Birthday Girl Portraits & Glimpses of Home

I had to laugh at myself when I was having the worst luck taking portrait pics of my very photogenic little girl...and then we discovered the whole wrong-mode-thing on the camera.

Imagine that!  Me, getting the camera "stuck" in some wrong mode?

I guess you can never go completely wrong when you're snapping pictures of someone as precious as this, though!

And I had to include these because they are just so cute.

 

Every year after we take down the tree, (did that yesterday) recover from the onslaught of new toys and "stuff" (which seems to get bigger and bigger every year actually!), I always take a deep breath, engage in a day or two-long deep clean, and prepare for the coming year.

That, and I buy a cheap, bright plant at the grocery store.  It's always great while it lasts.

Till Valentine's Day, if I'm lucky.

This year, everything feels a little different, mainly because of switching rooms around, buying new furniture, finishing up projects and such.  Everything looks really different, too.  I'm not used to it.  But I like it. 

So here's that glimpse I warned you about promised...

This next picture is way too bright because I had my ISO setting up too high (ooh la la, listen to me!), but I kind of like how it obscures the details, keeping things more mysterious, ha.
And though you can now see some of my bare book shelves, you can't see the wrinkles in the drapes.

 :)

There's still a little more to do in order to finish, but I'm really happy with our progress so far.

On the To Do list:
find a smallish, (inexpensive) neutral area rug
make 2 more large pillows, 1 smaller accent one (I already have the fabric for the smaller one, yay!)
find a small bench or stool to complete my Hobby Nook
beg/bribe my Dad, my favorite electrician, to install recessed lights
and...put the finishing touches on the fireplace!!!!!!!!

Christmas Highlights

I'm going to post a few photos that illustrate the highlights of our Christmas week.  We're especially grateful this week for the precious gift of our Savior's birth.  It comforts us like nothing else ever could, and fills us with hope and peace.  Happy Birthday Jesus, and we'll see you again, Grandma.

Isabelle and I (and two sick boys  :(  ... ) on our way to school...

to deliver these...

I spaced it (dealing with sickies all week, no doubt) and forgot to purchase gift cards, so we left extra early before school and found ourselves here...

Poor Ethan couldn't even eat a doughnut because he still wasn't feeling good, so we dropped off his teacher's gifts and headed back home.  So sad to miss out on the one of the most fun school days of the whole year!

How cute are they?!?!

We were surprised with a lovely holiday dusting of powder later that day...

Not enough for much (yet), but that didn't stop Jonah...

We had 2 back-to-back doctor's appointments, but then the real fun began...

piling up on my Dad, Grampy, with cousin Darianna

decorating cookies that Mimi, my Mom, baked all morning long

I just realized that I didn't get one picture with Mimi...   :(

I was extremely disappointed to discover that my camera was somehow set in a manual mode that made for some very blurry, grainy photos of pretty much all our Christmas festivities from this point on, and this wasn't discovered until...yesterday.

Here we are before heading over to my aunt and uncle's for dinner, and then to church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service...

Right before we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus bright and early Christmas morning...

Santa ate half his cupcake and cookie, and Rudolph had nibbled away at this carrot  :)

The calm before the storm ~ and this is the LAST pic I will ever post of that poor, naked fireplace!  hint hint hint ~ come back soon for the Big Reveal...

Each year our children draw names and go shopping alone with Daddy to get one very special gift for "their person."  These are the first presents they open, and each child excitedly rushes over to the tree to retrieve this special gift for their sibling.
Jonah had drawn Isabelle Kate's name, and he was SO excited to watch her open his gift.  I try to remember the perfect joy in moments like those when they aren't behaving, well, so joyously.

Hooray, Lukey likes his present too!

I have no photographic representation of the events that followed...but we enjoyed a lovely brunch with my parents, and we celebrated with Bill's side of the family later on and the next day.  It was a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas.  Most of the time.  There were a few moments where, as a parent, I found myself worrying that I may not be doing a good job teaching my children things like generosity, gratitude, selflessness.  This part is so hard!  I want to do the very best job I can, but we all fall short, don't we?  As parents and as children.  We'll never be perfect, so I'm trying to focus on using life's little moments as teaching tools.

And it feels good to know that it really isn't up to me anyway...God will use every mistake I ever make for His ultimate good, and for someone who makes a LOT of mistakes, I take comfort in that!

Our Big Girl's Big Day

It's birthday time...

Okay, a little disclaimer here: this is the third attempt at writing this post...my pictures are not uploading correctly, and blogger is making them appear sideways.  Grrr...

So please bear with me if you suddenly see sideways, upside-down, or otherwise awkwardly-displayed photographs in this post.

Thanks to all of you who commented on Isabelle's birthday shirt!  Yes, I did make it, and you know what?  I also learned a valuable lesson- I'd been saving that shirt for this project, and while it fit beautifully just a month ago, that gorgeous little girl of ours did the unthinkable and GREW!  The sleeves are too short now, ha!  But she didn't really care, and neither did I.  I was really happy with how it turned out, and of course next time, I'll make sure the shirt still fits!

 What says Happy Birthday like taking a bath with Luke?  :)

We were getting her all gussied up for preschool (yes, it was the day before the big day, but she wanted to show her teacher & friends her special shirt).  

aw, blogger, you're killing me here!

 I don't know what it is about this picture, maybe because I can see so much of her baby face in her expression, and those beautiful brown eyes and big, bouncy curls...I just love it!

This was her down time watching Diego, waiting for preschool while I worked.
I laughed at the sight of this-

and this...

Everything was spotless just 24 hours earlier!  How does that happen???




Here we are heading to preschool.
Well, we weren't actually sideways...

She was SO excited when we arrived!
We brought in her pink & purple snowman & lightbulb lollipops to share (I forgot to take a picture- boy, did they look ca-ute!)

 

 lunchtime with all her pals

And then suddenly the BIG day was upon us...and my baby girl was turning four.  For real.

I'm so happy, but at the same time, there is such sadness and loss that also comes with each birthday.  Not only is she growing up, but birthdays are such painful reminders of how much we missed in her earlier days.

She has been remembering and expressing some very early memories, trying to sort out details and such, which is actually pretty exciting, but that's for another post.

Donuts for breakfast!  What a nice birthday treat!

Okay, so I always get one package of basic cinnamon donuts when I grocery shop, but this time I bought one package of cinnamon AND pumpkin!  Whoa!  I am just that adventurous!

I was upstairs for a minute, probably gathering laundry, and this is what I see when I come back...

She'd removed her pajama pants and pulled on her ballet skirt, ha!

 

Here's my little ballerina at dance class...wearing the shirt...again, ha!

Glad she liked it!  :)

Someone was VERY excited to see these beauties sitting on top of the counter!

Wednesday nights are cheapo nights for kids at some of the restaurants in town, so out to dinner we went!

Here is Isabelle getting her way...

Here is Isabelle not getting her way, ha!

It has been so much fun to watch her blossom this past year- she is such a charming, sweet, funny, and SMART little girl!  I think she is going to give us a run for the money when she's a teenager!

After sitting down, I realized we were shy one boy.

I found him filling out a raffle card by the entrance.  ha ha

The funniest part?

He actually knew the first part of our email address, but instead of "yahoo" had written "yoohoo".

I laughed hard over that one!

 

 Jonah was on fire with the tic tac toe!

the usual horseplay

Yes, I was there too- proof!

Anytime someone would ask, "Who has a special birthday shirt?," she'd laugh and yell "Me do!"

At least she got some good use out of it since it isn't going to fit at all in another month, ha!

We left the restaurant and headed home for cake and presents.

In hindsight, I should have told everyone at church that I wouldn't be attending youth group that night, but I thought it would be no big deal to squeeze everything in.

I didn't like having to rush my own daughter's birthday along in order to get Ethan and I to church.  At least I'd told them we wouldn't be on time!  And we weren't.

LOVE the look on her sweet little face when Daddy took the present off the counter for her

Isabelle Kate's first big girl baby doll (no, it isn't American Girl- I'm not ready for that investment just yet)

she wouldn't stop looking at her and touching her- so cute!

the other present was matching pajamas for Isabelle and her new baby

I had so much fun making those!!!

Oh, would you look at that?

An actual smile from Mr. Too Cool, ha!

Look at the way Isabelle adores her big brother, awwww!!!

More rushing...onto the cake and candles...

This was probably the most pitiful cake I've ever made, but Isabelle loved it!

When we celebrate with family and friends in January, I think I'm going to do a farm animal themed cake.

Happy Birthday My Little Princess!

Here she is the next morning...

 

And here we are, almost one week (and many posts-to-be-written) later, and I've got to get to work in the kitchen!  Have a great day!