Daddy and Lila

Daddy took Lila on a special date to the Rangers Game..just the two of them. This was Lila's first baseball game and from what I hear she had a great time.


I also heard she loved taking the camera and capturing the moments she especially wanted to remember...

This in Nina. My Gram (Lila's Great Gram) just brought this back for her from a recent trip to Alaska. If you know Lila at all, you know she always has to take a "friend" with her to the store, church, baseball game, etc. Nina is her new favorite and has taken over Pinkie's coveted place as bedtime buddy, so I wasn't surprised at all when she announced Nina was going with her to the game.

It was a long night but she stayed up to tell me all about it when she and Daddy got home after midnight!

Fun in the Tub

Isn't a bath with bubbles always better??

New Camera - New Poses

So I got a new smaller camera for our upcoming Disney trip. I was so excited that I tore into that box on the way home from the store. My sweet girls were eager to be subjects while I tried out my new toy so the shooting began.



Can't you just hear them laughing?
I love these pictures because they show Lila and Emily in true form. These precious faces are what I see when I close my eyes and think of my beautiful daughters. They always find joy in the simplest little things! It's hard not to smile and be full of thankfulness when I'm around them! I'm one lucky Mommy!!
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Party Time!

Birthdays have always been a big deal to me. I love having one whole day out of the year reserved to just celebrate you and how special you are. Around our house we usually start the day with a few presents and a special birthday breakfast, candles and song included! And the rest of the day is just pretty much about the birthday gal, or guy, meaning they get to decide what we do where we eat, etc. I love birthdays and this year celebrating Lila's fourth was no exception!

This year Rooney's birthday happened to fall on a Sunday... not just any Sunday... Family Day at church. This meant our usual Sunday routine was a little different. Class, Worship, Dinner on the Grounds, Children's Building Dedication, and then a time of prayer and singing. Everyone was asked to invite their whole family, from near and far, to join us in this special day of praise and worship, which meant a huge crowd! Our family wasn't able to make it since Disney World was literally just days away, so after church we celebrated Lila's birthday instead.



Lunch was at McDonald's... surprise, surprise... and the Happy Meal toy that week was a little beanie baby which thrilled our girlies (added bonus)! We came home to open more presents, play with a few new toys and then get ready for the big PARTY!!

Lila really wanted a Princess Party, but unfortunately her mom isn't big on character themed anything... parties, clothes, room decor, etc... so we compromised with a few little princess things here and there. Family Day at church meant no evening services since the festivities went well into the afternoon so we had a few of Lila's friends over that evening for dinner, fun, and cake! It was a VERY laid back party which meant the kids played, the moms talked, and the dads watched football on tv... but I think we all still had a great time. I'm sure the dads appreciated the football game over any pin the tail on the donkey, or scavenger hunt I could have whipped up in princess theme.... : )

So it turned out to be a great long day full of fun and celebration! I still have a hard time believing my little Lila is FOUR YEARS OLD!!! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Here is the birthday girl with her cake... ugly cake, long story, lesson learned. oh, well.

Happy Birthday Lila Seanne!

My Sweet Four Year Old,
You are my precious daughter. I have prayed for you for the last seven years, since your Daddy and I got married and knew that one day we would love to have a family together. Little did I know then just how much God would answer that prayer by giving us our beautiful Lila Seanne four short years ago. You, sweet girl, have brought me more love, joy and happiness than I ever dreamed possible. Every single day I am blessed to be your mother is fun and exciting. Not only do I love you with every fiber of my soul, but I enjoy you. I love to be around you and your sweet, spunky spirit. Lately you have made Daddy and I laugh so hard we just can't hide it from you, but you just always laugh right along with us, "That was funny wasn't it Momma?" And then we all just laugh a little bit harder! You are so precious and certainly rank at the top of my 'bestest' friends list! It seems impossible that four years have flown by so quickly, but I have absolutely loved every single moment - the good, the bad and even the ugly - I am your mother and there isn't a temper tantrum too great to make me stop loving you!

Your Daddy, you, and your sister will forever be my greatest blessing and accomplishment until the day I finally find myself at Heaven's gate wrapped in my Father's arms. I pray that I can always be exactly what you need... your comforter, cheerleader, provider, protector, secret keeper, heartache healer, best friend, consistent and constant, your strength.. your mother. These are lofty aspirations and even though I will always do what is best for you, I know I will also fail you at times in your life. I am only human and we were put on this earth for a longing, a desire that can never be satisfied aside from Christ. So even though there will be times as your mother that I will unintentionally let you down, I know as much as I know anything, that your Heavenly Father never will. So as I sit tonight and think of you, I wish, I hope, I pray this year the same thing I did four years ago when you were placed in my arms that very first time, and every eve of your birthdays since.. as I sit and soak you in, grateful for the beautiful creature you are from the inside out, I pray that you will know the One who made you. The One who merely had to speak and everything from the earth, sea, sky, and all that they hold came to be. I want you to know Christ for exactly who He is.. your Creator, Sustainer, Shepherd, Comforter, Healer, your Redeemer. He was there at the beginning of time and will be there at the end. He is your Lord and your King. He is the only thing you need. Follow Him. Follow Him with faith and conviction.

My knowledge of God and His love and forgiveness was planted like a seed in me by your Grandparents and Great Grandparents as the same was done for them. Your Daddy and I pray every day that we will be that same example and influence you need to find and follow Christ. This world can be a scary place and believe me when I say that Satan is lurking, watching, and waiting with his hate and destruction, but with God's promises we have no need for fear. We were made to be unsatisfied here on earth Lila, so don't spend too much time trying to fit into this world. Set your eye on the prize and know with everything in you that one sweet day Jesus will come back for us and we will spend eternity with Him.

I hope you never tire of hearing me tell you about my Father and His unending story of love and redemption. You are so precious to me and of all the things I could ever give you, Jesus is the only gift you will ever really need. You already love Him and I pray daily that your love for Him continues to grow deeper and stronger until it becomes the most beautiful relationship you will ever have. He will always love you, even when you mess up and mistakes are made, much like your Momma, but with a love so much more stronger than any human is capable of. I feel so strongly that these words from my heart need to be written down so that you can read them over and over again and know without a doubt what your parent's want for you most in this world.

You are a delight and I love every bit of you. You bring me so much joy and I will always be proud of the sweet little girl that God gave me four years ago. I love you in a way that words could never get quite right. I carry your birth announcement in one of my most treasured things, my Bible, in a pocket in the front that I made so I can always keep a record of my two most beloved people in this world close by. I will never understand why God chose to bless me so immeasurably by giving you and sweet Emily to me, but I will continue to thank him each and every day for the rest of my life for the sheer, wonderful beauty of my precious, exquisite daughters. The verse Daddy and I chose for your announcement was James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." And although this is a common verse for birth announcements, there is nothing common about how true, how accurate and precise these words are for describing the gift of my Lila Seanne. I couldn't have asked God for a more good and perfect gift. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! I love you to the moon and all the way back again. You are my Rooney and I will love you forever and ever! I hope you have the sweetest dreams tonight... for tomorrow you will wake up and be FOUR! I am so excited to watch you grow and experience new things, but my heart just has a hard time keeping up with the pace. You told me the other night as we were laying in your bed that you would stay my little girl forever and never leave me... as much as I would love to keep you small enough to fit in my lap and my tight embrace, I have to let you grow up and I'm excited to see the young lady that God has in store for you to become. So tomorrow we will celebrate with one more candle on the cake than last year, but yes, Lila, you will always be my little girl and I will carry the moments of so many of your firsts in my heart and treasure them always!
All My Love, Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy

Sweet Baby Daniel

After 41 weeks and 1 day, Sherry and Will welcomed their first baby, Daniel Melvin Russ into this world at 7:42pm. He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs. 10oz. and was 21 3/4" in length. For me it was love at first sight... well I've loved him all along because he was Sherry's son, but I was really smitten when I finally got to meet that sweet little face I have been praying for. He is SOOO CUTE!!! SOOO PERFECT!!! SOOO SWEET!!
About thirty minutes into the delivery phase the doctor thought the baby was too big for an easy natural delivery and suggested a C-Section was a better route. Carol and I waited anxiously in the waiting room for news, but when we felt we had patiently waited as long as we could, we went back to do some investigating. We heard from a nurse at the desk that the baby was here and fine, so we breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the waiting room eager to hear news of his stats. Waiting in this kind of situation is no easy task, but we gave it another half hour or so and then tried to get some news on Sherry. We were in luck because she was now in recovery and we got to peek in on her. She looked great and seeing her put all the worry to rest so we could now move on to the star of the show! We got a call from Will letting us know that he and Daniel were in the nursey, so we headed that way to get our first glimpse of this new little miracle.
Will so gently picked him up and brought him to the window so we could see him...

He kept looking up at his Daddy... it was precious!

Did I tell you how cute he is?!?

Then we watched as he got his first bath...



and got all pretty for Mommy.

Seriously, He's a cutie pie!

Proud Daddy! So Sweet!

Then we had another long wait as Sherry attempted nursing and then had to stay in recovery until a post partum room was ready for her. But we had fun visiting in the waiting room with family friends and Will's sister, reminiscing about how Sherry and Will met, some of their first dates, and their surprise engagement. We laughed as Carol told the story of how they announced their pregnancy to her and just enjoyed the chance that Daniel's arrival allowed us to catch up with each other. We finally got back to see the new little family around 11:00pm.
Doesn't Mommy look great after a long day of patient waiting and labor. She's amazing!

And Grandma Carol has been waiting for this moment all year... so sweet!

Sweet Adorable Daniel...

Welcome to the World Baby Boy!

I got to hold sweet Daniel too and I told him how much I loved him and how excited I was that he was finally here. I'm going to tell him stories of his Mama one day that will certainly make him laugh so hard his belly will ache! Sherry is one of my best friends in the whole world. We met our freshman year at ACU and the rest was history. College with our girlfriends was so much fun and each one was truly a gift from God. We did almost everything together from classes, chapel, Sigma Theta Chi, late night snacks, Texaco runs, being silly and growing together in our relationships with Christ. I found my lifelong friends at ACU and Sherry was one of the best! After graduation Sherry and I were roommates in Plano, both teaching elementary school. We were in each other's weddings. I loved her, cried with her and prayed for her when she lost her Dad, and she was there for me too when I was in the hospital for almost three weeks before Lila was born. She took me to doctor's appointments when I couldn't drive, painted my toenails to make me feel better, and sat up at the hospital keeping me company while knitting Lila a little pink bunny! When Emily was born she kept up with her progress, and even brought me a pair of sassy shoes after my thyroid surgery when I was worried about having a big scar on my neck. She is loyal, funny, wise, dependable, fun, honest, and sincere. She is also now a Mommy and I couldn't be happier for her! I am so honored to have been included in this big day for her family. We've had a lot of fun together through the years and I'm sure there will be many funny stories for us ahead in the future. Congratulations Sherry and Will. Daniel is beautiful and will bring you both so much joy and happiness. I can't wait to get back up there and hold him again!

Riding Lessons

Lila has a new hobby that she is very excited about! She has started horseback riding lessons and is enjoying every minute of it! She has been paired up with Daisy, a very gentle old pony and they are a perfect match. Lila talks about Daisy all the time and picks out a shiny red apple for her new friend each time we are at the grocery store... and Daisy loves apples!



It was no surprise to me that she took to Daisy so well, but after her very first lesson we were all impressed with her riding skills. By the end of the lesson she already knew how to get Daisy to respond by pulling on the reins and loved telling her, "Whoa," to get her to stop. Such a talented little rider we have!


Ms. Shelley, her instructor, is so very nice and does a great job involving Lila in the grooming and care of Daisy before they ride. Lila helps with the tack and likes to watch as all the buckles and straps are tightened before her ride. She is very sweet with Daisy and constantly tells her, "Good Girl, Daisy" throughout the lesson. It is the cutest thing to watch! She loves Daisy!

New Bike!

Lila worked hard this summer to earn a new bike! She is now officially "potty trained" and the proud owner of a new pretty pink bike! She was so excited to go to the store with Daddy and pick out the one she wanted. I wasn't surprised a bit when Daddy unloaded a Disney Princess bike from the car when they got home. Good job Lila! You're such a big girl now!

Celebration Park

Another Summer favorite is the Splash Pad at Celebration Park. It's the perfect spot to play in the sun and cool off in the water!