29 December 2010

[ eleven months ]

Happy 11 Months to my baby boy! I can't believe we're about to say goodbye to the year that holds your birth day. The year we welcomed you into our world. I'm not sure this Mamma is ready for that, but just like I wasn't ready to give up being pregnant, it's so much better to have you here! So I'm sure 2011 will be just as grand watching you and seeing you continue to grow, explore, and discover your wonderful world. Your eleven month "birthday" fell on Christmas Eve this year, so we got a few pictures of you in your Santa suit, in your glider, and with your usual chalkboard. :) This was the first month we wondered if we were going to have to take your picture while you were standing next to the chair instead of sitting in it. You don't sit still much anymore. Too much to take in! You must have finally decided that the ten months you sat quietly taking everything in and priding yourself in being a "wall flower" was enough, and it was time to explore! Your Daddy and I love you so very much Breck Reid. We have loved every stage of you. Newborn, quiet, stationary, reserved, observant, crawling, jabbering, silly, cautious, fun, teasing, vocal, gentle you. We are so honored God chose us to care for you. We've enjoyed every moment and look forward to so many more years of watching you blossom. You're a gift, my love. 
A gift from Heaven. 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! 
Psalms 127:3-5

Love Forever and For Always,
Mommy


Love this picture of your bottom teeth... 
You have two top teeth too, but they don't show for pictures much yet. :)


That's an ornament in your mouth... we had to give you something to keep you occupied for fear of you just standing up and jumping out of the chair while Mama was snapping away. 


Oooo, your pointing is just darling these days.


Wow, what a difference! Same glider, same Roger-Rog, same Breck, but just bigger!
 Here you were at a week old!


And a month old... 


It's been a blast to watch you become the little boy that you are... but I have to say my baby isn't a baby anymore, when I compare recent pictures to newborn pictures. Time flies too fast for sure. But, my baby boy will always be my baby boy, no matter what little lady walks into his life twenty years from now





[ go martha stewart or go home ]

One of the Christmas traditions that I look forward to every year is the Christmas baking weekend with my Mom-in-law. We are good and bad influences on each other. We both have the undiagnosed-attention-deficit disorder that constantly keeps us off track, plus we both posses the I-can't-decide-which-craft/recipe-to-make-so-let's-make-them-all-and-get-overwhelmed disorder! But once we finally got organized, we had a blast, regardless of our disorders! We made everything from Apricot crescents, to gingerbread cookies, to frosted sugar cookies, to snowballs (aka mexican wedding cakes), to chocolate carmel twisted pretzels, to cherry almond cups, to Orea bon-bons, to lemon pistachio cookies, to spritz cookies, to candied cherry coconut macaroons, to Oreo peppermint bark. We spent about twelve non-stop hours on our feet whippin' up these babies. Plus a few extra hours during the week because we just couldn't bring ourselves to finish out the last few batches after working from 10:00am-10:00pm. We were spent. But spent to our heart's content, because there is just something too charming and irresistible about a random spread of Christmas colors, shapes, and treats that makes your hears pulse your favorite Christmas carol. 

And behold... (Hear the angelic choir serenading these babies? I do! Aaaaaaah aaah!)





There's just something about these Nonpareils that are irresistible! Simply.








(Good job on the picture, Mom... )












This is what Daddy was busy doing... and boy did he pipe the prettiest shingles ever!


He melted jolly ranchers to make Christmas trees...




This is what baby boy was busy doing while Momma and Gramma were baking away...


Caught a little of this action and thought it was precious! 


Mixing bowl, mixing bowl on the highchair tray... who's the... well, nevermind. 

Until next years baking extravaganza...

Christmas pictures coming soon. I promise, promise, promise.



23 December 2010

[ merry christmas ]

I'm having withdrawals from not having the time to blog like I would like. It's been almost ten long days since I clicked that little publish post button. So many pictures to post my Christmas baking weekend tradition with MomB... boy do we have a charming spread of Christmas cookie treats. They. are. gorgeous!


And it's probably going to be another good week or so before I get another lengthy post up... we have a busy, but rich few days ahead of us!  We have a special friend, Andrew, here with us this Christmas, and we are looking forward to experiencing Breck's very first Christmas ever... how special! Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, we are hosting the Buckingham family for Christmas. Then we'll have our very first Christmas morning as our new little family, then head down to spend Christmas evening and a few days with my family!




Here's a wish from the Buckinghams hoping you experience the warmth and joy of the season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!


Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas. Love, The Buckinghams


I love these lyrics on Breck's Praise Baby Christmas DVD... such a powerful message:




Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world








15 December 2010

[ can't sleep thanks to joann & debbie ]

I should be making my way to bed right now, but I just got back from the most amazing shopping experience of my life with my Mom-in-law, and I can't seem to shut my mind off and unwrap it from the savings I experienced tonight.


It all started tonight when I got wind of a conversation that Mom was headed out to Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up something specific. Lately, it's becoming obvious that I just can't turn away an excuse to browse Jo-Ann's, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby. I think I'm becoming addicted to the fact that I might find a sheet of felt, or a button, or a new skein of yard I might want need. Anyways... while we were out she mentioned that she had a 30% off coupon for Kohl's if I wanted to use it on any Christmas gifts I needed to get. And she also threw in there that Kohl's is open until midnight. Seriously, Midnight. As we left Jo-Ann's, she said, Wanna go to Kohl's? The rest was history. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment-where-one-department-led-to-another-all-because-she-had-a-30% off-coupon kind of things, and it was somuchfun! We had a BLAST shopping our little buns off until MIDNIGHT! We didn't stop until they closed up shop! The savings were UNREAL! Man, she a professional shopper and taught me tonight how to get the biggest bang for my buck! I'm talking, I heard a jackpot chaa-chinng in my head every time I saw the savings total creep higher with each scan on the checkout screen. To get my point across, I'll give you real numbers. Like, my total savings... are you ready for this? Was: $567.24!!! AND as if that wasn't good enough... I got a $10.00 mail-in rebate + $45.00 in Kohl's cash!!! I regret that I ever made fun of a store that hands out such large sums of cash. Whew! 

And now, at 1:12AM, I'm still thinking about the goods, trying to ignore the urge I have to go wake up BrettRyan and show him everything I got in order to compare it to the money we saved! But I don't think he would find much joy in the total saved or total spent right now since he's up stairs catching some Zzz's. Plus, I can't spoil the surprise of his Christmas gifts! It's going to kill me to watch him wait another week before he can really appreciate the savings. I will refrain from waking him up and just try to shut my mind off because I know a little boy who's mind is going to be waking up too soon in a few hours! 







[ winter, you are so cruel ]

Oh my, Winter, you sure are pretty with your white snow and all, but you are the only season that spreads sick germs, causes the air to dry up, which then causes the skin around my fingers to crack and causes red, dry baby cheeks.

The boy is either sick again (I swear, thanks to the church nursery) or has a major case of teething, or both. I'm kinda thinkin both. Either way, he wants to nurse every five minutes, no doubt. And I find myself reaching for our little stash of sick staples constantly all the while Breck is downing the H2O.




And were would we be without Bearpo and Binky!?! 
Life with colds would be a whole lot worse that's for sure. 


Notice his red nose and dry cheeks? :(




He's always climbing up on me like this when he's not feeling well. :) 


Good thing we got a batch of baby soup cranked out today just in time for our sick baby boy.


All this is trivial compared to what it could be. I have been so thankful lately for our health. I'm so grateful that our baby boy is healthy and developing properly. I've heard so many stories lately of others around us that have had to face illnesses with their family or children. I realize nothing is guaranteed, because ultimately Breck is not mine, and he is the Lords, but I am honored as EVER though that God chose me to be the Momma, and I'm thankful for the health we are experiencing right now.  


13 December 2010

[ christmas smorgasbord ]

Before I dig into the Christmas smorgasbord I have prepared, let me just say... this boy pulled himself up to the window sill, pointed to his Daddy's picture, and said "Daada!" He knows his Daddy, for sure. Also! Breckazonis (this is the latest nickname that is spewing from my mouth every time I go to say his name? Not sure where that came from.) has four teeth now! His top two just peeped through within the last couple of days!


Now, on to the smorgasbord I promised. 

Appetizer, anyone?

Here's that Christmas craft euphoria I was referring to a few posts back... My friend who hosted it has the coziest home ever. She thinks of all the details when she decorates and hosts. The music, the coffee, the plates, the napkins, the twine around the napkins, the candles, the decorations, the favors she hands out at the end of the night... all play into what makes the evening so delightful and cozy. She was a great hostess and we had such a fun time, just Mommas, just relaxing, just crafting together! 

In my opinion, this is pretty much the coolest creamer dispenser ever manufactured, ever. And maybe one year for Christmas, preferably a year I haven't caused my husband to spend triple our Christmas budget to fix a corrupted harddrive to retreive my 10,000+ pictures, Santa could visit Macy's and bring me a cow creamer dispenser that pours creamer from the pursed lips of a cow. A-ma-zing.


If you don't enjoy drinking coffee out of this, then you don't know what's delicious in life.
 The mug is half the flavor.


Um, yumm.


B was overjoyed, after three long years of waiting for the right opportunity, to whip out her Snowman wine stopper and let him glow for her guests. Who wouldn't be overjoyed over this cute dude? He blinked and sparkled too! 

Seriously, every square inch of her house has something Christmas or ribbon. Love it.



It was a perfect night and much needed. Thanks B for a wonderful night with the girls! 
For some serious comedy, check her out here: www.sprinklesandwrinkles.blogspot.com


On to the entree of our Christmas weekend smorgasbord...


About twelve hours after crafting with the Momma's, I hosted them at our home for a little playdate action. I just have to say that I love hosting, because it means I have an excuse to drag out all of the pretty things that only get used for entertaining. Like this little piece of over-joy-ment for me. I have had these little ornament place card holders forever and have never used them before. Until playdate. I think I got them on clearance one year after Christmas, and they certainly work well this Christmas. And love that I get to use our Christmas berry dishes this time of year also... Mmm.




And I knew all of those glass jars that I'm obsessed with collecting, that my honey teases me about, would finally serve a purpose... pasta sauce jars, olive jars double as candle holders. A little glitter, tea light candle, and ribbon makes me happy! Can we say, cheap


He's been at it again. :) 
He's perfecting his skills, and making some very pretty mallows for all of our Christmas festivities. 
I just made that word up, and I love it. Marshmallatier. It think I'll talk to Merriam about that.


I was pep-talking him into sharing his toys before the babies came...


Um, Momma B made this frosty onesie for Mr. J! 
It looks precious on him, and those leggings are just too yummy looking! 






Oh, J Baby, you are so stinking beautiful handsome! 


And for dessert. And it's quite decadent, if I do say so myself. :)

I present, our first visit to see Santa! 


Completely candid and I love it. Taa-da! Breck and Daddy's matching hats! Breck's hat: Mommy's first knitting project, ever. Daddy's hat: Mommy's second knitting project. I love working in the rounds, what can I say? :) We couldn't believe how many people we heard "whisper" as we walked by, "Look at their matching hats!"


I must say, no place goes as far as the mall does to decorate for Christmas. 
Everything Christmas in the mall is always ten times bigger and fifty-five times more shiny than normal and I love it! Everywhere you look sparkles Christmas in the mall.  No matter how congested the parking lots are, no matter how many grouchy crowds we have to weave through, I will take my kids to the mall every year at Christmas even if it's just to see the enormous decorations.


He did great on Santa's lap! Just calm and relaxed, taking it all in. Santa was so nice and his beard was real! When we got ready to leave, Santa said to Breck, "See you next year!" 


Classic, classic, classic Breck! Priceless.




This is totally random, so brace yourself, but it was part of our mall experience and I want to cherish it, document it, and relive it, so deal with it. Wink, wink! Thursday evening, while I was busy crafting with the mamas, my honey was out browsing the mall with the other dads who were avoiding the crafty-ness. :) He came home and told me that he saw a picture of a model in a store window that looked just like me (I would like to add... "just like me, BUT --- MINUS eighty pounds, PLUS blonde hair, PLUS a few pounds around the chest area!) and he couldn't wait to show me. So when we went to check Santa out, we stopped by Vicky's to check her out! I have to say I was flattered because I could see the resemblance he was referring to, and at the same time I finally found the motivation I've been looking for to lose those eighty pounds, come January 2nd! Because if I did... this is what I could look like! Sweet! Also, I have to say... this is why I love my honey. He is NEVER drawn into the sleazy photos of women that are so frequently everywhere you look, on the television, in advertisements and magazines. The only time he notices them is when they look like me, seriously. Oh, I love him. He also thought this model in particular was pretty because she doesn't have the "trashy" look. Granted, she is clad in a bra, BUT she has a little bit more of a sweet look, than the come-get-me look that is usually plastered all over anything advertising. Ps. I think I even saw a scar on her nose when I first got a glimpse of her! 



This might be the closest I'll ever come! 
Wedding day hair photographed by: Carignan Gallery Check 'em here.


That smorgasbord was filling, but the two last pictures makes me want to go have a big glass of water, or eight, or a tummy tuck, liposuction, hair extensions, and a blonde job. 

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