"Chicken Lauren"

The girls call her "Chicken Lauren" and she graduated from the Marines Officer Candidate School last Friday.  She was Platoon Commander and in the top 10% of her class. Our girls worship her! When she was preparing for the Marines she ate only chicken, hence the nickname they gave her.  We are all so proud of her!  Love that our girls look up to someone who sets her mind on something and lets absolutely nothing get in her way.

Welcome Babies!!

Six weeks ago these 2 little ladies came into the world and rocked their mommy and daddy's world :) Every time I show this picture to our 3 girls they "Awwww" and gush over them.  They cannot wait to meet their first real cousins! 

Cousins

6 Cousins (technically 2nd cousins)

From left to right:

Gilly 5

Ellie 4

Eva 4

Nattie 3

Delia almost 2

Claire 18 mos. (scared of the 12 o'clock whistle)

Oh how fun it was to watch them in action!

Nursery Inspiration

For Aunt Nicole and Uncle Matt and their BABIES!!!

3 + 3

Taking this picture has been on my "to do" list for a while.

I was so happy to snap it on Christmas night.

From Left to Right (in birth order):

Mama + BP

Aunt Cynthia + BB

Aunt Debbie + Baby C

Now on my "to do" list is to make a copy for each of my girls for their memory boxes.

Mother's Day 2010 Picture taken by Cynthia

Grandma Ruth or "Lady Ruth" would be a better name. You will be missed by many!

I am praying I can do as good of a job being a mom to our three daughter as Ruth did with her three daughters.

I hope she gives us guidance + strength from above...especially during the teenage years :)

Prayers Please...

Found this picture this morning while straightening up our house. (1979 Barefoot Dad + Grandma Ruth)

We visited Grandma Ruth just last night. She is not feeling well + needs prayers.

Smitten

Hopefully they are as smitten with their new baby sister as they were with their new little cousin. They both could not get enough of her. BP just wanted to hold her and BB kept kissing her and tickling her toes. Little cousin "L" is absolutely adorable and a very sturdy baby. She handled their abundance of love quite well.

Hey Cowboys...

This picture was taken at the Brad Paisley concert a couple weeks ago. They planned their outfits like two sorority girls and even made a last minute shopping trip to Tractor Supply. Aunt Nicole and I rolled our eyes and made jokes about them. When we got to the concert Brad Paisley was wearing the same exact hat!

Making Ice Cream

The Barefoot Princess made ice cream with her Aunt Nicole on Saturday. Not only does she love ice cream, but she loves Aunt Nicole too!

Splat!

I took these pics at Cousin James' house the other night. He bravely caught a frog for BP. She will not touch the frog, but she loves when he does this for her. The frog jumped out of the bucket and made a perfect froggy wet splat mark. As if that was not enough someone, and I am not sure which clown, took the chalk they were all playing with and outlined the splat. We all got a good laugh out of it!

Three Musketeers

The Barefoot Baby, The Barefoot Princess, and Big Cousin James.

James is so sweet and patient with these two little girls and they adore him!

(Picture courtesy of Aunt Cynthia)

A Visit with Oma

Last week we visited BP and BB's Great Oma in the nursing home. She is always happy to see her great granddaughters. They bring such a smile to her face, I made a promise to myself to visit more often. BB tried to borrow Oma's walker (this was before she started walking on her own). We brought a bag of little pumpkins with us. BP handed out the pumpkins and pumpkin paintings to many of the residents without any hesitation. She said, "Happy Halloween" and "Have a nice day" to each.

Fire Tower Hike

Another hike for us yesterday. More beautiful views. More jaw dropping foliage. Lots of rocks to climb. And at the top of the mountain, a fire tower to climb too. I LOVE the area we live in! So many great hiking trails. All at different levels. This one was 1 mile up and I have to say quite strenuous at times. I had to stop and sit once because I was a ittle light-headed, probably should have had a bigger breakfast and drank more H2O. Once again, BP was a trooper and tackled the mountain with very little complaint. She was so happy to be with her big cousins, Brendan and James, Aunt Cynthia, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Charlie, and Mama. BB took in the views, crawled around at the top, and fell asleep halfway down the trail. Where will our hike tomorrow take us? Stay tuned...

Apple Picking

We, along with every other person in the Northeast, went apple picking this weekend. To say it was crowded and chaotic would be an understatement. We tried to make the best of it and it wound up being a very quick trip.

BP and BB's Uncle Matt and Aunt Nicole came for some apples and to get their baby fix with the little ones. They showed up with a big bag of Fancy Nancy apparel for BP's birthday. She was in heaven and wore the tutu to the Apple Farm as you can see above. A lot of the lower apples had been picked so Uncle Matt lifted BP to pick some apples. BB was content to sit on the grass and shave little apple pieces off with her new teeth. We escaped apple chaos and had a nice calm lunch back in our town.

Children's Day

Here are some pictures from this past weekend...Children's Day 2008 a.k.a "Family Day" for all of us. It is really like a big family reunion. Children's Day is a tradition that is one hundred and thirty some years old in the town that I grew up in and a lot of my family lives in or near. It is cute old-fashioned fun with parades, ponies, house decorating, children's games and athletic events. This year was all about babies...lots of babies...everywhere! It seems we are a very fertile family. (Thanks Grandma W!) BP and BB had a great time playing with their cousins and seeing the entire family!

Family Resemblance???

I think The Barefoot Baby looks a lot like her twin cousins who are just 6 months older than her. Can you see the resemblance too? The twins live in Colorado so we don't get to see them as much as we would like. They are coming home in late July and we cannot wait. Oh, and Happy Belated First Birthday Girls!

Baby's Daddy...

Jack-Jack is my cousin and BP's second cousin. She tells everyone that he is her "baby's daddy". They play so well togther and the other day posed for some picutres at a playdate. Yes, Jack holds Bitty Baby and cares for her too. I think he just does whatever BP tells him to do. He is so sweet! BP talks about him everyday. She says things like, "baby's daddy is sick today" or "baby's daddy is at work right now". Sometimes as we drive up our dirveway she says, "baby's daddy is here!" I know the day will come when Jack will not want to play babies anymore. I just hope BP understands!

Easter...

The Barefoot Princess and Daddy

The Barefoot Baby and Abby

BP, her big cousin Kelsey, and Kelsey's Bitty Baby

Olivia, BP, Bitty, and Mark