Just another Saturday morning

Doesn't everyone dress like this to go out on Saturdays?

Jac Jac is 2!

Dear Jacqueline,

Happy 2nd birthday! I cannot believe it has been two years since the Good Lord blessed us with a second beautiful little girl. This past year has been an exciting year as you are finally coming into your own. With an older sister you are having to discover who you are and you are finally beginning to bloom and stand up for yourself. I am not sure your sister likes this very much, but I get a kick out of it. You are FINALLY starting to talk and put complete sentences together and we are so happy to be past the pointing and grunting stage. You are a very indenpendent little girl, but at the same time if your sister is close by, you are eager to do the same things she does. You are also a very loving and sweet little girl, as is evident in how much you love to be around your cousin Liam.

This past year, you have started going to "school" and are growing to love that. The teachers are always impressed with how well you clean up. You saw your first real snow fall, but you weren't quite sure what that was about. Well the snowball fights and running around were going on, you were keeping to yourself making a little snow pile from all the snow that was at your height. You have even started going to the Little Gym with Mommy once a week and you love that! Right now your favorite word is NO! And can you believe that you are already past taking naps.

Jac, you continue to brighten our hearts everyday with your smile and laugh. No matter how hard Mommy and Daddy try to stay mad at you, your cute looks always get you out of trouble. We love you very much!

Happy Birthday Monkey!!!!!

Love,

Daddy

Finally some snow!

So we finally got some snow here in Columbia and it has been more than we could ask for! Delainey is so excited and Jac is just trying to take it all in. Snow ball fights have been a plenty with the Columbia Fam! It is just Friday night with the snow continuing to fall, we look forward to seeing what we wake up to Saturday morning.

SNOW!

Even Buddy the dog is diggin the snow

I can't get up!

I'm going to get you Momma!

There is so much snow and her legs are so short, she literally gets stuck in one place

Snowball throwing queen!

Somewhere in there is Jac

Trying to sled with a cardboard box

Just in case the snow tries to get her while she sleeps

I totally forgot to add pictures of Delainey's dance recital which was actually before the Edisto trip (below). Delainey takes a combo. tap, ballet, creative movement and gym class at The Little Gym. She has done this for about 2 years now and LOVES it! I have some video that I will post but I have to convert them from .mov before I can upload (any suggestions??). Anyway, here are the still shots I have.

Our little start accepting her flowers.

Jac enjoying the view from Pie's shoulders

Sweet Delainey all ready to perform!

As promised, here are the things for which I am thankful at this moment:

1. A quiet house. Steve is taking D for a daddy/daughter day at EdVenture and Jac is asleep. (Hence I am able to type complete thoughts and update the blog).

2. Steve's "vacation". The Oliver boys have been working their fingers to the bone for Jack Oliver's Pool, Spa and Patio. These last two days have been the only ones Stevie has had off in FOREVER! Although I know he is bored out of his mind and we weren't able to travel anywhere, I really have enjoyed having him home with us.

3. Sweet Verizon customer service people who take pity on us! I don't want to mention any names, but earlier today two of us were in the whirlpool at Gold's Gym and one of us got in with our cell phone in our trunks. Now we have a new Blackberry Curve in our family (and not at retail price!!!)

4. Over the past 2 days I have been able to organize all of the kichen cabinets, mop the hardwood floors, fold and put away all of the laundry, donate a TON of stuff to the Kidney Foundation, and send some stuff to the consignment store. I am so thankful of the downtime I have had to do all of these things. Thankfully, however, the downtime is almost over. The real estate market has picked up FULL FORCE over the last couple of weeks.

5. Finally I am thankful for the aforementioned acceleration in real estate activity. I truly LOVE what I do. I am so fortunate to be able to do most of it from home and enjoy my girls. The most recent 1099 showed that last year was our BEST year in real estate so far and I only expect this year to get better!!! On that note, I will close with a plug.....remember you have until April to buy a new home or first home and receive your $8000 or $6500 tax credit!! What a wonderful opportunity! Call or shoot me an email and I can give you the details!

Until another quiet moment....

L

Catching up at the beach

Sweet Jac digging in the sand

D and Daddy

All the kiddos (except the baby...he can't sit up on the steps yet)

Jac trying to make the car "go"

Jac and Sammy

We have just returned from a very impromptu and relaxing trip to the beach. Steve was supposed to run a 5k in Beaufort this weekend where we would stay with our friends from So Happily Us. Over the past couple of weeks he has tried to get back into the running "grove" to prepare for the run. Instead, the weather has been freezing, work has been crazy and it has been tough for him to get in the mind-set. When S.H.U. mentioned that it would be WAY more fun to go to the beach for the weekend instead of running in the cold....we jumped on the idea. AND, since we all wanted to visit with Freeman Family Fun while we were in the lowcountry, we all took the kids to the beach to be bums (which you are supposed to do at the beach) and hung out. The weekend was filled with catching up (we hadn't seen F.F.F. since they have been expecting their 3rd little boy....only 14 weeks until he gets here if that tells you how long it's been) playing games and really not much of anything else. It was just what the doctor ordered (although to be honest the doctor would probably have really liked us both to be in shape enough to run the 5k) and we had a blast. The only thing wrong with the whole weekend was that we were only able to be together for 1 full day. Other than that, it was great!

Wouldn't you know that a weekend with friends would give me some more things to add to my gratitude journal, so here goes:

1. God was so kind to give us these other two families to spend time with. I am truly thankful for their friendships and I love them.

2. I don't think one can make it to the beach, look out at the ocean and waves and not be completely in awe of what God has given us in His beautiful world. This is completely incredible and reason to give thanks.

3. My kids are at the ages where we could let them play in the back room or on the screened porch and not worry (too much) about if they could hurt themselves or needed us to help them with small tasks. Ask any mother who has raised small babies and they will tell you this is a HUGE accomplishment, both for their children and for the mommies' relaxation.

4. For most of my life I have had an awful anxiety about social situations and the feeling that I'm supposed to be doing something other than resting or relaxing (no place like the internet to air your insecurities) Anyway, I am thankful that I am learning to be in the "now" and let go of the worries and stress.

5. Finally tonight I am thankful for the fact that after an awesome weekend my children are sound asleep and I can spend some more time with my Simple Abundances (sadly I admit I neglected my devotions over the weekend). I am going to sit down and mentally prepare myself for a day at home tomorrow with both girls since D has the day off (followed by some Brothers and Sisters just because I love it!!).

Gratitude

Since forever, my mom has been reading her prayers every single morning over a cup of coffee, a banana (with all natural peanut butter) and a small glass of orange juice. (Not really part of the story, but I wanted you to paint a picture.) About the time I went to college or maybe a little after, my mom bought me one of the books she uses to count her blessings in the morning. This book was given to her by a dear friend of our family and mom's copy of the book is so worn, the binding is loosely hanging on. The book is called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. In her daily musings, she gives a way to simplify or improve your life and/or sometimes just make you feel better about who you are and what you are doing. For the first time since she gave me the book (sorry mom) I have decided to make it a daily habit of mine, as well. On January 14th Sarah required that we start a gratitude journal. This is to include five things everyday for which we are grateful. I don't have a fancy journal in which to write them and I already have enough piles of books and papers in my house to keep track of. Plus, if I write them and keep them hidden, I wouldn't feel like I was giving proper thanks and recognition for the things God has given me. Soooooo.....I am going to try my best to use the blog world as my gratitude journal. Here goes:

A few of the things for which I am thankful:

1. Today is the last day of the work week and that means we get to travel to Edisto for the weekend. Our friends So Happily Us and Freeman Family Fun are meeting us down there for a weekend of NOTHING!!!!! Just hanging out, letting the kiddos play and probably some board/card games of our own. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

2. I am so glad that my children are so happy and so welcomed where they go to school. Everyday they come home and have had a blast learning and playing with the other kids. That makes me a really happy mommy.

3. I am so fortunate that my brother and brother-in-law have married such wonderful girls. I love both of them so much and since I didn't get to grow up with a sister, they are great sisters to have.

4. I love that God has given me a flexible schedule to be able to be with my girls as well as my nephew most days. I love these little ones and I am glad to have them around (most days :D).

5. Finally I am glad today that we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. Every day this is a blessing, but especially in light of the tragedy in Haiti we can certainly be thankful for what we have.

Finally, I'd like to share some sweet photos with you all of the aforementioned kiddos that I love. They have been so funny today (even though they have run me ragged!!!). Jac and Liam were playing hide-and-seek in my bed sheets earlier.......

A couple of notes: 1. Jac is almost 22 months and Liam is not yet 5 months.....note the similarity in size!!! 2. There was something on my camera lense so some of the photos are fuzzy at the bottom. 3. I didn't realize how puffy Jac's eyes were until I looked at these pictures. She's had a little cold going on.

Here are some of the precious pictures my friend Micah took of our family! Micah came to our house to capture our family, including little Liam, for our Christmas pictures. I can't show you all of them because some will be used for "surprise" Christmas presents for the family. But, here are some that we really like including our Christmas card picture above. (I tried to enlarge it, but it didn't work.

We hope you and your families have a happy, healthy Christmas and New Year.

Thank you God for giving us Your son!