Comfort and Joy

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will
give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
Jeremiah 31:13

Friday, January 31, 2014

Five for Friday

1.  Argh...the boys dressed up last Friday night as pirates for the Chili Cook-off at their school.
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2. I am looking into getting one of these or something like it. Anyone know anything about them? Untitled

3. Just a reminder about the Matilda Jane Show...this Monday Feb. 3 at my home from 9:30-11:30 and 6:30-8:30. Cutest girls clothing 6 months and up along with great women's clothing.
Save the date: Monday Feb. 3 at my home from 9:30-11:30 and 6:30-8:30. Cutest girls clothing 6 months and up along with great women's clothing. Some of my favorite wardrobe staples this fall and winter were Matilda Jane. Feel free to bring your kids and y

4.  Found this gem the other day.  August of 1999. We had been together almost a year. We were babies and my hair was seriously blond!
#tbt August of 1999. We had been together almost a year. We were babies!  @daviddspence

5.  This one is truly exhausting but her laugh and precious personality light up all of our hearts.
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Happy Friday friends!  Enjoy the weekend!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Special Treat

Austin finally made it to his "special treat" for behavior and decided to go get ice cream and bowling. IMG_8280
He calls it bowling ball (which I think is too cute).  He chose me for his special treat which I also LOVED!  Miller did his special treat last weekend and chose David.  Miller chose to watch the movie Planes with just daddy in our room tucked into the sheets together.

So Austin and I headed out on Sunday for our special treat.  As I said, it took him a while to reach this goal so it was quite a big deal for us to go.  We started at the ice cream shop (I didn't take pics) and then headed towards the bowling alley.
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He picked the art of bowling up pretty quickly.  I was proud of him.  IMG_8267 IMG_8268 IMG_8269 IMG_8270 IMG_8271 IMG_8273 IMG_8274 IMG_8275
It was a really fun way to spend the afternoon with my special guy.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Five for Friday

1. Even after 6 years it takes my breath away to see my sons name on there. Told his story last Friday morning to 20 Midsouth hospital administrators...remembering the beautiful and terrible parts of those 55 days and indescribable pain and grief afterwards. After I finished speaking I headed to get new flowers and took them to his gravesite. I sat there with him for a while even though it was only 34 degrees out and I didn't have a coat. Some days the pain and memories come back and it will truly take my breathe away.
Even after 6 years it takes my breath away to see my sons name on there. Told his story this morning to 30 Midsouth hospital administrators...remembering the beautiful and terrible parts of those 55 days and indescribable pain and grief afterwards. Made m

2.  Reminder:
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3. I'm reading a book for my bible study called Confident Parenting. This paragraph really stood out to me. I am so thankful for our community and the way it has loved us and allowed us to love them through the good and the bad times.
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4. Even spiderman needs to sleep.
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5. I'm hosting a Matilda Jane Trunk Show at my house on Monday, February 3 from 9:30-11:30 and 6:30-8:30. They not only have the cutest clothes ever for little girls but I have LOVED every piece I bought for myself this past season. I would wear their leggings everyday if they came in more colors. Great quality and comfort. Message me or comment below and I will let you know my address. IMG_8253

Happy Friday friends!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

More videos

I know you may be tired of the videos but I like having them on the blog so I can one day look back and see the precious moments from life with our little family.

Maggie eating ice cream.  She couldn't decide if she liked it or not. 

 Austin learning to read.

The boys singing Happy Birthday to Maggie the morning of her birthday.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Dinner Out for the Fund

Come enjoy a delicious meal at Cafe Eclectic on Tuesday, January 28th.  They are including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Tell them you are with the Forrest Spence Fund and we receive 20% of the proceeds.  

Friday, January 17, 2014

Five for Friday

*Really six for Friday

1. We met up with our BFF's at the park last week and then took our 2 families to dinner. So fun to do life on life with great friends! Cutest little girls I know! @halleywilliams

2. Cutest little fireman I know. Untitled

3. Not a great or clear picture but it is documentation that we had a wonderful date night last Friday night. David's parents kept the kids over night (thank you Yaya and Dingdad) and we spent a wonderful night together. I did a little shopping by myself for a couple hours and then we headed to a late dinner at the Elegant Farmer. We had a delicious meal and then came home to a quiet house where I proceeded to sleep until 10 am. It was glorious! Untitled

4. When I am sad and missing my boy I bake. I baked a lot of banana bread and banana muffins this week.
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5. We build ALOT of legos at my house. A lot! The boys received money for Christmas from some family members and they have been saving up so we went on Monday afternoon to Target (it was insane with all 3 wanting to go in opposite directions with Maggie pulling everything off the shelves). They could pick out toys to purchase with their own money. Austin of course picked out a new lego set. We finished the entire set on Wednesday afternoon. Untitled

6. Maggie got her first big knot on Wednesday. She fell on concrete at the doctors office and got a knot on her forhead and her cheek. I felt terrible but she did really well bouncing back. Untitled Untitled
Happy Friday friends!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Some fun videos

Some fun videos of life lately.

Maggie learning to walk

 Pushing baby in the stroller

 One of our favorite activities at night is to dance together. Austin LOVES the song, Story of My Life by One Direction.

Maggie loves to "dance" with daddy by laying her head on his shoulder while he dances. It is truly priceless.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Maggie's 1st birthday

Maggie turned 1 on December 27th.
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She started the day with her favorite food...scrambled eggs.
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She became so messy that she had to take a bath.  She had eggs everywhere.
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I love this next picture...pure joy!
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We gave Maggie her chair before all the festivities started.  She was a little unsure about it but quickly realized how much fun it is to crawl in and out of it. IMG_9737 IMG_9738
We had our family and Maggie's bff's over for dinner and cake.  Lynn Knox made Maggie's cake.  We use Lynn for all our cakes.  They taste amazing and are also very cute.  The cupcake on the top was Maggie's smash cake.
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Maggie's BFF's, Mary Kate and Sally.  Love that these 3 are going to grow up so close.
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Mary Kate and Sally were big fans of Matt's bulldogs...especially Deliah.  MK would literally squeal when she saw her.  Deliah does look like a pot belly pig so I understand why she thought she was so funny.
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We tried to get a picture of the 3 girls together.
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We also did some family shots.
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And some best friends shots.
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Both brothers took pictures with the kids as well.IMG_9772 IMG_8099
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After all the picture taking we ate pasta for dinner and then enjoyed the cake. IMG_9775
You can see on Maggie's face that she enjoyed the lasagna.IMG_9776 IMG_9779 IMG_9782 IMG_9785 IMG_9792 IMG_9791
She wasn't sure what to do with the cupcake when she first got it but figured it out pretty quickly.IMG_9796 IMG_9798 IMG_9799 IMG_9800 IMG_9804 IMG_9806
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After we finished the cake Maggie opened some birthday gifts.IMG_9807 IMG_9811
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The next morning we took all 3 kids to Gibson's to continue the celebration.  She loved her donut!IMG_8119 IMG_8120
Such a fun time celebrating my baby girl turning 1.  Truly so thankful for her!