B-U-S-Y

Man, I just THOUGHT I was busy this time last year...Georgia was just starting to walk & Ivy Jane was still a little baby "blob", staying put wherever I put her. NOW, we have two very BUSY little girls who like to go go go! This is such a busy time of year, but throw an almost 2 1/2 year old and an almost 16 month old into the mix and it can get crazy busy! Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way and I'm thankful to be so busy (I've actually lost weight running after those two busy little girls)!

We travelled over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit our families & enjoyed our time away, but we were ALL glad to get home & sleep in our own beds. We headed west after Shelby got home on Tuesday, stopped by to eat supper with my family & let the girls play and take their baths. Clad in their "jahmies" we got the girls all snuggled in the car with their pillows and blankets, and their "Praise Baby" dvd. An hour down the road they were asleep, but woke up when we arrived at Mimi & Granby's house.

The next morning, Paula had a floral activity for Georgia. Paula is so good with Georgia & Georgia LOVES to help. They worked hard at it...
Concentrating so hard...
And then she gave it to MOMMA! She was so excited to show me her turkey. (Sorry for all of the bed head in the pictures, but it was a sweet little moment that I wanted to capture!)
That evening Shelby's grandma had all of us over for pizza! She lives in a retirement center now and has the nicest little apartment and seems so happy! Georgia loves her Great Grandma...
After pizza Ivy Jane enjoyed hanging out with Granby...
And after pizza Georgia enjoyed vanilla ice cream & strawberries with Heather...
We had a GREAT feast for lunch on Thursday and headed to Grandma & Paw Paw's house that afternoon. The day after Thanksgiving is opening day at the farm. We lasted a few hours on Friday, but only about an hour on Saturday. It rained Saturday until about noon & then got EXTREMELY windy & cold, but the girls had playing for a little while with their cousins.

Georgia & her oldest cousin, Luke. He is such a sweet boy & is SO very good with the girls. Look how happy Georgia Claire is in this picture!
I think Ivy Jane loves Caroline, too!
Trying to get a picture with our Christmas tree was next to impossible!


Saturday night we ate supper, got the girls bathed, and then headed home. Georgia Claire "read" a book to her baby & then sang her a song...
Ivy Jane watched a video and just chilled...
So thankful for our family!

Life with 2 little girls

(So I uploaded pictures for this post 4 days ago & I'm just now getting to blog. We have capabilities to get online now while we are in the car! We just left Granby & Mimi's house and are headed to PawPaw & Grandma's. The girls were asleep 10 minutes down the road...I'm so thankful they sleep in the car because they SO desperately need their naps!)

I've made a conscious effort during the month of November to be thankful, and to name my blessings...I have so many! But, I've been especially thankful during this month for our girls. Life is crazy right now, but of course we wouldn't have it any other way! Georgia Claire is testing the waters at times as a 2 year old & Ivy Jane is starting to show her stubborn self at times, but Shelby & I are determined to "nip it in the bud"! Don't tell the girls, but I think we're winning!

These are some random pictures, but ones that make me smile. This first one is of one evening after their baths. They love to get in their 'jahmies' and play on momma & daddy's bed. This was my attempt at trying to get a picture of them both...

Ivy Jane loves Wheel of Fortune...every time the audience claps (which is A LOT on that show) she claps and says, "YAY!"
Georgia is starting to help me with so much around the house. She loves to help me clean...dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, and doing dishes! she is a GREAT rinser...she gets every last bit of suds off the dishes!

And speaking of suds, she loves taking a bath in momma's big bath tub...
They both love to help Grandma in the kitchen, too. She was making a buttermilk pound cake and they were helping.
After baths one evening we were playing in Ivy Jane's room and Georgia decided that her daddy needed a pillow, a blanket, and every baby she could find...then she snuggled down beside him while Ivy Jane played nearby. Such sweet little girls.

Sunday Afternoon

This past week both of the girls had the croup, and I think Ivy Jane had a cold on top of it all. Poor baby girls. They sounded awful and felt awful, but thank goodness, our goofy, silly, funny girls are back in FULL FORCE! We had a great Sunday afternoon playing and enjoying each other.

This picture makes me smile! I don't know what I like more...Shelby's pink jingle bell bracelet, Georgia's face as she's playing the harmonica, or Ivy Jane looking at her Daddy while she plays the tambourine. I love these three with all my heart!

After their "jam session" we headed outside. A few weeks ago Shelby & I bought a playset for the girls, one that will last until they no longer want to play on it. They LOVE swinging, sliding, climbing and playing!
They got a little warm, so I brought out juice pouches for them to enjoy. These girls LOVE their juice! This picture CRACKS ME UP! Georgia Claire loves her play glasses, and ALWAYS puts them on upside down! This will be one we look back at years from now and get a good laugh!
Georgia is SO brave on the slide now. She almost catches air halfway down and always says, "One more time!" when she lands on the grass.
Ivy Jane enjoyed sitting...and resting! She's such a funny baby.I always check on the girls before I go to bed. I had to get the camera when I checked on Georgia Claire that night. Poor baby was EXHAUSTED...obviously!
Thankful for my baby girls, for my husband who loves his girls (all 3 of us) and for the wonderful life that God has given us...even if it IS in Louisiana!!! :)

A Night of Hope

Generations Adoptions, our adoption agency, held its annual fundraiser called the "Hope Gala" this past Tuesday night. We were invited to give our testimony of how Generations blessed us, as well as Julia...what an honor! Because I'm not a public speaker, Shelby did the talking while I stood by for support. I felt pretty silly, really, just standing up there not saying anything while almost 500 people were watching & listening. Before he spoke, Julia gave her testimony...so poised, so mature, so articulate! I have to keep reminding myself that this precious soul is only 20 years old. She's married now & pregnant with a son who is due to make his appearance in about 4 weeks! Shelby's parents traveled with us & attended the Gala. They had never met Julia, and I KNOW they really enjoyed meeting this beautiful young lady who not only gave Georgia Claire life, but gave US a life with HER. We remain in awe of her selflessness and her courageousness. It was a wonderful night, although a 2+ hour event with two little girls two and under is not the most relaxing!

We didn't make it last year because Ivy Jane was only 3 months old and we didn't want to tackle that drive just yet! Here is a picture of Julia & Georgia at the first Hope Gala we attended in 2009. I cannot believe how our baby girl has changed in just 2 short years!

And here they are in 2011...

This is adorable of Georgia, Stacy & Julia...
Georgia warmed up to Jerry, Julia's dad & her biological grandfather, towards the end of the night. We had not seen Jerry since the day Georgia was born. He was asking Georgia all kinds of questions & all she could say was, "Yes".
This is a great picture, too! Georgia was stroking Julia's hair and face right before I took this picture!
And our family...
Hope is a terrific thing. When we first found out about Generations Adoptions in January of 2009, we had the first glimmer of hope that we were going to be able to start a family. And now, not even 3 years later we have two baby girls who we love more and more each day. Thank you Lord for the hope you gave us, and you continue to give other families through the wonderful work of Generations Adoptions!

Halloween 2011

We were back in East Texas for Halloween. We spent a few nights at "GrandmaPawpaws" as Georgia calls it, before heading to "MimiGranbys". The girls were not feeling well that night, especially Ivy Jane, as you can see from ALL of the pictures in this post.

Here are my little cat & mouse...

This picture cracks me up...Ivy Jane's right ear perfectly hides Georgia's face-ha!
Their tales were my favorite part...

Georgia was a happy little kitty cat...
We went to our former church for their Fall Festival and Georgia enjoyed hanging out with her cousins. Caroline-aka "Hello Kitty" and her buddy...Paw Paw wanted to be a mouse, too! He was there with one of his vintage John Deere tractors and a trailer with hay for the hayrides. All four of his granddaughters enjoyed helping him drive at least once!
Mary Katherine is SOOOO good with Georgia!
Georgia looks up to her...
Our best family photo of the night...
I'm glad the month of November is here...so thankful for the blessed life that I live!

Jah-mees

Fall is here and so are the new long-sleeved pj's, or jah-mees, as we call them.

Georgia Claire's eyes in this picture are so bright!

Ivy Jane doing two of her favorite things...climbing & watching the Rangers! (We still love our Rangers, even though they lost the World Series!)
The girls LOVE climbing on the chair...it was Shelby's grandparent's first piece of furniture they bought as a married couple. Shelby's parents got it recovered for us when we got married. It's still SO comfy & the favorite chair of these two girls...
This was taken last Saturday morning, the girls cuddling with Daddy while watching cartoons on Saturday morning.
I love matching jahmees and I love cuddling with the two little girls wearing them!