It's a...

GIRL!!!!

She's healthy and we are so thankful!  3 girls in just over 3 and 1/2 years :).  They are going to be close, and we pray they'll be the best of friends.   God give us grace to raise them to love Him and each other!!

Here's the 20 week baby bump (at 6:30 in the morning...guaranteed I'm bigger after breakfast) ;).  But feeling pretty good these days...and feeling very blessed!

breaking up the norm...or trying to

As it is February, the dead of winter, we are all a bit antsy around here and aching for ways to break up the norm...

I've started trying to cook things I usually am scared of...and let's just say, I'll probably go back to what we usually eat!!  This week nothing seemed to turn out right :(.  Livie asked me on Friday, "mom, are you making more yucky meat for supper?".  :( :(

The snow was a nice surprise this week...Chad stayed home part of the morning on Friday to clear the drive and play a bit.  The girls loved it...

Emma just kept eating it...literally shoveling it in!

Making a "daddy-sized" snowman :)

A week ago Livie decided she needed to give herself haircut.  How did I found this out??  I caught her standing in front of the mirror at Norris Lake with scissors in her hands and a chunk of her bangs in the sink.  My reaction probably scared her, but I was like "What are you doing?!?!".  Glad I caught her when I did though!! The damage was really not that bad.  Praise God :).  

I kinda knew it was bound to happen someday as this little girl is always finding an excuse to use my scissors.  And I guess she just "found" some out there and decided it was a good idea to go ahead and give herself a little trim.

Here's her hair before:

And after:

Other ways we're trying to break up the norm are playdates, swim lessons, getting out with family and friends, having more people in...

Life is kinda calm right now.  Well...ha...let me rephrase that...our big picture is calm ;).  Nothing too big is going on...besides the suspense of our new baby on the way.  You know what I mean though?  Chad works, I stay home, the girls aren't involved in much cause they're still so young...so our days are just what we make of them.  And while the days do fill up...some days it feels like "what is God doing in our lives right now?".  The big picture is pretty blurry.  

He has challenged us to get more involved in our church family, more intentional with what goes on at home, and more purposeful in prayer for our future and what God would desire for that.  

We know these next few years are going to go SO fast.  Soon we'll be a family of 5.  Then there's going to be school...maybe more kids?...maybe (fill in the blank)???????  We don't know much.  But I'm thankful God does.

For now, our desire is to be thankful, faithful, purposeful, and constantly give back to God what we've been given (specifically relationships, where we're at, what we do, possessions).  Easy words to say, not as easy to do :(.  Especially in the dead of winter when all we want is some warm weather and a beach to play on!!  Just kidding.  Kinda ;).  

But if anyone is up for a playdate, call me and come on over!!!  We'd love to have you :) :).  Seriously.

valentines

"By this we know love, because Jesus Christ laid down His life for us." 1 John 3:16

cousin love

pucker up Crosby ;)

"well, if he's not going to come to me, i'll just make him!" - Emma's thoughts ;)

Valentine's day was kinda fun this year.  I'm usually not into this holiday, but for some reason this year I was really looking forward to it.  This seems to be becoming a trend for me (regarding holidays) lately.  Maybe it's because it's the dead of winter, we're all a little stir crazy, and there was a reason to do crafts and cookies with the girls?!?  

We by no means did anything extravagant ;)...just some homemade cards and those Nestle valentine cutout cookies that all you do is put on the cookie tray and bake for 10 minutes! :) But it was fun.  As we were making cards for all her cousins, she kept asking, "But where's my card mom??".  I had to assure her over and over that she would get something.  Silly girl.

In the midst of this, we had some good conversations about how it's only because of God's love for us that we can love others.  I love how when I talk about heart issues with Livie, God convicts my heart at deeper levels to make me realize my dependence on Him.  I guess I don't have it all figured out ;).  Not that I ever thought I did!  

Anyway, this definitely happened this valentines day and made me realize more fully that I CANNOT love others without Him.  My relationship with Him must be first...and when it's not, well, my relationships with others will suffer.  So, while Livie is learning "the right answers" to heart questions...God is growing both of us.  I love that.

So, this valentines day we got to spend the evening with our good friends Brett and Liv.  Chad and I, along with Traever and Andrea, got to have one last evening with this awesome family before they leave for Thailand indefinitely.  So bittersweet.  

They have blessed us so much as friends the past 4 years...but longer than that if you want to count girls and boys camps ;).  Yeah, there's an age difference between us - but that never seemed to matter!!  These kids are ROCK solid and I honestly have learned SO much from them and had SO MUCH FUN too :).  

We will miss them terribly as they head off to do the work of the Lord overseas...but we put them in God's hands and hope to keep in touch via skype and FaceTime :).  

Silly us that we didn't take a picture that night...but thankfully I have these two from a going away party  at our place back in January.  Love them.

the girls' latest

Here's the latest on these two girlies...

Emma has been talking a lot more in the past month.  And well, we thought she was a funny little girl before...but the talking has made her even funnier :).  While her favorite (or most frequently used) word is "no"...some of her other favorites are..."tack" (snack!)..."Emma's"..."padi" (paci)..."bantie" (blankie)..."teez mama" (please mama)..."teez dada" (please dada).."chary dada" (sorry dada)..."dink" (drink).  Here's a little snip-it of her saying "no":

Yes, she is very passionate about her paci...and her drinks and snacks for that matter.  The other Sunday we went to pick her up from nursery and the workers that day had named her "snack-master" because she was so obsessed with her snack (and everyone else's too!).  Oh my.

Mid-January she came down with bronchitis :(.  Poor little one.   She had to have been feeling awful cause she just wanted to be held and snuggled all the time.  Not a bad thing all together...it was some good bonding time for me and her :).

Lately too, she's been showing us this "scowling" face.  Lol :).  It's like she's saying "what in the world are you thinking?!?".  She definitely understands a lot ;).

One more of Emma...just cause it's cute :).

Livie is pretty excited about the baby growing in my belly.  But she is convinced  it is a girl :).  So funny.  I think this started when one of her older cousins told her that it was, in fact, a girl??  Haha.  We find out February 26th, and I'm so excited for that day to come!!  We really don't care what it is (honestly)...it will just be nice to know.  God has created this little life, and whether it's a boy or girl doesn't matter to us.  He knows what we need!  And what Livie needs too ;).  

And as my appetite has come back this month, she has been the one by my side in the kitchen.  Whether it's to help me eat a snack or even to make a meal...she loves to be a part of whatever is going on.  She's always asking, "mom can I help?" :).  One more thing about Livie with food...I can't hide much from her.  If I "secretly" eat a piece of candy she's like..."mom, I smell something...did you eat some candy??".  Seriously?

Her passion for music and dancing continues as well.  Last night Chad asked her to sing a song for him and she just started making up something completely random about "love" on the coffee table.  No shame at all ;).  Her current favorite is "Mighty to Save" and she can belt it out pretty good :).

She had her first visit to the dentist a couple weeks ago.  She sat and watched me get my teeth cleaned first and then gladly got into the chair for her turn.  Funniest thing about the visit was that while she was mostly compliant with everything they asked her to do...she wouldn't say a word...or give a head nod to anything.  So while she's all shameless at home...she's pretty shy in public still.  Her favorite part was picking out her "sparkly toothpaste" at the end :).

For Christmas, Alex gave the girls this BIG roll of paper with washable markers...they LOVE it.  And I  love that they love it too :).

AAANNNDDD...we have a new nephew!!  Thatcher Tyndale was born on January 29 to Traever and Andrea.  He weighed 8 lb. 1 oz...and I still can hardly believe that because Andrea was so small this pregnancy :).  We think he's pretty cute :).