Dear Blog

(Our five yr anniversary photo ~ taken in late fall '09 by Andrea of Sgt and Mrs Hub)

Dear Blog,
I haven't forgotten you, I have just been avoiding you, because the love of my life, the father of my children, my best friend, has been very sick, and has been in and out of the hospital for the past couple months ;( It's been rough on everyone and I'm just not ready to talk about it. Usually you have been a good outlet for me, but lately I get a lump in my throat every time I log on to write and I have to close my laptop. I'll be back someday when I am ready to talk.
Love,
Molly

Make a Joyful Noise

Tuesdays and Thursdays are worship nights @ Star Cottage. It's our special time to worship the Lord as a family. How great to serve a God who loves to hear us sing, however good or bad we may sound to eachother. The Lord delights in it!

Psalm 100

An Exortation of Thanksgiving

A Psalm of praise

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness:

come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God:

it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

we are His people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto Him and bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting;

and His truth endureth to all generations.

Pregnancy News, & Baby Names

I am pregnant and about a week shy of four months. I have been so busy and the first trimester was kinda yucky. Not as bad as when I was pregnant with Lily, but bad enough that I was totally exhausted and nauseous at times and couldn't wait for it to be over. So here I am in the second trimester very happy, and feeling much better. And ready to catch up on all the blogging I have missed. I will be trying to fill in the gaps in my blog, because a whole lot has happened this winter. So here I am bulging @ the seams. I definitely wasn't this big @ 4 months, with my first two. My goodness!

Now onto the fun part, Baby Names ;)

If we have a boy, The name will probably be Oliver. In french, the meaning is the Olive tree. The biblical Olive tree symbolizes fruitfulness, beauty & dignity. Extending an Olive branch signifies an offer of peace.

I have never heard a more wonderful name for a boy. And even better, I don't know any Olivers, so don't ruin it by telling me there was an Oliver in your elementary class that you hated or was a brat ;) Thanks.

We are still unsure of a middle name, My first choice was Grant (meaning "Bestow" 0r "Great" "Tall") -Kevin's not a big fan of Grant, so that's been scratched from the list.

Next up is Landon (meaning from "from the long hill"), wich I thought of while watching little house on the prairie. ;) Micheal Landon. lol I'm not obsessed with him or anything, it's just that as soon as I find out I am prego I start the mad hunt for the perfect name and I even start paying attention to movie credits and names I hear in books, magazines, and anywhere else names pop up. You never know when you might spot that perfect name. Anyways I like that his name would be " The Olive tree from the long hill" Awesome! So this may be the final choice for a boy.

Our Runner up name for a boy is Elliott~ from the hebrew meaning "My God is the Lord" I love this name also, and think it's good to have a back up just incase he comes out not looking like an Oliver ;)
And I love the name Henry ;)

If it's a girl we have it pretty much narrowed down to 4 favorites.

Chloe which comes from the Greek and means "Blooming". It's one of Kevin's favorites and was in the running for our other two girls. And since I like to stick with the garden theme, I am very pleased with it's meaning.
Another Beautiful Name is Esther which means Star or Myrtle (wich is a flower), I mean seriously, how lovely ;)

I also Like Elianna, which comes from the Hebrew and means, "God has Answered" We would call her Ellie. This is a favorite of Lily's.

Evangeline is lovely, and means "good news". Great meaning also! This one is my Mom's Favorite.

So they may end up being first names or middle names, I have no idea @ this point, but we have quite a few months to make up our minds.

Bronchitis for the Holidays

We are extremely blessed to have such good natured and easy girls.
Over the holidays we were all pretty sick and when the Dr said she was going to prescribe us all a nebulizer every four hrs, for our Bronchitis. I thought to myself. Well this ought to be fun, trying to get the Girls to use this, but it was our only hope. The Bronchitis was viral and the Dr couldn't give us any antibiotic. I was relieved that the Girls did such a good job. Eden wanted to sit in my lap and have me hold it she hates loud noises and was afraid of the motor. But she did it without a fight and Lily wanted to do it all by herself. She did a fabulous job, and we were so proud of her.

I hate seeing my kids suffer when they are sick, and it was tough to keep up with it all especially when I am sick and pregnant and not getting much sleep.

Praise the Lord, I am so glad it's over. It felt like it lasted forever.

"Star Cottage"

I've been thinking about Changing the Name of my Blog for quite some time. It used to be "Life in Lake Country", but then this winter, we thought we were moving (and still might) so I had changed it to "Molly's Midnight Musings" because I do most of my blogging when the munchkins are sleeping, and so the title could follow us wherever we lived. Some of my friends and family liked the new name and thought it was cute, and others joked about it sounding a little inappropriate, if you know what I mean. And I suppose if you Googled that title, you might get a little more than you bargained for. So I have been thinking more about what I love and what reflects me personally, as this blog is a journal of sorts.
"Star Cottage" is what we lovingly call our home. Stars can be found in every corner, and soon there will be stars on my shutters. :) I can't wait. But the brightest and most treasured stars, are my two daughters. And although we may move someday, this is where our family began, a lot of blood sweat and tears have been put into making this a home we all enjoy. This title can follow us wherever we go, because our first home will always be dear to our hearts and bring back wonderful memories.

So if you are looking for me, I'll be @ "Star Cottage" http://starcottage.blogspot.com/

And if you want to E-mail me I'm thesandymermaid@yahoo.com

The Fence

Daddy was working very hard on the fence today. He worked late into the evening. Lily misses him sometimes even when he is home, with all the renovations he has been working on. So we let her stay up and hang out with him tonight. She was a great helper too. She put all the old nails into the bucket for daddy. He is so patient and loving with the girls. I am so very blessed to have such a wonderful hubby and father to my children.

Squish

Lily got an oceany Play-Doh set for her birthday. We normally make our own but this was a treat. ;) Mommy was having some fun too, but had to take a step back and catch this memory on camera before it flew by.

A much needed day outside.

A winter inside can be very tiresome. I like to be outside as much as possible to avoid the winter blues, cabin fever or whatever you like to call it. Since My youngest was still pretty little & this was her first winter, we spent much of the time indoors. We did go out in the snow but not nearly as much as I would have liked. So when the weather got balmy today, I just had to bring out the blanket, some rockers and toys for the girls and get out in the sunshine for a few hours, we even got to have lunch outside, another one of my favorite things. I love it for the obvious reasons, like, it's just plain fun to have a picnic. But also because cleanup is easy. No sweeping or washing the floor, I just have to shake off the blanket and toss it in the wash. Or If we sit @ the picnic table I just grab the hose and spray it off, and best of all, the girls love to help.

Snail

I love this picture of Kevin, letting yet another one of God's amazing little creatures crawl all over him for the delight and wonder of our little girls. Lily is a little unsure of the snail @ first, but eventually lets him crawl on her hand as well. I savor moments like these. Simple and Satisfying!

Christmas In New England

What a wonderful month. We spent our Christmas in New England visiting Family and Friends. It was great to see everyone. We spent a little time in Mass. Then we headed up to Maine, where we spent most of our days relaxing and sipping hot cocoa by the fire @ my Folks 2nd Home on the Saco. All the while my parents enjoyed playing with and spoiling the Girls. It was beautiful up there. We all took a trip to my Sister's Alpaca Farm in Sanford. Lily and Eden loved all the animals @ the farm. We all had a great time, and were sad to leave. But, we look forward to heading out to Maine again this summer. And someday we hope to move back there. We shall see what God has planned for us.My Awesome sister Karrie and her Hubby Steve, Are so good with the girls.

Lily Belle had a blast. Sha was absolutely fearless. She Called them giraffes. I thought it was fabulous! I loved seeing her so happy. I want a farm so bad. ;)

Very Quick Trip to New England.

No post, just pictures. What can I say it was a very busy weekend.

Auntie Karrie Came to Visit!

My sister came out from Maine for a visit. It was so wonderful to get together with her. Karrie helped me with Baby Eden. But, the biggest help was spending time with Lily Belle, giving her some much needed attention. They played dress up together and walked to the park by our house. They did crafts and kept very busy. It was a great visit. We can't wait til she visits again with Uncle Steve.

Gamma and Pappa came to meet baby Eden.

It was so wonderful to see my folks. They are always such a blessing to us. And of course the visit is never long enough. It is tough at times living far from my family, and the friends I grew up with. We miss you all very much We look forward to heading out to New England very soon. Thanks for making the trip Mom and Dad! We love you so much.

Lily is a BIG sister!

I love to hold my baby sister. I can't wait until Eden is old enough to play with me. But for now Mommy lets me feed her a bottle, help with diaper changes, and tuck her in for naps. We pray for baby Eden every time we lay her in the crib. xoxo Lily