baby love

November 2010

How does one year produce

this much change,

this much beauty,

this much growth?

December 2011

feeling blessed more and more

each and every day.

A year already?

Time is flying by and I'm trying to soak up

every little morsel of goodness that

our little peanut brings into our lives.

She it going at turbo speed now

and into EVERYTHING.

The house looks like a tornado

has swept through and left every

room completely Josiefied.

She is all about mama

(which makes me even more smitten)

but doesn't really ever have stranger anxiety.

She will go to pretty much anyone

(although I haven't tried Santa yet)

and be a content little lady.

Her first teeth are finally coming in

on top and all at once.

Our little peanut is a sweet heart and

a firecracker all at the same time.

She's fun and frisky and a tad bit feisty.

She has captured our hearts in this

first year of life and

brings us pure joy each and every day.

We had a little evening celebration for

our sweet babe while we were in Austin.

Big J and little J

Happy Birthday little love!

Full of Thanks

The girls and I made a tree of thanks
last month to remember
and appreciate all that
we love about fall.
Of course pumpkins made the cut
 and we had a fun time
visiting the pumpkin patch.
I am so very grateful
for these girls.
They fill my life with magic.


And this guy here...I'm thankful for him
every. single. day.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Halloween ghoul & his girls

Mr. N won the prize for best googly eyes

and definitely the scariest looking

ghoul in the house

The little peanut was hands down the

sweetest little ladybug around

while her little-big sis was

 a beautiful ballerina

I went all out and dressed up

as a mom of three

and my beautiful Bri stayed home
(being grounded stinks)

and played the role of cinderella.

It was really our first Halloween at home.

We hurriedly carved pumpkins

early in the evening

before the little ones

got dressed up.

After knocking on doors

halfway up the street,

the little miss decided

we could hit the other side

and be done.

She prefers giving the candy I guess.

We had a pretty good turnout
of visitors and eventually ran out of candy
(which I was grateful for).

I think we'll be doing Halloween at
home again and again.

She's on the move

and well protected



Our littlest peanut started walking
last month
and has just begun cruising
the whole house
this last week.

We don't really keep this helmet
on her all the time,
just while she's awake...haha.
We're hoping to get her
into a bike seat soon,
but the helmet is gigantic,
and she's just really teeny-tiny.
And we love her that way.

A little more than two weeks
til our sweet babe is one.
CANNOT believe it,
but believe it I must.

I have written absolutely nothing
down about this little one's first
year of life,
which I so regret,
still....
just trying to soak up
the moments
each and every day.

summer bounty

mr. man and our little miss planted

only one tomato plant this summer.  i don't

even think they got it into the ground until

july but boy did it multiply! 

we've harvested at least 24 tomatoes

from this baby and  most of them are bigger

than my fist with still more to come.

they are so beautiful and tasty to boot.

i love watching my husband and girls

taking joy in the harvest of our little garden

of zucchini, cucumbers, mint, basil,

sage, parsley, oregano & strawberries.

we are getting excited to pick the rest

of them so that we can start our fall garden.

not only did the mr. plow the earth this summer,
i was also able to get dirt under my nails
planting some of my favorite flowers.
little m got her annual butterfly garden going
and i started a new flower patch to enjoy
dahlias, gladiolas, foxgloves, delphinium and more.
it did better than i even expected and makes
me smile every time i go out the front door.

feeling blessed to have a yard and a garden
that provide many moments of beauty.

hope you're enjoying the beauty of summer's end.

xoxo

A lil bit'o country

Two weeks ago my party partner (Julia) & I 

put together a cowboy baby shower

for my sweet cousin at her ranch out

in the soft rays of August sunshine.

The guest of honor sported her

baby belly beautifully (especially

considering she gave birth the

next day:)

We adorned the table with

sunflowers and spurs

and the little burlap bags held

favors of Udder Cream (hand lotion).

This woman was made to birth babies.

She delivered her little man 24 hours

after this photo was taken.

Total time in labor:

less than two hours.

And I thought I was fast

at a whopping four hours.

It must run in the family.

 

Here's the newest little man

and his older brothers one week

after the shower.

Such beautiful boys.

beenawhile

summer has come and gone and i've missed
this blog so much, but just haven't found
the time to fit it in. 
so very, very much to share that i
don't know where to begin.
i'll have to go wayyyyy back and
try to post a few times a week.
hmmmmm, can i commit?
yes, by golly....
i think i can.
i think i can.
i think i can.

no real reason for this photo
except i think it's adorable.

eight months

since this little beauty was born.
time is going by way too fast.

our littlest peanut is crawling, standing

and loving the exploration of

this big beautiful world.

i started her on solid foods at six months
and before i knew it
she was rolling over,
sitting up, crawling,
and standing within weeks.

i love seeing her excitement over
all things new.
she is so very edible right now
and i'm trying to resist
eating her all up.

i LOVE being a mama.

the only man for us

 our littlest peanut at six months

sporting some daddy love

here's our father's day banner.
the girls made little tags telling
their dad why he is so cherished:

you love on us

you take us for ice cream

you read stories to us

you take us surfing

you play games with us

you dance with us

you care for us

you are always smiling

you cook for us

you listen to us

you take us to school

you give us hugs

you take us shopping

you give us snacks

being around you makes us happy ....

especially
when you drive us places 

oops.
how'd that one get in there.

happy unbirthday my loves

I'm zero for three this year on my family's birthday posts.

Bummer.

So hears a quick update

(more for me to reminisce

than for anyone else's benefit.)

For Mr. Man's birthday, we went up to Mammoth and
enjoyed the sun/snow/rain. We explored places we
had never been by foot and horseback.
It was a beautiful time of year to go...
sooooo much water.

For Bri's birthday we kept it mellow,
gave her some sweet little gifts and lots of love.
And of course a birthday meal of her choice
including her fave...lemon bars.

For the little miss we kept it low key.
She opened gifts (a new boogie board and
two new dolls...more on that later).
After school we took her out to lunch,
gave into ear piercing (after a year of begging),
and watched her take her first horseback riding lesson
followed by her favorite dinner and cake.
It was a really fun day.

Whew!
All caught up now and
feeling slightly less guilty for my negligence.

xoxo

Independence Rocks

how beautiful is this flag?

And the rock stars on wheels?

Here we have our local 4th of July Parade

where the entire town marches & rolls down Main Street.

Such a fun tradition

And lastly I must share the most
bomb-diggity party on the west coast.
Hosted by the crazy talented Dellars.
Yep, we were there.
And it was fantastic.

What a blessing it is to celebrate and enjoy
the freedoms we have in this country.
Yaaaahoooo. 
I love America.

Hello Summer

The clouds have finally broken.
The sun is kissing our skin
and summer is officially here.

Some break out the swimsuits
and beach toys,
for others the barbeque
and horseshoes,
but for us in this season of life...
we're going straight for the
cheap beer and mimosas.

Whatever your pleasure...
Happy Summer!

Yesterday

 

it feels like i just took

these photos on the girls'

first day of school in august.

my beautiful bri starting her junior year

and the little miss entering kindergarten.

yet here we are with a new lovebug and

the school year coming to an end

and as usual i am wondering

where did the time go?

what a blessing it is to have photos

to help us remember when...

and relive the little things.

fairy love

the little miss lost tooth number two last week,
making her little gap even wider.
and this time around she had her tooth pillow
to give and receive tooth fairy goodness.
mama is slow these days,
but eventually things get done.

eat her up...i could

i know, i know, i haven't been posting at all lately...
and when i do, i'm usually gushing all over
this little creature.
i just can't help it.
i'm so in love
with each of my children
more and more every day.
this morning though, this little beauty
just takes my breath away.

my (sad) little pony

it's been a year and a half

since i shaved my head.

surprisingly, i loved having it bald.

it was such a freeing experience

that made me feel confident, strong
and strangely feminine.

i've been keeping it short

ever since and have so enjoyed

the ease and fun look of short hair

but decided to start growing it out

again when i was pregnant.

my hair however, is taking it's sweet time

leaving me at that akward

ugly hair stage (for way too long).

so i thought i'd see if i could

pull off a little ponytail.

not so much.

 

i'm really looking forward to the day

when my little pony is more

representative of this sweet mane.

and until then....more hats.

yosemite 2010

last year in march i learned i was pregnant after
taking a test at home. i was so excited, but needed
some time to process the reality of new life inside me.
mr. man and i already had made plans to drive up to
yosemite for a little weekend getaway at a b&b
near the park, so i savored the moment for myself
for a couple of days before we left.

i hadn't been sleeping well at night, so decided to
set up a little game to tell husband the big news
during my hours of insomnia
the first night we were there.
i had packed some blank recipe cards and
a few extra tidbits for our stay since
i knew i wanted to tell him in a creative way.
i filled out six recipe cards each with a
different "recipe" relating to children
and in the ingredients section i gave a clue
about where to find the next card
(each in a different room of the b&b).
i woke him up bright and early to hunt for
the clues before breakfast. the last card was back
up in our room under the covers attached to a
little wooden box with a positive preggo test inside.
he was really surprised, shocked and excited.


it was such a fun way to share the
excitement with my love.
the rest of the trip was spent
enjoying the beauty of yosemite
~ the snow, the rivers, the flowers ~
and trying to wrap our heads around the idea of baby #3.

fairy delay

the little miss is soooo excited about
the small gap left behind after
she lost her first tooth today.
i can't help but be excited with her,
yet at the same time there's that
little sting of reality
reminding me how quickly she's growing.
i've been promising to make her a
tooth-fairy pillow all week
with the expectation that it would pop out soon,
but here we are ~ and no pillow.
wish me time and patience for
pillow making tonight.

happy monday.

fresh air

the mr. and i have been hiking
a bit lately and enjoying all
the vibrant flowers coming to life.
each hike is a fun new adventure
among mountains, creeks, and meadows.
and it gives my man and i some
one on one (plus baby) time together,
which is always a bonus.
pure beauty this world is.