Christmas Blessings 2010

Hope all of you had a blessed Christmas! We certainly did. Life with two sweet little girls brings so many smiles and blessings! I think I appreciate being a mother more each day and am trying to savor each moment with my girls as they are passing by so very quickly. Anna is so grown up and wants to help me with everything (including being a little mother to Emma). Thankfully, most of the time, she is very loving and sweet to her little sister (although sharing her new toys from Christmas is not something she does easily). Emma is talking and learning new words each day--I guess Anna probably talked this much at 18 months as well but it's amazing what you forget! Emma is also our little cuddle bug. She loves to be held and cuddle which of course just melts our heart. I hope this never ends!

We went to our parent's houses the week before Christmas to celebrate with my mom, brother and grandparents; Jonathan's brother and parents; and then my Dad and Marty. We are blessed to have lots of family who love us and I'm so thankful that my girls are even getting to know their great grandparents. We came back home on Christmas Eve so we can have our own traditions with our girls and let them be in their own home on Christmas morning. Church on Christmas Eve was supposed to be one of these but we had a sick baby so we missed this year. The girls played with toys from Santa on Christmas morning, big breakfast, birthday celebration for Jesus, and then lots of playtime. My favorite part was going to look at lights Christmas night...it started snowing while we were driving around with the Christmas music playing and all the pretty lights outside. Great way to end a special day with our sweet little family! Here are just a few pictures from our Christmas.

 

Our biggest blessings this Christmas-Anna (4) Emma (18 months)

Happy Birthday Jesus! Anna decorated the cake; she was quite pleased :) it was purple, pink, turquoise and green with all of those colors of sprinkles. She picked 3 candles for Jesus :)

Christmas at mom's was a little crazy. We were supposed to celebrate with her on Thursday but Anna got strep so we post-poned to Christmas Eve morning (Fri). Emma woke up that morning with a head to toe rash and I had to take her to the doctor before we were able to head to mom's. We got there around lunch time and all of the kids were ready for a nap by then. We tried for pictures with everyone but that didn't go well! Here's one with she and my brother and I after the presents were open.

Christmas with Dad and Marty. Dad was decked out in his tacky sweater from a work contest. I should have posted another picture I have--he had lights all through the front of the sweater that lit up in the shape of a tree (battery operated of course). Very creative Dad; he won the contest at work.

The Norton family. We had fun posing for pictures on my mother in laws steps. Rachel arranged us for this picture and we used Ursula's camera with a timer to get everyone in. My neices are also growing up too fast as you can see. Rachel is 14 and Sarah is 12 (but both have birthdays coming soon). My girls loved playing with their cousins!

Family Photo Session 2010

Well I had more pictures to post than I thought! We had our family pictures taken about a month ago. We haven't had a family picture taken since Anna was one! She is now almost 4 and Emma is one. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next one :) I feel truly blessed to have a healthy family!

Off to school!

I didn't get any pictures of the girls on their first day back to school (they go to a mother's morning out on Tuesdays & Thursdays). Yesterday I managed to get a couple of pictures of them before they headed off for the day though. It was fall picture day at their school. Anna LOVES going and Emma is getting more adjusted after lots of tears for the first few weeks. I'm teaching three online classes this semester so I'm thankful for the time they are there so I can either work or run errands. Jonathan is busy with basketball workouts and conditioning; practice officially starts October 15th. We are getting more involved with our new church and are feeling more connected. God amazes me with each move we've made and what He teaches me through the churches we've been a part of. I also feel very blessed because there are about 4 new young couples with children who have also recently just moved to Columbus from other areas and who have joined the church. I know this is not a coincidence and am excited about how God is going to grow all of us as we serve Him together and hopefully grow closer to each other as well! Anna has her 4th birthday coming up next month so hopefully I'll have more pictures to post soon :)

A few summer projects

I really enjoy doing little projects but rarely find the time to do them. I managed to find time for a few this summer so I thought I'd post a few pics.

When we lived in Rome, GA Jonathan had an idea to hang an old window box we weren't using on our swingset and it looked really cute. The old one was red and I painted Anna's garden on it. It was falling apart so my father in law made a new one. Anna wanted it painted blue and of course I had to add sweet little Emma's name to this one. I liked the red color better but this blue matches the swings and the canopy on the fort and is Anna's favorite color. The letters are not perfect but I hate stenciling so I do my letters free hand :)

I found a board in the scrap pile at Lowe's for less than a dollar and painted it black and then hand painted this Bible verse from Joshua on it in a cream color. I used eye hooks and black wire to hang it above the chair you'll see below. It's hanging next to the door on our front porch.

I found this ladder back chair at Goodwill for $7. I cut the seat out and painted the chair black. I had a wire basket I wasn't using so I wired it in the seat part and planted some flowers. I'm disappointed that the begonias I planted on the sides of the sweet potatoe vine haven't spread out; next summer I'll use different flowers for a fuller look. I love the chair on the front porch though...it helped fill an empty spot near the front door.

Another sale--found this little bird house on sale at Michael's and thought it would look cute next to my chair. Wish I could take credit for painting it but not me :)

Here's the finished product. Again, fuller flowers (and ones that weren't wilting for the picture) would make this look much better but it works for now :)

I made this no sew window treatment for Anna's room (actually made two, one for both windows). I don't have a sewing machine (nor do I sew) so a hot glue gun came in handy for these. I got the idea from my friend Amy and an ad for JoAnn's fabrics. I had to leave the blinds down to take the picture because there was too much light otherwise but they look better when the blinds are up. I used a white ilet fabric because it's light and airy looking when the blinds are up. The ties are just made with blue/white polka dot ribbon. Pretty simple which is my style!

That's it for the projects so far!

Emma is ONE!!

My baby is a year old! It's amazing how fast life passes by but I've enjoyed every moment with this sweet little angel. It was hard to imagine that I could love another little girl like I love Anna but she has made it easy. Emma has the sweetest little personlality and is my cuddle bug. When I pick her up she always puts her little head on my shoulder like she's hugging me and pats me with a big smile on her face. I think that's her way of saying she loves me :) I'm looking forward to watching her grow into a beautiful little girl but I am sure going to miss this sweet baby stage!! Thank you God for blessing me with my sweet Emma!

I couldn't believe she left her hat on! I couldn't capture a smile because Emma seemed so shocked that everyone was staring at her and singing to her. She was so cute and such a good sport. She enjoyed the cake and later some ice cream too :)

Anna just LOVES her little sister; what a blessing to have two sweet little girls. I hope they'll be best friends!

My favorite people in the world!

My first birthday cakes. I wish I would have done this for Anna. It took longer than I expected b/c I cut the number one out and did two layers. Crumbs everywhere but nothing LOTS of frosting couldn't fix. I'm hoping to try to make Anna a birthday cake this year in September too; it was fun!

This one shows the colors better :)

Emma watching her big sister open her presents; she didn't mind. I couldn't hold Anna back. She was opening faster than Emma could look at them. Of course as you know a one year old doesn't really care about present opening anyway so I just let Anna take over!

My dad & Marty got Emma a really neat tricycle that converts 3 times so we can push and be strapped in now, later push without the harness and finally she'll be able to ride the tricylce on it's own when she older. She loved it (and I love the big, long handle so I don't have to bend over to push her)

Anna's friends Jessie & Kendall doing some crafts at the party.

My sweet nephew Tyler!

My mom with her grandkids.

Waiting for me to fill up the new water table. Lots of fun!

Tyler thought so too :)

Cousin's Wedding

We spent last weekend in Tallahassee, FL for my cousin Matt's wedding. The wedding was outside by a pool so needless to say it was HOT!! The girls were troupers and had a great time with extended family that we don't get to see often. Anna danced her little heart out. She cracked us up asking to dance even when noone else was on the dance floor and then even dancing right in the center of a group of adults and loving the attention. After the ceremony we stripped Emma down to her bloomers (you'll see in one of the pictures below) which made her much happier--and cooler. She was a sweet girl as usual and tolerated the heat and long evening much better than I expected.

My handsome cousin Matt; the groom.

His bride, Kristin.

Jonny & Anna

Kevin, Tyler & Abby

Uncle Jonny & Tyler

A sweaty pic of the 4 of us!

An attempt to get a picture of all of us--hate that you can't see Emma's face. She was more interested in the pool and probably wanted to jump in to cool off!

My cousin Brad's girls, Rachel & Rebecca, with Anna. Wish we lived closer to them; Anna had lots of fun following them around and playing!

Anna dancing in her daddy's arms.

Emma cooling off in her bloomers :)

Wish I had a video of Anna dancing. Here she is in action. She was soooo cute!

Me and the girls with my great grandma. What a blessing that my children have three living great grandparents!

My dad and the girls on the day after the wedding (they were looking into the sun).