Adeline Grace (14 months)

Ringing in a New Year!

I'm doing this a bit out of order...

Christmas posts will come once I sort through the gobs of pictures. ;)

Adeline and I spent our New Years day yesterday, lounging at home while Justin worked.  It was such a nice day since we have been so on the go lately!

making messes

having some nay nay play time ;)

napping for the last time in 2012!

perfecting our one-handed while holding a baby vacuuming skills

facetime playtime with Daddy's new phone (we may or may no have been under the same roof)

We spent our New Years Eve with our best friends, Chad, Cheri and their little girl Anna.  We have been friends with them for many, many years and have almost always spent New Years Eve together! Back in our wild small-town and bored, single days we stayed up playing card games until well after midnight and would drive through the Liquor Barn asking if they had "sparkling grape juice" when all the stores were close or sold out. Ha! Now that we are married and have sweet babies, our New Years looks a bit different but is even more fun!

We started our evening getting dressed up to go out to eat!

The Hibachi grill was a fun, success! Adeline's first time going to one was on her first birthday.  She loves the entertainment and really enjoys the food!

Our plan was to go to new cupcake shop but they were close. So we moved our dessert plans to another local dessert shop and enjoyed chocolate mousse cake and chocolate cheesecake, as well as cold glasses of milk! Adeline shared and I think the chocolate pushed her over the New Years celebrating edge! ;) She was a bit wild and had so much fun loving on her best friend, Anna.

Once we were home, we spent the evening chatting to Justin's parents (Adeline's Gee and Pawpaw) on Skype since they are in Florida for the winter already.  After letting Adeline play, we put her to bed and Justin and I watched Batman and the New Years' Eve festivities including the ball drop.

We've spent today as a family! We went to brunch at Cracker Barrel and have had a lot of fun relaxing and playing at home today!

pre-nap snuggles

Happy New Year from us to you! 

May 2013 be a blessed year for you, full of God's grace and blessings!

2013 Goals (First Half)

I've decided to set goals by month for 2013.  I'm pulling from areas where I really want us to work on as a family and I want to work on personally.

January-Read (at least) a verse a day

I've been slacking big time on my quiet time.  And God comes first.  Period.  Before everything needs to get in order, my personal time with God needs to get in order.  It helps me be a more patient, grace-filled person.  It makes me a better wife. A better mommy.  And just a more fulfilled person.

February-No eating out month

This is the are of our budget we struggle the most.  This won't count our once a week eating with my family since that's a tradition we tend to do with them weekly.  Hoping this will really help us save some money and be healthier as a family!

March-Blog every day month

I started this blog back in August of 2009 as a creative outlet for me. I have always had a passion for writing, so this blog has been that outlet for me and to hold myself accountable to actually write.  Since Adeline, it has become more of a way to document our family life.  It was such a blessing to have her monthly posts to print out and have at her first birthday.  So my goal is to get back into blogging more frequently for all those reason.

April- Track all our spending month

This is to help us with our budget and help us to get back on track with our Dave Ramsey money management. 

May- No computer/iPad/smart phones after 9:30 month

This one's for our marriage.  So we will actually spend the evenings after bedtime, when we are just hanging out on the couch, to communicate and connect! 

June- Pray together as a family every day month

I am such a believer in the power of prayer.  I think it's so valuable for families and couples to pray together.  I always pray with Adeline at bedtime, but we need to better about praying together as a family and a couple.

My hope is that these goals will start to filter into the rest of 2013 as we accomplish them monthly. Nothing too lofty. Totally doable. And very valuable to our family.

our 2012  New Years baby...

just close to 2 months...

oh the difference a year makes!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

Joy to the world!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...

May you have a blessed time celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Adeline {13 months}

Adeline's First Birthday Party!

Adeline's first birthday party was such a fun time! We celebrated with close family and friends in our home the Saturday before she officially turned one.  We had a Chilli Bar with all the fixings, yummy finger foods that included many of Adeline's faves, and a cake table with lots of fun desserts and cupcakes. 

Adeline was the life of the party and we wouldn't have expected anything else! She was a bit shy at first and clung to her grandpa, but quickly warmed up when she realized everyone was watching her and there to play with her.  She even topped it all off by taking her first official "big girl" steps in the kitchen at her party.  We joked that she just wanted to wait and let everyone see.

She was such a dainty little thing as she ate her cake...using just one finger most of the time to dig into it.  She seemed to enjoy the finger foods before more than the actual dessert part.  She did enjoy her first tastes of ice cream!

I had collected items for quite a while here and there when I liked something (and it was on sale ;)...but I knew that I wanted her party to be bright and cheerful...just like she is.  A couple days before the party when I was singing a nightly song to Adeline, This Little Light of Mine...I thought..."that's it!" She already shines so much light and joy to everyone around her, that we just know that God's light will continue to shine brightly through her sweet, spunky, bubbly personality the rest of her life.

It was a wonderful time and it could not have been more fun.  Most of all...sweet Adeline Grace enjoyed it so much...and what more could a party-planning Momma ask for?

I asked my little bro (who is great with a camera) to snap pictures during the party so that I could just enjoy and take in the party.  I am so, so glad I did this! There were way too many pictures that I loved to choose...so enjoy a slideshow of the party pictures below!

(Another post is coming with party details soon!)

Christmas Blog Swap! (Link-up)

It is officially Christmas time!!

I am so excited about celebrating the birth of our Savior, decorating the house, participating in all the fun traditions, and experiencing all the joys of this season with our sweet Adeline!

As if that isn't enough reason to be excited... you now have one more thing to get excited about!

Some of my amazing bloggy friends turned "real-life" friends and I are going to host a fun
Christmas Blog Swap this year!!

Who we are:

Me here at The Blessed Life
Allie @ Living the Adventures
Mallorie @ Happy Home
Natalie @ Extraordinary Love
Beth @ My Life More Abundant

Details:

-One the link-up is over, we will pair you up with another blogger and contact you so that you all can get the mailing info you need

-Anyone in the U.S. is welcome to join (if you are not in the US and would like to participate please email one of us- if there are others out of the country that email us, we will pair you up)

-$10 spending limit- anything Christmas-y :) 

-Link up! (You will be contacted by one of us with your partner in this swap)

-Ship gift no later than December 10th

-After you receive your package we will host another link up from December 11th-17th where you can post all of the goodies you received!!
-Most of all, HAVE FUN

and ...

The more the MERRIER!

Feel free to grab the picture above to add to your blog to get the word out.
Don't forget to link-up!

MERRY (EARLY) CHRISTMAS!