Daddy/Daughter Dance

This weekend Wade and Nora had a Daddy/Daughter dance at her school.  To say she was excited would be an understatement!!  She's been talking and planning it for a month (about as long as she's been talking about Valentine's Day).  We knew we were gonna have to make it a big deal for her.

He got her a corsage to complete her perfect little party dress.  Then, he took her out to eat at her favorite Chinese place.  She LOVES Chinese Food!  Then, it was off to the dance.

Afterwards he took her for ice cream.  Well, he actually took her to buy her favorite ice cream and then they brought it home to share.

When they got home she was SO very excited.  She was talking 100 miles per minute about all the fun they had and all the friends she saw and how Daddy picked her up to dance and how she gave him a big kiss.  

She's one lucky little girl to have a Daddy that just adores her and I think the feeling is mutual! :)

 You know I had to do a little "mini-shoot" so here are some pics from before the dance...

 

And the sad little girl that got left behind...

Heartbreaking isn't it?  But don't worry, she got over it when we made AND ate sugar cookies!! :)

The Valentine's Day that wouldn't quit!

 Valentine's Day was kind of a big deal around here!!  Nora has been excited about it for about a month and her excitement was kind of contagious.  It started the weekend before when Nora and Wade gave me a "heart attack"!  I was with Audrey at a bday party for her friend and when I came back they surprised me.  They cut out a bunch of hearts and put them on the back of the door.  Nora was being so patient waiting for me to find it, but how often do I look at the back of the door?  She eventually told me that she needed to show me something and BOOM...there it was!  So cute!  I loved it!  It's still up there, too!

 

That afternoon, Nora told Wade, "Mommy cooks for us all the time, I think we need to go out for dinner so that she can have a GREAT February."  I was down with that!!!  She's so sweet and thoughtful OR does she just know what to say to get her way?  That little girl LOVES to go out to eat.  It's kind of funny!

On Sunday I decided to make the girls some valentines day shirts!  They picked their material from scraps and I went with it!  I got the idea here except just cutting out a heart was easier than cutting out a word! :)  Audrey has a skirt that matched her heart, but Nora had nothing and everything needs to be even around here so I had the idea of putting ruffles on a pair of Nora's pants.  I seriously don't know what got into me.  I guess I was feeling adventurous!  My mom taught me how to make a ruffle during Christmas, so I thought it would be super easy.  It wasn't that hard, but did take a lot longer than I anticipated.  Oh well!

  

The final project was totally worth it!!  Being a mother/photographer I've learned the art of quickie photo sessions with my kids.  Seriously, If I cant take the picture withing 60 seconds it's not gonna happen.  I have to admit, I'm totally SHOCKED Elise cooperated at all!!!  SHOCKED, I tell you!!

 

last year I downloaded some freebie photoshop templates for vday cards for the girls at eighteen25.  This year I figured I would do it myself...why not??  So these are the ones I made and I also shared the love with my fans on my photography fan page!! It was so fun to see how many people liked them and downloaded them! fun, fun!!!

 Nora with her's and the special handmade valentine's that she made for each of her classmates!

This is all Elise really cared about during valentines day!  She REALLY loves candy, or just food in general!

My sweet Audrey with hers!  Look at that mischievous face!! :) 

We made cookies (by "we"I mean "I") the night before to pass out during Nora's lunch and during Audrey's V-day party!!

Nora get's so excited when I go to lunch with her!

Audrey's class sang us some "love" songs!:)

After school we headed off to a Valentine's day tea party.  You can check that out here!   But first, I had to leave a little gift for the Hubby!!  Nothing crazy or over the top, but I had to let him know I was at least thinking of him amongst the chaos of a busy Valentine's Day!!

 That night we came home and made mini heart shaped pizza's.  The girls helped shaped them and then added their favorite topping which were pretty much the same as the toppings I gave them...coincidence??  LOL! :)

Final product!

The fam!  Ya know, every once in a while I have to throw in a picture of me so you know I really exist!!

After dinner Wade gave us a treat!!  He brought home some Little Debbie valentine brownies!!  He knows they way to our hearts! :)

To top it off, at the end of the night I got into bed only to find a package of Ferrero Rocher's!! They are the BEST chocolates on earth!  YEP!  We are a chocolate loving family!!! :)

It was one HECK of a Valentines day for us!!  I hope they LOVED every  minute of it, but now I'm pooped!!

Now, on the St. Patricks day...just kidding!  I'll just make sure they have on some green and that'll be about it! :)

Bowling = Family Fun

Last Monday Wade had a social with his class and they chose to go to the bowling center on post.  It was Dollar night meaning drinks, hotdogs, fries, shoe rental, and games were ALL only $1.  That's right down our alley (no pun intended, or is it?)! 

Anyway, the crowd consisted of us and a few of his classmates.  We got a lane to ourselves, b/c let's face it, who wants to share a lane with a bunch of kids, right?  Well, the jokes on them, b/c we had bowling bumpers which pretty much means your gonna have a great game!!   I bowled better than I had in years.  LOL!  I couldn't help but remember that semester in college where I took bowling as an elective, for credit no less!  Ha! 

The girls really enjoyed themselves.   Excuse the iphone quality pics.  I really need to start taking my REAL camera places, but my phone is just SO MUCH easier.  I need a 4s...that's what it boils down to! :)

Elise started acting all crabby and throwing fits and then it dawned on us that perhaps she wanted her turn at bowling.  Well, that was it.  She was much happier after having her turn with the ball.  She even seemed to get "taking turns"  that little girl continuously blows our minds!!

Nora loved it as always.  She's a pretty competitive little girl!!  But I won, bahahahaha!! I know, better mother's would let their 6 year old win, but I had to prove the success of my TROY university education, right??

Audrey LOVED using the little dragon slide to bowl with.  once she let go of the ball she would sit on it and watch and THEN react to her score.  Sometimes with excitement and sometimes with a pout.  She's such her mother's daughter.  We wear our emotions on our sleeves! :)

It was such a fun family night.  We need to do that more often!  For some reason I never think about bowling.  But after spending about $25 for dinner and bowling, you just can't go wrong!!

Eight is GREAT

Ok, first!!  Look at that picture, It just looks old.  It's only been 8 years!!  But, in our defense, this was right before the digital boom.  Maybe some photographers were digital, but ours weren't!  UGH, if I could only go back...well, I'd pretty much change everything about that day, not just the photographer.  Of course, I'd keep the groom, but I would change my dress, my hair, my makeup, my veil, and my shoes.  I loved my cake and flowers and the church was beautiful!!  I wanted to be "me" on my wedding day, but sometimes I wish I "overdid" it. I mean, it's only one day in your life. I wish I would have had lot's of make-up, false eye lashes, funky shoes, something special with my hair. and I would have spent a LOT longer on the dress hunt.  I was never one of those girls that dreamed about her wedding day.  But I've dreamed of redoing it for years.  HAHAHA!  So funny how much we change over the years, well, in some ways anyway! :)  I guess my brain was so full of love mush to really care.  But, the reception was BEAUTIFUL!!  That's all thanks to my great friends that helped make it magical.  They really outdid themselves and Katherine Shores, she ran the show!  I am thankful to all of them!!

Anyway, last night Wade and I celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary!!  Yup, you can tell we're eight years in as we ate dinner with the family, put the girls into bed an hour early, cozied up with sparkling cherry juice (a little different, but yummy) and Hershey's kisses, and caught up on the latest episodes of House.  We did at least make a toast and sweet Wade brought flowers home for me, but that's the extent of it.  We talked and laughed at the 8 years gone by and how were just that old boring married couple.

Far from the lavish exotic Caribbean getaway that we swear one day we're gonna have, far from the diamond ring I know I'm eventually just gonna have to buy myself and show him what he bought me (he, he).  But, I must say, there's a certain peace that comes along with being that boring married couple.  Knowing that we are "GOOD"  heck, I think we're "GREAT"!!  We've had our ups and down.  I find him incredibly frustrating at times, but he always find me to be perfect.  HAHA, yeah right! :)  If you're married, you know...It can really be challenging at times, but right now in our 8th year, I feel like we're a well greased machine.  We work well with one another and have also learned to be very forgiving of one another!!  I'm sure there are hard times ahead, but right now, we're "GOOD"!! :)

And don't worry,  we're gonna celebrate a little more appropriately this weekend, but tonight it was low key and I LOVED it! :)

 This is a pic of our first dance!!  Home by Chantal Kreviazuk.  I still love that song.  It is still exactly how I feel about Wade.  We didn't know each other very long before we were married, but he instantly felt like "HOME" and still does!!

 One more thing I wanted to share on this blog post.  A good friend of Wade's came to the wedding and gave a toast.  I had never met Jonathan or his wife, but we instantly became friends.  In fact,the men and the kids just had a camping trip together this past summer and Jonathan and I celebrated our birthday together (with our families, of course, lol) in Sept.  It's AWESOME living closer to them.  They are awesome people and I'm so happy I married into that friendship! :)

Anyway, I wanted to share that toast, b/c It was AMAZING! Somehow a toast that was mostly about Wade made me feel like the most special woman in the world.  I couldn't' believe the amazing man I just married.  I was LUCKY!

 Thanks Jonathan for your special words.  I've kept them all these years!!

Here it is:

"We find so much to be wrong with the world today.  God didn't intend it to be like this...I don't think anybody did.  We find so much about it to be disheartening.  And that's why when we find something special, it's like a breath of fresh air.  I'm not here to talk about all the wrong. You could turn on the news and get that.  I'm here to talk about what's good and right in the world; Wade and Nicole!  Wade and I were roommates during one of the toughest years of our lives.  It's those tough times that you see the true measure of a person; and Wade is a giant.  This man goes beyond following dreams, he leads them.  He spent 3 years serving his country as an enlisted member and then decided he wanted more...more opportunity for the rest of his life...he never settled for less than his best.  And that where we met and became brothers, at the Air Force Academy.  There's nothing that could have stopped Wade from completing that goal and moving on to the next.


He created himself an ideal life and he did that with Nicole in mind (and I'll get back to that in a second).  See, Wade was not your typical guy.  He knew someone special would come along.  He went through those years not chasing women like many guys did in college, he was a true gentleman.  He knew there was no reason to chase.  Why chase the wrong thing when he knew God would lead him to the right one?  And that's where we end up...today...the right thing, Wade and Nicole, a breath of fresh air. 


That ideal world that Wade created for Nicole was paved before he ever knew her name.  He knew his dream girl was out there.  He knew his princess would arrive.  And now, Wade's dreams are Nicole's, and Nicole's, Wade's.  May they have a long lives not only for the simple reason that they can spend many long years being God's example to what this world should be, just as my beautiful wife and I plan to do, but because the world needs people like Wade and Nicole.


To what's honest, true, and right about this world...Wade and Nicole"

Seriously, my jaw was dropping.  I'd never met him and he said something beautful like that. It was a great way to start our life together! :)

Happy EIGHT years to us!! :)

thoughts about us

I'm gonna start with this picture... 

To you it may look like some over the top brownies and well, yeah, they were!!  But to me, they were something more!  They meant that someone was thinking of me.  A friend made me these after I helped her arrange her family pictures on her wall.  This same friend also knew I was struggling lately with feeling overwhelmed and anxious!  Nothing SUPER major I guess.  Our house in Arkansas has been vacant for almost 4 months after our renters skipped out on the lease.  And the hubs is facing unemployment.  He's currently training (through the AR national guard) here at FT. Gordon.  We were supposed to be here 18 months so he quit his job in Arkansas.  After his other training course was dropped (not surprising...that's how the military rolls.  Never get comfy with anything) we're left to find employment by the end of March. 

I have NO doubt we will get renters and I have NO doubt my hubby will find a job by then.  But the worry and the "what-ifs" and the waiting can be so OVERWHELMING, can't they?  I've had to really learn to rely on the Savior.  Prayers and fasting and reading have all helped me to, "Be still, my Soul".  You know that hymn?  We sang it today at church and we'll, it's pretty much AWESOME!!  I just love that first line..."Be still, my soul", PERFECT!!!   Only my loving savior can comfort me at times!

I have to say though, friends come in at a close second!!  :)  You see, when my friend brought me those brownies, just the idea that someone was thinking about me meant SO much.  Now, let it be known, I have many other friends that have listened and offered a kind word or two or twenty. But there's just something about an act of service that can really sooth your soul!! 

 One more thing before I move on the fun stuff, While in the midst of my trial, I realized that we all have trials.  Some bigger, some smaller, but they are ours nonetheless!  I ran across this saying and I LOVE it!  It's just so true!

  It makes me sad to know that so many others are struggling too for one reason or another.  But, ultimately, that's what life is about. But the good news is that we have a Loving Father in Heaven that loves us unconditionally and a Savior that took upon the sins of the World.  I mean, He really knows how we have all felt at sometime or another.  Also, we have each other, we can help comfort and uplift one another when times get low.  I am so thankful the Lord has blessed me with such  wonderful friends and family!!  For REALS!!! :)

OK, moving on...

These little girls are  SO silly.  They have to sit on the same side of the table at every meal.  There's 3 other sides, but they all want to sit together.  Elise is always in the middle!

Wade took Audrey and Nora to see the "Princess and the Pea"at a local theater.  They loved it.  It's pretty much an old run down theater downtown.  You can bring in your own snacks and it's VERY affordable!  I took the girls in the fall to see "Cinderella".  They enjoy it so much!  It's so magical to them.  I'm not gonna lie, kind of lame from an adult point of you.  But SO fun for me to see them get so giddy about it! :)

This is how Elise goes down the stairs.  I would show the video, but I don't put videos on my blog, b/c can't put a video in a blog book.  A picture speaks a million words!!  I'll just keep my videos on my external hard drive to view whenever I want.  Ok, I digress...anyway, she just slides all the way down on her tummy.  None of my other kids did this.  They would just try to take tiny steps one by one.  Elise has just found a more efficient way to get down.  Ya know, she has to keep up with her big sisters!!

 

Nora is such a little artist.  She just starts to do little crafts without my knowledge.  This day she started making a boarder to go around her room.  I LOVED the chevron pattern she came up with.  VERY "in " right now! hehe! :)

this is also from the crafty mind of Nora Bolinger!  She decided, on her own accord, that she wanted to make hand made valentines for each of her classmates.  After she had done about 15 i realized what she was doing.  I was AMAZED!  She spelled each of their names (or her idea of how their names are spelled...lol). and written a little note complete with "Love, Nora".  She has totally turned into this thoughtful, helpful, and loving 6 year old.  It's amazing to think about 3 years ago she was driving me CRAZY!!!  :)  I just love watching these little girls of mine grow!!

 

A few more things I want to remember.  I mean, I can't take pics of EVERYTHING, OK?!  :)

I took Audrey to a mommy and me gymnastics class.  To say she LOVED it was an understatement.  She talked about it ALL day.  She can't wait to go again.  She is still talking about it all day!  I kind of feel bad I haven't had her in something like it before.  But I guess between all the chaos of 3 little kids, I just didn't think about it.  To be fair, I have thought about it, I guess I just didn't think it would matter that much.  But, BOY was I wrong!!  I'm so excited that we have found something that she seems to love, for now anyway! 

Elise is SO funny!  She is a VERY empathetic child.  The other day all 3 girls we outside playing when Audrey fell and hurt herself.  She sat down on the patio and was crying.  When Wade went outside he found Elise huddled over Audrey rubbing her back trying to console her.  Elise was visibly upset by it as well, so when Wade walked outside Elise ran to Wade to be comforted b/c her sister was upset!  Silly little girl.  Poor Audrey, who was actually hurt, had to wait to be comforted.  But, I guess Elise WAS hurt emotionally.  I was impressed that a 14 month little baby was aware that her sister was hurting and trying to comfort her.  I LOVE sisters!!