Easter nostalgia

Some Moms do the Christmas Eve photo in front of the Christmas tree with all the kids in their Christmas pajamas. I'm not one of those Moms. In fact, despite that I really enjoy taking photos, it's rare that ask my own children to sit and take a photo all together. And getting myself in the picture is even more rare.

For whatever reason, Easter is the one time a year I hand off the camera and force beg coerce bribe my kids (and husband) into taking a yearly family photo. It rarely ends well (and by well, I mean that we are all perfectly posed and I've not issued threats or made unreasonable promises), but it always makes me laugh. At least, afterwards. Many years afterwards.

It also appears to be the one thing that Lucas hates most on the earth. Olivia, on the other hand, has always rocked the Easter photo. I'm guessing it's her favorite holiday, ever. Besides her birthday and Christmas and whatever holiday is exactly next.

Easter 2010 can be found here on my blog. It's hilarious. But for comparisons purposes, here's a quick picture.

That would be itty bitty Ella on my lap next to Olivia. Goodness

Easter 2011 was apparently not blogged about and this is probably why:

The best one we got that year features our dog's back. Again, LUCAS. He's probably mad because he's wearing the exact same sweater vest that he wore the previous year. Fashion is clearly his thing. Or not. Seeing as how he's worn the same pair of jorts for the last week.

Easter 2012 things seemed to go a big more smoothly.

That's teeny, tiny Abigail on my lap.

You know, except for Lucas. At least Olivia is rocking it out. And Aaron. Clearly they were being bribed with excessive amounts of candy. Momma had a newborn. Momma was tired.

Easter 2013 apparently did not exist because I have no photographic documentation of it. Not even looking back through all the pics from my phone. So weird.

Which brings us to this year. Easter 2014. I knew I wanted a pic of all of us. My parents, my two grandmas and all the kids. Please note Lucas' over sarcastic smile because it took several photos of him not doing pointy, happy fingers at the camera, or throwing up some sort of gang symbol or staring off into the yard in the opposite direction.

23 photos later, grandparent photo: check. I mean, one kid out of 8 isn't looking but LOOK AT ABIGAIL. The cute. I can't even handle it.

And then, I politely asked Abigail to remove herself from my Mom's lap and sit with me for a nice family photo. She also loved that idea. Or not.

Okay, Abs, please just stop before you upset your baby sister.

Well, at least Lucas is happy for once.

I hope your Easter was a scream.

Olivia is FOUR!

Tomorrow will be four years that our lives became forever changed. I remember scooping up a 4 month old Aaron and heading to the laundry room to change his diaper. My phone rang and I looked at the caller ID to see that is was our social worker's number.

"Hello?" I answered, assuming it was just a call about Aaron's case or to set up a meeting or something of the sort.

"Hey Jessica, I'm calling to see if you'd like another placement."

My heart flipped. I laid Aaron down and began unsnapping his pajamas as she outlined for me the details of a little girl who was a mere 4 days old.

Little did we know then that that tiny baby would grow into our beautiful, spunky, lively, loving, silly girl, Olivia.

Oh how I love this girl...


She so spunky, silly and fun. She adds so much pizzaz, life and JOY into our family. She marches to her own beat (and it's a good one too, because sister can break it down) and I love how much she loves life.



Her and her "twin" Ella are nearly inseparable. (Unless they're both in time out for their mischievous antics!) Those two make each other laugh like no one else can and act almost more like twins than Lucas and Ashlee do. How I hope that they remain as close as they are now their entire life.


She loves to be the center of attention, yet ironically, rarely lets me take a photo of her where she's not, ahem, posed.


At four years old we've discovered that Olivia has a gluten sensitivity and boy, she's a totally new girl when she's completely gluten free! She LOVES princesses, dresses and anything that's girly. Especially, her "beans."


I've just recently gotten confident enough to do box braids and twists and put beads ("beans") in her hair. She loves them and I'm confident they make her 100% sassier than normal.


She loves to dance and sing and can memorize a song after only hearing it once or twice. She's got a fabulous ear for music and I hope we can harvest that in her at an early age.


She's never met a stranger, being quick to introduce herself to new people and ask, with her mouth cocked to the side, "What's you name?"

Gosh, have I mentioned I LOVE this girl?


Her laugh is infectious. He's got agility like I've never seen before. She's a treasure that I pray we harvest well for the kingdom of God. I am so blessed that of all the mothers ever created, God chose me to be hers.


Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet, wonderful, vibrant, beautiful and joyous girl! Momma loves you so very much.

Carolina, Callie and the Stink Eye

I'd like you to meet my daughters, Carolina and Callie.

Originally Olivia was Callie but then she changed her name to Carolina so Ella took up Callie where Carolina left off.

Confused yet? Welcome to my world.

Callie has always been a popular name in our house. I'm not sure why because we only know one person named Callie and our kids are hardly ever around her.

When Elizabeth was about Ella's age (2 years) she had several baby dolls all named Callie. One baby had pants that wouldn't come off so she was "Callie Pants." She had another that had a blue dress so she was "Callie Blue."

You get the idea.

My favorite things about the video below:

1) When I confirm that Ella's new name is Callie and she says, "What?" Like I was calling her name.

2) The Stink Eye

3) The fact that Olivia really responds to the name Carolina. And without hesitation. I sometimes think that I'll call her Carolina and catch her off guard and she won't respond. That's not happened yet and this has been going on for several months.

These kids crack me up, that's for sure.

When I was in elementary school I desperately wanted my name to be Lee Ann. I guess they come by it honest then, huh?

Have you or your kids ever gone by another name?

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, there was is a little girl.



She is the cutest, most adorable little 2 and a half year old girl her Momma ever knew. And she LOVES life.


She loves to talk and sing and talk and sing and talk and sing and talk. All of the time. Nonstop. All of the time. Always.



She is silly and happy and knows nothing about volumes that are appropriate for being inside. She loves fiercely, hugs often and affectionately and (aggressively) mothers her "little" sister frequently. (And by "little" I only mean in age. She and "little" sister wear the same size clothes, which is super convenient for their Momma.)



Her Momma loves her more than she can explain, even when she drives her Momma to the brink of insanity. Her laugher abounds through her house and rings in the ears of her family. She loves to eat, talk, be silly, sing, talk, jump, run and do all the things a two and a half year old knows is borderline questionable.



But most of all, this little girl makes her family feel so blessed. Blessed that God would choose them to be her family. Blessed that even though she didn't grow in her Momma's belly, she was chosen to grow their family. Blessed that she's going to be a big sister, again, because she's just so good at it.

And mostly, just blessed by her sweet, joyful, hopeful, always lively spirit.

And they all lived happily blessedly forever after.

The Queen turns 2

It happened.

Somewhere between summer ending and school starting and life whirling around me, my sweet little girl grew into a 2 year old. Because of her bigger brother's 4 month head start, I often forget that they aren't really twins and that she is 4 short months younger than he. And at the tender age from 20 months - 24 months those 4 months are probably more obvious than they've ever been.

She's still in that odd baby-to-toddler age where she's still too little to do toddler stuff, yet to big to do baby stuff. She can't communicate totally what she wants and life is often frustrating. Especially when Mommy doesn't understand that you really just want another cup of milk.

Still too little to really dress yourself, yet desiring to put on your clothes all by yourself. Or stand on your head. Whichever feels best at the moment.

Yet this past weekend it happened. The Queen reigned for a day and received songs and parties and the sole attention. I know that I've said that 2 isn't exactly my favorite age. Still, I would do anything to pause her sweet little self at this age for just a few more months so that in my old age I could remember so much more of all the things she's growing out of. Two years ago today my sweet girl laid in the hospital alone, without me even knowing she existed. How it breaks my hear to think about her sweet, tiny little self being there with out me. How I pray she allows God to use her story for His glory alone.

My sweetest Olivia,

Two years ago everyone (including us) thought we were crazy for bringing you into our family. Little did they, or we, know just how much of a blessing you would continue to be in our lives. You proved to be our most particular baby. Not necessarily fussy, you just certainly had your preferences! At two, you remain the same. You love being the center of our family's attention and you get especially pleased with yourself when you make all of us burst into laughter, which happens frequently.

We've kept your hair short because of it not growing in evenly, but now it's beginning to get thicker and fuller and I just can't wait to try some fun hair styles out with your curly, black locks. The eczema that once showed up in several painful patches on your arms and legs is completely gone. Your smooth, creamy, brown skin is the softest thing I've ever felt and I love putting on your lotion. And you are loving being old enough now to "help" me.

Your pint sized frame houses more volume that I understand to be possible. How someone so tiny can make such noise is beyond me. You love, love, love to sing and dance. In fact, most of the time that you are awake you are singing or talking or dancing or all three at the same time. You've been known to stop dead in your tracks and bust out some serious dancing when you hear a rhythm that moves you.

You make my heart fill with joy over and over again. You offer me so many hugs and squeezes throughout the day. It is not uncommon for you to seek me out, where ever in the house that I happen to be and give my knees a good, hard squeeze. I love it so much that each time my heart feels as if it will burst.

You love babies. Especially your little sister. You've watched and felt your older sisters doting over you and now you like to lavish that same love upon Ella, whether she likes it or not. One of my favorite memories of you is when you were just a little over a year old and we went to visit family and friends. As your "Aunt Amanda" held up her littlest one (with whom you share a birthday), who at the time was still very brand new, you leaned in and kissed and squeezed on her, showering her with the love that only a 14 month old could show. Your heart must hold joy and love in such quantities that I'll never understand. You are my miracle, sweet girl.

Happiness exudes from you constantly. You are the life of the party. Yet you are growing increasingly shy and cautious in new environments. If I had to describe you in one word, it would certainly be silly.

My sweet, silly girl. I love everything about you. Squishy face and all.

Happy Birthday my precious princess! Mommy loves you!

Meet my new daughter, Sandy

Okay, so I don't really have a new daughter. But, have mercy, if Olivia could have gotten anymore sand on her body I was seriously going to change her name. Okay, maybe not, but STILL.

And to think that her first experience with the sand and ocean started like this...

Before we left, I'd began noticing some reoccurring behaviors with her. Since she used to receive Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physical Therapy (PT) I'm always on the look out for her behaviors and watching her fine and gross motor skills. After talking with my BFF Amanda (who is a Speech Pathologist by profession but spent the last several years as a behavior interventionist, working with kids with disorders of all types) I knew it was time to give Olivia's former OT a call.

Although I think most of her behaviors are certainly learned and personality driven (she's the new, reigning Drama Queen, remember?) I also think there could be some sensory issues going on. I say all of that to say that once Olivia got over her issues with the water and the sounds of the surf and the fact that birds were flying 200 feet above her head and the sand, OHMYWORDTHESAND, she was fine and spent quite a bit of her time doing this....

Of course, what you cannot see is that each and every time my sweet little princess sat in the sand, she felt the need to immediately do this...

What's that? You can't really tell what she's doing? Okay, how's this...

SAND.IN.HER.HAIR. SAND IN HER HAIR! SAND IN HER HAIR. Every.single.time. Do you know how hard it is to get sand out of her hair? I wish I could come up with an adequate analogy but all escape me right now so just know IT'S HARD.

Unless she was helping MeMe carry a fresh bucket of water (where I think MeMe had secretly lured her to the water to rinse the sand out of her hair)...

Or it was the 10 minutes that MeMe convinced her to wear a hat...

my sweet little Drama Queen had sand in her hair. Sandy Olivia loved wearing her shades...

and as her Mommy I loved the afternoon where just the two of us sat in the surf, collecting (and promptly throwing) sea shells and allowing the Atlantic waters to wash away the sand our cares. We sat there for at least an hour. And it may have been my most favorite hour all week.

How I love this little girl, sand and all.

A post so full of sweetness your teeth will ache afterwards

Today will be photo overload. Proceed with caution. Or not.

My amazing friend Lindy sent home some dresses for our girls. Big deal, huh? Welllllll, they aren't just any dresses! They are dresses made from KIKOIS! And, let me tell you. Have mercy at the cuteness you are about to witness. It's almost more than I can handle.

The good news is that Lindy also sent back a TRUNKLOAD of stuff (along with lots and lots of kikois) all hand made in Kenya. I'm helping with a big fundraiser in early October and once that's over I'll open the Kenyan goodies up to you, here on my blog. I'm telling you, this stuff is AWESOME. Save up your dollars now ladies. Save 'em up.

And yes, I KNOW I'm going to overuse CAPS and italics in this post. But seriously. If you think the caps are loud and the italics are over the top YOU SHOULD BE INSIDE MY HEAD.

On with the photos. I'm posting so many because I promised Lindy good pictures of the girls in their dresses and do you know how stinkin' hard it is to get a good photo of a 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and 4 month old?

Impossible, I think.

Here's the best only one I got of all 4 of them where someone didn't have their eyes closed and Ella wasn't trying to eat her dress or Elizabeth's. And this one is good. Even though Ella is clearly more enamored with her oldest brother than me by this point.

Oh my word at the sweetness. I seriously wanna just squeeze them all until they scream. But then I'd regret it because can I just tell you how dramatic a certain 2 of my girls are. Especially those two on the left.

Their wails can make my ears bleed.

Of course, Ashlee is a baby hog, so the first chance she got to sit up by Ella and "read" to her, she did. I love how it looks like Ella is reading along with her.


But that baby hogging and sweetness was short lived because approximately 37 seconds after that photos was taken, I snapped this one.


That girl LOVES her bike. Which is hysterical because this time last year she would only walk beside it and push it. Except she thought she was riding it because when I would ask her, "Ashlee, don't you want to ride?" She'd exclaim, "I am!"

Riiiight. Except you're not.

Elizabeth is OBSESSED with our neighbor's cats. We've told her she can only pet them when our neighbors are outside and, clearly, her ear is finely tuned to the sound of our neighbor's door opening. When they are not outside, she stands just inside our yard and stares at them, like this.

Well, not exactly like that because, you know, she's looking at me in that one. But you get the idea.

And this little girl. Well, I just wanna scoop her up and eat her. I mean, when she's not busy being dramatic which is apparently her new hobby. Ashlee has officially been dethroned as Drama Queen. Queen Olivia has recrowned Ashlee but a mere princess of all things drama. I think explosive drama must come in small packages, don't you?

Good thing she's cute.

And this girl, well, I'm still adjusting to the fact that she SIX. And while I'm adjusting to her new age, she's already begun telling me stories about "Back when I was 5 years old." Yeah. That was just 2 days ago. Slow down, missy.

In this next series of photos I'd like for you to take special notice of each of the big girls' agendas. I told them to "model." Apparently, modeling to Ashlee means work.it.girl. While modeling to Elizabeth means make-sure-Olivia-is-in-the-photo-nomatter-how-many-times-your-Mom-says-to-put-her-down.

Seriously, scroll down and watch them independently. Wow. Just...wow.








Clearly my off handed instruction of "put your hand on your hip or something" was taken seriously by Ashlee. Work it sassy. Work.it.

The next one is great of the older two and I thought Olivia would be a modeling whiz too except that she decided at the last second to bend over behind her sister which makes it look like Elizabeth has the lowest kneecap known to man.

Then I started losing them so naturally we had to do a shot of "Crazy face!"

I don't know what Ashlee is raising her hand for in this photo. Maybe she thought I said "Who wants more drama?" when I clearly said, "Who can look at Momma?"

Oh well. At least I finally got Olivia in there with the older two. Even though she decided it was time for a serenade. Did I mention she sings a lot? And by a lot I mean anytime she's awake.

This is Ashlee, mid camera click leaning forward to ask, "Can I see that one? I wanna see it!"

And, showing Elizabeth some birthday love.

Clearly, never a dull moment around here. Which is fine with me, because I love it that way.

Now, who wants to buy a kikoi and make their little girl a dress just like these? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?