Taras Tweets

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Happy 1st Birthday, Gracie Bug!!!

She's cute and sweet and so much fun.... our little Gracie BUG is turning ONE!!

We had a bug themed birthday party to celebrate our little G-BUG!

Here is my sweet bug in her birthday hat that I made for VK and now my Gracie gets to wear it!

This was our first go at celebrating a DECEMBER birthday! IT WORE ME OUT! I feel sorry for Gracie that she is born in the BUSIEST month of the year! Especially for Sam with the craziness of the Grille in December. But I made a commitment to her when she was born that her birthday will not be over looked or blended with Christmas! Therefore, I took down ALL my Christmas decorations in my dining room and had a very NON-Christmasy birthday celebration for my Buggy! I am writing all this so that one day, when Gracie is old enough to care, she will remember her NON-Christmasy 1st birthday!! My mother thought I was crazy.

Sweet KK (Carol Shirley) had the cutest bug cake made for Gracie's birthday present! It was ADORABLE and very YUMMY! Thankfully, it was not a gender reveal cake too like VK's 1st bday cake was last year!! HAHA!! Sam and I finally kept our new year's resolution for 2012-- no baby! =)

She even had the cutest little smash cake made for Gracie too!

As we were singing "happy birthday" to G-bug... we had a knock on the front door....

And in walked.... SANTA!!!!!!!!!!

This was a TOTAL SURPRISE to me!! My dad and his sister, Biz had been scheming for weeks on having my cousin, Jon O.- who is a college football player- dress up and surprise me and Gracie for her 1st birthday! Not many kids can say that Santa showed up to their birthday party! I was shocked!! My Gran (my dad's mother) would be so proud of her kids for making this such a special memory! It was a fun memory I will NEVER forget!! Can you see the awe is Gracie's eyes and horror in VK's? ha!

VK was not a Santa fan this year... good thing it wasn't her party! =)

Love Santa's beard! When all else fails, spray shampoo makes a great beard!

Baby Sam and Gracie tell Santa how good they have been this year.... they might have alot of convincing to do, right Ticey? =)

My Fisher cousins... Farris, Jon O and Sallie Barrow! Such a fun surprise that they showed up all the way from Oxford on their Christmas break!

Thanks Jon O! You might have found a new calling in life... SANTA! =)

After Santa left the scene, these two snuck in to finish where Gracie left off!

Uncle Pete helped VK out with the icing! What are uncles for, right!?

Ellie and Gracie help themselves to some chip and dip! Sweet girls!

The Turners, minus Lucy girl! I am sure she was playing somewhere with VK and some baby dolls!

Serious convo.

VK had a great time helping G open her presents!

Sweet Mary Kate Williams, I guess Sally was napping!

Uncle Buck is always loads of entertainment for the kiddos!

Yia Yia getting some G-bug lovin!

Gracie Bug with her, daddy, Papou and Uncle James!

These girls had fun playing in the "kitchen"!

Jan and Uncle Pete were there! Cute couple!

A little patty cake with Gigi!

Morgan had fun riding on Gracie's new scooter that Uncle Pete and Jan gave her!

After the majority of our friends and family left, the Hammons stuck around for a little more fun! We love our sweet cousins! Morgan and Virginia Kate almost look more like twins to me than Morgan and Mackenzie! No doubt that they are related!!

This picture of the four of them is a framer for sure!! Reminds me of how faithful the Lord has been to my sister, my family and Debbie and Greg (the twins parents) through the years. What a faithful God we serve!! Whenever I am struggling with hard situations or trying to understand why God is allowing certain cirumstances to take place, I always remember his faithfulness in birth and life of Morgan and Mackenzie! He ALWAYS has a plan, and HIS plan is ALWAYS perfect!! Praise the Lord for all four of these monkeys! What a gift they all are to our family!

Mackenzie is always so endearing to Gracie any time she is around her! It is the sweetest watching her love on G! They look like they could be sisters to me! They have the same blond hair and blue eyes! Beautiful girls!

Needless to say, Gracie had a VERY wonderful 1st birthday!

At 1 year old Gracie:

-is crawling all over the place

-is pulling up on EVERYTHING

- is babbling "dada" "yiayia" "oh boy" "baby"--- no mama yet, of course!

-has a mouth full of teeth... 6 on top, 6 on bottom!

-loves a bath

-loves her elephant blankie

- loves her thumb

-sleeps from 6:15pm - 7:30am

- still takes 2 naps a day

-loves her cold milk in a sippy cup

- weighs 20 lbs 4oz

-loves to laugh at her big sis

-is NOT walking... I think it will be soon though

November 2012 recap...

I had to work on Thanksgiving this year, but when I got off work at 3:00 we headed to Oxford for a Thanksgiving feast with my family!

Here are my turkeys! VK is showing me her happy face!

Uncle Buck i really good at multitasking, texting while he plays with the girls....

I almost forgot that this was the Bugs first Thanksgiving! Have I mentioned how thankful we are for you, G-Bug?!! VK was helping her chow down!

There are my little turkeys again...

Jack and VK having a heart to heart on the steps!

Oh how I love me some turkey and dressing... and all the other million calories you eat on Thanksgiving! Of course, dad is feeding his favorite child, Allie.

I am sad these are the only pics I took from Thanksgiving... Mom, Mary and Sam were also there! Hate I don't have any pics to show!

Later in November, we tried for a Christmas card pic... although we got some cute ones, I never got my act together this year to get it out in the mail!

So here it is now, MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TARAS FAMILY!!! MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!!! =)

and this was going to be the back of the card....

oh well.... this is pretty realistic of us right now... just trying to hold it all together... barely!! =)

Blog Hibernation...

I am trying my best to come out of blog hibernation! After almost 5 months of posting NOTHING... I am trying to get back in the swing of blogging. Although, we lead pretty normal lives, I do love keeping this blog current because it is like a memory book for me! And I know one day I will love going back and looking at it as the girls grow up!

I am going to go ahead and say that the past year, and especially towards the end of 2012 was a pretty dark place for me. I have never struggled with anxiety or depression before, until last year. I am very thankful for the friends and family the Lord put in my life to bring this to light for me. God has been so gracious through this very humbling time in my life. Through the help of great friends, a very supportive husband, counseling, prayers and yes... medication, I am beginning to come out of the funk!

I am learning more and more every day that this life is HARD!! Sometimes being a mom is hard. Sometimes being a wife is hard. Sometimes being a nurse is hard! Sometimes being a friend is hard! Life can be soooo hard. We have had some really hard things going on with people in our church and community lately. Things that I can't even imagine going through!!

I am so thankful that in this life, as Christians, we have the hope of the gospel! I have learned more than anything, that when I am weak (which is ALWAYS), He is strong. He knows my darkest hour and goes there with me. He is so faithful, even in our weaknesses. He is constant. His love in never failing. I don't know where I would be without Jesus in my life and without the hope of eternity with him. This world is not our home!

I have been reading a book someone recommended to me called, Red Sea Rules. Oh the truth nuggets that book holds! One of my favorite quotes from the book is this, "The reality of the Red Sea, in a word, is this: God will always make a way for his tired, yet trusting, children, even if he must split the sea to do it...The same God who led you in will lead you out." I so quickly forget that God is powerful enough to SPLIT THE RED SEA! I can't even wrap my mind around that power! He always provides a way for his children. He wants us to rest in him and his provision for our lives. He wants us to BELIEVE that He is enough and we can trust him! What a friend we have in Jesus! Robert Morgan also quoted John Calvin in the Red Sea Rules, and I love this quote... "When the light of divine providence has once shone upon a godly man, he is then relieved and set free not only from the extreme anxiety and fear that were pressing him before, but from every care." What hope we have knowing that God is in control and we are not! You have no idea how thankful I am for that!!

I just wanted to share a little of my struggles lately. I don't even know who reads this blog, but I hope it can be an encouragement. God is good and even through the hardest times he is faithful! He has used these past few months to draw me close and there is no place I would rather be.

One more quote from the Red Sea Rules, then I am done, I promise... just please go get this book and read it! It is so, so good! ....

"So whether you are on the upper side or the underside of the storm, whether you are on the east bank or the west bank of the Red Sea, God will make a way. And as He does, don't forget to praise Him."Robert Morgan

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Gracie update!

We had our follow up appointment today with Gracie at the cardiologist! Thank you to everyone who was praying! The body of Christ is so comforting in times like these! Gracie's appointment went well! No new news... Thankfully! The hole is still there and still about the same size as it was the first time. The good news is, the right side of her heart doesn't seem enlarged any more, which we are so thankful for!

Here is my bug, so happy!! Waiting to see the doc! Love this baby girl!

She was so intrigued by all the equipment! Thankfully!!

Here she is getting her echocardiogram! We are so thankful for modern technology like the iPhone for distraction!! She did so well during her echo! That was one of my biggest prayer requests - was that she would be still enough to get a good pic of her heart! Its hard for a 10 month old to lay still for 10 minutes! She did awesome!! Prayers were answered!

Here she is after the echo, waiting to see the doc! Thankful for puffs too!! They are always a good distraction!

It is hard to keep this girl still these days!! She is constantly on the move!! Clearly, her heart isn't slowing her down!! And we are so thankful for that!!

The plan right now is to go back for another echo in May and keep following her closely until she gains enough weight to have a heart cath to close the hole! They want her to be about 33 pounds before they do this procedure! She is 19.5 right now! We are so thankful for the docs the Lord had put in our lives to take care of Gracie! They have been so wonderful. We would ask for continued prayer that she would continue to gain weight and meet all her milestones as she already is doing! We would also ask for continued prayers that the Lord might close the hole on his own! Nothing is out of his reach! We are so thankful for faithful prayer warriors and a faithful God who loves Gracie more than we ever could! And we pray that he would be glorified through this time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

gracie giggles

No one can make Gracie laugh as hard as her big sister... they are too funny!

Prayers with VK

This was one of the sweetest moments I happened to catch on my phone...

Prayers for Gracie

In one week we take Gracie for a follow up appointment with Gracie's cardiologist! Please pray for her and the hole in her heart! We are praying for a miracle! God is good! 💗We covet your prayers for our little bug!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, October 21, 2012

fall y'all

We had a jam packed weekend! First, we got all dressed up and headed to Zoo Boo!

Here is the Taras herd making their way to the car! They were hilarious.

All buckled up and excited about the zoo!

This is pretty much how pictures go these days... the green lights are WAYYYYY more exciting! Love their little tails!

Here is the WHOLE herd... Ellie the elephant (green paci in mouth), Lucy the elephant (behind Ellie), VK the elephant (standing) and Gracie the Elephant. They were quite a sight!

Love these little elephants!

Thankful for Katherine! I would have lost a child had she not gone with me!

Kaki is a TROOPER!

I knew nothing about zoo boo prior to this past weekend. I am sure it is alot of fun when the kids are a little older. The playground is about as far as we got! Next year I am opting for just dressing the kids up, taking them to a playground and giving them treats... we can even call it zoo boo! I think they would be just as happy and it would be alot cheaper and ALOT LESS CROWDED! =) They would never know the difference!

She would hardly stand still enough for me to snap a shot.

Campbell was such a cute little monkey!

G-bug the elephant!

She wanted to slide too!!

This little bug was ready for bed! And I can't blame her, I was exhausted too!

The next morning we headed to the agriculture center's fall festival! This was our 2nd year to go and we LOVE it! It is also FREE which makes it even better!!

I just love fall and all the beautiful colors that come along with it! We stopped for a little photo shoot in the punkin patch before I lost them to all the other festivities