A celebration!

A few weeks ago when the girls turned 3, Brenner's mom was able to come out and be a part of the celebration as well as stay for an entire week!

We had such a great visit and I was able to get a couple great photos with her before she left!

On their birthday, we had two chaplains and families over to dinner and celebrated with cupcakes.

Our friends spoiled them with play-doh, tiaras, and ring pops :)

The day after their birthday was Presidents Day and we headed to Nevada City with Ch. Lowe and Ed for the most beautiful weather and a great family day of exploration.

The Twins turn 3!

My babies are 3!

These two little ones celebrated their birthday today and I don't think I will ever celebrate one of my kids' birthdays where I am not overwhelmed with emotion.  

These two have been such a challenge in so many ways over the last three years and yet they bring so much joy into our lives. 

 I am humbled that God would choose me to be their mom, that he thinks that I can do the best job of rearing them.  It is not an accident that our children are placed in our hands.  God puts each child purposefully into a family.  He thinks that Brenner and I are the best suited parents for Cole, Clara and Elise.  They will teach us and help us learn the hard lessons we need and we will do the same for them.  They will challenge us through them and we will hopefully grow closer to Him as we seek to parent best.  

These two light up our lives, and yet they push me to think deeper about parenting and rely on God for wisdom and strength on hard days.  

They are silly, tenderhearted, loving, and passionate.  I love that they are so similar and so different at the same time.  It is hard to believe that I have only known them for three years because they are pieces of my heart and feel like they have been there forever. 

I love these girls fiercely with my whole heart and look forward to what the year of 3 brings.

God is good. Always.

Last week we closed on the selling of our house!  

After 2 years of the house being on the market, it finally sold.  

And we are so grateful.  

But we are not grateful just because the house sold.  

We are grateful that God's plan was way better than ours.  

His always is.  

Always.  

We obviously wanted our house to sell as soon as we put in on the market.  We thought we had a plan for what we would do when it sold and we thought that everything would work out perfectly.  

But God knew that he was taking us in a different direction (such as California!) and it was not the right time to move only to have to move again.  

And so we waited.  

Sometimes I was more patient than others because attempting to keep a large house organized and ready for showings with 3 littles running around was pretty impossible.  But God also knew that a mom with 3 littles always needs more practice with being patient :)

So we left our house in Waco unsold as we moved across the country, trusting it would work out.  

Which of course it did.  

God is so good because He knew what we needed and when.  

We are so grateful that His plan is perfect.  

We are grateful the house sold, but we would continue to be grateful that God's plan is good even if it remained unsold.  Because all things have a purpose and a plan.

God has a way of taking our plans that we constantly make and throwing them out the window.  

Anybody else feel that way?

Married while still in college?

Twins?

Major career change?

Move across the country?

I never expected these things and yet each one has resulted in blessings and great growth.  

God is good.  

Always.  

And THAT is why I am grateful.  

And so we now say goodbye to our house. 

Our first house together that we moved into when we got married.  

The house where we brought 3 babies home to. 

The house that was our home for a decade.  

Here is a picture of how the house looked when we moved into it:

I think the house changed as much as we did while we lived in it.  

So long Austin Avenue!

2 years.

I can't believe that it has been two years.  

Two years since we anxiously awaited the arrival of these two after such a crazy pregnancy. 

And two years later, life is crazy wonderful.  

It has been so hard and so wonderful to have twins.  

I can't imagine any more perfect additions to our family and we have been so blessed to have them in our lives.  I literally have been with them every day of the last two years except for two days last summer!

We will ALWAYS remember God's grace and goodness to us when He answered our prayers and healed them.  We will sing His praises all of our days because their lives are miracles.

Happy Birthday my sweet girls!  

What?? We turned 2? 

Miracles.

Two years ago we were told that one or both of these girls would not make it.  

The doctors told us that their condition, twin to twin transfusion, was non-reversible.  

But they don't know my God. 

They don't know that He still performs miracles.  That HE is the great physician.  

And he HEALED them.  

There were so many people that prayed for these two.  Their prayers were answered and we are thankful everyday for them.  They were answered.

Their little lives are a testimony to God's faithfulness.  

And we are so, so thankful for these two.

a little sisterly love.

elise was reading a book

clara wanted to read it too.

elise got mad.

she took it back. 

and then read it over the edge of the chair to avoid sister. 

no more pictures mom. 

don't worry, clara got to read it later. 

mothers day.

we visited Brenner while he was on duty in Wichita Falls over Mother's Day weekend.  we had such a good weekend.  air force bases have tons of parks all over so we spent a lot of time playing.  we also ate out 4 times in 2 days, something that we never do because it is basically torture for us, but they did well 3 out of 4 times so overall it was a huge success.  we also discovered a cajun festival downtown and stopped by.  the best part was that you could pay 5 dollars to hold some baby alligators.  i got in line and we were the last ones to get in...and then cole wanted nothing to do with it.  i think he was scared to get in the little pool with yucky water and swimming reptiles....i can't imagine why.

needless to say, i took one for the team and got in with him while brenner tried to take pictures and wrangle the twins.  cole never actually held one and i could hardly get him to touch them.  i held those slimy things for 10 minutes.  elise, on the other hand, when given the chance, loved touching the alligator and was freaking out about trying to do what cole was doing.  my little animal lover!  although reptiles don't count as animals if you ask me.

the funny thing was, when we got out of the pool, cole started getting upset because he didn't want to stop holding the alligators.  then, all the way to dinner he kept telling us how much fun he had holding the alligators.  we kept reminding him that he never held the alligator and i had to force him to touch them but he insisted that he held them all by himself.  

whatevs, kid.  

i was in the brown, disgusting water holding those reptiles for you and don't you forget it. 

its all about making memories for your kids, right?

we had a great mother's day.  i was with my family and that is all that i wanted.  

there are no other kids that i would rather call my own and no other partner in parenting than brenner!

sometimes....

sometimes i love my sister and we hold hands while we eat our breakfast.....

and sometimes i have to take sister down because she gets in my way.

clara beth = bossy pants these days. 

yes, i just used the phrase bossy pants.  clearly i live with a toddler.

The girls' 1st birthday party.

yesterday we celebrated the girl's 1st birthday with a party!  

we had a great time celebrating with friends and family.  

and i must say, i am super happy with the way all the decorations turned out!

the kids and i all got a little 24 hour stomach bug, one after another last week so i got a little behind with the party set up.  but a couple of sweet friends helped me on friday get everything set up and it turned out perfect!  

my favorite part?  

the birthday banner wall!  

here is is the mantel.  i pulled out my favorite pictures from their newborn photo session.  

i may have cried when putting these up.  and they may stay up for a while :) 

 the wreath on the door

 the party table.  we had yummy mini cupcakes, fruit salad, donut holes and quiche.  

 frames displaying the girls' monthly photos.  

i think i am going to hang these in their room!

giving hugs to carter!

the birthday girls!

 it was a gorgeous day and the big kids played outside

singing happy birthday

 elise was intrigued by my singing!

elise was not too sure about the cake....

 clara was less hesitant and actually enjoyed the icing....for a while

waving "all done"

yep, definitely done.  and no actual cake eaten.  

 elise was also done!

their bestie londyn.

 another bestie, carter

 reading with gammi!

 our fabulous babysitter aaryka!

we had a great time!