All Smiles

Arden loves to wear dresses. The weather is finally getting warm enough for us to pull her dresses out of the closet. On a warm/hot day you can find her playing in her dresses. She loves the outdoors and being active but she loves to do so wearing her dress.

This one is one of her new favorites.

A Wedding and Their Flower Girl

Our weekend was jam packed full of wedding festivities. Our friend Colleen's wedding was on Saturday and Arden was her flower girl.


On Friday we headed out to the country club for practice. Arden was a little shy but afterwards at the rehearsal dinner where she was able to get be around the wedding party and their children Arden was ready for the big event.


Arden and Alex did a great job. They were so adorable. They walked all the way down the isle holding hands doing exactly what they were told. When Arden got to the front she took small handfuls of flower petals and dropped them on the ground since she was unable to as she walked down the isle. I am so proud of her.

She told me before the wedding that she was a little nervous. I told her that nerves are what makes us do a great job and that you just have to push through them. She did great and looked so sweet and precious.


After the wedding the two of them stole the show on the dance floor. During the couple's first dance. Arden and Alex grabbed hands and started slow dancing on the floor. It was so precious. The pictures we took did not do it justice.


Arden danced all night and had a great time. She danced with all of the other kids, her daddy and me. We practically had to drag her off the floor to go home.




The beautiful flower girl and handsome ring barer.







Trying to convince her to let Daddy hold her purse while she walks down the isle.




The processional
Arden in front dropping the rose petals before Colleen made it down the isle.

Taking time from dancing to take a picture.

I didn't get a picture with Colleen and Arden. I'm sure her photographer Sean was able to capture the two of them together.

Question of the Week

Could he be any cuter?

Thomas and Grammy

Thomas has been doing a great job of holding his head up...before too long he will be doing it all the time. Here's a great picture of him practicing with Grammy.

The Multi-Task Lady

Today's post is written by Grammy (Dave's Mom Janet) about an adventure that her and Arden had at the park.

Arden and Grammy took her yellow soccer ball and walked to the soccer field yesterday. They had a great time dribbling the ball and passing but before the kick into the goal, Arden had to stop to take a "call" on her cell phone. She answered the phone and continued to kick the ball down the field while talking on the phone. At the end of the conversation, Grammy asked Arden who she was taking to and she replied "Thomas."

She continued the soccer playing back at the house. Where we were able to capture some shots of her talking on the phone while playing soccer.

A Green Thumb?

Over the weekend Arden helped out our neighbor plant her flowers and plants. While staying with Gran Gran and Paw Paw in March she learned how to plant seeds. When she saw Terri out in her flower bed Arden ran over to help.

Terri welcomed her and allowed her to help even though Arden tried to re-cover the holes before all the plants were in the grown. Arden loved helping and still will talk about how she helped.

Grammy

Grammy came down and stayed with us for Easter and is staying with us all week. We are so excited to have her around. Arden loves having her to play with, take her to the grocery store to get cookies and going to the library. I'm so thankful for her help and company. I am looking forward to all of the things we will do this week.

Question of the Week

Why do kids either sing at the top of their lungs that its so hard to understand or so quiet that you can hardly hear it?

My First Born

Arden has done a great job of not being jealous of Thomas and she has had hardly any set backs since we brought him home.

In the morning when I was feeding Thomas she climbed into his bassinet and pretended to sleep. It was so funny. I had to get Dave to come up and get a picture.

Hanging Out

Anytime that Thomas has floor time or tummy time his big sister is right there by his side and I've got the pictures to prove it.

Girls in the Neighborhood

There are a couple of girls in the neighborhood that Arden plays with when they are all home. The other day the girls came up and knocked on the door to see if Arden could come out and play with them. She had a blast. Here are a couple of pictures of them playing together.

Stats

Thomas had his one month appointment and here are his measurements.

Weight: 10 lbs 13 oz

Height: 23 1/4 inches

He's gained over 3 lbs since we brought him home and he's grown 2 inches. He's long, lean and doing great. I still can't believe he's already a month old. Time is going by too fast.

A Real Sleeping Beauty

For Easter my parents had a surprise gift for Arden that they left here in February when they visited. We saved it for the end of the day because we knew she would be so excited.

She opened up a Sleeping Beauty nightgown with it's own wand. She was so excited. She immediately wanted to get ready for bed. She started stripping down and could hardly stand herself while Dave took the tags off.

After she was dressed in her nightgown she took her magic wand and started going around singing bippidy bobby boo. She even ran upstairs and put on her "princess shoes." (She has a pair of dress shoes that she is wearing in two weddings this spring/summer so she is only allowed to wear them to church until she has been in both weddings. So we call them her princess shoes because she will look like a princess in her flower dresses.)

She was too cute running around singing, turning me into a pumpkin and having a great time in her new nightgown. The good news is that she is willing to take it off in the morning.

Arden checking herself out in the mirror.

Showing off her "princess shoes"

Easter Morning

We had a great Easter Sunday. We all made it to church on Sunday without any problems. Dave's mom joined us for the weekend. Arden looked so pretty in her dress and loved wearing it. She's been asking to wear her Easter dress for weeks now.

After church we had a great Easter meal. As we sat down to eat we honored Dave's dad by going around the table and thanking the LORD for what he's done in our lives. We also realized that each of us made a dish. Dave made the ham and pineapples, Janet made the sweet potato casserole and I made the green beans. That's what I call a group effort.

Here's a picture of our family on Easter. I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of Arden alone in her dress. We will have to recreate it when she wears it again.

Dunking Eggs for Easter

On Good Friday we colored Easter Eggs at our house. We used a Disney's Princess kit and the stickers didn't make it on the eggs because Arden enjoyed looking and carrying around the stickers.

Daddy was here to take part in the eggs being dunked into the color. It made him a little nervous to see the dye splashed around because of the hard work he done on the kitchen. In the end he ended up having a great time.

One Month Ago

This post was meant to be posted on Saturday April 11th. However, life with a newborn and little girl is a little busy.

A month ago a small, precious boy was born to me. I cannot believe a month has already pass. We've been through many late night feedings, feedings every 3-4 hours and too many diaper changes to count.

Thomas is a blessed. He has a sister who loves him more than he knows. Even though he's only been with us for a month we can't imagine life without him.

He's growing so fast. His cheeks are getting chubbier and his legs are getting thicker. I still can't believe a month has past.

Super Sweet

Arden will come up to Thomas and say "Aww he's so sweet." Then she's look at me and says "Mommy, Thomas is super sweet."

I think this picture is super sweet.

Question of the Week

Did you celebrate the RISEN LORD today?

Mornings at Our House

Lately, this is what mornings look like in our house. Let me tell you it doesn't get any better than this. Well actually a full night of sleep would make it perfect.

Finding Quiet Time

The other day Arden told me that she wanted to read her Bible. She put on her sunglasses, got comfortable and sat back and read her Bible. The pictures are pretty classic.

First Visit

My parents came down and saw Thomas for the first time. Arden was so happy when she heard that Gran Gran and Paw Paw were coming. Her eyes became really wide and had a huge smile on her face and said "Those are my friends!" She watched for them out the window all evening and all the next day until they got here.

It was a great weekend and it was too short but we were glad they came down to help us out.

Red High Heels

Don't you wish you could ride your bike wearing red high heels.

Annual Tulip Pictures

For Arden's first Easter we took pictures of her outside in our tulips. She was a little distracted because of the bumble bee flying around. She kept saying the bee won't bother me but at the same time she was very focused on where the bee was flying.

This is the third year of her pictures in the flowers. It is amazing to be able to look back and see how much she has grown and changed over the year. This year was the biggest change because she added her brother to her photo shoot.

Here are the best pictures from this year.

Skins

Studies have shown that babies benfit from skin on skin time expecially those that are breastfeed. The other day after Thomas spit up on himself and Dave (rather soaked both of them). Dave said he would give Thomas some skin on skin time. So I ran upstairs to get some clothes for Thomas I came backdown and found this.

Apparently, Arden wanted to get in on the action. It was so funny and precious at the same time. So here's my half naked family.