Good Bye 2015

Our girls enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

 

 (Cousins!)

And Audra turned 13 months old!

I must say, though filled with many moments of joy, 

2015 was not a good year for me.  

For us.  

I am looking forward to seeing it go - and moving onto 2016! 

Happy New Year!

May it be full of Blessings!

Merry Christmas!

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  John 1:4

Crisis Averted!!

Yesterday, while Audra and Dinah were taking a nice afternoon nap, Eloise and I finished up her schooling and decided to surprise everyone by making homemade graham crackers. She was at the mixer and I turned and stepped a couple of feet away to grab the last ingredient to pour in... we were chatting and apparently she'd turned to talk to me. When I looked up, her eyes got HUGE! 

 

 Her little curly ponytail had caught in the mixer and was winding around and around! I bolted to turn the mixer off (it's amazing how easily you forget which side the on/off switch is on when you're in a panic!). I could feel myself start shaking as I looked at her precious, wild hair wound up in the mixer. I didn't want to call and concern Cory (who would, without a doubt, panic worse than me)... so I did what any daughter does if she is able... well, first, I took a picture (of course)... then I called my mom. She got a little chuckle in and then asked if I'd tried taking the beater off. (*FACE PALM!*) Thank the Good Lord above... it worked! Very little hair was lost in the process... Eloise was very upset and didn't want to continue or get anywhere near the mixer. I hugged her, put her hair up in a bun and assured her that it wouldn't happen again (I hope!) and we decided that we'd go ahead and finish making the graham crackers. And while rolling them out we only found one hair! Haha!! (Thanks Mom!!!)

 

Poor Eloise is still pretty traumatized by it! She keeps apologizing! I tell her that it was just an accident. I didn't give it a thought to step away to the other part of the counter for 5 seconds since she knows better than to stick her fingers in the mixer! Never did I think in a million years that her pony tail would get caught!  Lesson learned!  And if you have daughters with long hair... take note!!!

A Snoopy Party

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we hosted a small gathering to celebrate Audra's first birthday.  

If you visit my sister's blog, you may have already seen her post about it.  

I am going to share some pictures from the evening!  

It was a nice, simple party - homemade decorations, a few gifts, 

a yummy meal and some super-yummy cupcakes!  

Best of all, great company!

And a very special Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Audra!!

Audra Turns ONE!

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance 

until now to do a post about Audra's birthday!  

I can't believe my baby turned one on Thanksgiving!  

 

She has been such a joy!  

A feisty and quick little snap, she has quite the mind of her own.  

She knows what she wants and she does whatever she can to get it.  

Climbing on anything and everything she can manage.  

Pushing and pulling things to make her way around if she can't climb over.  

She is quite the mama's girl and likes to be held.  

Though there is a hitch to that.  

She likes to be held while walking around.  

The minute I try to sit and hold her, she will have none of it!  

We're working on that!  

 

Her favorite toy is her Mr. Bunny that she chews on, 

sleeps with and carries around during the day. 

She loves books, mostly to jabber at the pictures.  

If you sing a little diddy or turn on music, she immediately stops 

whatever she is doing to dance.  She is ALWAYS on the move.  

I mean, wow.  She is just one. busy. girl.!  

We love her fiercely and are so thankful for her sweet presence in our crazy lives!