Caroline's 1st photo shoot

A friend of ours from church, Jonalee Earles, served us so well by doing a "photo shoot" with our girls. Many of you know that our dear friend Peter normally is our "personal photographer," but his wife just gave birth to their 3rd child so he's been pretty busy :-) I was hoping to get a good picture of Caroline to use for an announcement......well, I got SO MUCH more! Jonalee did such a WONDERFUL job capturing my girls. She even got some great pictures of Madison, which is REALLY hard to do these days! I love how she captured Madison's personality and her love for her baby sister. These pictures are precious to me and I will treasure them forever.....thank you Jonalee! Here is just a small sampling...

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Precious moments

Here are some pictures from Caroline's first few weeks (thanks Grace & Karen!):

Coming Home

Welcome home Caroline! My dad made a pretty sign to put in our front yard. What a fun surprise! My mom was at our house watching Madison so she was there to greet us when we arrived home. We were able to come home after just one night in the hospital because mom and baby were doing so well!

Lots of people love you, Caroline...

Uncle Jason & Aunt Gina

Papa & Nana

Aunt Pam

Gigi (Great-Grandmom)

Granddad & Grandmom

Our Sweet Blessing has arrived!

After 10 months of anticipation, she is finally here! Caroline Brooke Apolenis arrived on Friday, June 19 at 5:18pm and weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches long. Labor and Delivery went very smoothly, once again. Praise the Lord for another healthy baby girl. I am constantly reminded of the Lord's kindness and goodness to me through my two girls. What blessings they are. What joy they bring to our lives.

Summertime is here.....

Well, it is now June (which is the official start to summer in my world), and my little girl is already having so much fun outside. She loves playing in the pool and I can't pass by these pictures without smiling. She is truly a bundle full of joy!

Our Girls' Weekend...Just like the old days!

All growing up, my mom and I would take trips with our two best friends, Robin and Jesse. We were like the 3 Musketeers (but, of course there were 4 of us ;-)

Our friendship with them really is timeless.....we have had so many fun adventures together throughout the years. They are really more like family to us than friends. And, this weekend trip together that we took was just another added memory to the precious ones we already have. It was a weekend filled with laughter and smiles. We went to Leesburg to do some shopping and stayed at the Lansdowne Resort. We wanted to fit in a fun weekend away before baby #2 decided to arrive. Jesse was so worried that I would go into labor on the trip (I was 37 weeks!), but luckily, baby girl stayed all snuggled up inside.

Here is my mom and Robin:

Robin, you truly are my 2nd mom - I love you very much. Jess, you are the sister I never had. I treasure your friendship and the time we get to spend together. Love you!

Upon returning from our trip, Robin and Jess got to see little Miss Madison - I love this picture of the 3 of them: