The BIG Weekend!

Like I said before, I am lucky to have great sisters!  Thanks Nicole!  These are some of the pictures that we took for T's baptism announcement.  It was SO cold!  She was such a trooper while we tossed her parka on between pictures and then ripped it off and told her to "smile."

  

I was so proud of my beautiful eight year old when she chose to be baptized!  She was so excited and so prepared!  I love this girl so much!  She wore the same dress as her mama was baptized in.

We were so blessed to have so much family and so much love surrounding us for this VERY BIG weekend!  Saturday, February 18 we had a beautiful baptism.  Tori's Aunt Susie and Aunt Manda spoke, the cousins sang a song that Tori and her piano teacher played together on the piano.  It was so wonderful!  

 The Family

 Grandma and Tori

 Tori with Uncle Jon, Aunt Kelsi, and cousins Graham and Colin

 T with Uncle Sam, Grampy, Grammy, and Aunt Sue Sue

 T and her Aunt Nini, Uncle Chris, and cousins Jake, Brayden, Logan, and Gavin

 Tor with Uncle Ty, Aunt Ang, and cousins Hunter, Lily, and Sophie

 Big T with Aunt Manda, Uncle Collin, and cousins Marlee, Makenna, and Liam

Tori with Papa and Nana

Sunday, February 19 we had a baby blessing with my sweet little prince.  We didn't get all the pictures I wanted because there was too much chaos.  Chaos is caused when you are surrounded by so many people that love and care about you that you just don't have time to grab a camera.

 The man of the hour!

 The happy family

 Mom and the Prince

 Zac and Susie

 Grammy, Grampy, and Zac

Nana, Papa, and Zac

Sunday was also Owen's birthday, so we had a big family dinner with both sides of the family after church.  We celebrated Tori's birthday, Owen's birthday, a baptism and a blessing!  It was a huge weekend and we are so thankful for all the help, love, and support we had through it all!

My wonderful mother in law insisted that I buy a cake instead of making one this year.  I was disappointed, but went with it.  Owen wasn't disappointed, and of course, in the end, she was right!  Thank heavens I listened and didn't try to do one more thing that weekend!

WE LOVE YOU ALL AND ARE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU SHOW TO OUR LITTLE FAMILY!

 

Family Pictures

I'm so thankful that I have wonderful sisters that are willing to use their talents and equipment for my benefit.  Thanks Mandi!  Here are a few of my favorites.

T's Tea

For Tori's eighth birthday we wanted it to be special.  She wanted to have a formal tea party.  I called around to some of the local tea shops and found "Nana's Teas."  Just a little plug for them, this was AWESOME!  About two weeks before the party Tori as allowed to bring one friend (and her mom) to a "tea tasting" to decide on the party menu, theme, and colors.  Tori and Lily were so cute and so excited! We tasted several teas and sandwiches, sat down with Nana herself and decided on a "fashion fairy" theme with the colors pink and purple.  The menu consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, brownies, cookies, cake, fruit tarts and a couple of kinds of teas.  

 If we thought the tasting was fun...the party was even better!  On the day of the actual party, the "fairy princesses" were treated to decorations, party favors, a formal tea (herbal of course), face painting, and cookie decorating!

The best part was that Mommy and Daddy didn't have to do any cleaning, preparing, planning, or anything!  YAY!  We just made her cake the night before and left the rest to Nana!  This was an experience she won't soon forget, and the excitement and happiness will make it an experience mama won't forget either!  Happy EIGHTH birthday T!

Maternity Leave

I will do my best to catch up, but heaven knows it won't stay caught up.

After Isaac came, I took a little break from preschool. In that time I should have been journaling, blogging, and taking care of the million things that a "good mom" does. Unfortunately, that's not what I did. Instead I did crafts...lots of crafts. Here are a few of the things that were made:

The kids' ornaments for 2011

Baby blanket for my boy

bro/sis shirts

mobile for the baby's room

There were several other things that I haven't taken pictures of, but you can see how pinterest has destroyed my mothering...

CHRISTMAS!!

What a great was to spend Christmas! We had our brand new little angel (who was kind enough to show up significantly before his Christmas Eve due date) and both sides of the family here! We missed those that weren't here, but we felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many loved ones!

First of all, how cute is my little "Christmas Miracle?"

Christmas Eve was wonderful, as always.  We went to a Christmas Eve devotional with the Whitmill side of the family and Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Susie, and Uncle Sam.  Then we went to Nana and Papa's house for dinner.  We headed home pretty early since our little guy was only two and a half weeks old.

 Santa made a stop at our house and the kids were pretty excited to see what he left!  I love to magic of Santa!  I also quite enjoy the bed head!

 Even my sweet little prince joined us...in his dreams!  He slept right through all the action.  He really is a good little sleeper!

 After we discovered all that Santa left for us we enjoyed our traditional Christmas breakfast of scones and went to church.  The kids were jumping out of their skin waiting to get to the presents under the tree.

 Grammy and Grampy helped us celebrate Christmas in other ways too.  The kids helped Grammy make a bunch of pillow cases for sick children:

We also "pixied" some families (which apparently means you leave little treats on their doorstep), and created instruments to use while we went caroling.

Many wonderful memories were created...I think...ask somebody else...I had a two week old baby.  I can't really remember much.  That's why I take pictures.