Still Going Strong!

I've decided that I'm going to try and capture these two every Sunday - preferably in the morning before heading to church. (That is a pretty ambitious task given the way that Sunday mornings tend to go around our house.) It will be fun to watch them grow and change over the year.

Favorites

I think this is my very favorite picture of sweet Caleb. Ever. Love it.

He is such a cutie!

He has had lots of fun playing with his favorite Christmas present -- these blocks were handmade and painted by my dad and brother. How cool is that?!



Eveley now has a favorite activity -- sledding! I hate to break it to her that we will most likely never see another snowstorm of this magnitude in her lifetime. But she is still enjoying the nearly 6 inches of snow remaining in our yard.

And this is Eveley's favorite pose -- no eye-contact, arms folded, lips pursed, and, in a tone of disgust, she'll say: "Mom. Quit looking at me."




Seriously? She's only two and a half and way too young to be copping an attitude.

She still wears diapers for crying out loud.

Somebody needs to tell her that!

Project 52

I'm sure you have heard of Project 365 if you are a regular traveler in Blogdom. What a great idea! -- take a picture of your kids/family/world each day of the year. At the end of the year, you have a wonderful collection of memories from the year.

But I am a realist. There is no way I will be able to capture a picture each day. No way.

First of all, it will probably take me a week to even remember I am doing this. Then, I will most likely misplace my camera for a few days here and there or find a dead battery just as I'm about to snap my memory.

So, I am launching Project 52. I will do my darned best to capture 1 photo (at least) each week of the year that sums up our lives that week. Don't let me forget! I'm going to add it to my sidebar to remind me, and write it on the fridge and bathroom mirror. And even if I can't find my camera, I'm going to force the kids to sit in front of the laptop for a webcam shot or stalk them with my iPhone. It will be fun to look back on a year of our journey and see how much the children will grow and change.

I can do this.

Here's the first.



My little princess, saying "cheese" while refusing to look at the camera, and my chunky monkey cheesing proudly.

A Rockin' New Year

So our New Year has started off with a bang. It truly was a rockin' New Year Eve as I spent most of the day (and the week) rockin my little Caleb who is pretty sick. He's been battling a terrible cough/cold/pink eye -- the yucky virus as I like to call it. He's sleeping right now and has hopefully taken a turn for the better.

Then I was awakened at 2 last night by my husband who decided to contract the yucky virus himself. When he was up, he realized that we had no water. I didn't care. It was 2:00 in the morning.

I got up with Caleb at 4 and then got him back to sleep around 4:30 when Eveley joined me in my bed. By 5:30, both kids decided I had met my sleep quotient for the night, so we went downstairs to watch a little Dora.

I now realized the water was not working. Anywhere. No water. Now it was a big deal. I checked the fridge and saw we had about 2 cups of water in our filtered pitcher.

Quick thinking. What should I save that for? Toilet flush? A drink? Brush my teeth? Wash the kids faces? Nope. I quickly made 2 cups of coffee before anyone got another idea.

So, here I sit. Ringing in the New Year with a hot cup of coffee, sick kids, and a sick hubby. Truly Beautiful. (He keeps asking me how it is that I escaped getting the yucky virus. "I didn't," I respond. "I've had it for the past week and a half." Oh well.)


I'll share our Christmas Card soon. The pics above are just a preview! Unfortunately, I didn't order enough and our snowstorm really slowed down the mail. Sorry!!

Update: Our water is working now! Praise God! I'm off to make a full pot of coffee and enjoy the day with my family.

I'm in Love

with this guy

Can you blame me?

Look at those blue eyes.

I can't help myself.



I prayed for this little guy. And, of course, I loved him from the very first moment. But lately he has stolen my heart. He is just so stinkin' sweet. He loves to eat my face and squeeze my neck.

He is a mama's boy for sure. And he is completely content as long as he is in his mama's arms.



But I'll admit this was getting a little tiring. Caleb has been pretty high maintenance. He continues to wake up in the middle of the night and has been a nursing machine. He refused the bottle - milk, formula, breast milk, it didn't matter. He just wanted mama.

Until this past week! Caleb is officially weaned! Maybe this is a little tmi, but I am very excited about it. Based on my calculations, in the past 4 1/2 years, I have been nursing for 37 months -- that is over 3 years! (Robbie for 15 months, Eveley 10 months, and Caleb 12 months).

Caleb is now sleeping through the night, and I feel like a new woman!

I continue to be amazed that my heart does not explode with all of the love I have for my 3 children. What a gift!

cousins

Some of my favorite childhood memories come from playdates with my cousins. We lived in the same town and spent many days putting on plays for the family, building forts, playing Barbies, teepee-ing neighbors' yards, and just being crazy together!

Unfortunately, Eveley and Caleb do not have the same privilege right now since we do not have any family living nearby. But we were able to spend a good amount of time with the cousins over Christmas during our trip to Tennessee.

Eveley loves her cousin Layla. She is 1 year older than Eveley, and the two really play well together.

They started the weekend by cooking with Marmee. They were making cupcakes for Jesus' birthday. (but I did not risk actually eating one...)

They love playing dress-up together.

Because Marmee knew this, she made them a fun dressup box for Christmas. The box included a wedding dress, veil, glasses, jewelry, and bouquet. It was hilarious!

They also had fun with their babies and strollers.

But one of the biggest hits was the step stools made by Pop and painted by Marmee. These were designed to help the girls brush their teeth at night. But they had a different idea.

We caught them pulled up to the table, using their baby spoons to eat the dip!

Then my sisters took the girls upstairs to their room to give them a makeover.

Later that evening was our scheduled time to open presents with my siblings. We all got together at my brother's house and put the children to bed so we could have somewhat of a calm evening. We let the girls sleep together - although we never expected it to actually work. We could hear them giggling in the bed and whispering together. The next morning, I asked Eveley what they were giggling about. She informed me that Layla kept saying "stinky diaper," and then she cackled.

I have a feeling that this is only the first of many sleepovers filled with giggles!

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Our family has had a wonderful, action-packed, joyful Christmas. I have so much to share but decided to post a little at a time so you are not overwhelmed by all of these photos.

This Christmas morning was spent with two wild and crazy monkeys, dressed in their cute Christmas pajamas!

No Christmas morning is complete without a few pans of good ole southern sausage balls!

Caleb LOVED them (of course)!

And Eveley was content with a bucket of snow! We still have over a foot on the ground.

(the view outside our back deck)

We all had a great day and Santa was very good to mama this year! If I can pull myself away from my new toy . . . I will fill you in on the details.