in no particular order...part 3

So proud of our flower girl. We were nervous. VERY nervous. But she did so well...seriously thankful to God for answering our MANY prayers!


Look at those beautiful people! No wonder I think my kids are cute. :) (We missed you, Jess! The fourth beautiful member of the Jack DeKorne family. :))
These are out of order. But look at her face. Recognize it? It's because that bead is from my dress. Look at the sheer glee on her face in the picture below. Stinker!
But really, at this point she had walked down the aisle and posed for 1,000 pictures without fault-so she could probably have done just about anything and I wouldn't have minded!


Absolutely breathtaking. Made getting married in a church seem so boring!
I'm with the d.j.


Ava enjoyed riding the golf cart up and down the mountain. I also enjoyed it. Much more than I enjoyed riding the ski lift up with both flower girls and almost going into cardiac arrest right before the wedding.
Ok, I LOVE this picture-see the two dads at the end of the aisle holding up suckers??? Hilarious!
I mean, seriously gorgeous.

Pretty much done with the pictures, at this point.
You know the d.j. is good when they get Grandma on the dance floor for Black Eyed Peas songs!
Mark and Greg d.j.'d their second wedding together. They were AMAZING. I love these pictures because a)you can see how much fun they're having, and b)I wanted to point out that the dance floor shifted off the dance floor to the right to be closer to them. They were that good. :)
Just a couple shots from the final day of our weekend tour. Reese's flabbergasted look makes me smile here...
And Ava's face in this one is hilarious I think! Like she's trying really hard to decide what kind of ice cream to choose.
GREAT WEEKEND! CONGRATULATIONS DAN & KARYN! :)

Mama said there'd be days like this...

I thought Friday morning was going really well. I had two crock pots and a cheesecake going by 9:30 in the morning. Kaiya had dumped out a 64 count box of crayons which scattered to the ends of the earth but when you are as productive and accomplished as I am, things like that don't even phase you.

But then this happened. Well, some stuff happened right before this, but this was the final product. Big Fat Lip #1 of her life. Poor baby.

Just a little more perspective.
And while I was dealing with this....(I didn't photograph any of the blood. You can thank me later.)
Ava walked up to me with this face. And whenever I see this face, I know something has just transpired that I will most likely not support.
This time? It was this. "Mom, I spilled paint but don't say WHOAH Ava, that's bad, bad, bad. Cause it's ok Mom. Accidents happen." And really, when you're already laughing, it's hard to be too mad about spilled paint. Especially when it's just in the mudroom and only one of the three containers spilled.
Thankfully things brightened up as the day went on. Daddy came home from being gone all week with new butterfly wings. And who doesn't need a good pair of butterfly wings on a Friday afternoon.



Even the fat lip was smiling.

Waterworks

Anytime we pass over a creek or a river or a lake or a pool or anything bigger than a puddle Ava says: "water!!! we love water!!!"...she comes by it honestly. Her Dad is a fiend!

Mark has been gone a lot of weekends lately-but we had him for about 48 hours last weekend and so we took advantage of a beautiful day and gave the girls their first dip in the river.

Of course Mark made sure everything was ok before we put the girls in. He is thoughtful like that.

She's laughing, you just can't tell. (I can hear my Mom gasping all the way in Florida when she sees this picture.)
They each took turns swimming. I use the term swimming VERY loosely.
Love this! She was done swimming and just wanted to cuddle with her Daddy.
On our way to the pool. Obviously purple lipgloss is a must.
I realize this is a pointless picture, but Ava has gotten so brave this summer. This one is for my own records-she and her little friend are out in the middle under water. It's so much fun to just have her doing her own thing now. And I don't have to clean anything up when she's done. Awesome.
Miss Independent. She don't need no friend.
Thankful for lots of water to keep us cool during the hottest summer in 20 years. More thankful for cutie girls to play in it!

Evangelism and Oral Hygiene

I don't know. Maybe the girl has some of her Uncle Joel in her. Preach it sister.

I guess she was really moved.
I have always brushed my children's teeth every night. **

We just started taking pictures of it. Ava was prompted to oral hygiene improvement by the new pink toothbrush she got at the Children's Fair.

**BLATANT lie. don't judge me.

Wait a minute. Who took my baby and put this in her place?!?!
This one's for all your minivan haters out there. I don't think it's that you're too cool, I think it's that you're too insecure. :) A couple weeks ago Mark was putting the car top carrier on top of the van (that's right, we took it to the next level baby), and I was like-"honey, I'm so sorry you used to be a cool guy and now I've turned you into this. " And he responded: "This is what I have always wanted." And then I fell in love all over again, until he took laundry out of the dryer without folding it. :)
Them: "jumping is AWESOME!:"

Me: "please don't kill your sister, please don't kill your sister, please don't kill your sister..."
a rare moment.
Talk about missing babies. I'm 0 for 3. This chica is 5 months old and on the move. She will roll the entire length of our living room and if I wasn't always watching her carefully she might even get stuck under a chair. But that would never happen. Because I always watch her carefully.
No official crawling yet, just the all fours lunging dance. You know the one.
The scary picture of her holding Reese a few months ago has morphed into this. Still a little scary.
I like how evident it is in this post that my house is always very clean. Tidy is my middle name. Just ask anyone who has ever lived with me. :)

The one where I took all the pictures with my cell phone

I'd say 95% of the time we adhere pretty much to our nap/bedtime routine, but, every once in awhile at 5:30 we look at each other and decide to go to a festival with our 3 small children that's an hour away.

And those are always the most fun memories.

The first merry go round experience.

This was called the wobbly worm or something. Who knows. Go dirty carnival rides!
Reese and I had a jolly old time on the sidelines.
This had great potential.
Someone asked if Mark came with me, ummmm...yeah-couldn't do stuff like this without him! Way to go for double-fisting, babe. :)
This cracked me up...Kaiya was holding on for dear life right over Mark's eyes. :)
We loved the Coast Guard Festival. But more loved having fun with our family...eating dinner at 9 o clock...rides....sunset...but next time I'll bring the camera.

I don't want to forget.

Warning. I'm just writing. I never do this so bear with me.

I try not to bring up Kaiya's sickness too much. I'm always nervous of being one of those people who understands everyone's problems because one time, a couple years ago, I had my own life or death situation. I certainly don't-and if anything, I sometimes suffer from some form of survivor's guilt. What a miracle we received.

This week I have been deeply affected by a story of two brothers. (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryanandchadarnold)

One was dying of liver disease and his brother was a perfect match, as well as a healthy viable donor. Though the transplant surgery went well, the healthy, donating brother ended up dying. Gave his life so that his brother could keep his. I saw a picture of their family waiting during the surgery..and I thought-I know that feeling. I know the desperation in their hearts. I don't know what they're going through or how it feels, but I know that feeling. Sitting. Waiting. Needing God so desperately and begging and pleading him for his mercy. And I don't want to forget.

I keep up with the blogs of a few friends of kids with special needs. One family whose children are slipping away with a degenerative disease. The other who spend much of their time trying to figure out what is hurting their sweet baby. I don't know what that's like. But I know what it's like to feel desperate for your child. And I don't want to forget.

Lately Kaiya throws tantrums. She sits down in the parking lot at the grocery store. Ava whines. And whines. I talk to other Moms. We talk about the whining, the tantrums. And it's so easy to just hop on the lazy of river of life and complain and whine ourselves about this job we've been given. How bratty. I could have had it taken away. And I don't want to forget that. What an amazing gift these three beauties are. This life is. This whining is.

A year and half ago I watched a lifeless baby hooked up to a ventilator. It was awful. I remember Mark and I crying at her bedside. I remember nursing her for the first time after she was extubated. I remember the first time she smiled at me again (at 1:26 am). I remember Jesus healed her, and he comforted us, and he provided us with so much support in a town where we were new. It's easy to get caught up in the now. But I don't want to forget how it feels to have nothing and need what feels like everything. And sweet Jesus. He provides. Maybe not always how we expect. But he does. And that, I don't want to forget.

Pray with me for the family of Ryan Arnold. A father of three boys who will be raised without their Dad...and a wife who has no more partner. Pray with me for the moms who have to work every day to take care of a child with disabilities and wish that those sweet kiddos whining was their biggest problem.

You're also welcome to pray that I go back to my regularly scheduled blogging with no emotion. It's coming. Don't worry. :)

Happy August. (creative-less title #2)

Ava loves holding Reese. For thirty seconds. But nonetheless.

Thought this was so sweet, Mark comforting both girls during a dual breakdown. I love how you can see the tear on Kaiya's eye. Such a good Daddy we have!
Her first (and hopefully last) tattoo.
We run a little slow around here. DeKorne time just isn't quite like the rest of the world. Kaiya slept in a pack and play most of her life, I haven't printed pictures of really any of our kids, and we plant our flower boxes the last day in July. Oh well.

Girls keeping the bag of miracle gro safe until Dad gets there.

Finished product. It will be fun to see how they bloom for the next...month. :)
Washed them up and threw them in the boat to suck a little more energy out of them before bed.
To my mom: See? We have life jackets. It just invokes so much drama to keep them on.
Ok, today I walked in the room, saw her on all fours, and tried to grab my camera-which resulted in this quality photo.
By the time I could get it focused she was back like this. Which I'm TOTALLY fine with. No mobility yet, Reesey!
All that wore her out! By the time I was making dinner she was done. This picture cracks me up. I'm kind of weird about my kids sleeping in their beds-so they never really fall asleep anywhere else, including on me, in the car, anywhere. I don't have a lot of pictures like this because of that, so I love it.
Sweet angel.