blessings abound part 1

so many people have been asking lately why our blog has been...well, dormant!!!!!! ella & madeline would like to say that they have been busy taking care of a mommy that has been busy...being blessed with the opportunity to give them a new baby brother or sister!!!!!!!!

we are so excited to announce that our newest addition will be joining our family in the middle of october!

is this not the most amazing thing ever...God is so good!!!!

this first trimester has had me feeling tired and extremely uninspired in the blogging department...unless you would like to hear about being so tired your tongue finds it hard not to drag on the ground or drool to run from your mouth or having to eat so often in order to stave off nausea that my husband has been known to ask me in the MIDDLE of the night "what is that crunching sound" (um, that would be dry rice chex, honey...why do you ask? ha,ha,ha)...

but the main reason for my "absence" has been that it is just so darn hard not to shout from the rooftops that "WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!"

our prayer would be that this newest addition arrive safe and sound and always know what a blessing he or she will be to our family...and for all of you wondering, we are going to do the unthinkable and wait until the birth to find out if ella and madeline will be welcoming a brother or sister! we are firm in this decision although we have many of our family members threatening to bribe the doc to tell them early!!!!!!!

the girls are so excited and i just know they will welcome this precious little bundle with open arms, lots of snuggles, and oodles of smooches...

it goes without saying...so will jeffrey and i!

wordless wednesday...

i don't know how these girls got to be so big...but i am SO in love!!!!!

a little springtime tease...

as if i didn't know it before, i am not a winter person. i love each season...but i seem to love it more "southern style"!!!! i love the brisk air that appears after the long summer...the louisiana winter...springtime breeze...and i love an occasional snow...but i just don't love a never ending winter!!!!

so i was thrilled last week when the girls and i were able to spend lots of mornings outside...with even a few lunches out there as well! it was nice to "air" out a little bit and feel the sun on our skin! ella & madeline made lots of food for the birds and had fun taking turns in the swing...well, i don't know how much fun the taking turns part was for them!!!!!!

it is now cold and rainy again...so we will have to be patient once again...but at least we got a taste of what is to come...and it sure was nice!!!!

**as a side note, ella really doesn't always look like "cousin it"...but i just realized that her hair was in her face in EVERY picture!!!!!!!**

someone likes to make a fashion statement...

even in the midst of illness! as you can see in her little eyes, maddie has suffered a long bout of some sort of respiratory illness...but this mommy doesn't think she could look any cuter!!!!

husband extraordinaire...

i know, i know...my blogging lately has been less than extraordinaire...but i am hopeful that i will do better - the never ending winter seems to have "iced" my creativity...but due to the "gentle nudge" of some price family blog fans...i will try to deliver!!!!!!

i have the BEST friends and family in the world...and they made my birthday a week ago wonderful! however, the person that deserves the most credit for making me "queen for a day" is my sweet husband!!! he has been on his "A game" (his A+ game really) lately...and for that i am so thankful! no other present needed...seriously!

we spent the majority of my birthday outside playing in the warm weather...which was WonDerFul! my husband surprised me with a gift that i could have NEVER seen coming...and has seriously caused me some sleepless nights (this will need explaining)!!!! i am scared to death to sing in public...never have in my whole life...except for choir when i was growing up! i have been asked to sing in people's weddings...but have always been too terrified to even attempt it...the thought of it at this very moment has my stomach in knots!!!!! anyway, my husband being the "risk taker" that he is...therefore, pushing me outside the box, has scheduled a session for me at a recording studio to create my own lullaby CD for my children!!!!! while i am SOOOO very nervous, the fact that my husband comes up with these unique and creative gifts makes me smile! i honestly don't know HOW i am going to survive this...but there are worse things in life i suppose!!!!!! (that's debatable at this point...)

if that's not enough...he topped it by making me a homemade pound cake...which turned out perfectly delicious! one of my favorite cakes in the world is my grandma biscuit's pound cake and jeffrey's grandma's pound cake! in honor of his own grandmother, jeffrey decided to give it a whirl! he even had to make his own homemade buttermilk...the cake was FANTASTIC!!!!!! he was very proud of his baking abilities...and i was in heaven!!!!!

what more could a girl ask for on her birthday...a daddy extraordinaire, a gift extraordinaire, a chef extraordinaire, a husband extraordinaire...

a prince extraordinaire.

thank you, jeffrey for being all that i could ask for...and more.

a little bit of new orleans in washington...

last week we had the privilege of hosting the akers family while they were on their family vacation to D.C.! they probably couldn't have picked a colder week to visit...but the weather was beautiful and they were able to endure the cold long enough to put in some thorough site seeing!

the kids had a blast together...and i can honestly say...my house has never looked worse!!!!!! i say that with a smile on my face...because you simply would have had to have seen it to comprehend what the pack of wild animals managed to accomplish!!!!! everything from hello kitty stickers adorning ella's antique iron bed...to toys everywhere...to sippy cups scattered about...

but i wouldn't have changed a thing...

ok, maybe i would have hired a service to "undo" the mess for me...or just bombed the place and started over...(just kidding...!!!!!)

the kids had so much fun playing together, dressing up, jumping, eating donuts for breakfast, riding in the car together, making pizza...

we are so thankful that our dear friends chose to come visit us!!!!!! they win the award for sure...other than family (and i am certainly not discounting those visits for sure)...they were our first friends to come stay with us up here!!!!! i cannot tell you how much it means to me to have people that are special to us come and experience what & where we are living...those days always fly by so fast!!!!!!

i allowed laura to do most of the photo documenting...but we did manage to fit in a day at the park for the kids...and i took some cute pics!

we were also blessed to be able to celebrate laura's birthday while they were in town! our fabulous sitter bravely agreed to tackle sitting FOUR children by herself...and the adults were able to enjoy a very fun dinner out...it was a great way to end such a fun week!

we would love to look forward to visits from friends every week...but for now, we will just be thankful for the visit that we did have...and treasure the memories made!!!!!!

but just in case you're wondering...our calendar looks pretty open!!!!!!!!

missing in action...

to all my 10's of blogging fans...thanks for being patient! the price family blog administrator has been feeling less than inspired lately...but since we woke up to a "blizzard" this morning - i felt it only right to get back in the saddle again!

miss madeline has been battling a double ear infection...and is currently on her 9th day of antibiotics...and miss ella has been battling a "mystery illness"...and after 4 days on zithromax is still running fever...

*sigh*

will it ever end?

we plan on taking the girls out to play in the snow later today (jeffrey is working from home ...which ALL of his girls ADORE)...so hopefully, i will get some cute pics!!!!