Christmas

what a wonderful Christmas our family had. the weeks leading up to Christmas were spent making 7 dozen cookies to give to neighbors and friends. shopping trips to over crowded stores, dinners that you leave saying, "that was so good. no sweets tomorrow" (and then you say the same thing the next night), driving to the same house once a week to watch the light show coordinated to Christmas music, taking the kids to have their picture taken with santa, more shopping. and then Christmas Eve, oh Christmas Eve. the night i look forward to all year. we go to church at 5:30 and worship God with beautiful Christmas songs. praising Him for sending His son, Jesus. what a beautiful time it is to be still and remember the real 'reason for the season'. we then head over to my parents house and have homemade soup and sandwiches. then we go home and put on our Christmas pajamas and watch Home Alone, Elf, Christmas Vacation and Home Alone 2 in front of the fire until we fall asleep. Emma was 15 months old this year instead of 3 months which made opening gifts more fun this time around. my husband and i grew up with very different Christmas traditions and we are excited about coming together and creating our own and still incorporating some of our past traditions for our children. baking, looking at Christmas lights, picking out our tree, decorating, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, having the kids picture taken with Santa (one of my childhood traditions-my mom has 18 years of me sitting on Santa's lap), and many more we hope to start next year when Emma is even older. among all of these traditions, my hope and prayer for my children is that they will know and love Jesus, and know the true meaning of Christmas. next year Emma will be old enough to perform Christmas songs on stage at church. my heart melts just thinking about it.

pumpkin lovin'

this time last year, Emma was only 1 month and 4 days old! the costumes we bought last year didn't even come close to fitting that tiny little babe. this year, she was a pumpkin. and let me tell you, she was the cutest pumpkin i have ever seen!

2011

2010

on sunday, our church had a harvest festival. it was full of games, candy, food, bounce houses, baptisms, fun costumes and a hay ride. Forrest Cavale from Third Element Studios was kind enough to take pictures at a photo booth. 

our family photo :)

baby update! i am officially due on June 4. we will have a planned c section 7-10 days before that. which makes me 9 1/2 weeks :)

pumpkin patch

on Monday, my sister and i took Emma to the pumpkin patch. i had put it off in hopes of going when the weather cooled off. no such luck. it was hot, really hot. we didn't stay long. just long enough to take a few photos and get a few pumpkins.

she's annoyed at the creeper trying to sneak into her photo

trying to figure out the hay

loving her wagon ride

cutest turkey I've ever seen

she didn't last long in here. first of all, she tried eating the corn. second of all, some  bratty kids were throwing the corn at each other. the mama bear in me picked emma up (very dramatically) and told those kids a thing or two. in a nice way, promise.

round 2

if you can read my blog then you can read what that test in the picture says. that's actually the very reason we ended up buying this pregnancy test. we took 2 earlier that day and both were a little iffy (and we were having a hard time believing that baby #2 happened a lot faster than we thought it would). we decided to get a test that didn't have an in-between. so this is test #3. pregnant. and we couldn't be more ecstatic! to be a mama all over, to be pregnant again (yes, i'm one of the weirdos that enjoyed being pregnant), to see emma be a big sister...i can hardly stand it!

big sister

practicing rocking baby to sleep

welcome fall. welcome baby.

fall has finally arrived. bring on the pumpkin flavored anything, sweaters and boots, cuddling under blankets, and all those other fun fall activities.

my fall wreath

as Emma turned one year old, i began thinking about the past year and how much our lives have changed. it has gone by so fast that i feel we couldn't and still can't get ahead. as i sit and simply watch her play in her room, i am filled with an overwhelming amount of joy. not happiness, but pure joy. the pure joy of knowing that there is a God that loves me for me despite of all the terrible things i have done and said. that loves Emma way more than i do and created her so, so perfect. a joy that despite how crappy of a day i had still exists. and nothing can take that joy away, nothing.

from this {hours old}

to this {one year and and 4 days old}

in addition to welcoming fall, our family welcomed my new nephew into the world on September 26! Daniel Adam. 9lbs 2oz 19in of pure sweetness.

welcome to the world sweet boy!

f i r s t birthday

 we celebrated Emma's first birthday yesterday. it was a perfect day. Emma woke up, ate breakfast and played a little. then Tim, his brother Rob and his wife Amber,  Emma and I went to Valhalla for breakfast. once we got home, Emma went down for her nap while i finished up the final party details. she woke up just as her quests were arriving. she was the perfect party girl. she walked around and smiled and interacted with everyone. i am so proud of our little girl. she loves her family and friends. she is sweet, kind and generous. i was in awe watching her make the rounds at her party greeting all of her guests with a big grin and contagious giggle. she is so independent. she is always on the go. exploring and discovering something she hasn't seen before. but the second she bumps her toe or needs a cuddle when she's tired, she runs to my arms. it has been an exciting year and i dream every night about what the years ahead might hold. i found my inspiration for her party decorations on pinterest, naturally.      

cupcake garland. cupcake liners from Shop Sweet Lulu.

                                              

tissue puffs and fans. also from Shop Sweet Lulu.

number one made by Tim out of cardboard, spray painted by me. tissue puffs made by me. tutorial from Martha Stewart.

ice cream dishes from the dollar store. tablecloth made by me. highchair found at an antique store.

tissue puffs made by me.

letters from Michaels craft store. spray painted by me. white patio furniture belonged to my great-grandma.

God has truly blessed us with a special girl. you were wonderfully made by God. Psalm 139.

bittersweet

the sweet part: Tim got hired with Kern County Fire Department. which is great because it's full time! he is no longer a seasonal fire firefighter. his training academy will start next Monday.
the bitter part: he will be traveling an hour away, every day, for 8-12 hours, 5 days a week for 22 weeks!! to celebrate the new job and prepare ourselves for a crazy busy season we decided to head to the beach for a couple days. i left dirty laundry, a sink full of dishes, a messy house, a destroyed front yard (we are putting in a patio) and just left. it was so fun we didn't want to come back. now that we are back i have a lot of catching up to do. laundry is almost done, house is somewhat clean (i have an almost 1 year old-it's never totally clean), and i am almost ready to celebrate that almost 1 year old little girl! we stayed in San Luis Obispo and shopped and ate one day. and we went to Avila the next day and had a picnic on the beach.
                              

what has been happening...

we celebrated Emma at 10 months old.

she is full of life, energy and a spirit for exploring. it is challenging to get her to sit still long enough to take a photo. there is always something more exciting she needs to get to. she started walking. after those first steps it didn't take long for her to realize that walking was going to get her where she wanted to go a lot faster than crawling. not to mention there is a whole new world up off the floor. it's a whole new world for both of us. i hear some moms say that they had a favorite stage, like crawling or when they weren't mobile. but i have to say, i have truly loved every stage. as we entered this new stage i got those feelings of excitement all over again thinking of how her personality will shine through differently than the time before.

we celebrated Emma at 11 months old.



she has this walking thing down. when she falls, she stands right back up. she absolutely loves being chased and makes us laugh at how quick those little legs can move. she is attempting to climb now. she knows how to climb upstairs but not down. she has climbed into one of her toys and managed to climb back out. everyday she amazes me. i am so excited to celebrate her first year of life. she brings us so much joy. we are so grateful God has chosen us to be her parents.

"For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done."
Psalm 92:4

i'm back

i took some time off from the blogging/pinterest/facebook world for a while. life has been happening all too fast lately and i felt the need to just be. it was time well spent, although it didn't seem to go by any slower. Emma will one in one week. ONE! my tiny, little baby is growing up. decorations are almost made, the house isn't clean at all, i haven't started on the menu and about 99% of the guests are coming. i hope this first birthday is everything she ever dreamed of.

this and that Thursday

i love pinterest. here are some of my favorites this week.

get this free printable from the handmade home

get that dress on clearance from JCrew

get this dress tutorial from Smashed Peas and Carrots

making stepping stones with baby footprints. got that idea from Make Baby Stuff