missing mrs. niedrach

nancy, my mom, me and beautiful mrs. niedrach

Nancy's mom passed away on Friday evening. I am so sad for the Niedrach family, but I know that she is rejoicing in heaven with her Savior. We will all miss her so much...what an incredible example she sets for living life "for the praise of His glory" (ephesians 1:12). My prayers and tears are with you all...

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21: 1-4

a day at the aquarium!

we had a blast joining whitney, addison and carrie for an afternoon at the aquarium.

i am so sad that i didn't get any pictures of addison and natalie together. they are going to have so much fun together growing up (with isabel, max milligan and other future pink room babies too)!!

natalie liked the people watching as much as the fish watching, and it was a really fun day!

my little stinker...

My little girl gets it honestly. She loves her snacks. Just like me!

She quickly learned where the snacks were found in the kitchen. We have a roll-out cabinet next to the refrigerator. She used to pull me over there and point to the door to let me know she wanted a snack. Last week, I glance over to see this precious one trotting down the hall. With a box of cheerios in her arms. She figured out how to open that door and life has never been the same since!

Hope your week is full of sweet moments. Thanks for checking in!

a few favorites

this is one of my favorite pics from Christmas. natalie loves the new chair that her grandma carolyn and grandpa bob gave to her!

hanging out at gam and pappy's!

last week, natalie came home from venus' house with a ponytail!!!

nat loves her new school bus!

fun in the kitchen that gam and pappy gave her!

going for a wagon ride!

fun with cohen and elis!

mom and i had such a fun time taking care of precious elis and cohen for nancy on monday! elis was so glad to get out of the toddlers' way and get some food in her little tummy!

natalie and cohen playing so sweetly!

"Ooohhh...maybe I want that too," says Nat.

giving a hug...so sweet!

natalie is peeking around the corner at her boyfriend...

we tried a photo opp of these two while elis took a nap...we tried!

What a blessing it was to spend time with these two. I love them so much...

precious family

we had so much fun celebrating bigma's 100th birthday last sunday!

Happy 100th birthday Bigma!!!!

These are two of my favorite pictures in the whole world....thanks Whitney!

On 1/9/2009, my precious Bigma, my great-grandmother and Natalie's great-great grandmother...turns 100 years old!!!

Bigma is so special and so amazing...I love her so much. I love watching the light and joy in her face as she watches Natalie grow. Natalie loves her Bigma so much, and we all do too!

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

I rejoice for the life that Bigma has lived for these first 100 years and I pray for continued good health for her. She is an extraordinary blessing to all who know her.

Happy birthday Bigma!! We love you so very much!!

natalie's birthday party pictures (i have trouble making decisions, sorry so many pics!!!)

whitney made the cutest invitations. visit her website to order yours!

max milligan and haley!!!

diving into the very cool cake that her daddy made for her!

we were so excited that katie and max milligan made a surprise visit!

sweet friends...the Marist crew and their loved ones, including one of Nat's boyfriends...Liam!

I was so excited to see Katie!!

This girl loves her new wagon that Gam and Pappy gave her...she points to it all the time!

birthday bib

we gave her a little riding toy pony. she likes the book a lot better ;).

sharing with mommy

the best cheeks. ever.

loved the singing!

nat loves miss kate!

sweet friends...kim and kacey and baby finley!!

nat loves her new stacking blocks that grandma and grandpa gave her!

happy 1st birthday, Natalie

newborn nat nat!!

Natalie Muse,

Happy first birthday, baby girl!!

We were so excited to celebrate your first birthday!! We chose your name Natalie because it means "born of Christ" or "born on Christmas", and what a special and most important time of the year this is for us to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior and the birth of our precious, precious little girl. We chose your middle name Muse after my great-grandmother, Audie Corrine Nixon Muse, who is about to turn 100 in January!! She is a woman of strength and faith, and you are the fifth generation Muse.

This past year has been so amazing, Natalie. You are the most special blessing in our lives. You bring us SO MUCH JOY!!!

It's hard to believe what we were doing this time last year. I wanted to write down your birth story, so I don't forget!! I haven't done this yet...Your due date was December 18th, 2007, and I thought that I would surely have you in my arms by Christmas last year. I had early labor signs for several weeks, but the weeks and days went by and by with no sure sign that you were coming. On December 26th, we went into Northside Hospital to begin the "induction" process. They placed the cervadil at about 7:00 p.m. Then, your dad went to Chipotle to get me my "last supper" because I couldn't eat after midnight. They started the IV pitocin at about 6:30 a.m. the next morning. Your dad was so sweet, because he thought he was going to have to share his birthday, 12/27, with you. The contractions were rough, but I still wasn't progressing. At about 1:00 in the afternoon, Dr. Marshall decided to break my water to see if things progressed. After that I continued to dilate about 1 cm per hour. I was eventually able to get the epidural, which was so helpful! Throughout the day, so many of those that loved you arrived to anxiously await your arrival. Gam and Pappy, Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Bob, Katy and Lonnie, Steve and Tom, and Whitney all came to cheer you on. And troopers they were...as they had to wait a LONG TIME!! At about 10:30 p.m., Dr. Marshall said, "it's time to start pushing"!!! I was so glad that you were almost here. You remained the stubborn and independent little girl that you are, and kept me pushing until 12:14 a.m. the next morning! We were sure that you wanted YOUR OWN birthday and didn't want to share a birthday with your daddy. And there you were, the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Absolutely precious. Eight pounds of you. 20.5 inches of perfection.

And the past year has been wonderful, amazing, perfect, and everything that I had ever dreamed of and more. You bring us sheer joy, miss priss, and we love you more than you will ever know. Looking forward to many fun times in your second year!!

Love,
us