Happy Birthday My Precious Girls!

This post is a little late, but I wanted to go ahead and share some of the pictures and stories from our exciting weekend last week. We celebrated Gracie Claire's 3rd birthday on the 14th and Sydney's 1st birthday on the 15th. Those days were so fun and I've documented them in pictures which I'll share in another post. This one is packed full already. We had a double princess birthday party on Saturday. So many of our precious family and friends were there to celebrate with us! The girls & boys all dressed up in their princess/prince gear and we even had a special visit from "Princess Belle," from Beauty & the Beast. All in all, it was a success. I'll talk more about their actual birthdays in an upcoming entry, but I want to dedicate the rest of this one to my babies.

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Dear Gracie Claire,

I can't believe that you're already 3! You are such a big girl and have grown in so many ways that Daddy and Mommy are so proud of! You have a special place that is all your own in your Mommy's heart because you were my very first baby. You showed Mommy what an awesome job it is to be a Mom. You made my hopes and dreams of being a Mommy come true.
You've been given so many wonderful gifts and Daddy's and Mommy's strongest prayer for you is that you will use them all of your life for Jesus. We want you to use your compassion, sweet spirit, spunky attitude, love for worship, and even your strong will to introduce people to the one who gave you those qualities. We've already seen you be used by the Lord and we can't wait to see what His plans are for you!
On the day you were born, I didn't know if it was possible to love you any more than I did on that day...but, with each passing day, my heart swells bigger and bigger with love for you! I thank Jesus everyday that He lent you to Daddy and Mommy to take care of while you are here on earth. Besides Jesus, you and your sister are the best gifts that God has ever given us! I hope that with each passing year, you will continue to grow in the One who made you and live your life completely for Him! Daddy and Mommy love you bunches Gracie Claire! Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Sydney Hope,

Your first year has flown by in the blink of an eye. The day you were born seems like it was yesterday. You, too, hold your own special place in my heart. You taught Mommy that Jesus gives us enough love to love all of the babies that He gives to us! My heart overflows with love for my sweet Syd!
As you've grown over this past year, so many of your gifts have started to peek through. You are patient, joyful, love to learn, and aren't hesitant to tell it like it is...you make your feelings known! These things are all going to be great ways for you to reach out to the lost and show them who Jesus is! Daddy and Mommy cannot wait to see how He is going to use you for His glory! You have already been used to hugely bless our lives. We pray that you will grow to be a great woman in God's mighty kingdom!
The day you were born was a step into a new adventure of being a Mommy of 2. I'm so thankful that Jesus chose you to lend to Daddy and Mommy as our 2nd baby girl! Your special attachment to me is something that Mommy especially loves and will hold onto for as long as I can...because I know it won't last forever! Besides Jesus, you and your sister are the best gifts that God has ever given us! I hope that with each passing year, you will continue to grow in the One who made you and live your life completely for Him! Daddy and Mommy love you bunches Sydney Hope! Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Here is a video of some of the birthday party pictures as well as some of their 3 yr. & 1 yr. old pictures. (I know they're a repeat, but I wanted to add them on this!) By the way, grab a tissue, this song is a killer! ;o)

You Don't Win Dude!

A while back, I committed to reading "The Purpose Driven Life" and blogging about it everyday. Sad to say, I fell off the purpose bandwagon and fell short of my commitment. So, I am starting back up in order to follow through. It's amazing how wonderful things, like my girls' birthday and birthday party, are used against us by the dude down south to distract us from strengthening our walks. I think I'll stomp on him with even more exuberance today as I start my purpose blogs back up. Dude down south...you don't win this one.

Check it Out...

I'm running my first contest with my new little business! So, go check out my Froggie Bloggie Designs blog and enter my contest! I would love to have tons of entries! Tell your friends too!!

You can click the cute little froggie to enter!

In other news...I am a bit behind in my blogging. I need to post about the girls and their birthdays and I have TONS of pictures from their birthday weekend. So, that post is coming soon!

My Birthday Girls

Gracie Claire turns 3 on Thursday and Sydney turns 1 on Friday. It's unbelievable how fast time flies! I wanted to share their birthday pictures...so here they are!

READ ME!! READ ME!!

I've started my own business!! I've loved figuring out how to make my own headers and edit the "html" to make my blog cute. (Yes, I'm a wannabe computer nerd.) After a couple of people e-mailed me to ask me about my layouts, I decided that I could make a little money doing it. So, I came up with (drum roll please....)

FROGGIE BLOGGIE DESIGNS

I've set up a blog, www.froggiebloggiedesigns.blogspot.com, to do all of my business through, so, if you're interested, go see my blog!!! And, if you're not interested, go look at it anyway!!! I would love for you to pass my name along too. Word of mouth, or rather word of blog, is the only way I'm really advertising, so I would definitely appreciate your help! If you click here, here, here, here, or here, you can see some of the blogs I've made over. Besides doing my own, these people were my guinea pigs, so a big THANKS definitely goes to them.

I hope that you'll go take a look!

Blow on My Hand

Surprise, Surprise! Gracie Claire is sick again. Poor baby!! It seems like once we get over one thing, another one sneaks up on us. Yesterday she had a fever of 102.8, so this morning I called and got in with our doctor's nurse practitioner. Something that she kept asking GC to do over and over was to blow on her (the nurse's) hand. I understood why the first couple of times, but after what seemed like the twentieth time, it became a little odd. Overall, it was a good visit except that we left with a prescription for an unknown virus (not unknown to the doctor...just to me) and a nebulizer (which she promised would be billed to our insurance...fingers crossed.) Gracie Claire did her first breathing treatment in the office and was quite the little trooper...at first. She was so still getting the little mask put on and waiting for the nice nurse to hook the tubes up, but once the nurse left, she freaked. Her words were (in a bit of a panicky voice,) "Mommy, I done with the disosaur!" (Spelling intentional.) My sweet girl has to do four breathing treatments a day for the next few days...should be fun!

What was Sydney doing throughout our little adventure, you ask? She was as happy as a bug as long as she had puffs to eat. I love you Gerber!