Our Little Sunshines

Thursday, January 30, 2014

January in Photos...and Eli's New 'Do

Our January has mostly been a jumble of school, house showings, and OB appointments, but we've managed to have some family fun amongst all the work! Here's a peek at the beginning of our 2014:

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Cassidy tested in her Tang Soo Do class to move up to 5th Gup. She was the highest ranked person to test that day - and the only green belt - so she had to do all of her grabs and forms solo. I think she was VERY nervous, but she did a great job and earned her first stripe on her green belt!

Practicing her grabs before she had to perform them for the testing panel

My precious girl...she's beginning to look like a young woman!

Testing Group with Master Redfield

Celebrating with a "Tang Soo!" after the test

Cassidy with Master Redfield and his brother, also Master Redfield!

We had fun at the NC Science Museum's Astronomy Days! The kids got a printout of what their age, weight, and jump height would be on all the planets and had their faces painted.

Our Beautiful Butterfly

Eli's favorite part of the day was watching the turtle swimming in one of the fish tanks.

Looking Lovely

I finally broke down and cut Eli's hair...and I do mean I cut it! :) Not too terrible for someone with zero experience and training...this was my very first attempt at cutting anyone's hair aside from trimming Eli's bangs a couple of months ago!

Silly Boys

He is VERY happy to have all that hair out of his face!

Enjoying the snow...the kids were SO excited that they rushed right outside after breakfast!

I don't mean to alarm you guys, but there seems to be a dead body behind you...oh, never mind...that's just Lily making another snow angel!

More snow angels...the majority of their time outside was spent rolling around in the snow!

Poor Eli really wanted to enjoy the snow, but he could not stay upright in the rain boots I dug out of the hand-me-down bin!

Sure you're covered in snow, soaking wet, and freezing, but go ahead and eat a big handful! I'm sure that'll warm you up! ;)

We LOVE snow!

What a motley crew!

Eli digging in the snow with Sissy...I don't know what they were playing, but she had him cracking up!

Nothing like a face plant into the snow to ruin the fun...I think he's done!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Belated Holiday Post

The holidays were a whirlwind of fun, family time, and house showings (yes, we had people coming to look at our house over Christmas break!)! I finally had time today - thanks to the snow - to download the pictures from our camera and pull out a few of my favorites. I've gotten so bad at remembering to take pictures that I have no photos of our time with our extended family...I guess I'm just having too much fun! :)

Waiting to watch the Garner Christmas Parade

The girls dressed for church at Grandma's...we had to take multiple shots in a variety of poses. In this photo, they are posing with their "pets."

Hanging out with cousin Jarrett and his sweet girlfriend

It was late when we finally arrived home on Christmas Eve (and poor Eli was sick), but we still kept our tradition of opening our Christmas ornaments and hanging them on the tree before bed! Eli got a lion reading books from "Between the Lions."

For our Mario Cart aficionado, it was Donkey Kong in his race car!

Lily and Cassidy were thrilled with their Elsa and...

...Anna ornaments from Frozen. Grandma took them to see the movie while we were visiting.

Dancing with Daddy to the music from his National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ornament

After we got the kids into bed, Joey still had to assemble scooters and a big wheel while I made scavenger hunt clues for the kids final gifts!

Christmas morning - Cassidy excitedly sported her new fashion frames all day! I was hoping this would put an end to the plastic strawberry sunglass frames (missing the lenses) that she had been wearing all over town the past few months, but she just passed them on to Lily who now proudly wears them! :)

Eli LOVES his new Bob the Builder cup!

Daddy and his little man...he is such a Daddy's boy these days.

Eli was thrilled with the stuffed lion Finn bought him for Christmas. He spent the whole morning holding it and roaring! :)

A jewelry kit from Cassidy
My favorite part of Christmas this year was that the kids purchased each other gifts with their own money. They were extremely generous and wanted to purchase gifts they knew their siblings would especially like no matter what the cost. We ended up limiting them to $5 per person, but even with that stipulation they took great care in selecting thoughtful and meaningful gifts for everyone in the family. Their loving hearts were the greatest blessing of the season!

Cassidy took her gift giving a step further and made some gifts and cards for us as well. Here Lily is sporting some "gloves" Cassidy made her from some old socks...it's the thought that counts, right? (She also made some gifts for her Our Generation doll.)

A nail polish kit from Finn to the girls...they have had so much fun trying out all the pretty colors!

Eli's rocking/bouncy horse from Mema and Gran...he bounces so hard on it that it moves forward!

Scavenger hunt grand prizes - scooters for the girls and a big wheel for Finn! We've already gotten lots of use out of our new outdoor toys! :)

Sunday, November 24, 2013

November News

Just a little bit of what's been going on here...

Lily lost her second top tooth. She loves her HUGE hole and now spits when she talks! :)

Lily was slated to test for her orange belt a couple of weeks ago, but we had already made plans to be out of town for ECU's homecoming so we told her she'd have to wait until December to test. She was devastated...after all her hard work she did NOT want to wait. The Tuesday after the test Eli was sick so I dropped the girls at karate, made arrangements with Joey for him to pick them up, and took our sick baby home. Imagine my shock when Lily walked in after class looking like this!

Master Redfield gave her a private test during class. She had to do all her forms and basic one-steps by herself and then break her board. Joey walked in just in time to see her receive her belt. We were both disappointed to have missed watching her, but she was SO thrilled to have moved up in rank and was not upset that we were not present!

Perfect round-house kick form! :)

Auntie Jenn gave Finn some mustaches for his birthday! He LOVED them and wore this one all morning! :)

Play-doh on the deck...why has it taken me so long to come up with this BRILLIANT idea?!?!?

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Happy 4th Birthday, Finny Monkey!

Four years ago at this moment we were pulling up to the hospital. Joey let me out at the front door - I had to stop halfway out of the truck for a contraction - and I waddled into the building and up to the sign-in desk. I leaned heavily on the desk to brace myself as the waves of pain hit and the receptionist leisurely strolled around gathering my paperwork...she assumed as I did that anyone able to walk into the hospital unassisted was in no imminent danger of delivering. We were both wrong. At 8:15 I was officially checking into the triage room...to make sure I was far enough along to be given a labor room. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...you're at a seven!" the nurse cheerily announced...and my water broke. The mood in the room immediately went from casual to electric, an energy that one of the nurses later told me they all "absolutely love!" I was strapped to the bed and immediately wheeled to a L&D room and 27 short (or LONG if you were the person splitting in half) minutes later Finnegan Michael Walls took his first breath and rocked my world. Who knew how glorious it would be to be the mother to a son, especially one as shy, sweet, cuddly, rambunctious and funny as my precious Finny? God is good.

Yesterday, we celebrated Finn's birthday in Pirate Country at ECU's homecoming. A parade, a leisurely stroll through campus, treats from the student store, LOTS of pictures, Parkers' BBQ, stew, and cornsticks, playtime with cousins as the football game played in the background, a Mario Cart birthday cake, and, of course, presents...the day could not have been sweeter.

Today - Finn's actual birthday - I'm feeling a pajama day coming on. Lots of snuggling, a Wii family game marathon, just being together. I must post my favorite pics from yesterday quickly so I can go grab up my boy and cuddle him when 8:42 arrives. :)