Carl Sandburg Home and Farm

On Saturday we took a trip to the mountains. We are so grateful to live close the the mountains! The kids had fun feeding the goats and playing in the river. Bentley loved rummaging in the water and climbing all over the rocks. Marseille and I sat back and dipped out feet in the water. The weather was perfect.

L-O-V-E Celebration :)

Often we treat our guests better than our family. Establishing the habit of treating our family as we would guest will assist us in communicating our love to our family. Extending hospitality to our family allows them to reap the same blessings our guests receive in our home. Also, we are modeling for our children how to honor guests-- they learn from our example. Treating our family as guests also reinforces the concept of family first. - Practicing Hospitality

I'm currently in the process of reading Practicing Hospitality and loved the chapter on practicing hospitality to your family :) So, for Valentine's Day, I wanted to make all of them feel special and loved! I always have so much fun making things for all of them. It was a good excuse to use cute paper and glue sticks!

Breakfast: Heart shaped eggs and toast

She loves kisses!!
Abbi made Bentley this cute bow-tie!
We brought these cards to the NICU that Bentley was in and sent some to another NICU.

Lunch: Heart-shaped pb & strawberry jelly

Kids' dinner: Heart-shaped calzones -- they ate by candle light... they love that!
Homemade cinnamon sugar soft pretzels.
Our dinner: steak, potatoes, homemade pretzel garlic knots, She Crab Soup with a heart shaped bread/ cracker, and salad -- it was too much food!! It was sooo good :)
Our room :)
I love to decorate the mantle... it's the only thing it's really good for!
XxOoOOOx -- Our Nacho inspired banner of love!
The large hearts had our names on them :)
Our Valentine Cards
I hope my family felt L-O-V-E-D!!!

White Christmas!!

We had a beautiful white Christmas! We played outside and roasted marshmallows while it was still snowing. What fun memories!!

Fun Times :)

Here are some pictures of our trip to Asheville for our Anniversary and our trip to Downtown :)

The view from the one of the balconies at the Grove Park Inn.

We visited the National Gingerbread Competition that was in the Grove Park Inn.

The house from the movie Up was a winner of the youth category.

I thought this pagoda was cute and clever, especially the popcorn trees.
The grand prize winner! Can you believe that is gingerbread!

Some of the pretty gingerbread houses were pretty amazing!

A frozen waterfall at the Grove Park Inn Spa!

The most unusual antique we found that day. Someone must have sported this phone!

Biltmore Entrance/ Gate House
Falls Park on Christmas Eve!
Riding the elevator to find the Festival of Trees.
All of these ornaments were made out of thin wood, it was really nifty!
The BEST family EVER!!

*S*N*O*W* YAY!!! and the Olympics

Yesterday afternoon the snow began to fall and fall and fall. We were a little more than excited. I had been praying that it would snow, because we have been out of town every single time it snowed here this winter.

I took Bentley outside as the snow was just beginning to fall and he loved it. This morning, however, he wasn't quite as sure. It was a lot harder to walk because there was so much snow! We are so excited and thankful that we got to experience some real snow this winter. It was very powdery snow. It's starting to melt really quickly though!

The snow was falling into the evening so we decided to eat by candlelight with the windows open to see the snow! It was a lot of fun. Even Bentley thought it was exciting. We had hot pastrami sandwiches and white bean dip, both recipes out of my Food Network Magazine for celebrating the Olympics. I love the Olympics!!

Danny and I did watch the whole opening ceremony! It was pretty interesting, but nothing with top Beijing's opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Poor people had a flawless ceremony until the lighting of the torch! They must have had a good dress rehearsal :)

This morning, Marseille woke up around 6AM and I nursed her and put her back to bed, did my morning reading and then went out for a walk in the delicious white snow. It was so peaceful and quiet. I couldn't help but praise God for creating it! I grabbed my camera and took pictures as the son was coming up. It was beautiful!

When I got Bentley up and told him there was snow, he was so excited! He loves to eat the snow... and that is about it! He laughed at Danny and me as we were running around throwing snowballs at each other. I made a snow angel and tried to get Bentley to make one too but he didn't want to lay his head back. Danny and I put him in the snow and moved his arms and legs back and forth for him.

After Marseille woke up, we all went on a walk in the neighborhood. It was great to see all the kids out... there are a lot more kids in our neighborhood than I thought! Tonight is our date night... we moved the date night that we go out to Saturday so that way Danny can't run late :)

It's our B date, so we are going to Brixx, Barnes and Nobe and Bath and Body Works! It should be fun :)

Here are some pictures of last night and this morning:














Okay, that's all the pictures for now. I'll try and put all the pictures I took on a slide show :)

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents, sister and uncle! We had a lot of food -- that included some cooking lessons for me! Early morning shopping on Black Friday, and fireworks that evening!
Since it was too cold to take the babies hiking, we had a archery tournament. It was so much fun. I had never done it before, so it was interesting. Of course the boys were good at it. My sister was better than me, but my mom came out and put us all to shame!
Over the week, Danny and my dad worked on a huge go cart and an engine. They were fixing the go cart for a friend. My dad was teaching Danny about small engines. Danny was very excited about fixing stuff with my dad. They got the go cart working and we all had a blast riding it.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. Thank you guys for everything!

There will be pictures, provided by my uncle's new fancy pants camera!!!

Someone is re-living their childhood!

I came across this picture when I was looking at baby pictures of Danny:


Kinda reminds me of a couple weeks ago!

A little of this and a little of that

Okay, it seems like a long time since I have sat down and wrote an update! Probably because it has been! We have been keeping busy!

Marseille - She is doing so well. I'm so grateful! I just LOVE her. I think that I kiss her constantly :) Her last check up went well. She was 10.5 lbs (I'm pretty sure that she is over 11 lbs now!) She's getting a huge double chin and a lot of rolls. She loves to talk and smile, even at Bentley. They are so cute together! When we are holding her, she prefers to be facing out so she can see. She's nosey (sorry- curious) just like Bentley was!
Her little temper has already begun to show. Attention is her main priority, if we aren't around and talking to her she will let us know! She is pretty strong and loves to push herself up and look around. She has rolled over from back to front once, but I think it was a fluke. I have got her sitting on the ground a couple of times... I think she is learning pretty fast! She has found her thumb, and is constantly finding it so I think that she will be like Bentley. I see so much of Bentley in her already. Some of the faces she makes are classic Bentley. Hopefully, his sweetness will rub off on her!
She is a little turtle. When she wakes up, you see her head pop up as she looks around! It's so cute! That's how I know she is truly awake.
I'm excited about her hair coming back in on the top of her head (that was the only place that she lost it!) Overall, she is doing well, and I can't believe that she is just over 3 months old! She is already in 3-6 months clothes! The 3 month is a little tight! I feel like she is growing too fast! Did I mention that I love her!!!

Bentley - Gosh, where do I begin. This boy is growing WWWAAAYYY to fast! He makes me laugh all the time. He runs around like he owns the place. He loves for us to scare him. Though, he closed himself in the pantry two days ago and popped out. It scared me! He mimics us. A few weeks ago I took him to see the trucks at some property that is being built on a couple of houses down from us. He loves trucks. Well, the truck began to lift the back up and dump out dirt and Bentley dropped his jaw and said, "Aye Yi Yi!" Which he hears all the time from us! It was so cute to see that he knows how to use it!
Bentley loves to hold Marseille. Last night he was giggling/ laughing with excitement while he was holding her. He loves to kiss her and tell her "Hiiiiii!" He loves to get a burp cloth and wipe her mouth as he says, "Spit, spit." He is very sweet and fairly gentle with her. Though, he did poke her in the eye when she was sleeping. That didn't go over well!
He loves Mickey Mouse. Mickey is one of his clearest words. Which I think is crazy because that isn't very easy!
He's getting pretty brave. Yesterday, he climbed up our garage stairs by himself. Saying pup-pup-pup -- supposed to be up-up-up! Also, last night he turned his clear toy container over and stood up on it. Which is pretty high! He was dancing and everything!
He is doing so well with his therapy. He loves the therapist and is never hesitant to go and play. As soon as he sees her, he says, "play." Which is great. Actually, he has begun to apply what he is learning there at home. Partly, why he is getting brave about standing on things! But, I noticed that he kept leaning on things and putting his arms by his side. Not really normal for most people, but I asked Stacy if she had been teaching him to do that. She said, "That's why it was so easy today! Normally he resists after a while, but today he just did it!" She has him lay over a peanut shaped exercise ball with his arms by his side. So that explains why he has been doing that! Smart boy!
Health-wise, he is still stable. His recent blood work came back normal. We are just waiting for his genetic testing results to come back.

Danny is doing well. He just made bonus again, and so far on top as an A tech for this quarter. Which is God's grace because they are extremely slow right now. He's been keeping busy and even some side jobs for a friend. It's been fun to watch him grow as a father. Bentley adores him and always gets a smile out of Marseille!

We recently had Shannon and Krista up from FL to visit. We had a great time together. It's so nice to have friends come around. We took them downtown and had Jessica and Katie Britt over to visit with them too! Their visit went by fast!

Next, Amy, Danny's sister will be here and then my family for Thanksgiving! We are so excited about both visits.

Now as for me! I've been keeping busy. God had been showing me a lot of things, mostly remembering how far that I have come! Around my birthday, I began to remember that this is when I thought I would be getting married, at 26! That's completely different from my life! I'm so glad that I already have a family and a wonderful husband. Who knows what I would be doing or pursuing right now if I didn't have them!
I am so grateful for where God has me right now, even with all that Bentley is going through. I'm even grateful for that. I really think and know that God allows us to endure these sort of things to grow us closer to Him. My dependence on, trust in, and love for Him is greater because of it! I can honestly say that I am grateful and thankful for our suffering because if we didn't have this in our lives I think I would take so much for granted. Each day, I am so thankful for Bentley and to hear his laughter and see his joy. Plus, I think about what we would be doing with our finances. As we trust God for the ability to pay all of our bills and meet our needs, I think about how we would probably be using the money on things that moth and rust will destroy and am amazed that He has been providing for all of our needs. All of these things are areas where only God's grace can change me. God has really taught me that our children our not our own. If life is a vapor, what is the amount of time that we have our children? Each day I thank God for them, but I am also not fearful of losing them. My love for God and thankfulness to Jesus are greater than my love for Danny or my children. And going through all of this has taught me that! How can I not be thankful?! I'd rather go through this and learn than be oblivious!
Other than living out the Gospel, I have been doing a lot of laundry :) Cooking is still doing well. I really love to cook! Though, I still really want to learn how to bake good bread! Thanks Ann for being willing to teach me :)Also, Cam, soon to be a new member in our church is teaching me how to knit and crochet properly. She said that I am doing it right I just needed a boost in confidence. It's true when someone tells you that you are doing something right, it makes things go easier! I am also in the middle of making Christmas presents. I love doing that!

Well, I've GOT to go. I hear Bentley and it's lunch time!! Sorry that this is so long! I need to make sure that I post more frequently!!