Emma is 8!

I can't decide if it's sinful or not to post her Baptism pictures before the big day, and especially before my mom has had a chance to look at them... but on the contrary, it was fun to get my little sister all dolled up for her baptism pictures.  

I remember the day I was baptized when I told my mom, "I'll be sixteen when this baby is eight, so can I drive her to her baptism?"  And both my mom and I have not forgotten that, so I am very excited!

 

Today is Emma's birthday.  We took these last night. 

 Baptism is May 5, 2012.

 The two baby girls! Our favorite little princesses!

They're kind of grainy and filmy on Blogger.. I'm not sure why  The enlarged images look better.  Hopefully that's just the website.

 Although Emma was kind of a pill, they turned out great.  We love you Emma Elizabeth, and we're so proud of your decision to be baptized!

Isabel, 3 (almost)

She’s my cute baby. And I love her so so so very much… since she’s almost three, I got far too anxious and posted these ahead of time.  Isabel is darling, I’ll post more later, but I just love her so much and needed to see her face on our blog. Ah! 

Don’t turn three! You are too cute baby girl!

Izzie-isms:

*lays face on her hand, sighs* “Mom, you are killing me.”

“I’m pretty, I’m smart, and…I’m a princess!”

“Will you play with me?” *most innocent, sweet face ever*

I need to write down more, there’s tons but I’m forgetting them. Ah, I just love this girl!

Prom is Coming!

Over 300 balloons piled up in my room… no walking or moving space. It’s quite an adventure!



Connor and some of his siblings and the rest of the neighborhood hastily, worriedly shoving balloons through my basement window, and my house. Yep, it took a whole trailer to load these bad boys.
Of course I said yes! You don’t go through this much work for nothing… Matisse, Sierra, and I snuck into his room while he was at work and hung circled glow sticks of all shapes and sizes with yarn from the ceiling. We slaved over hot gluing the words “yes” out of them and put the letters right over his bed with a sign on his door that said, “I’d love to GLOW to prom with you!”

Prom is May 4th, and we totally pulled one over and bought a dress online (yes, that’s what we do best, isn’t it?) It’ll be exciting! First prom ever! :D

Inspiration

Many people might know that we suffered a very recent loss in our neighborhood. Isabelle Marie Evans (obituary here), a little girl that lives up the street, was run over on February 4th and died February 8th, 2012 at 6:35pm. Beautiful Elle was only four years old, the youngest of six children, and her death has posed a very humbling circumstance throughout our entire neighborhood and undoubtedly changed many lives. Talmage and I had the opportunity to be at the scene of the accident and it’s become a part of our lives.

Literally, a day does not go by where I don’t think of her. I’ve been keeping up with her mother’s blog, The Evans Edition, and I’ve shed so many tears and been amazingly touched by the words on this blog. I’m sharing it because it’s changed my life.

I wrote a letter to Brother and Sister Evans the day that she died, and received a return by my surprise written by Sister Evans. This letter has touched my heart, and I’ve kept it hidden away in a little safe place on my own, and whenever I read the blog I always look to my letter from her. This family has the Spirit with them always and I promise you that the blog is absolutely amazing.

I hope you get a good read out of it.

Californ.i.a

Ahh.. Spring Break. Overall, awesome trip. Newport was a hit, despite that the temperature didn’t cooperate as well and each of us white folks burned and spent half the trip looking like skinny, ripe apples. However, with the shopping, warm sand, beaches, reading, etc… the trip was great :)

...2 years later

I know that nobody really checks up on this blog anymore, so I'll get the word out eventually, but it's Addie posting and I've felt pretty strongly to start up with this again. I'm not sure why yet, but hopefully I'll know soon.

It's been almost two years since I last posted, "promising" to come back to the blogging world. I've been reading my posts from previous years, almost choking on my own spit--I'm sorry that you all had to endure my ridiculous preteen squalor. I can assure you that the rest of my years won't be spent in that way.

Anyway, I'll update you for a second time. We're still living in the same house (celebrated our two full years; this'll be our third summer in the house; we've never been in one place for so long!) As for the kids:

Talmage is a wonderful student in 8th grade... he's got a 3.9 GPA and although the temper's come on recently, he's also grown 5 inches and passed me up. He's 5'6" and I'm 5'3"! He turned 14 on April 6 and is still doing baseball and football.

Ethan is now 10.5 and does great in school. He is obsessed with becoming a neurosurgeon and never fails to give us constant trivia almost each and every day. E's growth problems are being repaired soon--he just overcame a recent hernia surgery (his third surgery in his lifetime, poor kid), but he hasn't stopped playing baseball on 2 amazing little league teams and he's got a bright future ahead.

Emma is slowly trying to kill us all with her recent...bitter...attitude, but we've managed to deal with it over time, and now she isn't so bad. She is CONSTANTLY doing crafts... she's got crazy, whimsical ideas up her sleeves. Emma loves to play with all of our fun neighbors, and she'll be 8 on April 30, and be getting baptized on May 5. She's oozing with excitement (which turns to anger and is then released upon us all).

Isabel is almost 3 (May 11 is the day!) and I am dreading this--Isabel is my baby. She is my sweetheart and I love her so much it truly overwhelms me. Words cannot describe how much I feel for her. My baby girl is almost 3, and I remember every detail about the day she was born and how I would hold her little, sweet head and carry her as a newborn. My heart hurts to imagine her leaving this peaceful, sweet little relic and soon becoming.... whatever Emma is. I hope to preserve her the best I can.

Dad is doing great in work--he now has his own hours (most of the time), works at home, and he's recently lost 50 pounds and has a younger, fitting look about him. He spends so much time at the gym for us, but unfortunately he is still the same Albino shade of white as he ever has been, but now he's got a much better body. Daddy works so hard and we absolutely love him.

Mom is doing well, too--after her bouts with pneumonia and mono this past winter, she's come back healthier and revived us all for spring with cleaning, mothering, and she's been playing the piano more frequently. We're starting to grow out of that "young, baby-family" stage, and she's is living it up.

I've done well in school and kept studying my piano, thankfully completing a few more pieces this year and learning a lot more as I go. My full-time job is a stay-at-home mom, I could say, with my sweet baby Isabel, but I spend a lot of time doing schoolwork and trying to stay on top of things. I only have two more years left before I break free, which is hardly anything really. Sophomore year has been extremely fun, my friends and I have had a great time, and I'm excited for summer to come around.

So, we're all alive and well, and keep praying that it stays that way.