merry christmas

wasn't she just born?

1835 days ago...was a very different kind of wednesday than tomorrow is going to be.

there are many similarities on one hand; it was hot, i was learning to trust in the Lord in new ways, i laughed and cried, and austin was there to support me. but in some ways it couldn't be more different. that first wednesday was the day i met our sweet adeline mae. i remember it perfectly. i couldn't stop staring at her trying to figure out who this little person was and how it could be that i already loved her so much. when i looked at her sweet little chubby, smashed face i was simply overwhelmed. overwhelmed by the privilege the Lord had given me of being her mom. overwhelmed with emotions of gratitude and love. overwhelmed that the people at the hospital were going to let us take this little person home without knowing anything about us! what was i supposed to do with her?!

i wasn't one of those moms who looks at their newborn and thinks about them graduating from high school or getting married or having kids (although if you've ever sat by me at a wedding when the father is asked "who give this woman to be married to this man?" then you know i've shed a tear at every wedding since she was born. and if you happen to be one of the moms who have shown me the sweet 16 book you prepared for your daughter, then you know i don't make it too far until the tears flow). in some ways i try to think with a very eternal view. i try to catch myself when i am making too big a deal of something that won't matter in eternity. i ask the Lord to help me to think of our little kids' souls and not just their immediate needs, i don't always succeed but i'm working on it. in other ways i don't think past tomorrow. it's hard for me to imagine the next stage in my life. when i have a newborn i can't imagine sleeping through the night. when i am used to carrying a baby all the time it's hard to imagine the day the baby will crawl let alone walk. when i start potty training a toddler it's hard for me to imagine the day they will go to the restroom without any help. when i have a little one asking for the same book to be read for the 100th time it's hard for me to imagine the day they start to sound out words. so 1835 days ago it was hard for me imagine the day that my sweet baby adeline would put on a uniform and a backpack and go to kindergarten! i didn't know 5 years and 9 days ago what her little life would hold, i had no idea what a joy she would be or what a challenge motherhood would be and i would never have guessed that 1835 days would go by so quickly. yet, as much as i can't imagine letting little addie go to school i am so excited for her and for the adventures the Lord has for our family. it has been so good to chat with adeline about the nearness of God and is a great reminder to my silly heart of His complete sovereignty.

life is but a vapor, our God is eternally faithful.

our little man...

is now a big one year old.

we love him and he loves...

cake!

and only cries a little when it's gone

i can't believe we have been blessed with owen for a whole year. in a lot of ways it feels like we were just meeting him and kissing his little chubby checks yesterday and in other ways none of us can remember life without him. he has captured his sisters' affections and makes them giggle and say things like "ohhh, he's so cute, i could just kiss your face baby owey". austin and i are loving to see how unique he is as a little man. he loves to dig in dirt, play with sticks, eat everything (including aforementioned sticks and dirt). he loves trucks and anything that remotely resembles a ball. he loves his dog and his sisters. and now we know he loves cake too :)

we thank the Lord for the opportunity of raising this little guy. our hearts are so full.

owen is on the move

owen is growing into a little man.

he loves to snuggle with momma

he is a speedy crawler

he loves to eat, and eat, and eat...

and sometimes cries when it's all gone

he's getting curious and a little mischievous and tries to pull down, take away, or eat, whatever his sisters are playing with and then he laughs

he loves dude time with his dad and dodger

most of the time he can be found sitting next to dodger

he is such a sweet boy and the whole family is in love with him. he keeps us laughing and gives us snuggles and does it all with his sweet tiny grin.

he laughs and talks and yells. he's brave and cute and is sooooooooo boy!

oh and lest i forget, his new favorite pastime, anything that has to do with playing ball!

think blue

dodger is becoming such a big boy

he loves his girls and is so protective of them

and is always up for a little spur of the moment run in the sprinklers

he's gentle with owen and knows owen is his little master

(dodger was owen's second word which has made me love dodger a little more)

he's playful, sweet and smart

and most days we are really starting to love him!

we'll be seein' yinz

the Lord blessed us with a sweet friendship with adam and shannon ashoff.

about a month ago they moved to north carolina.

from the tiniest to the biggest, every one of the duncans miss the ashoffs.

happy father's day pops!

adeline's favorite story about her pappa (my dad) is when he was just a little kid his brother fell and got really hurt so pappa scooped him up and carried him home, just over 2 miles. adeline loves the heroic nature of this story. she loves to hear about her pappa as a kid doing such a brave and loving thing. i love this story because it is a picture of who my dad is. he is selfless & compassionate.

my favorite story about my dad shows his selflessness and sacrifice for our family. my dad was drafted to vietnam and when he got out he used his earnings to buy a brand new 1969 yellow camero. he loved that car. he kept it in perfect condition, and just like everything my dad owns, he cared for it with great detail. when i was about 7 years old my dad wanted to take us on vacation but money was tight so make ends meet he sold his camero. i remember thinking it was a big deal then but as an adult i really know the sacrifices he made for us were far greater than him just selling his car. he is the most selfless man i know and i could not be more thankful for God placing me in his family. he has taught me innumerable lessons by the way he lives his life & loves his family. i love my pops daddy & am thankful for your life.

ella's world

in april ella turned 3.

she wanted to have a pizza party with a minnie mouse theme (which worked out well since we were celebrating at disneyland). so as a family (along with mr. map and miss jenny) we had a blast eating pizza with our sweet little 3 year old.

followed by a little minnie party at the hotel.

when ella walked in this is what she saw...

and this was her reaction...she's not too sure about all this!

she quickly decided it was a good thing after all.

the next day we had a wonderful time at disneyland (which will have to be another post!)

she was thrilled to spend time with all of her cousins, her aunts and uncles & grammy & pops.

now that ella is a big girl she likes to talk all about the things she loves.

when we talk about what we are thankful to the Lord for she always lists a few things:

her comfy bed...

her baby and lipstick...

her momma...

baby owen, her addie & daddy!

we love our littlest baby girl and are so thankful to the Lord for 3 years with her. we love watching her grow and tell us what she's thinking, and boy does she!

update on addie

adeline is growing up so fast.

she just finished the masters kids pre-school at our church...

she loves to sing and dance. making up songs and dances is one of her current specialties. she is really good at rhyming and makes me laugh everyday with her songs. yesterday in the front yard under our tree she sang, "dancing in the shade of the tree. big tree little girl. dancing in the shade i feel the cool breeze. big tree little girl dancing in the shade" it was a sweet little moment. she looked up at the tree and was smiling ear to ear as she sang her little anthem.

she is getting really curious about reading. she's really close and it'll just take a little bit of time, i think she'll be reading in no time. she's getting so good at using her imagination to play. she likes to set up little tents & to pretend to read...

she loves dodger...

ladybugs...

her family...

and to pretend to cook...

she'll be starting kindergarten in september. let me just warn you now, you might not want to call me that first week unless you're fluent in a little language i call "hysterical crying mom"

i love my sweet addie and am thrilled by the little lady she's becoming

life with three...

is usually pretty entertaining, always busy and sometimes funny. today i took the kids to a very fancy lunch at chick-fil-a. the girls love going there and were really excited, super tired and starving to death (judging from ella's actions you would've thought i hadn't feed them for weeks). owen was in his stroller with both feet up on the snack tray fussing about wanting more baby puffs, adeline was trying to crawl through the line dividers while dancing and watching some older kids enjoy a shake, and ella was in her own world. i went to the counter to order and that's when it started getting crazy. a rather large man came to order at the register next to us, ella, who always over-estimates her size, tried to quickly get out of his way (he was no where near "squishing her" which is what she claimed) so she pushed her sister out of the way, shoved the stroller and in turn made me trip. so now addie is jammed against the counter the stroller is rolling, i'm about to fall and ella is starting to cry. the girl at the register had no category to put these events into so she said, "will that be all for you?" no, not yet. at this point ella's shoe falls off. i have no idea how this happens but she is now about to freak out because she has inherited some of my strange fear of germs so she won't put her foot on the floor and is about to topple over. meanwhile the worker is frantically trying to hand me my debit card, diet coke, 2 cups and a chocolate milk. my hand are full. i jammed most things on top of the stroller. i scooped ella up push the stroller with the other hand, hold the shoe in the hand that is dangling ella, at which point the chocolate milk tumbled to the ground, rolling halfway through the dinning room. now ella announced in a loud voice that i'm squishing her (this time it happens to be true), addie began chasing the chocolate milk and owen stared screaming. finally after addie caught the milk, ella got refitted with her shoe and owen energetically munched more puffs i thought things would calm down. no, not yet. just as i got all the kids situated with their lunches almost in slow motion owens entire jar of baby food dove off the table onto my shirt, jeans and seat. spoon and all. perfect. owen took this opportunity to plunge his rather chubby hands into my buffalo sauce thus concluding our rather eventful lunch. had i been an observer i'm not sure if i would've laughed or been amazed at the calamity.

i never thought i would be one of those moms, well, here i am!