a little ode

i love this picture. (kristi and i really don't have many pictures together because we're usually the ones taking them!) i told kristi the other day that i still can't believe they came and surprised me... i wish i could write a page or two on how it blessed me for them to make the trip down here, but i honestly don't think it would be enough. i had just written on how i missed her, and then days later, there she was in her usual place in my living room... as if she'd never left. man, that did my heart good. there are days that it hits me that she's no longer right down the street, and i just want to cry, but more often than not, i don't HAVE to miss her because we're on the phone or sending 10 emails in 10 minutes past 10 pm (and our husbands say, "just get on ichat!")... and usually, when she calls, i was JUST about to pick up the phone to call her (i tell her that her radar was on- ha). God picked up kristi from her hometown and placed her right down the street just when i needed her. i am a better wife, mother, and friend because of our friendship. and now she is in a new neighborhood, blessing the socks off whoever she meets (even the avon man!). i am thankful God's blessing of her friendship to me did not end when she packed up her house and moved (too far) away... thanks to cell phones and the internet, my dear friend is just a speed dial or a few clicks away... oh! i just got an email from her... i'd better go. here's a few pictures from the rest of the weekend with her and the kiddos...

natalie & lydia were so happy to see each other!

i didn't have enough hands to keep steven & ethan off of caroline!

car seat cuties!
karina- 5 1/2 months, meredith- 4 months, caroline- 2 months

meredith thought i was pretty funny!
(or at least funny looking!!) :)

ethan in b & w

hey meredith...for real!!!

well, this morning started out to be a pretty normal day... caroline was napping, ethan was reading books, and i was taking pictures of him. :) (check my next post for those.) and then we heard a knock at the door... i looked out the window to see whose car was in the driveway, but there was no car. instead, there was a man hunched over behind our van with a camera. i thought i recognized him, but i guess i dismissed that idea because i was awfully surprised when i opened the door to find this adorable little package on my doorstep.....

YEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! meredith drove all the way here just for me to hold her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! boy oh boy was i surprised!!!! eric & kristi have been planning this trip for about a month so that we could meet these babies... and of course it's fun to see each other, too. :) oh how glad i was to see kristi jump up from her hiding place on my porch!!!

so it's pretty obvious that my day was MADE!! i'll write more about all of this later because it is waaaaaaaay past my bedtime! i'll share these pictures for now. it's gonna be a fun weekend. :) :) :) :)

lydia & steven were so excited to see ethan! and his toys!

my friend is back!!

caroline gets an overwhelming "hello" after her nap

fake aunt kristi finally gets to hold caroline!!

do they look like great friends already, or what??

if only your daddies knew you were sporting beads...

thank you for coming to see me, mere-mere!!!

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH WOW!!!!!!!!!! WAS I SURPRISED THIS MORNING OR WHAT?!?!?!??!?!?!?!? but sorry, i can't share any details with you... not yet, at least. i will later tonite, i promise. WOW, IT'S A GOOD ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no, i'm not pregnant.:) no, nobody else i know is pregnant... just hold your horses!!!!!!!!!

caroline is 2 months old!

sweet little faces

hey meredith!!

i hate that kristi has moved for a million and five reasons.... here are a few...the walk i took with my kids today was just too quiet... if i just have chicken and no veggies for dinner (or vice versa), she is way too far away for us to compile a joint dinner (which we did at least once a week)... i miss just stopping by her house and having her stop by allll the time.... but probably the saddest thing about her moving is that i have not laid one single kiss upon the forehead of that baby of hers.... i cannot believe we have not seen each others' babies yet!!!! it's only a couple of months till we see each other again, but but but--the girls will be so BIG then!! thanks to papa & mama d and the apple computer company, we can now see each other whenever we want. i got the greatest isight camera for christmas, which hooks easily into my laptop. eric's laptop has the isight computer already built in, so we can say hi whenever we want! we did this earlier in the year with our camcorder hooked up to the laptop, but that was a bit inconvenient and time-consuming... and we hadn't done it again since. so i think kristi and i will get on here much more often to chat.

it was so fun to talk to them and to finally share our babies!!!! a few minutes into our conversation, eric said, "uhh, caroline's spitting up".... and a few minutes later, i said, "uhh, meredith's spitting up"...ha. so much for deep conversation, huh?? lydia greeted us with a hilarious hair-do-- she has gotten so big, too! steven had already gone to bed, so we'll have to see him next time. caroline & meredith seemed to just hit it off instantly. :)

say cheese!

i love these pictures of brian's side of our family... just having these made was worth the whole trip!

the whole clan

mamaw & papaw with the great-grandkids

joanie, pam, neil, & glenda
with their mom & dad

four generations!

look at our happy kids...
guess that's all the pictures we're gonna get!

it's still christmas 'round here...

it may be 65 degrees outside, and our tree may be nowhere to be found (hallelujah for a back-to-normal living room!!), but it's still christmas around here....because i've still got christmas pictures to post!! plus, we have yet to celebrate christmas with my dad & joy- they've been out of town and sick, so this weekend, we'll be fa-la-la-la-la-ing one last time. here's a peek at our christmas weekend adventure... it may take you till next christmas to get to the end- it's a long one!

we "camped out" with jeff, kristie, & karina in an empty house next door to uncle joe & aunt glenda. God really provided-- the man that used to live there (and has since passed away) was the father of randy, a good friend of brian's parents. (are ya following me??) the house is going to be for sale soon, but it has not yet been put on the market... and randy was kind enough to let us stay there during christmas. we were so thankful to have a place for our growing families to stay!!

we spent most of the days at granddaddy and grandmommy's-- that's where the craziness could be found! 13 adults, 5 cameras, 3 kids, 5 dogs, and a partridge in a pear tree!!! it was fun, to say the least...but this year, ethan's mobility coupled with his curiosity didn't leave much time for relaxing 'round the christmas tree. we should have had shirts made that said, "where's ethan?" because that was pretty much the theme of the weekend. he loved the dogs, especially abby. they had such fun chasing each other around (but no, we're still never getting a dog!). as i think i said in a previous post, caroline received more than enough attention for her first little christmas. she slept most of the time, which was nice since we were busy chasing around her brother!!

it really was a blessing to be with all the family. we were able to take a family picture on sunday after church...and the amazing thing is that nobody is blinking or frowning in any of the shots! that is a christmas miracle. :) we surprised brian's grandparents with a framed copy of the picture the next day on christmas. they were pretty happy, i think. i'll share the family pictures in my next post-- this one is already too long.

it was a lot of work to prepare for our trip and to pack up the van... of course, i packed too many clothes for the kids, not enough socks for brian, and way too much food "just in case". ethan refused to lay down for naps while we were there, and we were just plum worn out by his waking up extra early at 6:45 each morning. i almost forgot to mention that while we were cooking the already late christmas dinner at mama h's because grandmommy's oven broke, ethan's diaper exploded. i mean down-his-leg-and-onto-the-carpet exploded. as if his stepping in it in his brand new blinker race car shoes wasn't enough, his diapers were all over at the other grandparents' house in my carefully planned diaper station!!! (i learned that ethan can wear karina's diapers!) so everything didn't go exactly as planned, and we only got to play texas hold 'em one time (with ethan knocking my chips all over the place...). but ya know, it was worth every minute. seeing caroline in her great grandparents' arms and watching ethan crack everybody up with "happy feet" made it all worth it. visiting with brian's aunts and uncles is always such a blessing, and this is the one time a year that we are all together. not many families are able to enjoy 4 generations of love in one house, and i don't want us to take that for granted. i'm so glad we made the effort to be there for christmas. here's what we would have missed...

our cutie patooty
in his christmas pjs from nana

c'mon, karina!!
let's go wake everybody up!

waking up waaaay too early
on christmas morning...

this picture would be perfect
for the caption "is it snowing?"
that's a big fat NO!

didn't YOU get a deodorant phone for christmas?
they're all the rage.

sweet christmas baby

merry christmas, sweet boy!

"can i take off this sweater now?
it's a hundred degrees in here!"

somebody woke up too early...

ethan & his stocking...
i forgot to get caroline's picture with hers
because she was sleeping

caroline missed all the excitement
of opening presents...

brian's awesome watch-surprise!!

my big surprise! an isight camera!!
more about that to come...

ethan loves his airplane from daddy & mommy

caroline finally woke up to open her presents

can you tell who's missed his nap??

jeff, kristie, & karina
merry first christmas, baby girl!

mama h with her boys

those turkey enzymes...
ethan actually fell asleep at the table!

"thanks for my cute christmas outfit, nana!"

i love my boys!

ethan wasn't sure of what to think of pam's karaoke skills...
he stood just like that for an HOUR while we all sang.
i've never seen him be so still!! or quiet!!

christmas wore us out...