to Louisiana and on the way home yesterday and today. We left Louisiana late yesterday afternoon and traveled to Birmingham where we spent the night at a Hampton Inn...fabulous place to crash. Then we continued our journey today. We arrived home early and it was so wonderful to see Wes. We really missed him! The kids were wild!

I have more posts to update from our trip. Graeme got to meet his Aunt Jodi and Uncle Mike and lots more family for the first time. We got pictures of all eight of my Mom's grandchildren (even got one of everyone with eyes open looking at the camera...I love the sports feature on my camera).

Graeme pretty much potty trained himself on the trip. We encouraged and he did the rest. Did I say how brilliant we think he is? Well I think this proves it!

Lily authored and illustrated her second book. It is about her and Papa Jim and it is precious. A week to the day that Papa passed away, Lily "got" it for the lack of a better term. She kept praying that he would be safe and I told her that he was safe in heaven and that he didn't hurt anymore. We also talked about how he could breath easily again and to take a term from the preacher who said Jim's service "that Papa was breathing celestial air". She got really quiet and then asked in the smallest voice, "But when do we get to see him again?" I didn't even have time to answer as she burst into tears and I just held her as she cried. She understands so much more than I ever gave her credit for.

She reminded me of how much she understood when we were waving goodbye to my Mom yesterday afternoon. Lily said, "Poor Granny. She's alone." It was my turn to burst into tears. As I drove I thought about things from Lily's perspective and Jim has always been there. He was at our home to toast her referral with champagne, at the airport when she came home, shared her Baptism, her first Birthday and Christmas and so many memories since then. When we saw Granny, we saw Papa Jim. To her their lives were completely entertwined. It made me realize just how much Papa Jim blessed my mother's life and ours as well. We became a part of his family and his family became a part of ours. He touched all of our lives and we are forever changed for the better.

This started as a light post and became sentimental. I'm tired and happy to be home. I'm headed off to sleep in my bed tonight.

Halloween

Here are our Halloween pics a week late! We did go Trick or Treat and the kids had a great time....well, Lily had a great time. Graeme was a little freaked out!

Lily, the fifties girl and Graeme, our pirate

The Pirate attacks....arrrrrhhhhh!

My cutie!

Ready to go!

Harrison, Jake, John Christopher, Graeme, Lily and Luke

We got to trick or treat with cousins.

The Stash

The Loot!