Reveal

On one of the most beautiful evenings we've had this year tonight....

Family gathered,

and played,

(My sweetest niece, Addie)

(Kisses for Ellie's GREAT Papa)

and loved.

The table was spread,

the stories were told,

and finally,

the gender reveals were made.

I'll share just our own announcement for this evening...

See, my sister ordered chocolate cupcakes with her baby announcement color inside,

I ordered vanilla to share all around.

She took mine,

I took hers.

And what do I have to announce?

A healthy, healthy beautiful.......

baby BLUE!

A testosterone tie breaker in this very, very lucky home!

T is already practicing his fastball, his wrestling moves, his big brother smack downs.

Girl, you and me gonna have to stick together.

And just one last little thing,

See, my birthday is August 20th, my hubby's the 22nd...

Our due date?

Officially, confirmed projected as

August 21st.

Baby boy, now we just count down to your birthday sandwich.

Favorites

We made the day a day of just favorites, for our favoritest little birthday girl.

Strawberries, syrup and homemade waffles,

followed by a morning of baking with her momma,

interrupted by a few happy birthday song calls.

Jonah and the Whale is her favorite all-time story (“Don’t bite me!” She always squeals when we get to that page in her Storybook Bible) so we made sure to sneak in her new Veggie Tales movie,

And then an outing just the four of us, a first for all of us, actually.

And little El built her own little bear,

a new car-companion favorite, picked out her stuffing, pink romper

and bows,

a little overwhelmed by it all, actually.

Followed by a totally unhealthy favorite meal of burgers and fries.

But worth it.

Finished by a momma's favorite, a mini-photo sesh in way too much wind,

Oh sweet thing, you're growing so very fast.

Each day that goes by, you change, you blossom, you bloom, you shine.

I don't want to keep you small, your dreams must be so very big,

And our world, our life, needs you for all you were meant for.

You were meant for big things, good things, great things.

My little girl, you have such joy.

Just be you, little girl, always.

You're beautiful.

So then our favorite day was completed by our fav birthday cake, candles,

and our favorite birthday girl was happy.

Side notes:

For your own celebrations and decor, check out a fav friend's new business, The Lovely Apple. They're running a giveaway right now!

And in case you're in need of more fav websites to check out, "like" my photography page here and blog here.

Minutes

Sometimes,

just a few minutes at the park are all that's needed

to enjoy the day just that much more

to make life just that much brighter.

Bein' there with daddy is that much better.

And having a yummy meal to come home to makes the evening just about perfect.

At least in my book.

Love

On this day of love,

I'll share of few of my own.

A few days ago we spent the morning with some friends we love,

The older girls spent the majority of the play date curled up in the climbing tunnel.

Reading each other books,

Imaginations soarking,

Ellie soakin' up the chat from Avery,

And Tristan crushin' on Miss Riley.

And then Sunday I had a day of cooking with some favorite recipes,

Packing them away in the freezer for future tired evenings .

It was a feat, but I did it all in an hour,

Cooked all the burger at once, while the chicken baked and between stirrings, I shredded cheese, chopped onion and measured garlic.

Then ziplocked the mixes to defrost when I need them most.

And I thought you might love if I shared...

From the Queen of EVOO:

And my favorite woman of the pioneers:

And a fav friend's postnatal dish:

And finally, my own tweaked rendition of enchiladas:

As a side note, put any hubbies on hand on clean up duty if you attempt such a cooking endeavor as a I did.

It tends to mess the kitchen.

And leave you quite exhausted.

And finally, ended the day with dinner date with my jammied girl, hubs and Pandora playlist.

Happy Hearts Day.

Hope you found plenty to love today.

Busy

Well, January is almost over and I'm just now posting Christmas Part Two.

Our Christmas.

I'm still hoping to post from New Years before February...

But, we'll see...

I know I've said that we've been busy,

but,

can I say it again?

I mean,

I've got two People magazines sitting on my nightstand

completely unread.

That's how busy I've been.

But,

Christmas morning?

Not busy.

And it was lovely.

A whole day in jammers

started with pumpkin waffles, maple syrup and greasy bacon.

Followed by gifts and surprises and playing,

And gingerbread house makin'

Or actually, attempting, really.

Followed by a nap.

And a goodwill trip once we realized and got overwhelmed by just how much stuff we had.

Moral of the post?

Christmas 2011...

Success.

Eventually

Eventually we'll get caught up around here.

See, it's been a little nutty for us the past few weeks.

With travels and visiting family and a funeral and sickness and fevers,

we've made time for cuddling but not much more.

I've known I'd get around to posting about our Christmas eventually,

and so our red and green post part one is here.

It started with our last family pic of twenty-eleven,

And then the rest of Christmas Eve was spent with lots of cooks in the kitchen,

And Dad reading the Christmas story,

My sister on the piano,

With little El looking on,

trying her own little finger on the keys.

And Secret Santa gifts

With just one attempt for a family pic before we left for church,

Which included an emergency run to the grocery store for a much needed diaper and even more needed wipes.

Which is just pretty much our blessed life these days...

Diapers and wipes...

And that's really why I blog,

loving the messes and moments,

finding the miracles in the mundane,

knowing eventually, I'll look back and know

we are living the blessed days.