I enjoy taking pictures. I enjoy scrapbooking. I enjoy the hours that I can spend at a desk hand cutting and assembling my girls’ life onto pages. The problem really is that I do not feel I have the time for that. My last full page in an album is Megan’s 1st birthday. And only because I skipped from month 4 to one year. Audrey has hundreds of photos organized in iPhoto, but not a single print has been made. (Okay, maybe 2 for frames) I feel behind. I feel guilty. I feel full of intentions but left with nothing to show at the end of another year.

After browsing a bit, I found Project Life. I am excited about this. My husband rolled his eyes wondering why I can spend $39 whenever I want, but he has to ask permission to go to lunch. But deep down, he wants our lives documented. I know he does. The basic idea is to capture a photo a day and journal about it. The designs are done for you and you can add as little or as much to it. I want to capture those everyday things. That messy room after Megan has been quiet for 1 whole hour. That smile that is missing a few teeth. And that face covered in Oma’s famous spaghetti sauce. I don’t want to just frame those photos that capture the cuteness of my child on a certain day, but I want to frame all the moments that make up that child.

Since the kit is on back order right now, I am keeping the photo and journals on my computer. (I will  probably do it that way anyway.) When I get a few weeks done, I will post some photos for you. But for now, here is my examples for day 1 and day 2 of January.

* Alyssa is so much like her Daddy sometimes. She created these letters by herself, and of course spelled something sweet. Thank goodness I have an empty spot on the mantle for her to showcase her work. *

* I found this pattern online and I was excited to see it in the mail. I absolutely love this dress and can’t wait to get started on one for Megan and a version of it for Audrey and maybe even Alyssa. Now for fabric.*

This year’s Christmas story was read by Papa and we tried to act it out with our little people. Each year we think of a better way to do it (like last year I glued all the garb on each person) and next year we need a board. Alyssa and Megan took their turn retelling the story and it makes my heart feel good to hear them tell what they know to be truth.

Christmas morning we did stockings and gifts, a big breakfast, Christmas lunch and all rested with the Polar Express. It has been a great Christmas and we were all sad to see Nana and Papa leave today. More Pics

My parents came up to spend Christmas with us this year. It has been fun doing a lot of the holiday activities together. Today we cut out the cookies that we have made all my life and tomorrow we will decorate them.The girls enjoyed helping Nana this year, and I enjoyed not having to do it all myself (or at all really).

We also bundled up and visited Opryland Hotel. We walked through all the decorations, begged for a boat ride and/or a carriage ride, enjoyed a close-up view of the fountain show and ended the late evening with ice cream. The fun just never ends.

Two new videos of Audrey Lynn. This was her first take at her cake on her actual birthday. She did about the same for her party, but this is the unedited experience of watching her devour the cake.

Then the progression of learning to walk. This starts when she was about 11 months old and she is still falling down at 13 months old.  But she has her own new pair of shoes and usually tries to walk when she wants to go somewhere.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving this year with the Whaley side in Austin, TX. It should have been an easy trip. Fly out Wed and fly home Sat, allowing for most of the weekend to recoup and get ready for school again. However, since Alyssa had the flu the week of and Megan awoke with an ear infection the night before the 8am flight, we had to change plans. After a little disappointment, we decided to just cancel the flight and spend the holiday at home. But with all the family getting together, we didn’t want to miss it. So we packed up the car for the 14 hour trip. I feel like we are pros at this by now, so it wasn’t too bad.

We enjoyed a few days with Ethan’s family and his grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was definitely worth it. The best part was putting the kids in bed and playing games with the family. If we weren’t playing, we were at least all sitting together playing on iPhones.

Only a few from the family missing.

Grandpa’s 80th and Audrey’s 1st.

All the Whaley cousins

We are one week into this one year old thing. Audrey has successfully moved to whole milk, but we are working on the cup vs. the bottle. Amazing how with that first child, I was so focused about getting her where she needed to be at the right time. This time the bottle is so easy, so why sit there with her forcing the cup? She has always been a good sleeper and continues to do about 11-12 hours at night and still takes 2 naps a day. She loves to eat. I can spend 5 minutes cutting up green beans, chicken, and some fruit and put it on her plate thinking – “ok, that will last for a bit, I will get my lunch now. ” Nope. This girl can scarf it down. She is in the 25% weight, which I will totally take, and she is off the chart in height. She is over 2 inches taller than Alyssa or Megan at one year. She can stand on her own from the floor and takes a few steps, but prefers to crawl still. Again… first kid I would have cared. And I had to stretch the truth when they asked me if she can say two words. Come on,  two words… surely she can say two words… Dada and… Does va-va count? She is a joy. She is happy. She is funny. She copies my laugh, she roars like a tiger. She gives open-mouthed kisses, and loves LOVES her stuffed bunny. I think this is the high life. These next months are my favorite and I hope I can truly enjoy them for what they are.

We had a little party for Audrey last week and here are some pics from the occasion. Like I said, she likes to eat!

From I Love You So…

…I love you as BRILLANT
as each sparkling star,
and as WAY OUT as space,
I love you THAT far.

I love you as GIGANTIC
as a great lion’s roar,
and as DEEP as the ocean,
I love you MUCH more…

You’re my SWEETIE, my dear,
my SMILE and laughter.

You’re my PLAYMATE for always,
and my JOY ever after.

Happy Birthday to my littlest girl.

More awesome pics by Amanda Mankin.

That’s right. We are all superheros. I had planned out a great idea for costumes. The two little ones were going to be home-made hand-me-down costumes that I was very proud of. So I just had to think of something for Alyssa. Well, as it turns out, she can think on her own now. Dang! And she picked Super Girl. Well, then of course, Megan doesn’t want to be a puppy, she wants a superhero too. Then Bat Girl is born. Now there can’t be any fun unless Audrey too is one and Dad comes up with The Flash. Then he stops by Hobby Lobby on the way to work one day (how cute is that) and we all now are superheros. It was a lot of fun putting them together. All pics

Here are some others of my almost ONE year old.

And since I am a words of affirmation type person, here is my Halloween dessert. After the photo, Ethan decided the pumpkin patch needed a gum drop fence. I love him like that.

I really don’t like to do this, but realized that I have not put photos up in awhile. If you didn’t notice, well, this blog isn’t for you. I know some people that check daily to see their beautiful granddaughters. Daily may be too much. Just kidding. It’s not. Just kidding. It is. Really.

Megan, is well… Megan. There are no words to describe her other than herself. She is three. Loud. Moody. But immaginative. Hysterical. Unlike her sister in many ways, but just like her in others. God is so creative. She doesn’t want to go to school in the morning, but jumps right out of the car and comes back happy. Who knows what really goes on in there. She likes to play anything from pretend animals to Wall-E and Even. Mostly follows her big sisters directions, and in turn gives them to her little sister.

Audrey is almost one. She is everywhere and into everything, but not walking. She eats like no other I have raised. I had to give her some chocolate cake one night after dinner because she did such a good job with her green beans and I thought she needed a treat. She loves to play whatever her sisters are playing, which drives one of them crazy. She gets parented by 4 people in the house. She cannot sleep without her “nuffle bunny”. She does the roar of the tiger, says DaDa, BaBa, waves and the occasional MaMa. But she is darn cute.

And that leaves Alyssa. She is 6, in 1st grade. She loves school. She excels. She can totally entertain herself with a book, like most of the Whaleys. She has lost three teeth. She plays, but doesn’t love, soccer. She thinks maybe “it isn’t the sport for me.” Too bad, mom and dad say it is right now. She is affectionate, nurturing, and kind. She can still throw a fit like a 3 yr old, and get her feelings hurt very easily. She has several buddies in the neighborhood that she wants to play with daily. She obeys and is the one I can control when chaos comes knocking at my door. She is the one who will cuddle, give one more hug, and generally be anything you need her to be. Am I blessed with these girls or what?

After school work with the girls. Megan has started tracing her letters. Alyssa watched her do it and was so excited that Megan can “write” now. Now we just need to teach her how to hold the marker.

(Yes we have a bird sanctuary in the backyard)