Silver Dollar City

This last weekend we took the kids (& a couple friends) to Silver Dollar City in honor of Will's upcoming 6th birthday. It is one of their favorite places to go, and we always have a good time. This trip, we took Pop & Nanny, our little friend Addy and cousin Zach. It was Eli's first time at the park, and he was in heaven. He continues to ask when we are going to "silver city" again. Liv stayed behind, but got some quality time with Gramma & PePa, who spoiled her with lots of hugs and kisses! The roller coaster Thunderation was the boys and Kate's top pick. Watching Kate on a roller coaster is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. SHE LOVES THEM! She is all smiles and giggles the whole time--drops, curves, abrupt stops and all! Zach & Will had to be "cool" and keep their hands up the whole time--Will looked a little nervous, but wasn't about to admit it in front of Zach (you gotta love peer pressure)! Eli loved the Shoot Out where he got to shoot the bad boys, and Addy just enjoyed running around and getting wet. They ALL liked getting wet--thank goodness the sun decided to shine in the afternoon! By the time we left that evening, everyone was satisfied and exhausted. The ride home was much quieter than the ride there. Will told us thank you for a great day which of course made it that much better!





Liv is 6 weeks old today. Her Aunt Chi Chi (Rachel) made this cute onesie for her. I'm just thankful my friends and family are creative! Check out Liv's newborn pictures on Rachel's Photography website. Click on "Clients" then type in "livia". She did a great job!

Sweet Baby Girl, 5 weeks old

Liv was five weeks old on Tuesday and is growing so quickly. Her cheeks have filled out and her little thighs are starting to get some meat on them. She has finally graduated from her premie clothes into newborns, so she has a whole new wardrobe! Yeah! She still has that sleepy newborn look and I am trying to savor every minute of it. I look back at the other kids pictures and realize how quickly they change and grow. It saddens me that I remember so little about each of their life stages. I wish I had taken the time to write down all the cute things they did and said, but since I didn't, their pictures are all I have, and I am thankful for them. Liv is the highlight of our family right now, everyone wants a piece of her. Kate gets so upset if I change Liv's position to where she can't see her eyes. "Stop moving her; you never let her see me!" is something I hear constantly. Will has to kiss her every morning before we leave for school and Eli likes to put on "Libi's" socks when they fall off (which happens frequently because her feet are so tiny). I miss her (well, all of them) throughout the day while I am at work and enjoy every evening, although they seem so short. We make the most of the time we have and really appreciate my Fridays off. She only wakes up once at night around 2am and starts her morning everyday with a bottle then some Baby Einstein--I'm not sure she can really see it yet, but she humors me by sitting there quietly! She is a good baby and oh so fun to cuddle. Let me just say that I wish I could bottle up that sweet baby breath to have forever. Nate says I am weird, but it is precious to me and always reminds me of how blessed I am. Here are some cute pictures in her new newborn attire. Hope you enjoy.

Gotta love the tongue...she gets it from her dad.

Headed to dinner with the High's

These pictures are for my garden girl, Kate. For weeks this summer, she begged me to plant some wildflower seeds, but I never had the energy. Right before Liv was born, we finally did it. This last week our sunflowers have shot up and our first flower has bloomed (I know they won't last long because its getting cooler, but she is in heaven!) Kate had to have her picture taken with the flowers that were taller than her.

Little stairsteps...see what happens when you tell them to say "Cheese!"

Kate with our first flower that she decided to pick...notice the outfit; we're still working on matching.

Our first flower (prior to being plucked from the ground)

Last, but not least, we had a family picnic at the park this last weekend with some of our cousins. It was fun to get all the babies together and let the kids play.

All the cousins

Baby Rylynn and Liv

Brady and Liv, always best buds

Our first family picture...terrible of me (I think I was in mid sentence), but its good of everyone else, so I'll put aside my pride and share it. :)

Labor Day Weekend

Our weekend was fairly uneventful. We tried to spend as much time outside as possible. Sunday we went on our first family outing with Liv--a hiking trip to Devil's Den. The kids had a great time hiking around, climbing on rocks, and looking for insects. Liv enjoyed napping in her moby wrap while I led the pack, and Nate spent most of his time keeping the children from falling off boulders and cliffs!Everyone had a lot of fun and was thankful to get out of the house.




Monday, the kids and I spent most of the day on a blanket under the shade of our little maple tree. We ate lunch, napped, read books and played with Liv. Nate missed out on the fun because he had to replace our microwave which decided to punk out on us and anyone with kids knows that a microwave is essential! We ended the day with pizza and a movie. It was a lovely weekend.

Liv is born!...a month ago.

I realize that this post is somewhat delayed, but for friends and family located elsewhere, I wanted to post some pictures from Liv's birth. On Monday, August 10th, I went to my routine 37 week doctors appointment where I was informed that my abdomen was not progressing as it should (4 weeks behind) and the baby was measuring smaller than normal (estimated 5 lbs). For these reasons, they felt the baby would be better off if delivered rather than taking the risk of an inadequate placenta which could be depriving the baby of nutrients. They started inducing labor that afternoon. They broke my water Tuesday morning and discovered that she had turned from a head down position to transverse across my abdomen in a matter of seconds. They were unable to get her back into the head down position and were forced to do a c-section. The c-section turned out to be quite painful, but worth it all when Livia Jane Brown ("Liv") made her appearance into the world at 1:03pm on Tuesday, August 11th. She weighed 5 lbs. 8 oz, 18 3/4" long and had a full head of dark brown hair. Everyone was excited when Nate revealed that it was a girl, especially big sister Kate. We are so blessed to have such a healthy and sweet baby girl. She is already a month old which is hard to believe. The kids love on her non-stop (literally) and she has made her own little place in our family! Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement. We really do appreciate it. Here are some pictures from Liv's big day!

A Good Cause

Please take a second and check out our good friend's newest endeavor! We are so excited for them and the opportunity they have before them.

Moving to Africa

Girls just wanna have fun!

Kate had some friends over for her birthday this last weekend and it was non-stop girly fun! We let Will do the same thing last year, and it is amazing how different the parties were. Will's was filled with bikes, campfires, nerf guns and Batman movies. Kate's was nothing but giggles, silliness, girly crafts and modeling shows. She had a great time and continually told me thank you for her party.
Her friends...


The silliness...


Our princess...

The giggles...

On Saturday, we took Kate to get her ears pierced. She has been asking us to do it for a while now and we finally did it. She wasn't quite sure what to think when they were prepping her, she was shocked at the pain that was involved (even though I told her it would hurt!) and she cried right after, but now she loves them, checks on them and shows them off with pride. She's growing up way too fast!

On a boyish note, Ryan and Rachel had their baby boy, Brady Ryan, on Monday! She had a smooth delivery and a 7 lb. 10 oz. healthy baby. He is so sweet and loved by so many. I am glad I was able to be there for the celebration! Each of my kids talk about their new baby cousin and can't wait to see him again.
The kids and their new cousin...

Like I said, loved by many cousins and plenty of playmates (We have a houseful when we all get together!)

Proud aunt and cousin...

Congrats little brother & sis!

Kate Turns Four! (And other things!)

Our sweet Kate officially turned four this week (I say officially because she has always seemed so much older, and I have considered her four since who knows when!). Although her birthday was actually Sunday, we celebrated with family on Thursday night after Will's last t-ball game. We met at Chick-fil-a (still her favorite place) and she was giddy with excitement to have everyone there just for her! The presents seemed to be endless and she was in princess heaven! Here's some pictures from her night.




We celebrated the end of Will's t-ball season too. He loved every second of it and improved a lot over the last few weeks! Here's his special cookie cake.

We managed to sneak in a trip to the lake with our good friends the Walkers. As always we had a great time catching up. The kids loved swimming in the lake and Will was able to improve his skiing skills. Thanks Jonathan & Janean!



I helped host a shower on Sunday for one of my best friends Natalie and her soon to be husband Evans. It was a little toasty but beautiful. I am so glad we were able to spend some time with them while they were in town. We love you guys!