1st day of school

Marshall started back to school at the end of August. He wasn't sure he wanted summer vacation to end but he has really enjoyed both his teacher and classmates this year. He has two really good buddies that we hear about everyday he comes home. We have also discovered that Marshall is most definitely the typical oldest child. He is a people pleaser and very driven. His teacher uses a color changing system for behavior and Marshall is extremely motivated by this. He tells me everyday he gets in the car that he "stayed on green." One day I put him down for his nap and heard him crying and went back to check on him. He said, "Mom, I'm really sad cuz I had a bad day at school. Ms. Rhonda said I was about to have to change my clip to yellow." He didn't actually have to change his clip, just the thought of changing it was enough to send him over the edge. I actually think changing his clip will be a good learning experience for him but he is yet to change that clip.

His new "smile."



a nervous smile

3 Year Pics

Marshall's 3

Marshall turned 3 in August and we had a great time celebrating our sweet guy. He wanted only two things for his party 1. a green race car cake and 2. his "buddy James" to be there. We were able to do both of those things and he was thrilled. He is pretty easy to please. Since it is blazing hot in August we figured the best place to do the party would be at Pop and Loni's house so we could be near water. The kids had a great time swimming and consuming lots of sugar. We are so grateful for the gift of Marshall's life. I just can't believe he's already 3.



Marshall and the guest of honor, James.

monthly pictures

We have taken monthly pictures even though we haven't been good about blogging those pictures. Our Lily girl is just about as sweet as they come. She LOVES her big brother and looks for him when he isn't around. She has five teeth and is working on one more. Hopefully that will be it for a while. Those teeth hurt coming in. So far she has said, mama, more, bubba (Marshall), ba (bottle). She also has some cute little tricks: growling like a tiger, so big, and blowing raspberries. She started crawling at about 7 months. She is quite content with crawling and shows no sign of being an early walker like her big brother. That is okay with me! We love this girl so very much and are blessed to have her in our family.



I'm biased, but I do think she is a pretty little girl!

just like her brother

Prunes have been a BIG hit with both of my babies!

happy fourth...a little late

Lils (as Marshall likes to call her) in her patriotic duds! (Thanks, Meme!)

we tried...

We all had on our red, white and blue and decided we would attempt a family picture. Sounds easy, it wasn't. Getting two young kids to look at the camera at the same time is just about impossible.


Lily not looking and Marshall doing who knows what with his mouth.

Marshall telling Lily to look at the camera, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to look too.
Almost a good one, except Lily and I are out of focus. Soooo close.
Eventually we gave up and just took one of me with kiddies. Maybe next time we'll get a good one of all of us. I doubt it, but maybe.