Merry Christmas

Making Christmas Cards

I'm a huge fan of Christmas cards!! There is just something so very special about receiving and sending Christmas photos and cards every year! It connects you with the ones you love even though you potentially live hundreds of miles away!

Today, the girls made Christmas cards with Princess stickers and thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm excited to pass down this tradition to them!












Afterwards, we bundled up and headed to Target to get more Christmas wrapping supplies, then came home to finally wrap our gifts and place them under the tree! Abigail was such a big helper as she watched me wrap this year!

Winter Wonderland

 As the month of December approached, we quickly realized that this first weekend was going to be the busiest and craziest! Haha... So many Christmas parties and activities were planned over the period of a few days. We were preparing and getting ready...

...then it snowed! Beautiful, wintery days unfolded before us and the Lord graciously used the snow to help clear off part of our busyness and allow us to be home more as a family. We still enjoyed some of our fun activities, but the serenity and beauty of the snow helped us to take a deep breath and enjoy the simplicity of our weekend. We think we got about 6 inches of snow which is absolutely gorgeous! Here is the view from our window, the first night it snowed:

 Yesterday, we scooped up fresh, clean snow and made snow "ice cream" which turned out very yummy and the girls loved it!

 Saturday evening, Southern hosted "A Southern Christmas" party that was so much fun for everyone! They provided many yummy snacks, Christmas crafts, and popcorn and hot chocolate while watching The Grinch.

 The girls made Christmas tree ornaments, candy cane ornaments, and decorated Christmas cookies.

 Daddy and the girls watching The Grinch and enjoying their popcorn and hot chocolate.

 Kaitlin being a goober as she eats her yummy popcorn.

 Mommy and Kaitlin!

This morning when we awoke and got ready for church, we looked outside and saw the snow coming down and realized that the roads did not appear safe for travel. Thus we settled in for a family morning at home. The girls loved snuggling with Daddy and watching a fun movie! 

Abigail's 3rd Birthday Party

It's pretty crazy to think that our little girl is turning 3 years old this month! WOW! Abigail Grace is becoming such a big girl. She loves all things sparkly, princesses (especially Cinderella, who is her favorite!), shoes, Lalaloopsy dolls, stickers, and baby dolls - dressing them, feeding them, changing them,etc... She is a wonderful big sister! So helpful and caring.

We invited a few of her little friends to Chickfila today to celebrate her birthday with cupcakes and playing. They had a great time and we packed out the play place! Here are a few a lot of fun pictures from our morning:

 The birthday girl enjoying her pink sparkly cupcake.

 Dear friends who came to celebrate with her.

 Lots of little girls! :-)

 Mrs. Ainsley, Bennett and Briley

 Emma

 Allison

 Titus

 Abby

 Finn

Anna Kate

 Opening Presents...

 Lalaloopsy Dolls

 She got lots of fun dress up jewelry!

 She got a cute Minnie Mouse Cup and Cinderella Coloring Pad. So fun!

  Princess Stuff!

 Play earrings

 She was pretty ecstatic about her Princess Shoes!

 Sweet birthday hugs with Anna Kate!

Of course, Kaitlin had to get in on these sweet hugs! 

Just a Little Update!

This morning we were excitedly expecting some dear friends over for a play date so I had made muffins to share. Right before they arrived Abigail came to the kitchen asking for one. I told her that her friend was about to arrive and she replied: "Aww... I love her Mommy. Her my best friend!" My heart melted as I heard those sweet words come from her mouth! This was her first time to say on her own that someone was her best friend!



Our current season of parenting a two, almost three year old, and a fifteen month old is full of so many fun moments, new memories, crazy emotions, and frequent opportunities to trust God and lean on His grace!



Our girls are growing up so much! Abigail will talk till you're blue in the face when she gets on a roll and literally this week Kaitlin has suddenly decided to start talking! She's been saying "dada" and "mama" and "dish" (this?). However TODAY she said "ba" for ball for the first time ever! The last day or two she has been trying to say please too! It sounds more like "peese"! Haha... I am SO excited to hear her little voice as she starts articulating more! She has started babbling a ton at fifteen months too. I guess this is her gearing up to be our second little chatter box!


Abigail has such a caring and sweet heart for her sister and friends! Even though some days I feel like my girls have constant cat-fights, the love I see them pour out on each other is just precious! Abigail loves being our helper and can really do so much on her own! Plus... She is such a "Potty Princess" as she calls herself (thanks to a potty training moving she saw about potty princesses!)!! It seems to finally be clicking with her to pee in the potty. I still usually have to prompt her (although several times she has told me when she needs to go) but she has many days now that we have no pee accidents! We're still working on the other part. Haha...


Abigail is also so girly! She loves shoes, purses, fun clothes, sparkles ("sparklies" as she calls them), playing tea party, making pretend coffee, helping me make dinner, etc...

Some of her cute sayings right now:

"I want.... it's my favorite!"
"Actually... No." Or "Actually... Yes." Or "Actually... Sure."

When praying: "Dear Jesus, Mommy's a girl, Daddy's a boy, Sissy's just a baby and A-gurl (Abigail) is a Potty Princess. Jesus loves me. Amen" 😃

Abigail is one of the most genuine and loving little girls ever. While she shys away from new people and is most animated when she's around her closest friends and family, she still loves to be around other kids and join them in playing. Recently, we babysat a sweet little three month old girl and Abigail just loved it! She brought her toys, talked to her, told me about her nose, mouth, and eyes, and gave such sweet little smiles as she watched me feed the baby her bottle. I could quickly tell that whenever we Lord-willing, have another baby, she will be a marvelous little mommy to it!


Kaitlin is our little one who is FULL of life! This little missy loves people, loves exploring, loves being outside, loves snuggling and giggling, loves climbing, and loves being "just as big" as her older sister!



She does not miss a beat in life! When she falls she rarely cries much, she loves doing her own little thing and being in her own little world, and she is so chilled! (Until she gets upset, and then people, move out of the way! Haha! This kid has some lungs!😉)


So many times I have found Kaitlin hanging out by herself in Abigail's room. She takes her snack and just goes and sits all by herself at their little table and chairs. Haha... At first it surprised me but now I have come to realize that if I don't see her there's a good chance she's just hanging out in her sister's room. She loves it too! She's so happy just doing her own little thing! I love it!


I love watching her little personality unfold as she gets older. She loves to watch Abigail and try to do things like her. She wants to help push the stroller too, or ride on the bike, or eat the whole apple, or play up in Abigail's big girl bed.



Kaitlin is also pretty fearless! She chases the vacuum, goes straight to the edge of steps (and gives that mischievous grin, knowing she's not supposed to be there), carries around a 5lb. ball, carries a play chair from the back of our home in A's room out into the living room, etc... She just goes with the flow of life and embraces whatever her little heart wants to do.



This also has recently included taking things from Abigail and running full speed away from her. Oh, the fun days ahead of training our sweet but "stinkerish" little second born that she cannot have everything she wants. 😀

Parenting our little girls is truly such a blessing and the absolute best job in the world!! I wouldn't trade it for anything! Even though the days can be long and ever so tiresome, they are blessed days, filled with many reminders of my desperate need for God's grace in my life as I seek to point our daughters to Christ. I am so thankful to have a godly husband who could not be a more wonderful father and example to our littles!

I sure love life with our sweet little girls!