easter 2008

the fortney cousins - kaitlin, caroline, rebekah, abby, caleb and susanna

the whole fortney clan

the little girls hunting

daddy and susanna chilling out since she can't hunt

love this picture...so sweet!

me and my girls

look at those chunky legs!!!

assessing their loot

love katie doing the bunny ears over caroline :)

nothing better than a new teething ring

sonny's birthday "cake"

easter baskets

look at that pose!

showing off her princess stickers

loving her slinky

look at that form and determination!

the cole cousins hunting away

what is this for anyway?

mommy made me stop to take a picture

daddy having a little talk about attitude

too sweet...this picture makes my heart melt!

this is the best you can do with 5 kids 5 and under

notice andrew getting his soccer egg back

oh man, i never knew rock candy was so good!

we got to spend easter in georgia with our families and had such a wonderful time!! we celebrated on saturday with the fortneys at the lake where we ate way too much and hunted easter eggs. we also got to celebrate my b'day a little early and john's dad's 70th b'day! on sunday after church, we ate lunch at the club and then went to my parents' house for an easter egg hunt. we also celebrated my b'day and john's b'day at my parents' house. it's so hard to know when we'll all be together so we have to do it when we can. in the midst of it all, we remembered what easter is all about it...that our Lord is risen and alive indeed! thank you, God, for the sacrifice of your son Jesus for us. i understand the depth of that gift a little more now that i have 2 precious kids of my own.

8 months

once again, i'm late on this! i started this post about 2 weeks ago and just finished it this morning. my life motto right now should be better late than never. susanna was 8 months on march 8 and time just keeps on flying right by. make it stop!!!! here are a few things i want to remember....

*still taking 4 bottles a day (6oz) and eating all baby food now; you get whatever i have time to feed you - sometimes a fruit and 2 veggies, sometimes only one fruit and one veggie
*you can hold your own bottle and this has made life easier for mommy; it started on a drive home to georgia last month and is so nice when we're in a hurry; your sissy never did that!!
*still sleeping the same - through the night and 2 naps/day
*you are on the MOVE - you can crawl everywhere and love to get into whatever you shouldn't; we say no and you flash your beautiful smile and go at it again; you are trying to figure out how to go up the stairs
*you love to play with caroline's toys and mess everything up in her dollhouse
*still no teeth whatsoever - you are the toothless wonder; i think it's so cute and i will be sad when that first little tooth pokes through
*you are a wiggle worm - it is quite a job to change your diaper and clothes now; you are very strong
*you are officially attached to your taggie blankie and grin/giggle when i give it to you at naptime or bedtime
*you just starting sitting up in a highchair in restaurants a few weeks ago
*you have discovered that you can make high pitched noises and love to do it all the time, especially in restaurants or the library :)
*just recently started taking some baths with sissy and LOVE it!! you love to splash your hands in the water and laugh at sissy; it doesn't bother you at all to get the water all over your face
*you love the beach - we took you last week and you practically ate the sand
*you still are quite the baldie...most of what you have is in the back an is light brown
*you are getting quite attached to mommy; i don't mind b/c i know one day it will end :)

you are such a sweetheart and hold my heart in the palm of you hand!!

time in georgia

this pix is cute, but kind of freaked me out b/c of caroline's hair :)

another set of princesses

luke the birthday boy - celebrating 4 years

caroline is just a "little" affectionate

oops...got caught!

andrew getting some lovin' from grammie

papa and caroline

bear hug :)

your head looks a little bare...here's a bow!

yea, i did it!

oh, my bow fell off!!

luke opening his stash of gifts

cousins and cake

caroline waiting to see the ballet...notice the cute homemade crown

sarah and caroline watching

so graceful

caroline loved holding the real ballet shoes

how cute! can you tell whose daddy is 6' 4"?

what? i'm just trying to help!

grammie has an audience

blowing out her candles...

we made a trip to georgia over a week ago for the first time since christmas to celebrate a few b'days (my mom and luke) and spend some good time with family. me and caroline also got to go to a little ballet and tea with my mom, sister and sarah, which was a lot of fun. we'll be back a lot in the next month since we have about a million b'days in our family in march and april. there evidently is something about our families and procreating in the summer (hence the spring b'days)!!

deep thoughts by caroline

on the way home from eating dinner laslt night, caroline was talking about bad people ....

caroline: bad people run away from God, mom.
lauren: yes, you're right, bad people do run away from God.
caroline: i'm never gonna run away from God
lauren: i hope not b/c he'll never run away from you
caroline: He had a tear in his eye on the cross
lauren: yes, you're right, he did have tears
caroline: His father looked away from him and he was sad
lauren: yes, he and his father were very sad
caroline: because he was the Savior
lauren: he was and is the Savior
caroline: i'm going to go to heaven, but i have to die

yucky days

do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you just can't do much of anything right? i do more often than not and they make me feel yucky. but, days like that also remind me of who and what i need more than anything else in this life....


"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." I Cor 12:9-10

thank you, Jesus, that your power is made perfect in my weakness...

been under the weather

valentine's party at preschool

so excited about the valentine's goodies from grammie and papa

susanna's first krispy kreme experience...hat courtesy of big sis

daddy holding the girls at the wildlife expo

dock dogs competition at the wildlife expo

my roses from my awesome hubby

susanna reading her bible...habakkuk to be specific :)

my girls in the morning...caroline loves to get in the crib with her

since saturday, susanna, me and caroline all have had fevers...toss in a headache and some nausea/vomiting for me and you've got a recipe for no fun. thankfully, we all seem to be much better today and daddy has not gotten it...yet. i'm praying he doesn't! we have no groceries so i'm off with both girls to stock up so we can eat today. here a few cute pixs from the last week or so....

7 months

susanna, almost 7 months old

susanna will be 7 months old tomorrow, but we finally went last friday for her 6 month check up. they had to reschedule me a while back so we've gotten a little behind. susanna did great despite the 4 shots in her chubby little legs. she took the first one great and then it was downhill from there :( by the last one, her face was beet red and she was doing the silent cry which eventually led to the all out scream. still hard to see my babies cry like that! the dr said she was perfect and doing great! here are her stats....

weight - 15 lbs 13 oz (25%)
height - 26.5 inches (50%)
head - 42 inches (25%)

i really can't believe she is already over 1/2 year old...i know her 1st b'day will be here in the blink of an eye and that makes me sad. she is so precious and such a joy to our family. it's so hard to remember life without her. there is no better baby in all the world! here are a few things i want to remember about her at this stage.....
*eating 4 bottles a day (6oz) with a rice cereal feeding once/day and veggies once/day; started veggies over a week ago and so far has tasted carrots, sweet potatoes and squash
*takes a morning and afternoon nap if we're home, usually about 2 hrs each - has pretty much dropped the early evening nap
*sleeps great at night - goes down around 8pm or so and wakes up around 7am
*doesn't take a pacifier or suck her thumb and won't as long as i'm in charge :) she rolls over on her tummy, fusses for a few minutes and goes to sleep
*loves mommy and daddy, but caroline is her absolute favorite person in the world - she can get susanna to smile no matter what
*reaches out for everything and puts whatever she can touch in her mouth - we have to be extra careful about what we leave on the floor now
*loves to "crawl" all over - she basically army crawls and can get to anything and everything; she gets up on all fours and rocks, but hasn't figured out how to officially crawl yet
*loves to jump in her jumperoo - she will start jumping in your lap if you let her stand up
*no teeth yet - love her gummy little smile
*just started to sit up pretty good yesterday and is doing great...such a big girl!!
*still loves to snuggle with mommy and daddy as evidenced by all the pixs of her sleeping in the baby carrier at disney
*starting to demand attention - doesn't like it if we leave her alone in a room
*everybody tells us what a beautiful girl she is, especially her blue eyes :)

susanna, one day when you're all grown up and maybe reading this, i want you to know how incredibly special and precious you are to me. you and caroline (along with daddy) are the greatest gifts my sweet Lord has ever given me and bring me joy that i didn't even know was possible. i pray you always know how very much i love you. more than words can ever express.....love, mommy :)