Rev. Dr. King!

It's official. David has earned his Ph.D. in church history from Emory. We are so excited and proud! It has been a challenging and long six years, and he has been very diligent and disciplined. I threw a little surprise party for him when he returned this morning from his defense. He was really surprised. I was worried that he might have caught onto me when I kept trying to answer the calls from real estate agents about showings today. He left about 9:30, and we had a showing at 11:00. Then, David's parents came and helped me set up tables and food. We had a wonderful time together. As Audrey told him, "Yeah, Daddy. I'm so proud of you. Now, you don't have to do any more work." 

 Neighbors: Chris and Jenn Sapp, Harry and Linda Crook

 Rhona and Chris Shaeffer (college roommate)

 Julie and Tim Pennington Russell (Pastor Julie), Chris and Amanda Faulkner (church friends)

Below: Ian and Elliott Campbell (children of Emory colleague)

 Emory cookies!

 Kaye (David's mom) made this cute cake.

 Kathryn had fun too!

 David and his dissertation of 412 pages!

We are all happy!

Summer Time!

 We celebrated Mommy's last day of school today with a mini pool party. She loved her new swimsuit and spent about an hour in the fairly cold water.

On the way to bed, she was still talking about it, making me promise that she could go in again tomorrow. I have a feeling this is going to become the summer afternoon pattern.

Nine Months 5/2012

 Guess who turned nine months old yesterday?

 It's me. Can you see my tooth on the bottom? (Please don't mind my shirt.)

 I'm a happy baby. This is me without a nap this afternoon. Amazing!

I'm growing a little more hair, saying "ma ma", "da da", and "ba ba," still putting everything in my mouth, and trying to crawl by pulling my hands over my feet from a sitting position. I think my sister is hilarious and imitate everything she does. I'm a blessing!

New Happenings May 2012

 Can you guess what we're celebrating around here? I think it's safe to announce that we have a potty pro around here. We started last two weekends ago with our exciting new underwear, and Audrey has handled it really well. She's very excited about her accomplishment - our only concern now is containing her excitement. She likes to tell strangers and friends alike about all of her activity. If someone else has success too, she likes to offer Skittles and conversation hearts as a reward.

 And, this little munchkin had some success today too. She said "ma ma" for the first time!!! Makes this mommy's heart proud. Now, we can add that to her "da da" and "ba ba" sounds.

Have a great week!

A Note to Pops

We are praying for you every day to feel better soon!

Counting Beans

Audrey spent a little time in a four year old classroom at school last week because we had to drop her off early. She loved the popcorn counting station, where they had buckets of popcorn kernels for the kids to sort. I didn't have enough popcorn kernels, but I did have some dried beans. I threw a couple of bags in an old dishpan, threw in some random utensils from the kitchen, and voila..a happy two year old. It's the simple things...

2012 School

 We have been so fortunate to have a great Mother's Morning Out program for Audrey to attend the past couple of years. She was quite shy in the beginning, but now she absolutely loves it and can't wait to go two days a week. Here are a few pictures with her friends that I took last week.

 She loves puzzles!

 Walker and Logan

 Can't you tell they love the camera? Audrey, Piper, Landon, Zach

 Evan, Landon, Ruthie, Zach

 Her sweet teachers: Ms Carmen and Ms Barbara

fun Brynna

Kathryn 8+ Months

 This sweet little girl turned eight months old a few weeks ago (4.22.12) , and I am just getting to her update. We have lots of life going on these days (work, final days of David's dissertation, his teaching two classes, house on the market, house to find, moving, cleaning, raising babies), so we are fortunate to have this little bright spot in the middle of the chaos! Generally, Kathryn is a very sweet and calm baby. She takes a morning and afternoon nap and is cheery most of the time. Fortunately, she has slept for the past four nights in a row, so I hope we are finally starting to sleep through the night! Missing an entire night's sleep for almost nine months can wear a soul out, so that will really make a difference for all of us. She is starting on formula for two feedings a day now, so that, combined with more baby food, may be helping her in that department.

Milestones:
Sits up without support
Rolls over constantly
Starting to reach over from a sitting position to grab at toys
Sounds: da da, ba ba (no ma ma yet!)
Loves watching Audrey and laughing at her
Eating anything that is near her, especially books, remote controls, and cell phones
Signs for "more"
Grasping small pieces of food like yogurt bites and puffs
Putting rings on and off of toys, putting balls in cups, etc.