5 years

five years ago today, our lives were changed forever as we walked into a hospital in the early hours of the morning to give birth to our first baby, carter elizabeth. 

she was a very laid back baby who did everything in her own time.

things haven't changed much.

she slept well and ate enough of almost anything.

she is up promptly at 6:30 am regardless of when she went to sleep,

and would like to eat only sweets.

she sucked her two middle fingers on her right hand.

and still did until a few months ago when she stopped on her own.

she was a sweet, dainty baby.

she is sweet and sassy, 

loves to create and imaginate (her own word for story telling),

is opinionated and shy,

loves dress up, make up and anything that sparkles.

her first birthday

her second birthday

her third birthday

her fourth birthday

her fifth birthday

it is so hard to believe 5 years have past since i learned to juggle the needs of someone other than myself. carter taught me to love someone more than i thought i could. she made me understand why my parents always said, "this hurts me more than it hurts you" because it does. i will never close my eyes at night without questioning if she is safe. she is and will always be my sweet girl. and i thank God for allowing me this amazing responsibility. happy birthday, sweet girl! i love you!

the big reveal and happy pictures

remember this??

well, here it is now!

when i saw this chair in it's original state, i quickly imagined it painted with a monogram in place of the decal. and, i imagined it in a field of tall grass. seriously.

so, you ask, how did it get from point a to point b?? it began with a serious cleaning and sanding to even out the old stain. it then got a bunch of coats of primer and heritage white spray paint. because i wanted to keep the original concept of the chair but with a modern feel, i decided to go with an image instead of a monogram. hmm, but what type of image. a silhouette seemed to be a perfect solution because they are precious, they are very vintage, and they fit the concept. after ridiculous amounts of time searching, i found an etsy shoppe with an image i liked and asked them to make one no more than 3 inches tall. alicia kindly obliged and called it "nice and tiny for maribeth." i love it! and, it came with three more!

now, back to the happy pictures. i have said before that contrary to popular belief we do not have tons of pictures of our children much less walls full of eye candy. in fact, it is often a source of discord here that others reap the talents of my husband frequently, but not his own family. (i know, i know, it is his job. i know, i know we still have pictures. i know, i know . . . i'm just keeping it real.) so, i said i envisioned the chair in a field of tall grass. i once saw a picture taken by this amazing photog of a vintage high chair full of chubby baby nestled in the wet california sand. last time i checked, we don't have any beach for such an image, but we do have grass. or, tall weeds. lots and lots of tall weeds. once josh understood my vision, he was a man on a mission to find the perfect location to shoot. then, we just had to wait for a small break in his schedule. well, people, all the stars aligned and we were able to go sunday evening to take these . . .

i am in love! thank you, baby!

if you would like to see similar images taken with film, you can look here.

now, you can find this and other finds at the "i'm a flea marketeer party"!

yesterday elizabeth awoke in the arms of her savior. 

please continue to pray for her family here on earth. 

like the chinese proverb says, "learning is a treasure . . ."

it always starts so innocently. josh hands me the tv remote as he leaves so i am not left watching his selection which can make me crazy. i flip through the channels looking for something to listen to while i read blogs or search for fabric (my current obsession). i realize there is absolutely nothing on so i search for the least obnoxious background noise or  

. . . the train wreck. 

you know what i mean. the tv show that no matter how horrific it may sound, must be watched because you cannot believe someone actually spent money and time making such a show. most of these shows currently reside on the same channel. you know the one. tlc. the learning channel. if learning includes being educated about the most obscure, most ridiculous, or most disgusting, then i guess it is the correct moniker. 

so, now that you know how it happens, let me tell you my current train wreck:

i know, you watch it too, don't you?? 

i sit with mouth agape throughout each show. it really is shocking.

what have i learned you ask? well, let me tell you . . . 

1. after the first episode, i have pretty much determined i have absolutely no desire to reside in west virginia. if the people on the episode are an accurate sampling of the population, then i am pretty sure i don't want to visit either. (insert dueling banjos here)

2. i know what a "flipper" and a "fall" are. maybe i am sheltered, but i had never heard anyone refer to a "flipper" and i thought a "fall" was only for an adult. they sure schooled me!

3. being a stay at home mommy, i am not always up to date on my slang. it appears that the new terminology for "queen" is "pagaent dad". please see example below.

thank you, tlc. you definitely are the learning channel.

but, oh, oh, those summer nights

with the combination of an infant and the sweltering heat and humidity that reeks havoc here each summer, activities outside have been limited for us. sometimes being cooped up inside all day makes my kids (and mommy!) a little crazy. (well, more like all the time.) being bored and somewhat inactive all day also makes for difficult to put to bed kids. so, one night i said put on your pajamas and let's all go outside. after josh got over the initial shock of spending the first couple of hours home from work sweating outside with no visible results in the yard, our time looked a little like this:

bright colors,

sweet drawings

and hopscotch!

we hopped,

tried to hop

and hopped some more.

we learned how to play hopscotch,

successfully hopscotched 

and dreamed of hopscotching. 

when one activity was coming to a close, we came up with another one:

we discussed form,

coordination

and sportmanship.

tennis has become a family favorite. of course, none of this tired them out like i had hoped, but short of running sprints, i'm not sure anything would. and, who knows, we may have the next maria or andy on our hands . . .

another day at the zoo

we love the zoo. we especially love the zoo on unseasonably cool summer days in june. there are so many words in that sentence that do not go together when you live in the armpit of the south. so, on one of said days, we loaded up in the beast (my expedition) with meme and papaw and headed on over. 

spencer is already expressing her dislike to hand-me-downs (hat circa 2005)

this is our new favorite treat at the zoo. for 51 cents, you too may have one.

miller was our tour guide

and, here is spencer gazing up at her papaw. isn't it precious!

one more angle-i just love her sweet look!

and, for good measure, miller running. and running. and running.

it's a good way to spend several hours and ensure naps for all. as a stay at home momma, i only wish there were more places that could guarantee those two things. especially for free (after our gifted family membership). 

still in need

i have not blogged this week like i had planned. honestly, i have not wanted to move down the post i put up last. i think i may leave it at the top for a while (if i can figure it out) so if you use google reader, you will know i posted, but if you don't you may think i haven't posted in forever. my last post about elizabeth weighs heavy on my heart. elizabeth was the first shoot josh did with habitat for hope. they were in a great place-elizabeth was in remission, but the hospital had received enough of a certain drug that would allow elizabeth to receive a bone marrow transplant from her own father. this transplant would greatly increase elizabeth's chances of staying in remission. when they met, her father had already donated the cells and elizabeth was to receive them the next week. this sweet family had an amazing unwavered faith and if you read any of their story, you will stand in awe of their trust that God is in control. elizabeth's father called josh to thank him while they were doing the transplant and has called to wish him a merry christmas and happy easter. like i said, this family is so sweet. this summer has been bumpy for them, but last week revealed that elizabeth had a dangerous fungus and yesterday, they removed the right frontal lobe of her brain. my heart is heavy for this family and i continue to ask you to pray for them. pray for God to heal her here on earth. pray for the miracle she desperately needs. pray. pray. pray.

in need

this precious little girl is in need tonight.

in need of your prayers.

in need of His healing.

please join me in praying for a miracle.

time is slipping away

"january, february, march and april, may and june and july . . ."

 july? how in the world is july already gone? 

i definitely didn't fill my days with blogging  . . .

or sewing . . . 

i wish i had. here are a few things i did in may before preschool was out. i made my niece (yes, i am an aunt now-that happened this summer, too) a matching bird burp cloth.

. . .  and a couple of t-shirts for miller. 

while my days were not filled with sewing, they must have been full of something for someone to sleep like this:

and, yes, he still loves cookie. that day, we found cookie "underpants" and cookie cookies at the walmart.

no little boy's summer days are complete without creepy crawlies like frogs . . . 

and caterpillars. especially weird white ones.

we did make it to the sprinkler park one day, but we didn't get wet. instead, carter blew bubbles, miller filled buckets with water and they crossed the monkey bars over and over again until mommy's arms felt like jello.

and, at some point, the poor middle kid decided to find his own space away from his sisters in the corner behind the chair with cheez-its and his cookie baby toy. or, maybe he just did it so no one would eat his cheez-its. that might be me if it weren't for these:

tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches. one of my summer time favorites. so yummy.

especially with ripley homegrown tomatoes.

and, look who else gets to eat! we finally squeezed solid foods into our daily schedule. while her bib is definitely distracting, as is her thumb, she likes food more and more and it helps keep her rolls abundant. and abundant they are. you just have to squeeze them!