The Big ONE

We had such a fun Saturday celebrating the first year of Miss Charlotte. I decided to keep this celebration just our close family -- it was important to me to be able to enjoy the party too and not be so busy taking care of things that I didn't get to join in on the fun. :) I also wanted to be able to spend time with Charlotte on her actual birthday (which was 2 days before) and spend time with her on party day as well.

But, I did want it to be special! Here's a yarn wreath I made for the front door.
Our house was all things pink, green and white with a cupcake theme. I made these mason jars decorated with "C"s on them as the centerpiece of the dining room table where we all ate lunch.

I was overjoyed that all of our family was able to be here to celebrate with Charlotte. At this age, gifts mean very little to her. But, being surrounded by all the people she loves -- with her as the center of attention -- made her one pretty happy gal! I realize the not all of our family will be able to be present for every birthday, but for some reason it's just so important to me that they be here for the first one. I want Charlotte to know that everyone loved her so much that they came to celebrate with her!

I made lunch for all of us before we celebrated with cake. I made Chicken and Wild Rice, Salad and homemade rolls. We started with the BEST dip that's definitely going on my "must make often" list -- thanks to my friend AJ for the recipe. :)

Charlotte is such a good eater. She sampled some of everything and couldn't get enough of the casserole & bread. I hope she stays this good of an eater!

Like I said, I wanted to make this day special. I make these cupcake cookies to match the cupcake cake that she had.

Here's Charlotte checking out the table. Look closely & you can see Harrison sneaking some M&Ms. :)

Here we are singing Happy Birthday. You can't see it very well, but her outfit had little cupcakes embroidered all over it. Perfect for this day!

One great thing about being baby #3 -- you have 2 older siblings to help you blow out your first birthday candle!

But, you still get an entire cake to yourself! She was a little hesitant at first, but decided that she definitly like the icing! Although she did prefer for me to feed it to her.

Eventually she did get her hands dirty and kept rubbing the icing between her fingers. Ick!

After cake it was present time! We got her a pushtoy-stroller and some stacking blocks and a couple other little toys. She also got a beautiful dress and new snack keeper, monogram plate set, new book and shoes! The gifts were opened in record time, with the help of Madeleine and Harrison!

This ball popper has already been taken over by her older siblings. They love it, too!

To me it was the perfect day! We were surrounded by our family, ate good food, played with the birthday girl, and made wonderful memories. I can't think of a better way to celebrate this wonderful year with our wonderful Charlotte!

Christmas Day

I'm finally getting around to posting the rest (and last!) of the Christmas pictures. :)

The kids actually surprised us and woke up around 7:30 on Christmas morning. We'd thought they might sleep later since they're usually late sleepers & we'd kept them up late on Christmas Eve. I spent the night sleeping on the couch (remember the fun stomach bug?!?!) so I *hopefully* wouldn't infect the rest of the family (no such luck -- Matt was only a mere day away from his turn). Matt slept with the kids in our bed so we would be sure not to miss the excitement of them seeing what Santa left them.

So, about 7:30 the kids busted out of our room and ran into the living room scaring me as they ran to see what Santa left them! They were so excited! I think this is one of my most favorite moments of the year -- seeing the pure joy on their faces when they see what Santa left for them. It's one of the highlights of parenthood; one of the most fun things you get to be a part of each year. :)

Madeleine had decided in early December that she wanted an American Girl doll. Well, she's never been one to play with dolls much & I wasn't sure that Santa should deliver such an expensive gift since she's not usually big on dolls. So, we decided that Santa would bring a nice doll & that if she loves her & plays with her, she can go pick out a REAL American Girl doll for her birthday. She seemed good with that and absolutely loved the doll she got. She named her Jessie.
She also got a Leapster Explorer that was a huge huge HUGE hit! She's played with it nonstop!

Madeleine also got the pillow pet that she wanted. :) Santa didn't forget Charlotte. She got a play kitchen, Learning Table and a few other little toys. She was pretty excited with all that she got!

Harrison loved his new Dragon Castle & Misty Island Playset. The dragon castle wasn't something he asked for, but it was a HIT! He's had a great time discovering all the "secrets" of the castle. He and Madeleine played with it most of the day Christmas day -- knights and her new Rapunzel at the castle. :)

I took the picture below around 11am. If you look closely under the tree you'll notice that there are still gifts there. The kids were so excited about what Santa left them & so happy with it, they didn't even remember that there were gifts under the tree too! Matt and I kept waiting for them to notice and then it became a big joke between us that they hadn't noticed.

We had a nice Christmas breakfast together before, finally, we reminded them that there were even MORE gifts! They were more than happy to open them, too. ;)

Harrison got a new set of Thomas books & Madeleine got a new Tinkerbelle story collection she could read by herself.

And, Charlotte got some new books as well.

Madeleine worked very hard this year picking out Matt's gifts. She knew right away that she wanted to get him some new gloves since he couldn't find his (without any prompting -- she'd been thinking of what to get him and when he remarked one morning he couldn't find his gloves, she ran right to me & whispered that she was going to get him some for Christmas. Love that girl and her sweet heart!). She ended up adding a hat and some PJs to that while we were in the store. Harrison picked out a Razorback hat for Matt as well. I added some UGG slippers for him & some new cologne and new clothes.

We're a big game playing family. We added Kerplunk, Operation and Jenga to our collection this Christmas.

Matt discovered the wonderful world of internet shopping this year -- ha! He got me a new Pioneer Woman cookbook that I've been dying to try! Matt also got me some wonderful new UGG slippers (yippeeeee!) and these cute little houseshoes for when I'm bumming around the house or watching TV. :) Love them! He also got me a necklace with the kids names & birthstones on it that I absolutely love!!! The kids picked me out some B&B Works stuff and some new gloves & scarf. Just perfect! I love seeing what they chose for me and no matter what it is I always think it's perfect.

Harrison also got some Hot Wheels stuff, a pirate cove, slippers, Thomas trains (even more!) etc.

Madeleine got some new slippers, clothes, barbies, bath play stuff, tea sets, etc.

After a lazy afternoon, we ended up eating Christmas Dinner at dinnertime. We had ham, mashed potato casserole, green beans, corn casserole, strawberry-pretzel salad and rolls. Sadly, with Matt getting the stomach flu and me still recovering, most of that food ended up in the trash later that week. Oh well, it was yummy on Christmas day!

And, yes, we did stay in our jammies all day long. The perfect Christmas!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, I like for us to try and stay home all day and just spend the day together doing fun family things. The first thing on the kids agenda for the day was making cookies. I'd made the dough the night before so we would be all ready to go that morning. They were so excited! I gave them each a roll of dough and a cookies sheet that they could fill with "their" cookies.

Even Charlotte joined us in the kitchen for some cookie time!

I love that Harrison is just as excited about this as Madeleine. He doesn't last as long at making them as she does, but he works so hard at it.

Madeleine would have made cookies all day if she could have! She loves to help me in the kitchen and worked so hard on her cookies!

Of course, we had to spend some time tracking Santa that day on NORAD. This is always a favorite activity -- for all of us! I think the clicked on almost every place he'd landed and looked at either the picture or video of it.

After the cookies were cooled it was time to ice them! This is their favorite part. They iced the ones they'd made and I iced the rest. We always take cookies to our neighbors on Christmas Eve & I wanted those to be without the extra "licks" the kids often give theirs. :) Here are a few of the finished product. I'll admit that making/icing cookies is one of MY favorite parts of the holiday.

After a taco dinner, the kids were allowed to open one gift. It has to be the gift they've gotten for each other. I love this tradition because it teaches them the gift of giving -- they get so excited to see the other open their gift -- and receiving -- they learn to say "thank you" and show their excitement for what they're getting (especially since they're only opening that one gift).

This year Madeleine spent a lot of time choosing just the right gift for Harrison. We must have put different things back at least 5 times because she kept changing her mind. She finally decided on a color change car and a new squishy shark. Harrison looooved them and ran to give her a huge hug just after opening them!

When I took Harrison to get Madeleine's gift he went right to the My Little Pony section. With some help he chose a pony that's hair can be changed/brushed. She loved her gift as well.

Next it was time to scatter our Magic Reindeer Food and get ready for Santa to come.

Then we read The Night Before Christmas -- I bought this book on Madeleine's first christmas and we've read it every Christmas Eve since. It's hard for me to believe that was 7 years ago and we've been reading if for 7 Christmases!

One last picture of our tree before Santa comes!

They picked out which cookies they wanted to leave him and decided on chocolate milk this year (Harrison insisted!).

Then it was off to bed! They had a hard time going to sleep even though we let them sleep in our bed so we wouldn't miss the big Santa reveal in the morning!

Here's what Santa left for them to share:

This is what he left for Madeleine:

And, what he left for Harrison:

While they got most of what was on their list they also learned that Santa can't always bring everything because he has to give to other boys & girls. I love that they explained this in detail (I believe the word "greedy" was mentioned even though we've never actually said that) to my Dad later in the week. They also got a lot of things they didn't ask for but loved. It's funny, but Madeleine has several gift that are packed away in her closet -- the wrapping taken off, but they're still in the box. She fell in love with her Leapster Explorer and new doll and that pretty much was all she really needed. :) I guess she'll have some new stuff one of these days when she decides she's ready to play with it. And, Harrison was more than happy with his Thomas Misty Island and was so surprised at his Dragon Castle, but it was the hit of the day!

One thing you won't see Christmas Eve is the picture of me and my very sick self! The stomach flu hit late late late Christmas Eve and I don't remember when I've ever been so sick! Matt was amazing and got all of Christmas put out and set up so all I had to do was make a few little adjustments. Then he stayed up with me until the worst was over before crawling into bed with the kids for the night. I was pretty disappointed to be so sick after so much planning and scheming, but we still had had a great day and I was so thankful that we didn't have any company coming for Christmas and we just had a lazy jammie day ahead!

New Years News

I'm a day behind on posting this, I know. I've never been big on New Years Resolutions. Maybe it's because most people don't keep them for very long. But, probably, it's because I'm one of those people that firmly believe in a fresh start every day. So, since I can make a fresh start each morning, why wait for a new year?

Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it. -- Anne of Green Gables

However, this year I've decided to make a New Years Resolution. It's something I've thought about alot. And, I'm putting it out there for all of my friends/family to keep me accountable. :) This year, I'm not going to over-committ myself. I'm going to say "NO" to more things and just slow down and take time to enjoy the simple moments. I'm going to stay home with my babies and not have days that are packed from beginning to end.

This fall has been crazy for us! I've been involved in a lot of things. And, while I can't uncommitt overnight to some things, I can limit the amount of time I'm willing to give them. Some of this comes from realizing the past couple of weeks, when we've been on vacation, just how stressed a lot of this has made me. Some of it comes from finally realizing that there will be a time when my kids are older & in school when I'll be able to do a lot more. Some of it comes from just being tired of not having the TIME I want to spend time reading & playing with my kids. (That is after all why I decided to be a stay-at-home mom). And some of it comes from looking ahead to this semester and knowing that Matt's schedule is going to be so very hectic that our family just can't handle BOTH of us being busy all the time.

(And, have I mentioned what Matt's doing? Well....he's working full time. Taking 9 -- NINE!-- hours of doctoral classes. Teaching our Bible class. Oh yes, and being a dad & hubby. That's just the big stuff -- not even considering he's co-department chair, etc.)

So that's it. It's not anything mind boggling or extremely unique. It's just me getting back to doing what I really love to do, what I feel called to do. Because, honestly, that's what being a stay-at-home mom is -- a calling. If you don't love it, you'll hate it! And, if you don't love it, it's not the right thing for you. (and yes, I realize it's not something everyone can do and I feel very blessed that I can) For me, I've know since I was a little girl that it what I would do someday and I've never felt more fulfilled and like I'm living God's purpose than when I'm whole-heartedly committed to being a wife and mother. So, lookout -- I'm bring back the old-fashioned, 1950s, stay at home mom...with a modern twist.