Milestone

Though Ryan has always been a favorite with my children, he has had some work to do with Maddox. Where MK immediately took to him, Maddox immediately took to me. No complaints here as I have LOVED getting all of my hugs and kisses and pats on the back (she does this quite often) and sweet cuddling time. She is my little sweetheart! Today, though, we saw an excited Maddox when her daddy arrived home from an overnight camping trip with the boys. The boys were wanting to hug on her and dote on her yet Maddox had other ideas in mind. The minute she saw Ryan, she took off in one direction, and one direction only, and nothing was going to stop her. She made her way to Ryan and grasped hold of his legs and squeezed them as tight as her little hands could. It was absolutely precious!

Our Girls

Girls night out! With Ryan and the boys spending some quality time on a local lake with friends, the girls and I spent some time together around town. First up, the prep. Baths, showers, make-up - gasp - yes, MK applied real lipstick for the first time tonight all.by.herself. She thought it was bee-u-ti-ful! Next up, the nails - MK's must do on a girl night. We introduced Maddox to our favorite nail salon, you know, the one with the bunny chairs. Only now, they have Princess chairs, very appropriate. MK walked in, chose her colors, introduced everyone who would listen to Maddox and took her seat. This is what our evening in the nail salon sounded like - "Mom, Maddox loves my nails. Can you please take her over there where she can't get into my chair? Maddox, come here, come over here and see me. Um, Mom, she is messing up my nails." In other words, MK could not decide if she really wanted Maddox around or not. Following our nail makeover, we went to dinner. Our favorite, pizza outside with the band playing next door, MK coloring and Maddox dancing. Perfect.

Celebrating Maddox

On Saturday, April 30, my parents held a party in honor of Maddox. People that I have known since my childhood as well as folks that I have not seen in years, all gathered together to share in the love of our little girl. What a true blessing it was to have everyone present for this event.

There were not many photos that were taken. One can imagine how distracted I was :) Between talking about our new addition, chasing our newest addition and feeding our newest addition, my hands were tied. My lips, however, were moving constantly trying to get updates on those that I have not seen in so long. The mental image will be forever etched in my memory from this night of celebration. We not only celebrated Maddox, we celebrated our family!

Maddox tried her very first piece of cake. As expected, she LOVED it and wanted more and more of the icing. What a treat!

Thank you to all who came out for the evening. Every one of you has meant so much to my family - my father, mother and siblings as well as my husband and our children - and I love that you continue to support us with prayers, encouragement and love as we move through life. Thus far, it has been a wonderful journey!

Happy Birthday Pryce!

Nine years ago today, Pryce entered our world and immediately made it a better place to live. With him, he brought peace, laughter, sweetness, kindness, a way to calm others and a good friend to all whom he meets. We love this little guy with all of our hearts and we are so blessed to be able to call him our son!

Pryce loves his siblings. He and Colin are the best of buddies. He will play and play with MK. He adores Maddox and always wants to know what he can do to help with her.

Pryce inherited his mother's "planning gene." I am, by nature, a planner. I remember as a child planning out my birthday parties months in advance. Pryce is the same way. He loves a good plan. The party plan has been in place since Christmas and he was so pleased with the outcome. On Friday, Pryce had four homeschooling friends over for a campout. What a great time they all had. They made yummy ice cream sundaes, they went Snipe Hunting, they told stories until the wee hours of the evening and they had many, many Nerf war games to attend to. It was perfect boy fun!

On Saturday afternoon, Pryce invited some neighbors, some school buddies and some Boy Scout den members over for a party in our backyard. Again, Nerf wars were fought, balloon toss was a hit and a treasure hunt ended with a great surprise to take home!

Pryce's backyard crew.

The birthday sing-along.

The homeschool crew. What a great group of friends Pryce is surrounded by!

The birthday boy! Nine years old. Wow, they really do grow up way too fast!