surgery.

well, the date has been set ~ April 20. that will be the day Zoey has her open heart surgery. that will be the day that her heart defect is repaired. it's a day I've waited for. a day I can't wait to have behind us. a day to be in much prayer for.

FoUr ...

well, here it is: my first attempt at photos of all four of my children - together! I can't say the results are too outstanding, but finally it's been done! They are cute and they absolutely have character ... I believe I'll treasure these photos - not because they're excellent photos - but because they show a moment I always want to remember! My girls ... my boys ... all together ... on our couch ... in the living room. My camera battery died, so only these first two are with the "good" camera ... but the show had to go on, and I'm so glad it did because that last photo (the one of Jericho and Zoey) is absolutely precious. He was very proud to finally get to hold his baby sister for the first time. Annicka, Jericho, Liam, and Zoey - you are a treasure to me. You are each a very special blessing given to me by God. You are each important and so very much loved.

last Saturday ...

last Saturday we (Liam, Jericho, Annicka, Nana, and Mama) went to a very fun event ... a pancake breakfast and egg hunt! it was a lot of fun and it was nice that it was right here on base, I was a little worried I might not make the effort to get my kids to an egg hunt ... and I know, that's so NOT what Easter is about, but it's still a super fun thing for them! they had a ton of fun. they pictures are awful, I really need to pay better attention to my battery on the good camera - since I don't have a back up - I'm just trying to be thankful, though, that I have a back up camera, even if the photo quality is so bad in comparison. so, here's our pics from that morning!

can you feel the love?

too cute, he was acting out a scene - at least that's how it seemed ;-)

he was the only one who would cooperate for a pic with Mama

lovin on Nana

he's so darn cute!!!

Liam loved, and I mean LOVED, the egg hunt!
he was awesome and shaking the eggs was his favorite part,
I think - lol! later when it was the big kids turn he
was going around finding more (shh, he wasn't supposed to)!

yes, I forgot their buckets - duh!
but here's Liam with his treasure!
note my thumb sucking son in the background!!

then it was the big kids' turn

then Liam decided to run off from Nana - boy was
he having a ball, so I followed him and tried
to capture some of his joy to be free and run all over!

tallying up the treasures!

no offense to red-heads ...

but Jericho just said the funniest thing! He's been building with "blocks" all morning and came out with some sort of ship or something with one of the little guys on it and he says something about him being a bad guy, cause he has an angry face ... then he goes, "well, achally [actually] he has a happy face but he has red hair so he's mean"! LOL! I seriously cracked up, like I wonder what makes him think that! Ha ha ha, just had to share!

goodbye (for now) to a good friend ...

so, one of my most treasured friends came and visited us! she was here all last week, but do you think I took photographs of her - um, no. I waited until the day she was leaving to finally get some pics of her with all my kids! How bad am I? She had a little good-bye photo shoot and took turns with each of my kiddos. Leslie is a very special friend to me, we've been friends for fourteen years! Those years have provided challenges and I believe we each know the best and worst of each other, she's absolutely seen me at my worst and loves me anyway ... that's why she's so special. She prays for me and I pray for her and we have a sisterly love, which is why she is "auntie Leslie" to my children! I know she'll always be there for me, and I hope she knows I'll be there for her. We love you Les, thanks so much for visiting!

please note, this is Zoey's first caught on camera smile!
she seemed to smile for everyone before she finally smiled
for me! I walked in there to take the pics and Leslie
was so excited, they were having quite the smiley chat!

and with Annicka

with sweet little Liam, he wasn't too interested
in standing still for a photo!

but this one, Jericho, was the real stinker!
he was being quite stubborn about sitting with auntie Les and
letting me take a pic, which is why I ended up with so many
of him with her! She got him smiling after planting a big
kiss on his cheek, which is when the tickle and laughing
fest began, love - LOVE - these pics!

my babies ...

I walked into my room the other day and quickly realized I had left the gate open ... Liam was sitting on my bed, quite nicely I might add, just looking at the baby! I RAN for my camera and when I returned he laid down oh so sweetly and I quickly pushed the button to capture forever the fleeting moment! These are my babies. So precious. So small (although, Liam now seems so big). I'm trying to treasure every "baby" moment I have, because I know just how fast it's over and then you're left thinking: where did the time go? Where did my baby go? I try to treasure all four of my children, for that matter, because I know that it will seem like just a minute ago when I say: where did the time go, where did my children go? I will be missing them as they move out, get married, have children of their own, and lead independent lives. But, for now, they are with me, my babies ...

here's some photos from that day I left the gate to my room open!

this morning Liam was being quite hilarious as I just snapped pic after pic! His little face still melts my heart every time I see it!



and then guess what happened??? I had my camera out, to get some photos of the little miss lookin all cute, when she decided to ...

SMILE!!!

and she just kept smiling, it was so cute!
and then, she was done!

p.s. I forgot to mention how absolutely precious it is when Liam calls her "Zoely"! ... and how hilarious it is when he tells daddy "baby nigh nigh" - that would be the times in which daddy is holding her and Liam wants some attention!