monkey girl

I was looking back at some pictures from just after Christmas (which reminded me, I never posted any Christmas pictures) and found some funny ones of baby girl acting like a lil monkey...nothing unusual. :)
They sure make me smile and not to mention, show so much of her personality....

and going along with the monkey theme, this is how we found her one day after her nap:

oh, how I love my little monkey girl!!

pure sweetness

I love being a mom.  There are so many little things to find joy in each day as I am home with my little one.  I remind myself of this often...to look for the little moments, the simple pleasures of raising a child and not take any of this privilege for granted.  Not that it's hard for me to find the joyous times; I just want to soak in all the sweet moments I have with her and all the ways she brings joy into my life.  Of course, not every day is picture perfect, there are hard days.  There are weary days.  But I love this role of being a mother to my sweet girl and I love watching her learn and grow each day before my very eyes.  It sure goes fast.
She is almost 15 months and pulling out all kinds of little tricks.  She is also doing sweet little things that just melt me..sweetness that I don't want to forget. What she's doing at fourteen months and what I'm just loving: the sweet sound of her little feet pitter pattering around all over the house (and the girl's all over the place), the way she LOVES for us to chase her around the house and "get her".  She even moves her hands around in excitement like she is tickling herself and gets ready for us to run after her while we say "get you".  One of my favorite things is the way she is now giving kisses.  She used to give them but it was pretty rare although she would blow kisses a lot.  Now, when I ask for a kiss or her daddy does (not all the time but a lot), she will lean her face in close with a little smile and want me to kiss her...either right on the lips or the nose, or she'll open her mouth for an open-mouth kiss.  Usually a drooly kiss, but I'll take it.  I love how she cuddles me at night before I put her to bed.  It's such a sweet time to just hold her tight.  The way she loves loves loves her teddy that grandma brought for her.  She is completely attached to teddy bear and has been able to say "teddy" for awhile now.  She gets so happy to see him.  I love how she reaches up for me when she needs me or just wants me to hold her and I love how she will squeeze my leg and hold on to it.  I love her babbling...she could just talk about who knows what all day long.  And lastly, I love taking her little hand in mine and how she will just walk around with me...hand in hand.

It's moments like these that I want to soak up and always cherish.  I know there will come a time when she won't want me to hold her, or take her by the hand and guide her, or kiss her again and again.  So, I'll take little moments like these and hold them close to my heart.  Always.

*all pictures by Anna Leigh Photography

random happenings...

catching up in pictures.
from the phone of course...

ella's friend (best friend) :) came over the other night.  they had tons of fun together

we went to the asheville area for the medical campus outreach retreat the other weekend.  we were without our little one but enjoyed our time together and with others.  it was kind of a whirlwind weekend as most retreats are..constantly doing something but it was good.  we really enjoyed the speaker and the topic of "engaging brokenness".  kind of hit home with me and really got me thinking.  i hope it will continue to stir my heart and challenge me in new ways.  in new ways that won't be held back by fear. 

anyway,  i was kind of hoping for snow, like a lot of snow since we were going to be freezing anyway.  we only got a little "dusting" of it though during the night.  and, i didn't bring my camera so i only have these few pics from the good ole iphone...

i love these girls.  they are sweet and have such servant hearts.

  

and lastly, pop, granny and my mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend.   russ' grandparents are just the sweetest. this was their first visit since we have moved back and we are very thankful they could make the trip and enjoy their time while here.  ella sure did enjoy their company as well.

(please excuse the red eye and blurriness in some of the pics..wish i had taken some with my nice camera).

we even managed a dinner out with baby girl.  she did so good at the restaurant. 

lovin on her favorite teddy and granny

special memories with granny and pop!

my happy

 my little family makes me the happiest.  no, its not perfect and there are hard times but i'm so glad i get to go through this life with them.  i wouldn't want it any other way.  we are learning so much together, going through the ups and downs together and growing our faith together.  thank goodness this is nothing we do on our own. 

  thanking God for the little things in life that make me happy...like going to the park and enjoying the day with my two favorite people.

start of 2012 in pics

russ got the new iphone4 for christmas and it's pretty awesome.  this is a big deal for him seeing that he has been attached to his 1980's flip phone for a long time.  but, he finally caved and got a smart phone.  if it wasn't for the clinic helping to pay for it, he would still have the good ole' flip phone i'm convinced.  i think you could say i'm slightly obsessed with its camera and all the neat little tricks it can do....no need for a DSLR :))...

baby girl is one busy toddler making it harder and harder to get any decent pictures of her so having the iphone camera around is a little more convenient for capturing some of her cuteness and craziness.  anyway, here are some random photo's to kick off the new year...from baby loving to a date night.

here's hoping 2012 slows it down a little...can't take this growing up so fast!

a birthday party

I can't believe I am just now getting around to posting about baby girl's first birthday party.  We had a lot of fun celebrating her special day.  Her party was actually the day after but I remember on her actual birthday, Russ was home and when 1:19 pm rolled around, we went into her bedroom where she was waking from a nap and sang happy birthday to her.  She didn't have a clue what was going on but enjoyed the attention.

Anyway, back to the party, I'm so thankful for all the friends and family who came over to celebrate with us.  It really means a lot when others really love and care for your child.  Baby girl is well loved :)  For the party, we just made it simple and did some different little treats and of course her smash cake.  I was excited to see how she would handle her cake but she wasn't all that interested.  It was cute because she didn't seem to want to get all sticky so she just had a few licks and she was over it.  She didn't last long for the party either.  After all the attention from the cake and birthday singing, she was exhausted.  Whats a girl to do?  But, I'm glad so many could come to the party and celebrate with us.  I got a lot of pics with her cake but not a lot of the guests (or of all the family...kicking myself for that one).  

some of her aunties that she loves

someone remembered the party hat

The first birthdays are always just for the parents and family/friends.  Obviously, a one year old could care less about all the craziness but birthdays have always been a big deal in my family growing up and I think it is important to celebrate the ones you love on their special day.  This day was certainly very special to us!




***thanks pinterest for tons of party ideas :)

starting traditions {& gettin' crafty}

I love starting new traditions especially now that we have a little one.  Although she is still too young to understand it all, it's important to me that we have special little moments as a family that we do year after year.  It reminds me of my childhood and the ways my mom would make each holiday special and meaningful.  It's just special little moments that will always be cherished and looked back on and remind you of sweet family times.  I know in all the craziness of the season, we can easily get lost in the unimportant things and miss out on the real reason we celebrate so I really wanted to make an advent calender this year.  I was looking around for ideas and found a really cute one on pinterest and here.  I definitely procrastinated so mine turned out a little different than I had in mind but I'm sure it took less time.  I just grabbed some Martha Stewart gift tags that were on sale and then wrote a Christmas activity on the back to do each day as a family.  Cute and simple and sure to create some memories while reminding us to stay focused on Christ during this busy season.

And not that this has anything to do with traditions, but I made a Christmas yarn wreath in my spare time ;)  Well, I say Christmas but afterwards, I think I'll just take the red ribbon off and keep up in the house (since it is gray and white...typical).

I have seen these cute yarn wreaths all over and found this tutorial that is so easy.  I think I'll be making more of these.