Summer ROCKS!

Summer turned 18 months old last week! Where does the time go?! We are getting ready to begin the process of making baby food for Tilly and it seems like we were just doing this for Summer; I guess we were! David took Summer for her 18 month check-up. Check out these stats: 27 pounds 1 ounce; 36 inches tall! During this visit, she also got two shots - hence the reason for Daddy taking her! Well, the nurse gave her the first one and Summer did not even flinch or cry. The nurse moved to the other leg and gave the second shot. Summer did not budge! She hopped off the table, blew the nurse a kiss and said, "Love you, bye!" David was SO proud! Summer with her afternoon snack.

Giving kisses to her baby sister! Summer gives full on the mouth kisses, so sweet!

Look at that sweet face!

Summer and Carter having a picnic at their new table from Uncle Cory and Aunt Cari!

Rockin' and Rollin'

Tilly is rolling over and over!

There she goes!

Yay, Tilly! Carter and Summer were so excited for their baby sister!

Sisterly love! I pray they will always be so sweet to each other!

Carter's 4th Hair Cut

Before the infamous hair cut. Aren't those curls so precious?!

After the hair cut. Isn't he handsome?! He is growing up WAY too fast! I can't believe he will be 3 in May! Wow! Everyday he says something new and funny! Carter is the BEST big brother two girls could ever want!

Hannah's Hope

David and I are very interested in international adoption and hope to be able to adopt a baby one day. This calling on our hearts has led us to be able to network with others who have the same heart's desire. Recently, I learned of an adoption agency named All God's Children. This agency is affiliated with an orphanage in Ethiopia named Hannah's Hope. A family in the Atlanta area is adopting a baby girl from this orphanage at the end of this month! Through them we learned of a formula shortage in Ethiopia. The lady who runs the orphanage has even been buying formula from the black market just to save the babies in here care!
Every year the school where I teach participates in several service projects. Each class is to adopt a project for the year. This year our class's service project was to collect formula for Hannah's Hope! My children and their families were so excited to be able to participate in such a cool project! I also enlisted the help of my Sunday School Class at church. Altogether we collected 40 cans of formula for Hannah's Hope with the promise of more to come! Below are some pictures of the formula we collected. Please join us in praying for Hannah's Hope and other orphanages in third world countries who do not have enough formula to feed their babies.

My Favorite Things

Our little family blesses me so much and I want to capture every moment for fear that I may forget something! This weekend Carter got his hair cut for the 4th time and he looks like such a little man. The curls are gone, but this time I know for sure they will come back! Summer was making us laugh with her songs and dance moves! She is talking so clearly and is beginning to say her ABCs. Tilly is only taking 5 bottles now and is eating rice ceral from a bowl! She laughs at everything and has the sweetest smile! Carter and Summer ADORE her and I am so very thankful that they will all grow up never knowing life without the other. Carter is now 2 1/2; Summer will be 18 months in a few days; Tilly will be 5 months old next week! Wow! Time is going by so very quickly! I have some favorite pictures of the children from the holidays that I wanted to share. We had such a wonderful holiday with our little party of five. These are just a few pictures of our time together. Carter on the tire swing at our cousin's house
Summer peeking out from behind Daddy at the baby calves

Carter singing with his new keyboard from Mama

Our Christmas Tree with Crocs for Carter and Summer. Crocs were the only thing Carter asked Santa for this year! He was excited to find them on the tree!

Our stockings - it was so much fun waiting on baby Tilly's to come!

Summer lovin' on her big brother!

Carter and Summer playing at Mama's! They really do have so much fun together!

Summer on Christmas morning talking on her phone!

Carter making baby Tilly laugh!

Sweet baby Tilly on Christmas morning!

Yucky Gators and Other Stuff

Well, it has been a sad week at the O'Dell house! Everyone had to go back to school on Monday, even David - what a rude awakening it was when the alarm sounded before 5:30! Whew! Then, we got the news that Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno were going pro and not coming back to play for the dawgs another year - not surprised, just bummed! As if this was not bad enough, then we learn that John Smoltz is leaving the beloved Braves to play for the Red Sox (no offense Cari/Cory)! Say it isn't so! On top of it all college football comes to an end tonight with the Gators and the Sooners! Who cares!?! However, I do have a fun story to bring some smiles to this crazy week! The story, of course, starring none other than Carter Stokes O'Dell.

One fun thing about going back to school is spending lots of time in the car with Carter, Summer, and Tilly who I have fondly named the three stooges! Carter literally (no exaggeration, David!) talks the entire way to and from school! Well, he doesn't understand why we drive in so much traffic (welcome to Atlanta) and he does not understand why we have to stop at lights, so I have been teaching him what the different color lights mean. Today, we were reviewing: "Green means go! Red means stop! Yellow means slow!" He has this down pat! Well, today, after reviewing he asks me, "Mommy, what about orange?" I am not really sure where he got the orange from since we were reviewing traffic lights, but I went with it anyway! Being the orange hater that I am (again, sorry Cari/Cory), I promptly replied, "Orange means yucky gators!" A great thing about being a Mommy of a two year old is that I can train him right - he believes everything I tell him! Thank you, Carter, for making me laugh a lot today! I guess tonight, we will be cheering for those yucky gators!

Third Grade Field Trip to State Capitol

On Tuesday, our third grade class went on a field trip to the state capitol! We had a wonderful time! The greatest treat was receiving an invitation to go on the floor of the House of Representatives by Representative Billy Mitchell! One of our school mom's is a personal friend of his and she arranged for him to meet us! It was a huge surprise! He greeted our class and spent quite a while talking to the students and answering their questions!