Fall Portraits

I am hosting a Fall Portrait Party this Saturday November 7th at Aldridge Gardens.  The weather and the trees should be beautiful!  Tina Folsom is the photographer and she'll be doing $25 mini sessions for the party.  We went to a Portrait Party last Fall and got some BEAUTIFUL pictures of the girls.  I am so excited to see how this years' turn out. 
Tina will be with us in the Gardens from 1-4 pm.  There are a few open slots that I'd need to fill if anyone is interested, email me at abbytwarren@yahoo.com. 

It's a Britax...

A Britax Boulevard that is...(and it's pink!)
Thanks to everyone who pointed me in the right direction as far as finding a "good deal" on a carseat. This is what I've finally settled on. If I like it I may order another one so that we can put the other carseat in Trey's car. I am super excited to have something pink since we usually order gender neutral for things like carseats! I found it on albeebaby.com for 189.99 no tax and free shipping! Woohoo! Happy Thursday!

Jesus loves me this I know!

My sweet sweet friend Jennifer gave Selah this bible for her birthday. She told me it had been on Darby's blog (which I LOVE)! So of course I pulled it out to read tonight at bedtime and it is Wonderful, beyond Wonderful!!! I absolutely love it. I was in tears within the first few sentences. I think Sophie thought I was crazy. But I read to her and then we talked about Jesus and Heaven and God. It was one of those conversations you want to burn into your brain forever! She asks questions about God and the bible and Jesus a lot, but I haven't really felt like she was ready to really understand it well enough to actually ask Jesus into her heart, but I am beginning to think she is pretty close. Our conversation was truly precious. Sophie asked me sweet things like "What is heaven like Mommy?" "Will you be in heaven too?" and then the real tear jerker that got me was (talking about seeing God when we get to heaven) "Will He call my name?" Oh my goodness, I am crying just thinking about it. Out of the mouths of babes...

To make this little book even more special, I started reading the commentaries on it and the first review was written by Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC . Immediately I am impressed because Redeemer Pres is my favorite church in the world besides COTH - I have said the only way I'd even consider leaving Highlands was if Tim Keller moved here and started a church. I've been listening to Tim Keller since middle school and have the utmost respect for him. So I kept reading and I realized that the sweet woman who wrote the book goes to church at Redeemer in NYC! How awesome is that! I can't wait to read more tomorrow night, more tears probably... Sometimes that is what we need in our time with Jesus though, just simplicity and truth.

All of you must go and buy it tomorrow, seriously, not the next day, but tomorrow! It's that sweet! Thanks Jenn! You're the best - I am working on thankyou notes this week=). I have a lot to write...

Here is a little taste

Jesus Storybook Bible Every Story Whispers His Name
Chapter One

So God breathed life into Adam and Eve.
When they opened their eyes, the first thing they ever saw was God's face. He whispered their names to them and taught them who they were.
And when God saw them he was like a new dad. "You look like me," he said. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever made!"
God loved them with all of his heart. And they were lovely because he loved them.
And Adam and Eve joined in the Song of the stars and the streams and the wind in the trees, the wonderful Song of love to the one who made them. Their hearts were filled with happiness. And nothing ever made them sad or lonely or sick or afraid.
God looked at everything he had made. "Perfect!" he said. And it was.
But all the stars and the mountains and oceans and galaxies and everything were nothing compared to how much God loved his children. He would move Heaven and Earth to be near them. Always. Whatever happened, whatever it cost him, he would always love them.
And s ... read full excerpt from Jesus Storybook Bible ebook

(taken from http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/0310717515/Jesus-Storybook-Bible-eBook.html)

***Check out my comments to hear a word from the author, Sally Lloyd-Jones!

Selah Rose Warren - One year old!

One year ago today our lives were changed forever by the birth of our sweet little Selah Rose. She is a sweet and spirited little girl and possibly may be my "strong willed child." But, I love her so dearly and I know God will mold and mature me as a mother through learning to parent this precious little girl. Selah, I thank God every day for what a blessing you are to our family and I pray that He will use you for His glory all the days of your life.
My view of birth in general was also changed by the amazing experience of Selah's birth. I am slowly but surely learning more and more about the benefits of natural birth and hopefully the next one will be totally natural without any medical intervention. I have come a long way since then but I still have a long way to go!

Stay tuned for birthday pictures!

S is for Sophie - L is for Luke

First Day of School for our kiddos, so sister and I arrived a bit early to try and snap a few keepers of our 4k cutie pies! I think we got some pretty good ones=) This is becoming an annual tradition for us. Hope we keep it going. I'm sure we'll be glad we did!

God's House

Sophie giving Selah a "bye kiss." Can't wait until next year when they'll both be there!

Of course, Selah wants a name tag too, she just wants to eat it not wear it.

Such sweet buddies! I hope they stay close forever!

Funny face picture, those are much easier than begging for a "real smile."

Boys are so silly!

Deep conversation

Yea! We got a real smile out of her!

Here we go!!!!!

Baby Fever!!!

My head (and my husband) tell me no but my heart is telling me something else! I feel so surrounded by pregnant people right now, not just at work either. So many of my good friends are pregnant. I feel like everybody is pregnant but me! I saw a picture of me pregnant today and almost started crying. Am I crazy? I must be hormonal! (Hmmm... what day is it?)
We cannot be ready for another baby. We are busting at the seams in our house as it is. Selah is a red hot mess right now and I know I have a lot ahead of me this year with both girls. Plus Trey is gone most of the time and when he is home he is exhausted. But I have to say that if I did happen to get pregnant now unexpectedly, I would feel nothing but JOY!
I will admit that about a week ago when I was having a bad day with Selah, I went on and on about how I WAS NOT ready for another baby, but other than a few days like that one, I am mostly really wanting another little one ( and deep down I really don't think it'll be the last one either).
Does anyone have a remedy for this illness BABY FEVER!

Lately I've been...

playing with and LOVING my new camera =),

playing peekaboo with Selah,

trying to finish these smocked outfits for the girls,

and wearing this dress almost daily!

The top is tshirt material and it is so comfy! Smocking the dress is the easy part, it's finishing it that is so tedious. I soooo want to pay someone to do it but it's expensive so I am trying to be patient and do it myself. Not even sure if Selah's bubble will fit her when I finish it. Oh, I sure hope it does!

If anybody wants to have a sit and sew
(especially if you are good at Bishop Construction) let me know!!!

Sleeping Beauty

My sweet little Sophie's first ballet recital was Thursday night at Briarwood. The name of it was "A Royal Tea Party" and all the classes were different princesses. Sophie's class was Sleeping Beauty. The evening began with makeup, a ballet bun and a precious pink costume complete with a tutu. We arrived early for their dress rehearsal. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I was the crazy mom waiting first in line at the door so that we could get good seats when they opened the door.

We sat down about thirty minutes early and waited for the pitter patter of little ballet slippers to enter the auditorium. When the girls arrived, however, there was no pitter patter to be heard over the silly giggles, talking, and "hey mommy" from every single one of them.

When the recital began they all gathered on stage and sang a song together. Hearing 50 sweet little voices singing "Come into my heart Lord Jesus" was so sweet. After the singing came the dancing. Now, all along, Sophie has been much more excited about her costume and makeup than the actual dancing. I knew that going into this so I wasn't sure what to expect. She was absolutely precious though and I think she did a great job even if she did march to the beat of her own drum! Watch and you'll see what I mean... At the end, no recital would be complete without flowers and a ballerina musical jewelry box. All in all it was a great first recital!

Easter Celebration! Fun with baby ducks!

We had a great Easter this year filled with lots of memories. The most meaningful thing to me was that Sophie for the first time could talk about (in simple terms) what Jesus did for us.

She learned how he died on the cross "Mommy, did you know that they put those things in His hands and they put Him on the cross?"

She learned how he rose from the dead "And then they rolled the stone away and there was an angel!"

She started to learn what it means to have Jesus come live in your heart "Mommy how does he get in there? Do they cut off your head? Does Jesus eat when he's in there? Does he live in your legs too?"


I loved hearing her little heart start to understand the beginnings of what I know will be a strong relationship with Him one day.

We also had fun at Mimi's as usual with all the cousins and the ducks! I do hope the ducks were not traumatized, but all in all, it was a great day! Here are some pictures in no particular order!

Sophie being the clean child she is was very content to watch and not touch.




Luke was all about the ducks, what a cute smile. Love my Lukey Boy!



I think Lillian loved them best of all. She almost got in the bucket with the ducks! She is fearless!

Towards the end of playtime, the ducks huddled. I think they were thinking "Stick together, safety in numbers!"

Selah in her bunny ears (at the end of the day)
She looked at us like, "Really, can we be done with pictures already?"


Sweet sisters!

Almost all the great grandkids! Wow there are a lot of them (ages range 6 years to 5 months)

Attempt at a family pic at the end of the day=)

Olivia and Sophie - both firstborn, both girls, both sweet big sisters, so much alike!

Ahhh, Tulips!

When Sophie was about 6 months old, we lived in Park Lane Apartments across from the Botanical Gardens. One day when Trey came home from school early, we decided to take Sophie and the camera across the street and take some pictures. The tulips happened to be blooming then an so we decided to continue the tradition and take Selah back for pictures with the tulips in the same outfit=) Here are a few pics from this trip and the one three years ago when we took Sophie. They'll still be around for a while if you have a chance to go!

2006

2009