cora maile

our third little pumpkin arrived safe and sound on april 18.
8lbs 8oz of adorable little squishy newborn.
we're all in love with her...even the kids.
i thought they might be jealous, but they really seem to adore her.
i can't seem to put her down either.

tim and i just love the name cora, so that's her first name and her middle name, maile, is hawaiian. it is the type of lei that tim wore in our wedding. it is pronounced "MY-lee".

pictures will be up soon!

liam's first praise song

we have a few praise DVDs that we play in the car or at home in the mornings to put the kids in a peaceful mood.
they love them and really seem to pay attention.
well, the other day i heard liam singing so i went over to sit with him.
as i listened i realized that he was singing a song from one of the DVDs!
and then in the shower later he sang the whole thing!

"we fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.
the greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.
we cry holy holy holy is the Lamb."

my favorite is the "hoe-wee hoe-wee hoe-wee" part...sung in pure 2 year old innocence.
my heart is so touched.
for all the times that he is a challenge and strong-willed, he makes up for it in precious moments like that.
i pray that he always has that heart of praise.
oh the love!!

cheese for lunch!

"cheese"

liam outside

he put these glasses on by himself! what a ham!

garland outside

garland and i spent the afternoon together while big brother was napping. she loved the acorns and especially eating them!
this looks yummy!


smiling pretty!


what?


man these acorns are so good!


clapping for mama...yay!!

garland iris

more to come...

william baxter ("liam")

one of the most precious memories i have with liam was a few days after he was born.
i was rocking him in his nursery and just started crying while i was looking at him.
it was then and there that i realized the depth of love that i had for my son.
i suddenly was made aware that i had a huge job ahead of me and i was overwhelmed with thankfulness for that little fellow.

liam is our firstborn and he is a fireball of energy.
he has an incredibly sensitive heart and will start crying even if i pretend to be sad or if tim chases me around the house playfully and i yell "nooooo!".
the poor little guy cannot stand for anyone to be sad or hurting.

liam has a mind of his own.
he likes for things to be "just so".
the other day he was rough housing with tim and stopped suddenly, picked a piece of rice off of tim's shirt, flicked it off his finger and went right back to playing.
we cracked up!
he gets overwhelmed easily in large groups if we are not in sight...and don't even think of leaving him in the church nursery!
on the other hand, he is adventurous and loves a thrill.
he will climb up high and jump, slide down a huge slide and swing as high as he can.

he does not like to eat and is very particular about what goes into his mouth.
smoothies *must* be pink and certain sippy cups have to have his name label on them or he will not drink out of them.
he rarely tries anything new in the food department.
this can be extremely frustrating for me because picky eaters drive me nuts.
liam challenges me to be flexible in my expectations and trust that he will eventually eat.
thank God for multi-vitamins.

liam's favorite things lately are coloring, playing with play-doh, looking at books, wearing shoes, dancing and singing the "blues clues" song, playing outside, snuggling with mama and playing "jump jump" with daddy.

it is so much fun to see his personality emerge.
we are so thankful for our sweet boy.
he continues to teach us patience and is always making us laugh out loud!