Blogging Once Again

Christmas Pics...Enjoy!!

I know most of you must think that I had thrown in the blogging towel, but over the last few weeks, something had to go and unfortunately blogging had to be the one thing that had to hit the back burner. I apologize, but I think we are back on track. Not only have I finally found my computer once again after the move, but I may have found my sanity too (although questionable.) We are getting settled quite nicely in our new home and the kids seemed to have adjusted to their new rooms and surroundings. Rob and I love being so close to family and this Christmas holiday just confirmed our decision to move. We were 30 minutes to an hour from both families and there was no 3 to 4 hour car ride to endure in holiday traffic and for that we are very grateful!! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of JOY and Happiness. To play a little catch up on the goings on of the DeFoors, Sam is 201/2 months old now and is talking up a storm. He practically repeats everything he hears. As a matter of fact, you may think he is not listening but an hour or two later he says something that makes you go hmmmm?? Katie is 7 1/2 months old babbling and sucking her thumb like it's her job. I love that little thumb of hers. It never falls out of her mouth at night and she never seems to lose it:) Rob is doing amazing with his business here in the upstate, despite his "honey do" list that seems to get longer and longer every day. I will have to say that our house has been one project after another, but each one gives us a sense of completeness and hominess that we love. I am trying to develop a routine here and hoping to meet some new moms soon, so that I can get out of the house and play a little. All in all we are feeling good and looking forward to 2008. Can you believe it is going to be 2008?? I sure can't! One thing is for sure I am not expecting baby #3 for those of you who might be thinking we are making it an annual event. I promise to be more consistent with my postings! Take care and Happy New Year!

The Joy of Moving!

For those of you who might be wondering "Where are those DeFoors?" Well...we have been preparing our new home fast and furiously to hopefully move into before Christmas. We closed a week ago today and we have gotten a lot accomplished such as painting six rooms, framed in a large doorway to put in french doors, started a fence and work building and many more fun and labor intensive projects, but we are nearing the end (I hope!!) So with that said I apologize for the major slow down in postings. I have lots of backlogged postings to do, so they might just have to wait until later. We hope all of you are doing well and enjoying this amazing time of year. In all of our doings and goings we haven't lost site of what this time of year means...the birth of our loving & gracious Jesus Christ! We are so thankful for the blessing of His birth and the opportunity to celebrate His birthday. So to all of you we wish you a Joyous Christmas season and I promise to get back to blogging more regularly soon.

Psalm 67
May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Psalms of Thanksgiving (Psalm 34)

I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord;

let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

I sought the Lord, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,

for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger;

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

What man is there who desires life

and loves many days, that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

He keeps all his bones;

not one of them is broken.

Affliction will slay the wicked,

and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

The Lord redeems the life of his servants;

none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

The Grove Park Inn Asheville (http://www.groveparkinn.com/)

Beautiful Fall Colors!!

3 years, 2 kids, 2 towns, 1 dog & a minivan...to say the least we have been busy over the last 3 years. Rob and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary on November 6th by visiting Asheville, NC. We were only gone for 24 hours, but it was the first time we had been away together since Kate's birth 6 months ago and really the first time we had been away at all in quite some time before that. We have been so busy with moving, building our new house and just being parents of 2 babies that we haven't made time for ourselves. We know this is not a practice we want to continue, so we have made a promise to each other that going forward date night is going to become a regular term around our house. We had so much renewing our friendship and marriage while away!

Renewing Friendships & Making New Memories

Last night was a night to remember and cherish!! I got together with girlfriends from highschool for the first time in a VERY long time. What fun it was to see what beautiful women everyone has become. Not everyone has the special opportunity to reconnect in life with friends that they shared so many memories and fun times with. We all have gotten married and made families of our own. Each of us remembered specific memories that we shared together and laughed until we thought we might pop! The even more incredible thing is that we each have landed in the same general geographic area once again. We made a promise that we would make it a point to gather for dinner at least once a quarter. I am already looking forward to the next time. I hope that our children will be able to play together and make wonderful memories like we have. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to know each and everyone of them and more importantly to be able to share in their "grown up" lives too!

My New Froggy Coat

I couldn't resist posting these precious photos of Katie in her new froggy coat that Nana bought her. We were just trying it on for size and I couldn't stop laughing at her little rosy cheeks poking out from all that green fur. I had kind of forgotten how fun it is to dress them up and admire the cute factor. It hasn't gotten that cold here yet, but I imagine we will definitely get some wear out of it here shortly (at least I hope so).

Quack Quack Please...

Instead of "Trick or Treat" this year, Sam used the only words that seemed fitting as we went from door to door spreading Halloween cheer..."Quack Quack Please". The evening was too fun watching Sam run around in his duck costume and seeing our sweet Kate with her big floppy elephant ears. Even though the nights festivities didn't last very long (which is a good thing with an 18 month & 5 month old) the laughs and memories of the night will last forever. Sam was hilarious hamming it up in his costume. My mom laughed saying "that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree". I am not quite sure how to take that, but I will just take it as a complement? We visited Aunt Kaye(Khaki) and Uncle Stanley's house first and she had made some yummy homemade Halloween cookies that I ate most of:) After visiting with them we then went to their sons house (Michael and his wife Alexa)! They have the most precious 3 month old Boykin Spaniel puppy (Scout) who Sam loved! Their neighborhood was teeming with children all dressed up for the night. The next and final stop was to Debbie's house. She had the most healthy of all treats. She knows how healthy Sam usually eats so she was prepared for our knock on the door. She filled Sam's bucket with an organic rice krispie treat & an avocado!! For those of you who don't know, Sam LOVES avocados!! We all got a great laugh, but I was glad for the healthful treat!! She also gave us some applesauce for Kate. Debbie gets the prize for the most "mama friendly" Halloween treat. After Debbie's house we packed it up and came home to give Katie her last Halloween bottle. The night was very fun for the whole family, but I think Rob and I had the most fun seeing our precious angels all dressed up.

Great Grand Pappy

We took the kids to visit their Great Grand Pappy at his assisted living home on Sunday after church. This is my (Loran) dad's father. He has been going through some rough weeks recently as his body is beginning to grow tired. He has prostate cancer that has unfortunately spread to his bones, but they have been able to manage his pain quite well with medicine. His outlook and spirit are remarkable as he is an inspiration to us all!! Rob and I try to make regular visits to all of our grandparents now that we are living so close to them. They love seeing the children and I know it brightens their day as it does ours to see them smile! Great grand Pappy is a retired Baptist minister and has lived a full life. We all get a chuckle at some of the comments and memories that come up during conversations we have with him. Some days we are just thrilled that he remembers our faces and that we are family. Others the thoughts and memories are crystal clear. It is funny how the aging mind works. I have said on several occassions that I am already having senior moments, but I think it might just be the "mommy" brain of having 2 babies under 2:) These pictures below are of our visit.

A little R -n- R (Road Trip & Reunion)

This past weekend we packed up the family and made a road trip to Westminster to visit all of Rob's family. Rob has a large family, for which I am very grateful, because I have a very small extended family and I love to experience all the fun, joy and little bit of craziness!! The trip got off to a somewhat rocky start when we realized the battery was dead in our van. Luckily we discovered this the night before, so we were able to tackle this roadblock before the early morning departure. Long story short we ended up taking Papa's (my dad) big suburban bus, because we weren't able to get the battery situation worked out in time. Nonetheless, we were able to leave on Saturday morning as scheduled around 9am! We were glad to have Papa's big bus because it has a DVD player and Barney is always handy when Sam gets the wiggles. We arrived in Westminster in time to stop and visit Grandmother and Papa DeFoor before the reunion. They were so happy to see the kids and Sam was happy to ransack their house. After our first stop we decided to stop in at Bebe's (Rob's mom) and grab a quick snack and change diapers. Once we all had a chance to regroup we were off to the reunion. By the way, the weather could not have been more perfect. It was 75 degrees and gloriously sunny. When we arrived they were getting ready to bless the food and have some lunch so we jumped right in! There were about 80+ people there and it was so fun to get to meet a lot of Rob's family that I had not ever met before. Most of the family lives in the SC, NC, GA, AL area but some came from much further away. I think I forgot to mention, but the reunion was held at "The Farm", which is not a farm at all, but is this beautiful tucked away property in the hills of SC, that is truly a haven. It has a house and a 1 acre pond with lots of trees and most important serenity. Everyone had so much fun and they had some family members who brought their guitars and they played and we sang along. Sam especially loved the music and they even played "Jesus loves me" just for him. What a special memory for all of us. By about 3:00, we decided to pack it up and head back to Bebe's to see if the kids would rest at all, but unfortunately they were way past the napping idea, so we just hung out and visited with Bebe. Around 5:30 we gathered everyone back up and went to Los Amigos Mexican restaurant in Seneca and grabbed a bite to eat. I think we really pushed it expecting Sam to be ready to behave after a long day and no nap, but in the end I think we all ate and then it was bedtime (thank goodness)!!

The next day we went to Bebe's church and then came home to a great lunch with grandmother and papa (rob's grandparents). Then nap time was a must!! We were all tired and definitely needed some downtime. After naps we started our trek back home with a special stop! We stopped in Greenville to visit some our best friends, Matt & Amanda. They have twins (Sadie & Jack) that are 7 months old and absolutely precious!! Sam was completely taken with Sadie and was making her laugh. We can't wait to get moved and be closer to them. I know watching our kids grow up together is going to be wonderful. We ordered pizza and caught up with everyone and then made our way back home.

The weekend was so much fun. We will look forward to next year's reunion with much anticipation!!

Fun at the Park

On Sunday we packed up the kids and went to the park in hopes of giving Sam a chance to burn off some energy. Sam, Kate and I have been a little under the weather with our first cold in a long time. We are hoping it won't stick around for too long. The fresh air did us all good. Sam loves to swing, although you will see that daddy swings him much higher than I ever do. When mama pushes Sam it more or less puts him to sleep and when daddy gets a turn I see smiles and giggles from ear to ear. That's what daddy's are for...right??

Gratitude

Things I am Grateful for...

• Kate's smiles & babbling
• Sam's ever expanding vocab
• cool breeze while sitting on screen porch
• quiet house when kids are in bed (at 7:30)
• singing silly songs that only my kids could love
• soothing music after a hectic day
• long talks on phone with Tricia
• grandparents:)
• hot showers
• fitting back into pre-pregnancy jeans
• hearing Sam say "Amen" at the end of the blessing
• a Barney video while I am cooking dinner
• sweet tea
• dove dark chocolate
• rain
• upcoming holiday season
• gracious & forgiving God
• worship and praise music
• my wonderful husband
• my parents who are the most unselfish people in the universe.
• and so much more...

Who's Who??

Who's Who?? We have laughed at how similar Kate and Sam's baby pictures are. As a matter of fact, I need to get going on organizing all the photos I have to make sure that we will be able to discern who's who. We feel so blessed to have two healthy children and thank God daily for their beautiful little personalities. Kate is just as sweet as she can be and has such a tender little heart. You can just look at her wrong and that little lip pokes out and starts to tremble. As for Sam, his very independent and strong will is going to either take him real far in life or get him into lots o' trouble. Mostly trouble right now, but from what my parents tell me he is following right in my footsteps!! We haven't quite figured out how to handle some of the challenges he throws our way, because time-out doesn't seem to phase him alot of the time. We will just have to keep experimenting. By the way, Kate is at the bottom and Sam at the top for those of you still guessing:)

I Wear My Pink Sunglasses at Night

Sam thought that Kate's sunglasses were too cool not to try out. Proud Daddy holding Kate while she tries out her pink sunglasses.

Looking very chic...don't you think???

Kate got a chance to try out her pink sunglasses that she received as a gift from her friend Isabelle. I think she kind of enjoyed the shaded view as much as we enjoyed seeing how cute she was. Sam couldn't keep from trying out the cool shades, but I think we will definitely have to find some more suitable shades for him.

Story Time with Daddy

After dinner Rob, Sam & Katie shared story time.

Sam has recently taken interest in reading the baby einstein catalog that came in the mail. He decided that he would share daddy's lap with Katie as they read about all the cool baby einstein goodies!! The moment was too precious not to capture and share. It is not very often they are both sitting still and focused on the same thing. Rob is so good with both of them and they love their time with him when he comes in from work. Sam lights up with glee when he hears Rob open the door for he knows that he is minutes away from some rougher play that mama doesn't do very well. I really appreciate the down time and it gives me a chance to finish dinner and gear up for bed time rittuals. We love our little angels and are thankful for their incredible personalities and sweet spirits!!

Just Stats No Story

Kate-4 months old

13 lbs. 12 oz.

25 1/4"

Daddy's Little Princess

Look at me Daddy...I'm as tall as Sam

Daddy is so Wise!!

Watching Rob "talk" with Kate touches my heart and fills me with joy that I am not sure I can put into words. He is so sweet with her and you can already tell that he is going to be puddy in her hands. She has such a sweet & mellow personality. She is content with just hanging out and babbling at her toys. Sam was never this calm, so for us this is quite a pleasant phenomenon. I now know that God needed me to experience my high energy Sam first to be able to appreciate and enjoy a calm Kate!! Kate will be four months old this Sunday which is hard for us to believe. She is sleeping like a big girl and giving us 10 hours at night!! We have her well check this Monday, so I will post her new growth stats next week. We love her so much and can't imagine life without her. It is amazing how God enlarges your heart to make room when you thought there was no way you could love another like you did your first born. God is GREAT!!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2007

We had such fun this past weekend with family and friends visiting us for Labor Day. Starting on Saturday, our friends Kim & Harry and their son Hunter came into town. Also, Michelle and Philip (Kim's sister & boyfriend) joined us Saturday night for a pontoon dinner cruise. The weather was cool and Rob and I thoroughly enjoyed some adult conversation and a chance to catch up!! On Sunday, they left and headed to Atlanta for the GA Aquarium and a little R&R. As they were leaving, Beckie (Rob's mom) & Deanna (Rob's sister) arrived. Sam was extra excited to see Bebe & DeDe because he knew he was in for some fun and extra attention. On Sunday morning we loaded up the car and drove to Greenville to check out how our new house was coming along. We were surprised to see how much progress had been done the previous week. Who knows...they may be done on schedule. It was so nice having an extra day on Monday to hang out with everyone. Nana & Papa came to dinner Monday night too. All in all the weekend was packed with fun, rest and family! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Dinner with Mama

Sam and I have lunch together everyday in some form or fashion...sometimes it may be the sit down variety and others may be a bit more hurried like Sam pulls up his highchair next to sofa while I feed Kate. Nevertheless, I do love it when we get to chat and catch up on the day. He is learning new words all the time and lately his favorite thing to do is list all the people he knows and for those that aren't there he shrugs his shoulders as if saying "I don't know where they are, do you??" I love his precious expressions and watching the wheels turn as he explores the vocabulary that is building inside his big brain!!

As some of you may know, we are in the process of building our first home. Just over a month ago we made the decision to build after looking at several homes here in the upstate. They told us that we should be able to move in by December if all goes well. We all know what "if all goes well" means in contractor lingo, but with the above progress we are hopeful!! We are super excited about all the fun options that we have chosen for the interior and the yard is going to be plenty big for Sam & Katie to exhaust themselves :) Rob and I are going to attempt to make weekly visits to the property throughout the next few months. We will take plenty of progress photos so everyone can see our new home as it comes to completion.

Aunt Deanna Comes to Play

This past Saturday the kids received a special visit from their Aunt Deanna. She was so sweet to stop in on her way back from the beach to hang out for the afternoon. We had a lot of fun catching up with her and she got to see how much the kids had grown! We went on a boat ride, even though it was absolutely burning up outside. As long as the boat was moving we were alright! Sam enjoyed driving the boat with Daddy and honking the horn the best! We played inside most of the time and went to eat Mexican before she had to go home. Lots of fun!!

Our Little Techie

Sam knows that playing with the remote control, telephone and Katie's monitor are off limits, but when I put him on the bed the other day to change him...there they all were as if waiting for him all along. I know he must have been thinking that mommy had finally given up! I haven't given up but the moment and his expression were too priceless to let pass without capturing.

Bebe Comes to Visit

Bebe arrived this morning to stay the day and we had so much fun! We read books, played in the pool, sang songs & my favorite game of "where's Bebe??" Mama got to go to the grocery store by herself and we got lots of attention and love from Bebe. When Daddy got home we splashed around in the pool to cool off from the heat and I got to eat my first popsicle! YUM! Katie was so excited that Bebe was visiting that she decided not to take naps... We sure love it when Bebe comes to visit. We hope she will come back soon!

Papa's 1970 Glasses

Living at Nana & Papa's has its sweet rewards...new & fun treasures in every drawer. Sam has been on a treasure hunt ever since arriving here in our new temporary home. He found Papa's old glasses and thought he would try them on for size. Size was a definite issue, but the amount of excitement was not. Sam has a unique gift of discovering anything and everything(even when you think you have secured all areas.) The joy it brings him to find new things is priceless and the more insignificant a find the better. I love the innocence in him!