merry christmas

making cookies... making memories

from our home to yours!

halloween 2011--one to remember.

my dear eden was sick over the weekend... with RG (respiratory gunk.) we missed the much-anticipated neighborhood halloween party and had to miss her school festival celebrating "God's harvest"--but i would NOT let her miss ALL the festivities of the weekend! my heart just broke for her (even though she didn't even KNOW what she was missing!)

we did venture out to church for their "hallelujah night" monday night... i had an ulterior motive, though... our sunday school class hosted a chili cook-off!! i had my game face on!

ahem, when i say "game face" i mean that i looked like a zombie. 

e hasn't slept much since saturday. 

(i'm crying on the inside.)

any hoo! back on subject!

eden was a little unsure of ALL that was going on at church--lots of people and folks she wasn't terribly familiar with doing the "cute baby ambush"... but, she caught on pretty quick and got her 2nd wind.

she did GREAT! she played a few games and proudly flaunted her elmo basket 

(i love lee's enthusiastic hands in the side of this picture! :))

so, i know she's my kid and all... but she looked ridiculously cute. i wanted to eat her.

lee dressed up as andy dwyer from parks & rec

...if you watch the show, i think you'll agree with me...

he nailed it.

most of what he had was in his closet... but i hooked him up with a few finishing touches.

i ended up winning 3rd place of 14 or 15? chilis that entered... and the winner was a self-proclaimed cheater. so, what's that make me? 2nd! haha...i even have a trophy!

after eden's candy selections and a dose of steriods, we all had a really long night... 

poor e... 

she's feeling better, but still wanting to be held at night.

i do cherish those moments--as they are few & far between with her now, but goodness gracious...

it was sorta like the stubborn stand-off at high noon midnight...

once we determined she wasn't in pain, wasn't hungry, didn't have a dirty diaper, etc. etc. etc....

we just had to let her "cry it out"--it nearly killed me.

this lasted OVER AN HOUR.

and it only makes me feel tireder (yes, its a word--that's how tired i am.) when i find out that while i'm at work, she takes a THREE AND A HALF HOUR NAP today... 

thanks, eden. i would've loved to have taken part in the siesta. 

however, as i type this blog to you--our night tonite is ALREADY better than last night. seriously.

i'm thankful that His mercies are new every morning, and eden's mercies are new every evening.

weekend update

this will be a quick, choppy post because i'm enjoying life without the computer* (i don't want to get sucked back in)

*i'm still playing with facebook--its a terrible addiction--but i do it mostly from my phone. the computer is a time warp--and facebook is an addiction... its really not a great combination.

e's feeling MUCH better... still a teensy bit of rash left... i'm going to call monday if its not gone by then...

we're having a wonderful weekend with the weather as the metaphorical cherry on top! wow! chilly temps... e is RIDICULOUSLY cute in a down vest... no, really.

last night we had a chillaxin-with-a-capital-c night last night (after a long, productive, and relatively stressful week!)... i grilled out porkchops & had steamed veggies and parmesan bowtie pasta on the side... we played with e, gave her a bath....and after she went to bed, lee and i sat around and watched tv... y'all, its been a long time since we did that... just normal fantastic family stuff!

tonite, lee officiated his first wedding... it was PERFECT! i got a few pics of my maaaaaan doin' his thang.. i'll post later... e had a blast dancing at the reception (imagine that.) and on a side note--she caught a cricket! whaaaaa? she squatted down in the grass, and i looked away for 1 second and she had that cricket who'd been bouncing all over the place in the palm of her hand and was PETTING HIM!... he laid perfectly still until she held out her hand for him to "go bye bye"

...she's the cricket whisperer, i say!

tomorrow we're venturing out to the pumpkin farm after church/nap. not sure which farm yet... should be fun... stay tuned for some lovely fall pics of our sweet girl.

did i mention lee was OFF WORK... FRIDAY.... SATURDAY... AND SUNDAY!! wow. i'm lovin' it.

umm... ok. that's all i wanna say. bye.

first football game of 2011

i will add captions & descriptions later... 

but, i'm pretty sure you'll get the idea of whether or not eden had fun.

hurricane readiness--preschool style

first, you gotta hunker in the bunker.

drink plenty of milk

(but, that's just a good idea in general.)

make sure if when you track in water, you don't slip and fall

(those are supposed to be in the bottom of the tub, but my precious daughter stuck them to the floor)

and lawdymercy, don't let the humidity get the best of your hair...

put it in a PONYTAIL!

 and once the storm is over,
survey the damage

go outside and discover all the creatures the storm left behind

...like the not-so-itsy-bitsy spider praying mantis

and a froggie...RIBBIT!

enjoy the view

 and listen to daddy play music

 (and say "hey doggie" to all the doggies out for their evening stroll)

other steps not pictured:

-take a nap when the power goes out

-go visit granny becuase she has a generator and a feast

(ham, macaroni&cheese, butter beans, sweet potato casserole)

...yes, all of EDEN's favorites--but the rest of the family enjoyed them, too!

and THAT'S how you survive hurricane irene!

the family tree

in eden's class, her teacher came up with a super cute idea for when they get "homesick"

she's made a tree on the back of one of the doors in the room

and each family brings a photo of mama, daddy & child

when they get whiny or cry for mama/daddy, 

she takes them to the tree and shows them his/her family!

so, i thought i'd share with you our "family picture" that we took this morning...

....somehow it perfectly depicts "us"... haha

my water baby

while we were on vacation, lee got me a "d40x for dummies" book at barnes & noble... i've been wanting to do MORE with my camera... i already love it and know a few things about it, but its capable of so much more than what i use it for... so, after reading the first few chapters, i was able to try a few new things out when we went to the beach.

it was e's first time with her toes in the sand (and ocean)... she. loved. it. so, naturally, that made for a great photography subject. the sky was overcast which made for some great lighting! i took about 100 pictures, but these are my favorites... hope you enjoy them!

 this next picture was accidental... making the water crystal clear and e blurry... i love the way it turned out and am learning about how to do that "on purpose" :)

 miss independent...

 she loves to play "mama's gonna get you"... we do that alot.