a little snow magic!

To me, there is nothing more magical than snow. Period. I love it! It makes me giddy. It makes me calm. It makes me praise the Lord on the spot. I knew today would be special due to the historical presidential inauguration, but adding snow to the morning made it even more so!

Luke and Charlie joined us as we were busy getting ready back in our bedroom this morning. When we walked out for breakfast, Luke asked why there was snow on our neighbors roof. Without looking at all, I assumed he meant frost. As I crossed by our front door though, I saw the snow pouring down!! I couldn't have been more excited! Seriously!! Snow does that to me--it makes my heart jump! Luke and I did a snow dance and ran to tell Daddy it was snowing.

Now, for all of our friends and relatives in the mid-west and up north---this was more of a dusting. Apparently snow flurries were predicted (though I was totally unaware) and while this was definitely more than flurries because we actually had snow covering the roofs and grass, this was still not a significant snow. BUT WHO CARES???? It was beautiful pouring down!

I needed to run to the grocery before Charlie's morning nap. Normally, with the slow pace little Luke is in on normal mornings, we wouldn't have made it. However, this morning, all I had to do was tell him if he ate quickly, we could actually drive in the snow!! Boy, that had him eating like he wasn't going to eat for another month! We finished breakfast lickity-split, went to the grocery and made it back in no time flat! He was as giddy as I was!

As soon as we got home, Luke was BEGGING to play in the snow. Again---there wasn't much, but he was insistent. He asked for me to get a sleigh (which we of course don't have), a snow shovel (again--don't have) and for me to make snow balls with him. The snow was powdery, so our attempts at a snowball were challenging. I went inside to unload the groceries while Luke continued to play. As I walked by the window, I saw Luke sit down in the snow. I was intrigued! Then he proceeded to lay down. Of course I ran to grab my camera and came back out to Luke telling me he was making a snow angel!! Adorable!!

After our mini-snow adventure, we made hot chocolate to warm up and watched the inauguration. Luke, who loves saying Barack Obama, was thrilled to have me explain the event. Initially he refused to call him President Obama and insisted he was Barack Obama, but we're working on it!

Luke wasn't blinking here. He was purely enjoying making a snow angel!!

Had to capture a picture. Could be Charlie's first and only snow this year!

Really wanting a sled---just for this! Too cute!

Just had to touch it with his bare hands!

9 months old!

Unbelievable!! Charlie is 9 months old! We had his 9 month appt. this week and our dr. seems pleased. Charlie's a little down in weight this month, (since he was sick for 6 weeks) but he shot up in length so he's now in the 50%. Our dr. told us to start finger foods--meaning not only Cheerios, but anything that we eat (minus the peanuts, honey, etc). We've been trying Cheerios and Veggie Puffs with Charlie for almost 2 weeks now and he's NOT interested in putting them in his mouth. He's great at using his thumb and pointer finger to pick them up, but if we help him along by putting it in his mouth, out comes the tongue and up go the hands to push us away!! This is all new for us since Luke loved food from the start. He was also putting anything and everything into his mouth at a young age. So, the transition to finger foods wasn't tough. If you have any ideas to get Charlie to eat, let us know! I know, I know, eventually he'll eat---we all do, right?? Still no crawling for Charlie. He's not quite able to get up on all fours yet. As much as I want him to hurry up and crawl---because crawling babies are so darn cute--I'm not ready for him to be mobile even more!! I still know I can leave him in one spot and he'll be there when I get back!

Here's Charlie's 9 month picture with his elephant. We've been taking a picture of him with his elephant every month to see how he's grown. Luke was VERY insistent that I take a picture of him with his animals too. He wanted to be in a picture---what a little ham!

I just had my shots---don't really feel like smiling for you Mommy. I have no problems with drooling though.

I want to be in a picture too, Mommy!!

the wonders of a bottle

Chad has been wanting Charlie to be able to feed himself for sometime now. I don't think for any reason other than to say he can do it! Some of our friends have twins the same age as Luke and when they were little (probably around 4 months--or at least it seemed that young) they could feed themselves! Chad was super impressed--and I was too--but our friends HAD to teach them to feed themselves for lack of hands!! If I had twins, I'd be teaching them to feed themselves too! I, on the other hand--at this point, have no interest in Charlie feeding himself. I like the cuddling and know that it won't last for long! Charlie though, suddenly seems interested in the bottle--as something separate from himself!

Oooh, this looks cool!

I can hold it by myself!

How does this work again?

Awwww, I'm so cute!

a fresh start--Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! With the holidays and lots of family time, it's been a couple of weeks since I've updated. Obviously my other blogging friends have been busy too---because you all need to update as well!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. The pure joy of the season and excitement from a 3 year old and almost 9 month old was priceless! I can't believe the Christmas season is already over though and a new year has begun. I get excited at the beginning of a new year--thinking about what's in store for us. I finally bought my new planner/agenda today and spent some time logging in birthdays for the year and already filling up January with appts., etc. As I looked back at 2008, I noticed my dr. appts. for our Charlie to be and the big DUE DATE in April. What a fun year it was! We definitely won't be having a DUE DATE circled in 2009 (well I guess technically we could---but it's NOT in our plan anyway), but there are still fun things ahead.

As always, when I get a fresh start to something, I want to get organized. So, that's one of my goals at the beginning of 2009. My sweet mother/father in law gave me a gift card to the Container Store for Christmas, and though we don't have a store in Memphis, I've been perusing the catalog for a jump start to getting organized. My husband even forwarded me an article about bringing order to our home in 2009. It definitely helps to have people supporting my goal!

I also have a LOT of books I want to read this year. I wonder how I will do that with all of the Spring shows coming on (24, American Idol, Scrubs, etc)?? Our minister, Sandy Willson, encouraged us today to dive into The Word this year. Start somewhere in the Bible and dig deeper than we have before----instead of wasting time on mindless garbage such as some of the shows we watch on TV. Truly convicting! I definitely want to dig deeper this year!

I also want to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, sister in law, daughter in law, friend, etc. I know I cannot do this on my own. However, I am encouraged to know that if I live to serve the Lord, then these things should fall into place. This is not to say I won't fail, I will---we all will, but how wondeful to know that the Lord still LOVES us even when we do fail. He picks us up everytime!!

Oh, and I have a million other things I want to do this year. . .finish Charlie's scrapbook, cook more, start running again (I haven't run since the half-marathon), take vacations, etc. I know by February this exciting, momentum of a fresh start will begin fading, but feel free to keep me accountable! Ask me how I'm doing on any number of the things I've listed and tell me what your goals are for the New Year too!!