A visit from my 3 favorite kiddos!!!

(besides my own, of course!)
For those of you who don't know, I was a nanny from June '06 until Marissa was born (I still helped some after that, but not as much...) I started when the youngest, Cooper, was just a month old, and he turned 3 this past May!!! So you can imagine just how much time I spent with these kids! McKane is 6, Riese is 5 and Cooper is 3. The job was completely brought to me by the Lord and it was by far the best job I ever had! I was in Beth Moore Bible study with a friend of mine and she told me about Kelly and that she was looking for someone to help her with her children...I was working in retail at the time and was soooooo ready to do something different. So, I went to meet with Kelly and Ron and it was just perfect from the get-go. I spent almost everyday with them for about 15 months and just grew to love them so much. Soooooo....when Kelly called me yesterday to say they wanted to come visit us today-I was beyond excited!!!
They got here about 11 this morning and left around 5 and we had such a wonderful time. Marissa followed Riese around all day long and Russell took all 3 of them for a cart ride around the course while my girls were sleeping. I was so thankful that they drove to see us and I can't wait to see them again!! I only took a couple pictures, but they are good ones!!

All five of them! McKane, Marissa, Cooper, Riese and Allie

How sweet is this picture?! Marissa and Riese walking out to the car to say their goodbyes:)

And then they were gone....and Marissa was so sad :(

Well, I didn't want to end with a picture of Marissa crying, so here is one of McKane, Riese and me from a couple years ago:)

Can't wait to see them again!!!

Sisterly Love Part 1

I am doing this as a "part 1" in hopes that there will be many more "sisterly love" posts to come in the future:)

So, one of Marissa's most favorite things to do is get in Allie's bed with her after Allie wakes up from her nap. I usually take her in there with me to get Allie up and she always says "Say Hi, Mommy Say Hi..." (she wants me to put her in the bed so she can say hi to allie:)) Anyway, this is such a sweet time for the two of them because they are both so happy and Allie just loves watching her big sister. So I finally grabbed my camera and took a little video of them having some "sisterly love" time:)

Enjoy! (and don't worry-Allie was not injured during the filming of this video...I'm still trying to teach Marissa to "please be gentle with Allie"....)

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Girls' weekend getaway and wedding in Santa Fe

A few months ago, my mom called with an offer I couldn't refuse....she told me that she and dad were invited to a wedding in Santa Fe and that dad wasn't really interested in going, would I like to go and dad would watch the babies for me? uh, let me think--YESSSS!!! The wedding was for Chris McVay, who is the son of one of dad's best friends growing up. We used to live near them and spent many, many summers together at the lake. The McVay's have 4 kids, Chris (27), Ryan (26), Alix (24), and Camye (21). I have so many memories of the McVay's and it was so wonderful to see them...I think it had been almost 10 years since we last saw each other.

So anyway, mom and I have been looking forward to this trip for a few months and with the exception of a terrible flight to New Mexico, we had a fabulous time!!! We left Thursday morning and were supposed to arrive in Albuquerque, NM at 3:30 but thanks to the weather we didn't get in until 9:30. It was a loooooong day-to say the least. But we made it, safe and sound. Friday morning we got up, had a wonderful breakfast and walked around Santa Fe. The buildings and scenery are just beautiful and the weather was so nice.

This was a building that was around downtown-I have always loved adobe and Mexican style design-so I thought it was gorgeous!

This is the downtown market-it is called the Palace of the Governors and every day locals come and set up little shops and sell all their handmade goods-mostly jewelry. This is also where the ceremony for the wedding was located.

Another cool building.

My mom took this picture-I love it!

We then headed to the rehearsal dinner Friday night, got to see a lot of old friends and had a great time! Here is my mom, the mother of the groom, Elaine and me after the rehearsal.

On Saturday, mom went to lunch with some of the family and I went to the pool to hang out with the "youngsters". Let me tell you, it was soooo nice-I haven't laid by the pool in well...a really long time!! I had a very yummy and refreshing mojito and just chatted with some old and new friends and loved every minute of it. Here is Ryan (the best man) and me at the pool.

Then came the wedding...it was at 6:45 and the weather was perfect. It was overcast with a little breeze and just so pleasant. This is the groom, Chris, best man, Ryan and their cousin, Michael Ross.

And here is the beautiful couple-Chris and Whitney

The beautiful wedding party! (fyi-Cammye (the youngest sister) is the 2nd from the left; Alix is the 4th from the left; Casey (who is married to Michael Ross-the cousin and also grew up best friends with Alix) is the 6th from the left; Michael Ross is 9th from the right and his brother, Blake is 4th from the right) They are obviously a close family:)

My mom and me at the wedding-doesn't she look so beautiful!:)

Alix, Molly (cousin and Michael Ross and Blake's sister) and me.

So, one thing I have yet to mention is that this was a very bittersweet wedding. The groom's dad, Ted McVay, got very sick with pancreatic cancer about a two and a half years ago-he was in full remission from the cancer after chemo and radiation, but his body was never able to recover from the many surgeries. He passed away this past April at the age of 56. This picture is of Ryan giving his best man speech and at the very end he talked about his dad and how much he was missed and he ended his speech with "This is the celebration of one great man's journey coming to an end and another great man's journey just beginning." It was a beautiful speech.

All in all, there were a lot of tears shed for Ted's absence and Mom kept talking about mine and Zach's weddings and how stressful they were for her and how she couldn't imagine having to go at them alone, without my dad. There were a lot of prayers said for Elaine (the mother of the groom) and the kids that weekend. Like I said...it was a very bittersweet but very beautiful time for everyone.

And it was finally time to head home...here we are at the airport in St. Louis waiting to board our 5th (in 4 days) and final flight home to Birmingham. We were exhausted and soooo ready to get home.

We finally made it home to Anniston at about 5:00 in the evening and let me tell you the best part about the whole weekend:

Mom and I pull up in the driveway and dad, Russell and the girls are outside playing. I open the door and Marissa sees me and runs as fast and as hard as she could directly to me and knocks me down with the biggest hug she has ever given me. Let me tell you....it was the best homecoming present ever!

And lastly-a big, big thank you to the best Papa in the whole world! My dad took over my job as stay-at-home mom Thursday-Sunday and well...I think he was better at it than I am. (Russell actually said after 2 days of me being home and apparently not keeping up with the cleaning as well as my dad..."I think I want your dad to come back"....Thanks Russ, I missed you too....) Papa set the bar high doing all the laundry, keeping the house clean and taking care of the girls. Thank you so much, dad!! You're the best!!

And mom, next stop-New York City!!!!

Just Allie!

My friend Ashley left a comment on my last entry and requested more pictures of Allie, so I decided I would do an entry without even the mention of #1 and devote it totally to my sweet baby girl Allie. She is almost 7 months old and let me tell you....my heart smiles every time I think of her or am with her or when I hold her. It's so amazing to me how God creates us to be parents and then enables our heart to grow with each child so that the love for one is not greater than the love for another...but the love is there. I know we have less pictures of Allie than we did of #1 (remember...no mention of her name:)) at this time, and Allie has had to spend a lot more time in the swing or jumperoo because of my lack of free time but I will say, I think it makes me enjoy my time with her even more and it is even more precious to me because I know it is limited. I am excited beyond words to see her grow and learn and one day become exactly who her Creator deesigned her to be. I am so thankful that God decided before time that this world would not have been complete without Allie in it.
Without further ado-Allie Joy:)

I went in to get Allie up from her nap this past Saturday and this was what I found!! She sat up all by herself:) (and apparently did some seriously drooling while she was asleep...)

Napping on the boat

This was our first attempt at baby food-she is still trying to get the hang of it...

Happy Girl!!

If you enlarge this picture-you can see the onesie better...but I love this onesie-it says "my big sister taught me how to laugh" (thanks Pam and Steve!)

Allie always has this wide-eyed look on her face...espcially when she is watching her big sister:)

Well, for those of you jonesing for some Allie-I hope this helped! Thanks for loving to look at pictures of our baby as much as Russell and I do!!

July 4th with Papa and Neecey

Well, the girls and I had another successful road trip on July 4th weekend up to NC to see Papa and Neecey. We drove up Friday morning and stayed until Tuesday and had a wonderful time hanging out and playing! On Friday, Papa got the little pool he bought for Marissa all filled up with water and ready to go, so we spent a couple hours out there while Allie was taking a nap. Here are some fun pictures from that day:)
The pool made for some very fun and colorful pictures!

Marissa and Papa always have fun together:)

On Saturday, we packed up and headed over to Lake Norman where my Uncle Allen and Aunt Diana live and they were kind enough to let us take their boat out for the day while they were at the beach. As you can see from the pictures, Allie slept almost the entire time and well, Marissa did ok. She wasn't sure what to think about the water-she had a great time as long as she was on the boat...but it took her a while to warm up to the water. I have no doubt though that she will be a water baby like my brother and I were when we were little...just gotta keep trying!!

This was the best picture I could get of her...she would not smile for the camera...

The lake was just too much for little miss Allie...she slept the entire time.

We finally found something Marissa loved...driving the boat!:)

Finally, this is a picture of Marissa trying to get my parents crazy cat, Bonnie. She holds her hands out and says "Heeeeere kitty kitty." It's so cute:) (unfortunately for Marissa, Bonnie only likes my mom....she runs away from everyone else)

Hope you and your family had a wonderful 4th of July!

Father's Day, firsts, and finally...some answers!!

Ok, so I know that last "f" was a bit of a stretch but what can I say....I tried:)

We have had a lot going on in the past couple of weeks here at the Nichols' house! First and most importantly, we celebrated Father's day with the most wonderful father 2 little girls could ever ask for! Unfortunately, Russell had to work that morning, so the girls and I went to church then had some yummy leftovers from the night before. The girls took a nap which allowed Russell to spend his day doing one of his favorite pasttimes....taking a nap:) Then we just played the rest of the day and had small group at church that night. It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate what an amazing dad Russell is...we even got him a cookie cake (well, my mom got it for him...but she said it was from all of us:)) and a cute card that had some stickers in it. Here is a picture of Daddy and his girls (all with their stickers) before we left for church.

I love how Marissa is pointing to Russell's "Most Incredible Dad" sticker-so cute:) and the girls' each have on a "my dad is my hero" sticker.

So, I know Allie looks terrified in this picture, but I had to post it b/c it's so great of Russell and Marissa, plus...look at how much they all look alike!! The chin and jawline are identical. At least they got my blue eyes:)

Ok, so now to the "firsts"...Sweet Allie ate some baby food for the first time this week(pictures on a later post)! She turned 6 months old last week and had her check-up and everything looked great! The 6 months has flown by, just like it did with Marissa. Here are 6 fun things about Allie, to celebrate her 6 month birthday...

1. She is sooooo happy...she smiles all the time, loves to laugh at her sister, and is still a big fan of her jumperoo

2. She makes this really funny growling noise...she sounds like a little lion

3. She is unbelievably flexible! She can stick all 5 toes in her mouth and will sometimes get her heel in there as well, maybe a future gymnast?

4. She is sleeping 9-10 hours at night!!!

5. She can hold her own bottle now (I need to post some pictures of this)

6. She is the true definition of her middle name...Joy. She brings such joy to our home and we are so thankful that God gave us such a beautiful, healthy, sweet baby girl.

Here are a few recent pictures of our sweet Allie Joy.

This picture cracks me up-I came downstairs after putting Marissa to bed and this is what I found....it must have been a very long day:)

And lastly, "finally....some answers". Allie has been having some breathing issues for the past 5 months or so. She had a couple colds and I thought that was the reason for the way she was breathing, but she has been cold free for a while and it was still going on, so to make a long story short-we took her to have a barium swallow and to see an ENT doctor at children's hospital in Birmingham, and come to find out she has reflux. The stomach acid is causing her airways and the back of her throat to become inflamed and swollen, which causes her breathing to sound so congested. We have her on a presciption of Zantac which will hopefully start working soon!! Thanks for stopping by and try to stay cool!!

(ps-i will shutterfly these to you:))

Fun times with Daddy pt.2

I didn't intend to wait 2 weeks to finish this post....I really have no good excuse other than I have 2 babies under 2-but I think I may use that excuse a little more than I should:) Anyway-here are the rest of the pictures from our fun evening with Daddy on the golf course!

She's still running...

This is where Allie spends A LOT of her time! And thankfully, she loves it-her little (well....not so little as you can see) legs are just kicking and moving the entire time!!

Trying to play golf with a baby strapped to you is not the easiest thing to do, but I think I got it at least close to the hole:)

Marissa would look at me through this cup and say "I seeeeeee yoooouuuuu"!

Wrong sport Russell, but look how cute his dimples are:)

Watch out-crazy driver!!

Helping daddy lock up for the night.

I took this as we were walking home, and as you can see, she was so worn out...

So, Daddy was sweet enough to give her a ride home:)