Sister Love

Now that Finley is getting bigger and more interactive by the day, the sister-love in this house is growing by leaps and bounds. One of my favorite things is how they can make each other laugh. And how they hold hands in the car. We didn't rig it on purpose but it turned out that when we put Finley forward-facing in the car, both of their "sucker" thumbs (Grayson's is her left, Finley's is her right) were on the outside near the windows. So they don't have to give up sucking their thumbs to give some love. Justin laughed the other day while he was driving us around and I asked what was so funny. He said "them holding hands" and something to the effect of that he was staring at proof of his future orthodontics bill.

Cutest Girls Ever

Aunt Ali found the girls and cousin Avery matching PJs that say "Cutest Girl Ever" on the t-shirts. Hilarious. It's 70 degrees here today so we rocked them to the park. Grayson promptly told Mrs. Katie..."this is a PJ shirt". Sharing the secrets. These pictures are not of the 'matchy matchy' but some cute shots from over the past few weeks. I'll post more details soon about what the girls are doing these days. Let's just say Finley is a climber (wow...as in she pushed the stool over to the kitchen counter, climbed and stood on it to reach a can opener that was thankfully chosen over the huge knife sitting next to it) and I feel many days like Grayson is 3 going on 13.

Happy Valentine's Day

I know, I know, a post without pictures of the kids? Crazy. These were a few shots I took around the house this week. The new Valentine's fabric wreath has made me smile many, many times over the last few weeks. Funny enough I decided to hang it on the bathroom door. 1) because that's a cool (yes I said cool) unfinished door that you can see from the front door and the hallway and 2) because with two small children and only one bathroom in the house, I knew we'd see it a lot. I think it will stay up for a while. A few small pictures of beauty that remind me of His great, great love for us.

Happy Birthday Mama/Millie!

Dear Mama,

Happy Birthday! I love you more than the dishwasher.

Love,

Finley


Dear Mama,

Happy Birthday. I love you more than my thumb.

Love,

Grayson


Dear Millie,

Happy Birthday! I love you too much to write about it on the internets for all to see.

Love,

Justin

January 2011: a recap in one post

Seeing that it took me the whole month of January to update posts about December, I didn't want to spend the entire year always updating a month behind! So here are the highlights from January, all in one giant collage-filled post. Click on the collages to enlarge if the text is too small.

12.28.10

Christmas festivities continued for us as we headed to great-Mamaw's house for gift opening, and then on to Shu-Shu's to spend the night.

Grayson was quite excited about her new pink scooter and pink princess helmet! Finley was mostly excited about the wrapping paper.

12.26.10

By Christmas night everything was covered in white. The next day it was deep enough for sledding, building snowmen, and teaching Finley how to make snow angels.

12.25.10

Happy Birthday Jesus!

A couple of gifts opened at home, then a yummy breakfast at Toad Hall, then stockings and gifts and celebrating with family.


Then, a great surprise: a white Christmas!

Grayson caught the first snowflakes on her tongue.

Finley stayed inside...

but apparently thought she could snag one through the glass door.

12.24.10

Christmas Eve!

I think this is the first time we've been able to snag a full family picture at Christmas.

The day was filled with lots of fun cousin time, including the gingerbread house adventure. They turned out really cute, and I'm still in the camp that gingerbread houses are just a good excuse to eat a lot of candy and lick icing off your fingers. We headed to church early that evening and then back to Toad Hall for a yummy dinner. A fun day to celebrate the coming of the King!

12.20.10

Oh Christmas crafts.

I love to create. I'm still wrestling with how to make time for it, how to not feel guilty when I do find time for it, and how to not get frustrated when the time I find for it never quite seems like enough. But because I love it, I typically decide that making the majority of our Christmas gifts would just be perfect. This year, our house was on the market. So each time the room looked like the pictures below, I had to clean it all up if we got the call and then drag it all out the next day. It was tricky. Still fun to get to create some new things, but tricky.

Crafting essentials...mini hot glue gun: the best $3 ever spent. New silicone-like hot glue gun mat thingy: best $5 ever spent except that I need it to be about 3 times as big. My hot glue gun now thanks me that it doesn't get stuck to the random sheet of paper I used in an attempt to protect the desk. New sewing machine: deserves a whole post in itself but let's just say I had no idea what I was missing. Justin gets a shout out for spotting the deal online. My old starter machine was awesome for sewing straight lines. Buttonholes and zigzag stitches, not so much. This new lovely not only sews zigzags, but flowers, ducks, trucks, and dolphins. Yes, dolphins. A neatly stitched, tiny row of dolphins. And no, I'm not adding that decorative touch to any of my creations in the near future. I'm just saying that someone who can stitch dolphins with the press of a button might just be my new crafting BFF.

The larger shot of the room in action, including the essential ribbon holder in the closet, scrap fabric bucket, and new bucket 'o ruffle.

I picked up some pre-made ruffle at a warehouse sale when we went to visit cousins and finally got to use it for some cutesy-bootsy (thank you for the new phrase Kiki) skirts. My treasured rotary cutter is also peeking out behind the skirts; another crafting essential. I was apparently living in the dark ages with my scissors until I saw the light and started using the rotary two years or so back.

Grayson wanted to get in on the crafting action, so I gave her some supplies. Like mother like daughter. Ribbon, stickers, and "scrap favric" as she calls it. No hot glue gun for her yet but she sure has a big love for a glue stick. As in she can use a whole glue stick in 30 minutes kind of love. And I promise she's not eating it.