Birthday Pictures

The girls birthdays were two weeks ago, but better late than never! Abigail's birthday is February 7th and Alathea's birthday is February 10th- just three days apart. So we thought it would be fun to have a big combined birthday party for them. It turned out quite fun. Above is my first attempt at making my kids their requested birthday cake. I am horrible at baking and even worse at cake decorating (or I should say I have never decorated a cake in my life!). But Alathea LOVED it, so it was all worth it. It was a "pink cinderella castle cake"- her specific request, in case you couldn't tell. I have to admit my sister and Liz Shea were over that night and helped me with it too. 

Here are a bunch of pictures from the party (and I do mean a bunch!)...

This is as good of a smile as I could get from the birthday girl :)

And below the kids were SO enjoying their cake they couldn't even take a break for a picture!

Another cake picture...it was very important to Alathea that Cinderella was on the top. My favorite part of the party was Alathea screaming in delight when we carried her cake outside :)

Abi had her own (free Harris Teeter) 1st Birthday Cake. Lets just say she almost ate the entire thing! I got distracted cutting the big cake I forgot to watch her and then someone said, "Uh, Jeanie, you may want to stop Abi...she's almost eaten then entire cake!" She was quite happy...but did through up the next day (poor thing). Lesson learned for me :)

The best I had of the birthday girls together.

As if Abi hadn't had enough cake, Alathea started feeding Abi hers too!!!

Alathea was so excited about her pinata. So was Joe...he was secretly hoping the kids wouldn't break it themselves and that he'd have to "help" them....his wish came true  :)

Kristie (or Dee-dee as the girls call her) made them these adorable Tu-tu's. They LOVE them, and Joe encouraged them to wear them on their heads.

Alathea was blessed with lots of princess stuff. 

The Big Kids. 

I love pictures of the kids because a few years from now

 it'll be fun to see how little they looked!

Two very special guests...Kenni & My Sister!!

The babies. 

Grammy & Abi-girl.

God was so kind and blessed us with a 75 degree, gorgeous February day!! What a great surprise. We did most of the party in the back yard! We ate a chicken nugget lunch, the toddlers made necklaces, hit the pinata and enjoyed hanging in the beautiful, sunny backyard.

Growing up my Mom made birthdays into a huge event. It was our "special day". No chores. We didn't have to go to school. We had two parties- one with extended family and one with friends. An all day birthday date with our parents. Our favorite dinner. And the best part- our "camp-in". We got to sleep in the living room- kinda camp inside. We'd choose 3 movies and whatever candy & snacks we wanted and could stay up as late as we want. Such FUN, special memories. Joe & I haven't done all that yet, but I do enjoy making a big deal out of their birthdays. 

 The girls are such gifts to us! 

I Love My Girls

We've been staying pretty busy around here lately. The past few weeks we've had two birthdays and one big birthday party, an awesome visit from my sis, a night at the circus, a great trip to the Mt.'s with our friends...and in 11 days we're heading to Rekindle '09! And in the midst of this one good friend had a baby a week ago and Reba's due next week (can't wait to meet him/her)...the next best thing to having your own baby is to have some of your closest friends have one!

 In the midst of this wonderful busyness I am very aware of how quickly life flies by. And I've been seeking the Lord as to how to make the most of the time I am given. And at the top of my list is loving and serving my amazing man, of course. He is so easy to love :) And next comes my girls. And I have been loving seizing as much time with them as I possibly can. They are already 1 and 3...I'm sure I'll turn around one day and they'll be 11 and 13 (that takes my breath away!). 

Lately I've been "noticing" more things about them. I try to take a few minutes every day and really watch them and enjoy the moment. And its got me thinking about how very, very alike they are, yet how completely different they are at the same time...and about all the things I love about them.  Just for fun, here are a few...

I love how BOTH of them have gorgeous blue eyes and melt your heart smiles

I love how Alathea breaks out in dance ALL throughout the day. 

And I love how she tries to teach me and everyone else her "ballerina moves" :)

I love how the girls are becoming the best of friends.

I really love how they ADORE their Daddy. (For good reason!)

I love how they both drag their "lovies" wherever I let them

 (Abigail: pink blankie above and Alathea: her bunny)

I love how Alathea really thinks she is a princess (which she is, of course)

 and if you stopped by my house randomly this is how you'd find her dressed :) 

I love how Abi is just so squeezable :)

 And that she still loves to be squeezed.

I love how Abi eats with such passion :)

And I love seeing Abigail's personality blossom. She is such an explorer! I have to keep an eye on her. Lizzy & I turned our backs on her & Jason for a minute and we found them having a grand ol' time with the toilet paper. In a very different way then her sister, I think she's gonna keep life interesting too :) 

Its gonna be fun watching the two of them grow up!

3 Years Old...how time flies

Alathea Joy Lechner

2-10-06

5 days old

3 Months old

7 Months Old

1 Year Old

18 Months Old

2 Years Old (and a new big sister)

2 Years Old (getting pretty used to being a big sister :)

2 1/2 Years Old

3 Years Old!!!

My *baby* turned THREE today. That sounds so big to me. I was pretty emotional when I woke up this morning, while everyone was still sleeping, reflecting back to the day that we first became parents. What a HAPPY DAY! I can remember it SO vividly. I fell instantly in love with Alathea Joy and have loved motherhood with an inexpressible joy. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would love being a Mom this much. God has been so kind to give us these precious gifts, our two little girls. Its been quite a week with their birthdays being 3 days apart. Today I had the joy of taking Alathea on a birthday date for the entire morning (huge thanks to Laura Parks for watching Abigail). It was amazing. I have missed my big girl so much this past year. I know that sounds silly...what I mean is that I miss having so much one on one time with her. So that made this date extra special. I'll have to do a post on the day...it was that great that it deserves its own post. Anyways, Happy 3rd Birthday, my sweet Alathea Joy. You have truly brought much Joy to all who know you.  I love how you are so full of life and personality (for better or worse :) You make life so fun! I pray that you would grow to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind & strength. I love you, baby girl.

One year old

My sweet baby girl is now a 1 year old. Wow, amazing how fast a year can go and how many amazing memories you can pack into it! Abigail has been a complete joy, truly an ideal baby from the start and that hasn't changed yet. I love her squishy cheeks and huge blue eyes. I love her snuggles and how content she is to simply sit on my lap and watch whatever her big sister is up to. I love her sweet "talking" from her bed each morning. I love how excited she is to see Alathea or Daddy. I love seeing her little personality blossom and how happy and laid back she is, yet how she loves people and other babies at the same time. I love watching her interact with other babies and give them toys (its like she knows how to share :). I love how she follows me around the house and wants to be where ever I am and how I often find her pulling on my leg to look down and see her sweet eyes asking for me to pick her up. I love watching her attempt to walk and how proud and excited she is to take any steps. I love her laugh and her huge full face smile and scrunched up nose. And I really love watching Abigail and Alathea's love for each other at such young ages. What precious gifts sisters are!! I'm so, so grateful to God for this daughter of mine. Happy 1st Birthday, my sweet Abigail!!

Sleeping Beauty

My little, baby Abigail is turning ONE on Saturday! She still seems like such a baby to me. Its hard to believe she'll be one. Sunday's after church, Abigail is so tired she falls alseep when I nurse her, and then cannot be woken back up. I like to use it as our special snuggle time since that is so rare now. But last week I had to get Alathea ready for her nap and laid Abi in my bed for just a minute. When I walked back into the room she looked so pretty sound asleep so I took a bunch of pictures of my little sweetie. She was out cold :)