Wordless Wednesday

From Our Family to Yours...

thank you Allison Lewis Photography for the beautiful pictures!

What on the Earth We've Been Doing...

It's been a whirlwind of a three + weeks...and it's not even Christmas yet!

So what on the earth have we been doing?

We started off December at the Zoo Lights with Gramma and Papa Al. 

The next week was Addie's school's Christmas program. Oh my! I'll do another post on this one with pieces of the video we took and more pictures! Loved seeing our girl up there singing her heart out!

Then we jumped into a crazy busy last week of preschool 3's before Christmas break complete with a rockin' class Christmas party! We made gingerbread houses for centerpieces (that we later used at our very own Gingerbread House Decorating party and finally took to the nursing home), Nutter Butter Reindeer cookies, and treats for her sweet teachers! yum!

We ended the week with me taking some Christmas pictures for a friend...

...second shooting a wedding with Allison in Birmingham, and taking more pictures for our friends Chad and Mandy! I'd say that was a photography filled weekend!

And then I did one of the crazier things I've done in a while...hosted no less than 25 kiddos and their sweet mama's for a Gingerbread House Decorating Party. I'm thinking (hoping) it was as much of a success as it appeared to be! (another few posts on this one soon!). We had so much fun spending time with friends!

We had to skip our yearly tradition of the Zoo Lights with Chad, Mandy, and Cady due to rain, but that didn't stop us from heading to the inDoor mall to eat CFA, ride the train and ride the carousel! (thank you iPhone!). Addie and Cady were so sweet to take care of the little girls while riding the train! Love these 4 girls and can't wait for Cady's baby brother to join the fun!

And we all jumped crawled out of bed the next morning, thankfully including my mom, and visited the nursing home where my grandmother was almost 12 years ago. What a beautiful place with some amazing staff and just as amazing residents. We met some wonderful people, shared a few treats with everyone, and our girls were simply delightful, which if you know our girls (or any 3 year or 19 month old for that matter), can be hit or miss! And of course, we delivered the gingerbread houses, both big and small!

I'm pretty sure we bought a few gifts somewhere in there, decorated the house and our little tree that sits somewhat safely in our window seat, and managed to complete a few pinterest inspired crafts with an overly excited 3 year old!

And there you have it. My excuse(s) for blogging in such limited form. Do forgive. I'll get the Thanksgiving in Augusta pictures edited eventually...maybe before we head back for Christmas.

But throughout it all, we've worked to keep our focus on the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. Not for the presents. Not even for the giving. But for the tiny baby who was sent as our Savior, the most amazing gift of all!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:8-11

...because I just couldn't resist

Footloose Friday

i dont know what it is exactly about Veggie Tales that makes kids love it.

sure, the characters are cute, the humor is dry (and clean!), and the message is exactly we want our kids to hear (over and over and over!).

but i think it's the Veggie Tales Intro Song that's gotten ours hooked...

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

i {stupidly} took all 3 girls to get gift cards for a few teachers today. location contained: a full size decorated christmas tree complete with angel tree paper angels, a tiny tv with a vcr, and a ginormous desk.

i'm certain that each and every ornament and angel tree angel at the little girl's eye level was touched or pulled off (and put back on). both little girls got their fingers stuck in the VCR flap...twice.

and right as i was rounding them up, poor anne perry decided to follow her sister and ran full force into the pointy corner of the ginormous desk knocking herself flat on her bottom.

apparently all things at the eye level of a 19 month old should be padded.

very thankful for the man working there who is the father of child the little girls age, the mother who had just walked in and was telling me about her twins and fun(ny) memories when they were that age, but i am even more thankful that anne perry's little eye was spared. there is no doubt in my mind that God's hand was on her little body guiding it just far enough away from that sharp corner to avoid her eye.

eucharisto.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 

Psalm 91: 11-12

Tickle Me Tuesday

there has never been a doubt in my mind that Addie and Audrey Kate don't simply adore Mr. Chad, Mrs. Mandy, and Cady. Anne Perry on the other hand, isn't as quick to let much of anyone in her little world; but this is her: giggles, grins, and giddiness...surrounded by 3 of our dearest friends. thanks for loving our girls as much as your own!

When I Grow Up...

...I want to be a princess.

my reply: oh really, and what will you do as a princess? (you must understand how shocking this was to me. we don't have much princess stuff, and we certainly don't place great emphasis on princess-ness with our girls).

I will dance. and after I'm Snow White (it changed sometime in there), I want to be...

a volcanologist.

when Addie gets focused on something, she's stuck on it. sometimes it lasts a few days. like the what is a miracle mommy? question. her all things animals kick isn't as prominent now, but there isn't a day that goes by that something animal related isn't discussed around our house.

but somehow she got stuck on volcanoes. I dont remember how or when except she eagerly discussed it with my brother when we were in Raleigh. he, being the always thinking brother that he is, told her that I could certainly build her a volcano that we could erupt. thankyouverymuch!

and then the discussion quickly turned to assuring her that it would be a pretend volcano and the pretend hot lava would not in fact be hot at all!

after watching volcanoes erupt on mommy's computer and checking out a handful of books from the library on volcanoes...

hot lava talk soon moved to most volcanoes happen in the ring of fire around the pacific ocean (no where near us!) when the pressure underground pushes the magma up and out causing the volcano to erupt hot lava and plumes of ash creating craters...

...all of which can cause salamis, otherwise known as tsunamis!

so last week, I got up the energy courage to gather the supplies and build this thing. storms were predicted for the afternoon, so I was counting on a long little girl afternoon nap.

because this was certainly one of the larger projects we'd attempted.

and so we proceeded to build a volcano.

I think when I built one in elementary school, I had a nifty little megaphone I'd gotten at some sports event which became the form for the volcano.

since we didnt have any of those lying around the house, we just used posterboard.

and then instead of making my own paper-mache (knowing the large volume of newspaper strips it required), i cheated with this...

best $4 i spent at w@lmart all day!

so we (i) cut the pieces, and we dipped them in water before placing them on the cardboard cone.

while we patiently let the plaster dry so we could paint it, we watched volcano videos online and learned more about how volcanoes work.

but that didn't last too long!

this kid was giddy with excitement about building a volcano, but i've never seen her quite so serious as when it came time to paint it!

she made sure every bit of that volcano was covered with paint!

from top to bottom...

and all that serious painting paid off!

unfortunately her 3 year old mouth prevented us from erupting the volcano that night, but it served as a great reward for helping us pack and load the car the next day!

you think she was excited?

her first reaction was a little funny because even after all of that prep, i'm not sure she expected what happened when that food colored red vinegar hit the baking soda.

but it didnt take long for her fascination to return along with her reassurance to us that that pretend lava was in fact not hot!

a week later, she's still going strong with this one. we've watched a few more videos and found a book for her to keep from the bookstore. every library book we checked out pertaining to volcanoes has been read multiple times.

i sure am thankful this big girl has her daddy's memory. it takes everything within me to keep up with her, but it's such a joy to witness her make new discoveries and learn knew things...and then want to share them with us and others! 

what's next? musical instruments just in time for christmas!

Bowling Babies

before thanksgiving, addie's friend maggie (and her mom, little brother dylan, and baby sister sarah) invited us to go bowling. maggie's mama assured me that dylan (who is the same age as the little girls) loved it. so i trusted her, and we all went bowling! 

and let me tell you, all 3 of our girls had a BLAST!

penny showed us how she helped dylan bowl.

and maggie showed us all about climbing!

addie wasn't quite as good at it, but she sure did get a good laugh from it!

and while i didn't manage to get any pictures of the little girls bowling because I was supervising it, audrey kate was showing me how to throw the bowling ball here.

and anne perry and dylan (who had just tried to hug her! so sweet!), were all about  making sure the green and pink ball made it back up to us!

i thought addie was a little monkey, but i'm pretty sure maggie was the best monkey that day!

sweet mrs. jennifer holding baby sarah!

in addition to being a great climber, maggie was an expert bowler!

and with maggie's help, it took no time at all for addie to get the hang of things.

and every single time she bowled, you'd have thought she hit a strike!

but one of the sweetest things was seeing addie, maggie, and lyndee play ring around the rosie. 

...and all fall down!

bowling was absolutely a hit with our kiddos!

thanks mrs. penny for inviting us and thanks mrs. jennifer for the free passes!!!

Tucker's Baptism

about two weeks ago, we all piled in the car (including my mom) and headed to Raleigh for our sweet nephew's baptism.

the trees were gorgeous, and i'm pretty sure addie's head nearly exploded seeing so many beautiful colors!

i have two words to describe the trip there and back: long drive!

but it was totally worth it!

it was such an honor to be a part of this special weekend to celebrate baby Tucker and be there to witness his baptism and the commitment of Judson and Anna's church to support them and teach him about God's love.

there were grandparents, a great grandparent, a great aunt, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends to celebrate this handsome boy!

anna's mother was so sweet to host a delicious lunch following the service that included this beautiful (and yummy I might add) cake.

tucker got lots of loving on from everyone, but i loved this picture. a beautiful lady and handsome baby!

the weather was perfect; and our girls, along with at least six other cousins, had a blast playing outside!

but what's a party without tarheels cornhole?

my aunt flew in from atlanta

and while our littles weren't too keen on stopping to take a picture, they loved seeing their nana!

tucker's apparently a great little helper

and an even better sport. this kid was surrounded by girls (with at least one fussing at all times) and took it with stride! (love this picture of my mom and her 4 grandchildren!)

he even let Addie hold him!

that is until he'd had enough! so i scooped him back up and loved on him while we headed back inside to his sweet mama.

and while addie loved baby tucker, she absolutely adored aunt anna and uncle judson. i'm pretty sure she would have stayed with them 24/7 had she been given the opportunity!

my brother only planted a few unnecessary things in her head (like showing her food and insisting on me building her a volcano that could erupt...more on that later!),

but it was all worth seeing these two together!

getting to love on this baby boy!

and be with this gorgeous family!

aunt anna, uncle judson, and baby tucker, thank you for including us in this celebration. thank you for spending the weekend with us, helping to entertain our girls, and just loving on them! it was an honor to be a part of this special event; and we loved every minute of our time with you.

"But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Luke 18:16