Birthday Fun to Celebrate Turning One!

Guess who turned 1 on June 6, 2013?  I can’t believe how quickly she is growing up, but we are having so much fun as her personality continues to develop!  We just did a small celebration on her actual birthday because Troy and I both had to work; however, we had her official party two days later at my sister and brother-in-law’s farm in Indiana.  We decided to keep it simple by just doing a party with family this year.  After getting a few ideas from Pinterest, I thought a watermelon theme would be perfect since it is summer AND she is super sweet:) It was a great day with good weather.  Saylor’s Great Mammaw and Pappaw Harold even made an appearance.  We love our families, and we were so glad they could join us to celebrate her first year of life!

I found this sweet little banner on Etsy and Mammaw made the hat!

Aunt Amy made the adorable watermelon sugar cookies to go with the cupcakes and smash cake I ordered.

Once again, Mammaw made sure Saylor was well dressed for the occasion!

Saylor’s smash cake

The sweet birthday girl

She was happy about what was coming!

I think she enjoyed it;)

We sure do love this group of people!

These individuals hold a special place in our hearts as well.

Silas loves any kind of party that involves yummy food and cake!

Silas is thanking Great Mammaw for bringing him a gift too.

Saylor with her cousin, Jake.  I love this picture because it is a reminder of God’s goodness.  Jake was in a very serious car accident and his life was literally hanging in the balance during the time we took our first trip to meet Saylor in Ethiopia.  Obviously, God spared his life and we are so very grateful.  I am confident that God has big plans for these two!

Four generations are represented in this picture.

This was the best family picture we could come up with from the entire night.  Our cup continues to overflow with blessings!

I will leave you with this one.  Those eyes always have so much to say! Saylor, you bring so much joy, laughter, and entertainment to our home.  God knew that you were the perfect match for our family, and we are eternally grateful for His perfect ways.  It’s hard to believe you are one year old, but we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you in the years to come.  Our prayer is that God will continue to grant His favor and wisdom upon you all the days of your life, and that your life would always shine for His glory!

11 months(and 2 days!)

Two days ago this girl turned 11 months old.  How is that possible?

Once again, she has had a busy month, and here is a little recap of her latest happenings.

1. Someone officially started crawling on April 17. She is also pulling to stand on everything, starting to cruise along furniture, and beginning to take steps with her hands held.  To summarize, she doesn’t sit still for long these days!

2. She has greatly expanded her diet. She is eating a lot of table foods, and doesn’t prefer to be fed anymore.  Her independent side shines when it comes to meal time.

3. She is beginning to imitate animal sounds.  Her favorites include a puppy(woof! woof!), cat (meow), and sheep (baa! baa!). She is also saying ‘bye’ when she wants to.

4. She is a little bit feisty.  She can go from happy go lucky to screaming mad at the flip of a switch, and don’t get in her way when she’s in her mad state because she lets her arms fly!

5.  She is slowly starting to stretch out her afternoon nap from one hour to more like an hour and a half or two hours which I am very fond of! (in the picture below, she is using a blanket that was mine as a baby…love it)

6.  My favorite thing is that she is beginning to do her own ‘praying hands’ at meal time.  It is truly one of the cutest things, and I pray that this is an area she continues to develop in for years to come!

I think that is a pretty good summary for this month.  It’s hard to imagine she is almost a year old! We thank God every day for her life, and we look forward to celebrating many more milestones.  I will leave you with a few more pictures from the past month.

 

 

 

WE. ARE. BLESSED.

And Today Makes 10 months Old!

This little diva is 10 months old today!  This past month has been one with lots of changes for her, but she has taken it all in stride.  I will do a quick recap of what is new for her:

1. She got her first two teeth! So you can’t really see them in the picture below, but they have both popped through her gums, and she has been a little cranky with a slight decrease in appetite.  Other than that, she has survived the first two like a champ!

2. We went cold turkey in taking the pacifier away, and she has been pacifier free for over a week now! (you are probably thinking we are super mean taking it away when she is starting to get teeth; however, she couldn’t get to sleep with it anyway due to excessive drool/drainage AND we figure it’s better to break her from it now than later!)

3. She is frequently getting on hands/knees and rocking back/forth, and she is starting to pull herself into standing at furniture. She LOVES to be in standing, and it’s so cute to watch her.

4. She is now eating proteins such as beans, chicken, and eggs in her diet.  She continues to eat everything we give her. I hope this trend continues!

5.  By far, my most favorite thing she started doing is in the video below.  We have been working on it a LONG time….so I am happy to say the hard work has paid off:)

That is it for our sweet girl for this month!  She is growing up way too fast, but we are enjoying every second we have with her! I will leave you with a few sweet pictures from Easter weekend!  

These two sweet blessings truly enjoyed celebrating our Risen Savior!

His Little Feet 2013 & God’s Perfect Protection

Wow! The past week has truly been a whirlwind.  At the beginning of last week, we once again had the privilege of hosting America, a member of the His Little Feet children’s choir, and ‘Uncle Ben’, his sponsor.  Just like our own beautiful children, America and Ben were born in Ethiopia.  It did so much good for my heart to have Silas and Saylor get to spend a couple of days with people from their birth culture.  We knew we would be blessed by having them here, and we most definitely were!

Each member of the choir has lost one or both of his/her biological parents.  These children have come from some very difficult places, and yet they are filled with such joy! ‘Uncle Ben’ as he is known by the choir also has an amazing testimony. He was an orphan himself, and he is now using his life to impact so many others on the same road that he once walked.

 

America and Ben

 

It was too much fun watching America experience the joy of ride on toys!

Tuesday included a little bouncing fun as well as dinner at Chili’s.

Silas and America played well considering the three year age difference and partial language barrier. 

This was Silas saying goodbye to Ben.  He told us he wanted him to stay for one hundred nights, and that he liked ‘Uncle Ben’ because he carries him and we don’t:)

Silas and Ben with their crazy faces.

The His Little Feet choir was off to their next destination on Thursday, March 13.  On Friday afternoon, I was making dinner when I received a phone call from my father-in-law.  He lives out of state, but he informed me that Troy had been in a car accident and they were taking him to the local hospital.  Later we found out that the trooper found Troy’s cell phone, and he called his dad first. My first thought was to panic, but I remained calm and managed to get the kids to the neighbors.  I then called the hospital and they told me he was just brought into the ER, and that I didn’t need to rush to get there.  Upon arrival, I see Troy in a neck brace with blood pouring out of his left ear; however, he was alert and talked to me which was a positive sign.  We already had so many people praying for us at this point because a friend’s husband saw the accident, and he started the prayer chain.  We had other friends come into the ER and pray over Troy.  Ben and the entire His Little Feet choir sent texts that they were praying.  Wow.  Humbling. 

The ER physician ordered a CT scan which came back negative.  Praise God.  Troy’s left ear had glass in it due to the driver’s side window shattering.  The next order of business was numbing the ear and removing the glass.  Although, I am sure it was very painful they were able to get all of the glass out of the ear and sutured it up.  He was cleared for everything else, and we were discharged with a prescription for strong pain medications and muscle relaxers.  We finally made it home to pick up the kids around midnight.  I cannot tell you the roller coaster of emotions I had during those six hours, but I also had a sense of peace.  I am 100% confident that was due to all the prayers lifted on our behalf.  As you can see from the picture of the car below, we serve an amazing God who is our mighty protector.  I just kept thanking him over and over and over for allowing me to have more time with my husband, and allowing my children to have more time with their daddy.  Thankfully, Troy is going to be fine once his ear heals. This accident was a reminder once again of the fragility of life, and that we never know what tomorrow may bring.  I do know that God is in control, and for that I am grateful. 

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.” 

Psalm 91:14-16

9 Months & More

This sweet girl is 9 months old today! This was the best smile I could get out of her this morning. She was a little tired because she didn’t seem to want to fall asleep last night. 

Silas wanted to sneak in for a picture too, and he always manages to get better smiles from her.

During the past month, Saylor has continued to develop, and she always keeps us smiling around here! Once again, I have listed the new things for her during the past 30 days

-She has added broccoli & cauliflower to her diet, and she is now eating solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

-She is getting fast with her army crawling, and she is beginning to pull up onto furniture.  This also means she is learning how to open many drawers and doors(and yes….we never child proofed them for Silas, and I suspect it won’t be happening for her either).

-She has now dropped her late afternoon cat nap, and she is taking two naps a day

-She likes to pretend various toys are phones and put them to her ear like she’s talking

-She has outgrown all of her 6 month clothing, and she is primarily wearing 12 month clothing now

- She has caught onto me with all the bows in her hair, and she is beginning to pull them out(even the small ones)

Saylor & Silas also got to meet Mammaw for lunch as she was traveling home from visiting extended family

She is already a full fledged Hoosier fan, and she is ready for March Madness! She’s pulling for a 6th banner to be hung in Assembly Hall this year:)

 

She continues to benefit from Mammaw’s sewing talent!

She is trying to start new fashion trends.

She remains as adorable as ever!  We love you Saylor, and we celebrate these 9 precious months of your life with you!

In other news, Silas has also had some fun over the past month as you can see in the pictures below.

He had a date with mama to the circus!(where we happened to run into good friends)

He had a few kisses stolen from him!

He had some bouncing fun with a good buddy!

He and daddy attended a friend’s birthday party at a local bowling alley!

He got to eat more snow which I am sure was mixed with some dirt; however, it didn’t phase him!

Finally, he had a couple of days with outdoor play which he loves! We are all ready for warm weather around here!  I think that wraps up the last month for us! We are certainly blessed, and we are looking forward to hosting some beautiful children(and their sponsor) from His Little Feet this month.  Based on last year’s experience, I know we are going to be blessed!