Perspective

We've been bombarded by the flu this week. First Maddy, then Macie, then me. I thought Keith was getting it, but he went in to work this morning, so the jury is still out on him! Both girls now have ear infections as a post complication. My house is germ ridden, stay away! Is it easy to be short tempered when sick? yes. Are the kids grouchy? yes. Easy to wallow in self pity? yes. And I'm sure I would have, had I not stepped outside with Macie yesterday evening.

We live on the 2nd floor (of three) in our apt building. I could tell something was up and I quickly saw there was a man out cold on the ground in front of our building. I watched for a second and could see they were doing CPR. I ran back in to get Keith and we came back out to watch the horrible event unfold. The guy was out running and collapsed. Several nurses and others who know CPR were running out of our building to help. They worked on him until the paramedics got there. I was pretty emotional watching the whole thing, I just kept thinking "oh my gosh, I'm watching a man die". Two hours later I found out he didn't make it. He was only 23 years old. He had a 21 year old wife; they had only been married 9 months.

Death will quickly put your own little world back in perspective. Everything that seemed of monumental importance, now back in check. Everything of great importance, taken off the back burner. I did not know the man who passed away or his wife, but please join me in praying for her. I can't imagine being widowed at the age of 21, or seeing my husband in the state hers was in.

Laughter

Keith's Graduation

My husband is my hero. He has led our family the past several years with a lot on his shoulders. We moved to New Orleans in July of 2008 so he could finish seminary @ NOBTS. We've been on quite the ride since then, running from hurricanes, having surgeries, having a baby, and much much more. Keith has kept a full schedule with school, work, and being a great Dad and wonderful husband. His work has required him to travel quite a bit and he has still managed to make awesome grades. He graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on Dec. 18th with a Master of Divinity in Christian Education. I am honored to be his other half and so very proud of his accomplishments. He has always given plenty of time for family, for which I am extremely thankful. We are still in nola for the present. Keith is working while we are waiting on the Lord's direction.

I love you babe. Proud really doesn't even begin to describe how I feel.

And thank you to both of our parents + Jo for coming down for the big event. Your support of us is immeasurable, and we are forever thankful.

(photo credit to Boyd Guy)

Bingo

We went to Sticky Fingers on Sunday for lunch before leaving Greenville. Dad has always entertained us at the dinner table by spinning his wedding ring. As you will see, Maddy loved it!

Hey Alan

We had so much fun at Jeff & Courtney's wedding weekend. A lot of our time was spent in the hotel and true to nature, Alan came up with some creative ways to pass the time. Our rooms had cordless phones, so he decided to call maddy with one. By the time I started recording, he handed the phone to Christie, but she didn't seem to notice!

Macie Kate

I’m a terrible blogger. Let’s just face that fact head on. This time, however, I do have such a beautiful excuse: our new baby Macie. She is 7 weeks old and doing great. I put together a little video of some pics. My friend Sheryl made a video of her daugher’s first year with this same song and I loved it. In fact I almost bought it on itunes when I realized we already had it.

Enjoy our girls!

Safe & Sound by: Matthew West

Summer

Summer so far:

Jo's HS Graduation, saying goodbye to good friends, Orlando (for the Southern Baptist Convention & Vacation with Keith's parents), birthday party for Maddy's friend @ Chuck E Cheese, Staycation with my family, a shower for Courtney, many doctor appts (I'm now going every week), Mallory coming to visit, snoballs, baby shower for a friend, and more. I'm sure we'll manage to squeeze in a few other fun things before school/Macie, whichever comes first!

We started potty training full force this week and so far she's done really well. I hope all my kids are this easy....but I won't count on it!

If you're not on Facebook, here's a link to our summer fun so far (I updated pics yesterday)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098687&id=41801150&l=9079e915c7

Chick Fil A

I have always loved Chick fil a. And now it's my daughters favorite place for 2 reasons. 1) It has chicken, which is her favorite food group and 2) it has a slide. If you ask her where she wants to eat, she says: chick fil a, slide? [then looks at me with this smile-like expectation questioning are we really going there?] On a side note, it's hard to explain that they are closed on Sunday. We were driving back home this past Sunday and she saw a Chick fil a billboard and was going crazy, needless to say she wasn't happy that we couldn't go there.

All this to say Keith and I tried the new SPICY chicken sandwich tonight for free! Can't beat that. We signed up a couple of weeks ago online, got free tickets & tonight was our night to go. Upon arriving we were directed to a VIP spicy ck. line. The girl behind the register was super nice, of course I haven't had many (if any) bad experiences there. Keith got pepper jack cheese added to his sandwich and we both got a complimentary brownie a la mode! Verdict= Keith loved it! He said it's way better than Wendy's or any other place with a similar sandwich. I thought it was great also, just a bit too spicy for my liking! I had to take Maddy to the bathroom mid-meal and my mouth was on fire the whole time in there...but I am sort of a wimp when it comes to hot stuff. Try it, I'm sure it will not disappoint! I need to cut off the post.....Keith thinks I'm writing way too much about Chick fil a.

Baby update

In case you haven't heard yet, we're having another GIRL! We are so excited. I think everyone else was expecting a boy! I really didn't have a feeling one way or another. I knew I was carrying this baby the same as Madison (low), but my pregnancy symptoms have been extremely minor so far, so I really didn't know. We have decided on the name Macie Kate. I love it and her for that matter :) I'm enjoying feeling her move and looking forward to August when she will arrive. Maddy is warming to the idea of having a little sister, at first every time we mentioned anything about a baby she said "no, no". Now that we have a gender and name, it's much easier. Macie's bed, Macie's diaper bag, Macie's clothes, etc... We were in Target last week and I found a cute little newborn dress on clearance. I showed it to Maddy and said "do you want to buy this for Macie?" and she smiled and said "uh huh". She held tight to it until time to pay!

I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow, so only a few more weeks until the 3rd trimester. This pregnancy has gone by so fast. It's funny the difference. With Madison I was looking at tons of websites to see exactly what was happening each week and now I'm lucky if I remember what week I'm on... I can't for the life of me figure out how to make the scanner portion of our printer to work, otherwise I'd attach a nice ultrasound picture for you! Here's the big sister:

A lot to catch up on!

The weather has just warmed up in NOLA in the past few weeks and prior to that we've tried to stay busy. Below Maddy and I are riding the carousel at the zoo. She loves seeing all the different animals, elephants are her favorite!

Being super cute while we wait on the oil change for our car

We were going to be at Mom & Dad's during Madison's birthday weekend, so the Sat. before we left, we had an impromptu party....the kid loves some cake!

She wasn't a willing participant in our family photo

Keith left for Greece on the 12th for a class. He had a great time, but we missed him dearly. It was fun being at Mom and Dad's; lots of distraction so we didn't think about Daddy night and day.

She's accomplished.

Lots of fun at her birthday party! She actually blew out the candles, yay!

More CAKE!

She loved all her gifts, among the favorites were the Pooh bag and the stool Papa made her!

It was time. The hair was a little out of control. So at 2 yrs and a few days, we went for the first haircut. She was great until the cape came out, she was not a fan at all!

The finished product! She's adorable, and looks old.

Maddy had lots of fun with all of her Aunts and Uncles while we were in GA. She tried to put on Christie's rain boots and couldn't stand up so Alan helped, it was hilarious!

I'll leave you with this:

I just love her, she's gonna be such a good big sister!

Just a few things coming up for our family:

Jeff & Christie's graduation from college

Jo graduation from high school

Our 2nd baby due in August

Britton & Tara expecting baby #1 in October! yay!

Jeff & Court's wedding in October

Keith graduating seminary in December

One last thing: My aunt Tammy has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and has already begun Chemo. Please join our family in prayer for her!

I've painted my left index fingernail pink as a reminder (That was Alan's idea and I ran with it)!

The Happy Dance

So Maddy has started this crazy feet happy dance and it's pretty hilarious, to her and to us. She started doing it during the Super Bowl and I finally got it on video! Enjoy :)

BABY!

Yep it's true, we're expecting! I'm gonna save the due date for later in the post. Last year turned out to be quite difficult for us, I had a miscarriage in June and discovered I had an ovarian cyst. The cyst had to be removed surgically; the ovary could not be saved. It was difficult to say the least. We have waited to tell people for this reason, it's hard on both parties when a miscarriage is in conversation. I don't think either person really knows what to say, and words don't really comfort anyway. I will be 12 weeks tomorrow, nearing the end of the first trimester. I had my surgery on August 27th which is my exact due date! I call that the faithfulness of God my friends! Celebrate with us and keep us in your prayers!

Super Bowl

Just in case you've been hiding under a rock.....WE ARE GOING TO MIAMI FOR THE SUPER BOWL! I have not really ever been an NFL fan, mostly just stuck with my beloved Georgia Bulldogs. I've tried in vain several times before to explain the Saints vortex to my family and friends. You move here, you get sucked in, and before you know it, you're a crazy fan just like everyone else. A few examples: 1) On Sunday every single person on staff at our church was decked out in Saints paraphernalia, and half the congregation. 2) Out to lunch last Sunday, at least one person at every single table wearing Saints stuff. 3) Every worker at Walmart--saints. 4) I could go on, but why? you just have to be here, it's electric. The night they won the NFC, I went outside b/c people were shooting off fireworks everywhere and upon listening, I could hear people outside running around screaming. My neighbor is from here and was beyond excited. The Saints have never been to the Super Bowl in their 42 year existence , so even if you're not a fan, do us a favor and give us a little WHO DAT? on Sunday night!

Isn't she the cutest little fan you've ever seen?

Christmas and Beyond

Since I have 670 pictures in my december iphoto album,

you can safely consider this a taste of Christmas!

Maddy LOVES Veggie Tales (aka La La) and when she got this coloring book,

she promptly climbed into my lap to read it, too cute.

Santa came and Maddy loved all of her gifts!

The boys + mad at breakfast!

The girls!

Taking part in Jo's photo shoot of me.

I think we played Apples to Apples at every single Christmas gathering we went to! It was so much fun hanging out with the Perry's & Burkhalters! Favorite quote was from Georgia after someone played the Puff Daddy card and everyone was laughing she said:

"well, he is a daddy...." haha.

Maddy trying on Pop's new hat for size!

We went to my aunt & uncle's house a few nights after Christmas and had a blast. Swinging Maddy around, eating some great food from Macaroni Grill and you guessed it: playing Apples to Apples!

Alan got this horse when he was little and we (as in all 4 kids) had a great time playing on it! Mom lent it to the Burkhalter kids for the past several years and just got it back. Maddy loves it, although it scares me to death, she goes fast!

On the 30th, all the boys went quail & pheasant hunting!

Fun Fridays

First of all let me say a HUGE congrats to my brother Jeff and future sister-in-law Courtney! They got engaged this week and hope to be wed before the end of the year! I'm way excited!

Maddy just hanging around with her aunts! Happy Birthday to Christie on Sunday! Wish we could be there to celebrate!

Daddy was gone for lunch today so we had a photo-shoot! Enjoy the many faces of my little girl; starting with the cheeseburger smile....I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Uncle Alan taught her that.

I'm not sure what she is doing below, but it cracked me up and then

both of us were laughing hysterically, fun times.

I'll eventually post some pics from Christmas, it's just a little

overwhelming when there are 500 to choose from.....

Babyland General

This is the NEW Babyland General! Isn't it crazy big? It's a doll mansion. As you can see, I don't even have the whole building in the picture....

Mom, Dad & Maddy on the way inside

She thinks we are cruel parents for making her see Santa again....

hopefully she's not traumatized.

Mom just kept picking up all of these babies and handing them to Madison.

Later we found out these were the $200 and up dolls.....

Love my sister!

Keith next to the tree house

Watching Mother Cabbage give birth with an 'easyotomy'

Check out this hair.....kinda reminds me of maddy's

She loved the stuffed dogs too!

But, this is the doll she came home with. Of course we had to get a stroller too!

December part 1

Before we left the Crescent City we got to do a few fun Christmas things. Wish it was more, but an ear infection ruined our last plans :( We went to Miracle on Fulton Street in New Orleans. A street they set aside and decorate and it snows every hour. Our friends James, Ella & Annie joined us, the girls loved it! It was like a winter wonderland without the frigid temps.

Maddy and Ella playing in the snow!

Since we were going to be gone for Christmas, Keith and I gave Mad her Christmas present early. She LOVES to cook and loves playing with her new kitchen! The morning we gave it to her I made pancakes and when I gave her one she took it straight to the microwave on her kitchen and started pushing buttons....too sweet!We left for Mema and Papa's house (Keith's parents) on the 18th and spent a few days with them for Christmas. We had an awesome time playing at home with grandparents and more cousins than she can count! For good measure, I threw in a picture of Maddy in this swing from last Thanksgiving, they grow too fast.....

Mema and Papa got Maddy Elmo Encore for Christmas and she is in L-O-V-E.

She even shares her sippy cup with him!

On Sunday we went to Chrissy & Stephen's church so we could see Luke's Christmas program. It was TOO cute. We snapped a few photos outside before the service started. Mema made this jumper for Maddy. We really are blessed, thanks Mema!

Here's Luke! (he's the one in the back) He was a Shepherd in

The Greatest Christmas Present Ever!

Papa is playing with Maddy.

Her cousin Cassie got the food/pots & pans set for her.

She wanted to cook from then on.

We had a few errands to run, which included a stop in the mall, so we decided to try the Santa line. We only waited about 5 minutes, and when we got up to Santa, Maddy was shaking her head no just as fast as she could. So I held her and we 'talked' to Santa! It was pretty funny!

Lunch at McAllisters!

What can I say? She's a ham. I wish I could capture more of these moments on film!

Our trip to Babyland General coming soon....