9 Months and on the Move!!

Posing with big brother Reed before church.

Last Friday (February 20th) Emery-Claire turned 9 months old! She is becoming so much more active and mobile these days.

Well, it seems to be official.....our girl has decided to get on the move! Unlike her brother she is doing it all a month later---but she does seem to be more calmer than he (which is fine by me since in another 5 1/2 months we'll have another baby---whoo!) She is not quite an all 4's crawler, but seems to be an army crawler. And has definitely turned into a wiggle worm these days--wanting to be constantly on the floor! And tonight she was even trying to pull up on the laundry basket--oh yikes! She still loves her brother, he always makes her smile! She loves her sing stage--and is so proud of herself that she can operate some of the buttons now. She seems to be a slightly more picky eater than her brother, preferring more fruits than veggies (so we seem to always have to mix them together--which will probably be the source of greater problems down the road I'm sure). She loves eating puffs--and does very well feeding them to herself, as long as she doesn't stuff too many in her mouth at one time! She is a bread and muffin eater too, loves the carbs! She continues to become more and more vocal--lots of vocalizing while playing, and saying so many sounds now ("mama", "dada", "bububu", etc.). We love you Emery-Claire, you are our sweet, sweet girl and we are so thankful for you and the joy you bring to us each and every day!

Play time

Reed and Emery-Claire seem to be having so much fun together these days. She adores watching him dance, sing, run, be silly--anything he does seems to amuse her most of the time. Her face will light up when she first sees him from waking up in the morning or after a nap, and she is usually found smiling and sometimes laughing at however he chooses to entertain her. He is constantly asking "baby play?"...it's truly so sweet to watch their relationship grown and bloom. He is so on the go it's not easy to get a picture of him, much less the two of them together. But here are a few from this week I was able to capture. And of course I love the one at the top I added as our new header photo.

Emery-Claire's many faces......so serious, and

always so happy!

A Valentine's to Remember!

This was definitely a Valentine's Day to remember for sure! As usual I have hardly any new pictures, between STILL working on this house (organizing and such), taking care of 2 little ones, laundry, dishes, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc., etc. well, I still can't seem to complete all my "ready to be organized" list! Then it doesn't help when we STILL continue to have plumbing issues with this house. So I question were we unwise in choosing this one in the big 2 weeks we had to find a house??!!! Who knows, I just know the Lord is testing us to be sustained by Him and to trust He knows what is best for us---even if that means the continual stress of household issues. We had some sweet friends offer to babysit for us so we could have a night out this Valentine weekend. But at around 4:30 in the afternoon a pipe burst under the kitchen sink and water was spraying everywhere, hot water that is! So once we called the landlord and found out where the main valve was to shut it off, well, needless to say we had no hot water until later yesterday when the plumber finally came. I, of course, still had not had a shower and had worked out that morning. So fun times for me.....as I stood in freezing ice cold water to briefly wash (take your breathe away water may I add)! And then I decided I couldn't handle washing my hair in there so I did that bending over the bathtub---as quick as I could since by the second my hands were numbing. But we managed to get it all together, get ready and dressed and out we went! Of course we totally forgot to make reservations earlier in the week---we seem to be so swamped lately we can't keep much straight. So most places were 1 1/2 to 2 hours of waiting, and by 8pm who wants to eat a heavy meal at 10:00! So Schloesky's deli was our meal, then browsing in a bookstore, and dessert at Applebees before heading home. It was a sweet night out just the 2 of us, no matter what we did or where we went. Unfortunately, we don't do date nights often enough. With no family in town, and limited funds for babysitters, well, what option do you have. So when we finally get around to having one it is all the more special just to be alone and have real connecting conversation!

The roses my sweet husband brought home Friday afternoon. I love seeing them sitting on our dinning room table!

Above is Reed making Casey a Valentine card this year, and below is him giving Casey his card last year. Wow, what a difference and how much he's changed! My baby boy is getting so big!!

Please pray

I wanted to post a specific prayer request for those of you who do know, and some who might not, the Green family. Harris was our RUF intern at UT while I was an undergraduate student. He married Lisa, a friend I met through RUF at UT. They just had baby #5 less than a month ago, and about a week ago found out their 3-year-old son has leukemia. They have set up a caring bridge site, so if you know them or just feel the Lord calling you to pray for them you can check this site and read what specifically they are asking for in prayer
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danielgreen
My heart has been so heavy and sad for them. I know I posted last year about another college friend's little boy's battle with cancer, so after that shock now here is another one. I know God's truths and promises, but yet the human side of me still knows the pain and heartache for these families is there and real, and makes me want to question why another friend must endure this journey. In the post from last night the mom, Lisa, quoted Jesus "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
She writes she knows the Lord is with them, admist all the pain and uncertainity. Which isn't that really all any of us have to cling to as we and those around endure hardships and trials. He is our hope, our strength, all that we have to cling to in this life. If nothing else I know I so need to be reminded of this every minute of every day! So please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

I'm updating with pictures--none of the house, as I'm STILL working on it, sorry. You may see some of it in the background of a couple of these pictures. But mostly these are just some recent pictures of the kids.

Here is Casey with Matt and Jared, 2 of the UK b-ball players. He has been getting to know them this past year and spends alot of time with them and several of their other teammates. As you can see Emery-Claire was not very happy to be in the picture. Casey had tried taking one of her and the guys and she freaked out!

Emery-Claire playing with blocks, she loves them lately!

Above is Reed, actually at our old house, I just thought he looked cute in this one.

This one is in our new backyard--the first snow before the ice storm!

The awful ice storm that left us without power for 4 days!

Reed enjoying his hot chocolate with Quinton and Addie. Our friends, the Pepiots, were gracious enough to let us stay with them while we waited for the power to come back on.

We're back!!!!

Ok, we don't officially have the internet yet, but we will on Wednesday! Finally! At this moment I'm logging onto the internet from someone nearby, and it's actually working! Since we've moved it's only worked like seconds and then kicks us off, but tonight it's been consistently working for the past hour of so, so I thought I'd type a quick update since our big move almost 2 weeks ago. No pictures tonight, afraid with the jump off internet it may not work, so only words for now and pictures will come later this week I promise! It has been an interesting last couple of weeks for sure! We moved all day Wednesday, January 21. And it's been a nonstop fun ride since then. A few days after moving, we discovered our water heater was not up to par, and then the kitchen sink was leaking and filling up with water--oh, nice! But our wonderful landlord took care of it all immediately, so we realized the nice benefit of renting! Then a week later, this past Tuesday, we had a HUGE ice storm here in KY, and I believe north of us as well (with no tv or internet I had no idea what was coming or going on).....so Wednesday morning we wake up to no power (luckily we FINALLY closed on our other house Tuesday)--all got delayed from Friday to Tuesday, but we were very relieved to be done with that! So Wedneday we headed to our friends', the Pepiot's, for warmth and shelter---we are so thankful to them for allowing us to reside there from Wed. to Friday. And thankfully later Friday afternoon our power was back on, so now we are home again, yeah! Still a mess of boxes here, so lots to do! And again we have a clogged drain connected to the washing machine, so hopefully tommorrow that will be fixed so I can do the loads of laundry we've accumlated! Another storm is predicted for Monday/Tuesday of this week, and I'm really praying it is nothing major, I don't know how much more I can take! I'm longing so bad for spring for sure, and it's just now February! So that is our craziness in a nutshell, probably lots more details than you wanted to know.....hopefully this week, I will just post pictures of the kids (who have done really well considering all the craziness) in our trying to resume a normal routine.