Crawling....sort of...

Yesterday afternoon, Aaron refined his 'crawling' skill. He can now...sort of...crawl. He doesn't exactly do the normal crawl...it's more of a scoot on his bottom. However, we are very excited to show you our gifted child.

Family weekend

This weekend has been great. Matt and Lori haven't visited since since before Eli was born. So their visit was WELL over due. Rachel came too...so it was a sibling weekend (minus Glo and Elayna - very sad). Mark and I went to another minster meeting on Friday night and they watched Aaron for us. Saturday morning (well actually the whole day) Matt and Mark worked on our bathroom. The girls went to get Eli's 6 month pictures taken - Andrea does them. So Joel ended up coming over to help 'the boys' and we hung out with Andrea. Saturday night we watched Kentucky get beat in the 'elite 8' - no more comment on that, other than to say I have started my time of mourning. After that we all had a time of prayer together. I really enjoyed this. There is nothing like siblings who spend time in prayer together. I'm excited for tomorrow - I have enjoyed getting to know Steven and Kelly. More on that later. For now, here are just a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Playing with cousin Eli

I put bunny ears on him in Walmart...pretty funny.

Aaron just LOVES...

when Aunt Rachel comes to visit.

Playing the piano with Aunt Rachel

So does his mommy. She is such a big help...it's like having another 'me' around. Next weekend she is coming again. AND Matt, Lori and cousin Eli are coming this weekend too! We are so excited to see everyone and get some cousin pictures (except we will miss Elayna, which is very sad). Friday and Saturday were AWESOME days. It was perfect weather. We had friends over Saturday for breakfast and then spent some time riding horses with them (more to come later on that). Sunday afternoon, Rachel helped me clean out Aaron's closet and then rearrange his bedroom. I like it SO much better in there now. Also, Friday night he slept for over 12 hours straight before waking up...made for a VERY happy mamma on Saturday morning. However, Saturday night he did the EXACT opposite and woke up every 3 hours. Today it's back to normal life of cleaning, playing and grocery shopping. Exciting weekends to come though. Aaron's first Easter is just around the corner!

Nice day.....

.....for a photo shoot!

Prayer Group

About 2 or so months ago I started a prayer group. We meet every other Thursday morning at 9am. There are about 6-7 of us. This is getting to be one of my favorite times with my friends that I really look forward to more and more each time we meet. One of my favorite things about the fact that it is a PRAYER group, is the fact that I get to hear each person in their own unique way pray. I tear up pretty much every time we are praying because the genuineness I hear is such a sweet sound. I am a person of MANY words. I take about 30min to say something that can be said in 5min. I love to hear when people can find words so easily and express themselves so vividly. These women truly poor their hearts out to God. And the phrase "Surely the Lord is in this place," takes on a truer meaning for all of us.

I feel kinda bad though because I have a selfish motive to this prayer group. It makes me study. I come up with the subject each week and usually present just a little 5min thought and then we have a time of prayer. I am almost forced to study throughout the week so that I will be prepared and can present something that is challenging and encouraging to us. I always get such encouraging words from them. For that, I am thankful. I am thankful to God who has given me such an awesome set of friends who constantly challenge me to be a better person and who remind me that my will should be conforming to His will, and not the other way around.

Today we talked about Mt. 6 (The Lord's prayer) and how if we are going to be Kingdom people, we need to know that our confidence should come NOT from those who see us doing righteous acts to show how righteous we are, but from God and His presence in our life and the world. That requires trust in God. That confidence and knowledge can and should motivate us to want to listen to him, be engaged, and participate in His reign on earth. Over the next week, we are going to be doing (individually) a 'week of listening prayer.' I am excited about this! It is something I don't do hardly at all. Most of the time I pray b/c I want to talk to God and don't take much time to listen, and frankly don't really know how to listen. I am excited to start.

Aaron sleeps for the most part while we meet. Usually he wakes up at the end when we are just talking so I get him up. Jenny brings her littlest one with her and Deana brings her little girl. Avery just sits nicely in the living room and watches her movie. Today I took some pictures of the 3 kids who were there...so sweet. It's a little blurry b/c Aaron wouldn't stop bouncing, but still VERY cute. Such prayer group buddies.

Good morning!

I have no real theme to this post, other than my sweet son and his handsome daddy. I realized that I have a ton of pictures that I have not posted on here for a while, so I thought I would share. The funniest thing EVER is the last picture. We went on a walk the other evening just before bedtime and Mark put Aaron on his shoulders. He has always loved when Mark does that, but that night he discovered that his daddy has handles to hold on to...SO cute! Take a look.

playing on the floor with his 'toy' box....really an old diaper box

just a random look at his mommy...melts my heart

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

Loved his new handle bars...

Tile

alright, so while this isn't the BEST picture I've ever taken, you get the general idea. Today we went to Nashville to see family AND to get the tile for our house. I'm pumped! Sarah went with me to pick it out. I got it on sale and I LOVE IT. We got enough to do both bathrooms and the laundry room. I was even able to buy the grout to go with it....very fun!

New Vacuum

I got a new vacuum! It only took 5 1/2 years to get a decent vacuum cleaner. I spent pretty much the entire day vacuuming my house....this includes baseboards, floors, ceiling corners, rugs, and anything else that I could possibly vacuum using whatever attachment I was given! Aaron and Copper spent the day watching me vacuum. Everytime I turned around I saw two cute little faces behind me....it was a good day.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Today Aaron mastered walking around the house in the walker. He is just getting more and more mobile these days. Mark and I just laugh as we watch him from behind waddle down the hallway....so cute!

Thank you Aunt Phyllis

Aunt Phyllis and Dave Taylor gave Aaron a cute, little St. Louis Cardinals seat when he was born. Today it was the 'toy of choice.' So...thanks Aunt Phyllis...I got some dishes washed!

My Boys

Here are my boys.....

I love them so much. Everyday I see how much Aaron is becoming more like Mark. I love how he watches everything we do and how we do it. I am so excited for what God has planned for my boys. I know they will share a great bond. What can I say...like father, like son.

Seriously, what could be cuter???