so long 2013!!!

2013 was far better than 2012.

it was full of ups and unfortunately a few downers.

we will miss jasper in 2014 and ache for our baby that never made it passed it's third month in March when we would have been welcoming a wee little baby into our family.

we know that the Lord loves us and is with us.

we are so grateful for our blessings.

Much love and peace in 2014.

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 sneaking a taste of momma's drink on new year's eve.

plaing with his toys before his bath messy face baby.

Christmas Day 2013

 g's loot.

 e's loot.

 vintage fox and skunk were my handmade present for the littles this year.

 i embroidered their names on the fron and a note to each of them on the back.

 lemonade and cookies for g.

 she also got this kit to make her own bippity boppity (wand) and decorate her own little vanity.

 e found a seal with a ball on his nose in his stocking.

he was still uber tired.

can you tell?

 wow the seal does amazing tricks.

 if you were to ask her she would tell you she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

except for Christmas Eve.

when asked she replied, "a princess."

 a lol elmo for the boy.

 this little man is a HUGE fan of basketball!

luckily santa knew that.

 checking out his new toy.

 mom make my horse work!

 mr. e's favorite toy horse.

ridin' ridin' ridin' get a long little cowboy!

 SCRUBS!!!

my brothers and i at grandma holman's for Christmas dinner and a white elephant gift exchange.

this was the best Christmas we have had in such a long time.

Total perfection.

I am so grateful for my family and for my Savior Jesus Christ.

Happy Birthday.

Gingerbread House on Christmas Eve

 we have a tradition to make a gingerbread house on Christmas eve.

 g is always so excited for this tradition of ours. 

and did you notice our matching Christmas aprons?

 so much attitude from such a small lady.

 we tried to get a picture of us both making the face, but me making the silly face made her laugh.

 lending a helping hand to daddy.

 so e may have broken a few parts of the house, which lead to some tricky construction.

 then it fell down.

 and the kids dug right in.

but then g really wanted it to look nice and be put back together, it was daddy to the rescue.

earlier in the day dad worked and the littles and i made waffle cookies.

we followed up the gingerbread houses with the funnest Christmas Eve party at my mom's.

we partied until midnight and exchanged pajamas. 

then we headed home and two sleepy littles were sound asleep.

it was a wonderful day.

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attitude while making gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve.

E rocking out to the music from the hat he is wearing.

Last Christmas

 i noticed i never really did a Christmas post last year so i thought i would do a tiny recap.

i made many of these snowglobes above made from old ornaments my grandma holman no longer wanted.

they made awesome presents and we keep some in our home as well.

 This isn't the best picture, but this is the hubby's and my ornament for 2012.

 this is mr. e's first Christmas ornament!!!

 G picked out a beautiful swan with a crown for her ornament.

i love it.

 we hung our stockings below toby who his dressed to the nines.

 i had an adorable chunk of a five and a half month old baby at Christmas!

where does the time go?!

seriously.

look at that cute chubby face!

can i just kiss him already!

 the hubby was layed off, but we still had so much fun with the littles.

my future interior decorator. 

she is decorating the aisle at target.

which is her favorite store.

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exploring my new camera bag.

he really enjoyed his rolo.

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love her style. and he loves playing with this kitchen.

our diy Christmas ornaments

Lodged By Robert Frost

The rain to the wind said,
‘You push and I’ll pelt.’
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged–though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.

this post is about fish and stuff

meet goldie hawn and poker face.

so long story made short because it is too exhausting to tell all the details.

we were moving to alabama.

to trussville, twenty minutes outside of birmingham.

now we are not.

i packed up most of the non essentials and husband placed them in the garage.

now i need to unpack them.

it's crazy around here i tell ya!

oh well, right?!

truth is i am happy to stay put.

if the benefits would have been much much better we would have gone and that would have been good too.

what does this have to do with fish you may ask yourself.

well g and me decided that we would get fish after we moved and place them in a huge mason jar and tie ribbon around the top.

well since we decided to stay we went out and got the darling gold fish you see above.

the kids each named them and g picked out the seashells and pink rocks.

i found the darling goldfish statue,

 and with some fabric around the top we are easily entertained by these fishy friends of ours.

ornament tradition 2013

every year since we first got married Husband and I have bought an ornament to symbolize each year together. and since having G and E we have started the same tradition for them. 

here are our ornaments for this year:

 Husband and i chose a vintage looking santa.

 g after a couple of weeks of careful consideration decided on this barbie ornament.

mr. e got this darling santa playing basketball.

happy holidays!