Happy 1st Birthday, Eden!

To our beautiful Eden:

From the moment we saw you, it was love at first sight! Daddy and I were amazed at how much you looked like your brother.

Your easy going personality was evident right from the start. You rarely cried and even slept through the night at 7 weeks old.

We think back to before you were born and can't remember our lives without you.

Throughout the past year, you've taught us about all things girly (bows, matching outfits, leggings) and made us realize just how fun (and pricey) it is to go shopping for little girls!

Your funny personality has earned you the nickname Miss Priss and you often live up to that name.You amazed us by how quickly you reached all of your milestones this past year...sitting up by 4 1/2 months, crawling by 7 1/2 months and walking the day you turned 11 months. Although you are easy going like your daddy, you definitely have a stubborn streak just like your mommy, especially when it comes to eating. You insist on being in control of anything and everything that goes into your mouth.
Your smile is infectious and warms our hearts even on our worst days!
Some of our favorite things are the way you shower us with your "kisses" and when you put your head on our shoulder for a quick snuggle.

You are very independent and play well on your own. You can keep yourself entertained for quite some time.

Unfortunately, your independence does not include cleaning up after yourself! You can make messes faster than mommy can clean them up!

You have also earned the nickname The Ninja. You are very quiet and quick and can get into trouble before we even know you are out of the room. I have often thought about buying bells to put on your shoes just so I can keep track of where you are in the house!
You have been such a blessing to us this past year and we can not imagine our family without you!

As we celebrate you turning one today, we are thankful for the memories you have given us and look forward to what lies ahead. We are proud to be your parents and love you so much it hurts.

Happy Birthday, sweet Eden!

We love you and hope that you have a wonderful day!

Mayorling Sofia Gomez

Cory and I have recently decided to sponsor a little girl from Nicaragua through Compassion International. It is something that I have wanted to do for a while now, but never followed through on.

Last week, a blogger "friend" made a trip to El Salvador to meet the little girl that her family sponsors. Because of her posts, I became inspired and finally followed through on a sponsorship.

There are so many children in underdeveloped countries waiting to be sponsored, so it was very hard to decide how to choose just one. After looking at several children, I decided to search for a child that was born on September 30th, which is the day our sweet Katelyn was born. I was hoping to find a younger child, but really didn't care how old they were, as long as the shared a birthday with her. Little did I know that the only match that came up after searching was a beautiful little girl whose birthday was September 30, 2005. Her name is Mayorling and she is the exact age that Katelyn would have been. She has been on the sponsor waiting list for over 6 months. What a blessing it is that we are going to be able to help this little girl and her family!

By sponsoring Mayorling, we will be able to help with her daily needs such as food and clothing, medical needs, and educational needs.

We will get to correspond with Mayorling through letters, and she will even write us 3 times a year. I can't wait until Parker and Eden get older and will be able to write their own letters to her, too!

September 30th is such a hard day for our family every year. It is hard to think about what Katelyn would have looked like or what kind of personality she would have had. Although nothing will ever take away of the void that Katelyn left behind, it will be nice to know that we can celebrate with another little girl in another part of the world on what has become a very memorable day in our lives.

Pooper Scooper

In addition to being the official dog feeder in our house, Parker is now the official pooper scooper, too. He has been obsessed the past few weeks with making sure our yard is free of any dog poop. Every day we have to go outside and check our yard for any new droppings that need to be removed. I wish that I could bottle up this enthusiasm for helping out and open it again in ten years when doing chores will not be quite as exciting!

The Simple Things in Life

It's the simple things in life that make me smile.

It's the simple things that make me remember how much I love being a mommy.

It's the simple things that make me want to slow down and just savor every moment with my kids, because I know it is going to pass way too quickly.

Today after their snack, Parker and Eden discovered brown paper bags. They spent the next 15 minutes walking around the house shaking their bags. Eden followed Parker around the house and copied everything she saw him doing.

Oh, to find such joy in something as simple as a brown paper bag!

It's a Small World

The last year that I taught first grade in Crowley, I had the best group of students ever. They were the kind of students that you wish you could teach every year and their parents were equally as wonderful. I still think about them all of the time.

Two of those students were McKenna and Eden. They were the best of friends and I fell in love with them instantly. They were the type of students that you think, "If I ever have a daughter, I hope that she will be just like them."

Last year when we found out that we were expecting a little girl, the quest for the perfect name began. My first suggestion was McKenna, but Cory and I couldn't agree on how to spell it. He wanted to spell it Mackenna, but I wanted to stick with McKenna, which was the way that my former student had spelled it.

After we couldn't agree on McKenna, I then suggested Eden, which we obviously agreed on. Our sweet daughter has so far lived up to her namesake.

Fast forward to today...

This morning I went on a field trip with my school to a pumpkin patch. As we were standing around waiting for the program to start, I saw a mother and her daughter from the other school that was there walk by. I looked at them and then I looked again. I turned to the teacher next to me and said, "I think that is one of my previous first grade students." Sure enough, they recognized me too and I was soon reintroduced to McKenna, who is now a beautiful 12 year old. It was so good to see her and visit with her mom. I also found out that they still keep in touch with Eden and her family.

It is such a small world.

Although I still think about McKenna and Eden all of the time, I never in a million years thought I would ever see them again. They will probably never know what an impact they made on my life and I hope that one day my own children will touch someone's life the way that McKenna, Eden and their families touched mine.

Better Late Than Never

Today I went on a field trip with my school to a pumpkin patch. It was their last day of field trips this season and they were going to throw away any pumpkin that did not get taken home with the students. Most of the students got to take home at least 2 pumpkins, and the teachers got to take some home as well. Not wanting any pumpkin to go through the fall season without fulfilling its pumpkin destiny, I picked two pumpkins and took them home to Parker and Eden.

During Halloween, time got away from us and we never got a chance to paint or carve a pumpkin. I decided today that tonight after dinner we would let Parker paint his pumpkin. He enjoyed it but only for about 5 minutes. Maybe next year, it will hold his attention a little but longer!

Tomorrow we may get brave and carve his pumpkin. Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of my favorite fall snacks and they are so much more healthy than all of the kids Halloween candy that I am still eating!

I Am SO Not a Country Girl

Yesterday we were out in the backyard playing and Cory found this by our brick fence:

He thought at first it was just a garden snake but then it started being very aggressive and lunging toward his shoe. He looked closer and realized that it was a baby rattlesnake. Apparently baby rattlesnakes are not born with their rattles and that is why we could see his tail moving but could not hear it.

Before we realized that it was a rattlesnake we had called Parker over to look at it. Once we figured out what it was, we got him away pretty quickly. We talked to him about how he is never to pick up a snake and to always come and get us if he sees one.

Cory disposed of the snake and I am just praying that the mommy snake is not also living in our backyard. I seriously laid awake thinking about it last night. I grew up free of snakes and other critters in my backyard and the thought of them creeping and crawling around in our grass really grosses me out.

I am SO not a country girl.