our magpie

our magpie

Thursday, January 27, 2011

littlest bookworm




well miss maggie had always loved to look at books...and now she has started trying to read them! it is the cutest thing ever, she points and tries so hard to get the words out. makes me smile so much :) and i apologize in advance for my voice...i am reminded why i have not ever posted video....but that is not really how i sound ;) andyou may need to pause the music at the bottom to be able to hear our sweet girl!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

the maggie and zeke show

well miss maggie finally got to see her man zeke! maggie and zeke have been 'going steady' for over a year now! we met him and his wonderful mom sandi at project help in october 2009. it is a program here where we started out going one hour every friday and when our little ones turned 15 months we started going 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours each day. so sandi and i get to visit and watch miss maggie and zeke from an observation room hidden behind a two-way mirror....(the kiddos do better when they can't see their mommies they say!) so we watch them all play and sing and dance....and also work in a bit of therapy, and they will put maggie one-on-one with a typical child close to her in age and try to get miss maggie to mimic whatever the typical child is doing. it is a wonderful program and we feel truly blessed that we are a part of it!

so we normally see our man once or twice a week but because of Christmas break and maggie being sick and zeke being sick...well we have not seen them in a month and missed zeke and sandi terribly! so we FINALLY had our playdate at our house for maggie and zeke to exchange Christmas gifts!


so we opened gifts and maggie showed zeke all of her new toys from santa and a little kissing went on! so on with the explosion of cuteness....


:: maggie's gift to zeke (and herself!)...these adorable knit hats! thanks patti for telling us about krinner-creations!




'wonder what my girl got me?'



:: you can see why we immediately claimed zeke as miss maggie's man...he is a DOLL!



'aw zeke...how thoughtful! a new toy to go on my stroller! you are so sweet!'



maggie and zeke's gingerbread people we had to decorate for project help....they had all of the children's hanging up in the hall it was so fun to look at everyone's! i think they look just like the real maggie and zeke :)



zeke-a-roo and maggie-moo :)


'no-no zeke, let me just take that from you!'



where maggie go? there she is!


my wonderful aunt fay made this dress for miss maggie...it is too cute!






zeke loved miss maggie's new peg toy she got for Christmas as much as she does!







magpie giving zeke kisses....they had a lip on lip kiss earlier that i didn't catch on film! maggie was going for zeke's cheek and he turned his head at the last minute for some lip action! that sly devil ;)



'awww maggie...you look so cute in your hat!'



playing in the house...practicing for later! notice zeke is working in the 'kitchen'...i knew he was a good guy ;)








so sandi and randy and zeke (and his 6 brothers and 1 sister!) are just another blessing we have received since having our sweet girl. we have met so many wonderful families and therapists and teachers we may have never met if not for miss maggie...oh what a wonderful journey.

oh and by the way zeke...emme grace said you HAVE to get married now because you kissed on. the. lips. and emme grace thinks you cannot kiss on the lips until you are married! gonna keep her thinking that for as long as possible ;)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

alot of snow and a little bit scary...

well finally posting some pics of our big snow we had last week....we got 5-6 inches which for tennessee is ALOT! our big girls missed 3 1/2 days of school, which they were very happy about! and jeffrey stayed home the monday of the snow's arrival which the girls were also very happy about! their daddy pulled them around on a sled behind the tractor which emme grace loved....rayley beth, not so much! she never lasts quite as long outside as her big sister. i knew as soon as i heard the door open quietly that miss rayley beth was done with the winter wonderland :)

but along with the snow that came early that monday morning came something else...

emme grace came in our room at 7 am very excited about all of the snow and also wanting to know if we had been outside. still half asleep i said ...

'no baby, we have not been outside yet!'

'well, then why are there footprints all in the snow mom?'

so i hop out of bed and run to the windows.
and i am looking out the windows down at our yard and see very obvious footprints in the deep snow. they start at our fence by the road....then go to jeffrey's car first....then over to my car....then up to our glass doors. then back to our fence.

so i knew exactly what happened but i wanted not to believe it. you see we live on 7 acres in the country. and by country i mean half a mile down the road our neighbor has chickens that run on the road. that country. i have always felt safe and secure and closer to God when i am surrounded by all of His amazing creations. i grew up on a farm. my parents milked 100 cows until i was 13 and always knew i wanted my children to grow up in the country. i remember my sisters and i having picnics on the hot tin barn roof and playing by the stream and driving the go cart with a teddy bear strapped in ( it was my baby of course!) going in circles around the cow trough. so many wonderful memories that i have of growing up on a farm. i wanted that for my children. so i was thrilled when i met jeffrey and he wanted the same.

so 11 hears ago this may jeffrey's parents found our land up for auction. it was 7 acres with a 100 year old barn and house. jeffrey's granddaddy worked as a very young boy throwing hay in our loft...how cool is that? the barn we have restored...the house was too far gone so we tore it down and built our carriage house....1200 square feet over the garage to get on our property and thought we would live there for 2-3 years and then start our house. well....here we are 9 plus years later... but we have had to make sacrifices like a bigger house for me to be able to stay home with our girls....and it has been worth every crowded little minute!

so i have always just felt very safe at our home. many days i have left the back door unlocked to run and pick the girls up from school. left the keys in my ignition in my car . just never thought much about it. but that is all forever changed.

because while we were sleeping someone was right outside our windows taking what was ours. they were apparently only interested in cash. because they left jeffrey's ipod and my wallet and credit card...but they got all of the cash out of my wallet that was in my car in the diaper bag. which was actually alot because i had cashed some checks to us and our girls that were Christmas gifts. on a normal day the robber would have been sadly dissapointed.

so jeffrey called our 2 closest neighbors and neighbor #1 had also noticed footprints...and neighbor #2 had noticed the window smashed out of their car because unfortunately for them their doors were locked.

and so i do hate that this person took our money, but even more that they took our sense of security. it is just not the same. we are getting an alarm system...but i hate that we feel the need to do this to feel safe, or safer.

and it just scares me. what the world is coming to. it scares me to think what the world will be like in 10 or 20 years. what will my baby girls think of as 'normal'? because someone walking in to your yard and taking what is yours...from your car or your home...is definitely not what i think should be considered normal. but everytime we tell what happened to us we hear even more stories....

'well my so-and-so said that 8 of their neighbors got robbed...' or ' my friend's friend...someone broke down the door while they were upstairs sleeping in the middle of the day but when they turned on the light the robber ran off'.....

this stuff should not be considered 'the norm'...maybe i have just been very naive for a very long time as to what goes on. but i liked feeling safe leaving my door unlocked.

so i am just praying that the Lord will restore some peace, some security. and that i will not jump everytime i think i hear a noise when maggie and i are home by oursleves. and that i will eventually not be scared to go into our home if i get there before jeffrey. because 'stuff' can be replaced...but the thought of anyone hurting my babies....it hurts just thinking about it.....

so...now on to the positive part of monday morning! my girls having fun in the snow...well my big girls anyway :) miss maggie was not to thrilled about the cold and being wrapped up! for now i think she is happier playing in a warm house!



:: miss maggie looking at the snow from 'inside'!














:: our fence that jeffrey spent MANY weekends building...



:: it was a beautiful snow...the kind that makes you feel closer to heaven :)





















and some pics of miss maggie playing inside where it was nice and warm ;)...


'you sisters can have that snow....i am happy inside with mom!'






:: oh how i love those tiny feet :)



:: our girl is getting so good at standing....



:: and miss maggie LOVES the bath....if she even hears water running she starts crawling toward the bathroom signing 'bath' then 'please'...our girl had such good manners, everything is followed by the sign 'please' ....eat please, more please....it is the cutest thing ever!


also remember my post about sweet olga? well the family that was going to rescue her
...the adoption fell through. she has over $13,000 in her adoption fund, just waiting on her forever family. so please spread the word any way that you can. we need to find this angel a home before she is transferred to an institution. please go to patti's blog to find out more....


http://babynumber10.blogspot.com/2011/01/heart-full-of-hope.html

Monday, January 10, 2011

three happy girls = one happy momma

so finally getting a chance to post some pics from Christmas... is it really january 10th? i don't know where the past several days have gone. first we were busy trying to get down the three trees and other santa related decor. it is crazy how much i enjoy it until new year's day and then it is time to get it down. quick. because we all try to start the new year clean and organized, right? i just wish i could stay in that organized frame of mind a bit longer. so just cleaning and organizing and giving away the old to make room for the new. and then had miss rayley sick and maggie's 18 month visit and today the girls were home from school again because of the 4 inches of snow we received last night. which is beautiful...for a day or two. and then ready for it to melt so we may safely travel! so...Christmas morning was wonderful...full of the excitement of santa coming to our house from our big girls. and the wonder of watching miss maggie just loving watching her sisters.






:: our girl looks too cute in her bunny hat ;)



:: and she loves her new music set...especially the bells and 'racas'!



:: and maggie helping her sisters color their new playhouse...that was well worth the $19.99 it cost at michael's! she just had to be a part of what they were doing, and i was not sure if she could hold the crayon and do it...but of course she proved to be such a big girl and colored beautifully!



:: emme grace's big gift from santa...playmobil vet set. our mimi loves animals!



:: miss rayley's wish list...lots of hello kitty!



:: a bit blurry...but i love this picture. it perfectly captures the look miss maggie gives her big sisters all the time. that 'i think you hung the moon and i love you to pieces' look. makes my heart sooo happy!



:: santa's presents anxiously awaiting three little girls :)



:: magpie's new riding toy...too cute! and the perfect size for our tiny girl!



:: miss maggie's first backpack...a little owl, almost as cute as her!










:: look at those 'racas' go!


so it was a wonderful Christmas that i know will be even better next year when miss maggie can run into the room with her big sisters! it will be even more chaotic and it will be pure bliss :) so my resolution is to TRY and be more organized...which will hopefully include more time for more blogging. because i love to write and share with all of the other wonderful moms i have 'met' through the blogging world. and i love to read all of your sweet words that help make this mom's day. and i love to look at all the pics of all the other sweet babies out there blessed with that magical chromosome ;) so a very belated merry Christmas and happy new year to all of you that are a part of our journey....