Madelyn Turns Two!

Really???  Really??? How can it be that our BABY is two years old.  Officially that ends her time as being a baby, and she is now a toddler.  Part of me is so happy that she just turned two, but a big part of me wants it all to slow down.  I think it's because she will always be the baby.  I had such a hard time with my pregnancy with her that we decided that Madelyn would make our family complete.  And she truly has!  I cannot really remember how our family was without her.  Madelyn Kyle Neely, We love you so much!!!

OK, let me get over the fact that Madelyn is two and get on to the important information.  Her party. :) 

When coming up with the theme for Madelyn's birthday party, I had a hard time deciding between two themes, shoes or purses!  Isn't that funny.  She is only two, but she loves shoes and purses.  She is such a girly girl.

Here are the pictures from her big day.

 The spread.  Sandwiches, fruit, breakfast casserole, and cake.  Yummy Yummy!!!!

 The awesome purse cake made by my mom's boss.  Isn't it amazing!!! :)  Thanks, Shelly!

 Madelyn's Birthday Plate made by a friend of mine.  Check her out on facebook.  2 Blessed Designs.  Thank you so much, Janet.  The plate is gorgeous, and she will use it for many many birthdays.

 Madelyn's outfit was made by another friend of mine, Terri.  Check her out on facebook as well.  Her name is Sew Blessed.  Thank you so much, Terri.  It was perfect.

Cousin Emma and Cole (Nicole)  were the first to arrive.  WE were so glad you both could come.

 Warren with Grandmother and PawPaw

 Granny, Aunt Reese, Cousin Barrett, and Big Brother Cooper all enjoying the food.

 Cooper and Barrett--Cousins and usually friends.  At this moment, I think they were friends. :)

 Now they are Gentlebugs (instead of Ladybugs).  They thought this was so funny!

 Aunt Reese even joined in on the festivities.  She is a true Ladybug!

 Madelyn and Emma (Eeeeeema, as Madi says).  They are three months apart, and I hope they will be the best of friends one day.  Just like their mommies.

 Present time!!!! :)  Look at all that pink!

 Thank you EVERYONE!  I had a great time turning two today!!!!!  LOVE, MADELYN!!!

Professional Picture Sneak Peak

I finally scheduled someone to take Madelyn and Cooper's pictures. We haven't had this done since Madelyn was 6 months old, and now she is almost 2 years.

I found Jennifer on facebook. She had taken some pictures of several people I know, and each and every photo was amazing. I had seen her work from all different types of photos...from weddings, to couples, to newborns, to children...and even entire families. She is very creative and the resulting photos were outstanding.

So, I emailed her and although she works full time, we found a time that we both could do in less than a month. We chose to meet out at Crenshaw's Christmas tree farm for a "country" feel.

We were late because both Warren and I thought we knew how to get there. We were relying on our old memories and some old run-down signs sure didn't help us find our way. :) By the time we got there, it was threatening rain. So, Jen suggested we just do a mini-session (30 minutes). I'm so glad we did. We beat the storm...and if it had gone on too much longer, I think Cooper might have had a melt down. Madelyn on the other hand, ate every bit of it up. She loved it. In fact, after each shot, she would go back to the place Jen had used for that shot, get back into position, and wait for her to take her picture again. :) She loved loved loved it.

Jennifer was naturally wonderful with my kids. They felt so comfortable around her. I will definitely be setting up more sessions with her as the years go on. :) And Jennifer, if you are reading this. Thank you soooooooooo much for a wonderful experience!

I haven't gotten all the pictures yet, but Jen did put some "sneak peaks" on facebook 2 hours after we left the farm. The peaks are amazing, and so I cannot wait to see what the others look like. :)

Here are the peaks






























































Don't you just LOVE these shots. If you live near Trenton (where Jen is from). Here is her information. Check her out. http://www.jrb-photography.com/ and you can search her out of facebook as well. Her facebook name is JRB Photography by Jennifer Renae Browning. All photos on this post are copyright protected by her. :)

God put HIS shield of protection over our house

...this is what my 5 year old son said when he looked at all the damage that was done around our home from the storm that passed through our town on May 17, 2010. What a proud Mama I was when I heard that. Cooper knew! He knew that God had protected us. AND He had. It is so obvious to anyone who comes to our backyard to look. It is a disaster area, yet, there is only one visible dent on our roof.

We were in the house. I was about to make spaghetti for supper, and Warren was in the living room playing with the kids. All of a sudden, the wind picks up, and it sounds as if objects are being thrown against the front of our house. All we had time to do was pick up Madelyn and Cooper and run to the hall. AND pray! Warren grabbed Cooper and I grabbed Madelyn and we ran. We didn't have time to panic or go into a lengthy prayer. All I can remember saying in my head was, "God keep us safe!!!" It came and went in about three minutes. Then, Warren left us and said, "Stay here, I will be right back". That's when I realized that Cooper was frightened. He cried and said, "No, I don't want my daddy to get sucked up by the tornado!!!!" Oh, poor guy!!! I tried to reassure him that the storm was over and Daddy was just making sure it was safe for us to come out. When Warren didn't return immediately, Cooper began to fret again, crying, "It sucked Daddy up...I want my daddy!!" Oh, it broke my heart, but I knew that Daddy was OK. Finally I began to yell for Warren to come back so Cooper could see. He wouldn't believe me. Warren came in, reassured Cooper, then told me that we had some trees down. Some??? Really?? I thought Wow, that was so quick for more than one tree to be down. So, I was thinking maybe 2! When Warren didn't come back again and I started hearing vehicles head into our driveway, I decided we could come out. I looked out the front...nothing. I stepped into the carport, and well...this is what I saw!!!! (BTW, the pictures do not do this justice at all!!! But, they are pretty amazing)




































Oh, thank you, God for your shield of protection!!! We are so blessed, and as far as I can tell, so is the whole area of Gibson County. Lots of tree damage, house damage, road damage, and some vehicle damage, but no loss of life! It truly is amazing when you look out in our backyard. I've always heard people pray for a hedge of protection. I've never used that term before because I wasn't sure exactly what a hedge of protection would look like. I know exactly what it looks like now!!! Thank you, God! All praise and glory and honor be Yours!!! Thank you for protecting my precious family. Everything else is stuff I can live without!!! As far as we can tell we lost 4 or 5 trees. Maybe more. It's hard to tell because they have all fallen together. We know we lost our shed, Cooper's trampoline (he cried about that), Warren's tiller and lawn mower, everything in the shed, two outdoor family swings, our dog kennel and doghouse. But, again, it's just stuff!

Back to Cooper...Let me be a proud Mama once again. When we were outside surveying the damage, a volunteer rescue team member saw the damage, pulled up to the house, and yelled to see if we were all okay. (Can I say, I love living in a small town!!! I love that someone just was driving around checking to see if people were OK!!!) Cooper yelled, "We are all okay!!! God put a shield on our house, but our outbuilding is DEAD!!!" :) My little evangelist. Witnessing to the rescue guy! :) Our outbuilding is dead, but thank you LORD for your shield. "For Thou, Oh LORD, are a shield for me. The glory and the lifter of my head." Psalm 3:3

Father/Daughter Dance

Madelyn and Warren went to the father/daughter dance that Junior Auxiliary hosts every year. She was probably the youngest daughter there, but let me tell you, she had just as much fun as any of the girls there. It was precious. I thought that they would dress up, come to the dance, have their pictures made, and then go home. Oh No! They stayed the entire evening...dancing the night away. Let me tell you, Daddy had as good a time as daughter did this night. I had to work the event and when I returned home, I found Madelyn curled up in the bed with Warren sound asleep. She never sleeps with us. She always sleeps in her own crib like a good girl. But, tonight was different.

Merry CHRISTmas!

This Christmas was probably the best one we've had so far. The kids were so excited and so good. They loved the presents, but I have to say that Cooper really got that it was all about Jesus' birth. We got to spend time with family and friends, and that was wonderful as well. Warren was on call the full week of Christmas which was interesting to say the least. Let me just say, when a home health office is closed for 4 days, people will be calling the on-call nurse! Whoa! But, we kept saying that if it were us that were sick or our kids, we would want someone as caring as Warren to be on call.

We hope you all had a very Merry CHRISTmas!!!

I read a devotional that said Have a Mary CHRISTmas!!! Not the mother of Jesus, Mary, but the Mary and Martha, Mary. Soak in what is important. Do not worry about your chores or duties or the things that "have" to get done. Don't stress with the shopping, wrapping, etc. Love your family, enjoy your children, and just sit at Jesus' feet!!!! That's what I chose to do this year and it was unbelievable. Thank you, God, for sending your Son. Without Him, I have no hope!!!

My Baby is 10 months old!!!

Can you believe it? I cannot believe that in two months my sweet baby, Madelyn, will be one year old. This time is going by really too quickly.

A few things about Madelyn right now. She is just such a sweet baby. Everyone that she is around comments on what a sweet baby she is, and it is true. She is pretty laid back, and as long as I don't leave the room, she is usually a happy girl. She has begun doing so much the past few months. She now crawls like a pro (although her style is a little different), is pulling up on everything, and has started cruising somewhat. Her favorite thing to do is to find things that she is not supposed to get into...and get into them. :) She loves music and has started dancing in the past few weeks. She loves to watch her brother and is often seen grinning and laughing at him.

Madelyn already knows how to get what she wants. She has a sweet smile and if she really wants to get you, she will tilt her head to the left and give you her best grin. She has a smooshy face where she squishes up her nose and sometimes that accompanies a snort. :) It is too funny.

Madelyn is very verbal (imagine that..just like her daddy...:) She can say Hey (while waving) and Bye Bye (while waving). Those are actually two different kind of waves. Hey is a circle wave and bye bye is a hand wave. Then, she has a come get me wave where she hand waves towards herself and then holds out her arms. She says, Mama, Dada, Bubba, Bye Bye, Hey, and does a lot of other talking. She can also say Papa...it is funny...it comes out in whisper.

Her newest trick was funny the first time, and we all made the mistake of laughing. She now has started doing it everytime she eats. A raspberry sound with a mouth full of food. Needless to say, I am usually wearing much of her food by the end of her meal these days.

She normally sleeps through the night. Her naps are iffy. She naps great at daycare, but not so much with Mommy. She will fall asleep with Mommy, but Mommy can't figure out how to get her down. So, this summer, Mommy has been enjoying some naptime with Madelyn while poor Cooper has to tiptoe around. :)

Speaking of Cooper, he is still as in love with her as the day we brought her home. He is so good with her, and has never once been a bit jealous. The only thing he wants is her attention, and I am happy to say that she is NOW starting to give that to him.

Here are some recent pictures of our sweet baby girl. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

DAD

This is the present the kids and I gave to Warren for Father's Day this year. He is such a wonderful Daddy. I couldn't have asked for a better father to my children. I thank God for him. He is so many things to our children. He is a jungle gym, a comedian, an impressionist, a Wookie, a Jedi, a teacher, a preacher, a pray-er, a comforter, a doctor, a chef, a rocker, a roller, a dancer, a disciplinarian, a soother, a calmer, a rollercoaster, a leader, a reader, an author, an athlete, a shopper, a fan, a cheerleader, a feader, an eater, a coach, a counselor, a gardener, a singer, and so much more. If you have ever seen Warren with our children, you understand. He really is the best Daddy!!! His goal in life is to make sure that our children grow up knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ. That is his number one goal and his number one mission. He strives for that everyday. And in all these roles, he is building such a relationship with each of our children, that will give them a foundation where his goal, through God's help, can be attained for our kids. Happy Fathers' Day, Warren! We love you so very much!!!