Easter Blessings!

Such a beautiful Easter day! 

Had a great day eating and visiting with family today, hunting eggs, and playing with Copper (our newest 4-legged family member).  The girls were so beautiful in their Easter dresses, and Daddy sure looked handsome in his new Easter duds.  Grateful for all of our many blessings today!

 Sweet baby girl!  

Always posing!

 My heart. I yub them!

 Not everyone was pumped about the family photo, but we'll take what we can get!

 Two of my favorite girls!  Julianne was totally over the picture taking by this point.

 Claire and Jul decided to hunt for eggs in the dune buggy, no way the big girls could keep up with them!

Someone was so excited about her new bathing suit that she had to wear it all day!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to celebrate our Risen Savior with family and friends.  We're about to kick back on the deck, light a fire, relax and enjoy this beautiful evening.  

Ballin'

On Thursday, Abigail and the rest of the Oberlin Sweeties played in their very first game of the season!! We are just tickled pink, if you couldn't tell!  They have been practicing so hard and we were all so excited to finally get to play.  Of course, we had to have a tiny photo shoot before the game...you know how those softball Mommas are...:)

 The 2014 Oberlin Sweeties (minus a few latecomers)

 So proud of our #7!  

Action shot--baby girl was hustlin'!

 Lemme tell ya, folks, t-ball ain't what it used to be.  Like there's a whole lot less "t".  This year, the Dixie Youth rules have changed so that 4/5/6 year olds are now doing primarily coach pitch ball instead of hitting off of the tee.  Very hard for some of these babies to be able to do that, but I suppose it's preparing them for later on.  In the game Thursday night, Ab hit a hard grounder almost to the third baseman...and promptly hauled her sweet patootie to 3rd base!!  She hit it so hard that she got turned around and just took off in the direction she was facing!  It was hilarious, as you can imagine.  No, I didn't get a picture or video because I was so busy jumping up and down cheering.  It was an AWESOME hit, just sayin'.  We played Elizabeth, which was basically like playing college girls.  There's no 10-run rule, so the score was much higher...

The game this morning against Fairview was much more evenly matched.  (At least the Fairview girls didn't look like Amazons out on the field.)  We didn't win this one either, but #7 got another good hit and a RBI!  We are so proud of her!!  She is learning and improving every day and really seems to enjoy playing.  

We are looking forward to another game on Monday against Fairview. 

You know what they say, the 3rd time's a charm!!  

It's Been Awhile...

I didn't realize until just now that it's been almost a year since my last post.  We're still alive, in case you were wondering.  Just wanted to clear that up.  Due to ...things... I've decided to pick back up with the blogging rather than posting pics on Facebook or Instagram (some pictures just need a story, you know.  And sometimes I may want to say more than the X number of characters allowed.).  So here we go on this little adventure again!  My plan is to try and post at least weekly.  We'll see how that goes.  Baby steps, you know.  Since this is the first afternoon of Easter break, I'm hopping off now to enjoy the beautiful afternoon with my girlies!  Lots of fun things planned for the next few days, especially Ab's first t-ball game tomorrow night!  Check back soon for pics and a recap of what's sure to be an eventful game! ;)

...

I have 4 loads of laundry to fold, clothes to iron, a test to study for, and a house to straighten, but I have something on my heart that I just have to get off because it won't leave me alone until I do.  As I was putting Julianne to bed tonight, I was struck by how unbelievably, undeservedly blessed I am...and how much I take for granted all that I've been blessed with.  Usually, I put my baby girl to bed with a kiss and an "I love you", shut the door and she goes on to sleep pretty fast.  Tonight, I sat by her bed and stroked her red hair and prayed over her, thanking God for this feisty, smart, independent, fearless, beautiful gift He has given me.  I don't do that nearly often enough.  Shame on me for that.  How dare I be so quick to forget how fortunate and blessed I am.  My children are HEALTHY.  Thank You, Lord.  My children are WHOLE.  Thank You, Lord.  My children are HERE.  Oh, Thank You, Lord.  Thank You.  Please forgive me for taking this for granted for so long.  I promise to try and do better.  If you are reading this, please pray with me for Michelle and James, DeAndrea and Aaron, and Kayla and Jason.  Within the last year, they have all suffered a loss that no one should ever have to bear, and my heart is so heavy for each of them tonight. There are other friends and family that have suffered this same loss, or a similar one, and I hurt for them as well.  May I never get so caught up in the stress and busyness of every day life that I forget how incredibly blessed I am.  

Precious Memories

I have really been missing Grannie Doris lately.  I just love that lady.  I still catch myself picking up the phone to call and check on her, or wanting to fix her a plate or bring her supper.  It's hard to believe she's gone, but she's still with us in so many ways.  Grannie loved ALL of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren so much.  She loved to love on those babies, big and small, and they all loved her back.  Grannie was one of the few people that Julianne would tolerate kissing and loving on her.  Julianne never once fussed when Grannie would hold her, which made Grannie so proud!  They had a special bond, as did she and Abigail.

The sweetest thing happened this morning on the way to church.

We were cruising along listening to the radio, and the girls were talking and playing in the back seat.  "Precious Memories" came on, which always makes me think of Grannie.  I started to sing along but had to stop and wipe my eyes when I heard Julianne singing loudly from the back seat.  I turned to look at her and she just smiled so sweet and kept singing and swaying.  She was singing for her Grannie.  My heart filled up so much it started running out of my eyes.  She may be too little to remember much about Grannie, but she has her in her heart, which is the most important thing. 

Christmas 2012, Part 1

It's Christmastime!  

Merry Christmas to all of you awesome people who take the time out to read our little blog!!  I hope and pray that you have been blessed this Christmas season, and that you are able to rejoice in celebrating Jesus' birthday with your family and friends!  We have been celebrating Christmas for the past few days, and we're not even done yet!!  We had our Hennigan Christmas party on Saturday, and had quite the turnout!  Sunday evening, we celebrated with the Marks' and watched 4 beautiful girls enjoy their gifts!  Santa came Sunday night, so the girls were so excited to open their presents Monday morning!  We hosted the annual Slaydon Christmas Eve gathering last night, and had a houseful of family eating and visiting!  Justin had to work today, but the girls and I headed to DeQuincy ahead of the storm and had a great time with my Momma's side of the family!  Next weekend, we'll have Christmas at Nana and PawPaw's, and there's sure to be lots of good food and presents there as well!  Here are a few pics from the last few days.  I think I've uploaded almost 200, but I haven't even looked at all of them yet!  (I'm loving my new camera!)  

No Hennigan Christmas is complete without petting the donkeys...:)

I'm pretty sure Julianne was bumming some grub off of Papa!

My sweet girls helping each other unwrap their presents!

Sweet cousins! 

I'll post more pics later when I get a chance.  For now, my big girl and I are gonna snuggle up in bed and watch cartoons til we fall asleep!  It's been a wonderful Christmas, and my heart is so full, not because of any gifts under the tree, but because of the love of my Jesus and my family.  

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  

Merry Christmas from the Slaydons!

The Christmas festivities have officially begun around our little neck of the woods! We celebrated with the Hennigans yesterday, today we celebrate with the Marks', Santa comes in the morning and then tomorrow night is the big Slaydon Christmas Eve gathering.  Justin works Christmas Day this year ( :( ), so after we get him off to work, we'll be headed to DeQuincy, then next Saturday, we'll celebrate again with the Slaydons!  (Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!)  Both girls fell asleep EARLY last night on the way home from PawPaw Jerry's, and miraculously, they're still sleeping!! Guess all that playing, singing, eating, rapping, dancing, and donkey petting really wore them out!!  Since obviously the next few days are going to be super busy, here's a few pics of Christmas so far: 

Trimming the tree!

Christmas in the Courtyard in Merryville!

Just chillin' with Frosty!

My loves!!