Bunk Beds!!

On Sunday we bunked the girls' beds! Poor Finley hasn't had a bed (she is sleeping in the pack n play in our room), so we needed to make room for her. We have been trying to buy the child a new house so she can have her own room, but we just can't sell this one!! So she gets to join the girls until the time comes for us to move! The girls were so excited about the bed with stairs! It is so funny how these two work. There was no argument, no issue what so ever, Carly was sleeping on top and Chloe was sleeping on the bottom - no if ands or buts!! They were very excited and still very tired from the wedding, so it actually was the best time to bunk them - they fell right to sleep despite the newness of the bunks!

Here is Carly - way up high!! I had to stand on the toy box to take the picture!



They love it! Chloe likes to sleep in her "cave"

And now here is the room - tons of beds!! People have mentioned that the secondary bedrooms in our house are small - now I can't wait to see what they say!!!

Sarah and Tim Get Hitched!!

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Sarah and Tim got married!! They did not have a very long engagement, so this wedding has been a hot topic in our house since Sarah asked the girls to be flower girls!! We were all so excited for this event - the girls were for their flower girl debut and I was because my best friend was finally getting something she has been wanting for a long time now - an amazing husband and companion to make her life complete!! Seeing the love on their faces this day was so beautiful and I pray they have an amazing marriage!

Friday night we had the rehearsal at Tim's Dad's church, because that is where we were going to be eating. The girls were thrilled to finally get their baskets and flowers. They did so good!!! They were all smiles and did a great job tossing their flowers. There were 2 ring bearers as well, Preston and Levi, so they got to walk hand in hand with each other at the end of the ceremony. We ate some really yummy bbq in the fellowship hall, which was decorated so nice! Tim's family had a very nice dinner planned and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We didn't get home until 10:00 pm, so needless to say, we were tired!!

On Saturday, all the bridesmaids met up at the salon to get our hair and make up done. We had a nice breakfast there and we enjoyed our "girl" time before the big event! When I was done getting my make up done, I came home to pick up all my girls. The boys stayed home so Harper could have a nap. We headed to Magnolia Glen (the wedding site). Well, the weather was a little obstacle for the day!! It wasn't raining, it was misting all day!! Sometimes a very heavy mist, sometimes very light, and sometimes no rain at all. We practiced to have the wedding outside and under the tent. Then we all got ready for pictures. Deanna did the wedding pictures, so you'll have to check them out once they are posted! (I don't have hardly any pictures at all, because I was balancing all 3 of the girls the whole day!) Sarah was doing well the whole day. Not too nervous! We ended up having the wedding outside and it misted on us, but it never rained hard.
Harper thought he was hot to trot with his tux on!! He was so cute and I just wanted to squeeze him every time I looked at him!

Here I am coming down the aisle!

Here is Carly stopping when she saw Matt to tell him that her basket was out of flowers!! She was so funny when she turned the corner to walk down the aisle. It was like someone turned on her smile switch. She rounded the corner and was cheesing from ear to ear. She had prayed for this moment almost every night and she was have the time of her life!! Chloe was more conservative with her petals. By the time she got to me at the end, her basket was still full - she only threw out the flowers one at a time (I think she was afraid to wrinkle the soft rose petals).

The ceremony was so nice. I really enjoyed the words that they prepared to exchange. Tim's dad was the one who married them and her Grandpa did the opening part of the ceremony (both are preachers). During the ceremony, it hit me what purpose the bridesmaids serve. There are 2 parts. One is the preparation for the wedding, and the other is the emotional support we are to Sarah. Tim had glanced at us during the ceremony and I thought of what he saw when he looked at his bride - a gorgeous woman, with some great friends that have her back at all times!! He is not only marrying Sarah, but he is coming into some pretty strong relationships people have with Sarah. Her sister and cousin- been there since birth, Tim's sister - a short relationship, and friends - we have been there through tough times and fun times, but we are ALWAYS there for her.

Here are the kids at their table playing with their crafts. Sarah wanted a kids table at the wedding, so of course I volunteered to head that up! They had place mats they could color, crayons, silly putty, stickers, and pipe cleaners to make stuff. One boy, Gavin, made hand cuffs and ate his entire dinner with them on - so cute!

My men in black! Aren't they just stunning!

Mr. and Mrs. Tim Clevenger

Chloe and Harper getting ready to hit the dance floor together! They loved dancing and they were the absolute LAST ones on the floor - actually they were still dancing as the DJ was packing up. Matt had to play music from his cell phone for them because they were still getting jiggy with it!!

Carly and Finley resting from all their dancing! I don't have a picture of Finley!!!!!!!! My mom made her a beautiful black and ivory dress and I didn't even get a picture of her!! I am sure Deanna captured something gorgeous, so I will order one from her, but I can't believe these are all the pictures I have!! I need to hire someone to come with me at all times, just to take pictures. I need someone like a golf caddy!! Carry my bags and document our family outings - that would be great!

Chloe passed out in the car on the way home at 7:30. They were so tired. I don't think they made it out of the parking lot!!

Now, the second part of the bridesmaid statement I made earlier! As I mentioned, the bridesmaids role is preparation - what about reception planning!! At about 2:00 (wedding started at 4), Sarah figures out that the caterer is a NO SHOW!! Can you believe the nerve of taking off with her money and then she is faced with a reception with no food! The lady who owned the place, Sarah's aunt, the bridesmaids, and even the cake lady (and I am sure plenty of others) had to scramble to get a reception put together!! There were Walmart trips, Bojangles trips, BBQ trips, etc. It ended up very nice for only a few hours to put it together. I wished I had taken a picture of the little kitchen that was there - Bridesmaids in dresses chopping fruit, her aunt putting trays together, and the lady who owned the place (sure do wish I knew her name) rummaging through her storage to find things to display the food on! Was it what Sarah wanted - absolutely not, but she kept herself together and realized there was nothing that could be done! I thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony and the reception and left full - so it all went well in my opinion!! So all in all - wonderful day to see Sarah and Tim get hitched!!

Say Cheese

Here is Finley at the tail end of a big cheese! I will officially say yesterday was her first smile, but I think she did a couple before then. I just wanted to make sure she was really smiling! She is growing so fast, even though she is only 1 month old!! I guess I just want to hold onto every moment with her as I am in fear she will grow so fast I won't be able to cherish everything. She is such a good little girl - oh, and last night slept through the night!! Bed at 10 and up at 6 - I'll take that!! Actually would really like up at 7:30, but I'll take this for now - in 4 more weeks she better be on that 7:30 timeline!! :) She plays on her activity mat now and she is never alone!! Someone is always laying with Finley to help her play - Carly, Chloe, and Harper love this girl so much.

The test: Today the girls and I wanted to play a game to test Harper to see if he knew who they were. We tried tricking him several ways, but he had 100% accuracy in telling them apart! I tried so hard to mess with his head, and it didn't work!! I wonder how he tells them apart or if they just look as different to him as they do to me.

Lotions

I don't know about you, but I use a lot of lotion. Do they really do what the bottle says? I got out of the shower today and realized that I use all these different ones, but not one part of my body feels different!! I put on eye cream (my eyelids get dry sometimes), then face cream, then my fig lotion on my arms, then my firming lotion on stomach and legs, and then foot lotion to preserve my last pedicure!!! That is 5 different lotions!! Do they all do different things to make me feel wonderful?? I don't know, but reading the label makes me think so! How many different lotions do you use??

Boat Trip

My blogging has been quite slack lately - I'm sure you will understand! I had forgotten to blog about the kids boat ride with Grandpa Eddie. A couple weeks ago, Matt took the "big kids" (I can't believe Harper is now considered a big kid) out on Lake Wateree on his Dad's boat for a little ride. They went to Grandma Thomas's (Eddie's mom) lake house and then came back. The kids were so excited to ride on the boat (I thought they would have issues with the wind since they hate the windows rolled down in the car), and they had a lot of fun. Finley and I spent the day at the Ballentyne Resort for Sarah's Bridal luncheon. Here are some boat pics!

Getting ready for departure from Grandpa Eddie's house and trying on the life jackets!
The girls enjoying the ride.

Chloe covering her mouth -shielding it from the wind

Dad and Harper sitting in the floor (keeping this boy away from the edges!! - Matt didn't want drowning victim added to Harper's background!)

Cooking Vacation

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks since we had our precious Finley Claire! Our friends from church made meals for us so I wouldn't have to cook and we could use our time to bond! I could not believe that I wouldn't have to cook for 3 weeks!!! Yes, we have the greatest friends! We had a wide variety of meals - they were so yummy!! I love tasting other people's cooking, and it tastes even better when you don't have to lift a finger to prepare it! All these people have such giving hearts and we really appreciate all the time and effort it took to prepare our meals. The girls kept asking me how I made their dinner, because they never saw me in the kitchen! They loved everyone coming to our house. They wanted everyone to see them taking care of Finley. They would either ask to hold her when they came over, turn her swing on, or just kiss on her to show off their big sisterhood!! So, tomorrow night my cooking vacation is over! (we have enough leftovers for tonight) I have to get my mind back in action and start planning my schedule. Thank you so much to all of you who made us a meal!

Side note: Some people have asked me what is up with our house. Our contract went up with Allen Tate and now we have it listed with Dane Warren Real estate. I am kind of stuck with my moving feelings now. I love this house and am so glad we got to bring our Finley home here, but I know that we have outgrown this one and need more room. BUT... moving is going to be such a hassle!! Oh well, the kids are really excited to get a new house and most of our stuff is in totes anyways, so it should be too bad to pack up when it is time!! We just have no clue where we are going to move to so that could pose a problem! It is so cool though to not worry about this at all!! I know that God has perfect timing and we are supposed to just sit and wait for Him to tell us when to go. I am very at ease with this and know that I don't have to worry about a thing.

What's Been Going On?

Sorry about this post, but I kind of posted it backwards. The story behind it all is at the end- forgot I had to post pics first - my postings have been messed up lately!!

Carly in her camping bed!

Daddy with his little campers!!

At Matthews Alive they had a Home Depot tent and they gave them an apron and a bird house kit! They are going to be assembling them later - it is a really cool kit.



We also watched a Magic Corky show - some wierdo clown lady - do some tricks. The kids really liked her and this is Harper participating in one trick. He looked so cute!

Well, it has been one week and 2 days since our sweet angel has been born and everyone asks, "How's it going?" We are LOVING our family time together!! It has been a VERY long time since we have had just alone time together as a family. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed Daddy being home and their Finley Claire!! They take such good care of her! When she cries, she has 3 caregivers hovering over her! They do a great job. The other day I got out of the shower and Harper had a little play bowl and spoon. He told me he was going to feed me ice cream. He stirred it up and proceeded to give me some bites. Then he told me he was feeding Finley ice cream too. Oh boy, did that make me sweat. So I waited until he left the bathroom and followed him to see him feed this poor infant. He walked right up to the swing and ever so slowly put the spoon to her mouth, stopping about a 1/2 inch from her mouth!! Whew!! That was close. It was so cute. Last week we spent every day at home (except for Matt - he had to make 1 trip to the store each day - he couldn't handle being here without leaving!!) We had a camp out Wednesday night in the backyard! We made a fire and roasted marshmallows and then Matt and the girls slept in the tent. I kept Harper inside with me and Finley. The girls had so much fun!! They played with their flashlights and then Matt told them it was time for bed. He said they laid there for a long time, and then one of them said, "Excuse me Daddy, I need to go potty!" So they came back in for the last potty break and then fell right to sleep. When they woke up, they said, "Dad, I love my camping bed!" It was a great time to spend with their Daddy - he was excited to sleep through the night too!! Friday night Finley decided to only wake up once in the night!! That was great and she has done it the past 2 nights as well - hopefully she keeps it up. On Sunday we went to church. Later on Finley and I went to David's Bridal to see Rachel try on wedding dresses. She found her dress - the second one she tried on!!! Matt took the kids to the pool for one last time - again great quality time with Daddy. Today we went to Matthews Alive. We just walked around and collected some free stuff - the best was a bird house kit from Home Depot - they will probably work on those later on! It was a ton of fun! The kids ended it with an ice cream cone. We have also had some AWESOME meals brought to us by our friends from church. They brought a meal every day last week and they are coming again this week too!!! We are so blessed to have such a terrific and loving church family!!! We appreciate not having to worry about groceries and preparing meals. Matt and I have also love spending quiet nap times with our new little girl! She gets to be loved on for 2 1/2 solid hours by us!! Yesterday we got serenaded by Harper (via the monitor): Jesus loves me this I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man! We just laughed at his cuteness! Anyways, just wanted to give an update on what has been going on since Finley has been home!!

Beautiful Pictures

Well Deanna did it again!!!! She captured my baby in the most priceless way - gorgeous pics!!!! Check them out: www.deannadevine.smugmug.com/portraits You are so talented Deanna!!