3 Sweeties!

Whether they're playing down by the pond or soaking the dirt off in the bathtub, our 3 munchkins love being together!  Of course the girls argue and fight, but thankfully they are quick to make up and are openly affectionate and loving with one another.  And poor Noah... I'm sure his cheeks get so tired of kisses but his sisters can't resist just the like we can't.  We are so blessed by these 3 miracles!

Happy Father's Day!

What a great day to celebrate the God-fearing father my children are blessed to have!  He patiently teaches them, plays with them, and loves them unconditionally.  Below are a few of my favorite pictures of Michael with the kids. 

I'm also celebrating my dad today!  He's taught me what it means to work hard and how to get back on your feet after life knocks you down.  He's a fighter - must be where our girls get it!  :)  Thank you dad for sharing with us your love of music and for never being afraid to say, "I love you!"  Lots of hugs to you!

11 Years

Michael and I celebrated 11 years of marriage a few weeks ago and were so blessed to be able to go out to dinner tonight by ourselves.  Our neighbors watched the kids for us for a few hours and we had a nice quiet meal with no interruptions, no crying, no spankings, and no arguing.  :)  It was wonderful!  I am so blessed, proud, and honored to share my life with this wonderful man! 

Strawberry Festival

 Last weekend we visited the Strawberry Festival at Trax Farms (one of our favorite places to go).  I LOVE strawberries and would've loved to pick some with the girls but we ran out of time and the weather wasn't the best as it was sprinkling off and on.

 The girls don't really care for strawberries but they did enjoy their chocolate milk shake and the ice cream that came with our strawberry shortcake!  :)

 So yummy!

 They had a few stations with farm animals which the girls loved of course.  Anna was content to pet the animals on the outside of the fence while Audrey ran right in the pen and excitedly fed anything that would come near a bottle.  She got attacked by the goats and baby lambs as they all wanted the bottle and she giggled the whole time.  The goats were even nibbling her clothes and hair and she laughed even harder.  Nothing fazes her!  I thought the baby cows were so cute!

Silly Kiddos

I love to hear the kids laugh and hearing Noah's belly laughs just brighten my day.  His sisters are great at getting him to giggle!

7 Months Old

This past Saturday, June 4th, Noah turned 7 months.  Let me wipe the tears....  I know I'm not supposed to be sad but my baby is growing so fast and I know it'll all seem like a blur.  The previous months already do seem like a blur.  Why can't infancy last longer especially since we have such a happy, easy-going baby?  Sigh...

 We've started expanding Noah's food choices just a bit trying to get him used to "table food" and practicing picking things up on his tray and getting them to his mouth.  We gave him a teething biscuit the other night and he loved it plus it kept him busy for a long time. 

"Want to try a bite?"

"Ummmm!"

He continues to be such a great sleeper!  We are so blessed!  He goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 and gets up the next morning between 8:30-9:30.  Sometimes I have to wake him up at 9:30!  He usually takes two naps a day... the first one being an hour or hour and a half and the second one being about an hour and a half to 2 hours.  If his second nap isn't very long, he'll take a 30 minute 3rd nap in the evening.  He prefers to sleep on his tummy usually with his taggie right up against his face.

The boy LOVES water!  He's a fish just like his Daddy and is so happy in the tub (or anywhere!) and loves to play with the fishing pole the best (hmm... wonder where he gets that from?).

 I could just eat him up!  =)

Surprise!

This past weekend we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday and my sister's 40th birthday.  It was a surprise party and we had a great time celebrating and surprising them.  The girls especially were so excited! 

Happy Birthday Dad!  Happy Birthday Jen!

 Noah got to meet many family members for the first time, one of them being my Grandpa Heidenreich.  I'm so thankful for the time Michael and I have had with our Grandparents in the past few months.  Our time with them is very limited and we're thankful our children have gotten the chance to spend time with them as well.

HOT! Weather

We have had some really hot weather this week, temps in the 90s, and we've had to break out the pool and slip-n-slide to keep cool while playing outside.

I think we might have to invest in a bigger pool... the clearance pool I found is a bit too small for both girls so if we're going to let Noah join in on the fun I think we'll have to upgrade.  =)

 Noah has been a happy boy playing in his stroller under the porch in the shade.

 The hot weather combined with lots of physical activity has left us with some very tired little girls!  We couldn't resist this sweet picture of Audrey snoozing.

New Swingset

This past weekend Michael and his friend Kurt worked hard to get the kids' new swingset put together.  It has been wonderful entertainment this week as they've spent MANY hours outside playing on it. 

 The girls have had lots of real and pretend picnics on the built in picnic table.  :)

No more Pink!

Thankfully Noah is content to play with anything, however, I think we need to invest in some more boy toys for our little guy.  He probably won't like this picture when he's older and sees that he played with Barbies and My Little Ponies when he was a baby.  :)

Smith Family Gathering

A few weekends ago we traveled to IN to celebrate Aunt Aimee's graduation from I.U.  The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins!  Hallee, Fairin, and Bayli were wonderful entertainers and such a great help with our kiddos. 

Above:  Anna, Fairin, Noah, Hallee, Audrey, and Bayli

Below:  Anna, Fairin, and Audrey

 Great Grandpa Burch with Daddy and Noah

 Aunt Jenny's phone was a popular item!  Audrey especially loved playing the drums on it.

 Noah was a happy boy playing with Aunt Aimee.

 Grandpa Smith and Noah

 Great Grandma Burch and Noah

Noah and Great Grandma Smith

Peaceful Place

Michael and the kids got me this beautiful white wicker porch swing for Mother's Day and it has become one of our favorite places.  The girls LOVE to swing and sing praise songs and so do I.  It's so nice to sit and relax and just be "still".  Something we need to do more often!

Kindergarten Graduation

We celebrated Anna's graduation from Kindergarten on Thursday and she was so excited!  I didn't have my camera batteries charged so I didn't get any pictures of her during the program.  I was so angry!!  She did a great job memorizing her lines for the program and we enjoyed a nice reception at the school following graduation.  It's hard to believe she'll be in first grade next year.  I mentioned a few posts ago that we're considering home schooling her next year.  We're still undecided as far as what we're going to do but we trust that God will lead us in the right direction in His timing.  Somedays I'm "ok" with waiting for His answer and other days I want to know right now!  :)

Noah and Audrey were proud of their big sis!  :)

Good Friends

When we were back in Indiana over Easter, I was able to meet up with 2 of my good friends.  I've known these girls for a long, long time and I'm so grateful that we still keep in touch.  Cara and I were pregnant at the same time last year and it was so nice to have someone to vent to throughout my pregnancy with Noah who I knew understood as she was experiencing a lot of the same stuff.  She is a great encouragement to me as she's made it through some very tough times and continues to keep her eyes on the Lord.

 It never works out that everybody looks at the right time.  :)

 Noah and Cooper (born just 13 days apart) were so much fun to watch.  They would look at one another and pull on each other's arms.  Won't be too long and they'll be playing tag. 

 I also got to meet up with my friend Sonja whom I hadn't seen in YEARS!  We met at a mall play place and didn't even attempt to get our kids in the picture as they were very busy playing of course.  Sonja also is a great encourager as she's a stay-at-home mom who strives to be a strong Christian mom and can relate to a lot of my day to day struggles.  I'm so glad we finally got a chance to chat in person after so many years!

Easter

So, I'm a few weeks late in posting this but better late than never!  We spent our Easter in Indiana with my family this year and had a wonderful time.  We ended up staying almost a week as Michael had to travel to Houston so the kids and I were able to spend more time with my family.  My parents were a WONDERFUL help with the kids!  They played with them, read to them, took them outside, we took many walks together, and it was such a blessing to have extra time with them.  Noah got to meet many new faces and was an all around pretty good traveler.  We enjoyed a nice church service on Easter morning singing hymns that Michael and I grew up singing which was very uplifting.  Thanks to my family for the fun and help with our kiddos!  We love and miss you!

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