One

Our baby turned one on the 8th...

 The cake and cupcakes were so girlie... (yea! we love having a girl in the house)

 There were plenty of gifts...

 Lots of friends...

An ample amount of help opening gifts...

 There was the traditional singing of "Happy Birthday!"

 And a complete meltdown!

 I don't know if it was all the attention, but she did not want anything to do with her cake.  Even a little bit of icing wasn't encouraging her to dig in!

 So, after everyone else enjoyed their cupcakes, Livi decided she might give one a try...

 And she really liked it!

 Of course, everyone knows that cake is best with milk...

 Thanks for the kitchen, Mima and Papa- Livi and her brothers love it!

 

At one year, you are a dainty 19 lbs, but you are 31 inches tall!  The doctor tells us you are on your way to being a "tall, slender, girl!"  You have 3.5 teeth and you are using several signs (more, all finished, night-night) and you have learned to say "cracker," "thank you," "daddy," "hi," "bye-bye," "more," and "night-night."  Every morning when I walk into your room, you reach up from your crib and say, "hiiiiieeee!"  You love to sing and you adore your baby dolls.  You have a special bond with your brothers, and Noah (in particular) always makes you laugh and smile.  You are a momma's girl through and through, but you have so much fun with your daddy.   I cannot believe how fast this year has gone.  We are so happy to have you with us, sweet baby girl.  Happy Birthday, Olivia Marie!  We love you so much!

Tradition

 We started a Christmas tradition the year Noah was born... having the kids' picture taken with Santa.  Let's take a look back...

2004-It started out great.  Noah was so happy! What a great tradition we've begun!

2005- Jonah was content, but Noah wanted out of there!  The tears begin!

 

2006- Jonah is still content, and Noah is giving it a noble try, but the tears are right on the edge.

2007- They both cried...

And why did Santa think hugging them so tightly would make things better?

2008- They said they wanted to see Santa, but the tears still came by the time they were in his lap...

At this point, I realized that someday I'll most likely be paying for some counseling to help them get over the Santa trauma I have repeatedly caused!

 

2009- They wanted to see Santa again.  Noah went with his list ready, and although they were apprehensive, there were no tears!  Maybe this really is an ok tradition, after all!

So here we are, Christmas 2010, and the boys both were asking repeatedly to go see Santa.  They had their lists ready and I had my camera ready (you see, I had not paid the "Santa people" for the professional pictures since Noah was a baby-  I preferred to have my own digital copy without paying $30 for it).  So, last Monday we headed to the mall to see Santa...

Santa asked us to wait until the photographer was ready before we put Olivia on his lap.  Little did Santa know that I was not planning on paying the photographer.  I was just snapping my own photos (this year they limited you to only two photos from designated {aka far away} place if you were using your own camera).  Yes, it is a scam.

Olivia started our tradition all over again... the crying in Santa's lap tradition, that is...

Then, the professional photographer says, "Do you mind if I take a picture, as well?"  I laughed and said, "Of course."  I knew that I wasn't paying money for a photo of my baby screaming on Santa's lap.  The photographer immediately brought out a huge string of jingle bells, shook them and yelled, "Smile!"  He showed me the picture he got...

And yes, I paid $15 for one 5x7 photo of my baby girl not screaming in Santa's lap.  Jason says I'm a sucker... I say, yes, I am... a sucker for tradition!  Merry Christmas!

Snow Day!

It's not every day that you have to shovel your trampoline!

Here are some pictures from last night around 11:00- they're a little blurry, but this is without a flash- it was so bright outside in the winter wonderland! (Pay special attention to the amount of snow on the trampoline and the patio table.)

This is with a flash last night.  I love how you can see all the flakes falling...

 

Then, this morning:

 

 

Yikes! So, while this Little Miss was napping,

  

Noah and I worked on a project...

   

It started as one snowman, but grew into our snowfamily!  

  And this was just with the snow that I shoveled from part of our driveway!

 

 This momma needs a nap now!

And for those of you wondering where the adorable middle child was during this project?  Inside watching a movie.  He told me he doesn't like the snow!  Evidently, he has some of my Southern blood in him!

A Fall Photo Update

Back in October, we went with Noah's class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Here we are with our pumpkins (I brought mine with me!).

 

 Jonah's class had a Harvest party- our Incredible Hulk blends in with the chalkboard (he's in the back row towards the right!

 The Hulk has a soft spot for his favorite little pumpkin!

 Trunk or Treat!  The pumpkin outfit that Olivia has on was Noah's when he was a baby- I had to "girl" it up a bit with an orange tutu that I made!  Some friends of ours dubbed her a "Pumpkinrina!"

 Daddies and their girls... Olivia and Samantha have a special bond.  I think they'll be sweet friends in the coming years.  (They've already spent a scrapbooking weekend together with the moms.)  I love that the little lobster is so content in her pot!

 The GI Joe Ninja is also fond of the little pumpkin...

 Noah's class had a Thanksgiving Feast yesterday.  Yes, that's Noah- the tall Native American in the back!  His feathers kept flopping down!

 And today, our first snow! 

And my midnight project last night... a "thankful" banner!  So easy and I had everything I needed on hand.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

Hopefully this post will make some grandparents happy!  :)

Good Grief

It's been 22 months since we lost our first baby girl.  If there is anything I have learned during that time it's that grief is inconsistent.  It comes in waves.  It's like riding a roller coaster with a blindfold on.  Just yesterday one of my dearest friends asked me how I was doing.  I told her that I was doing well.  I meant it.  I've been on one of the good waves for several weeks. 

Then, there was tonight. 

See, my sweet middle child has his "share day" tomorrow at preschool.  When he brought home the "share bucket" last week, he immediately gathered items that he wanted to take with him on Monday to share with his class- I knew what he was doing, but hadn't gone through to look at his collection.  Tonight, Olivia knocked over the bucket and broke his Lego spaceship that was safely packed in the bucket and as I was picking up the pieces, and his blue blankie that was also packed in there, I noticed a little something.  This wallet-sized photo of our Ava.

My sweet boy wanted to share his sister with the class. 

After telling my hubby about the discovery, we decided to ask Jonah to come down and talk to us about it (he was already tucked into bed).  I told him that Olivia had broken his spaceship and he said, "That's okay.  I can fix it."  As we pulled out the pieces and the blanket, he was looking around for the picture.  He had been so intentional about putting it in there.  It had fallen to the floor; he quickly scooped it up and said, "and I wanted to take this picture of baby Ava."  I gently reminded him of this month's  theme for the share bucket "Something You are Thankful For," and suggested that we make sure the items in the bucket are things he is thankful for and he so sweetly said, "I am thankful for baby Ava, but she died." 

What do I say to that?  How precious is his big brother heart that he so loves her and wants to honor her memory and share her with others.  We talked a bit more and he told me he had forgotten to include a picture of her when they were supposed to bring pictures of their family (back in September).  This mommie's heart was broken, yet so full, too.  I was in awe of his tenderness, touched that he still thinks of her, so proud that he wants to share her- but, what heavy stuff for a preschooler to process. 

Grieving is hard, but it's healing, too.  Tonight was a reminder that Jason and I are not grieving alone.  I think these moments are good... incredibly difficult, but so good.  God has been faithful to hold us together on this roller coaster; my boys have seen that firsthand.  We also have the promise of heaven when we'll all get to be with Ava again- and Jonah's last question of tonight, "What would it be like if there were four of us (kids)?" will finally be answered.