Polka Dot Tree...

Feb photo a day - day 2

2012-02-02T21:11:00.001-05:00

February photo a day
Day 2 "words"

this weeks picks for books on CD, by Olivia (we have all of them memorized, Lord help us)

Feb. Photo a day - day 1

2012-02-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

February Photo A Day
Day 1 "Your view today"

My sweet ones, enjoying being all together watching Samuel's favorite show. (Baby Einstein's Baby Noah)

February Photo A Day

2012-01-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

So, is anyone jumping in on this? I think I'm going to. It'll be good inspiration to pick up the camera, as inspiration has been a little bit short around here lately. I'll be blogging it as I go, so that will be interesting. Don't forget to link up with Chantelle, I know she would love to know that you're joining in. And let me know too! I'd love to see your pictures through the month.

Samuel's 1st birthday

2012-01-18T21:44:00.001-05:00

So, my plan for this year is to actually document these daily moments that we live and to share them. Fabulous photos or not, witty or deep writings aside. Just put our story here, because I will be thankful, in the end, that I did.

Last Wednesday we celebrated Samuel's 1st birthday with a yummy dinner and cake. He's been exclusively breastfeed this entire year, so we had to document his 1st taste of big people food. Somewhere along the way, Daddy lost his head a bit and decided Samuel should have cake too and then let him lick off the ice cream scoop! I will not be uploading the video of my reaction in those moments. :) Thankfully he had no adverse reactions to that system overload. I did take lots of pictures though and this will be a picture heavy post. So, you have some warning! We fed Samuel quinoa and black beans and a bit of avocado. He was ok with the first two, but the avocado is definitely not his favorite. He was extremely interested in the cake, but after tasting a bit of frosting he had to shudder, several time. I scraped the frosting off his piece and just let him play with the cake which didn't make him shudder and gag too badly. Such an interesting experience. Happy 1st Birthday boy!

His 1st experience with a sippy cup. He did good.

Daddy and his boy

He wasn't sure about the singing.

He was so interested. Just one finger.

hmmmm....

ick?

Seriously, my favorites are these 3.

He thought it was better without frosting.

He did use his hands some.

Presents!

pull along squirrel

every kid needs cars!

Mike and Samuel

The cake was Burnt Sugar Cake with Burnt Sugar Frosting. That has been my Daddy's birthday cake for the past 21 years and since Samuel and my Daddy share birth months, I thought it would be a fun tradition. At least while I have a say over the cake choice. :) Mike and the girls were quite impressed. It was super delicious.

10 on 10 {January}

2012-01-17T22:53:00.001-05:00

8am - coffee and sister's phone call are 1st order of the day

9am - breakfast and school

10am - packing up

11am - Sadie-Rose and Samuel's quiet time

12pm - mommy's lunch break

1pm - the pony promenade across the window sill

2pm - gathering the library books for the weekly run

3pm - the never.ending.laundry.

4pm - a restorative cup of tea

5pm - dinner prep

I promise I took these on the 10th. I'm just a slacker at getting them uploaded.

Hence being an entire week late.

I'll try to work on that next month.

10 on 10 - find more here

1-11-11 (one year later)

2012-01-13T17:00:00.003-05:00

One year ago, I gave birth to the sweet baby boy. We have been so blessed to have him in our lives and welcomed him in our hearts. It's hard to believe that the months have flown by so quickly and our little man has turned 1 though! God bless his heart, he's giving me a run for my money. He's one little ball of energy and orneriness. Some mommas say, "oh, he's just being a boy." I'm not so sure. I think God's trying to teach me something.
He's delicious though. Pure sweetness through and through. I don't think you could count the amount of kisses he gets from all of us on a daily basis. And his little chuckle...oh my. It's garunteed to make you join in. We scoop him up regularly and kiss and tickle and tease. He's game. Any time. Any where.

He waves. And does high-five. And drives the car grocery carts. And plays soccer in the kitchen. If he can't find a ball, he'll make do with a small box. He climbs the stairs. He loves being outside and in the garage. He likes to pull dogs fur. He loves playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek. He hates his carseat when daddy is driving, but does fine when it's just momma. He calls for his sisters as soon as he wakes up. He's been walking since 10 months. He'll run towards you with arms outstretched for a hug. He likes playing with the "big kids" at church, but screams and sobs in the infant nursery. He knows how to charm ladies. He loves to hang out with daddy. He loves to pull his sister's hair but is learning that a gentle pat will suffice. He hates it when the girls cry, he runs to them and holds their hand and pats them. Ma-ma is only said in dire circumstances, but it can be said. Paper is made for shredding and magazines for tearing. The table is the incorrect spot for any item, everything must belong on the floor. Baby Einstein "Baby Noah" is a favorite. The dishwasher is his domain and you must not mess with him when he's in it. Or the fridge. He likes to go to bed between 8:15 and 8:45. No later please, or I will be a crab.

Life is pretty great with our little family of 5. I know we wouldn't have it any other way.

1 week old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old

December Daily - Day 3

2011-12-03T22:11:00.001-05:00

Olivia has informed me that there are only 21 more days till Christmas Eve. Why does she do this to me??? Oi.

A thought I had today: One of the best "sounds" of Christmas? The crackling of record player as it cranks out Perry Como, Julie Andrews, Johnny Mathis, and Bing Crosby. Better than a CD or iPod any day.

Today we went Christmas tree shopping. Fun. Sort of.
We went to a local Christmas tree farm, but Mike and I were seriously unimpressed after walking the entire field. As we headed back to the van, sans tree, Olivia was in tears because I was being "too picky" and wasn't being nice to the poor trees and Sadie-Rose was in tears because a. we didn't have a tree to take home and b. she really wanted a "sister tree" which happened to be any tiny 2-4 year old scraggly tree that was shorter than she is with only 3-5 branches. (Think "Charlie Brown Christmas tree" and you'll know exactly want I'm talking about.) So, tears all around. I'd call that a success, wouldn't you? ;) Thankfully I had several lollipops stashed in my purse for crisis moments on the plane, but since we had none I was still well stocked. Thankfully, lollipop licking lasted most of us to the nearest Christmas tree lot where we've had good success several times before and where we should have gone in the 1st place. They had the most lovely trees, we had a really hard time deciding because there were several "perfect" ones but eventually we picked one and they got it all loaded up for us and away we went. Happy children and happy parents. Our fragrant tannenbaum is now gracing our living room, unadorned at the moment, and Mike says it's the biggest and heaviest tree we've even had. I can't wait to see it all lit up and decorated. But that will be for tomorrow. Maybe. Or Monday. We'll see.

And we were wished a "Merry Christmas" not once, but twice today! It's the 1st time we've heard it this season and definitely helped with the Christmas spirit.

December Daily - Day 2

2011-12-02T23:09:00.001-05:00

We spent the evening with our Awana leaders. It was our 2nd Christmas party and we're only on Dec. 2nd, but what a way to start the holiday month! :) We had lots of fun, the food was yummy, we were all kid-free (except for Samuel), and I seriously laughed until my cheeks hurt. I have to say that Tammy is pretty darn funny. And between her and Brady, I think Lindsey and I were giggling most of the night. We told silly stories, felt like we were breathing fire from all the jalapenos in the chicken wraps, and stole each others gifts without mercy in the white elephant gift exchange. Poor Mike, he got an aromatherapy, lavender and chamomile sinus and stress relief eye mask. Some day, he'll get something awesome. Obviously, it won't be this year. ;)
Some much fun and silliness, we really should do it more often. At least once a quarter, instead of once or twice a year. We have too much fun not to.
But in all seriousness, I'm thankful for the team that we have and all the hard work that each person puts in on a weekly biases to make AWANA work. God has really been stretching and growing Mike and I through this time and I pray that we come out victorious on the other side. Thankfully we have a good group of team mates to turn to for help and encouragement.

December Daily - Day 1

2011-12-01T21:45:00.001-05:00

Today was a day, let me tell you. My comment to Mike? "Today's goat rodeo could definitely be called a 'fail." (Don't know what a "goat rodeo" is? Here ya go! #1 & #3 make my point.) But, we made it through even with all the craziness. But, what I want to remember most about today is this:

Today was Olivia's last violin lesson with her teacher, who is moving to the Florida Keys at the end of December. We are terribly sad, even though we've only been taking lessons since September. We love Ms. Melissa and lessons are the highlight of our week. Tonight was our monthly "Fiddlesticks" class, which is the assembly of almost all of Melissa's students and they all practice playing together, followed by "rhythm wars" (of which Olivia won out of the 4 girls in her class and just narrowly missed winning when challenged against the winner of the next higher level. We were and she was quite proud.) and that was all followed by a small Christmas party. It was fun to see Olivia and the little girls in her class stand up and play with all the big kids for their 4 songs and see them all try so hard to get the rhythms right so they would win. And we treasure every moment we can get to spend with Melissa and learn more from her. Olivia has grown and learned so much from her and the experience has been such a positive one, I hate to see it come to an end.

Olivia with her classmates (Amanda Joy, Addie, and Karigan)

and her lovely teacher, Melissa