Christmas with Grammy

This weekend with had a "Faux Christmas" with Shane's mom. Complete with a huge ham dinner, gifts from Santa and WAY too many sweets, we are still recouping for a (snowy?) Christmas in Spokane....

Little Angel

Our ward's nursery had a little Christmas party where the kids dressed up as characters of the nativity. There were a couple other kids, but they wouldn't come out of the closet for photos.

Tis the season

Rock City Enchanted Gardens in Chattanooga

Look at this hair! Sorry. My child is the most beautiful ever.

Lydia helping pick out the Christmas tree

Christmas time is here.

I wanted a nice photo of Christmas past for my blog, but I couldn't pass up showcasing a photo from my sister-in-law's photo shoot last year. She had it done for her husband Rusty. Wasn't that sweet?

Yes, it was a joke.

Happy Thanksgiving

Is there really such thing as a vacation when you have children? Luckily, our visit with our good friends, the Wilkinsons, included a babysitter Friday night.

Better Late Than Never

Well, it may be about a month later than usual, but the leaves have finally moved into their glorious fall splendor. Photos can never capture how simply breathtaking the mountains are here.
The shot of Lydia and Shane was taken just a few steps out of our front door, good thing Shane was there to catch her as she fell out of the tree huh? :)

Grandma and Papa visit

What a fun week Lydia had with my parents. The crazy separation anxiety aside, she was very excited to see them again. With Lydia's inability to allow me to move out of her sight, and my mom's sprained ankle, the week was spent mainly playing cards and eating out. Perfect! Shane and my Dad were able to get out golfing in the glorious weather we are having. I even secured a wheelchair so that my mom and I could get some Christmas shopping done. She was really embarrassed :) It would have been difficult to see them go, but we keep telling ourselves, "only 6 weeks until Christmas in Spokane". It will be our first time spending Christmas with my family since 2001!

Hey Molly, I figured out what I want for Christmas this year. Shane and I want to sleep in. Care to do some early Christmas morning babysitting?

Happy Halloween!

Unfortunately, Shane didn't get home in time to get his fangs ready. Sad, because I thought that they would be sexy. Lydia was a Lady Bug and she thought trick or treating was pretty great. I think Shane and I had more fun though. (Especially after Lydia was in bed and we got into her candy stash.) I have attached a couple photos of our spooky creations from this year and last. I still feel all Halloweeny and yet the mall is already totally decorated for Christmas with "Silver Bells" playing in the elevators. Is is just me or is it a tad premature?

Jumping

Check out Lydia's air!

Rainy Days and Mondays

It's raining! Yeah! Lydia looked out the window as soon as there was enough light to see and started screaming "RAINING!" She likes the rain. So after breakfast, we headed out.
In my book, a rainy fall day falls second only to a blizzard on a winters evening. Before Lydia could catch pneumonia, we trudged back inside for cinnamon toast and hot chocolate. (Both firsts for Lydia.) Then we wrapped up in fleece blankets and read until nap time. I laid her in bed, shut the door to her room and I heard a tiny voice say "Mommy? I love you. Nite nite". Oh be still my heart.

Was that the perfect morning or what? I am tempted to lure Shane home from work to enjoy it with us. No one should have to work on a day like this!

Bliss.

Lydia cuddled with me this morning. For like 5 minutes. This never happens. Our cuddle sessions are usually about once a week for 30 seconds after a temper tantrum and she needs reassurance. This morning after she woke up (before sunrise of course), I brought her back to bed with me (like normal) but this time she stayed! 5 minutes. In my arms! I could tell she was appeasing me more than anything, but I wasn't complaining. That was the longest I have held my baby in 4 months! (Since I stopped nursing). Seriously I am in the best mood today. Shane is getting back from a long trip, "The Office" was exceptionally funny last night, and I had cuddle time!

We also visited the Children's Discovery Museum with some friends. I have attached some photos.

It's fall!

The leaves have just started to change. We picked out some pumpkins last weekend and I will post Shane's incredible creations as he completes them.

My Real Simple Column

Randomly I have had little blurbs in the last two months of my favorite magazine "Real Simple". Apparently I will get to see my name in print yet again in December. Every month Real Simple.com has a new question to answer and if they like it, they call you up and ask if they can publish it. This last call made me laugh because people are going to think I just sit around and enter dozens of different answers. At least that is what an unnamed friend accused me of last night :) I think that you can only enter once a month. Anyway. I don't have any great ideas for the January edition, so I think the publishing streak ends here. It was fun while it lasted!

Early Fall

Some new photos from this week. Enjoy!

Hamilton County Fair

Lydia has been such an absolute pleasure for the last couple weeks, Shane and I decided to try a day trip to the fair. Unfortunately, our neighbor's car alarm woke Lydia up from her nap much too early and she was a little grumpy. Still, there was cotton candy and cows and goats. She seemed to have a pretty good time. Someone should inform the South that October is Autumn. It is still sooooo hot!

Just one of the myriad

So, apparently blogging is one of the mandatory activities of motherhood. I think they are fun, but I have resisted in the name of "free time". I was thinking today of all of the things that we are supposed to accomplish in a day. Workout, read our scriptures, spend ample quality time with our children, meaningful conversations with husbands, personal prayer, couple prayer, family prayer, clean house, meditate, shower, prepare 3 nutritious (no trans fat- organic) meals, get 8 hours of sleep, journal.... Then the list for the general necessities; food storage, genealogy, visiting teaching, callings, date night, organized house, sex, keep up with correspondence, reading, service, time with friends, grocery shop, digital scrapbooking, paying bills, entertaining, holiday plans, meetings, FHE, temple attendance...the list goes on and on.

Not that I don't enjoy most of these things. I actually enjoy them all (except maybe the meetings) But there is no possible way that anyone can do them all without literally going insane :) Yet, here I am blogging during the precious hour of TV time that Lydia gets. Yes, I know that the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly advises no TV before the age of 2. Lydia wakes up at 6 am on the dot and is non stop until bed time. I have no relatives around to give me a break. I will take my chances. :)

So...there is my vent. Now I can move on to the fun stuff. (By the way, I am Natalie. Nice to meet you.)