O Christmas Tree

As has become our tradition, we headed up to our local nursery, Bob's, on Thanksgiving weekend to pick out a Christmas tree. They always have the best looking trees.....and Kevin's favorite part is that they are already unbundled and standing, therefore keeping him from falling prey to my requests for unbundling, standing, and turning! This year, my friend, Melissa, was here and was able to go with us before she headed back to Atlanta. The girls were super excited to have her tag along for our annual tradition.

Waiting on Daddy to pay for the tree....

Watching while Daddy got the tree strapped on top of our van...

All set and ready to go!

OCC

Did you pack your shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child? We did! This year, with the addition of a new little one, the OCC deadline almost slipped by me! We all five headed to the Dollar Tree one evening to buy some goodies to fill our shoeboxes. Chloe and Claire had so much fun helping me pick out the perfect items to send in their shoeboxes. When we got home, we got our baths and then settled in the living room to pack up our shoeboxes. Chloe and Claire had so much fun helping out this year. And.....I made my donation online this year so that we can track our boxes on their journey!

My girls...

I want to say that I'm thankful to my mother-in-law for snapping this picture. I often give her a hard time for always grabbing her camera. However, I'm thankful that I have this picture since I'm usually behind the camera!

This was a moment captured several weeks ago.....one night where everyone seemed to want Mommy....so we all snuggled up to read "The Very Fairy Princess" before bed. What a cute book it is. However, it's not the instructions on how to be a princess that I'll remember from the moment. This was one of the first times that it was just me and my girls......snuggled up together.

When I look at this picture, I have a flood of emotions! The first thing I thought when I saw it was, "Wow....is that really me in that picture with 3 precious little girls?" As time has passed, so many things in our lives have changed. And it sometimes seems that overnight, I've become responsible for these three little princesses!! The second emotion that I had was fear......fear that I would be too busy or too caught up in life to take part in these little moments of snuggle time and reading. I never want to miss one moment! I have Celine Dion's Christmas CD and have been listening to it over this holiday season. There's one song on the CD called "These Are The Special Times." Here are the lyrics.....they say it so well.

"These are the special times

Times we'll remember

These are the precious times

The tender time we'll hold in our hearts forever
These are the sweetest times

These times together

And through it all, one thing will always be true

The special times are the time I share with you."

I pray that God grants me many moments like this over the years, and more importantly that I never take them for granted.....these special times.

A Sneak Peek.....

Snowflake Wishes Cranberry Christmas

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6 Weeks

Our sweet Caitlyn is 6 weeks old today! I love this little one so much! It's been so much fun to have a baby around again to kiss on and love. I really wish that I could have had a "third baby mentality" with my other ones......I think that I would have enjoyed these early stages more! But, I guess that's all part of the process, isn't it?

Caitlyn loves to be held (which is sometimes tricky considering her birth order!). She nurses every 3 hours....give or take. And she has gone up to about 7 hours in between feedings at night. So far, she hates getting a bath and screams the entire time! She really likes to snooze on her belly, so I let her nap that way during the day. At night, she still sleeps in the cradle in our room. In fact, the cradle seems to be, in part, responsible for Caitlyn's increasingly receding hair line! I found a patch of hair on the bumper pad in the cradle!! Just in the past week, she has started to grin in response to people or her surroundings.....not just in her dreams.

This sweet girl has a busy few weeks ahead of her. I pray that she does well with all of the chaos around her!!

I promise..........

.........that I haven't forgotten you, my blog world friends! In actuality, I'm craving some time to sit with my computer and blog. I have so many posts stored up in my head right now! :) HOWEVER, it seems that right now, there is always someone or something that needs washing, changing, feeding, or putting away. I'm committed to keeping my head above water for my family first.......therefore blogging will have to come when it can. Know that I miss you and look forward to spending some time here soon. Stay tuned............

Go Blue!

Oh the things my sweet husband will do to watch football.....Michigan football in this instance. I couldn't help but chuckle as I think back to all of the things we've done to catch a good game. There was the time in Louisville, in our little shoebox apartment, that I arrived home from work to find Kevin and 2 other guys watching one game on our big TV, and another game on our smaller TV that they had brought in from the bedroom (with the cable trailing it mind you) and sat on a kitchen chair beside the entertainment center. Then there was the time here in Tifton, that Kevin drug out a VCR and hooked up to our nice flat screen TV to "tape"....yes, you read that right.....tape a football game that started while we were at church! Oh, I could recount story after story! They all make me chuckle and smile......you can't get anything by my guy, he'll come up with some sort of solution!

As is no surprise, our South Georgia/North Florida stations don't usually carry the Michigan game. And since we no longer have cable here at home, ESPN isn't an option either. Thankfully, the internet makes watching all kinds of things possible! So.......compliments of the world wide web, my crew cheered for the maize and blue on Saturday.......at the kitchen table, while they ate lunch! And these sweet girls loved every minute of this lunch with Daddy! Go Blue!

There were three in the bed and the little one said...

Here are a couple of new pictures from the last week. We're having so much fun! (And I'm really tired every night.....so tired that I've tried to finish this blog post 2 different nights and fallen asleep. So I'm hoping this afternoon will work better!)

Aren't they just so cute together?

I think we might have a stomach sleeper on our hands! In the last few days, I've let Caitlyn sleep on her belly on the couch as she's napping............and boy, does she sleep good! Those cheeks are so kissable! I must kiss them hundreds of times a day!

Caitlyn is starting to be alert and awake more and more. Stay tuned for some more pictures where maybe you can see her eyes!

The Puzzle Queen

Claire LOVES puzzles! She works on puzzles at least once every day. And by puzzles, I don't mean peg puzzles where you match the item to its spot.....I mean real jigsaw puzzles! It's amazing to me how good she's gotten at putting them together. I think it's fascinating to watch her little brain think through the ins and outs of fitting all those pieces together. I took these pictures the Monday morning before Caitlyn was born. Chloe goes t school on Mondays and so that has been Mommy and Claire time. She had called me over this morning to "Yook Mommy!....I did it by myself!" I was so proud of what I found......she had done the entire puzzle all by herself!

(We are missing one piece of this puzzle, but it's her favorite.)

Friend Day at Dance

In between those sweet cheeks of our new littlest one, I wanted to back-track and note a couple of things that her sisters have been up to.

The Monday before Caitlyn was born was "Friend Day" at dance. It just so happened that Chloe's friend, Grace, was in town from North Carolina. Grace is the granddaughter of our pastor and his wife. Grace and her mommy, Ashley, lived in Tifton for several months when the girls were little. Chloe and Grace became the best of friends and Chloe was so excited that Grace could join her for friend day!

Here is Chloe's dance class with all of their friends......Chloe and Grace are standing on the far right.

Sweet girls! Thanks for coming to Friend Day, Grace!

Game Day with Daddy

Even though this Daddy lives in a house full of girls and pink, he has carefully trained them all to look forward to football on the weekends! Looks like his lap is shrinking! I'm trying to catch all of these memories, because as you see, things change way too quickly!

Sisters

Top to Bottom: Chloe (9lb 6oz), Claire (8lb 15oz), Caitlyn (11lb, 4oz)

Isn't this picture kind of uncanny? I couldn't help but shake my head and giggle when it came together. I love these three girls more than I can say! These are all pictures of the girls in the hospital.

I pray that these three girls form a bond like no other and that they always have each other's backs.....no matter the circumstances. I pray that as they grow up together, that Kevin and I can teach them about what a real friend and teammate is through their interactions with each other. I pray that their relationship will be a good example to others and be a testimony of God's love for us!

Here are a few pictures of the girls from this past week........Chloe and Claire have been so sweet and are always loving on Caitlyn! They've waited for a long time to touch her!

This is one of my new favorite pictures.....all three of my girls!

She calls herself a "double big sister!"

She felt like such a big girl when she got to hold Caitlyn!

More Pictures of Caitlyn

Caitlyn Ansley Kilgore

Caitlyn - 11lb 4.2ozs 21.5in

On Wednesday, October 27th, we welcomed into the world our third daughter......Caitlyn Ansley. She came into the world making quite the statement as she weighed in at 11lbs and 4.2ozs! She was 21 1/5 inches long! What a blessing she already is to our little family!

It's hard to put into words the emotions of the day, but I am going to try. Then tomorrow, I promise there will be a slide show with lots of pictures of the big day.

We (Kevin and I) arrived at the hospital at 5:30am for all of the prep work before our 7:30am appointment in the operating room. The bulk of this time is filled with paperwork, questions, IVs, etc. However, there's always a short lull of time before we go to the operating room that is probably the only time that I feel anxious during the entire process. Part of my feelings come from the fact that I've been up about 2 1/2 hours at this point with nothing to eat or drink.......so I'm always feeling jittery. However, it's also the only point in the day when I have any time to think about how monumental the day really is. This go round, Kevin and I sat and watched bits and pieces of The Today Show and actually dozed a little as we waited for our call. But I still remember that feeling of anxiousness creeping up inside of me!

Finally, about 7:20am, we got the go ahead to proceed to the operating room......and this time I actually walked myself from my room to the OR (holding my gown closed and my IV bag!). I left Kevin right outside the OR and went on in to get my spinal. After this final prep work and the arrival of my friend and doctor, Kevin got to rejoin me in the operating room. The process began and our sweet Caitlyn was born at 7:59am. What sweets sounds that followed in the next few minutes! Sounds of another precious little girl, sounds of excitement amongst those in the operating room with us, and the sound of Kevin's voice as he brought her over to me to see. Daddy actually got to carry Caitlyn out of the operating room!

After Kevin and Caitlyn left, the process began of closing me up! As they worked, we chatted about how much Caitlyn would weigh and all threw in their guesses. After a little while, my doctor requested that one of the nurses call the nursery and find out the birth weight. The young nurse hung up and told us that she weighed 11 lbs. My doctor immediately, without hesitation, told the nurse to call back and verify that! Sure enough, the nurse was met with the same response........11lbs and 4.2ozs!!! I started laughing! What other response is there than to laugh! My doctor commented that she "was glad she didn't know that before!" What fun memories!

Recovery was fairly quick and I got to see Kevin, my mom, and my dad. Kevin kept bringing me pictures of Caitlyn. After we got back to our room, the pediatrician came to let me know that Caitlyn was breathing quickly and that they wanted to do a chest xray on her. He didn't seem very concerned so I chose not to be either! I just wanted to get my hands on my sweet baby! I finally got to hold her around noon, I think. Things start to get blurry at this point because I the pain medicine that they put in my spinal started to make me feel bad......hot, sweaty, clammy, light-headed, heavy-eyed, etc.

In the afternoon, Chloe and Claire got to meet their sister......so sweet! Claire kept saying that she was "so cute!" Chloe, even at 4, was still pretty unsure about the hospital, the hospital bed, and Mommy's IV. However, she loved touching and looking at her sister. It was amazing how her demeanor changed regarding me and Caitlyn when we walked into our house on Friday afternoon!

Caitlyn ended up getting to be with us for some of the afternoon on Wednesday and then spent the night in the nursery, per Dr. Simmons request. After another chest xray and more observation, she got to be with us permanently (but with monitors) beginning Thursday morning. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, she and I both were freed of all of our wires and monitors!!! Yay!

I apologize for the length of this post.......however I want to remember the events of day......so if you're still reading........kudos to you! :) Stay tuned for lots of updates..........

Agrirama Pumpkin Patch

Since this was our last weekend as a family of four, we decided to save our trip to the local pumpkin patch as a special treat for this weekend. This morning, we headed over to the Agrirama to check out their pumpkins, ride the train, play in some corn, try for some pictures, and get our faces painted! We were joined by our good friends and neighbors, the Harris family. We had a blast and enjoyed being outside......despite the fact that it was October 23rd and close to 80 degrees before lunch. This should explain the shorts and short-sleeved shirts! We are all very ready for some cooler temperatures around here!

A Special Visitor

While Kevin was away at the Men's Retreat last weekend, the girls and I were so excited to have a special visitor join in on our girls weekend......Melissa!! She came in on Friday afternoon and spent the night with us. The girls and I had so much fun........I think the trip was good for all of us. I always enjoy the company of my dear friend.......it does my soul good. And she is so good to my girls.......she brought them birthday presents, played on the floor, dressed up like a princess with them, and made them cupcakes. All of this was also good for their very pregnant mama! :)

And I just had to include this picture of this little princess..........how can you look at this and not smile?

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

Our sweet Chloe-bug turned four last Saturday!!! Gulp......four....really? It's hard to believe that she's already four. And something about "four" sounds so much older than "three!"

Chloe has celebrated her birthday several times this year. The week before her birthday, Kevin and I surprised her at school and brought cupcakes to her class.

Her teachers had made her a special crown for her birthday that was pink with purple glitter!

Even sister got in on the action and got to come to Chloe's class from her class and have a cupcake.

This year, since the girls were celebrating their birthdays so many times, we decided to keep all of their presents from Mommy, Daddy, and each other for their actual birthdays. We cheated a little and celebrated here at home the day before Chloe's birthday. Kevin's last "main calendar item" before Caitlyn arrives was our church's men's retreat, which was Friday and Saturday. So.....we celebrated with Chloe on Friday morning. As has become tradition, Daddy left about 7am and headed to town for doughnuts from Mi Lady Bakery. Birthdays have taken on a new meaning and won't be the same without doughnuts!!!

Then the birthday girl opened her presents...........Hi Ho Cherrio from Claire and new Color Wonder, tennis shoes, and the new Beauty and the Beast movie from Mommy and Daddy.

We love you, Chloe! You are such a good big sister and bring so much joy to our lives. We are thankful for the four years that you've been a part of our lives and are looking forward to many more!

An Early Birthday Present

Back when football season was getting underway, Kevin mentioned one night that the Colts were playing in Jacksonville this year and that it sure would be fun to go to that game. Coincidentally, the next week, I noticed (on Facebook, of course) that a college friend of mine and her husband had Jaguars season tickets. I contacted her about buying her Colts/Jags tickets. She and her husband wanted to go to that game, but she graciously offered to go to the military base and buy me a pair of tickets......at a great price, I might add! I really wanted to suprise Kevin and hand him the tickets a few days before the game........however, being as how the game was on a Sunday afternoon, that wasn't really possible. So, instead I just told him one night that I had an early birthday present for him and that the tickets were his if it worked out with the church schedule. He didn't have to think long........and it worked out at church! And he invited his Dad to join him and told him "Happy Birthday" as well! I think they had fun.......it's not often that they get to do things like that together. Unfortunately, the Colts were handed their first lost of the season that night........but memories were still made and fun was had!

Happy Birthday, Kevin!