A City Life For Me

I just completed part four of our 2012 year in digital scrapbook layouts, and I ordered the pages printed in a Photo Book from Shutterfly .  After trying several different photo book websites, Shutterfly is the only one I use now!  I think their site is the easiest to use, their prices are the best, and the product is superb.  They have a widget now that lets me share my completed book in digital form, so take a look! Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Today I’m thankful for good friends!  Last weekend we had the blessing of spending some time with college friends.  Our friends Donny & Erika live in Connecticut, and Samantha and her husband Doug live in New Hampshire.  We all met at Erika’s house for a fun day!  There was lots of yummy food, quite a few babies, toddlers running all over, a couple games of Settlers of Catan, and a plate of delicious Samoa Brownies!  It was a great, relaxing day.  The kids even did well in the car! Elaine is really into the Lone Ranger.  Erika made her day when she brought this dinosaur down from the attic.  It looks much more like a horse than the rocking chair does! Kevin didn’t want to be left out of the fun! Kevin, Erika, Donny, and Cassie The “big” kiddos – Nolan (2), Cassie (21 mo.), Kevin (3), and Elaine (3.5)   Samantha, Erika, and I were friends in college. This was the first time I met Sam’s husband Doug.  The...

:: Elaine washed the breakfast dishes {I only helped a little at the end} :: Nehemiah helped put out the fire :: Nehemiah loves playtime! :: Little Man – working hard on this “potty chair” thing

All of my kiddos really like bath time, but Liberty and Nehemiah particularly enjoy the water!  Liberty can be screaming her head off one second, but as soon as her toes touch the water she is smiling and calm! It would seem like a good idea to bathe both kiddos together, but sometimes it is just more of a mess!  Twice as many clothes to remove, twice as many opportunities to get peed on, and twice as much screaming because the baby is cold after they come out of the water!  It didn’t take them long to start “fighting” while I prepared the bath water today! “Truce” And this was before she got in the water! Love her eyes! Bath time done!

When Elaine was about 18 months old, I printed off some uber basic memory verses to teach her.  They were short, partial verses like, “Be ye kind” or “God is love.”  I put an icon or picture on each verse to help her learn by association and understand the verses better.  I think we had 8 or 10 verses to learn.  She did very well, and now I am using those verses with Nolan. But this summer Elaine was encouraged several times to learn longer verses.  She got to participate in our Summer Adventure Club at church, and she learned a verse each night (trying to win the grand prize for her age group).  I was impressed with how easily she learned the verses.  Then she learned all of Romans 6:23 for a friend’s VBS program.  She then quoted it to Grandma, Pastor, and her Sunday School teacher too.  And now each Sunday she wants to go to Sunday School and know her verse. For a while I have wanted to do ABC memory verses.  But all of the ones I...

My kiddos have been watching the old, original episodes of “The Lone Ranger” show.  I started putting it on in the hopes that Nolan would want to be a cowboy instead of a princess.  But…it was Elaine that picked up on the show!  She is always the Lone Ranger and Nolan is Tonto (usually dressed as a princess).  I have the theme song on one of my cowboy soundtracks, so I put the music on for them the other day when we were cleaning.  Now they love to dance to the Lone Ranger!  (It’s the William Tell Overture). This video is a little long, but it’s mostly for the grandparents to enjoy!

We love to play dress-up around here… Nolan is inspecting his wardrobe… And a Happy 32nd Anniversary to my parents! Apparently my mom has aged better than my dad…Elaine looked at this picture and said, “Mommy, who did Grandma get married to?”

I tried taking some pictures the other day, but this was the best one I came up with.  Liberty just didn’t want to smile, but I was determined to capture it this month! …and I finally succeeded!  She is definitely more stingy with her smiles than her brother, but a little conversation brings the smile right out! This is more of the typical expression we see these days! I finally found a headband at the store that was small enough to stay on her head!  I love the big flower look! This is the “Little Old Man” He didn’t really want to smile at me today, so this is the best I came up with! His toes are always in motion – I love them! Nehemiah was determined to stick his hand up in the air like that.  What a ham!

A conglomeration from the past couple of weeks… Our friend Grant is determined to make Yankees fans out of the twins.  He snuck into the nursery during the service and changed their clothes into these shirts!!! But being a Yankees fan is tough work! This little man smiles through every day! Nolan is potty training!  {Shoot me now…I must be crazy!} Nolan was so proud of himself for making a tent for Liberty! Outfits from Auntie Mere Sitting in the Bumbo for the first time!

{Read part 1 here} On Saturday Elaine and I joined Grandma Fezzi and Auntie Mere and some friends for the annual Pittsfield Garden Tour.  My mother-in-law has been attending this every year for some time now.  She started a tradition of decorating a new hat to wear each year.  Her group of ladies have become known as the “hat ladies”.  Ever since I found out about it, I have wanted to attend.  But…there was always something else on the agenda.  So this year I finally got to attend!  And I got a special treat because Elaine came along too. Me, Mom Hamilton, Mere, and Elaine We thought it was going to rain, but the Lord held it off until the tour was done.  We saw some amazing gardens!  It made me a bit jealous, and I found myself wishing I lived in the country!  There were seven stops on the tour this year.  We broke for lunch at Lauren Johnson’s house halfway through. :: The Hat Ladies :: Michelle & Sarah...