my four loves

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

Today I am talking all about the four people that I get to spend my life with!  They are the ones who light up my days and fill up my heart.  They are my four loves!

Bobby

Bobby and I have been married for 12 years, and together for 17 years, and how am I old enough to have just typed those numbers?!!  He proposed on Christmas Day of 2002, and we were married the summer of 2004.  He is super friendly and outgoing, he is silly and definitely keeps me laughing, he is incredibly hard-working, and he loves our family well.  I cannot imagine doing life without him by my side!

Caleb

Caleb will be 9 years old this April (slow down, time!).  He is a deep thinker, a question asker, and he loves big.  He is very sensitive and caring and is always concerned about others.  He is a wonderful big brother.  He is silly and funny and he has the greatest laugh!  He is a lego-building pro, he loves Super Mario and Minecraft, and he hates math!  He has taught me more about life than anyone or anything else.  

Makayla

Makayla turned 6 years old in November.  She is a girly-girl, but she also isn't afraid of getting messy and having fun.  She is a foodie big-time!  She loves to watch cooking shows and go through cookbooks with me, and she loves to help in the kitchen.  She loves to do any kind of art or craft, she is crazy smart, and she loves learning.  She asks a lot of questions and she talks non-stop!  She is super sweet and easy-going, and she is such a great middle sister.

Ashlynn

Ashlynn will be 8 months old next week, and she is one happy baby girl.  She eats up all of the attention that she gets, and believe me, she gets a lot!  She definitely knows who her people are!  She has the best giggle, she is incredibly ticklish, and she gives the greatest slobbery kisses ever.  She is the perfect little bookend for our family!

So those are my people!  We are a silly and loud bunch, we have a lot of fun together, and we love each other like crazy!

Linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday

number three

Our family is so excited to announce that we are growing! Baby #3 is due this June!

Bobby and I are both so very grateful for this blessing, and both of the kiddos are beyond thrilled!  They've been asking for a baby and a puppy for awhile now and, well, the puppy is just going to have to wait!

"The Lord has done great things for us, 

and we are filled with joy!"

Psalm 126:3

last week: my brother and college

This last weekend, I went away with my parents to get my little brother all settled into his new college digs.

I swear it feels like he was born just yesterday.

In actuality, I was fifteen years old and my brother, JaiSun, was twelve when Christian was born. He was an incredible surprise, but we couldn't have been happier. And it turns out, as is always the case, that God, in His infinite wisdom, knew the best way to complete our little family. I cannot imagine us without him.

Somehow, the years have passed by, and he is now old enough to have graduated high school and is going away to college. It was so much fun to spend the weekend with him and get to see where he'll be staying. Even though he's my brother, I can't help but want to mother him just a little, so it was nice to be able to help my parents get him all set up.

So that was my week! My awesome hubby did a great job of holding down the fort while I was away, and now we are back into the normal swing of things around here!

sixty years young

My sweet daddy turned sixty back in April, so we celebrated him with a fiesta.  The guys went all out with the food.  They were literally prepping and grilling everything for hours.  We had fajitas for days!  And since it was a fiesta, we had to have pinatas! They were just as much fun for the grown-ups as they were for the kids!  It really was such a fun and special time!

I couldn't ask for a better daddy.  He is funny, he is hard-working, and he loves his family.  He has always, always been there for me, and I am so grateful to be his daughter.

christmas brunch

We hosted Christmas brunch with Bobby's side a few days after Christmas.  Bobby did most of the cooking and it was so, so yummy - he did such a great job!  We had a blast putting together the Bloody Mary bar, and then we had a blast drinking from the Bloody Mary bar!  It was a big hit.  

I love how much fun the kids have together as they are all getting older.  Caleb and Makayla ask about their cousins all the time, and when they know that they are coming over to play it is all they can talk about.  The boys are all close in age, so they are all into the same things, which makes it easy!  Trains have taken a back seat, and the current interest of choice is superheroes.  

And don't worry too much about Makayla - she doesn't mind at all that she's the youngest or that she's the only girl.  She jumps right in there and tries to call all the shots!

christmas morning

|eating granmommy's cinnamon rolls.  i think she likes them|

Christmas was pretty wonderful this year.  I think the kids are at such fun ages and their excitement and happiness is just contagious.  But I will say that it is a lot of work for us parents, and there's a jolly old guy that gets all the credit!

Caleb woke up on Christmas morning at 4:46.  Yeah.  So he had a lot of time to kill while he waited for the rest of us to get up and going!  First thing we did was all pile up in our bed and read the Advent book together.  This was our first year to read it, but it will definitely be a tradition from now on.  I absolutely loved this book and the kids did too.

Before the kids tore into their gifts, they opened up their stockings and their new Christmas ornaments.  Every year we give them a new ornament that they get to hang on the tree on Christmas morning.  One day, when they are 40 and they move out, they will get to take all of their ornaments with them to hang on their own trees.  Another favorite tradition of mine, and I'm hoping it will be special to them one day.

Caleb was so animated this year while opening presents.  After almost every one his jaw would drop and he would exclaim, "I can't believe it!  That is the coolest thing I've ever seen!".  Makayla was much more calm through it all - I think she takes after her momma!