thankful (24)

I am extremely thankful for my siblings and Nathan's siblings. 

Our life would certainly not be the same without them.

I love being able to hang out with them and for the

girls to know them so well. I love that they

are willing to watch the girls for "free."

Each one of them are a blessing in our lives!

Right now we live close to almost all of them! 

 I have 4 sisters, 1 brother in-law and 2 sister-in-laws

 all within 10 minutes from us. Nathan's two brothers

 are within less then 30 minutes from us. My two brothers

 and 1sister-in-law are within 4 hours but we are fortunate

 that we get to see them often:) And last but not least, I

 have a sister and brother-in-law that currently live

 about 14 hours away (but it is temporary and we hope to

 see them more often soon:)

Our girls love each of them soooo much and me and Nathan do too!

Nathan's siblings...Andrew, TJ and Jenna

My siblings...Blake, Courtney, Kimberly, Luke, 

Elizabeth, Tori and Bekah

Blake and Andrea

Courtney and Landon (with one of their boys, Will)

Kimberly and Sergio

TJ and Luke

2 sister-in-laws- Natasha and Jenna

Liz

Tia 

Jenna

Bekah

thankful (23)

The girls just had a swim meet and swam so well. I was so 

proud of them! It brings back many memories of

when I swam at their age. They love it and I'm thankful for 

their healthy bodies that allow them to be able to do sports, 

like swimming. It has built their confidence and keeps

them in shape for sure!

At this last swim meet, my mom and dad took 

the two little ones after the girls first event. It was so nice

cause Nathan was home sick and I was able to focus on the 

older two swimming their events. They each swam five events

and during the in between time I was able to sit and talk

 with them, buy a few things from them concession stand

 and be right there on the deck waiting for them to swim.

They enjoyed it and I did too! 

Lydia was focused and waiting for the whistle to 

get in the water for her backstroke event:)

She ended up placing 2nd and was so excited

about getting her best time yet!

Natalee swam a 25 fly in the 8 and under for the first time

 in a meet and did great! She had a beautiful stoke and was

so proud of herself for doing a good job and placing 2nd!

Thankful for their love for swimming and healthy bodies!

thankful (22)

Sharing a meal with a lot of family on Thanksgiving is the best 

part for me on Thanksgiving and the meal is the second best! 

We should have a meal like this more then once a year.

I love the turkey with the fresh homemade stuffing,

the creamy mashed potatoes, the extra sweet sweet potatoes, 

the cranberry sauce, sweet potato rolls and then of course,

all of the desserts. My favorite thing on Thanksgiving

is the pumpkin pie with whipped cream. I love it and

now the girls love it too! 

Thankful for this time of year where we can look back and

be thankful for our heritage and spend time with family...

and eat a wonderful meal!

thankful (21)

We are extremely thankful for the Mora family! Our kids have 

grown up together and we have been in a community group

together with them for the last five years. Their kids are so

precious and our girls love them to death! Grant and Rebekah

are amazing parents and friends and have been an example

for Nathan and I to look up to for all these years.

It it is so sad that we just had to say

good-bye to them:( 

They are moving to Arkansas to be closer to family which

we totally understand. They have not been around family

since they got married and yet have stayed so strong. 

We will truly miss them though. When we had to say good-bye

it was hard to look at them and their kids and know that it could

be awhile before we see them again. But,

this just gives us an excuse to travel and visit Arkansas one day!

We are so thankful for the memories that we have shared 

together and will be forever grateful for their family!

Natalee, Marissa and Corban at the county fair

Natalee (7) and Marissa (almost 7) at the county fair

These two were just babies when we met and it

is crazy now how big they are!

Lydia ( 5) and Annika (5) at the fair

Best of friends!

Julianna (3) and Ellia ( 2 turning 3 in Nov.)

These 2 together can be a handful:) They love each

other though:)

Miranda (13 months) and Alyssia (13 months) 

these two are only 4 days apart:)

Grant and Nathan at their going away party. All of these

years they have known him without a beard. And now in this

picture he has a full beard!....which will hopefully be gone in

a couple months:)

Christen and Rebekah at Olive Garden with all the ladies 

for one last time.This is like the one picture that I have

 of us by ourselves. Usually one or both of us was

 pregnant or holding a kid:) So, l like this picture!

We are eternally grateful for the Mora's and thankful

that they have lived here in Virginia for the past 9 years. 

We love you guys!

thankful (20)

Lydia Noelle

It is amazing how each child can be so different. 

All four of our girls have different personalities and 

their own look too. Each one is different in their

own way and I wouldn't change anything about them.

Lydia is one special girl! ( they are all special but in their

own way:)) She is mostly like her daddy in these ways...

~ likes to dance

~ likes to be the center of attention

~ likes to talk 

~ she has his body shape ( even a little indention

on her chest like he has)

~ likes to hunt and dress in camo

~ likes me to make the same things over 

and over for dinner instead of trying new things

~ likes to make people laugh

~ likes adventure

~ is good at sports and playing games

~ they both have the same smile:)

When Lydia was born, she was only 5.2 lbs...so tiny

but perfectly healthy. She was born at 36 weeks much

to our surprise!

Here is a short version of her birth story...

I was measuring small throughout my pregnancy with her.

At 36 weeks the doctor did an ultrasound and said,

"are you ready to have this baby tomorrow?"

My placenta was actually not working properly so

she would be better out of me then in me. The doctor 

gave me one day to prep then I went in the next morning

to be induced not knowing really what to expect. 

I was induced and started dilating more on my own and she

was born soon after lunch! Natalee was so proud of her!..and so were we:)

One thing about Lydia is that she loves to pose for pictures

and is so photogenic. She has never had a problem taking

pictures and actually loves it! I love this about her:)

Another thing about Lydia is that she absolutely loves
her birthday. She looks forward to it all year. She starts the
countdown to her birthday before Christmas. Her birthday
is February 22nd. She usually can't wait til Christmas cause
that means that her birthday is "2 months" after Christmas:)
She usually extends her birthday celebration to last
the whole week. She knows exactly how many
"parties" that she had last year (including school, family,
friends, sisters, etc.) She knows that in two days
it will be three months until her birthday:)
And I got all emotional thinking that she will be
turning 6. She is growing up way to fast.

Thankful for Lydia Noelle and her sweet personality!

thankful (19)

This week I have all the girls at home because of thanksgiving break.

It is nice not having to wake up and rush out the door and start our normal

school routine. It's even nicer when the girls use their imagination to play

with each other:) Today was a day where we didn't have plans to go anywhere...

so towards the end of the day all of the girls were running around the house 

trying to get all of their energy out. At times like this, Nathan feels a little

outnumbered with all of the emotion going on in our house:) They eventually

did settle down once they got to sleep. yes, one of those kinds of days.

But, I am still thankful for their imaginations..

Most of the day was spent playing "games," "house," "pets," "sisters"...

and each room being used as something different like a "doctor's office," a 

"park," a "school." I love seeing their little imaginations run wild. 

Next time, I will have to take pictures of all of this:)

It was a lot of clean up for them and me. 

But, I can say that I am very thankful for their imaginations!

thankful (18)

I am not very good at singing but I still love to sing in church. 

I love being able to freely worship the Lord. Sometimes it is hard to 

focus in church with all the distractions and kids pulling on your shirt, but

I am thankful for the times that I do get to focus in on worship.

I'm thankful though that worship is not just done in church.

I can worship the Lord in the car, in the shower, during the day when

taking care of and playing with the girls...anywhere really! 

I know that God longs for us to worship Him and I want to long

to worship him back. He deserves all the praise and glory! Even on the

hard days when it is difficult to sing a worship song....let my heart sing. 

All of my complaints and worries grow smaller when I do choose

to worship.