Happy Easter! And Other Fun Stuff....

HAPPY EASTER!!!

(quite a few days late!)

I hope you all had a fabulous Easter! We had a very nice day, ourselves. We went to church, followed by lunch at The DoubleTree, which has become a "tradition" of sorts on Easter Sunday for us.

Whenever we leave Sunday School, Brad and I ask Alli what they talked about in her class. Usually, she answers something like, "Jesus and fish," or something of the sort.

Well, on Easter, I asked the usual question, "Alli, what did you talk about in Sunday School today?" Her prompt reply, "Um, my dress." I tried again, "You did? Well, your dress is certainly beautiful. What did your teachers talk about today?" Again, she replied, "Um, my dress." Okay, one more try. "Alli, what else did you talk about today? Did your teachers talk about Jesus?" Exasperated, she said, "No, Mommy. I said we talked about my dress!"

I gave up.

The dress Boots wore for Easter was Alli's dress for my cousin, Amanda's wedding in May, 2005. This just reminds me how much our 2 girls look alike! Alli was younger when she wore the dress, and she had more hair, but the same little face looks back at us from photos.
Our Easter "season" began with the Annual Auxiliary Easter Egg Hunt at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Rahn. They have a beautiful home with lovely grounds, and it is always a perfect setting for the hunt. This year, it was quite cold ~ it even sleeted for a little while! But the kids ~ and the parents ~ had a blast!
Our next hunt was the one at Alli's school. A few of us moms hid eggs, and it didn't take the kids long to find them! Once again, they all had a great time. Alli's class has about 16 kids in it. I was amused to see that when they were 'released' outside, all of the kids hurried to the close part of the grass area where the eggs were, and promptly began to fuss about whose eggs they were ~ except for Alli. She walked past all of the other kids to the other side of the grass and quickly began to pick up eggs, ending up with a bucket (the teachers gave all of the kids personalized buckets) so full that she began to have me hold eggs for her. While some kids had about 3 or 4 eggs, Alli had about 40! Needless to say, we divied up the eggs into equal amounts while the kids played outside.
One more hunt on the schedule ~ First Baptist's Easter Eggstravaganza! Over 14,000 eggs were hidden at the church. The Easter Bunny was there, and there was face painting, arts and crafts, and several inflatables for the kids. My, oh, my! What fun!!
Alli hunted eggs at home on Easter Sunday, after church, as well....

Now, for some other 'fun' pictures!
Ms. Linda, our neighbor across the street, gave the girls matching "Big/Little Sister" t-shirts. Alli is very proud of her big sister shirt.

If you know Alli, you know she loves tea parties, and she loves to dress up! She even invited Elizabeth to this party.


Left to her own devices, Alli can create some "unique" outfits. Here are 3 of my latest favorites, the last of which was just this morning, when she was "gardening" in the front yard.


I hope this post finds you all doing well!
Much love from the Bucklers!!

Elizabeth's Dedication

The Parental Dedication at First Baptist Church of Augusta was March 9. Elizabeth was one of three babies being dedicated that day.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
~ Proverbs 3:6

Elizabeth was very good during the dedication! And she was exhausted by the time it was all over....

Alli had fun dancing on the "stage" at the front of the sanctuary.
Like a good little Baptist girl, the first song she ever 'danced' to as a baby was "Jesus Loves Me." :)

When Alli was dedicated as a baby, we used another sweet, powerful verse during the ceremony:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
~ Isaiah 40:8

Even without much time to plan, Elizabeth's grandparents were able to attend her dedication. PapaDoc, Gigi, and Dede all drove down from Atlanta for the special day!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ALLI, Our Precious Angel!

Happy Happy Birthday, our sweet girl!!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005....
I had preeclampsia and was on hospital bedrest. I was 36 weeks pregnant, and due to complications, we induced labor at 6:00am, following a long night preparing for the induction. At 5:23pm, our little angel came into the world to greet us. We were blessed, and she was as healthy as she could be. At 5 pounds 14 ounces, she was a little peanut of a baby...
McAllister Lane Buckler.

The picture below shows how much she has grown and changed in the past 3 years. Our easy, quiet baby has grown into a sweet, friendly, vivacious, and busy little girl! Where did the time go???

I remember thinking, as I looked into my newborn's beautiful blue eyes, "This is as close to looking into the eyes of God as I will ever get! How do people not believe in Him when He gives us such precious angels to love?"

This past week, we had Alli's birthday party at Monkey Joe's ~ a fun party place for kids that is basically a large warehouse full of inflatables for jumping, climbing, and sliding. She and all of her little friends had a blast! And for the adults, it was a terrific opportunity to act like a child again.
This is Alli on the way to Monkey Joe's...

...and this is Alli tapping her foot, dying to go inside!

This picture doesn't even begin to show all of the fun stuff to do, but it is a start. After playtime was over, Alli sat on the Monkey Joe's throne, wearing a crown (that she had requested). Her cupcake cake was a bouncehouse with jungle animals inside, to go along with our jungle theme.

Nothing stops Alli! She has no fear!!

She even got a special visit and hug from Monkey Joe, himself!

Baby Elizabeth enjoyed the party, too! She is right at home at Monkey Joe's. After all, MJ is a purple monkey, just like "Boots," Dora's monkey-friend after whom Alli nicknamed her!

Several of Alli's little friends came to the party:
Jackson, Aidan, MacKenzie, Maddox, Addie Dayne, Lauren, Katie, Lauren, Fripp, Peyton, Kate, Caden, Canon, and Bailey all celebrated with us ~ and of course Alli and Elizabeth!

Pizza and cupcakes!

Dede came to the party...

...and Gigi did, too!

It's hard to hold up three fingers, but we've been practicing!!

Happy Birthday, sweet Alli B! We love you more than we can even begin to tell you!! Thank you for being our sweet little angel. We never could have imagined how much you would bless and enrich our lives.
Our cup runneth over....

Thank you, God, for letting us have her ~ what an amazing gift!!!

It's A Happy Day!!

As many of you know, Alli begins each and every day calling one of us into her room, getting out of bed, going to the window, and announcing to the day, "It's a Happy Day!!" Very fitting for our famously happy little girl. This little tradition began before she could speak, when I would get her out of her crib, take her to the window, and we would greet the new day.

Well, we are now blessed to have not only one happy little girl, but two happy little girls. Here are a ton of pictures of them, having fun and being... HAPPY!!

The girls in their matching Valentine's pj's from Dede.

Our smiley baby girl!!

Sweet, happy Alli!

Sister Love....

Making Valentines

Growing girl
(getting "measured" at 2 months ~ approximately 21 7/8" long, and 11 pounds 10 ounces!)

Alli eating chocolate chip pancakes ~ just like Onnie used to make for Mommy!

This is the doll furniture Nana and Papa gave to Alli for Christmas. Here are Holly (Alli's doll that was mine as a child) and Boots lounging around together (at Alli's request).

Yes, those are exactly what you think they are....
Alli "found" my breastpump, took off her shirt, and asked if she could pump "just like Mommy."

At Madison's 4th birthday party ~ jumping and sliding...

...and at Maddox's 2nd birthday party ~ Maddox even shared his "throne" with Alli for a few minutes. :)

Two healthy, very happy little girls....
What more could we ask for???


P.S. I know you are reading this, because I get emails and phone calls galore about the posts! We love to read your comments on the blog, so please feel free to post one. Also, for those of you who don't blog regularly, you can double click on the pictures to see them larger and more clearly. :)

Supper Club

We had our monthly supper club last night at the home of Sue Anne and Jason Bell ~ and everyone was able to come! And let me tell you, with a group of seven residents and fellows, that is a very difficult feat! I have to give our group serious kudos, though, because every month, we all truly make supper club a priority. Why? Because we have so much fun together!!

Our group consists of 7 couples at this time, and we have had others come and go as their respective residencies/fellowships ended, and they moved on. However, we are proud that out of our 7 current couples, 4 were in the "original" supper club, which began when our husbands began their residencies in the summer of 2004: Stephanie and Travis Ansley (Anesthesiology), Sue Anne and Jason Bell (OB/GYN), Emily and Stephen Greer (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery), and us (Pediatrics/Neonatology). The girls joined the MCG Housestaff Medical Auxiliary, asked to be a part of a couples' supper club, and were randomly placed. Mind you, all of us were brand new to Augusta and didn't know a soul! As luck would have it, we hit it off and have become very close friends.

Personally, I do not know what we would have done without this awesome group of friends!! We have been through so much together ~ from pregnancies, to learning how to "cope" as residents' wives. In fact, out of the 4 couples who remain from our original group, only 1 (the Bells) had any children at that time. Little Madison Bell was only 8 months old when we all met; I was pregnant with Alli. Now, Madison is 4 (unbelievable!), Alli is about turn 3, Maddox Greer just turned 2, Megan Bell is nearly 2, Brad and I had Elizabeth, and the Ansleys are expecting their first little one in June. If it takes a village to raise a child, these friends have been our "village" here in Augusta. At the end of this year (June), we will be sad to lose several Supper Club members to life outside of residency ~ aka, "real life" ~ as they move away from Augusta. But for now, we are still having a blast!

Here are the girls, beginning on the lower left (black and white top): Stephanie Ansley, Emily Greer, Melissa Jadick, Leah Wilkins, Ashley Lewis, and Sue Anne Bell.

And here are the guys, starting on the left (yellow shirt): Travis Ansley, Stephen Greer, Brad, & Grant Lewis...

...Tal Wilkins and Jason Bell.
(And I just realized that with all of the pictures I took last night, somehow I didn't get a picture of Rich Jadick!)

And here are the newest mini-members of our Supper Club: Lauren Lewis is on the left, and Elizabeth is on the right; these sweet girls are only 3 weeks apart in age (and their older sisters are only 2 days apart).

For any of you Supper Club members ~ past or present ~ who are reading this, we love y'all!!!

Little Kisses From God

I begin most mornings tired these days after being up and down all night, feeding a newborn. My reaction? I soak up those moments at 2:00 and 4:00am, because they are fleeting and will not last forever ~ and they are some of the few quiet moments I am able to spend with my baby. I laugh and kiss her all over her precious little face....

I began this morning being thrown-up on by Elizabeth. My reaction? I laughed as I kissed her chubby little cheeks. Next on the agenda? To help Alli wipe herself after she had pottied a #2. My reaction? Again, to kiss my precious child and squeeze her buns as she ran out of the bathroom to go drink some milk and play. Since that time this morning, there have been sweet moments ~ gurgly smiles from my infant, a spontaneous "I love you, Mommy" from my 2 year old, watching my girls snuggle on the floor ~ and there have been more yuck moments, as well ~ Alli telling me "It isn't my turn to obey you, it is your turn to obey me!", or getting tired near naptime and throwing goldfish all over the floor out of frustration, and Elizabeth being fussy as she tries to soothe herself to sleep, or having a big blowout of a poopie diaper. My reaction to each: laughter (well, eventually) and a kiss.

Oh, don't get me wrong: I have my frustrated moments, as well. And although one moment I may feel that God has granted me incredible patience, the next I feel that I didn't get my fair share, as I silently count to ten in my head.

It was after the most recent blowout poopie diaper that warrented yet another clothes change today that I got this little "Kiss from God," as our Bible Study leader would call it. I began to think about my children and everyone else in my life that I love so much. Think about it: When you love someone ~ your children, spouse, siblings, parents, friends ~ you love all of them, the good and the bad ~ even the "dirty diapers" parts of them. Could you truly love them if you didn't know about their "dirty diapers?" Or could you only "like" them if you only know the sweet, happy parts of them? If you ask me, I love the ones I love even more because I know about their dirty diapers.

My little kiss from God is this: That is why God loves us and how He feels about us! Oh, I have "known" this for a while, I suppose ~ or at least, I have been told this and thought I knew it. But for whatever reason, it really hit me a few minutes ago as I changed Boots yet again today, as she cooed and smiled up at me. Maybe it especially jumped out at me because that is one of the things we have discussed in my weekly Bible Study. We are doing "Restore My Heart," and Judy (our leader) stresses to us that we are worthy of God's love, and that He loves us because He knows the bad and the good in each of us. Afterall, is it truly "love" if you don't know both good and bad? I don't think so..... And I am comforted by that, because I know that God knows the good and the bad in me and loves me anyway ~ and that is true love.