Picture Diva

Here are a few shots of Alex I took the morning of school picture day. I can't wait to see the real photos!

Alex and her usual prop, Macy

Look at that mischievous grin. Love both of these bow heads!
Practicing her pose??

My absolute favorite. She is such a hot mess!

Watch out world!

Carson's Dedication

I Samuel 1:27-28
I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord.

On Sunday, November 9th, 2009, Carson was dedicated at Fellowship Church. We had a wonderful day celebrating our faith and our commitment to raising our kids in a Christ centered home. The ceremony was very sweet. One of the teaching pastors shared words of wisdom about the journey and blessing of parenthood. Then each family came to the front of the congregation and prayed a prayer promising that we will bring Carson up to know the Lord. They even gave Carson his own Bible. It was a wonderful to day to be Carson's mom. Carson's Godmother, Jaime, came to celebrate with us and she brought her daughter, Kaitlyn as well. Alex was thrilled to have a friend there because she could have cared less about what was going on. It was too funny. Any room filled with 100+ babies and parents trying to keep them quiet for over 5 minutes is tragic. Here are pictures from our day:

My handsome boys

Pete & Repeat
Daddy gets some cuddle time

Proud mommy

I think he looks a lot like mommy too :)

On stage praying over Carson

Jaime gets her loving in

Alex & Kaitlyn were having a blast together

They are hilarious!

Here's what Alex really thought about this whole day.

Our blessed, blessed family

Daddy in heaven,

Thank you for the beautiful children you have blessed our family with. We will do our best to raise them in your will and in your presence. You have given us the two most amazing masterpieces. We will love them as you love us.

Doctor Darby

Alex's pre-k class had "what do you want to be when you grow up" day this past week, and she decided she wants to be a doctor! She dressed up as Dr. Darby and requested to be a doctor that, "saves all of the animals to make them better so they don't get sick and die."
We had these killer pink scrubs to accomodate her request. Too cute, huh? I think she is the cutest med student in town!

She will be a stud Dr. Darby, don't you think?

Orange, The Butterfly

We had another incredible butterfly hatching in our home this year. I don't think we will ever be able to top "Kellah" but we certainly enjoyed the entire experience. You have to go back and watch the video at the end of last year's entry:
see: http://darbyfam.blogspot.com/2008_10_26_archive.html
(One of my favorite videos of Alex!)

Alex named her "Orange" before we even brought her home. It was such a wonderful learning experience and an even better lesson on the art of patience. Unfortunately, Orange hatched early on Wednesday morning and both kids needed to be at school at 9am, so we didn't get the hours of play time in like we did last year. But, here are pictures from our exciting morning.

Day 1: cocoon is jade green (hibernation period)

By that evening, the cocoon started to become more transparent
Our first meeting of Miss Orange, freshly hatched

Of course, Alex got to her first :)

Alex is SO happy!

Orange was patient and let us all touch her

Isn't she beautiful?

Mommy took a turn

Of course, the puppies had to meet her too. First, Macy

Then, Emmy (see Carson in the background?)

"What the heck is stuck to my forehead? I just woke up!"

I love Alex's expression in this pic

We took Orange outside to let her go...

And just like that...

She flew away! Bye! Alex was so amazing this year. Last year the devastation went on for hours. This year, Alex shouted and ran behind her, "We love you Orange. Good luck finding your family. Thanks for being at our house. Byyeeeeee!" What a difference a year makes!