Ciara's 4th Birthday

Four years ago today at 6:52 pm, a little bit of Heaven came into our lives. Weighing 7lbs. 11oz. and 20.5 inches long, Ciara Lanae Dollens finally arrived. My pregnancy had some bumps in the beginning and we almost lost her, so I was very relieved and excited when she was born. I just cried tears of joy and couldn't believe we finally had a baby. I am so in awe over the whole birth experience; God is so awesome to enable us to bring forth life. It is truly a miracle!
Ciara has definitely made a difference in our lives! We have the frustrating times, but the good times outweigh those. What a blessing she's been and I thank God so much for letting me be what I love...being a mother. Happy birthday Ciara!!!

Ciara Lanae Dollens

Ciara at 6 months

We had Ciara's birthday party last Saturday. She had a My Little Pony cake and received lots of nice gifts. I was thrilled to have my sister Sharra and her family come down for the party. Here are a few pictures of her party.

Ciara and her cake

Kyra trying for the pinata

Ciara and mommy

A new bike!

I took this picture of Sharra because I thought she looks so cute with her little "bump". She's due in August with baby number 4.

Sharra at 4.5 months

Girl's Afternoon Out

This weekend was so nice for me. First of all, Ciara spent the night with my parents and Dave and I were able to have a "date". We went out to eat, shopped for groceries and just had a nice time together. Children are a wonderful blessing to the family, but it is so easy to get wrapped up in the children. It was nice to have time for us.
On Saturday I started out the morning by going to a great children's clothing sale. I found some bargains and was quite happy. My mom and Danessa came by later and we went to the Flower and Patio Show in Indy. Our husbands were so sweet to take care of the kids for us. We had a great time looking at all the gardens and flowers and found neat ideas for our yards. Of course, we had to eat out...The Outback was yummy!!! The next stop was shopping; that's par for the course, right? Ciara has a birthday next week so I bought her a bike. Keeping it out of sight will be fun:)
We eventually decided our husbands would be wondering where we were so we headed home. We're already making plans for the next "Girl's Afternoon Out".

Spring Happenings

Last week we had several days of warm spring-like weather. It certainly put me in the mood to do some spring cleaning, but Ciara had a different idea. She wanted to play outside and since her swing set is still not fixed, we got out the sidewalk chalk. She had so much fun drawing on the pavement (and her shoes). When it was time to go she kept saying, "Not yet, or 5 more minutes". I took a few pictures of her artwork.


"Not yet, mom"


My little "free spirit"

We also decided to plant some flower seeds to get a head start on the flower beds. Ciara was a little confused when I told her we were going to plant a flower garden. She put her shoes and coat on and had my shoes in her hands telling me, "Get your coat on Mom we have to go outside to the garden". It took me a bit before she believed me. See, last year she helped me in the veggie garden and knew that flowers grew outdoors. She probably thought Mommy was silly! She did have fun putting the tiny seeds in the dirt and now we are watching for sprouts.

Planting the tiny seeds

Ciara in full concentration

Ciara helping her mommy

Ciara hamming it up for the camera