adventure in babysitting

last wknd i got to watch two of my nieces, thea and livie for a few hrs. billy was out, so it was just me with 4 girls ages 17months-5yrs. they were very good girls though! it is fun watching all their different personalities and how unique they all are.. they are all so different! the night went as good as it could except when the power all the sudden went out and we were in the dark. luckily no one panicked :-) i found my way to the candles, flashlight and lantern and jeremy and amber were almost here anyways. not sure what happened, but my whole neighborhood was out, even the street lights. i called billy and he came home asap, got the girls put to bed as usual, although jamie was a bit scared, but she was a champ and went to bed like a brave girl. funny how stuff like that ALWAYS happens to me it seems. but all was good in the end. here's some pics and a video of the girls playing

lovely day

this morning we went to church to watch our niece get dedicated. it was very sweet, the pastor was also our pastor who married us. when we got married his message was personalized just for us and today when he spoke about lilly it was the same, just for her, i teared up a little bit.. very sweet! after church we stopped at panera and got some brunch. we all sat in a booth and jamie and sami were so fun to watch. even standing up, sam couldn't see over the edge, jamie could and was peaking and saying hi to everyone. when we got home we played outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather for a long time. then, a wonderful little treat, we all napped! i love these days when the windows can be open and fresh air flows through the house. i woke up to sami babbling her cute baby sounds.. she sleeps with her puppy and always kisses it over and over and barks at it when she wakes up.. she has a love for puppies like jamie has a love for her george. so i went upstairs to get her, picked her up and then sat down in the rocker to snuggle and she ended up falling asleep on me for another 40minutes. i just soaked it in, she's growing so fast.. soon she will be the age jamie was when we had sami.. which is so bizarre to think.. was jamie really that young when i had sam? while she was sleeping on me, i just watched her and listened to her even breathing.. babies are so sweet, but i love this age so much.. their little personalities are so developed, but they are still somewhat baby. after awhile i whispered "do you want to go see daddy" and she said no, then i asked "do you want to go see jamie?" and she said no. she just wanted to stay snuggling.. so we did.. until we heard jamie wake up crying bc she had peed while she was asleep on the couch. so down we went, and after jamie settled down we resumed our nice day, went outside and the girls and billy flew a kite and we made dinner and played. one of my favorite times of the day is before bedtime, the girls LOVE to run around naked and just be silly before they put their jammies on. i cannot help staring at their cute jiggly butts.. especially sami's bc she is so chubby. i love when they play together and when jamie makes sami laugh, her laugh is so hilarious. it was just a nice day and these are the types of days i cherish and know i will miss in the future.