Family Friends

Over Thanksgiving we had a special treat as Micah had a little play date with a new friend, Alex. Alex lives in Arizona and is the grandson of some of my parents' closest friends as well as the nephew of one of my best friend's from high school. The boys are about 2 months apart and are both learning to share...such a hard concept to learn ;) I knew my Mom would be sad to have missed this, so of course we had to get a few pictures for her.

Bath Time

Bath time is always a favorite around this house. The smell of clean babies are probably one of my favorite things. My two little ones always get about 100 kisses from me when they get out of the bath. I'm sure Micah is thinking, "Enough Mom", but I just can't help it :)

Well, bath time is just so much more fun when someone else is in there with you. Micah and Levi enjoyed a bath together almost every night over Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I only have pics on my phone of those two and haven't transferred them (well, I actually don't know how-that will be a job for my hubby). However, our last night together we decided to let Judah and Jordan join the fun. They are exactly a week apart, which is so fun!

Judah and JK...I did my best to crop when necessary ;)

little sis and big bro...

Levi had already snuck out of the tub-that stinker! But Micah-man had to get a pic with him too!

Tangled

During our Thanksgiving week together, Lottie and the girls took some of the little ones to go see Tangled in 3D. The boys were sweet and took care of Judah and Jordan for us (this was before Paul had arrived, so thanks guys!!). The kids did great and really enjoyed it. I thought it was really cute and it reminded me of my childhood and some of the old-school Disney movies with the singing in it! They need to make more of those!

Showing off their glasses.

Haha. Love this kid!
3 of the 4 little ones...
...and there is little Emma Grace's head peeping over the seat

Thanksgiving in AMERICA

It was so nice being back in the States for Thanksgiving-where people actually understand what it is all about! Reflecting back on this past year we do have so much to be thankful for-a healthy and precious baby girl, a new nephew, returning to the States safely, Paul's new job, a new home, our health, new friends...the list could go on. However, I am most thankful for being redeemed by the blood of my Savior. I am so unworthy and I pray that my life daily reflects Jesus-it is ALL about Him!

Well, we headed to Louisville to spend the holiday with Paul's family. Paul had to work until Wednesday, so I flew solo with the kiddos on Monday. God is so good and put one of our good friends sister-in-laws on the plane with us and she was a HUGE help! We actually stayed at my parents house with the Akin's because my sweet family was out of town celebrating on an island far away :) It is always great being with all the Akin's and having all the little ones together. We had a busy but great week together. On Thanksgiving day we headed to Anna's (my sis-in-law) family's house for our big meal and celebration. Her parents were the sweetest hosts ever and her Mom had gone above and beyond-the food was delicious! Here are a few pics of our week-unfortunately I forgot to take too many...

Lottie with the littlest g-babies.

JK loves her kisses from Granddaddy
Cousin Love-they are working on the whole sharing thing... ;)

Thanksgiving Day-Charlotte and Kay Sue (Anna's Mom)

sooooo THANKFUL God put us in the same family! Love you

Paul and his Momma

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Reunited in the States

While we were in Kenya, we had a short term team come from Mississippi to work alongside of us. We had never met any of them before they arrived, but we just clicked with the team. It seriously was a great group who had to be super flexible as we went through a LOT with them in the short week they were there. We still stay in touch with many of them and one of them, Katie, recently drove in to see us. She is a huge encouragement to me and always wrote the sweetest emails/fb messages to me while living overseas (and still does). It was so fun having her here and catching up on the past year and a half of life. I'm so thankful we live just a few hours away now! I loved having a little girl time and seeing how the Lord is working in her life :) Love ya Katie!

Samford Friends

Recently we had several Samford students over for dinner. The majority of them were from Louisville (it's amazing how many students are here from there), and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Since I have a sister about their age, most of them I have known for years and have literally watched grow up. It was good to catch up with them and Micah loved all the extra attention and showing off his dress-up costumes ;) Love you guys.

An Office Visit

The other day we visited Daddy at work and brought him lunch. It was the first time we had stopped by and Micah loved seeing his Daddy's office. Micah wants to be just like his Dad in everything he says and does, and I love it. Paul is such a godly man and a great role model, so I truly do hope Micah grows up to be just like his Dad (although I would love it if he wasn't quite as picky of an eater as Paul. Haha).

Reunited in Auburn

Our good friend and coworker from Jordan, Katie, grew up in Alabama and only lives about 2 hours from us. God is so good how He placed us so close to her! Recently she invited us to her home for the weekend and for the Auburn vs. Georgia football game. We hadn't seen her since the end of July, so we couldn't wait to catch up. We had such a wonderful time at her house and her family was beyond hospitable.

We did some Wii dance...it was quite entertaining.
Katie and Jordan
Micah attempting to Wii dance too. Ha.
It was our first time to experience an Auburn game and it didn't let us down. It was such an amazing experience-that place is full of school pride and energy. It was also Micah's first full college football game (that he can remember-he went to one at like 6mos). We were a little worried at how he'd do but with all the cheering, people, mascots, dancers, and football, he was quite entertained. He was passed around from person to person but he actually lasted until the 4th quarter...then we had to walk him around the stadium. Considering he had no nap that day, he did great.

Funny story...In August my mother-in-law had bought this outfit for Micah when we returned home from the Middle East. Before heading to the Auburn game I was looking through Micah's closet for something navy or orange (Auburn's colors) to pack for the game. I saw this outfit which had a football player wearing both navy and orange and thought it was perfect. Later Paul pointed out that the football player's number was #2, which is also Auburn's best player, Cam Newton's, number. Needless to say, we had many compliments on his outfit that day.
Hard core tailgating with delicious food!
Micah loved this game, although he really didn't know what he was doing.
Game time!!
My sweet boys.
Yelling "War Eagle"-which he still runs around our house saying.
While tailgaiting, I also ran into a friend that I had met at a camp called JH Ranch and hadn't seen since (which was in 2002). Unfortunately, I ran after her and didn't have my camera nearby :( It was such a fun weekend and nice to get away from Birmingham. We are so thankful for the invite by Katie and her family!!

Some Poppi and GiGi Love

Since we won't be seeing my family for Thanksgiving, my sweet parents came for a quick visit to Bham. I'm loving that we now live an hours plane flight away-rather than 14+ hrs!!! It is always so refreshing to see them and they helped get a lot of things done around our house...not to mention they spoiled their grandchildren just a little ;) LOVE YOU

First Bites

Well, it's that time. Jordan is 6 months old and that means it's time to start her on solids. Seriously!?! Where does time go? Her are some pics of her first bites...it took her a few days to catch on, but she's doing great now and we are back on a schedule-which this mommy needs :)

Micah didn't want to miss out on the fun, so he decided to take his first bite of lemon.

Not too sure about this...
...umm, sour.

Crime Scene

The culprit (don't let that sweet face deceive you)...

The weapon...
The scene...
If you look closely you can see the long pink yogurt line that goes across the entire table and then beautiful splatter yogurt on the wall. I was doing the dishes right behind him when this happened and looked up to see him swinging the yogurt around like a sling shot...but it was too late. Boys, boys, boys. Gotta love them :)