potty pictures

i'm still working on several long posts about b'day, ballet and baby dedication, but until then, here are a few pictures of susanna. she LOVES the potty. she races to it if we leave the door to the bathroom(s) open. grosses me out, but she loves to touch any part of it and especially to stick her hand inside and touch the water. thankfully, i had just cleaned this one the night before and it had not been used yet :) sorry for so many of the same thing, but i thought they were all too cute!

check ups and a reality check

it has been a strange day today...i spent the morning at the pediatrician's office for caroline and susanna's 4year and 9 month check ups. that went fine except caroline got a finger prick and 2 shots. she was supposed to have 4, but they were out of 2 so we get to go back and do it all over again when those come in. she was completely fine with the finger prick and first shot, but then she watched the second shot and the tears started rolling :) she told me afterwards "mommy, i don't like those big ole' long sharp things". she was much better after getting fries and a sprite form wendy's :) here are their stats...

caroline (4yrs)
weight - 31 lbs (25-50%), so excited we're up this high!!
height - 39.5" (50%)

susanna (9.5mos)
weight - 17.8 lbs (25-50%)
height - 27.5" (50%)
head - 44cm (50-75%)

on a much more somber note, i called my friend staci about something on the way home from the dr's office and she asked me if john was okay. i was confused why she would ask and said he was fine. she said she had heard that a john fortney was killed in charleston yesterday. she assumed it wasn't my john, but then thought maybe i was in shock and hadn't called her. wow!!! i didn't even know there were any other fortneys around, much less a john fortney. a while later i caught the end of the news on the radio and it said "john fortney died later at the hospital". my eyes filled up with tears thinking about how that would be for me if it was my john. can't even imagine. i have been very introspective sine then pondering all of it and praying for that john fortney's family. i got several calls from the newspapers looking for a comment from his family. so surreal and weird. please pray for the family of the john fortney who passed away yesterday as well as another man who died, dexter keyes. they were electrocuted when trying to put up a tent (it hit a power line) for a charity event this weekend. so incredibly tragic.

sisters

i'm working on the final b'day post from our time in georgia last week, but until then, here are a few cute pixs of the girls in matching outfits that grammie gave them. so cute :) sisters are very special...i know from experience!

april 15 - the real b'day!!

i LOVED the hat...she has such a tiny head and it swallowed her!!!

caroline, lily, tikoo, ethan, harrison and mia

rohan, logan and edward

opening her present from the class

dora memory game...she loved it :)

opening a little gift and card from daddy on her real b'day

hello kitty is always a hit

my baby girl

mommy and caroline in the theatre

what a big girl!

love this one b/c you can see popcorn in her teeth

my baby girl officially turned 4 yesterday morning at 12:52am. a day and time i will never forget!!! her birth was unforgettable and the last four years have been magical. thank you, precious girl, for ushering me into motherhood in such an amazing way. you are a treasure and make my heart swell with love and pride. your tender heart, precious smile, loving personality and affectionate ways are gifts from the Lord and i can't wait to see how His plans for your life unfold. i love spending time with you and get sad thinking about how fast the days seem to be flying by as you get older. i have told you many times that you can live with me and daddy forever. you always laugh and say "mommy, i'm going to get married and then you can come help me with my babies at my house". you can bet i will be there whenever you need me, always and forever. here are a few things i want to remember about you as my now 4 year old....

*you are still so tiny...mostly wear 3t things, but a few 2t clothes still fit
*you love anything and everything related to princesses...your fav princess is sleeping beauty
*you love anything and everyting related to ballet - namely angelina ballerina
*you love your ballet class on monday afternoons and can't wait to be "on stage" for your recital soon
*you love school and would go every day if you could - your best friend at school is lily and you also love rohan; your teacher is mrs. perle
*you love kindermusik with miss carol on weds after school
*your favorite color is pink...and yellow b/c that's kaitlin's favorite color, too :)
*you LOVE your family in georgia - nothing gets you more excited than a trip to georgia
*you love dogs and ask me all the time for one - i tell you that you can have one when you can help take care of it
*you absolutely unequivocally love your baby sister more than anything and the feeling is mutual
*you love books and want to take a million to bed with you every night
*you love for daddy to give you "all the kisses" at bedtime - he kisses you real fast all over your face and you laugh like crazy
*you love to hide from daddy when it's his turn to read a book before bed - except you give yourself away when you say "i'm right here daddy"
*you love going to get the mail from the mailbox and always look for a "c" on the envelopes
*you love your buddy rafe - we see him almost every day for lunch and we will be sad when they move away real soon :(
*you love taking baths and especially taking baths with susanna...y'all have so much fun playing together
*you love your swingset and are trying hard to learn how to pump your legs
*you love all our neighbors and run to say "hi" whenever you see them
*you still love sucking your thumb...we're going to work on that :)
*you get up most mornings around 7:30am give or take and go to bed around 8:00 or 8:30pm give or take
*your favorite places to eat are chick-fil-a and moe's
*you love church and would go every day if you could - you love awana on sunday nights
*you love to have toast, fruit and oj for breakfast - you normally want toast with either butter or grape jelly, but not both
*you love chocolate milk
*you love anything social...the more stuff you're doing, the happier you are
*you are just a bit dramatic - okay, very dramatic :) but, you are a girl!
*you are still so affectionate - love to hug, caress and love on anyone; we're really going to need to get control of that before dating
*so many more things, but not enough time or space to list them all
*you are the best daughter and sister we could ever dream of!!!

the pictures are from her little preschool party monday and then on her real b'day yesterday i took her to see the movie "horton hears a who". it was just the two of us. a huge thank you to my awesome friend mandi and rafe for taking care of susanna for me. we had a blast just being together and watching the movie. caroline especially loved the popcorn and her pink lemonade...she literally ate the entire bag of popcorn almost by herself :) she takes after her grammie in her love of popcorn!!

john's b'day

making daddy's cake

the finished product

daddy's present

blowing his candles out at church

boxing on the wii

john turned 31 on april 8 and i haven't had time to post pictures from his special day...we decorated the front door for him to start his b'day off right when he left bright and early! caroline and i baked and decorated a cake for him. she LOVES baking cakes with me...actually just loves licking the bowl :) we had church the night of his b'day so there wasn't time for a special family dinner, but we celebrated at church with our small group and played wii...which, by the way, is soooo fun if you haven't ever played!! i got my tail kicked in boxing, but it was great! john's parents went in with me to have his medical degree framed and he was totally surprised. i love how it turned out! we love you, daddy and are so thankful for you!!

mother's intuition and our Father's love

her first biter biscuit :)

i laid susanna down for a nap this morning and she fussed for a while and then started crying pretty hard. i could tell it wasn't a "i'm physically hurting" cry, but still she persisted. i peeked in her room and saw that her beloved taggie blankie had fallen out of the crib. she always sleeps with it so i gently placed it back in the crib and tiptoed out before she saw me. i think it's amazing how the Lord gives us the intuition to know how to respond to the needs of our children. He prompts my spirit to act on their behalf, whether it's something serious or just a blankie needed by my baby to sleep soundly. how much more does He do and feel that for me every day? the thought blows me away!

ice cream sundae party...caroline's 4th b'day

just a little excited about her party!

loved holding up 4 fingers :)

the sun was so hot that the bright pink ice cream faded away!!!

caroline and rafe swinging away

some of the girls posed themselves for this shot

pin the cherry on the ice cream cone

making ice cream sundaes

daddy and susanna

lovin her sundae...kept adding and eating candy toppings

her ice cream cone cupcake

yummy!! can you say sugar high??

forester showin' everyone how it's done

the lineup minus a few that had already left

our family

opening presents

hi mommy!

loving the gifts from her generous friends

post-party picture....mommy is T-I-R-E-D!!!!

we had a great weekend celebrating caroline's 4th b'day with her friends in charleston. her actual b'day is this tuesday, april 15. we had a bunch of friends over on saturday for an ice cream sundae party. it was HOT!!!! everybody was sweating like crazy and the ice cream melted fast. the kids played hard, played pin the cherry on the ice cream cone, made and ate ice cream sundaes, ate ice cream cone cupcakes and then we all collapsed when it was over. the b'day girl had an absolute blast and we were blessed by all the friends that came. there will be more caroline b'day posts to come...we have a full week of celebrating ahead!!