Thankful!

Growing up my mom always cooked for us, she still does today. Each Sunday we have a family meal, I'm so thankful for that time! And I'm thankful for my sweet friend Susie who thought of me when she decided to sell her daughter's clothes. Isn't Hartley precious in her new dress?

Happy 1st Birthday Hartley!

We can not believe our baby is 1 already? She still looks like a baby so it almost doesn't seem real that she is one...We had a party for her on Saturday. Sadly we had a lot of rain which always put a damper on a party. We survived though and everyone had a good time. Poor Hartley was exhausted after all of her fun! At one Hartley pulls up and is starting to do some mild cruising around the furniture, really mild, like maybe a step or 2. She of course crawls everywhere. LOVES outside and LOVES her daddy. God nuts if he's in the room until he picks her up. We just love it! Loves her brothers but probably wishes they would give her a little more space. Gets bored easily and wants you to hold her if she notices you in the room = some fussing because I can't hold her all day.. Generally pretty happy, just starting to hesitate with strangers, likes 2 naps but can go on as little as an hour if I need her too. Likes to go to bed at 6 but can stay up if need be. Still wakes several times a night, I like it, gives me quiet time with just her. Just started to be super cuddly before you lay her down and in the middle of the night. We love that also. Only babbles, "mama", "dada" and maybe just maybe "d" for dog. Has a little temper and will show it to you if you leave your cell phone, or a wii remote in her path and then try to take it...Fusses every time you put her in the car seat, every time. Eats everything and loves to eat! Doesn't wave, we're working on it. Loves her sippy cup and has conquered her fear of dogs. We are so in love with this sweet baby girl!

1st birthday pictures

Big blog post with pictures to come tomorrow. Thought these were sweet for now. Here is each child at their 1st birthday party. My how time flies!

Baby girl!

Our sweet baby will be 1 on Friday! How in the world has a year gone by? She loves to be outside and with the cooler temps we've been out a lot lately.

Labor Day weekend

We had a wonderful weekend full of family time and relaxation! Something we all needed. Thomas was able to check out some Star Wars novels at the school library so we have been reading those at night time, hopefully he can renew them because we have a ways to go before they are finished! We are just smitten with Hartley these days, isn't she precious! Learning all sorts of new things each day, standing, crawling onto the dishwasher and more! Check out those curls!

Standing!

Sweet baby girl is finally standing! I helped her stand a little and then she started to do it on her own. It's so funny to watch her try to get down. The boys would just plop down but she very nervously tries to bend her knees to get down. So sweet!

West's first day of school!

My sweet Westy started in the 3's class this week. Of course because he is stuck to me like glue he was super sad. It was cute he was trying to be brave, talking about doing car pool and walking in by himself. He made it to the sidewalk, blew me a kiss and then totally broke down, I scooped him up and carried him in, secretly glad he still needed his momma.. Praying God's richest blessings on your year at school sweetie, we love you!

Catching up!

What a busy three weeks it has been! My good friend Katie got a new job as a day school director. Actually, the new director of the school that Thomas went to last year, the school that we loved! Katie needed to start to work and because the day school didn't open for children until after Labor day she ask me to help her. Her son Jackson will be 4 in February and her daughter Elizabeth was 1 in July. Essentially 2 sets of twins, Jackson and West and Hartley and Elizabeth. Although challenging at times, being challenged is good. God calls us to do more, be more and strive harder to bring him glory. The really hard part about the last 3 weeks has been getting all three children out the door by 720. Not fun and I am praying that soon Tommy will be able to take Thomas so I can stay home until time to take Westy to preschool. Many days I get Hartley out of her crib, in her pjs and night time diaper and put her straight in the car... boys have breakfast in hand and I try to leave the house as perfect as possible. Tommy leaves at 6:15 and it is not easy... Here are some cute shots over the last three weeks. I'll always treasure my time with the Carter Family. Katie is a sweet precious momma, blessed to call her my friend!