new house and christmas fun

getting started

"open shut them, open shut them...."

"jingle bells"

owen, caroline and rafe post performance photo op

caroline saying "cheese!"

owen's outta here!

playing with the props

playing with the nativity sets

deocrating the tree

mommy and caroline

caroline digging through all the holiday boxes

checking out the ornaments

caroline's reaction when we told her we were done decorating

most of you know, we've been building a house here in charleston. well, it's been hard to estimate when we might get to move in...they started it way later than we thought and we just assumed it would take a while and that was okay. about 2 weeks ago we had a walk through with the builder after they drywalled and he said we'd be getting an estimated completion date soon. well, our new home representative (aka realtor who gets to sit in the model home all day) called and left a message for john with our est. closing date last week and it is.......JANUARY 9th!!! yes, you read that right, about a month away. side note, john tricked me and at first said december 22. i literally almost fainted and he quickly told me the real date. do they honestly think that's enough time for me to pack everything back up (please remember we just packed and unpacked everything we own less than 6 months ago), get ready for christmas (not even close to being done shopping) and be out of town for 2 weeks at the end of december??? in the middle of all this, i'm pregnant and tired, tired, tired. i'm just not doing as much as fast and that's just not good. oh my goodness, that just stressed me out!!!!!!! keep me in your prayers!

on a different note, this past thursday night, caroline's preschool had their christmas program. it was soooo sweet. she did great and enjoyed being on stage. i'm posting some pixs so you can see. they only sang a couple of songs, but it was precious. she didn't see us out in the audience until they turned the lights up and she was so excited...she waved and said "hi mommy, hi daddy" and smiled real big. i'm also attaching some pixs of us decorating the tree, caroline's favorite task. after we were finished, she cried and said she wanted to do it again. we had a busy weekend full of christmas fun...daddy and caroline had a date night friday while i went to a girls only christmas party (so fun!!), saturday night we had the radiation oncology dept christmas party downtown and tonight we went to the christmas parade in mt. pleasant. we're not short on christmas activities around here :) i'll post some pixs of the parade later. it was chilly!!!

obgyn appt

i had my first obgyn appt today...got to see a picture of the little guy or girl and see that tee tiny heart pumping. wow, isn't that the most amazing sight in the world? it took my breath away. the official due date is july 8. caroline is already counting down...actually, she wanted to know why we didn't bring the baby home today. it's going to be a loooooong wait for miss priss. and for me, as i try and convince her over and over the baby can't come home until it gets big and strong in mommy's tummy. she burst into tears today when i told her the baby wasn't coming. i explained about how long it takes and how it will be summer before he/she is ready. she nodded and then asked if it was coming home tomorrow :)

the obgyn wants to change one of my steroids for my addison's disease. she says it is one that can cross the placenta and has been associated in animal studies with low fetal birth weight. well, that scared me to death. i had a moment of panic thinking i had done harm to my baby already and why didn't someone tell me before. but, she assured me that it is not harmful in any other way, she'd just rather be safe so this baby can be big and strong. so, i will start the new one tomorrow. i'm a little nervous simply b/c i've been on these specific meds for over a year now and they have worked great. but, i'm just going to trust the doctors and the Lord and listen to my body. whatever i have to do is worth it for this precious life growing inside of me!

thanksgiving 2007 recap

dallas (my grandmother's hubby) and andrew...such a sweet and loving man!

grandmother and caroline (her great-grandmother)

caroline, andrew, luke and sarah

andrew...the sweetest baby :) he did this most of the day

john and andrew...he's ready for another one, can you tell?

my cousin anna and andrew (his second cousin)

caroline practicing for her upcoming role

here comes trouble...and they're armed :)

yeah, they look sweet, don't they?

caleb and caroline

the whole crew in their coordinating pjs

she's had enough of the pictures

sorry to offend anyone...the first deer shot on the fortney property, courtesy of david fortney

playing in the gravel driveway

honestly, why do we even bother with toys?

grandma and abby on the 4 wheeler

decorating the tree

another group shot...love caroline's face :)

3 toddlers decorating the tree...scary, huh?!

aunt connie took caroline on her first 4 wheeler ride

kaitlin doesn't need an adult, she can do it all by herself

caroline's favorite toy... max!

max makes a perfect seat

what a wonderful thanksgiving we had this year!!! the best part of all was sharing the news that we're expecting baby #2 in early july. how fun to share this awesome news on thanksgiving. surprises are priceless. our families knew without a doubt that we were ready to have another baby, but we've been talking about for a while and caroline has been talking about it forever so it's not a big deal when the topic comes up. caroline got to do the honors with both families announcing proudly "i'm going to be a big sister". my parents just grinned and dad said "i knew it, i thought that was coming" and "wow, you girls are fertile". this will be #5 for them, i remember when miss sarah was the only one. we headed up to the farm for dinner with the fortneys and i left it up to john to time the announcement. caroline fumbled a little this time so it wasn't totally clear. joyce looked me and i nodded and there was joy all around the table. then, they all joked the rest of the weekend that there were twin boys in there or maybe even triplets :) side note, there are 4 granddaughters and 1 grandson on that side so poor caleb needs some help to even up the score!!
i've attached lots of pixs from our time over thanksgiving...i think i was baby andrew's personal paprazzi b/c every pix i took on thanksgiving at my parents has him in it. if you didn't hold or go near him, i didn't photograph you. can you tell i had babies on the brain???

"while you were out"

this guy is in my neighborhood right now......yes, that's right, i've seen him with my own two eyes (from a great distance) twice now. for those of you who live under a rock, this is andrew dan-jumbo from tlc's design show "while you were out". this guy along with a designer and lots of others come in and redo a room in 48 hours as a surprise to a member of the household. anyway, yesterday, as i was leaving really early for a doctor's appt downtown, i noticed lots going on at this house on the corner. they were blocking off the road, setting up orange cones, an outdoor tent, and there were several people walking around with big TV cameras. my heart started to race and i realized i was in the presence of a possible design reality show...the only question, which one? trading spaces, while you were out, some other random one i don't know of?? there was big long truck, but it was covered in white...no logo or anything. makes sense b/c then people like me would slow down and snap pictures. hours later, i drive back in and slowly go by peering out the window and i spot him...tall, curly hair, it's him, andrew dan jumbo. again today, as i left the neighborhood, there he was outside under the "construction tent" cutting wood. you know what's funny? i feel famous...this show is filming 1/2 mile from our place and i feel famous all of a sudden. i kept thinking "i bet they love charleston"; "i bet they're loving the weather at the end of november, high 70s" and on and on. all the reasons why this will be their favorite spot of all the places in the nation they've ever filmed. i'm planning on driving by several times tonight to see if i can spot a designer or a host, too. they should be winding down and heading out tonight and the excitement will be over...sad :( but, at least i can say i saw him in person, even if it was from the car window!

caroline's quotes of the day

#1
caroline: look at the dark clouds, mommy!
mommy: wow, i see them...who made those clouds?
caroline: jesus did!!!

#2
mommy: caroline, you're the most precious gift in the world, did you know that?
caroline: no, you're a precious gift mommy!
mommy: thank you, but you're really the precious gift!
caroline: you're daddy's precious gift
mommy: i bet daddy would say you're his precious gift, too.
caroline: yeah, he would.

caroline's quote of the day

(as she was playing with several of grammie and papa's nativity sets)

caroline: dear jesus, thank you for baby jesus. in jesus name, amen.

restaurants, waiters and christians

i don't normally post my opinion about things, but i ran across this article today and it really struck a chord with me. it's called the Dreaded Church Table and was written by daniel holland and appeared in relevant magazine. the issue he writes about, christians and their behavior in restaurants, has long been a big pet peeve of both me and john. john waited tables at chili's off and on for several years and he always had this experience with christians, especially on sundays. i also waited tables the summer after i graduated college at a ranch in colorado and let me tell you, it is hard! john and i, because of our experiences, have always tried hard to tip well (at leasat 20%, or more if it calls for it) and be kind and courteous to waiters/waitresses. one thing i always like to do is look them in eye. since we've had caroline, we're even more aware b/c children are messy and hard to wait on...i try and make a conscious effort to clean up our table (including food that falls below caroline's chair) and leave it as neat as possible for the poor soul that has to clear it. this may seem silly, but i really feel it is such an easy and small thing to do to show the love of Christ to others. one sunday in particular, i went to applebee's with my parents, caroline and my niece and nephew, sarah and luke after church. my sister and her hubby were out of town and i was helping take care of the kids. the kids weren't particularly messy, but we cleaned up after them and made an effort to leave the table neat. the waiter was floored...he just looked at us and said "nobody ever does that, thank you so much". they're watching and they notice how we act...do we reflect Jesus or not?

catch up, part 5 - georgia

they're ready to hunt for pumpkins!

this one is the perfect size!

kaitlin and grandma

caroline and caleb...despite her look, she was having a blast with him

a view of the pumpkin patch

abigail trying to find the perfect one

note the sign instructions...and note caroline ignoring them :)

the crew

caroline enjoying a freshly squeezed lemonade slushy and baby pumpkin

amusing themselves while waiting on the hayride

here we go!

mommy and not smiling caroline

the talking pumpkins

a view from the hayride

caroline pretending to take a picture

grandma, grandad and the grandkids

one of the last things we did during our week in georgia was go to burt's pumpkin patch in ellijay with the fortneys. this is a tradition for the grandkids and is always fun! we managed to fill up 2 wheelbarrows full of pumpkins (this even while unloading the millions of little ones the 3 smallest girls kept putting in) and went on a fun hayride, too. we finished off the afternoon with a visit to the apple orchard. it was a perfect fall day in georgia if i do say so myself!