Happy Anniversary, Tim!

Tim and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday. It is hard to believe we have been married that long! In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday and in other ways I feel like we've been married forever! I am so thankful that God gave me Tim. We didn't start out in the ideal situation, but I truly believe because there were so many people praying for us, encouraging us, and pointing us straight to Jesus, God is blessing our marriage. We do our best to make Him the center of our lives and be in His Will. 

We dropped the big girls off at Grandpa and Mickie's house and went to dinner at a little Italian place in downtown Chattanooga. We took Lucy, but she just sits in her car seat without bothering anyone. After that we met my sister at the movie theater and she took Lucy back to her apartment so we could see a movie without worrying about her crying or something. We had a great time and really love spending time together!

Tim,

I love you and appreciate you. You are such a wonderful example to me and truly make me want to be a better Christian. Thank you for loving me in times where I know I didn't deserve it. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about how blessed I am to have you for a husband. I look forward to our future together and CAN'T WAIT to see what God has in store for us. I think He is up to something!

Love always,

Haley

Summer Vacation 2010

Well, we just got back on Friday from an almost 2 week long (13 days to be exact) stay in Florida. We had such a wonderful time focusing on our family and spending quality time together. It was MUCH needed and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to do so many fun and things and make so many memories that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Our vacation started out in Orlando, FL at the Southern Baptist Convention. It was the first time that I had ever been to it and probably not something that I will be attending every year. We had the pleasure of hearing some wonderful preaching and met some great people.The highlights of the convention for me personally were getting to attend a Minister's Wives Conference one morning where I got to hear some testimonies of some amazing women. It blessed my heart to hear about the things that some of these people serving God have gone through and experienced to achieve the ultimate goal of making much of Him. Another cool thing was getting to have dinner with Pastor John Bisagno who was the pastor of First Baptist Houston (Beth Moore's church) and has also written several books. It happened on a whim when Tim mentioned to him during a book signing that if he could have chosen a pastor at a conference he attended at the beginning of the year to have a meal with he would have chosen him. John then said "Well, what are you doing tonight?" We were so surprised and honored to get to have dinner with such a wonderful and well-known pastor. I was also pretty pumped to get to talk with his wife. To top it all off, Casting Crowns ended the Convention with a concert. They are one of my favorite groups and have a powerful message through their music. All in all, it was a neat experience.

Taking a break at the SBC

Addy, Tim, John, and Emmy (Mr. John was just like a Grandpa to our girls!)

The convention ended on Wednesday night, so Thursday we decided to go to Seaworld which was just a few minutes away from our hotel. I was SO impressed with it. It was so cool to get to sea sea lions, killer whales, dolphins, etc. We bought a ticket where we got a day free, so we ended up going back to Seaworld on Friday where we actually got to feed the dolphins and see a few more shows. The second day was just as fun and I would love to go back sometime! I was so amazed at God's creation!

Drink break shortly after we got to Seaworld. It was HOT!

Meet Mr. Sea Lion

Feeding the dolphins. Emmy was a chicken.

Cool Bird that the girls got to pet

Cool Bird #2 (They weren't aloud to pet him)

After spending the second day at Seaworld, we traveled to Kissimee, FL where we checked into a really nice resort. Our room had a large bedroom, living room, kitchen, and washer and dryer. It was so nice to not be in such a small space with 5 people. That was tough! LOL

On Saturday we just hung around our condo and swam and enjoyed playing with our girls. That evening we got all dressed and ate at Carrabba's since Father's Day was the next day and we would be busy. We also drove around Disney to make sure we could find our way ok the next day.

Happy Father's Day to one AMAZING Daddy!

The look on Emmy's face RIGHT when she saw the Disney World sign. Priceless.

Sunday we woke up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. We had SO much fun. I loved seeing Emmy's face as we pulled up in the ferry and she could see Cinderella's Castle. It was great! The first thing they rode was It's A Small World. Next, we headed to the Peter Pan ride. They were a little scared, but mostly liked it. The Carousel is always a hit, but the icing on the cake was seeing Mary Poppins signing autographs close to where we were waiting in line. Dumbo, The Mad Tea Party, The Carousel of Progress and the Train were also all a hit. We did so much that I can hardly even remember everything! In the midst of all this the girls got to meet the Fairies- Silvermist, Tinkerbelle, and Rosetta. Precious! We toured Minnie and Mickey's House and made our way to meet Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. I'm telling you, these girls do NOT get out of character! It was so sweet. We ended the evening by watching the parade. It was wonderful, but we did have a special moment. As Alice in Wonderland went by us on her float, Emmy was on Tim's shoulders. Alice looked at Emmy and said "I do love your bow!" from the top of her float. We were in a HUGE crowd of people, so just the fact that Emmy got singled out was pretty neat. You should have seen that little girls face (and you will because I have a picture!). Magic Kingdom was just that- Magical.

You can really tell how excited Lucy was to be riding the ferry to the Magic Kingdom LOL

Cinderella's Castle (I think some of the Disney people took at better picture of us all in front of this.)

Addy...Wee!

Emmy and some random little boy who thinks he is supposed to be posing too

Action shot on the tea cup ride. Love it!

The big girls & Silvermist

Emmy, Tinkerbelle, Addy, Me and Lucy

Tim, Lucy (notice how she is look at the fairy in this picture and the one above. She actually grinned at this one, so we got her a Rosetta doll :-}), Rosetta (Tim's favorite fairy hahaha), Emmy and Addy

Addy & Emmy having a very important conversation with Sleeping Beauty

The big girls with Cinderella

They LOVED Belle

Emmy and the Minnie ears that she picked for her souvenir

Right after Alice commented on her bow. She thought she was The Stuff.

Monday we made it another "lazy" day and hung out by the pool. The girls LOVE to swim and if you have kids, you love to take your kids swimming because it wears them out! LOL They take GOOD LONG naps and Mommy & Daddy get a break!

My little fishy

Animal Kingdom was our destination on Tuesday. I am SO glad that we decided to go there! We waited in line for 50 minutes to get on the Safari, but it was worth it. We could all 5 (that's still weird to say) ride and got to see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, ostriches, lions and many more animals. The animals were so close-I actually couldn't believe how close they were! We also got to experience a Nemo show (which I had to take Addy out of because she was scared. GRRR). Since I had to miss the Nemo show, Emmy and I went to the Lion King show by ourselves (technically Lucy was with us, but she slept through it mostly). The Lion King show was WONDERFUL! Tim let the girls dig for dinosaur bones in Dinoland and even though I didn't go with them because I was tending to Lucy, I heard they had a fun time! We did several other things, but those were the highlights. I had heard from a few people that this park would not be good for children. I disagree and would definitely take mine there again. It was great!

On the Safari

Mommy Giraffe & Baby Giraffe in the background

Elephant

Emmy was more impressed with the Flamingos than anything. Go figure.

Digging for dinosaur bones

The girls and their $15 A PIECE face paint. You can blame their Daddy. Our little girls have him wrapped around their finger. 

We tried to have a break between each day at Disney, so on Wednesday we again just hung out at the pool. I think the girls made new friends every day at the pool with kids (and even adults LOL). I am so glad they are so friendly! That evening, we got all dressed and went to Downtown Disney. We had dinner, road a boat across the water (which was a BIG deal to the girls) and just walked around looking in all the stores, telling Emmy "No, we can't buy that!" over and over and over again, and just enjoying each others company.

If you hold your index finger up you can cover me in this picture. I wouldn't be mad. (I was just too lazy to crop myself out.)

The big girls before Downtown Disney in their Mickey dresses that my friend from  church made them. I LOVED them!

Here's me and Lucy as she shows off her dress, too!

Timmy and our big girl! She is growing so fast.

Thursday was another big day at Disney. We decided to go to Hollywood Studios our last day and I am so glad we did. We did so many fun things that I can hardly even pick a favorite. We went to an American Idol show that made you feel like you were really there, Playhouse Disney show, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, got a great spot at an AWESOME parade, saw a 3D Muppet Show and Tim even got to do a couple of thing by himself (Star Wars and Chronicles of Narnia things-go figure) while the girls and I rested.

The big girls watching a High School Musical Show

HSM show

The girls met Leo & Annie from Little Einsteins

Emmy LOVES Annie. We were so lucky that she walked up right when it was our turn to meet Leo!

The big girls dancing during the Playhouse Disney show

Waiting for Beauty and the Beast to start

Emmy and Tim on a Star Wars thing. I'm sorry I don't know what it's called!

Our last picture of Disney while leaving Hollywood Studios

Since we are the coolest parents in the world and everything, when we got back Thursday night to our condo we took the girls swimming. It was about 9 PM...WAY past their bedtime. However, we had a blast. It was such a fun way to end our vacation!

Introducing...

Lucy Charlotte

Born April 22, 2010 (My birthday :-])

Weighing 9 lbs 1 oz

Lucy is now 4 weeks old. She is doing great and is such a good baby! I must say, I have been pretty blessed with all of my newborns. They have all slept well and been "easy" newborns. In my opinion, I think it's MUCH harder once they are mobile. I didn't feel that way when Emmy was a newborn, though.

Emmy and Addy are adjusting very well to having Lucy around. They just love her so much. I have 2 helpers which is a good thing most of the time, but sometimes it is a little stressful.

It is much different with 3 kids. Going from 1 to 2 was a lot easier than going from 2 to 3 children. I don't know what I would do if Tim wasn't so helpful with the older girls and just whatever else that I need. My family has also been SO supportive and I can't thank them enough!

Right now we are just trying to get used to our new normal. Thank you all for your prayers and support! Lucy has been a wonderful addition to our family and is already so loved!

Our first family photo. It just makes me laugh so hard!

Spring, Easter and Life...

I am embarrassed to say that the reason I haven't posted in so long is because I just tonight figured out how to upload pictures on the new computer that Tim got me for Christmas. You can stop laughing now...I actually have no excuse except for the fact that I only tried once and it made my head hurt. Tonight it was easy! Who knows?!?! I am technically challenged.

Things are going great here. I am now 37 weeks pregnant which for those of you who get confused I need to get to 40 weeks. I am technically full-term now if that makes any sense. ANYWAY, this has been the most difficult pregnancy so far, but I shouldn't complain. I am healthy, Baby Girl (who has yet to be named) is healthy and Tim has been amazing. I am blessed.

I'm not going to say too much because I have so many things running through my mind that I don't know where to start. Hopefully, now that I know how to load pictures I will post more often. Thank you to all of my faithful readers! I'm sorry if I've disappointed you! The pictures below are from Easter.

December Wrap-Up

Seeing from my last post, you can tell that December started out great! We were blessed to get some snow right at the beginning of the month! It was a fun way to get pumped up and ready for Christmas.



The next two weeks were VERY eventful. I volunteered to help lead the music for the children's Christmas program. We practiced for a few months and I honestly had no clue how the real thing would go. To my surprise, the program was wonderful! It was so nice to take a deep breath after the fact and realize that we got through it. It was also a really cool experience to be on the other end of the children's program. I have been involved in stuff like that my whole life, so to get to direct those children was an experience I will never forgot.



A week later we celebrated Emmy's birthday. My baby is 4! FOUR. YEARS. OLD. This does not seem possible!!! We threw her an Angelina Ballerina party complete with a ballet teacher and all. Emmy was decked out in a fluffy tutu, birthday shirt with a number 4, and a bow to match that I made for her. She also got to have her hair done the morning of her birthday party. We had a wonderful time! One thing I will always remember about that day was how she proudly proclaimed that she was "The Birthday Girl". I'm pretty sure that every time she asked for anything the whole day she made sure to remind us of that! lol Oh well. It was nice to have a day to just spoil and focus on her!



Emmy's party was on Saturday, December 19, and our adult Christmas play was on Sunday, December 20. It was a busy weekend, especially for Tim. I am so proud of him and how well he led our choir in that program. I know that God is using him in a huge way at our church. I am so blessed and proud to be his wife.



Since we didn't get to have "Emmy's special day" with our little family on her actual birthday because it was so busy, we decided to do it Tuesday. We started off by letting her have one of her best friends spend the night. This was Emmy's first sleepover. I was hesitant because I know that they are still so young, but I thought that we could at least try and if her little friend got sad we would take her home. Monday evening was filled with playing, dressing up, ordering pizza, playing hairdresser after baths, and ended with watching the Wizard of Oz and eating fruit loops. (Don't ask. That's what they wanted instead of popcorn! ha!) I put the girls to bed at around 10 and Emmy did great. Her friend stayed awake and quiet for a while, but ended up going to sleep around 11. The next morning we took the girls to a children's museum and to lunch at Chili's. Emmy just HAD to go to Chili's for her birthday so that she could get "some of dat yummy corn". :-) We had such a fun day and I am SO thankful that it went so well! When we got home all 3 girls took a nap!! What a good day.



It seems like as soon as we caught our breath from all of the festivities it was time for Christmas! We celebrated Christmas in our house a little differently this year and I LOVED it. Tim's brother and his wife introduced me to "The Wisemen Christmas" last year and I looked forward to making it a tradition for our family starting this year. Here is the article if you would like to read more about it. We believe that Christmas should be celebrated because of the birth of Jesus Christ. Basically, instead of Santa bringing the presents, we gave the girls presents that would compare to the gifts that the wise men gave Jesus at his birth-Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Emmy's "Gold" was a brand new 16" Disney Princess bike with a matching helmet and knee pads, her "Frankincense" was "The Jesus Storybook Bible", and her "Myrrh" was a set of pink towels with her name monogrammed in curly hot pink letters with a Tinkerbelle bath set. She LOVED all of her gifts and I really think she understands why we celebrate Christmas. Addy's "Gold" was a Fisher Price horse that you ride and put a doll in front. Her "Frankincense" was a Praise Baby DVD and her "Myrrh" was the same towels that Emmy received (except with Addy monogrammed on it, of course) with some Johnson's Buddies bath soap. She too was THRILLED to see her gifts. Addy obviously can't understand a lot, but I know she will get it in years to come. Our Christmas was very special this year. We spent Christmas Eve with Tim's family and my side of our family's houses throughout Christmas day. All in all, I am very thankful to have our family close by and blessed to have not only have received so many wonderful material things this year, but also more of an appreciation of why we celebrate in the first place.



The next few days were packed with shopping, playing with new toys, and just spending time with our family. New Years Eve, Tim and I were fortunate enough to go to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl to support the TN Vols. We even spent the night in Atlanta without the kids thanks to my Dad and Step-Mom. Our team lost, but we enjoyed some much-needed time to just focus on each other. However, we were both VERY ready to get back to our sweet girls. We missed them!



Ok...I think I've covered everything now! I hope that you have all had a blessed year so far!




(I have started this post for weeks and would then delete it or leave it in my drafts and start a new one. I don't have a camera cord right now so that is why there aren't any pictures. I'm sorry...I know it's no fun, but I just really wanted to update!)

Let It Snow!

Saturday morning I was like a little kid when I glanced out of the window to see SNOW! I couldn't believe it! The weather forecast predicted snow, but that doesn't necessarily mean we will get any. I ran and got the girls all bundled up and took them outside. They LOVED it. Addy wouldn't go inside when it was time because she was having so much fun. (It snowed once when Emmy was that age and she hated it!) One of the coolest things about being a parent is seeing everything through your kids eyes. Do you know what I mean? I feel like I'm experiencing the magic of little things like snow all over again!