Celebrations

My grandmother came down a few weeks ago to give us her presents.   The big kids were at school but the two little girls enjoyed some time with Ma and my aunt Lisa.  They were so sweet to bring gifts and we had fun showing them our home (they had not been to the new house yet).

Then last weekend, we celebrated with Jeff's family in Russellville.  It seems like our time with his family is always tainted with some sort of sickness.  I guess that is just reality with 4 children.  There is just always something! Anna Mitchell had the stomach bug, and Ellie Kate was acting like she was getting it too. We were only able to be there for 24 hours but the kids had a blast and got so many great gifts!  Thankfully, Jeff's parents will be able to join us at our house for Christmas Eve church service and dinner so we can have a little more time together.

Our kids with cousin Davis!

Aunt Jenny (who is pregnant -yay:) and Uncle Buddy with Annie! 

After presents and resting, they made sugar cookies!  

11 Months Old

Anna Mitchell, you are 11 months old today!  

I am in denial that you turn one next month. 

This first year has gone by in a blink.  

 You are such a delightful baby. 

I mean that.  

But, you are growing up too fast.

And FYI, you are starting to look just like your daddy now:).

 This month you have changed a lot.  You have 6 total teeth and are standing a lot by yourself for long periods of time.  Even today, you got up to the standing position from sitting without pulling up on anything.  Maybe you will be my earliest walker?  Your sisters didn't walk until they were 14 months old. 

You also had your first sickness this month last week.  It was the dreaded stomach bug, but you handled it well for the most part and it passed quickly.  At one point, I thought you might be dehydrated so I took you to the doctor since it was Friday.  We didn't want to end up in the ER on the weekend if something was wrong.  You weighted 18 lb 9 oz.  I'm sure you had lost some weight from throwing up, but you are still somewhat of a little bit.  Not many fat rolls on your cute little body.  

I love your personality.  You are still busy busy and now you are becoming very vocal using lots of sounds and really trying to talk to us. 

So far, it seems like you are pretty compliant.  You pretty much listen to us when we say no.  You really really really want to climb up our stairs but you know you aren't supposed to, so you will go stand at the bottom and just yell, like you are saying "just this one time, mom please!?". 

And surprise of all surprises you have pretty much stayed away from the Christmas tree! 

 You love to copy what we do and it amazes me what a baby can understand!  

Food is not your favorite and I don't know if there are many times that you actually finish a bottle.  I guess that's why you are small.  I also guess that's why you like to wake up around 5 am (give or take 30 minutes) every morning for 5 oz of milk.  You do go back to sleep thank goodness, but I do not like this little habit that started this month.   Mama is just at a loss for what to do because you scream and cry very loudly until we come in and give you a bottle. 

Clapping is your favorite.  You wake up clapping!  

We are so thankful for our baby.  Annie, you are such a light and source of joy for our family.  God knew we needed you!  I am so excited for your first Christmas and then your first birthday.  What a fun 11 months it's been!

You suck your finger...my first child to not suck their thumb.  By this time in the photo shoot you were done and so out came the finger.  It was also time for a ba-ba:). 

Annie, look at how much you've grown!!! Only one more square to fill.  That is so hard to believe! 

Christmas Tour 2012

I love decorating for Christmas.  The past few years, I've simplified a little and used a lot of natural elements like burlap and tree branches.  This year, we are in a new home, so I was even more excited about decorating and seeing how everything would fit and work out in the new space!  Our house is very different from our previous home.  It's pretty much the same size (besides having an extra bathroom which was much needed with 4 kiddos) but just laid out very differently so it just works so much better for us! We have truly loved it and are so blessed to be in this home and neighborhood!  We feel like we are just where God wants us to be!

So, anyway, here is our house all decorated for the holidays...

{front porch}

wreaths on the all windows with burlap ribbon.  it goes with the more rustic look of our house and i love it!

just a few pillows on the porch

Front door burlap stocking

 {Family Room}

 Our new house is just one big open room that includes the

 family room, kitchen, and dining room. 

We love it! 

Some day I'm going to use this pic for a post on how this room is decorated with hand me downs, heirlooms, and garage sale finds.  I'll go ahead and say pretty much the only thing we have purchased in here from a store has been the sofa, two lamps, and the tv.   And I'm pretty sure those were purchased with money from something I sold or birthday/Christmas money:)

Here are some close ups of some of the decor... 

 

I really love using the leftover tree branches to stick in random places throughout the house! 

There is just nothing more christmasy to me than the smell of fraser firs.  

 

This is by the front door and holds all our past Christmas cards.  

a pretty full mantle!

Our tree that I could just stare at for hours!  

This is the second year we've had a real one and I'm not sure we will ever go back to a fake one.  

I love looking at all the Christmas cards we have received! 

 

 My holder on the door ran out of room, so I had to start putting more in this little basket...

 Another nativity that I got on clearance a few years ago after Christmas. 

 {Dining Area}

Our new home only has one eating area besides the bar in the kitchen.

I love this.  It is so much more functional for our family! 

Again, things are pretty simple in here.  

You can see a tutorial on my DIY advent calendar hanging over the old windows HERE

Once again this room is full of family pieces, garage sale finds, and my awesome farmhouse table that I had someone build, but then I got to finish it.  You can see that post HERE

I had a hard time photographing this space but I just love the garland up in my chandelier. 

some of our Christmas village from Jeff's mom with some candy cane garland and our 2012 christmas card

I even added a bit of cheer into our {Master Bedroom} this year...

{Half Bath}

a good reminder of what Christmas is all about on the pretty plate! 

{Kitchen}

I didn't take a pic of the whole kitchen (oops)

Always love having little towels out except I have to pick these up a million times a day off the floor because a certain 10 month old loves to pull them off:)

{Kids Trees}

 {Back Covered Patio}

I had some extra decorations that I didn't know what to do with

 and then I realized I could decorate on the back patio.

This is where we walk through from the garage 

so it is fun to have something pretty to look at out here!

I think that's it!  I love looking back over these tours each year.  It's fun to see how my style evolves and changes.   This time of year is truly my favorite, and it's a wonderful time of celebrating and cherishing the ones we love.  This year, esepcially, we are focusing on Advent and what it means that Jesus came to earth for us.  We anxiously await his return and are so so so thankful for our Savior! 

Go check out more home tours at The Nester!