My Beautiful Birthday Girl

Is it possible that my baby girl is already 2?  How have 2 years flown by so quickly.  

2 years ago we welcomed this crying little baby into our lives.  Oh the blessing of a good hearty cry.  I cried too, and then asked repeatedly if she really was a girl. 

 Marley was and is beautiful.  She gets comments wherever we go about how pretty she is.  It's not just her outside appearance,  her inside is just as beautiful and she has a personality that attracts people to her. 

She's a rough girl.  Her brothers have helped her in that area.  She can carry and purse and a baby and in the next moment be tackling her brothers on the floor.

Her brothers love her so much.  They look after her and protect her.  And she loves them.  As we dropped Shepherd off at school Marley yells "I wuv you Sheppy! Bye!!"

We're starting to get a taste of the girl drama.  Marley can pucker her bottom lip with the best of them.  She is sensitive to correction.  Quick to forgiveness.  And loves to snuggle.

For her birthday we got her a bike so she could keep up with the boys.  She does a pretty good job!

At 2 years old:

• you speak in complete sentences all the time.  I can actually carry on a conversation with you and I love that.  You pronounce most things very accurately.  We love to ask you to say "water bottle" "just joking" "it's raining". 
• you love sweets, especially gum (which you always swallow), icing, coke, etc.  We've probably given you too many sweets, but you are the third!  
• You love baby dolls the most.  You are a good momma, feeding, swaddling and rocking your baby Diane.  
• At night you lay in bed and say good night to everything and everyone.  "Good night Rusty" "Good night eyeshadow" "Good night Aunt Jess" etc. etc.  This lasts for at least 10 minutes.
• You are everyone's friend.  I'm amazed at how many people know you that I don't even know!  This is especially true at church.  People remember you.  You call most people by name and yell hi across the street to the neighbors.  You're very friendly.
• You love animals, especially dogs.  Jackson, the mean dog next door, is nice to you and only you.
• You're smart.  You notice things that I don't notice.  You love to draw.  You'll actually sit and listen to a whole book.  You're very different from your brothers in the area of sitting still.  
• You are 34" tall and weigh 27 pounds.  In the 50 percentile for both height and weight.  You were so excited about the 4 "pretty bandaids" that the nurse brought in before your shots.  You quickly figured out that those bandaids came at a high price. 

Marley,
I'm so blessed to be your mom.  You are the perfect addition to our family.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made and God is going to use you big.  He's gifted you in so many ways and I'm excited to see you grow.  You are beautiful inside and out.  I'm so proud of you.  I love you forever.  Mom

Arkansas and Easter Eggs

Grandpa gives Marley some egg hunting advice.

Marley pushes her cousin, Sadie, who's actually older than her!

Grandpa takes over.

Shepherd and his loot.

Owen and his loot.

Marley hunting.

Very difficult to get a good picture with so many kids!! Here's Grandpa and Grandma with all their grandkids.

Swim time!!

I'm loving this Texas weather! So beautiful. The kids are loving it as well. I've also been practicing more with my camera and working on getting off "auto" mode. I'm quite pleased with how I'm doing.

Let it snow...

Since the predicted temperature for Wednesday is 12 degrees....yes, 12, and yes, we still live in Texas, I thought I'd dig out our snow pictures from early January.

Amazingly they were able to build a snowman.

Someone loves the cold...

Someone doesn't love the cold...

Someone looks cute in the cold...

Time for a warm bath...

Hemingway Christmas....

Marley's hair is getting so long!

watching the first annual Christmas video that Laura made.

Christmas Day at our house with my sweet little family:
We read the Christmas story and then put baby Jesus in the manger.

Can you tell he loved his trumpet???? He carried it around for days, even sleeping with it. It was so cute!

Marley's One

Remember that day? October 23, 2009? Do you remember where you were when you got the phone call, the text or facebook announcement that Marley Grace was born and came out screaming?!? I remember where I was and I can recall just about every little detail from that beautiful day. I can't believe that she's already one. What a fun life-changing year.

Marley, you are our little miracle. Your life is such a blessing to us and we're so glad God blessed us with you. We couldn't imagine life without our little princess. Your brothers love you so much. You are beautiful inside and out. We can't go anywhere without people commenting on how cute and friendly you are. One of your first words was "Hi" and you use it often. You now say "dadda", "mamma" (finally), "Hi" "Buh", "Uh-O", and a whole lot of jibber jabber. I love when you sing. You love your brothers and especially when they're giving you attention or laughing at you. You also love animals, especially the neighbors dogs. You really should learn to kiss with your mouth CLOSED.

You already walk so good and can climb to the top of the stairway with ease. You play with toys so different than Shepherd and Owen do. You sit quietly and hold the people in your hand and move them back and forth. I'm not sure I've ever seen you throw something, besides your dinner. You do love to eat, but when you're done you'll slowly throw each item onto the floor. It's okay though, because later you pick it all up and eat it.

We Love you. Happy Birthday!! Love, Mom

And now...