my baby is 3

According to Ari, he is "free" now. He has been anticipating this day for the past 4 months. The only thing he wanted for his birthday was a goodie bag with chocolate in it. How precious is that?

His love for his sister has grown leaps and bounds. He looks forward to playing with her and dances around to get her to belly laugh.

These next few pictures really sum him up. He is all about having fun.

Whenever I get the camera out he asks me to take pictures of him doing silly things.

I really can't resist, especially when he pretends to be a lion using the boppy pillow.

These faces never get old. I just hope he doesn't get stuck like that. :)

He loves his friends and talks about them all the time.

We lit all the candles three different times for him to blow out. Mostly because people were trying to take pictures, but hey he really enjoyed it.

(I know you're jealous of my mad owl drawing skills.)

He has a great memory and surprises me when he talks about things that happened 6 months ago. He has a large puzzle of the United States and puts it together every day. He knows where they are all located and the majority of their names. He can write his name and write all the letters of the alphabet. Some days the only questions he asks me is how to spell different words. 

He has 6 Bible verses memorized. He uses a funnel as his microphone and will stand on our couch proclaiming "Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins." He insists on praying for every meal and corrects us if we say "amen" instead of "in Jesus' name, amen." Our prayer for him is that he continues to learn about what Jesus did for us and that he comes to know the Lord at a young age. I hope that he stays bold about preaching the gospel and continues to want to study God's Word.

a new trick

She's been thinking about it for a while.

Oh she's making a move...

and voila!

Ah, that's much better!

If you watch the video, Ari is really in to making up words in case you were wondering what he was saying.

annual trip {brown county/nashville}

AJ and I have taken a trip down here every year since we were dating. This makes year #6 for us and now we have two kiddos that get to come along.

After our first trail we were already hungry for some lunch. Picnics are the way to go.

This is my little buddy. He is our entertainment wherever we go.

These two pictures crack me up. The one on the left was taken first but AJ wanted Evangeline to be looking at the camera so he turned her head. Well apparently she didn't like it and protested the rest of the photo shoot.

She is getting old enough to be entertained by her brother, and also to entertain him. He has started enjoying her more. He will play with her and even comfort her when she is crying by saying things like "Aw it's ok baby, I am right here."

We always stop by two places in Nashville. The Daily Grind - an overpriced coffee shop that we splurge on one time a year and the fudge shop next door (I can't remember the name!). But I do remember their fudge and it is de.lic.ious.

Appleworks

I love hanging out with my brother and his family. It just so happened that we all had Saturday morning open so we could take the kids to the orchard.

This one is exceptionally fun because there are animals to see...

animals to feed...

and animals to ride.

We played on ropes and went down the slide.

We went through the bamboo

And had a little dance party too.

(Can you tell I've been reading lots of Dr. Seuss lately?)
 Ok, I'll stop.

The pumpkin patch was as far as the eye could see.

This picture was hard earned as they were not happy with who sat on which pumpkin.

But hey, despite their differences they still love each other anyway.

5 months

Even though we get sweet smiles and giggles, she has somehow earned the title as the serious one. We'll be out in public or even with family members where people take turns trying to get her to smile and all they get is a dead stare. Really, it's not you. It's her.

She loves watching her brother play and will be entertained by him for quite a while. This is usually what she looks like when watching him. Utter amazement.

She loves her daddy and will always give him smiles.

She isn't much for pacifiers unless she is ready for sleep. But she will go for just about anything else if it is within a few inches of her face.

She is a rather large baby. The rolls are endless. We can barely keep clothes around that she can wear. There are some things that I couldn't wait for her to wear, and lo and behold she can't fit in them. Like these boots. They have been waiting for her since the day she was born. Her feet fit in them just perfectly. But those ankles...there's just something about those rolls that will not allow me to zip the boots. Poor girl. At least I know she isn't starving.

Oh yeah, she might be making an appearance in her Christmas dress a few months early.