Ella's Winter ONE-derland!

It happened so fast.  We brought her home from the hospital, and before we knew it, she was growing.  Smiling, crawling, babbling, walking.  She's officially a toddler now!

We celebrated Ella turning the big ONE with a Winter Onederland themed birthday party a week before her actual birthday. Nanny and Uncle Mason played host and we had a great turnout of family and friends to celebrate her big day.

Cake table.  All homemade treats!

Loved the wintery decor.

 We rented a spacewalk for the day to help entertain the older kids.  Little did we know, Ella would LOVE it as well.  She kept up with the older kids just fine and was all smiles toddling around.

She had a blast in the spacewalk with the big kids!

Our family.

Merry Christmas!

There are few joys in childhood greater than waking up on Christmas morning to a pile of presents from Santa. 

There are few joys in parenthood greater than watching that moment and the smiles spread across the faces of your own children. 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Taking the Stage!

Molly's dancing school rotates a performance of The Nutcracker every other year. This year is a Nutcracker year, which means the girls get an extra recital in December in addition to the annual revue in May.

Molly's class danced to one of the most well-known tunes of the ballet, depicting the Sugar Plum Fairies.

As with her last recital, we took her to get her hair put into a proper ballet bun. Her friend, Lacey, had an appointment right after us, so the girls were excited to be there together.

All dolled up and ready to head to the recital!

Lacey and Molly

After we got hair and make-up done, we headed to Morton Ranch High School to check in and get dressed. I got her ready and then left to take my seat in the audience, while she stayed behind stage with their class mom and her fellow ballerinas.

The girls did a great job on stage, and after the show, daddy got to bring roses up to her.

Molly is 3rd from the left!

Congrats, Molly, on a beautiful performance! I love watching you dance!

Sights of the Season!

Christmas time is fast approaching and we are starting to fill our days with holidays lights and sights around here! It is amazing how much more fun this time of year truly is when you get to share it and see it through the eyes of a child.




We have spent some time decorating outside...


And inside...


The next few weeks will be busy and fun for us, and we are looking forward to traveling to see family during the holidays!

Sugar Plum Fairies

In just about a week and a half, Molly will take the big stage with her dancing class to perform in the school's production of The Nutcracker. The class will be dancing as sugar plum fairies, and they got to try on their costumes during class tonight. They were so very excited to practice their routine in full costume, and I can't wait to see my big girl light up the stage!

Remembering Marie

This is Marie.



That smile you see? That’s the true embodiment of who she was.

To know her smile was to know her. The warmth, love, joy, sense of welcoming that personified her smile defined the person she was. Ever thoughtful, putting others ahead of herself, and enabling a sense of peace within anyone she came into contact with during her short life.



And indeed, her life was too short. To imagine the things she could have done, the things she wanted to do, the things she dreamed of, is to doubt God’s plan. And while it is hard not to do just that, and not to question why such an incredible person was taken so unexpectedly, so abruptly from our lives, we must remember the faith Marie held and exercise that same faith in her death.

During this time of loss, we must remember the way Marie loved and take care of one another. Mickey, I hope you never doubt the love she had for you. The twinkle in her eyes and the smile on her lips when she was with you was unmistakable. You were her true love, and I am so happy you found one another.



She truly was an angel on Earth. I am thankful to God for lending her to us, for choosing me to be one of the people she touched in her time with us. I am thankful to have shared in so many of her happy, defining memories. To have been a gift bearer in her wedding while my husband stood beside her groom on the altar. To have shared with her a love of children and of teaching. To have made such fond memories while on vacation with her just three short months ago.









It has been said that if you live on in the hearts and lives of the ones you have touched, you will never truly die. Marie has touched so many lives, her legacy will thrive. Of that, I have no doubt. Marie executed such a gracious life full of faith, hope, and love, hers will be the Kingdom of Heaven. Of that, I am certain. Rest in peace, Marie. Our hearts are heavy, and the tears still fall, but you are where you are destined to be. Of that, I have absolute faith.

Carnivals and Costumes

Today we headed out to the Fall Carnival for the girls' daycare. There was face painting, nail painting, pumpkin painting, games, and goodies! The girls got dressed up in costume (Molly insisted she wanted to be Cinderella instead of Alice today) and we had a fun time.





After the school carnival and lunch, we headed to another Pumpkin Patch Festival at a local high school. More goodies, games, and a hayride later, it was all the fall festival fun we could stand for one day!

Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend, we had some company! Nanny, Mason, and Emily came to visit us. We took them to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning and browsed through the craft fair on the church grounds.





Later that day, we headed over to the Spicers' house for a pumpkin carving party. When all was said and done, we had a variety of pumpkin designs, including Minnie Mouse by yours truly!



And while Molly and the girls were still a little young to actually participate in the carving, I think they were quite pleased with the end results...

Wonderland!

Last night, I decided to take Molly to her first theatre performance. The school where I teach was putting on a showing of "Alice in Wonderland" and given that Molly loves Alice (so much so that she will be Alice for Halloween!) I decided to give it a go.

When I told her about it, I asked if she wanted to wear her Alice headband, and she said that she actually wanted to wear her entire Alice costume. Who am I to argue? She was sure the center of attention and many, many other theatre-goers commented on how sweet and cute she looked all dressed up like Alice.



After the show was over, she even got to say hello and get a hug from Alice herself. I was proud of my big girl for doing so well and look forward to taking her to many more theatre experiences!

Our Ghost Family

It was rainy today. It's been so long since we had a day full of nothing but rain, that we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. Molly kept asking to go out and blow bubbles, which obvisouly was not going to happen.

So I decided to make good on a promise I made to myself - I was going to re-create at least one project this month (and hopefully each month!) from a website called Pinterest. If you haven't become a part of Pinterest, you are unlucky. Or, if you don't have the time to get drawn in for endless inspiration - and then the time to try out that inspiration - you are lucky. I am still not sure which I am; I love the website, but it sure does make me want to do a lot of stuff!

So here is my very first Pinterest creation - family of ghosts! We had a fun time painting and printing together as a family and it made our rainy day a lot more entertaining. And we have a cute new Halloween decoration too. I'd say that's pretty lucky, indeed!

9 Months Old

You finally say "mama"!

You pull up on everything and are starting to cruise around the room while holding onto the furniture.

As of tonight, you have FOUR teeth! Two on top and two on bottom.



You are a delight and a joy and we love you beyond words. Thank you, Lord, for this perfect blessing.

Pumpkin Patch!

We headed out to the pumpkin patch this weekend to take some pictures of the girls and bring home a few symbols that fall has finally arrived! They both had fun exploring the pumpkin patch - which we had all to ourselves!

The First Weekend of Fall

The calendar says it's fall, but it sure feels like summer outside. And what better way to celebrate summer - I mean fall - than with ice cream and football.

Yesterday, I took the girls to a birthday party for our friends' little boy, Noah, who turned 1! We celebrated with an outdoor party themed around ice cream.







Today, we watched the Saints take on the Texans at a home tailgate party. Ella had to wear her purple and gold since she has outgrown her one Saints outfit.





We are sure looking forward to a lot of fall fun - including pumpkin patches, Dewberry Farms, Zoo Boo, and of course, Halloween trick or treating!