a party for a 1 year old

Finally, we were able to celebrate Lila's 1st birthday this weekend. I just had a low-key celebration planned for her, but we could NOT get the timing right between the flu, snow and surgeries.

The room decorated for the birthday girl...

I really went cheap this year, but I think it turned out cute. I borrowed things,and my BFF Candice made some of the stuff for her birthday. Between the 2 of us we should start a birthday business with all the stuff we have made/bought for birthday celebrations!

Lila's birthday colors were turquoise, red and pink. I made the pennant banner from scrapbook paper, I had on hand. Candice had the tissue flowers from a previous event. The material is some that is left over from Lila's pillows in her room. Some of the other items on the table, I just pulled from her bedroom.

Part of the birthday banner I made...

The color-themed cupcakes I made...

Every month we have taken a picture of Lila in the old rocker that my mom rocked me in. I strung up the pictures from the past 11 months and put a big 8x10 for her 12 months on the table.

Lila was so sweet hanging out with Clinton. This is the stillest I have seen her in a long time!

We completely forgot to get a full body shot of Lila in her birthday outfit. So mad! This is the best picture of it. I had a birthday shirt made for her in her colors, and Candice made a tutu to match it.

Candice also made the birthday hat for me...

Chowing down on her cupcake...

Gift time!

So blessed by family and friends!

lila turns 1

My baby has turned 1.

She is precious, spunky, cute and I can't imagine life without her.

She makes us laugh with her "imitations" of us. She loves to mock what we are doing.

She loves her big sisters. She would follow them anywhere.

She laughs without abandon, coming up from her whole self. She never laughs half way.

And even though no one can make her laugh like Daddy, Mommy still holds the top spot in her heart.

This is a look back at how my baby has grown...

1 month (and one of my all time favorite pics of one of my children)

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

Hopefully, we will finally be able to celebrate her milestone this weekend. It has been postponed due to the flu, stomach virus, and my grandmother's surgery.

Here's to a year that would not have been the same without our precious Lila Kate.

a coonhound

This is how our lunches start... (notice the handful of food that Lila thinks she needs to keep at all times)

Insert Walker, our Treeing Walker Coonhound.

Walker sits and he waits patiently for any little piece that Lila might drop.

Nearing the end of her meal, she always seems to find pity on poor old Walker.

I mean, he is being tortured by his big snout with all the smells of food.

This is the story of how we came to own a coonhound...

Ever since we have moved back to Memphis, the girls have begged and begged for a dog. We have not had luck in the dog department. Jason and I got a dog when we got married and she was proven to not like children. Then, while we were in Tupelo we got a cocker spaniel, a not that smart dog who never would get potty trained after almost 2 years. I was very skeptical as to if we were meant to be dog owners. Luck was not on our side.

However, the girls wore us down and before we knew it we were off to the Germantown Animal Shelter. They told us the sweetest and best dog there was was a dog named Maggie. We were told she was not a pitt bull even though she looked a lot like one. Well... we took her to the vet and she was in fact a pitt. Even though we heard that pitt bull's can be really sweet depending on their owners, we were nervous. So, Maggie went back to the animal shelter (and was adopted quickly after).

We traded in Maggie for a Border Collie/Lab mix. 2 weeks later he attacked Ava for no reason, biting her arm and ear in several spots. He went immediately back to the shelter.

You would have thought at this point that the girls, especially Ava, would have beebn reluctant about owning a dog. But no, the begging continued.

Out of options at the Germantown Animal Shelter, Jason took Emma and Ava to the Bartlett Animal Shelter. He called me asking me about 2 dogs, a bulldog and a lab. I told him to do what he thought best, but remember we didn't have to get a dog at all today.

An hour later Jason calls me and tells me that he decided to go in a different direction. He was bringing home a Treeing Walker Coonhound, a beagle on stilts. He was told by the people that worked there that these dogs did great in the city and needed little exercise.

Immediately after I got off the phone I did a little research. All the research came back saying that these dogs were NOT suitable for urban areas and they required vigorous exercise. Lovely.

I did not have high expectations for our Walker, but he has so proved me wrong. He's lovable and rarely barks and he has never snapped at the girls. He will just let the girls love him all up.

He's officially a part of this family.

new beginnings

I just love the new year. It seems to be that push to start fresh that for some reason a date like June 26 just doesn't have. This new year for us and me is all about discipline.

In no particular order and in bulletin form (because I have way too many random thoughts to put them all cohesively together), these are my thoughts/goals/beginnings for the new year.

• We have started the Dave Ramsey envelope system. It's only the 4th of the month, and I am already cursing him:) I've also already started mentally computing in my head what envelope I need to "borrow" from to get something I want. My kids really don't need to eat if I can get a killer deal on a new rug I've been eyeing, right?
• We have kick started the diet around the house. It's Day 2 and it really hasn't been that bad. Maybe that's because there is no money in the "eating out" envelope to tempt me.
• Jason and I are going to begin to memorize the book of Philippians by Easter. This is a huge undertaking for me. I'm the person that says that the Bible says so and so, but don't ask me to tell you where it's at. I can spout out the "gist" of a scripture, but never the full verse. I asked Jason a couple of nights ago, "Is it bad that I still have to say "GE Power Company" to remember which order of the books that Philippians comes in?" He just stared and me and finally said, "That's cute." I don't really think he believes that...
• Passion Conference 2011 is rocking my world right now. We have a mini-revival going on in our house. I'm so thankful that they live stream the conference for us oldies now:)
• I am also excited about my girls accountability group that 2 other women and me have started. We are walking through Piper's book Spectacular Sins. This is the second time I have read it, and I am finding new truths in it still.
• Jason and are also going to be leading a Community Group at our church that will begin in a few weeks. Couples/families doing life together. I am excited!
• Our church is also going to be going to 2 services in a few weeks. Who would have thought that when we planted we didn't even know if 50 people would stick around and now we are outgrowing our capacity in one service! Praise God!

As you can tell we have a lot of exciting things are on our plate. Just praying that we can be resilient in all things!

christmas overload

*WARNING this post includes a ton of pictures from the month of December and does not even include any of Jason's film that he took. I really should blog more often...

Ava participated in her first program at her school. Her class sang three Christmas songs, and trust me, she was well rehearsed. We probably heard at least one of her songs every hour on the hour for 3 weeks.
I was so proud of her! I was worried she would get on the stage in front of people and freeze up. She proved me wrong! She sang her little heart out...

The next day was Emma's last day of school before winter break and also her party. All the kids dressed in their pajamas, and they watched The Polar Express that morning.

Emma with her precious teacher, Mrs. Hunt!

Christmas Eve night we attended the service at our church. We have a tradition that on Christmas Eve night the girls get to open a present that just Daddy gets for them. This year Emma and Ava got mini American Girl dolls and their books from Daddy.

And, yes. That's a dog in the background, but his story is for another post:)

Cookies and chocolate milk set out for Santa...

Our tree in the den (our big tree is in the entry way) with Santa's gifts. Santa gets 3 gifts for each child plus a stocking. I know that we are in the minority because we don't let Santa "overdo" it. Santa or us never want to be in the "way" where our kids can't see clearly what the meaning of Christmas is. I think how ever you want to do Santa or gifts is fine, but this is just want works for our family. And trust me, just because Santa only got them 3 gifts doesn't mean he didn't spend any money on them!

Christmas morning Lila needed her morning beverage to get her up and going.

Both of the girls received matching nightgowns for them to wear like their American Girl dolls.

They both also received the beds for their American Girl dolls. I love Ava's face!

Note to self... destroy all toys that make noise. Regretting many presents for this little one:)

Christmas afternoon my family came over to eat and open presents. Our joke was that looking under our tree you could not tell that the economy is in a recession!

The girls got so many wonderful things from my family that I do not even know where to start. The biggest hit was the pillow pets my mom got them. They also got the new leapster explorer with games, another American Girl doll and accessories, Bitty Baby accessories, a Tangled doll and much more! For some reason, we didn't take many pics. These are blurry, but you get the gist of the excitement!

This is my sister Melanie's boyfriend Paul playing the Just Dance 2 game with Emma. Too cute!

It was a wonderful Christmas season! We are too blessed