Preschool Splash Day!

The day before we left for Amelia Island (posts coming!), our church hosted a Preschool Splash Day! I thought it was a GREAT, simple, cheap idea. And how great to have something JUST for the little ones?! Birth-kindergarten were invited so we took Rhyan and Mack!

Mack loved the water guns... for chewing on. I totally didnt realize until a few minutes later that he was actually biting BIG chunks out and swallowing it. Wow. Ok. Great parenting skills I have! ;-)

Rhyan was tossing the rings on the little posts and Mack successfully got the ball in the hoop with a slam dunk! HA!

Rhyan loved doing this little slide into the pool. It was a little tricky b/c its a blow up slide and wasnt the most stable. She handled it well... until...

And mack LOVED the automatic bubble machine!!

... until the right side of the slide collapsed and she fell off. On her head. And her body did a back bend of sorts over the side of the pool. And her head was under water with eyes wide open as she tried to get herself turned over and get out. I was holding mack and taking this pic when it all happened. Before i could even get over there (which believe me, was FAST), she was out of the water. But i swear, that 5 seconds was like slow motion in a movie. Scared me to death!!! I literally envisioned in that 5 seconds me doing CPR on my baby girl. I know i sound dramatic, but seeing her eyes open under water and looking scared to death just about did it for me. Thank you, Jesus, she was fine. She coughed a few times, had a few red spots/scrapes on her face (from falling on concrete) but was FINE! Even wanted to keep playing! Wow.

Gotta love some WATER GUNS!!!! Girlfriend was soaking me... till I got her to start shooting pastor jeff! ;-)

The church provided pizzas, drinks, cookies and popscicles. And lord knows we needed to feed Rhyan... her bootie was so hungry it was eating her bathing suit ;-)!!!

And of course, Mikey... I mean, Mack! will eat ANYTHING!

After it was all over, we poured all the water out of the pools (yes, we would have loved to have poured it on the grass, but the pools were HEAVY!) and low and behold, our concrete is apparently not level! haha! So it made another pool of sorts! Jeff took care of it with this broom and the kids LOVED it!

We had a GREAT time and appreciate so much the effort that Karen Brunson (our childrens director) puts into making sure that kids of ALL ages feel special and have events tailored just for them!

Girls Night Out!!!

1st off, I'd like to know what the prize is for posting this before Emily, Rach and Katie got around to it. Girls, i'm SERIOUS about catching up! Be jealous... ;-)

A few weeks ago, my internet-turned-real-life-friend, Emily, came to town and stayed with us for a night. I love her visits! She's a fellow babywise mom (although much more "hardcore" than I, haha!) and I just love her honesty and sincerity. She is a genuine person and I love that about her. She's able to laugh at herself and admit her mistakes, which always makes someone more likeable!!! Especially when they're as cute as Em! (love her or hate her right?!) She loves Jesus and strives to please him in all things! She's just a wonderful, wonderful person!

Anyhoo, we planned for a GIRLS NIGHT!!! With our little blog group! HA!

I'd like to preface by saying that I adore these girls!

Rachael is one of my favorite people. She has the biggest heart of anyone I know (all of these girls do!). She's a little reporter of sorts and "isnt afraid to ask the tough questions" LOL! She loves the Lord, is honest about her relationship with Him and the struggles she faces and I promise you, she has the BEST LAUGH!!! Plus, she's gorgeous :-)

And then there is my sweet, kind-hearted, pure friend Katie. I'm telling yall, she is a jewel.  Not only is she beautiful on the outside (katie, can i please have your HAIR?!), but she, too, is one of the most genuine people I've ever met. I dont think I've ever heard her say a negative thing about someone (other than in joking). She is kind. She loves Jesus. She would give you the shirt off her back!

Emily and I had both had rough days. I had worked the morning and then gotten LOST on the way to roswell for a haircut. I drove around, following GPS's directions for 45 min, not knowing I was less than a mile from the place. Grrrrr. So i was in a BAD mood. Emily had gotten stuck in traffic and on backroads she was unfamiliar with and was pretty tired from her long drive up.

But, no lie, the minute I saw Emily, i got excited and was over my annoyances of the day! She just cheers me up! :-)

So we headed on up to meet at La Cazuela on the square in Lawrenceville at 7pm. We introduced Emily to the deliciousness of mexican food (you're welcome, Zach!) and talked and joked and got serious and then joked some more. It was wonderful. And therapeutic. I'm telling you, if I saw these girls more often, I wouldnt have to pay my counselor anymore! (i'm JOKING. I dont see a counselor. not that theres anything wrong with that.... HA!)

Emily's sexy pose (again, you're welcome, Zach)

Why were we laughing so hard?! I dont remember, but i do remember thinking "omg, i might pee on myself!" and  consciously saying to myself  "DONT SNORT!" (yes, like a piggie. yes, when i laugh hard)

The girl wont stop trying to get everyone to start wearing the sexi flips. She just had to show us ;-)

HA!!! love it!

And in my dorkiness, i INSISTED on Prom Poses :-) 

We had a very patient waiter who took these pics for us. I know he thought we were drunk (although we all had water, i promise!)

OH YEAH!!! I remember why Em and I were laughing so hard in the pic... Katie was taking the pic and was having to try to hold the camera, adjust the lens AND put one finger over one eye so she could look through the lens... otherwise her freaky little eye was staring at us. LOL! She's "special" :-)

Katie's trunk wouldnt stay closed and she was trying to get someone to come look at it (her dad, chris, etc), but it was super hero kelly to the rescue! I'm kind of obsessed with fixing things so i was really glad it worked (ps. i have NO clue what i did that worked! haha!), otherwise it would have bugged me ALL night!

And who can resist a trip to the 100 year old DQ in lawrenceville?! Certainly not EMILY!

Seriously, this little dinner out was good for my soul. I'm grateful for the friendship I share with these girls!

In the Car...

This typifies our kiddos on a long ride :-)

At least i WISH this was typical :-) HA!

But arent they just sweet?!

Babies, Babies, EVERYWHERE!

As I said in my post on the 4th of July, Liz's water broke! We got the call from them at 6am but her water had actually broken at 3:30am. I was THRILLED!!! Liz felt pretty strongly about trying to go into labor naturally (Dr Pohl is the "induction king" haha) and had reservations about being induced. Whatever a mom hopes for, I hope that they are able to see happen. 

We stayed at the mountain house until after the kids naps and then headed home.We left all our stuff up there because we planned on going back for at least a couple of days. My mom was sweet enough to stay at  our house with the kids so that we could go and be with Liz and Jason.

We got to the hospital around 8pm with a plate of food for Jason (who was not allowed to eat it in front of his laboring wife!)

Long story short, Liz was at 1cm from the time she arrived at the hospital at 5am till 10pm when they finally declared that she was at 4cm!! YAY!! 4cm is kind of a landmark because things tend to move quickly past 4cm (or so i'm told). So we continued to hang out, hope and pray that things would move more quickly and try to keep her distracted from the pain (the epidural was wearing off).

At 2am, Dr Pohl came and checked Liz again. And delivered the news that she was STILL at 4cm and that due to the lack of progression and the affect the labor was having on Baby Avery's heart rate, she needed to have a C-Section.

I could just tell that Liz was heartbroken. And I was heartbroken for her. She had labored for right at 24 hours and had hoped for a vaginal birth the entire pregnancy. To see her hopes shattered was just so sad! And on the other hand, the waiting was about to be over. We were soon going to meet this precious baby!!!

After all of the FAST prep, they then made Liz wait about 45 minutes because the O.R. was in use! Talk about anti-climatic! haha! The Poole and Ford families hung out and chatted for a looooong time. We wondered what was taking so long but tried not to worry.

Turns out, Liz's epidural wasnt as effective as it should have been and they had to knock her out completely for the delivery. I mean, could anything else have gone wrong?! :-( So the reason it took so long for Jason to come update us is that he was staying with Avery... Liz didnt even get to meet her until she was about an hour old!

But when she did, she met THIS precious gift!!!

Avery Elizabeth Ford

Born 3:39am

8lbs 1oz

Jeff and I headed on home for a couple hours of sleep and then got up, fed the kids and headed to the hospital to let them meet their new cousin!!!

Rhyan was instantly in LOVE!

Jeff was so excited about all the pictures :-)

While we were visiting Avery, we took a stroll down the hall to meet baby Kendall Jane! One of my long time friends, Lindsay (and Cody) had just welcomed their third baby to the family and we were stoked to see what a GIRL version of a Robertson looked like ;-) She had ROCKIN hair!!!

Back for more visits to see baby Avery over the next few days (when we got back from sky valley).

We are THRILLED to welcome Avery Elizabeth into our family and hearts. We are quite smitten :-)

Congratulations to Jason and Liz AND Cody and Lindsay on their precious additions!!