Christmas 2011 Part II: I have an AWESOME family!

Our celebrations continued long after the holiday.

For the first time in 3 + years, almost all of my cousins got together! We had fun when we were kids, of course, but turns out we have a BLAST as adults!

Here are the three girls with Grandma:

And my cousin, uncle and Michael.
He fits right in.

Turns out cooking for 20+ people isn't easy...

...but is lots of fun!
Here are all but one of the "greats." Anna isn't good at sharing and stole the doll from the girl in purple very first thing. sigh.

Riley is so cute! And he takes photos at my house because I shamelessly bribe him!

My dad and his bros!

And us grand kids behaving:

Here is grandma with her grandsons and great grand kids:

And, of course, the whole group!

We tend to be very, very serious.

After the big family shin-dig, we had some "like family" friends over.

The mama is one of my oldest friends. Here are our babes playing:

I didn't catch it on camera, but they each held an end of the blanket and played "peekaboo" with each other. It was too cute. Other than that, they stole each other's toys. That's 1 year old's for ya!

These two were some what uncooperative in their photo-taking:
The toy-sharing. Anna stole the one in Jackson's hand moments later.
Sigh. Fun times, though. And lots of good memories!

Life Through A New Lens

A few weeks ago, my DH decided I needed a camera upgrade and bought my early Christmas/birthday gift: an SLR!

Needless to say, the clicking hasn't stopped.

Know what else hasn't stopped? Little Miss Perpetual Motion.
But now, I have a fast action lens to catch her:

The first night I had the new camera, a couple of Anna's friends came over to play...

Giving me the chance to catch them posing..

and being boys!

It was fun to start playing around with different shutter speeds...

...and just generally watching them play through the lens. I'm thinking she can hold her own.

These little guys adore her and are so sweet!

How cute is this??

Sweet Ty gave her several squeezes (if you ask him who he's going to marry, he immediately responds "Anna"! He's three.)

This is a pretty common look for her. Intent with some snack in hand.

Love these kiddos!

One-derful

It was a day I knew would come...and I as much as I willed it not to...I was sort of looking forward to it.

I knew she would love a party. She's an active, social little gal and lots of people and kids and snacks are right up her alley.

We prepped the house and iced the cakes and put her in the perfect outfit and she was a doll. Our little one-year, 12-month, 365 day-old doll.

Mama sniffled and reminisced and spent a good 36-hour period thinking, "a year ago at this time, I was feeling my first contraction."

"A year ago at this time, we were in recovery."

"A year ago...."

And on it went.

Until I snapped out of it and into celebration mode.


'Cause when the good Lord blesses you abundantly, I think that's a cause for celebration! Praise and thanksgiving of course. And celebration.

She sat still long enough for ONE photo, then was off and running.



After ample playtime, we did cake. Dad did the honors...

...and she enjoyed several handfuls of buttercream icing, before I decided it was time to stop.

The "Happy Birthday" singing crowd caused her eyes to widen a bit, but she took it in stride.

There were lots of cuddles...

and friends and presents...

... and during the chaos of gift bags that were taller than she and big(ger) kiddos clammoring "Anna, open mine!" she bolted.

Just up and left and went outside to play...

...while the other kids enjoyed opening her gifts! :)

The party also happened to fall during a certain game (we won) so the re was a wardrobe change mid-party so the birthday girl was game-ready.

Here she snuggled her little buddy. Lately, she gives hugs. Seriously solid, open-armed, head-resting on your chest for a second embraces. It's adorable and she was generous that day.

It was a great day to celebrate our girl, the blessing that she is and the fact that we've retained our sanity after a year of parenting!

This life? It's fun. I can't wait for many more years of party's celebrating my sweetie.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His
face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you
and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Kiddos

This friend's husband...
....is SUCH a great photographer!

The other day, these two played...

...shared toys....

...and relaxed, being cute!~
This girl loved cruising around...
...and this darling little guy is so cuddly!
Though Anna only tolerates having her mama hold another baby for a short time, before she insists on reclaiming her position. :)