Friday, May 31, 2013

Savannah's Blessing Day

A baby blessing is always a special occasion, but it's even more special when it's your own baby.  Darwin gave Savannah a beautiful blessing, and we've gotten many compliments from people in our ward on how beautiful they thought it was.  One sweet lady even sent us a nice little note in the mail!  Ya done good, Babe! ;)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who got up early and traveled to be with us.  And another HUGE thank you to Gamma Deming who made Savannah's beautiful heirloom dress that she can use for her girls when they get their special blessing too!  (We'll take more/better pictures of Savannah in her dress soon.)  The whole day was wonderful and we were so blessed to have many of our family members and friends join us for Savannah's special day.  Having our family and friends there who couldn't make it would be the the only thing that would have made the day better.

Our beautiful princess all bathed but not quite ready to get in her special dress yet
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I will always regret that we didn't get better pictures from the day Aurora was blessed, but I was honestly a little overwhelmed and we were all exhausted after church.  Either way, we can't go back and take more.  So...we made sure to get nice pictures of Savannah's blessing day!

Our family after church - Aurora was being a bit of a stinker so this is the best picture we got
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Aurora was done with pictures, so we booted her out but got a nice one of the three of us!
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Daddy and Vannah
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Mommy and Vannah
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Vannah with Gamma Deming--the master behind the creation :)
Isn't Savannah's dress so beautiful?
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We had a BBQ luncheon at Dar's parents house, which was a fabulous idea and the weather and the company were great!  The kids certainly enjoyed themselves on the teeter-totter.
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 Couldn't resist posting this one - Aurora hugging Mr. P--they're such good buds!  Good thing too!  They're going to get married someday so Tracee and I can be in-laws :)
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After most of our guests left, Aurora got her hands on the camera.  She doesn't do too bad of a job sometimes!
Hannah and Nanny
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Rori's toes :)
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Daddy and Vannah again
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I don't even remember her taking this picture.  Haha!
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She loves flowers, or what she calls "fowlers" :)
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And, that's a good one to end with.  Thanks again to all of you lovely friends and family members who came to support us, and for those of you who would have been there if you could have.  We wished we could have invited all our friends from our ward to join us for our yummy BBQ too, but we have so many wonderful friends at church we would have ended up inviting half the ward!

We're so glad we have you, Miss Savannah Belle.  Thank you for making our family more complete and for making our lives more beautiful with your precious spirit!  We love you!

Friday, May 24, 2013

5.22.13 - 2 months!

Yep, Savannah is two months old already!  I can't believe she's been with us for two months.  Where does the time go?  We love our sweet little Savannah so very much and she's getting to be more and more fun every single day.
Savannah's two month stats:
Weight: 11 lbs 9.5 oz (56%)
Length: 23 inches (73%)
Head: 38 cm (41%)
Savannah at 2 months old
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 Savy with our amazing doctor, who we love dearly
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At two months:
-Savannah is a smiley girl!  She gives the biggest, most beautiful smiles ever!  Her smiles completely melt my heart. (We still have yet to catch her smiles on camera though.)
-She is such a good sleeper at night.  She usually only gets up once to eat, sometimes twice, and frequently gives me 7 hour stretches.  I certainly appreciate getting my sleep too!
-She loves to be snuggled and held as much as we're able to.
-She's pretty tolerant of tummy time and getting really strong--she can hold herself up really well.
-She holds her head up really well on her own.
-She has the most munchable cheeks that I can't help but kiss a gazillion times a day.
-She is loved tremendously by her big sister, who always feels terrible when she accidentally hurts her.
-She recognizes Mom and Dad's voices and will turn to look at us when we walk in the room.
-She's studious like Aurora was, and especially likes to study people.
-She's starting to "coo" more and I love listening to her little stories :)
-She drools a TON!  I hope it's not a sign of early teething.  She certainly likes to munch on her hands though.
-When she decides she's hungry, you'd think she was starving by the way she practically screams for food!
-She's growing like a weed and she's almost too big for her baby bath tub already.
-She loves to hold onto my hair whenever she can get her hands on it.
-She's starting to lose the hair on top of her head but it's sticking around really well in the back.  Dar said we should nickname her "Monk" because it looks like a Monk hair-do :)
-She loves to look at the family pictures hanging on the wall in our living room.  She seems to focus the most on Nastassia's picture.
-She loves looking at lights and especially fans--they make her smile.
-She's so pleasant and has such a mild temperament.  She's a calm, happy baby!
Happy 2 months, baby girl!
P.S.  I just looked at Aurora's 4 month post, and Savannah is almost the same size at two months that Aurora was at 4 months.  No wonder I feel like Savannah isn't as teeny--she isn't!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Running with Angels 2013

On Saturday we had the opportunity to participate in the Running with Angels 5k at Thanksgiving Point Gardens again.  It was a very different experience from last year--all because of the weather, but that's okay.  We still enjoyed ourselves and the opportunity to run walk in honor of our sweet angel baby, Nastassia Grace.

Savannah all bundled up and ready to go
This was her 2nd 5k (in the rain), and only 8 weeks old!
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We got there just in time for the dove release, and I cried a little bit.
There was a rogue dove that flew the opposite direction as the rest of the group--it kind of made me giggle
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Us girls ready for the action--and starting out dry :)
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Miss Aurora all set with her snacks
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Part of the crowd and the storm that would shortly hit us
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I had every intention of taking pictures of the pretty flowers in the Gardens because I knew we'd be walking the 5k this year, and because we missed the Remembrance Walk the week before (which was actually held at a different location this year) and I was SO disappointed we missed it.  I was seriously looking forward to going again, but the invitation didn't come in the mail until the afternoon of the walk, after it had already happened.  Big bummer!  Pictures in the Gardens didn't happen though because it was raining/pouring on us before we even reached the 1st mile mark and it continued the entire time, and we didn't want to get our camera wet, not to mention it was a bit cold and we were trying to hurry as fast as we could to get the babies out of the rain.  By the end of the race it was hard to find a dry spot on us.  Luckily we have BFFs who let us borrow their awesome stroller cover so Aurora stayed dry (thanks a MILLION, you guys!) and I had Savannah covered too, so she didn't get wet either.

One thing that was super disappointing was that our "In Memory of" bibs that we made last year got wet and the ink completely smeared.  We were hoping to hang on to those as keepsakes.  I guess we'll just have to print t-shirts or something next year.  The bibs we made last year:
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Our soggy selves after the race--still smiling!
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Our family 2012
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We miss you, Nastassia, and certainly think of you often.  We love you!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mother's Day

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Dar made me a delicious breakfast (not in bed because we have to get up early to go to church, otherwise it would have been in bed), the best breakfast burritos he's ever made!  Aurora stood at the counter to watch and the silly little girl added her own special touch to the eggs but spitting her grape juice into the mixture before Dar was able to get it on the stove.  Dar did his best to remove the regurgitated juice and the eggs turned out great!  You couldn't even taste the grape juice! ;)  My sweet husband gave me some beautiful two-toned red and yellow roses, and my early Mother's Day gift was the "Savannah" charm for my beautiful necklace I got last year.  Just what I wanted!
Aurora's "nacho salad" she ate created after church
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 After what was supposed be nap time, we went with Dar's parents and brother to visit his grandma.
Four generations!
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Savannah and Great-Grandmother Jennings--she'll be 92 in July
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After our visit with Great Grandmother, we went to Papa and Gamma's house for our delicious Mother's Day dinner--Savannah had her first experience on the porch swing
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Aurora's new favorite way to swing :)
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And since she wasn't hungry when dinner was ready (probably because we all ate too many sweets) Aurora made some pretty great art work on the kitchen floor!
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Thanks, Bunches, for making it such a great day and for giving me our beautiful girls who've made me a mom.  Love you!

Cinco de Mayo

This little lady's first day at church.  Apparently it wiped her out.
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I had really hoped she'd sleep through church like Aurora did the first 3 weeks we brought her, but Savannah doesn't like her car seat as much as Aurora did--we will not be bringing the car seat again, it's pointless and a monster to carry around with everything else we have to bring--and was awake and fussy for a while, but otherwise she did great!  It's so nice to feel like we can take her out now, although we're still cautious about letting people hold her.
My sweet, exhausted babies :)
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New BeeZee's

Our BeeZee's--what Aurora lovingly calls bees :)--didn't do so great last year.  It was pretty disappointing for everyone.  The original hive we got two years ago is still going strong, but on its second queen.  We started a second hive last year which started out okay but after a couple weeks the queen somehow went MIA and we ended up going through 3 or 4 queens just for that one hive--that hive died over the winter.  Either way, we didn't get to harvest any honey last year, but apparently it was a bad honey year for a lot of people.  BIG bummer!

A few weeks ago, we picked up another new package of bees to try out a second hive again this year.  Aurora got her first bee sting at the warehouse where we picked up the bees.  It was pretty sad, but she did awesome! She was even excited about it when Dar congratulated her on her first bee sting.  Haha.  She still tells people she got her first "bee stung" and shows her fingers.  It was a good starter-sting because we're pretty sure the bee was dead--she just fell on it and got the stinger in her finger but she didn't get the full impact of the venom.  Her finger was a bit red and a little swollen for a while, but Dar was just thrilled she doesn't seem to be allergic :)

Installing the new bees this year went a lot more smooth compared to last year's experience, just because the sugar water can came out so well this time.  Dar was pretty happy about it, and we're all hoping and praying we get a good honey harvest this year!

Thousands of bees huddled in that tiny box and ready for a new home!
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Dar's cute audience sitting a safe distance away, just in case :)
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Removing the sugar water
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Taking out the queen box
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Slamming the box down to get all the bees down to the bottom--it doesn't hurt them, and they don't even really get mad either, surprisingly.
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The rest of the pictures came out fuzzy for some reason, but after that he just shook the bees into the hive box, fed them a pollen patty and gave them some more sugar water to help them get started on making that delicious and nutritious honey!  So far they seem happy and busy--hopefully a good sign and hopefully we'll have better luck this year!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Our little ladybugs

My mom gave Aurora this build-a-bear ladybug when she was born
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Pretty cute, huh?
But I think it looks even more cute on these two :)

Aurora, almost 3 months
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Savannah, 1 month
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Thursday, May 9, 2013

April 2013 Round-up

**Warning!  This is a long post with lots of pictures as I try to play catch-up for April :)**

Darwin got a big scouting award!  About a year and a half ago he attended Wood Badge, a week long training for scout leaders.  As part of the training, each leader had to make 5 goals called "tickets" and complete them within a given amount of time.  Darwin has had a lot going on, but he was able to complete his goals and earn his Wood Badge beads.  His dad was able to present him with his beads because he also has completed the Wood Badge training.  Darwin's dad was his Scoutmaster when he was young and it has made a huge impact on his life.  Darwin also received the Scoutmaster's Training Award that same evening.  It was a special night and I'm so proud of Darwin for accomplishing such a huge task with everything else he has had on his plate.  Yay, honey!  I'm so proud of you!
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Aurora is so much fun these days.  She's always making us laugh with her silliness and surprising us with her smart little sassy self.  Here's what Aurora's been up to this last month:
Practicing getting herself dressed
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She ate her first smore!  A Peep-smore even.  Lucky girl!
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That's not dirt.  She ate part of a black crayon.  Probably not the best thing for her diet ;)
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Alphabet soup in the bath tub
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Playing with mom's scarves
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Cutie :)
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 Balloon in the bathtub--she had a blast with this!
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Washing her dishes in the sink all by herself.  I think this is a new favorite thing to do.
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I frequently find her barbies like this after nap time :)
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Lining up shoes and nail polish--I hope this isn't a sign of OCD.  Mine is bad enough to deal with!
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Eating the dessert nachos I made a couple weeks ago.  They were pretty tasty if I do say so myself! :)
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Savannah is such a little sweetie!  It's amazing how much she changed from the beginning of April to the end.  I already feel bad that we're not taking as many pictures and videos of her as we did of Aurora.  Such is life as the 2nd child, I guess.
Playing peek-a-boo :)
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Love those beautiful little peepers!
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Lots of snoozing!
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Wearing an outfit I wore when I was a baby :)
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Sunday afternoon nap with Dad
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Our little sleeping princess
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She likes to sleep with her face covered sometimes
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Well, that pretty much covers our miscellaneous April pictures.  Stay tuned for more posts to come (when I get more blogging time, of course).