Friday, January 31, 2014

2014 is here....a month of January recap

The beginning of a new year.  Such promise of restart, of new vision, and a little terror of the unknown of the year to come. Welcome January!
The girls had a blast at our friend's, Myia's, princess birthday party.  Complete with dress up clothes and jewelry.  Shiloh sported a Mr. T start up kit. 
I love the expression on their faces!
Shiloh was very excited that she could to take home some jewelry.  My bald beauty!
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Beach has coffee duty at church once a month.  Recently Zoe has gone early to help him.  She is so excited about this, even dressing herself to get ready before coming into our room in the morning.  She gets to ride in daddy's work truck and holds his hand the whole way there.  How precious! 

I love this picture because even though it is blurry, it still captures how much fun she is having helping her daddy.
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It started months ago, when a shirt got stuck on one of the girls heads, that I laughed and told them to go show daddy.  Now they do it almost everyday, running away from me mid change!  May even have to start a new fashion style with it!

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We sure are blessed to have a daddy that loves and cares for his girls!
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A quick belly shot = Ezra at 7.5 months

I have never been this big....it's still a struggle many days.
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My girls and their sweet/funny faces!
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Shiloh enjoys coloring and making lists like her mommy.  Looks like we don't have to worry about another lefty.
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My dad took Shiloh to the library for toddler time one day during the week I took off of work.  It was special to have some time with just Zoe, as this never seems to happen...ever.
We were able to put a 4ft princess puzzle together.  Shiloh would have never allowed this to stay in one piece. Zoe was pretty patient and enjoyed it.
Afterwards, though, she asked me why I didn't help.  I suppose she didn't see all my prompting and explaining as "help" :-)
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It's dress up time around here pretty much everyday.
What's up with Zoe trying this head tilt thing (and Shiloh always playing along looking like she is going to fall over!)?
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Small group at our house is full of littles running crazy.  We just started hosting our own in the fall.  So there is still a large learning curve for us!
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We always enjoy seeing my parents at least once a week for family dinners.  It's really cute seeing the girls playing and interacting more together.
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Two little Loves in a hoodie.  Dress up is fun even in daddy's clothes.
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I must say that I love SC weather, where we can have warm(ish) sunny days on the weekend with snow days in the middle of the week.
We try to take advantage of each and enjoy play dates!
And sometimes play to long!
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Shiloh is obsessed with my baby belly.  If I'm changing and she sees it, I have to watch out because I know those cold hands of hers are coming my way!  She is constantly talking to the baby, calling him by name, to "come on" as she tries to move him around and giving him many kisses.
Here she had her own baby "pooh bear" in her belly!
I'm curious to see how they will do when the real deal is here soon!  Time just keeps ticking away!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

The great Snowcropolis of 2014

I'm pretty sure we get snow about every other year here in Columbia (if we are lucky)....so it's been awhile and Zoe doesn't really have much recognition of such since her early days.  I was excited to see her excitement....as it doesn't take much to get his little girl going!  And work cancelled for the day (after I took the previous week off too!)...what a bonus!
The first day it was calling for an afternoon snow.....but it didn't show up until bedtime....but we did make a special fire.  For some reason when Zoe saw that I was going to take a picture, she posed this way, stating she was praying....I'm not sure the connection for her but pretty sweet at any rate.
Daddy taught them how to warm their feet by the fire.  
The next morning I awoke to a text that my work (finally) decided to cancel and several inches of snow.  It was amazing....I don't think I have ever been so excited for weather.
Of course with daddy home we had to start the day off right with an amazing breakfast!

And coffee!  Ok steamed milk with cinnamon for the girls....which they always request from daddy.
Of course there was drama with getting dressed, as Zoe does not like to wear her coat or boots.  She always insists that she likes to be cold and then quickly changes her mind when faced with the elements (always seeming to forget the next time around).
After tears (and my hormones) calmed down we finally made it outside. 
Beach brought out the cookie trays to try "sledding" on the small hill in our yard.
It didn't work to well but my little girl and my big boy enjoyed it.  Shiloh just watched.
After trying to pick up some snow, I realized that we weren't going to last long without any gloves.  I searched the house and was unsuccessful, but did find some baby mittens for the girls that worked well enough to keep them warm.
My 8 month preggo self trying to make a snowball.
We wondered onto the golf course to find larger hills.  (Looking back at our house.)
Our neighbor came with us and the boys had fun.
And somehow Beach managed to do a few flips off his little tray.
We then found a larger hill and more people out and about, and Zoe just LOVED it!
Shi was not a fan of all the cold.  So after being demanded to be held for awhile, and my back kept telling me that was not a good idea, she and I headed inside.  She lasted a good hour though.
Daddy sure does love his girls!
We continued the day with naps and anther warm fire.  I think I could get used to working out and doing yoga in front of the fire.
Daddy made Zucchini spaghetti (you can check out how to make such an awesome healthy meal here) and the girls loved it and ate it up quickly.  (This is a miracle in itself!)
Sooooo we had time for popcorn and a quick show after baths tonight!  A great ending to such an amazing day of beauty in so many ways.  Thank you Lord for this blessing!