The Melting Pot

 The dessert you dip in different chocolates

 The appetizers- different cheeses...SO good!

 Main course- You boil whatever "meat/veggie" you want in certain(your chosen flavor) of spiced broths

Clinton and Dorla came out to celebrate the new year with us ( this was the only holiday Russ did NOT work this year.....actually he was on call New Year's Day but not New Year's Eve....we now have an appreciation for "normal call" Anyway....we got to treat them to one of our favorite restaurants in this area. It is a chain so if you ever run across it, try it out! Don't go if you have to take your kiddos or don't have a couple of hours to enjoy your company. It is a neat experience. It is a fondue restaurant- totally cool!!

New year, New ATTITUDE!

The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas we the hardest of this entire year. I think after I came home and got loved on by all my friends and family and had some HELP with the kiddos it was SO HARD to come back. I knew I was coming back to crazy....running out the door at 7AM to be on time for work, dragging three kids from their beds and their poor feet never hit the floor as I rush them all over town, full-time work which I have not done in...some time....(didn't realize how CAKE I really had it :)) Russ working ALL the time, the exhaustion and negativity really caught up with me.
You know, all that I described above is NOTHING! How blessed I am to have my kids, my job, my husband that provides, a family and friends to miss, the LIFE changing work Christ is doing in my heart, my marriage, and our life.
I sat down prior to the new years and made my resolutions. I chose JOY~ JOY when I'm tired, joy when things don't go my way, joy when I feel like I can't do the crazy one more day, joy to focus on the REAL things of life. So Joy is my "word for the year" as inspired by K-Love to do....
Since 6 months have passed and I am just now catching up you can see it hasn't been easy to implement but it has been SO worth it!! I don't want to go back home the same person I was coming out- God is doing a work in us and I want it to be reflected each day that I am blessed with. Thanks for loving us and praying for us~ The prayers have made ALL the difference!

More Christmas Pics

 This girl is my heart!

 She is SUCH the daddy's girl....then again she is him in girls flesh!!

 Silly boy :)

 He is SO stinkn' sweet!!

 Over half her day is spent making others laugh with her crazy antics! :)

We had some fun and silly times that I wanted to share through pics during our Christmas break~

Christmas in....Orangeburg, South Carolina

 He was SO proud of his tools :)

 Operation!!

 Let just say daddy needs to stick to REAL operating - haha!

 My future little cheerleader!

 Silly girl

 Christmas is wherever your family is!!

 Orangeburg has an AWESOME Christmas light display

 We made goodies for all the floors I work on at the hospital, the doctors, and our neighbors! LOVE IT!

We celebrated Christmas far away from anyone we even remotely know :) in a hotel room and had a frozen dinner for lunch- seriously!!....and you know what? It was a wonderful time! We were together and we are SO blessed! It was not how I would have chosen to celebrate Christmas but I did have the opportunity to CHOOSE to be happy and that is exactly what we did! We even went swimming! The hotel had an indoor pool we put to good use- since I am being positive I won't harp on the fact that Will fell in the pool while we were getting our stuff together and sank like a ROCK and I had to dive in and save him...literally! Yes it happened and yes, I will be moving on in this story......
Russ took call for the weekend but was not busy- we got snow on Christmas and we had IHOP which is a Raul's family favorite! The girls got bicycles and we got to ride them all over an empty parking lot which they and mama loved! We skyped with our parents, Tiff and Scotty,Russ' parents, and Robyn and Ken. That was really neat!
Hopefully, next Christmas we will be surrounded by the ones we love and I promise I will NOT take it for granted!! Love you all :)

Lexi's 6th birthday

Stats:
51.8 pounds
45 3/4 inches- almost as tall as her mama! haha
Blood pressure- 78/56
cholesterol- <150
vision screen- 20/30

For Lexi's bday we went to a fun place called Frankie's. She got to take her best friend Delaney- which that sweet girl has been SUCH a blessing to Lexi....and answer to prayer. Some of you guys know what a tough time Lexi had starting out the school year- long story short this mama has NO tolerance for MEAN girls! Her daddy held me back but did not keep me off my knees! :)

Lexi had an ice cream cake too and loved every minute of celebrating her birthday! Her school does not allow sweets of any kind (isn't that CRAZY) so we sent goody bags with pencils, erasers, and some stamps. She has such a giving heart. Literally, that sweet girl helps me out so much! I would not make it without her. She is always trying to help others and looking for something that she could do to make someone else have an easier time. She is observant, a saver, mature, loves school, loves her daddy, loves to read, draw, Delaney, church, and her family.  She usually always does the right thing-it is amazing! Thank you my heart for loving me even when I fail as your mommy and encouraging me when I need it. YOU have taught ME so much and I am beyond blessed to be your mommy!

Lauren's 3rd Birthday

Stats:

26 pounds
35 3/8 inches tall
blood pressure 70/50
cholesterol- 154
Who knew they checked BP and cholesterol on your third birthday???? That cracked me up!!
She got the all clear, all normal :) She is still on the bottom of the growth chart but staying right where she always has been and not getting any worse so we are ok.

For her birthday we went to Monkey Joe's. It is a bounce house in Raleigh. She LOVED it!! We then went home and had an ice cream cake and her day was completely made! We skyped with both sets of grandparents and we and them shed some tears but of course Lauren never knew why we were sad! She is the LIGHT of this family and the clown who keeps us ROLLING!
I am motivated to keep up with this blog if only to post the funny things these kiddos are doing!
Lauren loves:
chicken nuggets, french fries, ice cream, apple juice, gold fish, chocolate, and chili :)

clothes-can wear 18-24 months but mostly 2T

Shoes: size 7

She and Lexi share a bedroom. They have bunkbeds and she sleeps on bottom. She loves sharing a room with Lexi but usually ends up in her mama's arms by the end of the night. Who knew I would become such a pushover when I became of mother of three???? Or actually, more like too tired to fight it!! She loves to sing, dance, hug, rock, and play. She goes until she can't go anymore and then VERY quickly is ready to start again!
Thank you GOD for blessing us with such a fun loving happy girl!

Disclaimer

I have been putting off updating because I am SO FAR BEHIND!! Also...it hit me that this next portion of time I need to update on- from December to February was the hardest time of this year. We had the girls birthday's with no party, no family, or friends to celebrate. It literally broke this mommy's heart. They never knew the difference and will not remember it....it was all me and once I took a good hard look at it realized how silly I was being. Really??? I was sad and depressed over a SEASON in my life???? One that God has used as a time for pruning of my heart, my life, and our priorities...and man did we need it!

We have been incredibly blessed by our church here in Raleigh. I mean they have blown our socks off~ We have NEVER been around so many people that actually LIVE OUT what they believe. It has been wonderful. Such an example for us. I will share examples later on but I better get to the update or six more months will pass and I will never have posted about Lauren's third birthday LAST December! haha!