it's a boy!

owen duke was born on tuesday, august 17 at 5:30 pm

he's chubby & sleepy & his sisters are in love with him

addie loves to help and is so sweet to him

ella's concerned and compassionate, she sometimes forgets his name and calls him "that boy" but she mainly calls him nowen

we're so thankful for the Lord's kindness to us by adding this sweet boy to our family

it's 2010?

i can't believe how long it's been since i've updated the blog. it's been an interesting 2010, so here's your big update about 8 months late!

christmas is pretty much where i left off. we had a great time with family. we spent time with both of our families from new mexico who were kind enough to travel out here to be with us. the girls loved being with their cousins, aunts & uncles & both sets of grandparents.

we had a great time celebrating new years eve with my parents (complete with our traditional donuts & 7pm new years' countdown with noise makers & all!)

after christmas until april-ish there is a gap in photos. our lives were at a bit of a stand-still because of baby sickness. my last post has the only fun photos we have for that lovely season!

at the end of april the duncans came out to take us to disneyland to celebrate ella's 2nd birthday. we had a great time. the highlight for the girls was meeting tinker bell. when we walked away ella turned around and yelled, "i love you tink!" it was so cute.

in april the taylors dog had puppies. the girls got to hold them which adeline loved. she was so gentle and sweet to them. she fell in love. ella on the other hand hated it and couldn't wait to get out of there.

the girls loved easter this year. they had a great time coloring eggs with their dad. they were amazed. they had a great time celebrating with their cousins, complete with a pillow party!

this year (due to baby sickness) we didn't have a big party for ella's birthday, instead she requested ponies (which couldn't have been more surprising or further from the truth of what she really wanted) & her sweet friend abby & little brother baby noah. she had a great time riding in a wagon pulled by tiny ponies, since there was no way she was willing to get on one of the ponies with saddles. the highlight of the day was riding a little train. we ended the night with a family pizza party, an ice-cream cake & a pillow party. our little 2 year old loved it!

the wagon ride

on the train with the graumans

i can't believe our little ella is already 2. she's sweet and sassy. she makes us laugh and we are so thankful for her. we love our sweet lolly bird!

for her birthday grammy and pops got a playhouse for the backyard. the girls love it. it's become a pie shop that also sells lipstick, nail polish and hats. sometimes the waitresses throw your food at you and ella's been known to eat any pretend money you give her, but other than that, it's a great place to eat or get cosmetics :)

we did a little backyard sprinkler fun in may

this is one of the dangerous things the girls figured out they can do, put ella in the baby doll stroller. yikes. i sure hope that doesn't happen with the new little sibling!

ella got a big girl bed and promptly invited her sister in for some snuggles!

since the baby is on it's way we planned to have adeline's 4th birthday party a little early this year. unfortunately the girls caught a nasty virus that lasted FOREVER and wasn't gone by the time the party rolled around so we had to cancel it. thankfully adeline's grandpa and grandma duncan and her favorite miss cammy & erika still came by for a little chinese food, chopsticks, cupcakes & gum (all of the things addie wanted for her party!). she had a great day despite her high fever, what a trooper.

we love our soon to be four year old. she's so sweet and couldn't be more precious to us.

so that's the update. hopefully the next update will be of the arrival of baby d!

a sweet spring

it has been a rough few months. just after christmas we found out that ella's christmas wish had come true & she is going to be a big sister in august! almost immediately after finding out the baby news i started throwing up & pretty much didn't get a break from it until this week. i was in the hospital for 5 days, on a home iv for 3 weeks and on bed-rest for 4 weeks. at my appointment this week the doctor approved me to slowly start adding light activities. i'm looking forward to being able to be a bit more active, i think austin and the girls are too! i'm 4 1/2 months now and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

in the midst of all of this there have been several very sweet blessings. the Lord has been immeasurably kind to us. he has reminded us of his faithfulness and love. he has made my heart so thankful for my precious family and has renewed my desire to serve him by caring for them. he has shown his great strength in my great weakness. i had to be totally dependent on the Lord and on others to care for me and my family and it has been a great reminder of my insufficiency.

another wonderful blessing has been watching the girls grow in their affections for family. they have always loved family but have been enjoying sister time and love to spend time together as a family now more than ever. they had a fantastic "vacation" with their cousins (thanks to my sweet sisters saving the day while i was in the hospital). the girls loved every minute of it and have talked about it almost every day since.

austin has been so great to care for me and the girls. he had to wear a lot of hats the past few months. he was nurse and in charge of the iv to me and had to meet every need for the girls (which also included introducing them to the joys of fast food, yesterday adeline requested "bell taco"!). one of my favorite nights was watching austin and the girls have a pillow party, complete with a tinker bell movie, treats and snuggles on the inflatable bed. this week austin took a week of vacation and made it very special for the girls. they went to the rose garden, planted flowers, went to the zoo, went to the beach and played in their very own cardboard box playhouse!

another blessing in the midst of these months has been the sweet care lavished upon us by our church. the high school staff played with chalk in the backyard, colored, sang, read books, and snuggled for countless hours with the girls. people brought meals and groceries and ran errands. we truly couldn't have made it through these months without so much help and love from everyone who pitched in to care for us. we're so thankful for each of you & love you very much.

six days till christmas?

we went to the beach today. the girls were a little hesitant about the sand. they needed a little convincing...

addie agreed that it looked like fun right away...

ella on the other hand, took a little longer to agree...

before long addie dug right in with aunt rachel

while addie played and laughed ella stayed very serious and preferred to talk about the ocean...

and of course wanted to be held

austin loves the ocean with his girls and couldn't have been happier all day!

baby angel waltz of the flowers

that was the title of the little number adeline danced in at her first ballet recital on thursday night. she did such a great job, we could not be more amazed and pleased with how she did. i thought there would be some tears but was so glad the only tears were mine when i saw her dancing her little heart out.

getting hugs from miss cammy and erika before the big show! they were so sweet and brought the dancer some flowers. she's been looking at them everyday and reminding me who gave them to her! she loves them and loves her cammy! she was also thrilled to see some of her other friends from high school group there, thanks sarah, corey & franklin.

this was the moment of truth as she watched the final number before hers. wings on, she watched the girls intently the whole show and couldn't believe how good the big girls were at dancing.

it was so cute to watch the girls dance. one of the highlights was when adeline stopped dancing and yawned as big as she could. the crowd roared with laughter.

as adeline crawled into bed after the recital she said, "i love ballet momma". we love you, our tiny dancer!