Daddy's birthday

We celebrated Daddy-o's birthday yesterday. Since numbers beyond 20 are totally beyond our 3-year-old, Daddy was 32, 42, and 52 at different points in the day. I'll leave you to guess his real age!

This year I had some awesome help in making Daddy's annual three-layer carrot cake!

See? Great helper!

Our masterpiece

We went to Cheddars for dinner to celebrate. Caroline emptied the entire container of sweeteners, showing a definite preference for the Sweet n Low. (Yep, the pink one.) She handed them to Daddy one at a time while Daddy got a happy birthday phone call. I think it was his present.

So maybe it's a little gross that her mouth is full of food. Is it okay that I still found it a little cute?

Our family of four

Daddy getting sung to and blowing out his candles!
(We went with five candles - extra points to anyone who can figure out why we chose five!)

Happy birthday to my sweetie! More handsome and adorable every year. Okay, I'll stop now, for the sake of the general public with a distaste for mushiness. <3 p="">

January 2014

January 2014. It's been cold. Arctic plunge. Polar vortex. Ice-pocolyse. If nothing else, we've had some seriously dramatic language. Let it be known that I did indeed grow up north of the Mason-Dixon line. And I have frozen my heinie off this month here in Dixie.

We have been plenty busy around here, in spite of the cold. Some of our favorite winter activities have included play dough, making and playing with cloud dough,waiting for the hvac repairman (we spent a week doing just that!), warming up in front of the space heater, climbing into boxes, playing dress up, and being silly! Thankfully, the girls have taken being stuck inside in stride. We tried the bubble experiment, but even with single digit temps, we couldn't get them to freeze! Bummer! Catherine has been fascinated, though, by setting out small dishes of water and finding that they are ice a few hours later!

Catherine tucked Flash in and they cuddled up together. It's good that he does such sweet and endearing things sometimes. Because all the rest of the time, he is STEALING FOOD. And that tries my patience...

One of the biggest milestones we hit this month was Caroline's first set of pigtails.

Matching little girl heads!

The result of too much time inside and a mom who takes too many pictures. Notice the cute ballerina shirts, though! They were a special present from our babysitter, Miss Kelly!

The snow that dumped in Birmingham left us with just a dusting. But when you don't get much, you'll play in the smallest amount!

Catherine was complaining that her hands were cold. We don't have the equipment for this down here!

Why are kids so cute in their winter gear??

Taking a trip to South America in their cardboard box (We have Paddington to thank for the obsession with Peru.)

Here they were pretending to be "wittle babies" in their cribs. Haha, so much pretending, so little time!

I have also been taking an online photography class. Here are two images that I have taken since beginning my class. I'm enjoying learning and I hope I'm getting better. I have learned a few things about out camera. I'm experimenting right now with different kinds of lighting. Up until now, I have stuck to more standard, cloudy day/golden hours diffused lighting. Shadows intimidate me, but they can be fun! :)

Love these two little girls so much! 

New Year's Resolutions

A new year always brings plenty of resolve, doesn't it? Something about the new year makes you feel like you can change anything, do anything, if you just put your mind to it.

Well, I have long thought the feeling of empowerment was the result of the end of the holidays. Change just seem, well, possible, when the Christmas clutter heads back into the attic, the holiday spending spree screeches to a halt, and meals return to their normal portion sizes. You think to yourself, without all that holiday craziness, I'll have more time! I'll get rest! I'll relax! I'll organize! I'll be healthier! (The list goes on.)

Anyone with small children, and perhaps anyone at all, knows that after a very short while, that feeling evaporates.

I could list my goals for 2014. The list would fill a page or a book! Eat healthy, get up early, get regular exercise, eat less processed foods, give up diet soda, organize my house, keep my bathrooms clean, clean out the thousands of photos on our hard drive, teach Flash not to eat food off the counter, teach Catherine to pull her panties out of her jeans before putting them in the hamper, develop a heart of gratitude, spend more time in God's Word, keep up with the laundry, eat more vegetables, get my kids to eat more vegetables, ... , you get the idea.

That's the thing. I couldn't pick just one resolution. And there was no chance that I would be successful if I tried to do more than one. So I will keep truckin' in all these areas, trying to do better, but probably not doing anything too drastic.

And then I discovered it. My one resolution. It's to be present.

Here. I'm not too good at that. My husband is talking to me and I'm thinking about dinner plans or what we need at the store. My children are twirling around their rooms in leotards and tutus and I'm checking facebook on my phone. My family deserves my attention.

My resolution to be here also speaks to my tendency to schedule our lives. As any stay-at-home mom can tell you, days go by so much faster and often more smoothly when you have a planned outing or activity. And we will certainly enjoy lots of play dates, visits to the library, trips to the park, and picnics with friends this spring. But there were weeks last summer and fall when we had something planned every single day. Catherine wakes up in the morning and asks "Where are we going today?" and I know that her heart is like mine, it likes to be on the go! This spring, we will be focusing on being content at home and I will focus on being with my kids. Reading them stories until they tire of it. Teaching them things they want to learn and need to learn. Teaching them how to take care of our home. (And perhaps I will actually get better at taking care of our home too!) And just loving on them at home while I still have full days to do that! It goes by too fast, for sure!

Christmas with family and friends

 A few pictures right before the Christmas Eve service

 We had our friends the Tkaches over for a soup supper after the service. Thanks to late supper and no nap, we all got to enjoy a small meltdown from Catherine. But their boys were super sweet and it was SO much fun to celebrate the holiday with family and friends. Oh and my dad thinks Andrew is his new best friend!

And a few shots from our Christmas morning (which lasted all day!)

Catherine clutching her new baby Cinderella doll

Caroline hasn't put down Minnie since this picture was taken!

Fun snuggly hooded blankets from Nana and Paw Paw

And a flashlight from Uncle Josh

Russell soooo surprised by his new hat for running (Catherine told him what it was at least four times - if you want to keep a gift a secret, don't tell your three year old!)

Our friend Jason joined us for Christmas dinner. Here, you see him enjoying the ladybug blanket and some whipped cream. Yes, he is just as charming as this picture would lead you to believe.

Then things got really crazy.

It was a wonderful Christmas, full of worship, love, and fun. Happy birthday, Jesus!

Christmas card photo shoot

Some of you might have received a Christmas card from us in the mail. I have mixed feelings about this tradition. In this age of blogging and Facebook and email and telepathic communication, Christmas cards seem to lack that "Wow, look how much they've grown!" feeling I remember getting cards from long-distance friends year after year during childhood. Also, I tend to get wrapped up in making them look just right and can lose sight of the point of wishing a happy Christmas to family and friends. And it just seems a little wasteful to spend money on something that will be tossed in the trash next month. Sorry to be such a downer. But I also LOVE receiving cards in the mail, going through them with our kids and quizzing them about who everyone is. So maybe we'll keep doing it. Or maybe we'll go to an online card.  I have to admit that I had fun taking these pictures! And they will make great Christmas decorations in the years to come. Am I the only one who feels this way about Christmas cards?

Playing with some of the Lightroom Presets I got for Christmas

Yes, folks. Here it is! Our first-ever photo with both girls looking at the camera and smiling!

More Lightroom shenanigans