Ali Grace is ONE year old!!!

Jack and I sang Happy Birthday to Ali when she woke up. Jack's version is "Hasty Birstay" over and over , and it's adorable!

The Birthday Girl!

One of the many phone calls from loving family, wishing Ali a happy birthday!

Her flower cake! And we got to use our family plate for the first time!

She liked her cake a lot!

Yummmmmmy!

If there's one thing this girl can do, it's make a mess!!!! I had to give her a bath when she was done eating.

This adorable boy liked the cake a lot too. He kept saying "birstday cake for meee!"

He had to have a bath too. He loves putting food in his hair lately--yesterday it was ketchup, today cake and icing. :)

Happy Birthday Ali Grace!!!

One year ago today, at 10:28 a.m. our sweet little girl was born . And today she will be one whole year old! We are so very blessed by our Ali Grace and all of her funniness and silliness and sweetness! We love her more than words can express!

Praise the Lord for Our Ali Grace!

Pictures of today to come later.

TV is Back

BUT IT IS ON PROBATION! As the TV Nazi, I can't just let everyone watch whatever, whenever, what kind of a Nazi would that make me? :)

Really though, we are allowed to watch TV again. But we've learned so much by not watching it for a month that we don't want to let it take over again! We learned things like: that it IS possible to entertain our kids without the TV, and that we get so much more done with it off, and the house is so much more peaceful without it, and that limiting our TV viewing really does help us with thoughts and clutter in our heads, and leaves more room for the right things.

I'd say the biggest lesson we learned is that taking out TV has left room for the good and right things in all areas of life. Dinner at the table together, reading to the kids more, playing with the kids more, reading our Bibles more, talking more. So what we've decided to do with all of this knowledge is to severely limit TV from now on. I've decided that we won't turn it on AT ALL during the day until Friday--that will be our lazy/pajama/TV day (and that doesn't mean all day either). Also, we won't watch TV until the kids go to bed in the evenings, and honestly I have little desire to watch much then. It truly disturbs me at times--it just seems so loud, so disruptive, and so uncontrollable, you know? Anyway...that's what we've learned, and what we're planning on. I'm sure there will be times when we get back into that TV rut, but I hope that we'll have enough sense to back up and get back to where we need to be again.

Family Trips Part 3--The Fishing Camp

A couple of weeks ago we drove to Mississippi to spend the weekend with the Chisholms at the fishing camp. Brian and his Dad look forward to this time fishing all year--and so do the rest of us. We had so much fun relaxing, eating, talking, playing, and fishing. And to make this year even better Jack got to fish for the very first time! We were all sooo hoping that he would catch his first fish this year with Brian and Grandpa there. Grandpa was not there when Brian caught his first fish, so we really wanted him to be there for Jack's. So early Saturday morning Brian, Grandpa, and Jack got up and started fishing from the bank. I was still asleep, but Brian said Jack did very well!

And then HE CAUGHT HIS FIRST FISH!!!!!! Brian woke me up with the fish in my face and was smiling ear-to-ear! Our big boy is a great fisherman!A lot of time was spent just like this. Fishing Fishing Fishing. Brian and Grandpa took the boat out fishing a lot too.
Three Generations of Chisholm men--and fishermen.

Jack pretended to be out on the water. He loved playing in the boat. Grandmama, Ali Grace, and I spent most of our time eating, relaxing, and playing. I think Grandmama had fun getting some quality time with little Ali Grace and Jack too.

Saturday Aunt Amanda (Brian's sister) and Uncle Chris came for lunch and to play with the kids. They had a blast! Jack and Ali Grace loved seeing them! As you can see they love their aunt.

Addition and Multiplication

+

=

and

and

Baby Chisholm #3 who is on the way!

We found out Sunday that I am pregnant with our third child!!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet the little one!!! I'm only 2 or 3 weeks along and I haven't been to the doctor yet, but we think he or she will be due in May. We are terrible at keeping secrets, so we are already telling everyone! We are so blessed and humbled by God's incredible gift of children to
us! God is so good!

This reminds me of a quote I've heard a few times....A man who had several children was asked how he divided his love between all of them, and he answered back that when you have children, they multiply the love in your life, not divide it. And we know that to be so true! Praise the Lord for seeing fit to multiply our blessings!