Endings and Beginnings

We are back from a fun and busy memorial day week in Florence that included a family reunion and a birthday party. More on that later but first I wanted to share some big happenings from last week.

Hannah wrapped up a wonderful year of mom's day out with an exciting last week of school. Her class created fun art projects and ended each day with a popsicle on the playground. One of my favorite art projects was this one which is now front and center on our fridge...


I snapped a quick pic of Hannah with two of the most wonderful teachers in the world...Ms. Bethany...



and Ms. Jamie....


Hannah was obviously having some issues about smiling for the camera but I wanted to capture her with two of the nicest, most loving women I know. They were both meant to care for children and I am so glad that they were part of our lives over the past year. It was a very bittersweet end to the school year because we will miss Ms. Bethany and Ms. Jamie dearly but I know Hannah has much more to learn and will hopefully cross paths with other wonderful teachers along the way.

Now on to beginnings... Lily has now entered the big girl world of table food with her first bites of cereal and applesauce last week. She promptly gagged and let out a cry after her first bite and repeated the gag and cry with each additional bite.


As you can see above she was literally pushing my hand away with a look of horror. Hannah got in on the action and tried to help but to no avail....


We quit after a few bites and I decided not to torture her over our time in Florence. Now that we are back I am going to give it another try. I have some tricks up my sleeve and soon she will hopefully love eating as much as her big sister did. We will see!!

Painting the Day Away

This weekend was a very exciting one for a certain 3 year old in our house. We started painting her new big girl room!


This project has been a long time coming and I should probably preface this by letting you know that last July we started an addition to our house of new master bed/bath and a small office. We hired a contractor to do the shell or exterior of the house, plumbing and electric but the rest was done by my super talented and handy husband, Matt. Our timeline to complete the addition was last October but Matt was still hard at work on the house when Lily arrived in early November. Needless to say this slowed things down slightly but the majority of the work was completed by early this year. We finally moved into our new room and with life settling into somewhat of a routine we have finally begun the process of making our old master bedroom into Hannah's new room.

Hannah and I ventured out to buy paint and some supplies on a very rainy Saturday morning. By the time we arrived home the rain had slowed down and Hannah took some time to twirl outside with her new paintbrush...


After lunch and a nap Hannah joined us to finish up painting her room (and do a little singing too)...


We still have some trim left to paint but now starts the fun part of decorating and building some new built-ins for the room. Matt is going to tackle this job the first week of June so it will be a little while before it is all complete. I hope to move Hannah in once the built-ins are in place so I will post finished pictures then. Until then I will leave you with one more hint....

Happy Mudder's Day

My favorite word that Hannah says right now happens to be "mudder." For example, "Mudder, could you get me..." or "Mudder please help me..." I have been so blessed with two wonderful girls that I love so much.


There is nothing more special, fulfilling, or challenging than being a mother to my children. It is so nice to have a day where moms are recognized for the things that we all do but I have spent much of today reflecting on what it means to be a mom and how children are truly gifts from God. Much of my day is spent laughing at the little funny things that come out of Hannah's mouth or at the gummy smiles that Lily makes and so often I am just amazed at how much children add to our lives - more than I would have ever imagined. I am so blessed to be a mother and on this very special occasion I would like to wish all "mudders" or as we are more well known, mothers, out there a wonderful day.

I also would like to wish a very special little girl a happy half birthday! Lily is officially 6 months old today!! I can't believe how quickly this sweet baby is growing. She is rolling over, laughing out loud, trying out sounds and before we know it she will be walking and talking. I thought I would share a few pics of Lily 6 months ago and Lily today...


Lily when she was just days old...

Lily is still little but she has come a long way from her tiny birth weight of 5 lbs 5 oz...

She loves her toes these days! She is thiiiiissssss close to getting them where she really wants them...in her mouth...

And, finally, my favorite pic of the day...

We love a parade...

We celebrated We Love Homewood Day 2009 by watching the annual parade not far from our house...
Hannah and baby Sally had lots of fun riding on Daddy's shoulder.