Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Kisses from Mamma!
My brother Matt & my nephew Owen


Sweetness

I love how he holds on to my hand while he eats

My gorgeous neice Maddy...can't believe she is almost 13! That's how old I was when she was born!

The Grant Family

Jack snuggles with his Puppy.

Little Owen Boy! How precious are those cheeks?

How cute is this? Jack on the left and Owen on the right...1 week apart.

I love this pic of my nephew Alden holding Jaxon.

Dimples!

I love this pic of Anthony...he is growing up so fast!

My beautiful sis and her hubby of 13 years!

Jack playing with Auntie Amy

Love this!

It's a day after returning from a weekend trip to Leavenworth, and I am more exhausted than when I left. That's not to say it wasn't worth it though. Our family goes to "the Cabin" every year around this time. We had planned to fit all 14 of us in a 3 bedroom cabin...(it is very large cabin, but still...14 people is a lot to cram in) including two four-month-olds, but alas 4 of the crew didn't make it due to the flu and Rob had to work over the weekend. So instead, it became a sibling trip of sorts! There wasn't a ton of snow...but still enough to have tons of fun. On Saturday morning we went for a hike. It turned out to be a bit crazy trucking through the snow on a very steep trail (what a workout!)...but it was totally worth it to see the view. Adelle and I hiked up with our kiddos in baby bjorns (I love that thing). We also did cross country skiing and played lots of games. It was so nice to have the cousins all together...my sister's kiddos are so good with the babies!

Jaxon did so well on his first trip away from home. We rode down and back with my sister and her family. Three adults + three kids+ one baby+ all the luggage and snow gear=one crazy packed SUV and lots of laughs. At the cabin, we ended up with our own room, and he slept like a charm. Naps got a little off during the day from all the activity, but he napped twice as long his first day back home. =) Being that Rob was back home, I got a little glimpse of what it would be like to be a single mom...I can't tell you how thankful I am to have a wonderful husband who is an amazing Daddy. We missed him so much, even after only a couple of days. Jaxon was ALL SMILES when we walked into that house and was held in his Daddy's arms for the first time all weekend. He adores Rob so much, and Rob adores him...I love it!

What a wonderful trip it was! I am so thankful the Lord has blessed us with such an amazing family. I just love them so much. =) Here are just a few photos from our trip to enjoy. Some of these are taken by my sister Amy as well. Stay tuned for next week's trip to Oregon!

Watch Out! Here He Comes!

After several days of perfecting his moves, Jaxon finally got the rolling thing down...four rolls in a row! Of course it all happened when Mommy was trying to do a photo shoot practice. He was all over the place and it was hard to take any pics without blur! The good thing was that he was so excited and proud of himself...so smiles came naturally. I love these because you can just see the enthusiasm in his eyes. He had no problem showing off to Daddy when he got home either. So long to easy diaper changing...the back arch thing makes it really difficult. =) My little boy is growing up and on the go!

Sweet Boy!

Just wanted to share with you some favorite pics that I took of the J-Man yesterday. I was just changing his diaper, and he was being so delightful, so I grabbed my camera and shot away. (I always get funny looks when I tell people about who I "shot" that day...lol!) I just can't say it enough, how in love with him I am!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! Here is Jack's Valentine this year. Love to all!

A Day at the Park

This afternoon Jaxon and I met with a friend and her cuties at the park. This was the first time Jaxon really knew he was at a park...and actually got to "play". Last weeks attempt at the park was cut short by a cranky baby cutting teeth, a very bright sun, and freezing cold weather. Today was a much better set-up. We bundled up and headed out! When we first got there, I was a little nervous since I forgot his binky. Thankfully he was completely content without it! I immediately headed to the swings since he has really been enjoying the Johnny Jump up at home. Even though you can't tell by the pics...he actually LOVED the swing! I always have a hard time catching smiles because the minute I put the camera in front of my face, he puts on a very confused look. He is also attempting to touch Mommy's camera now...very interested. Once Julie got there with her kiddos, Jaxon was ready for a little nap. He went right to sleep in his stroller as we chatted...apparantly the excitement of the swings wore him out. =) It was a wonderful afternoon.

Chelsea...

On different note, I wanted to share some of the photos I did for an up and coming artist, Chelsea Klingman. (Yes, Chelsea is a guy.) We ended up just taking the photos in his dining room believe it or not, so I am actually surprised at how well they turned out! Check out his music at listentochelsea.com.

Toothy Grins

Well last week, we had quite a surprise. Out of nowhere, our sweet, mellow little boy became fussy and clingy. Occassionally when feeding him, he would let out these screams so high that I call him my little Mariah Carey. The first time he did this...Rob and I both looked at eachother completely dumbfounded. Well, soon we found out that our little overachiever was cutting not one, but two teeth! One is out completely and the other is working it's way through as we speak! Four months seemed a little young to me, but apparantly I cut my first tooth at 4 months. Thankfully after a couple of days, he began to feel better and is back to his normal routine. I keep trying to get pics of these little guys, but he has this new trick of whenever I try to see his teeth, he sticks out his tongue...so eventually I will get some.

Just in the last two days we are starting to see a sense of humor out of our little man. He now belly laughs at us when we sing or do something funny. Yesterday morning after my shower I went in to check on Jaxon as I had just laid him down for his morning nap. I had a towel wrapped on my head, and when he saw me...he busted up laughing as to say, "silly mommy". He seems to remember what's coming next now...especially when we are making his bottle or getting the bath ready. What a delight he is to us!

The Precious Present Moment

SLOW DOWN. This is the phrase I keep having to tell myself these days. I tend to be a busy person. I have a VERY hard time sitting still (Just ask my husband who hates that I get up 500 times during a movie), and honestly, I just love the thrill of the go-go-go. I feel like a walking contradiction at times... while on one hand I am very scheduled and "by the book" so to speak, I also find myself fighting against the mundane and routine. I get bored with the same old thing every day but at the same time I feel compelled to be a time natzi and have everything planned out to the detail before I step out of bed in the morning. There are only 24 hours in a day (realistically 6-8 of those hours were "designed" for sleep), and I am being reminded that when I say yes to something, I am saying no to something else and vice-versa. If I say yes to running around without stopping all week, I (without knowing it), may be saying no to really spending quality one on one time with my son. I wonder how much I miss when I am running around. There were probably a lot of missed special moments with my son that I may only get once. I realize my saying "yes" to too much busyness has lost me from really enjoying the little things in life. I think being overly busy has really allowed Satan to steal so much time from me. Somewhere I believed a lie that by being busy, I won't miss out on anything, when in reality, the opposite is the case. One of my New Year resolutions was to be content and really enjoy where I am at NOW, not wishing I was somewhere else. How can I truly do that while living in a constant state of busyness? It is one thing to be excited for the future, but I have found that when I focus too much on tomorrow, I miss out one what God wants me to enjoy today. This week I slowed down and just savored every moment. I focused on trying to make memories and spend quality time with my husband and son. I believe that how we spend our time and money reflects what is truthfully most important to us, so I went back over my schedule and changed it to reflect what was MOST important to me. Now I am not saying that I have to say no to everything that doesn't involve what is "most" important, but it does give me some perspective on how I want to spend my time in this short life. There is such a fine balance. I can honestly say that I feel more fulfilled this week than I have in a long time. I will need to be aware of my constant need to gravitate toward "busyness", but with practice I hope that I will learn to practice the enjoyment of the precious present moment.