Happy Birthday Esther!!

Our sweet little "Esther Pie" turned 1 last Friday while we were at the beach! She's such a funny, joyful, happy (and loud!) little girl and we're so blessed to have her. Here are a few pictures from Esther's first year!

Just after birth with our midwife, Amy (Adam is wearing a hospital gown because he got to break my water and deliver Esther...with only a little help from Amy!)













Bonding with Papa


















Family of 5!













Esther at 1 month


















We think she looks cute in hats!















Playing at the park















Eating birthday cake!!
















She looks so grown up!



















Not a bad way to spend your first birthday!!

Beach Trip

My parents took us to the beach for several days the week after Adam's graduation (his graduation present from them!!). We stayed in a really nice house just yards from the beach (Fripp Island, SC) and we had a great time!

Walking on the beach














Grandma and Abigail



















Headed out to get some sun with Grandpa and Grandma!















Abigail did not want to take her sunglasses of the whole time we were on the beach!

















Joshua reading to cousin Graeme

Part 2

Here are some more pictures from the past two weeks!

Adam graduated on May 12!! Woohoo! Some good friends joined us for barbeque at a picnic shelter later in the day, but I forgot to take pictures of that.

You can't really tell, but that's him on the big screen!
















With my parents













With Adam's family















With Aunt Gracene















I'm proud of my husband!!!

















The next day was Mother's day and our first Sunday in our new sanctuary!! It was nice to be with both of our mothers and we had a fun lunch at Olive Garden after church (I didn't get pictures of that either!).

Lots to post about

The past two weeks have been very busy and exciting for us...which would explain my disappearance from the blogging world! I've got lots of good pictures to post, but I'll start with just a few and post more over the next week or so. It all started with a visit from Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Jon, and Aunt Gracene from Kansas (Adam's family)! We had lots of fun while they were here...

Grandpa and Esther

















Gracene and Joshua
















Waiting for Papa's graduation to start with Grandma


















Blowing bubbles with Uncle Jon














Fun with the bowling game

28 Weeks!

I finally remembered to ask Adam to take a picture of my tummy! I hit 28 weeks a few days ago. Everything is going well. I had my gestational diabetes test yesterday and I can't believe I'm already to the point where I have to go to the doctor every 2 weeks! Once I hit 30 weeks everything always seems to go really fast for me. My weight gain is starting to pick up like I suspected it would. I've gained 16 pounds and all I seem to be able to think about is food! I'm trying to keep fresh veggies and make lots of whole wheat bread and muffins for snacks during the day. Otherwise I'll want to eat cookies and ice cream and Rolos all the time! This baby is very active. There are the normal long periods of sleeping, but when he moves, he really moves! (I'm just saying "he"...we don't really know.)

A few months ago I posted about how Adam asks the kids what they are thankful for during our family worship time. At that point Abigail was always thankful for ducks, but every day this week she's been thankful for "pigs and the baby in Mama's tummy"! I hope there's no connection between the two! Maybe she's just noticed how much I've been eating. :-)

Keeping a List...

This has been a busy week, although I'm not sure exactly what I've done! I need to start keeping a list of the things that I get accomplished every day so that I don't get discouraged. The end of the day rolls around and I'm tired from being on my feet and going all day long, but when I stop to think about it I have a hard time recalling what I got accomplished. I'm sure it's just my pregnancy brain...I really do get things done. :-)

Here are a few pictures from our week. We got a big package from Grandpa and Grandma in Kansas. Joshua and Abigail couldn't wait to open it, but I made them wait until Adam got home that evening. They had a ball pulling things out of the box! The box included some clothes and Abigail had to hold everything up to her and ask me "Is this cute?" :-)

Joshua (3yrs, 2mo) is growing up so fast. He seems to be coming out of his shell a little bit. We're working on responding to people when they speak to us, but it doesn't come easy for him. He loves to sing and "conduct". He asks almost every day to "watch Karajan" (a well known conductor...we have some DVD's of him conducting Mozart symphonies and that sort of thing). He's recently taken up bowing like Karajan too! He's a funny little guy. The other day in the van he said to me, "Mama, don't worry. I'll take care of you. You just need to worry about Abigail". Probably true!

Abigail (2yrs, 1mo) is talking about as well as Joshua is. Actually better in some cases. Potty training is going really well. I've heard that girls are easier than boys, but I didn't think it would be this much easier. She's been in training pants for the better part of the past two weeks and she's only had 3 accidents! We've got a ways to go, but we're getting there. Abigail's excuse for whining lately is always "My stomach hurts"! If she doesn't have a real reason, she just resorts to that. This morning I had my gestational diabetes test and I came home with a bandaid on each arm. Abigail was concerned about it and asked me what they were. I told her that they were bandaids and asked her if she knew why I had bandaids. She said "Because your stomach hurts"!

Esther (11mo) has added at least 3 words to her vocabulary this week. I need to start keeping a list of them. She now says "Pooh bear", "powder", and "bottle". Oh...and "hi" (the Southern version - it sounds like "ha"), "ball", "Cheerios", "please". I may think of some more before I finish this post. She wants to do whatever Joshua and Abigail are doing, and she loves to just play on the floor with them. Several times this week all three of them played happily together for about 2 hours in the morning. Good laundry and ironing time for me! I think she'll be walking soon. She walks all over holding onto things, but she's not quite sure about letting go yet.

Enjoy the pictures!

Joshua loved this tractor t-shirt that Grandpa and Grandma in Kansas sent for Papa!
















Joshua likes airplanes!


















Abigail loves to "go higher" in the swing. She was wearing her hair in a ponytail for the first time here!


















Esther has learned to play the kazoo...albeit backwards! She crawls around on her hands and feet with it sticking out of her mouth, just blowing away!


















I just had to include this picture of Esther. She's looking at a book and singing at the top of her lungs. She's got a bunch of new hair coming in and it won't lay down...even if I put water on it!


















Esther likes the swings too. She goes almost as high as Abigail.