Little Angel

I've really wanted to take these pictures of Olivia for a while now. I bought these cute little props, but they really should have been used when she was a newborn. She just doesn't sleep as soundly as she used to, and can't really be handled and repositioned while she's sleeping. I managed to get a couple shots before she started stirring, but they didn't exactly come out as I had hoped. I'll probably give it one more try, but these are the best of the ones I took today. Isn't she a sweet little cherub?

Texas Bluebonnets

One of my favorite things about living in Texas is all the beautiful wildflowers that bloom in the Spring. Of course, the famous bluebonnets can be found alongside the highways, and they're so pretty. On the way back from the Wildlife Center, we decided to pull over so I could take a few photos of the girls. Addie was too tired and grumpy to cooperate, so I only have pictures of Eliana. She's such a cheesy poser sometimes, but still adorable. I'm having so much fun with my new SLR camera. Make no mistake, I have NO idea what I'm doing, but I've discovered that I absolutely love photography. I'm still very much a novice, but I'm learning. I don't do any editing, so what you see is what you get.

The Strawberry Patch

Today was another beautiful Spring day! We decided to go to Gnismer Farms in Arlington (only about 10 minutes from our house) to pick some strawberries with Achi and Siya (Grandma and Grandpa). The girls had so much fun. Addie was looking like Diva in her sunglasses, but still so cute (notice the Dora shirt again? What did I tell you?!?!)

Our Safari Adventure

Yesterday we went on an awesome ride through Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. It's located in Glen Rose, which is only about 40 miles away. It's not really a safari, because the animals aren't indigenous to the area, but I kept telling the kids we were "going on safari" because it sounds more exciting that way. Anyway, takes about two hours to drive through the whole park, but that's going at a very slow speed (about 15 mph), stopping and taking pictures, and feeding the animals. The kids did really well with sitting for so long. You have to stay in your vehicle at all times, but you can roll down your windows and feed the animals food that is provided for you when you buy your admissions tickets. They walk right up to the car, and it's awesome! I'd say it's even better than any zoo we've been to. God's creation is so amazing. Here are a few pictures from our visit. Just so you know, the quality of my pictures isn't great. We went with my parents, so we had a car full of people, and I sat in the third row of our SUV. The windows don't roll down in the far back, so I had to keep leaning over the middle seat over the girls' car seats and sticking my camera out the window. Then the girls would scream when the animals came too close, so I was yelling "Close the windows! No, crack the windows! Open the window wider!" to Miller the whole time. Poor guy, he was such a good sport. Oh, and I also realized where I get my love for photography. My dad was yelling the same things, "Stop the car! Stop the car! Let me get a picture!" So anyway, some of my pictures were taken through cracked windows at weird angles.

Here are the girls in front of the admissions office.
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No zoom on these pictures. The animals are really that close!


Check out the giraffe stickingits head in our window!

Sweet Eliana

Eliana is such a special kid. Of course, all of my children are special, but Eliana's at that awesome age where she inquires about and understands so much. I love this picture of her because it kind of sums up her personality: creative, fun, beautiful, and a little quirky. This picture was taken when I was playing around with my new camera and decided to create a little studio in my house and take some portraits of the girls. (The new pics on the blog are from that photo shoot). Anyway, this one of Eliana was completely her idea. She posed herself and said, "Mommy, take one of me like this!" Lately she's been saying the most adorable things. Most of them are just cute and funny, but some of them are so profound. Here's just a list of little things she's said over the past couple months.

"When I grow up I want to be a princess, but I have to have a beautiful princess dress. Mommy, do they make princess dresses in grown-up size?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Well, can we go get one? I think the store is closed right now, so we can go tomorrow," she decided.

"You want to get a dress in a grown up size now?" I asked, a little confused.

"Yes, you can just keep it in your closet for me until I'm big."

Isn't that adorable?!?!

Here's another one:

She was looking at a picture of me in my wedding dress that we have hung on the wall. (This girl loves fancy dresses).

"Mommy, I want to have a wedding dress like yours, but I want it to be blue. And a blue veil, too."


Okay, that's weird, I thought. "Sure, honey, but you have to wait until you grow up and get married," I replied.

"Well, who am I going to get married with?" she asked?

"I don't know," I replied. "Hopefully you'll meet a nice Christian boy one day... when you're big," I emphasized.

She paused thoughtfully, "No, I think I'll just marry Daddy," she said, matter-of-factly.

Miller just about melted when I told him this story. She loves her Daddy!


This morning she told me, "Christmas is not about candy or lights or Christmas trees or presents. It's about Jesus."

That's all I can think of right now, but I'll post more when I remember them.

Dora Post Sidenote...

I forgot to add this in the previous post. I've had more than one person comment that even Addie's haircut looks like Dora's! Let me just say that this is purely coincidence. I would never intentionally cut my child's hair to resemble a Nickelodeon character, no matter how much of a fanatic she is. That said, I think it's pretty funny that she's a little Dora replica herself- skin, eye, and hair color and all!

How many times can you find Dora in this picture?

Answers below:

This is kind of a trick question, but Dora appears in this photo 7 times. Obviously, there's 1) Dora on the TV screen, 2) the mini Dora doll that Addie's holding, and 3) Dora on her t-shirt. Harder to see are 4) and 5) her Dora shoes


6) her Dora band-aid


and understandable you cannot see 7) her Dora underwear!


Then of course also in the picture is Backpack, a character from Dora the Explorer.
Not pictured, but can easily be found in our house are tons of Dora books, Dora movies, several more Dora shirts and pairs of Dora underwear, Dora socks, a Dora watch, a Dora jacket, Dora sandals , Dora coloring books, Dora pull-ups.... it's like a shrine to Dora over here!

Addie is absolutely Dora crazy! I know it's just a phase, but it's so adorable (and sometimes slightly neurotic). She has a favorite Dora shirt that for a while she was wearing every other day. We do laundry so often in this house (gotta do tons of laundry when you're washing for 5 people) so we're able to let her wear it that often. Thankfully (or maybe not) my parents came to visit this weekend, and my mom has expanded Addie's Dora wardrobe. Sometimes is impossible to get her out of the house if she doesn't have her coveted Dora paraphernalia. You can almost guarantee that somewhere on her body, at all times, she is donning some type of Dora garb. She's not just a member of the Dora Fan Club, she's the president!


Notice the Dora books, socks, nightgown, and dolls on the bed... Can you say, "Obsessed?"

Yoga Girls

Miller bought this generic version of the Wii Fit for Christmas. It was super cheap, but we all love it! Here are some pictures of the girls doing yoga!

Easter Weekend

Easter is definitely one of my favorite holidays, and probably the most important holiday to me as a Christian. Without the Resurrection, then everything we believe is in vain. But Jesus triumphed over death, and we serve a living God. We were blessed by an absolutely beautiful Easter weekend. The weather could not have been more gorgeous and we were able to enjoy some quality time together as a family. Let me backtrack one week, though. The Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) we visited Pleasantview Baptist Church in Arlington, which we have decided to make our church home. (Yay!!! We finally found one!) We decided to send Eliana to children's church and put Olivia and Addie in the nursery. I was pretty skeptical about being able to sit through the entire service without being called out to get one of them, but I was never paged! God is good, all the time! We were told Olivia napped the whole time, Addie asked for me a few times, but did really well, and apparently Eliana taught her class. No, not really, but her teacher told me the most adorable story. We went to pick her up, and her teacher gushed, "Eliana is absolutely fabulous! I asked the kids if they knew what next Sunday was, and Eliana told the kids all about Easter!" Eliana was too embarrassed to repeat the story to me, but I'm guessing she told the other kids exactly what she told my mom on the phone earlier that day, "Easter is when Jesus rised again. He died on the cross for our sins, but they rolled the rock away from the tomb and it was empty." She makes me so proud. Here are some pictures from the picnic we went to on the Saturday before Easter. It was held by the church by a park right by our house, and everything was so nice. The girls played on the playground and then had fun going on an Easter egg hunt after lunch.

Snow Day... Delayed

Okay, so this post is extremely late (seems to be the recent trend in my blog), but it was such an awesome day that I have to post a few pics. Back in January we had the biggest snowfall I've seen since I was a kid growing up in Montana. Snow fell for a good 24 hours, and we had a record of (I think) 10 inches by the end of the day. It was so beautiful, pure white, and fluffy. It stuck nicely and wasn't wet or mushy at all- the perfect consistency for building a snowman. The awesome thing was it didn't even feel cold out! Olivia was gracious enough to take a nice, hour-long nap in the morning, so Eliana, Addie, and I went out to play the whole time she slept. We built a pretty decent snowman and the girls had so much fun! It was truly a memorable day.

What happened to the tiny little newborn I brought home from the hospital?

Wow, I can't believe six months have passed since our little Olivia joined our family. Actually, now she is 7 months old, but these pictures are up to six months. She is babbling a lot now, and has already said 4 words!!! Her first word was "egg" (random, I know), followed by "Dada" last Saturday, "Mama" on Monday, and today she said, "Addie." Now, of course I don't think she has any idea what she is saying because she never says these words to anyone in particular. She just randomly babbles as she's playing. The important thing is, that she's repeating sounds and words that she hears us say, and I think it's awesome! She has her two bottom teeth that just came in two weeks ago. Teething is making her drooly and her nose runny. Right now she's suffering two ear infections, but you'd never know it. She's such and easy baby- definitely my easiest one yet. She's very happy and is perfectly content to just sit and watch her sisters. She's eager to join them, I can tell, which I think is her motivation for moving around. Last week she started crawling. It's not a full-on-hands-and-knees crawl. It's more of a step, step, belly flop, scoot on the belly, back up and step, step crawl. Don't let that fool you, though, because she moves fast! She's such a sweet little baby and we all just love her to pieces! Here are some pictures from the last six months and a short clip of her saying "Dada."


Oliva at one-month old.


In her CUTE outfit made by my friend Megan, at 3 months.


Sitting up at 5 months


Enjoying her exersaucer!


She's getting so big!