in the land of woulda, coulda, shoulda

gangsters in a christmas paradise,

it should have been our christmas card.

merry christmas from our family to yours!

*thank you to our squadron christmas party for providing the props for this spectacular picture!

christmas tour 2012

this is hands down my favorite time of year.
and honestly, the decorations play a bigger role than i would like to admit.
i can't get enough white lights and red accents.
don't even get me started about sitting on the couch, with a lit tree, a cup of mocha hot chocolate with french vanilla creamer, and a warm fire.
it's the best.

 here's a little tour of our house at christmas.

my favorite spot in the house...

past christmas cards and the infamous stick reindeer...

my creepy nutcracker carolers

 beautiful outdoor decorations curtsey of fly boy

our first ornament together...from the DAFB 3rd squadron christmas party

a plane for fly boy

stockings, complete with our elf on the shelf 

(that charley is too young to care about, but fly boy and i enjoy hiding placing around the house)

fly boy really appreciates charley's help wrapping presents...

(notice the intricately wrapped stuffed animal, a hot pink manatee,  fly boy is working on)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

oh holy night

fall on your knees

oh hear the angels' voices

oh night divine

oh night, when Christ was born

oh night, divine

oh holy night 

oh night divine.

i turned on my computer and immediately opened itunes to put on my favorite christmas mix.  "what a nice way to finish up my final paper: sitting in a cushy office chair, sipping my starbucks (extra cream) with point of grace quietly playing," i thought.  it's my favorite version of oh holy night.  i love the sweet voices, the harmonies, the soft harp in the background...i usually keep the song on repeat for a good 10-15 minutes before moving on to another song.  as the song changes keys in the last third of the song, this verse caught my ear.  

fall on your knees.  

as so many americans did this weekend, i could only imagine those parents in connecticut, falling to their knees, tears streaming down their cheeks as the horrific event unfolded, changing dozens of families forever.

oh hear the angels' voices.

i imagined hundreds of angles, surrounding these families as they learned of their young, sweet children.  

oh night divine.

friday night seemed to be so far from divine, yet, this is why Christ came.  he came to rescue us from sin.  from something so unimaginable.  he came to love the suffering.  to heal the broken.  these are the families he came to rescue.

it seems like every reporter requested that we keep these families in our prayers, but there is an urgency to pray for these families that cannot be reported on national television.  to pray that Christ would comfort the parents who now have an empty bed in their house, christmas presents wrapped that will never be opened, and sorrow in their hearts that can only be healed by their Creator.  

as we quickly approach Christmas, let us not forget.  let us not become consumed with the hallmark christmas, but remember, this is the day our Lord was born.  born to die.  born to conquer sin once and for all.  as Christ called us to love God, he called us to love our neighbors.  so tonight, and the next ten days go on, my prayers go to the families in connecticut.

charlotte 9 months

due to the stresses of being a SAHM (stay at home mom) i have come to accept the fact that this blog may only be once a month kind of thing.  i mean, my time is consumed by laundry, cleaning up runny noses (mainly charley's, sometimes lucy's), vacuming, sometimes making dinner, and sometimes folding/putting away laundry.  that leaves little time left to come up with witty posts.  my brother even helped me with this one.

i joke.

but really, maybe i should rename the blog to "monthly pictures of my child."

so here we are, 9 months.  only 3 months of birthday party planning to go.  i have done nothing.  i just keep thinking, "i should start planning charley's birthday party."  and that's as far as i get.  at least i have 90 days to plan.

a lot has happened in the last month!

-charley goes from lying down to sitting up with ease now.
-she is crawling! (started just a few days after her 8 month post, and gets around like a champ now)
-she talks...a lot...and has added a few syllables to her repertoire, including ga, ba, ma, ma-ma (though not directed to me) da, and ya.
-charley continues to assert her independence and temper when she doesn't get what she wants.  i think we have a screamer on our hands.
-she loves to flirt with people in public.  it's a little ridiculous.
-charley waves hello and goodbye to anyone who waves at her.  like i said, she flirts.  somehow she picks out the best looking guy in any given crowd and will wave, smile and giggle at him until he notices her.  if this is any indication of what she will be like as a teenager, i think fly boy is in trouble.
-she loves to pull herself up.  we find her standing in her crib after every nap/sleep.
-EVERYTHING goes in her mouth.  charley is quick to inform me that i need to vacuum when i find her putting pieces of dust/lint/dirt in her mouth.
-she isn't too keen on smiling for the camera, but has started to do this silly smile where she scrunches up her noes.  i love it.
- she loves to mimic you when you play with your lip making noises.  it might be her favorite game, aside from peek-a-boo and airplane with daddy.

happy 9 months charley!

 

charlotte 8 months

here we are...8 months.
we are blessed with this one.

gone are the days where charley and i cuddled for hours with her head on my shoulder.
she's a squirming, wanting to crawl, rolling baby girl.
she hasn't quite figured out the art of crawling, though she loves to get up on all fours and rock, then roll to whatever destination she desires.

one of her favorite pastimes is to pull all of the toys out of her toy box.  (i really need to get a picture of it...)  and then watch me put them all back.  this game goes on for hours.

she loves all fruits, but is not a fan of many vegetables (unless of course they are mixed in with lots of fruit.)  baby mum mums are also a favorite.

really, she is a very happy baby.

the big 3-0

it happened.
a new decade.

and fly boy truly outdid himself this year.

he woke me up (before charley got up) with his traditional, delicious breakfast in bed.

we went to dinner to my favorite restaurant in town with my brother and sister-in-law.
jess even made me a cake...yellow with chocolate frosting, my favorite!

since our birthdays are only 2 months apart, we decided to take a mini vacation to celebrate both of us turning 30.  just for the weekend, we went to a nearby beach, stayed in a fantastic hotel, and really had a perfect weekend.

only being an hour away, we took our time saturday morning getting packed, but were still able to spend several hours at the beach and pool in the afternoon.  the hotel had a wonderful restaurant, so we didn't have to travel far, just took the elevator down to the 1st floor.   and charley was a doll.

i couldn't have asked for a better birthday.
i would say i'm not sure how i am going to top it for fly boy's upcoming birthday, but i have a few tricks up my sleeve as well.  ;)

charlotte 7 months

hello october!
(and my apologies for the lack of posts in the last month.)

our baby girl is seven months old.

not a whole lot has changed in the last month, except...
- she has one bottom tooth and a second bottom tooth coming in. (and boy is it sharp!)
- charley has learned to click her tongue and loves to click anytime she is hungry.
- we've started with baby food...charley loves every fruit she has tried (bananas, pears, peaches, mangos, apples, etc.) she does not like rice cereal. oh, and charley LOVES water.

i can't get enough of her.  we truly are blessed with a sweetheart.
i actually miss her when she goes down for a nap or to bed.  it's ridiculous.
she's a much lighter sleeper than she used to be, so i know that if i even open her door, she will more than likely wake up and want to cuddle.  there may have been a few nights while fly boy was out of town last week that i purposely went in to "check on her." i was then rewarded with an extra 30 minutes of mommy-daughter time when she surprisingly woke up.

she's not the biggest fan of looking at me while i'm taking pictures, but why would you want to look at a big goofy lens when there is a world of details (and a funny golden retriever) to watch?  :)

enjoy!