Happy Birthday Hubby

Does he look 35 years old to you? We got to spend all day with the Birthday boy due to the snow and ice outside. Brian took the 3 older kids out to play and shovel snow for a couple of hours while...

Hope sat and watched the fire in the fireplace...

I made one of Brian's favorite dishes - Beef Taco Bake (yikes, my oven is dirty) ...

and watched out the window in awe of the beautiful blanket of fresh white snow and sparkling branches covered in ice.

Later, the kids all made Birthday cards for their daddy and we enjoyed dinner with my mom and Cassie.

***************

Topic change...

Brian has declared this to be my best week of cooking ever. A couple of nights ago, I made some pancakes to have on hand for the kids' breakfasts. They were just from a boxed all purpose baking mix. Brian grabbed one off the counter and ate it with his hands (no syrup or anything) and said they were "Awesome - best pancakes he's ever had, etc.

Last night I made wild Rice and Ham Chowder and had my parents over to eat with us. This is going to be a new favorite at our house. I am really excited to have a dish that EVERYONE liked! I wanted to post a link to the recipe but I can't remember which blog I found it on.

I just remembered, last week I found a really good recipe for Enchiladas on another blog. They were delicious!

I also made some pumpkin muffins (recipe courtesy of my friend Kelli) in anticipation of a power outage. I figured they would be a good stand-by breakfast or snack if we were left in the dark! I've made them before but once again, Brian couldn't stop talking about how good they are.

You may be catching on by now that I'm not all that good in the kitchen. Thankfully, these few successful attempts are enough to distract Brian from the less than exciting menus I usually prepare. I'm a lucky lady (for many reasons)!

One month old

It's never too early to start looking for a godly spouse. So Ledger Moss and Hope put their heads together and gazed into their futrure together. What a cute couple!

Hope is now a normal part of our everyday life. We no longer find ourselves forgetting that we have her when she sleeps quietly in the corner.

While her older siblings still adore her, I no longer find myself refereeing who gets to hold her next (unless her namesake - Aunt Elizabeth - is in town.

One week later...

One week ago today Brian and I were preparing our home and family for the arrival of the new baby. I was waddling around counting the hours until I would no longer be pregnant. Brian's parents were in town, ready to meet their new granddaughter and take care of the other 3 kiddos.

November 30th has come and gone, we have our sweet girl home with us and tomorrow we get back into the swing of things. The past week has been fun and hectic. Hope brings lots of joy to us all but allows for very little sleep. The poor little angel seems to have a touch of colic.

Our Girl!

Hope Elizabeth made her grand appearance on Monday at 9:57 a.m.

She was 8 lb. 6 oz. and 20 1/4 inches.

We are so excited to finally have her here. Her brothers and sister adore her.

We can't wait to see what God has in store for her life. She is every bit his plan and we are thrilled to get to be part of it!

Some Highlights from September

Brian had to make a quick trip to OKC last weekend so we made it into a day trip for the whole family. Nana went along and we introduced her and the boys to Ethiopian food at the Queen of Sheba Restaurant. Shurabe was so excited to have Injera (Ethiopian bread they use as a utensil).

Nana wasn't quite as skilled with the Injera as Shurabe. The boys were troopers and tried all of the food that wasn't too spicy. We are all looking forward to going back for Shurabe's birthday in October. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome to come!

We had a beautiful Summer rain shower a couple of days ago. The kids were all playing outside while Brian mowed the lawn. Suddenly, it started raining so Levi and Shurabe decided to shed their shirts and take advantage of the water. Shurabe ran around singing and being silly. Levi spent most of the time chasing Shurabe and sticking his wet bottom as the rest of us. He's such a BOY!

Yesterday Shurabe got dressed in her finest dress-up attire in anticipation of a play date with her friend Nicole. Unfortunately, Nicole's whole family was sick so I just let her wear her outfit when we ran errands (however, I did make her change out of her play high-heeled shoes). She got lots of compliments at Super Wal-Mart!

This past Sunday our church family threw a shower to help us welcome baby Hope and Shurabe to our family. It was absolutely lovely. Lots of our friends and church family were there to help us celebrate our growing family. We opened a mountain of gifts in a record amount of time thanks to Shurabe's "Tazmanian Devil Technique".(The adorable diaper cake was made my Brian's cousin Rachel Barnett)

Shurabe's New "Do"

Last night Brian and I had the priviledge of taking our good friend Raynisha to the John Legend concert. It was so much fun. While there I got an education on African American hair. This morning Raynisha came by the house and braided Shurabe's hair for her. It looks so cute and Shurabe loves it. It was so much fun to see her reaction when she saw herself in the mirror!

She looks a little apprehensive in this picture because she hasn't seen the finished result.

Back to School

Today was the boys' first day of school. Kindergarten for Levi and 2nd grade for Cole! It was dreadfully stormy this morning so we all got to trek into the school through a downpour of rain trudging through a river that used to be a sidewalk. The boys looked at it as an adventure (which I think helped distract Levi from his nerves about making friends)!

We have pictures of the morning but they are on my parents' camera because we couldn't find ours this morning (I can't seem to get them to download onto our computer). Here are the "after" pictures. Both boys had a great day. When I asked Cole how 2nd grade was different he said, "I think we have more bathroom breaks." Levi made 2 friends but can't remember their names - typical 5 yr. old. We stopped for a 1/2 price Smoothie at Sonic for an after-school-snack, then headed home for some vegging out on the couches and watching MIGHTY DUCKS.

Levi is behind the boy in the blue shirt.