Daddy/Daughter Date Night

 It had only been on the calendar for a couple of weeks (we found out right before they were out of reservations!) but Katie has been looking forward to it and talking about it every single day!

 READY for Daddy/Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-a!

 LOVE Daddy/Daughter Cows!

These pictures are compliments of a photographer who was taking photos and giving out CDs for everyone! Isn't that a GREAT idea?!?!

 Good conversation and memory making.
They had conversation starters at the table...one was "Favorite Childhood Memory."
Corey shared his.
Katie's answer: "This moment right now"

What could be better?

Well......

perhaps.....

a ride in a limousine?!

YES!

Chick-fil-a had limo rides for everyone after dinner! They rode around downtown Calhoun.

Can you even imagine?

I think someone*one day in the far future* will have a hard time topping these first dates with daddy! :)

Happy New Year!

At least it's still January!  It has been quite a busy post holiday month around here.  Well...busy and not.

Here are Katie and Noah showing off their finger-staches.

And Noah and Ruby playing at the new coffee table on the new rug! (Christmas gifts!)

 Ruby has a love/hate relationship with food right now.  She got in the habit of eating a LOT of it! So much that she cut down on nursing and had terrible tummy problems for a while! We finally realized that the baby food she was loving actually had CREAM in it! UGH.  Why would they even do that?! So...we are starting over.

 We went to the park on one of the many unusually WARM days we've had lately. Ruby absolutely loved the swing!

 She is pulling up on EVERYTHING now and has stood by herself a couple of times for a few seconds at a time.  Her 8 month birthday passed on Friday.  We missed the 7 month one with pictures so we decided to just do the 9 and 12 month now.  She is babbling CONSTANTLY.  Crawling everywhere like a pro. She is the sweetest thing! Even when she is sick!

 Katie brought her in their room to play.  I think Katie enjoys having a real baby to play house with. :)

 We celebrated my parents' birthdays last weekend.  

Noah has been playing basketball.  But I have no other pictures of either of those things. :(

The biggest event around here has been the sicknesses.  Noah started out with a cold, then it got better, then it got worse, then he ended up with pink eye as well.  So he has finally been on medication for that since Thursday.  Ruby also had a cold.  She was sleeping miserably.  So, after we had tried ALL our home remedies, and after Noah ended up on an antibiotic, we decided it was time to take her in. She also got an antibiotic but the night after the doctor (a Friday night of course) she ALSO came down with pink eye.  We made it through the weekend, then she finally got drops for that yesterday.

Last night we had our best night's sleep yet.  She slept two really long periods with only one tiny coughing fit.

ALSO, she has not had her reflux medication the entire time she has been sick.  AND I have added dairy back to my diet! So, all seems to be looking up now!

Here's a picture of her from this morning.  She was sleeping so sweetly and soundly.

And in all of this, Katie has not been sick at all! She has developed a cough the past two days, but it is really nothing.  I am so thankful that she didn't get sick.  Because, oh yeah...I forgot to mention..in the midst of everyone being sick and not sleeping?  I was ALSO sick with a cough/cold. And Corey was feeling worse with it this morning.  But the saying is true...I would much rather the two of us be sick than the kids!

We have signed back up for e-mealz because I got a really good groupon ($29 for a full year!) and we are loving the ease of having a meal plan again!

Corey is doing fantastic with his school work, even though it is much harder this semester.

We are slowly but surely making our way through the school year.  I am predicting we will NOT be finished in April like last year, HA.

But, really...life is good.  We are blessed.

Christmas 2011: The Year of the Tornado

 Thanks to a couple of tornadoes in the area, we had our traditional Birthday Party for Jesus...sans electricity!

We had to put off the meal we had planned (hot dogs and french fries) and grab dinner out.  We debated what to do when we got home to the power still being out.  The estimated time it would be back on was 11am the next day.  So, we went out to the dollar store and stocked up on batteries and candles and went through with our plans.  The weather was mild...not too hot or cold.

 First we had a cupcake and sang  ♫Happy Birthday ♫

 Ruby enjoyed the candlelight as well.

We switched the camera over to using the flash to get better pics, so just imagine the rest with the same look as those first few. ha ha.

 Then we finished our "What God Wants For Christmas" Nativity Set.

 Ruby checking herself out in box #7 (a mirror! ooops spoiler alert!)

 Our advent wreath...isn't it beautiful?  We did a mix n match wreath last year but this year we got a real one! :)

 Then they opened one gift.  New school clothes...er...I mean pajamas! ha ha. We let them each pick a pair to wear to bed and this is what they picked.  They each had more Christmas-y ones, but oh well.

I also opened a gift, a new knife block set, and Corey opened a gift, two tees from 80stees.com.

 Ruby's first gift ever.  She was SO excited when we put it in front of her.  Finally, all that being pulled away from the gifts was over! And.....she just wanted to bite it.

 Opening gifts by candlelight.  You have to imagine this like the first few pictures.  They really couldn't see anywhere except where the flashlights were shining.

 Christmas 2011! Ruby picked the right pjs!

 The power came back on earlier than expected at 6am, so when I got up with Ruby we came to rearrange the gifts for the next morning.  She got a little sneak peak/taste of the family gift.

 YAY! Katie finally got up so Noah could come open gifts!

 Noah's "want" gift: a remote control motorcycle.

 Katie's "want" gift: a new doll and canopy bed for the doll.

 breakfast! bacon, eggs, pancakes.

 A little gift from Katie to keep Ruby busy at the table.  It was a math mitten.

 Opening the family gift together...a Clearplay DVD player.

 "Santa" brought a stocking full of many yummy things for Ruby.

 Ruby's "want" gift: a ball popper.  

 Santa found many a great value on Amazon this year!

Doll accessories and furniture, video games, and LEGOS!

We had a very memorable start to the Christmas season this year.  Now to find somewhere to put it all! :)

Christmastime is Here

As we were out and about on Black Friday, we drove by a storefront where a woman was painting the windows with Peanuts characters.  I really loved it and wanted to do it on our windows.  We've been so busy I didn't have a chance to do it until today.  This is how the panels are arranged.  Because of the way our porch is set up I had to take individual photos and put them in a collage.

Corey then added multicolored lights around the window.

Christmastime is here!

Right Now

I'm totally copying  this from a friend who posted this today.  I've maybe done a post like this once or twice.  What I WISH I was posting is pictures from my brother's wedding last weekend, but I have none. :(  It was beautiful and fun, and I hope to see some pictures soon!

So, here we go:

right now i am…

watching:  Noah put up his DS before bed.
eating: nothing at the moment, but about to dig into the cookie dough again.
drinking:  not enough water.  <--same as my friend.  
wearing: gray and yellow striped pajama pants, white socks, black nursing tank and nursing bra.
avoiding:  cleaning.  
feeling: happy that I stocked up BIG time at Aldi today.  Very productive day in the food department which reminds me I bought a hummus "quartet" sampler....maybe I'll try some of that too!
missing: Corey.  It's been way too  busy around here.  Between the wedding last weekend, his school work, and his practices for the church Christmas play, I've barely seen him at all lately! 
thankful:  for the full cupboard, my sweet healthy baby, my smart healthy children, and for Christmas fun!
weather:  45 is the high today.  TDC.  (too dang cold) <---same answer as my friend. She's my neighbor. :)
praying:  for a peaceful December.
needing:  to clean the house and get some homemade Christmas gifts started/made!
thinking: about the latest experiment in getting Ruby to stop waking up randomly in the night. Hope it works!
loving:  cooking (lately).

Giving Thanks 2011

God is Great

God is Good

Let Us Thank Him...

For Our Food.....

By His Hands.....

We Are Fed....

Give Us Lord our Daily Bread.....

Amen.