long time...

So apparently my blog is out of storage space for pictures. I don't even know what that means.... sooooo..... I was going to post some pictures, but I guess I won't now. Worst. Blog post. Ever.

We're on a Boat!

Our kids are obsessed with boats. Leah loves them, Elias yells "BOAT!!!! WOO WOO!!", every time we see one, and Elana points and screams. So the dolphin "cruise" (I use the term cruise very loosely here....) that we took was a huge hit. Except for the fact that once we were on the boat, Elias seemed oblivious to the fact that we were, in fact, on a boat, and kept on screaming BOAT!!!!!!!!!! at all the other boats we passed. Pretty funny. 

Oh, and apparently the boat was a little bit too loud for the poor dear.

We saw a ton of dolphins. They were actually jumping up right around our boat, and were "wake surfing" behind us. It was pretty awesome. However, we were not able to get any good pictures of this because we were too busy trying to keep our babies from falling into the water. Priorities, right?

By the time we got back to the dock the sun had almost set, and it was freezing. It was really really fun. Elias did enjoy it, I swear. 

beach time!

So I said we were in Tampa, but actually we were in Clearwater, which is right outside of Tampa. The beach there was ridiculously pretty. The sand was white as snow, and very very fine and soft. It was pretty awesome. The kids loved it. 

They crawled through the sand for about 30 mintues, looking like the cartel guys from season 3 of breaking bad. It was funny. 

So we are in Tampa, fl, this week. Tony has a conference/meeting thing and we tagged along with him for a delightful little mini vay-cay. So far it has been a lot of fun... but I thought I would share a few random thoughts from the other night...

Tuesday night, however, was a rough night. For two reasons, the least being that Elana woke up literally every hour. The other reason should be pretty self explanatory (this is the closest I will ever come to writing anything political on my blog). Anywho, I was feeling pretty down, like I was under a black cloud. I really did not expect to feel this way. At all. But anywho, I started mentally freaking out, and was all like, well, what do I do from here? What am I supposed to do now???

And then it hit me. I need to love God, and love my neighbors. Love my children. Love my husband. Trust in Jesus. Repent of my failure to love others, run to the cross, and do it all again the next day.

That's all I got for now.

Halloween

So I figured I might as well put up some cute halloween pictures. This is us as we were preparing to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Elana!

My baby is one.

That's right.... my tiny, 8lb, 6 oz little newborn is one, and I now don't have an infant anymore.

That's right... I now have a toddler (two toddlers actually, but who's counting? Oh wait, I am, and I'm officially freaking out about that, but that's neither here nor there). 

This is her favorite face. Mouth wide open, yelling.

So anyways, Elana is a toddler. A non-toddling, feisty, momma loving, crawling sweet little maniacal toddler.

We love you Lanie!

Party time!

So Leah has been talking about her four-year-old party for about a year now. You know, ever since she turned three. She has been inviting people for about a year now. Like everyone. So needless to say, this party has been long anticipated, and I was ridiculously stressed out about it. You know, as if the future of her childhood happiness depended on whether or not this party was a success. Crazy, right? Don't judge me.

Really, though, planning for this party definitely brought out the "first world problems" side of things. "OMG, do you think it's okay if the cupcake garlands don't really match the lanterns?"

Or, "should we have hotdogs, chips, dip, and and veggie tray, or just hotdogs and chips, or maybe a pizza???"

Or "Why, oh why is this icing such a funky green color!!!!!! I wanted it to be bright green, not teal!!! Why do bad things always happen to good people!!!!!!!!!!"

Seriously, I was actually stressing about these things. But, the very worst fear of all, one that has plagued me since childhood, was the fear that no one would come. However, this could not possibly happen, because my parents, Beka, and Carpio arrived on friday night, so I had 4 guaranteed guests :) They helped me out a ton! Not only that, but we played a fantastic game of Settlers of Catan (or is it Katan?), one that I should have won, but Beka snatched my victory from my grasp right at the last minute. It was brutal, but I'm moving on. And, she helped out immensely at the party, so it's all good.

Okay, so I digress. Back to the party.

It was fall festival themed, so we played some amazing games.

There was the pumpkin races ( The kids rolled the pumpkins to the finish line). This game was successful.

The ball toss. The kids tossed balls through the window of the house. You know, hence the name ball toss.

Hanging apples. This game is virtually impossible. You have to take a bite of the apples without using your hands. It was hilarious to watch.

And the bike races. This game was a huge fail.

And finally, pumpkin painting. This one was a hit as well. Note to self: more tiny pumpkins, less bikes.

Oh, and this was a costume party as well. Leah was rapunzel, Tony was the man with the yellow hat, and Elias was hit uncooperative monkey.

Leah got a fantastic rapunzel hairpiece from her aunt Sarah, which just makes her outfit complete.

So anyways, the party was super fun, and a good time was had by all.

Leah

So Leah turned four the other day, and this post is a couple of days late. I have been working on it for quite awhile, but I just can't seem to put everything into coherent words. How can I possibly express all my thoughts about this little person who has brought me such joy, such frustration, and has been the agent of so much sanctification in my life? How I can possibly begin to describe the delightful little fireball that is my firstborn. It's very very hard.

On the one hand, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, and that she is just the most incredible thing ever to come out of a woman's uterus. On the other hand, I don't want to dwell on all her faults or make it seem like she makes me want to pull out my hair on a daily basis. So I'll just do the best I can.

Leah is hilarious. I don't know if she means to be, but she is hilarious. Her facial expressions, the things she says make me crack up and laugh constantly. She is truly a joy.

She has this incredible spirit and spunk, one that I hope never goes away. She is a true extrovert, always asking me "what we are going to do today", and "who are we going to see today?" She has never met a stranger. She invites everyone we see, from the mailman to the cashiers at Kroger, to come to her birthday party. She will talk to anyone and everyone, and wants to... all the time. At church she is like a little butterfly, walking from person to person, saying "HI!" "Do you like my shoes?" "I'm turning four!" "Do you like princesses?", or anything else that comes to her little mind.

She loves all things beautiful. She wants to be beautiful all the time. She asks people if she is beautiful all the time. She cries if the little boys that she is friends with tells her they don't like pretty things. Before we leave the house she "needs" her sparkly shoes, her crown, her headband, her ring, her necklace, and at least one stuffed animal friend.

She says she has 5 best friends: "my charlotte friend (a spider), annie (andrew and Krista's dog), Lucky (a dog down the street), dumbo, and God." Hey, at least God made the list.

She is incredibly sweet.

She is incredibly smart. Her memory is pretty remarkable. She will recall random conversations or events that occurred two years ago.

I could write pages and pages about the things that I love about Leah.... I really could. But she is not perfect. Far far from it. I never want anyone to read my blog and feel like I try to portray my life in a perfect light, because it is not. I'm a sinner, married to a sinner, raising sinners. It's difficult, challenging, exhausting, and brings me to my knees daily.

All this to say: I love you Leah, my precious four year old!

Embrace the camera

It's been a while since I have done the whole embracing the camera thing. Today Elana got up from got      up from her afternoon nap very very early. Apparently she is so over 2 naps a day. So in true awesome mom fashion I turned off my trashy netflix tv show (one tree hill.... stop judging me), and spent some much needed, rarely had, quality time with my feisty almost one-year-old.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is the last picture out of 22 that I took, and this was the only one I deemed decent enough to put on the blog. I really am vain. Oh, and about 30 minutes after I took this picture I put Elana back in her pack-n-play for another nap..... cause she was being all cray-cray. And then I turned One Tree Hill back on.

Leah Grace photography

All of these pictures brought to you by Leah Grace Photography.  (Some of them have been semi instagramed by me, though)