It's March!

Yay- March is here and we are happy to have made it mostly through this last winter! Things have been good around here! Sister Ashlie is doing so well, we are loving the sunshine and warmer temps, and enjoying each day as it comes! Since I am way overdue updating, I thought a photo update would be the quickest way to sum up the last month or so...


little einsteins has been a daily occurrence at our house this winter- Reese Ann caught onto the rocket motions pretty quickly! pretty sure this one is "Blast Off!"


one of our many snows this winter- don't know how my good southern friends who have moved north do it- we were over the snow after one day, but played in this one for a few minutes at least!


Dan trying to get a snowman going- didn't happen this round of snow- he sure is fun in the elements, though!


Cooper playing a game at his Valentine's party at school


RA and Addy loving their Minnie Mouse Valentine cookies!


Dan and his little Valentines


Cooper is really into guns these days, and this little girl needed in on the action one day!


Sister Natalie had a birthday in February, and we had to make a run to Memphis to celebrate! After the last two family birthdays were spent in the hospital, it is lots of fun to celebrate in the real world!


The happy auntie! And for the record, the pictures with RA and the pacifier have all been taken very close to her bedtime. I am trying to get up the nerve to take it away!


The boys and the birthday girl

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!" Psalm 126:3

Christmas round 2- finally!

We just now were able to celebrate Christmas this past weekend with the Edwards side of the family- if you can call it a true celebration! The weekend before everyone was in town, my mom had a big meal planned for Saturday, and we were going to celebrate Christmas that day. Instead, Cooper came down with the flu on that Friday, so the weekend's festivities were promptly canceled! Natalie & Eric were not able to come celebrate with us on Friday, but we figured that once everyone was healthy that we needed to open presents before someone else became sick!

Our dinner was Los Portales take-out, and the dead Christmas tree at my parents had to be taken down the weekend before, but we didn't care! The kids had a blast as did the adults!


RA and Edie with RA's new my little pony doll


RA making sure that pacifier tasted good! She is addicted to her "pa-pa" these days!


Cooper proudly sitting in his new chair and Sis-sis looking on in the background!


Cooper so proud to be wrapped as a present!


RA & G-chip solving the world's problems!


Coop & RA in their Christmas pajamas that we have finally retired! They were too cute to not put on again!


RA riding in her new grocery cart! Cooper passed out on the couch around 8:30 but RA continued to be the life of the party until 10 or 10:30! She loved the attention!

Christmas Round 1!

I am a little behind here, still, but trying to catch up. We still have not had Christmas with the Edwards side of the family- hopefully that will happen this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and blog about our actual Christmas celebration on the birth of Christ!



We started Christmas Eve with Nan and Uncle Rob, lots of food, and Christmas Eve service at church. Reese Ann loved the paper, but she also loved her baby doll and feeding her (and herself with the baby bottle, too).




Cooper got some great gifts that night- a guitar from Uncle Rob & Optimus Prime transformer from Nan being the favorite.



Christmas Morning started with Santa and his loot! The kids had a blast- as did their mom and dad!






and my favorite picture- our little junk-food-junkie getting caught finishing off Santa's cookies!

After playing with Santa's toys for a while and a quick breakfast with Nan and Uncle Rob, we packed up and headed to Memphis to be with Sister Ashlie at the hospital and spend some time with the rest of the fam at Natalie & Eric's house. We had a wonderful Christmas day with them considering all that was going on with Ashlie. Dan and I spent a big part of the day up at the hospital while Mom, Dad, Nat, Eric, and Granny got fun kid time. We only had a few presents for the kids to open, and the rest of the presents are still waiting, but everyone truly appreciated family, the gift of the Christ-child, and time together this Christmas day. Ashlie was truly blessed with a wonderful Christmas gift the next day in a new, healthy liver! We are so thankful! Here are a few pictures from the events that day...






Reese Ann loved Cooper's basketball goal from the Carruths!




While I spent the Christmas night at the hospital with Ashlie, the rest of the Edwards family had a slumber party at Nat & Eric's house. They had so much fun that they had another slumber party later in the week!

My birthday...

was one of the weirdest, worst, and best days of my life and for sure of my 33 birthdays. It was the day that the transplant committee decided whether or not to put sister Ashlie on the liver transplant list. Thankfully, they said yes which led to her quick transplant and now recovery, but the day was just a little bit stressful to say the least.

My sweet husband did everything he could to make the day somewhat fun for me, thus the princess hats for his girls. He also picked up sushi and Gigi's cupcakes from Memphis. Ashlie and I decided that we are going to have a really fun birthday celebration next year since she spent her birthday at the beginning of December in the hospital!

Cooper's Christmas Heaven...

Train depot and Santa! The family with Santa & Mrs. Clause.

Cooper and his friend, Cade, had a blast playing and visiting with Santa at the Train Depot the Saturday before Christmas!


Poor Reese Ann didn't even like Mrs. Clause- oh well, maybe next year!


The boys running the trains


and pulling the whistle- over & over!

December Festivities

I am completely behind on the blog because of the crazy turn that our lives have taken in the month of December with my sister, Ashlie's sudden illness and liver transplant, but I did not want to miss documenting some of our fun events and our holidays even though it's a little late!

Cooper has absolutely loved Christmas this year! We have tried very hard to keep the focus on Jesus and giving not receiving, but it sure has been hard. Two things that we did this month did make an impact- I think! One of these was an Advent Chain that had a devotion for everyday in December. Dan and I started not giving each other gifts the year that we got married. Instead, we adopted a family and bought presents for them. We have continued this tradition with us and expanded it to the kids this year. They got gifts from Santa and then from grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc, but they did not get gifts from us. We adopted a family who needed some help having a Merry Christmas and shopped and wrapped all of the presents for them together as a family. We had the best time doing this, and I think it made Cooper find a little more value in giving- at least for a little while!

Cooper's school program was a couple of weeks ago. It was very cute, and Cooper was the ham of the show.


Here are Cooper and Reese Ann in a rare good picture of both of them before the program


This is a good summary picture of Cooper's behavior at the program- he was very proud of himself and provided much entertainment for everyone!


and another showing how much he amused himself and enjoyed the performance!


Reese Ann loved watching her brother perform, and when the entire room of people was quiet during a break from singing, Cooper yelled, "Calling Reese Ann!" Dan and I wanted to crawl under the chairs, but RA loved it! On the ride home I asked Cooper if his teachers told him to stay quiet while on the stage between songs, and he said, "they did, but not every kid up there had a baby sister, and I really wanted her to see me." At least his intentions were good- I guess!


With Edie & Nanie at the program


Santa was also there, and you can tell by this picture that RA was not a fan!


and another! You can tell in this one that Santa might not have been a big fan of RA either! He did still visit her on Christmas morning, though!

My sister, Ashlie...

My sister, Ashlie, has had a crazy month journey with some serious GI problems and was just added to the liver transplant list at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. I have set up a blog to keep everyone updated with her progress toward total healing.

www.prayforashlie.blogspot.com