Jilli-Bean

 

 

 

This weekend i was a lucky woman.

I got to take photos of Jillian. And i took LOTS of photos of Jilli-Bean, too.

Jillian is Luke and Rachel's yummy daughter.

She's nine months old and is one of the most beautiful babies that i've ever seen.

From the top of her head to her cute toes, this little one is a doll.

But i'm only sharing these three photos because i haven't shared all of the photos with her Mommy. I think that these three are my favorite photos from the weekend.

I think they are my favorite....no, maybe the other one where she's got this ginormous pink bow....or the one where she's trying to kiss her Dada....no, maybe the one of her giggling....

It was hard to pick just three photos to share!

Paint + Canvas

Since i saw the sign for "Paint + Canvas", i've been wanting to visit them. I knew that i would more than likely have to go alone, but i was okay with that. In fact, i was actually excited about going alone. That way, i wouldn't look at my neighbor's painting trying to copy and make sure that mine was better like i was five years old and i would pay attention to mine.

The class was a small one. Which i was thankful for as i was pretty sure that i would paint like i draw: horribly. But Amy (the instructor and owner) was awesome. She would walk the room, talking and giving hints, explaining the different brushes. I think that what surprised me the most was that in a class of five people, all five paintings were different. The five paintings were all of trees, but each tree was different.

Another surprise was just how relaxing it was to just paint. To get lost in the colors and the canvas and just create. While my tree wouldn't win any "First Time Awesome" awards, it's a keeper and will be hanging in my laundry room where i'll be sure to see it because it seems that i spend a lot of time there on most days .

My next visit to Paint + Canvas is next Monday.

We're doing the Snowman.

YAY!

Snow Day Photos....

The Word for 2011....

....that i decided on was the word "JOY".

The idea is to pick a word that you want to 'define' your upcoming year instead of having a bunch of resolutions. We did three resolutions as a family, but i still wanted a 'word' for the upcoming year. It actually wasn't hard to pick this word as i seemed to keep 'running into it' over the past few months, starting at a MOPS meeting.

One of our mentors gave a devotion on JOY and explained what the letters in JOY stood for. I had never heard of the word 'standing' for anything other than it's definition. JOY, it seems, stands for:

Jesus
Others
Yourself

Our sweet mentor gave the the wooden J, O, Y letters she used in her devotion. Those letters are hanging on my board in my laundry room because, you know, the laundry room seems to be "my" room of the house, so i put up a bulletin board to hang stuff on.

A friend sent me a small notebook for Thanksgiving. On this notebook was my word, JOY.

On my cute silver Christmas tree, was my word JOY that Emma picked up while we were in Target together.

There has to be a message in this word, not only for me, but for others. It's an easy word to remember, but what it stands for is so powerful. As a Mommy, my "order" seems to be:

~Emma
~Emma
~My husband
~Stuff i want to do
~God
~Me.

Not exactly what it should be, is it? It's almost like God is an after thought for me some days or He gets a quick prayer or good morning/goodnight/i'm thankful during some days. I'm sure that God doesn't like this....in the book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan calls this "leftovers" for God.

btw, if you haven't read Crazy Love, please, please take the time to read it. It is an amazing, hard on your soul, book to read but it will change your heart in ways you can't imagine. I have a copy if someone needs to borrow one, just know that i've underlined and written all over my copy.

And so, JOY it is.....unlike last year, i've not figured out what my word "Run" was all about. But, it did make me think and maybe that's a good thing for a Mommy to do when she's not running around in circles.

JOY.

It's a good word.

January 6....

....has been one of my worst and best days since 2007. It is a day that i dread like no other and yet it is a day that my heart feels thankful. I often don't know how to "mark" this day; it's certainly not a day that calls for celebration and yet, well, it is a day that calls for celebration. It's just hard to celebrate when your heart still aches. I usually start this day off either recieving or sending a text to the one person who i knows and feels the same way about this day: my sister.

My Mama died on this day at 7:30 am from cancer.

Of all of the not-so-good days i've had in my life, well, this day ranks number 1.

Of all of the good days i've had in my life, well, this day ranks number 1.

I miss my Mama more than i can ever put into words. I miss her voice, her laugh, her off-key way of singing, her beauty, her love of food and cooking and most of all, i miss her phone calls that came often. I miss her love of the holidays and how she would bake special things and cook favorite things for my sister and i. I miss her presence in my life and it hurts my heart that she is not physically present in my daughter, Emma's life. Because, oh, how they would have loved each other....

...and this is what makes this day such a not-so-good day for me.

I am thankful that my Mama isn't in pain anymore. I'm thankful that cancer, that horrible bastard of a disease, is gone from her body. I'm grateful that she is done will pills, chemo, radiation, loosing her hair, being sad, and watching life though her big bedroom window, wanting desperately to be healthy again so she could be with her grandchildren. I am grateful and thankful that she is with her mother, her father, her brother, her older sister and best of all, she is in heaven with God.

And that is what makes this day, well, a bittersweet, good day for me.

I miss you so very much, Mama....so very much.

Love you still so very much,

~"Annika"

"The Designer Blog"....

I somehow stumbled across "The Designer Blog" this afternoon. I spent a lot of time on their blog before i noticed that they have a "freebie" section.

Yeah. I loovvveee meee some freebies!

And then, i noticed that they are having a give-a-way!

I've always wanted to have my blog "done" professionally. I do okay at it, but, well, lets just say that having someone who knows what they are doing, do my blog would be a dream come true.

They are giving 30% off their services of custom and pre-made designs for your blog till January 31st. But the best part?

Designer Blog is

GIVING AWAY THREE BLOG DESIGN GIFT CERTIFICATES of $30, $50 and $70!!!

Doesn't just one of those certificates have my name on it? Oh, yes, you can order, too, but i'm really pulling for me to win, not you....just kidding you have to go and leave an entry at their blog.

So, hit the button above and go visit them. Really, i promise that you won't be sorry!

The Flower Girl...

It was hard to call Emma the "Flower Girl". I wanted to call her the "Flower Child" (yeah, i know, that doesn't work) or the "Flower Baby" but none of those fit. I kept hearing my voice scream in my head "But she's NOT a Flower GIRL! She's a Flower BABY!"

But looking at these photos, well, you can see that she isn't a Flower Baby. She's not even a Flower Toddler no matter how hard i try to convince myself that she is 'maybe' a Flower Toddler.

The truth is, Emma was the very pretty Flower Girl at Haley and Mike's wedding.

Haley is the oldest daughter of one of my best friends, Janice and her husband, Burt. Mike, the groom, is in the military, who after a tour or two in Afghanistan, is now stationed in New York. Haley, bless her heart, has never really driven in the snow or has ever really been too far away from her little town home. It is fun to see their lives start together and to see how they and their families have come together to know and love each other.

But back to the Flower Child Girl....

I was worried that Emma would be "the" reason that folks remembered Haley and Mike's wedding. Because, face it, at 3 1/2, well, being a Flower Girl can be a lot of stress. But Haley and Mike's wedding will be fondly remembered in years to come due to a very, very beautiful bride, a handsome groom and the love that they have for each other. The love from their family and friends surrounded them on their day. It truly was a beautiful day for Haley and Mike and their families.

And that's just how a pretty wedding in a little country church in Georgia should be remembered.

NOTE: Only two photos of the above were taken by me (the one of Emma and Robert walking away and her eating a snack). The others were taken by Lauren Sanders and Melinda Ragan.

Ways to be...

...more like Emma.

1. Giggle in your sleep. A lot.

2. Sing. Any time. Any where. And at the top of your lungs.

3. Say "wuff you" for no reason.

4. Remember to bless the "twress" and "da sun" during your prayers.

5. Slurp your milk while eating cereal because "it so gooob". Ask others (who you don't know, btw) to also slurp their milk.

6. Run around in your panties as often as your mother will let you.

7. Kiss your toys often and with mushy kisses. Lick your Mom with kisses.

8. Ask for Cheerios so you can look through the Cheerio hole and scream "I see you!"

9. Ask to see "Ms. Jwanice" and "Msss. JoJo" at least a hundred times a day.

10. Ask to go home often, because you miss your 'stuff'.