Ballet

Shiloh was mentioned in her ballet studio's newsletter for her hard work in class. I just wanted to record it for her. We are of course thankful for the grace in her life.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/142616da292f62b5?projector=1
It's on page 4 in the bottom righthand corner.

Mercy-a generous gift

I was driving Aggie to school this morning. She was in the back seat saying.... ready, set, go! Over and over and over. She "get's stuck" a lot. We joke that it's like an old record with a scratch.  It often makes us all laugh, and guess what...?? She keeps doing it. :) But this morning it was different, it was making me smile, because it reminded me of the silly games we play at home and allow her to determine when they start. It's one little way that she's included in our tomfoolery. But also I was reminded of a different morning in Aggie's life, where the weather was cool like toady. I looked up the date; February of 2011.  It was the morning we got the results of her MRI.  I remember aspects of it so vividly.  We saw a picture of her brain, it caused me to feel frozen. A later doctor likened it to a raisin instead of a grape. Even the untrained eye can see such a significant malformation. Not only was the size smaller, but there were 2 large holes in the middle as well. We all have ventricles in our brain, (holes) the problem was not with the space it's self, but rather the size. Anyway, Mike and I quietly listened to the doctor as he explained the picture. We maintained self-control and asked objective questions as if in a business meeting. We learned generally that these malformations would likely affect Aggies motor skills and communication.  So Mike and I took Aggie out to the van and got in, I looked and him and said, "this is pretty sad, right?" Finally... I could cry.  His eyes were welling up, "yes" he replied.  Our little baby... who would she grow to be?  How will this affect her?  Now..... fast forward a couple years. "Ready...set....go!"
God has been so merciful to us!!! I am amazed at the progress Aggie has made. She is a chatter box! Loves to talk about everything. We don't always understand her, or it may be the same thing over and over, but she can let us know if she wants something or does not want something. This is communication! I will forever be grateful for the sense of humor part of her brain; because it's on full throttle! She knows how to be funny and knows when we are being funny. And her motor skills are still progressing, she can crawl F..A..S..T! We call it her speed crawl. She has a turbo boost of sorts.  And here recently she has been showing good progress with assisted walking. There was a day that we didn't know if Aggie would sit up.  When I picked her up from school today she walked down the hall and out of the building holding my hand. Praise God!!! What a sweet thing it is.

Shiloh playing the piano

The two older children have been taking piano lessons for a couple months. Shiloh is especially enjoying it and making good progress. She's such a sweet girl!

Salem on the move

She's creeping out of infancy into toddlerhood. 9 months old today.  I wish the video wasn't so dark, small oversight. We tried.

August 2013

Salem is getting so big, she is now 8 months old and has become proficient at sitting up.

 Cheeks, just love em!

 Smiles

 Beautiful Baby

 I was trying to take Salem's picture sitting up and Aggie kept getting in front of me saying "Cheezzz".

 Shiloh was coordinating her outfit with the fan Mema and Papa got her from Spain.

 I asked the kids to go cheer Aggie up, I was cooking.  This is what they were doing, Hosea was hoping on his ball, Aggie loves this and Shiloh was letting her hop on herself.  Sweet little lady. And it worked. I find this scene often, but in different configurations, it almost always involves someone hoping, jumping or bouncing.

 We have accomplished 2 weeks of school!  Hosea is officially a kindergartener and Shiloh 2nd grader. So far we are all enjoying our new schedule, and chipping away at some great goals along the way.

 This is what our kitchen table looked like one day. I can't say it is a rare occurrence. It really captures this season of life for us. Note the portable Dvd player to distract Aggie while we attempt to get her to eat, the iPad, my laptop, mike's bible, Aggie's Mic-key connector, Salem's puffs, bill binder, random cup, 2 kids smoothies, and 2 baby trays (yellow and white). I think i see Shiloh's schedule cards too(no wonder she can never find them).  It is amazing we manage to eat 3 meals a day at this exact same location, I'm guessing this was a Sunday evening b/c of the smoothies? But may be not?

A little practice.

Fort Pickens Photo Shoo

Early in the summer we took the kids out to Fort Pickens to get some shots of them.  We got some nice ones, of course things hardly ever go as my idealistic self would prefer, but all in all, I'm pleased.  I've even made a photo card to send out to friends and family. I have them printed sitting in a pile somewhere. :/

I got the most good ones of Hosea, I guess he was feeling most cooperative.

 Best one of them all together.

 That lil nut of ours.

 She's getting hard to photograph, she's mastered all the poses and fake smiles.  But she has such a beautiful real smile, I just want the real smile. 

 This was an action shot that turned out.

 What a little doll, love her!

 I feel like this captures a lot of our family dynamics, uncensored. 

 Bright eyes.