Pictures are worth a thousand words!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am so behind on blogging that I think I will just include a bunch of pictures to catch you up.

One of our friends took some pictures for us. She did a great job and you can view them at her website.

http://kendrajonesmorris.zenfolio.com/boland

Leave it up to Ave and her amazing imagination to create her very on baby carrier ;) She also has an older brother that lives in China and when he comes to visit she cleans her room! Glorious.
My latest adventure! As Avery says, "Keller's booty diaper." I have decided to cloth diaper. So far I really like it and they work really well. Keller has had a hard time putting on weight the past few months so these at least make him look a little more bulky. Hopefully, he is on the up swing.
Avery sang a few songs in our Christmas service at church. She did a great job. It was so fun to see her singing her heart out. She is still singing Christmas songs.
My mom convinced Avery to leave a snack out for Santa. She chose her favorite foods. Cereal, chocolate and of course, skittles. She was terrified that Santa would come into her room that night so we went ahead and broke the news that Santa is just part of your imagination.
Avery with a few of her cousins.
Keller with Aunt May.
I can hardly believe that five and a half months have gone by so quickly. Keller is such a joy. He has the best personality. So cuddly and full of smiles and giggles. He started sitting up a few days ago. Where does time go? I also a have feeling this maybe one of the last of the toothless grins. He is showing all of the signs of teething.

Winter in Florida has been unusually cold so far. Today was one of the first days in almost two weeks we have been able to go outside. Still with our warm weather gear but it was great to get out. We are having a great time in Orlando. Mike is taking Hebrew right now and doing a great job. He has also had the opportunity to preach two times at City Church. The Lord is providing a lot of opportunities for growth.

Tis the Season

I have been terrible about taking pictures this month but I wanted to share a few and give a brief update. This month has flown by. Keller and I flew to South Carolina the first weekend of the month to spend time with a few of my dear college friends. It was so much fun to catch up. My parents came in town for a quick visit and then it was off to Mike's parents for Thanksgiving. We drove eight hours to Athens, GA and Keller cried five of those eight. We have decided that he may be the happiest baby around, UNLESS he is riding in the car. It was great to be around family and watch Avery have so much fun with cousins.

Mike celebrated his 30th birthday over Thanksgiving. Notice there are so many candles he couldn't blow them all out at one time : ) I just like to tease him since he is older than I am! We also celebrated our sixth anniversary this month. I think that November is one of my favorite months of the year. It is a month when I get to rejoice over all that God has done in our lives and our marriage. It is amazing to look back over the past six years and see God's gracious hand.
Keller enjoyed his time with Daniel in South Carolina.My sweet little Kell Man. Mike says that we will celebrate his birthday and the day he started sucking his thumb. These past four months have flown by. He is reaching for his feet, rolling over, cooing, and giggling. Slow down little buddy, I am not ready for you to grow!
Can you tell that he loves his sister. Avery does such a great job with Keller. She kisses him a million times a day. I can't wait to see their relationship grow and develop.
Avery...Need I say more! She started taking Ballet lessons on Fridays. She looks so beautiful and so grown up in her ballet clothes. I couldn't resist putting in a picture of her at four months old.

Mike is out of town tonight at a staff retreat so I got to put Avery down to bed. Mike usually puts Avery down so it was a sweet time with her. She has growing pains in her legs at night so I was sitting there rubbing her legs and began to ponder how quickly she is growing up. She wanted to call her daddy, and as soon as she heard his voice tears formed in her eyes. I think it made me realize how I so often try to rush the bedtime routine, and move to the next thing on my agenda. I am missing out on something wonderful. Avery knows without a doubt that her daddy delights in her. She feels safe and comforted when he is around. She knows she is loved! That moment was a gentle reminder to me of how much we are loved by God and how safe we are in His arms and His care. He delights in us and would sit there for hours to comfort us. I am thankful that God has given me my children to slow me down and bring reminders of how much He loves and delights in His children!

October Ends...When will Fall begin : )

Well, another week has passed in sunny Orlando and it is still in the 90's.  I am not sure if we will ever wear another sweater.  We are eagerly awaiting a few cooler days!  This week has been a lot of fun.  We have done lots of fun fall activities with our friends.  

Halloween night we walked around our neighborhood with some friends.  It was so much fun to see Avery running from house to house.  We couldn't believe she wore the wig!  Keller didn't last long in his Chicken costume. It is way to hot here for that.

Last week we had a few friends over, and I heard Avery being really loud in her room. I walked in to tell her to quiet down and realized she had drawn whiskers on her face and was roaring at her friends.  This child never ceases to amaze me.  She has an amazing imagination.  Lately she has decided that she has twin siblings.  She talks about them all of the time and keeps me posted occasionally on what they are doing.  She informed me the day before Halloween that they were going to be a worm and worm dirt.  Where does she get this stuff?
My dad has a great garden back in South Carolina.  When he and my mom came to visit they brought us a bunch of pumpkins.  Mike, Avery and myself sat down to carve Ariel one night.  Mike got all into the carving and wouldn't let us have a turn.  He did a great job though! It looks just like Ariel.


This was my fun creation.  A pumpkin cookie cake.
The three amigos!  These little boys are going to have a blast growing up together.  They are going to have to stick together to survive their three year old siblings.  It is fun to see how laid back and happy these three boys are.  They take life in stride.  
The whole gang!

Fall is in the air

It actually feels like Fall today in Florida.  It is hard to believe that it is the middle of October and today is the first day it has been under 90 degrees. Mike and I took Avery and Keller to the park this morning and there were people there wearing sweaters.  We of course were in our short sleeves and flip-flops because our blood hasn't thickened in the Florida heat yet : )  I am sure that will come with time!

Things are still going well here in Orlando.  Mike was on Fall break from school this week so it was a nice change of pace.  He had a mid-term last week so he was busy studying.  He is still really enjoying school and the things he is learning.  

We found out this week that Keller has pretty bad allergies.  He has been congested on and off since he was born, so the doctor determined that it was allergies.  We are giving him probiotics and vitamin D every day.  She also recommended that I cut back on dairy and Gluten.  My mom has Celiac disease, and I have often said I would never make it if I were diagnosed.  It has been one week and I still don't know how long I could make it.  I sit here at night and wonder what you eat for a late night snack if cereal isn't an option.  I still don't have a good answer.  It is worth it though. Keller is doing much better and hasn't even needed the humidifier this week.

His gummy little grin will steal your heart.  Now that we are figuring him out a little, we have decided he is the happiest baby ever.  He keeps the best little grin on his face.  He is so much fun.

Last Sunday my parents came down for Avery and Keller's baptism.  It was such a sweet time for our family.  Tears streamed down my face as our children were walked  around the church. The congregation sang "Amazing Grace," and welcomed Avery and Keller into the covenant family.  Mike and I felt like we were finally a part of a church family again.  It has been such a blessing to be welcomed with open arms at City Church.



Already has his favorite team.  Go Citadel Bulldogs!
Avery is still doing great with Keller.  She really enjoys being a big sister.  She still never ceases to amaze me.  We have decided that she is going to be an artist when she grows up. She loves coloring and has gotten great at staying the lines.  She also created a nice mural on her wall with stickers last week.  I went in to check on her around 9:30 thinking she would be hard and fast asleep, and I catch her putting stickers all over the wall beside her bed.  Let's hope she can put all of this creative energy into something productive.  

Seven Weeks!

This past few weeks has flown by.  We are having so much fun with Keller.  Since the last time I updated a lot has happened.  Mike started classes one week after Keller was born. He loves his classes and is really enjoying what he is learning.  He is sitting beside me studying right now. It has been crazy to see him as a student again.  He was also asked to begin coaching all 12 city group leaders at our church.  He initially started with six so his load has doubled.  It has been encouraging to see how the Lord is stretching him.  Mike is doing a great job balancing his many duties.  I started teaching Childbirth classes again a few weeks ago, and have been finishing my final exam.  It has been fun to share my birth experience with the three couples in my class.  I also celebrated my 28th birthday and decided to train for a half-marathon.

Avery is continuing to enjoy her "little boo."  That would be Keller : )  She loves him so much and cries when I have to put him down for a nap.  It is so much fun to watch him smile when she talks to him.  She is also still enjoying the pool.  The week that Keller was born we had her in swimming lessons. Avery would tell the teacher everyday that she couldn't swim.  For about two more weeks she continued to tell us that, and then one day she went for it.  She has been swimming like a fish ever since.  Mike takes her to the pool almost every afternoon.  It amazes me how well she is doing.  

Keller is doing great.  We had a hard first few weeks but he is doing much better now.  I spent the first two weeks trying to make him like Avery.  I wasn't taking the time learn who he is and meeting his needs.  We spent one week at home so that I could focus on him and try to learn his cues and his needs and he has been a different baby.  He is finally sleeping pretty well at night and he is all smiles.  He has started cooing at us, and Avery tells everyone he can talk now.  He is so cuddly, and I am trying to make the most of this time.  

There is so much I could say and I have so many thoughts and wonderful memories from the past few weeks, but I really don't know where to start. I have tried to include a lot of pictures instead.  Sorry that the pictures are so out of order but my brain has been a little out of order these past few weeks : )

This is Avery at swim lessons.  She really enjoyed it, even if she did try to convince the teacher she couldn't do it.
Our little Keller man.  He is all smiles these days.  He is almost 8 weeks old. It is so hard to believe!
My precious family.  You can really tell in this picture how much Keller looks like Mike.  Our friends here will be carrying Keller around and say they feel like they are holding Mike.  Oh well, maybe our next one will look like me.
Avery has been so colorful lately.  She is literally colorful in this picture because she put makeup all over her forehead. I think I better work on makeup application a little longer.  She has been so much fun these past few weeks.  She makes me laugh so hard.  Last week she told Mike and I that when she stops wetting the bed she wants to get her nose pierced.  I have got my hands full!!
This is Keller meeting his great-grandmother for the first time.  My Mamaw is 86 this year and was delighted to meet Keller.  
This is Keller at seven weeks.  If you look really closely at the back of his head you can see that he has a huge cow lick.  Avery calls it his "noHawk."  You can't help but giggle when you see it.

One day while Keller was sleeping, Avery and I made playdough. She then wanted to turn it into a Dora cake and pretend it was her birthday.
This is Avery and her friend Joel.  They have so much fun together. One day he was over playing and they were very quiet. I walked in and they were reading books to each other. It was really cute.  I think she was educating him on all of the Disney Princesses.
Uncle Nate came to Orlando for a visit.  He got to meet Keller for the first time before he headed to California.  
Cinderella at her finest!  She wanted to dress like Cinderella and then vacuum the floor.  I promise I don't make her clean the house.

These next three pictures were taken when Keller was only one week old.  Leslie Larche so generously came to our home and took family photos for us.  We had such an amazing time smiling and laughing together.


 Thanks for keeping up with us!  We are blessed to be able to share this sweet time with others.

This Weeks Adventure!

This week has been a whirlwind as we have started to adjust to life with two children.  It is already so much fun and so many memories have already been made.  It was very strange to come home with a few hour old baby.  We had to check Keller's vitals every four hours and make sure that he was doing ok.  It was also really good to be in our own home and let him begin to adjust to our house.  The first day was a little interesting as he adjusted to life on the outside.  He has done great though and is eating and sleeping well!  At first the only place he would sleep was in our bed.  He looked so tiny spread out in our queen bed all alone.

Avery, my mom and my aunt Jean all made Keller a birthday cake.  Ok really I was the one that was craving a pound cake with white icing but we told Avery it was for Keller's birthday. This week I have managed to eat the entire cake!  While we were making the cake Avery dropped the measuring cup into the mixer and cake batter went everywhere. It was priceless!

This is my dad holding Keller.  It took him a while to decide he would hold him and wasn't going to break him but he did great. Keller's middle name is after my dad!
Mommy still has to do the chores.  I needed to do the laundry and had Keller in my arms.  Good thing newborns can sleep anywhere!
Avery has really enjoyed having a brother. It is such a neat experience to watch her fall in love with him.  She wakes up in the morning and the first thing she asks is "where is my baby brother?"  She wants him to go and do everything she does. She has been such a big help. She gets diapers (goes through the entire pack until she finds one with elmo) and helps change his clothes.  A few days ago he even pooped on her legs : )  She screamed non stop for five minutes about how dirty her leg was even after we washed it.  I thought she was done with him after that but she keeps coming back for more.  

I am so excited about the two beautiful blessings that God has entrusted us with.  Please pray that Mike and I would make the most of everyday that God gives us with our precious family.