A Boy & His B

For those of you who live far away... allow me to introduce you to our 4th child... John Michael's blanket. :) He has affectionately nicknamed it, "B" which is cute because his Uncle DD also had a "B" and one day, before John Michael could really talk much DD asked us if John Michael called his blanket his "B"? I kind of rolled my eyes like, "No, why would he call it the same thing you called it? That seems weird." Not a week later John Michael started calling it his "B." I was officially humbled. :)

The original blanket came from my sister's mother-in-law. Its a super nice "Kashwear" blanket that he was immediately in love with. My sister got him a back-up blanket and also picked him up a knock off one he loves. He is rarely seen without it.









Its his best friend. You should see his face light up when we get it out of the dryer. He even asks us to "tuck it in."

Its hard to imagine that one day he'll be "over" it... but until then they're pretty much connected at the hip. :)

serious, serious cuteness

If you're interested... I rocked out a family session this week. Here's a peek at the cutie who just melted my heart. :)

Cooking. Share the Wealth.

Most people know of and love allrecipes.com, me included! But I also have a couple of recipe/cooking blogs on my google reader that consistently posts things my family enjoys!  

The first one is Easy Meals for Moms. Its a collaborative blog with many of my friends in Knoxville. There are a variety of recipes, healthy, not so healthy :), but one of the things I LOVE about this blog is that the contributors are all moms so most of these recipes are very practical.  And if you're into organic or healthy (as in whole wheat, not as in fat free) eating look for recipes by "Honey." She's got some great ideas. :)

The second one is My Kitchen Cafe. Its a blog by one girl, Melanie. I don't know her but I stumbled onto her blog linked up to another blog and I've loved her recipes! Hers vary in difficulty (yeast rolls vs one pan meals) but I've loved following her blog too.

And most recently I know I can hop over to Mama Knows Best. Its a website dedicated to mothers so of course its getting its share of tried and true recipes too!

Any recipe resources you'd love to share?  Post a comment below and share the wealth with me! My family loves trying new recipes so I'm always on the hunt!

So, I thought I'd share the wealth! 

And because every post is better with a picture check out this cutie from my most recent newborn session. :)

Like Father Like Sons

Adeline is not the girliest girl to walk the planet. She would trade her Barbies in for a good adventure any day. But, while she'd rather be a dog than a Barbie she's never been that into sports.

John Michael & Nicholas however. share their daddy's love for basketball. From a young age John Michael and Nicholas were obsessed with balls. They love playing with them, pushing them, chewing on them, throwing them, etc. And while John Michael's fascination with balls is maturing and developing, Nicholas' is just beginning.

Woo-hoo! I've joined the ranks of basketball lovers!



Hmm... What else could I do with this thing?



Eating it is always an option.



Yah! These things are good for so many forms of entertainment!

Friends

When raising kids you have so many dreams and hopes for them. I dream, more than anything, that my children will grow to know, love and cherish Jesus Christ with all their hearts... 

I desire that they'd be disciplined, hard working children and adults. 

I desire that they'd love, above all. 

I also desire that they would surround themselves with God loving friends. 

One of the things that is hard for me is that I know that one of the main ways to help my children become this way is to model it in my own life as well as to create opportunities and training for them to learn to become that way. I'm grateful that these things don't fully depend on me though. God, in his mercy, is the one who will cause the seeds I plant to grow.

So, one of the seeds I'm comitted to planting more in my children's lives is to spend more time with young Christian kids. And since we've been brainwashing Adeline & Faith that they're best friends since they were born I think she's a great place to start

Here are the 4 year old gals enjoying an afternoon of fun and royalty.

my family.

i love 'em.

My baby is a peanut

I took Nicholas to the doctor today for his 6 month checkup. He was so much smaller than my other two babies were at 6 months! He weighed in at 17 pounds 4 ounces (39th percentile) and was 27 1/2" long. (76th percentile)

Compared to Adeline at 6 months:

21 pounds (GREATER than the growth chart, 27 1/2" (92nd percentile)
Compared to John Michael at 6 months:

20 pounds 10 ounces (97th percentile) and 291/4" long (GREATER than the charts)

His eyes are most definitely getting brown flecks in them too. We may have a Mexican baby on our hands after all!! Well, Mexican or not he's happy to be alive. Its a rarity to see this baby unhappy... unless you're not holding him that is. :)

While we were there Addy & John Michael were weighed and measured too.

Adeline - 4 years old.

Weighs 44 pounds (93rd percentile) & is 3 feet 6 inches (89th percentile)

John Michael - 2 years and 8 months

Weighs 36 pounds (92nd percentile) and is 3 feet 3 1/2" tall (97th percentile)