i haven't forgotten...

brynna's birthday coming soon.

yes, my baby girl is ONE. I'm trying to pretend it didn't happen, 

but apparently denial doesn't change reality. 

don't get excited. yet.

This post is nothing other than to say I plan on getting back into the world of blogging. Mostly for myself - I'm much better at keeping a record of our lives when I'm caught up on my blog. Although I could look back at my calendar for the the past nine months and fill in a lot of holes; I just don't have that kind of time. I don't think anyone does. 

So... here it comes - pictures, stories, funny things the kids say. Maybe even Brynna's birth story.

Soon.

Actually, I'll just start with my favorite recent Eli quote:

He was sitting on my lap a couple weeks before Christmas singing 

"Merry Merry Christmas! Merry Merry Christmas!" 

(a song he knew from the Bing Crosby cd that Shi loves)

when all of a sudden he stopped and said 

"No, Wait! Mommy, I want marry YOU!!!" 

Yes. I love him. 

just another week

Wednesday: finally made it all the way to the top bunk all by himself.

Thursday: got a little too excited about climbing into the top bunk all by himself and fell out.

Friday: picked bright orange for his very first cast (with a little help from big brother Shiloh).

checking things off...

One of the things on my list lately has been to update this old blog. A few weeks ago I wrote out Brynna's birth story to post, but it just hasn't made it that far. One of these days I'll give her an official blog introduction. For now, a quick update and a few beach photos will have to do.

Since my last post, we’ve had lots of funny, boring, everyday happenings, and we’ve also had some big ones:
finished semester number seven,
took a trip to Branson and met our new niece, Maya Reagan,
enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with siblings,
started semester number eight,
added sweet Brynna Rie to our family,
surprised with the gift of a new-to-us van,
enrolled Shiloh in soccer,
entered the wonderful world of the MacBook,
finished semester number eight,
received a visit from great old friends,
celebrated Eli’s second birthday,
and
said goodbye to Eli’s beautiful curls and hello to spiky hair,
just to name a few.

Now we're spending as many minutes at the beach with Daddy as we can before he starts his LAST SUMMER OF SEMINARY and we say goodbye to him until the end of June...

Eli rambling his way to our spot

Brynna soaking up some Vitamin D

"the crazies"

(as they are affectionately called by the one who knows them best)

and my new favorite

(this one may go up on their wall...)

just couldn't resist...

...taking some pictures of these two adorable boys washing dishes. Shiloh also found it necessery to wash Eli's hair...

Ahhh. Does my Mommy heart good.

(Now to get them to still think it's fun when they're twelve...)