11th Anniversary

On Friday, July 10th, Eric and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary. I'm not sure if you could say that we did a lot of celebrating that day because he was busy with work all day while I was at Tweetsie hanging out with the kids, and then by the time he got home we were rushing to get the kids to Bible School commencement. The kids did eat at Bible School, and Eric prepared a delicious meal on the grill for the two of us. The next night, though, my cousin Jennifer came to our rescue and watched all four kids (and even took care of them at a birthday party!) while Eric and I went to Suba's for dinner. (Thanks again, Jenn!)

Here are a few moments of our wonderful 11 years of marriage together:

I am so glad I have you by my side to do this amazing thing called "Life" with, Eric Miles. I love you!

Happy 5th, Sweet Elsie

Happy 5th Birthday to our little princess, Elsie!

At five years old Elsie is one of the sweetest and most affectionate kid that you could ever meet. She is always giving people hugs and kisses, and we constantly hear (and treasure) her I love you's throughout the day. She has a huge imagination and is always playing with her Barbie's, Princesses, stuffed animals and dolls. She says her favorite things to do with her siblings are; with Jackson- when he reads to her and playing outside with him, with Ansley- playing with their toys together, and with Vada Belle- to pretend Vada is Elsie's daughter (which is so precious to watch them play this). Elsie loves to dance and sing, and you can always find her in the choir on Sunday mornings singing her little heart out. Her favorite movie is still Frozen, and she says when she grows up she wants to be a mommy. 

On her birthday we of course had our traditional birthday pancake breakfast:

Then she spent her beautiful summer birthday by opening her presents from us (which she was super excited that she got the Taylor Swift CD she has asked for over and over again):

A little singing and dancing (to her new Taylor Swift CD, of course) with her sisters followed by a make-up and hair primping session with them on the front porch, helping big brother build some stuff with his Lego's, and then she wanted to go up to Mamaw and Papaw's house to swim in their pool. 

The kids then went to a Bible School nearby our house, but Elsie was insistent that she wanted to go to Sweet Frog for supper even though they didn't get out of Bible School until after 8:30. You only turn 5 once, right- why not!

Elsie said she had a wonderful Cinderella party, and a wonderful day on her actual birthday. We are so proud of the wonderful little girl she is, and admire her huge heart and her always thinking of others. It seems like it was just a few months ago we were bringing our precious little girl home, and now here we are celebrating her 5th birthday and getting ready to send her off to kindergarten (which I can't even type without getting tears in my eyes....)

Newborn, 1 Year Old, 2 Years Old, 3 Years Old, 4 Years Old & 5 Years Old

We love you more than you will ever know, Elsie, and are so blessed that God chose us to be your parents!

2015 Baseball & T-ball Season

Jackson's first season of playing baseball and Ansley's second season of playing t-ball came to an end in June, and we had a great time watching them play. They both really improved from the beginning of the season until the end, and Elsie and Vada Belle loved going to their games to socialize with the other kids there. 

Ansley Kate played for her second season in t-ball once again for the Dodgers team:

Jackson played his first season in coach pitch for the Orioles:

Jackson's perfectionism seemed to cause him some anxiety at the beginning of the season, but by the last few games he finally realized that it didn't matter how great or horrible of a game he might have played, that we were there for him to have fun and to learn the rules and basics of the game. I really was proud of how much he did improve in the last month of playing, though!

Here are a couple of clips of them in action:

Jackson Playing

May 29, 2015

June 8, 2015

June 11, 2015

Ansley Kate Playing:

May 30, 2015

May 28, 2015

May 14, 2015

June 2015

June came and went so fast, and we are sad that our summer is already more than halfway over. I already wrote about our Vada Belle turning 3 this month, and how we celebrated hers and Elsie's birthdays with their Cinderella party, but here are a few more memories from June.

Thomas the Train came to Tweetsie Railroad so we used our season passes to go ride the train and meet Sir Topham Hat. We actually went two different days while he was there (I'm not good at checking the schedules of things), but thankfully neither day was too terribly crowded.

Our "little" cousin Cheyenna and her boyfriend, Cody, graduated from high school this month, and we celebrated their success with a big gathering on top of my Aunt and Uncle's beautiful mountain land. There were lots of people there playing games, playing music, enjoying each other's company, and of course plenty of food.

On June 21st we celebrated Father's Day and the kids and I know how blessed we are that they have not only an amazing dad, but several wonderful grandfathers, too.

Ansley Kate got bee stung in June on her nose (and another day on her foot), and the day it happened on her nose it didn't swell instantly thank goodness. The next day though it started swelling and by that night (which was Vada Belle's birthday) her eye was really red and swollen. Eric took her to urgent care just because it was her eye that was swelling so bad, but thankfully they said it was nothing to worry about unless she started breaking out in hives or had trouble breathing. We had a dinner that night at our church for Father's Day, and poor girl was so embarrassed by her eye that she didn't even want to eat, she said she just wanted to go to the car because she didn't feel well. It took it several days before it went down but she never really complained about it- she was just so worried that her eye would stay that way. :)

A few random pics:
-Vada Belle's last night as a 2 year old and then another time when being a 3 year old is just so exhausting you have to put yourself down for a nap

-Jackson after one of his baseball games

-Eric is so full of love that he even sweats in the shape of a heart!

-Jackson got this White House Lego set (which said on the box for ages 12 and up) in the mail from Abigail and Amelia.  When I was opening all the pieces for him I told him that it was way too many little white pieces and there was no way I would have the patience to sit down and work on that. It was just a couple of hours later that he came up to me with the finished product. His patience and attention span to work on things like that sometimes amazes me.

-One day while I was at a doctor's appointment and the kids stayed with their great-granny Ollie, Ansley Kate went and helped her pick some cherries and bake this delicious pie!

-Ansley holding one of her pet chickens, Wild Style. She loves petting and feeding all of the ducks, chickens and turkeys, and this chicken is probably her favorite one. It will let her pick it up and carry it around for however long she wishes. She woke me up in the middle of the night recently to tell me that she had a bad dream. When I asked what it was she said, "I had a dream that all of the chickens and turkeys got out and I couldn't get them all back in the pen." I thought to myself how I love that a dream like that is considered a "bad dream" to her.

Elsie & Vada Belle's Cinderella Party!

This past Sunday we celebrated these two little sweet girls turning another year older!

Elsie's 5th Birthday is coming up very soon, and Vada Belle just turned 3.  They decided that for their party this year they wanted a Cinderella themed party. With our baby #5 on the way, we weren't sure exactly when we would have their party. I had placenta previa and was told by the doctor that she didn't believe it would move enough to have a natural delivery. She said that we could either choose to do an amniocentesis at 36 weeks and if his lungs were developed enough to go ahead and do a c-section, or we could wait and deliver at 37 weeks. Thankfully the placenta moved more than enough and we didn't have to worry about doing a c-section that early, so we decided very last minute to have their party.

All the girls at the party loved the Bippity Boppity Boutique where they were able to get their nails (thanks Jessica and Leslie) and hair (thanks Terri) done, and they also loved getting make up put on by Mamaw Dianne.

All the kids loved playing on the trampoline, riding the cars down the hill, playing in the rice bin, playing in the playhouse, and running around being kids. 

We had plenty to eat, especially since the kids didn't want to take the time to stop playing and actually eat. :)

Elsie asked if she could open her presents before blowing out the candles, so that is what we did.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream:

We had a fantastic time and really appreciate all of our family and friends that came out to help us celebrate our two little girls.

Elise and Vada Belle- we hope you loved your Cinderella party! We love you!