Sprinkles and Sugar Plums

Since I have so many, I'll use less words and more pictures to tell you about our holiday.
.
.
.( if you are wondering about the bullet point/periods that I am inserting, it is because blogger is acting crazy and won't let me space anything, therefore I have to use some form of type before I hit 'Enter' for any spacing to work. If anyone out there knows how to fix this, puuuh-leez help a girl out!)
.
.
.
.


First up- The School Christmas Play.
(Kaelyn, in a play? Isn't she a little young for the stage? I know. I wondered how that would work out too. Ben and I were highly intrigued when we found out the youngest class at her school would also be performing. Little did we know...)
.
.


Oh, Mom. Why do you doubt. Yes, an 8 month old can perform.

My first performance as the Sugar Plum dancing in your head will rock the house!


(HUGE kudos to the ladies in her classroom who worked so hard and made it so fun!!!

.
.


Next up, the cousins!
.
.Christmas Eve is Will's birthday, so we helped him ring in year #3 with a John Deere cake.



And if you ever need someone to show you all the glory and fascination of what makes up a helicopter, fire engine, or tractor, he's your man. Cutiepattootie. (Charles was present this entire time. I swear. Either he is only recorded on Heather's camera, or has some spooky ability to disappear in all of my photographs.)
.

After cake, we made Santa's sugar cookies.



DON'T TEASE ME, WOMAN.


THANK YOU.







Daddy, we share. Give me the cookie.



Will was very focused during the beginning of his cookie artistry. One sprinkle at a time only. I was trying so hard not to giggle and be as serious as he was about the job.
.
.

Then we got to the stocking cookie. I have learned that I'm not very well educated on the art of using sprinkles on sugar cookies. He asked for the sprinkles, I handed them over. I turned to get more icing. At which point I turned around and wondered why the sprinkle jar was empty. I asked why he used so many sprinkles on the stocking and not the wreath, and he said "Dat's how do it." Oh. Yes. Of course.
Dear Santa, Merry Sugar Rush :)









At 6am on Christmas morning, Kaelyn let us know that Santa wasn't the only one who wanted some milk, so we all gathered around the tree to open the goodies.
(Still sick that she looks this good 5 minutes after hopping out of bed. Brat.)






Paying attention to the "okay guys, we open one gift at a time" yearly rule reminder. Hardy Har Har.






Yes, she loved the paper more. Next year I'm just getting her peach flavored paper and she'll be in hog heaven.

Kaelyn also got a beautiful surprise gift that I absolutely love - I had given Charles a rocking chair when he was little, and he had passed it down to Will. Heather put in a lot of love & creativity, refinished the chair, painted it to match K's bedroom, put her name on it, and gave it to her for Christmas. On the bottom it has each of their names and the year they got it.

So sweet.
.
.



Over the weekend we went to what I refer to as Kid Heaven.







Hey look, IT'S CHARLES!!


We were given a personal puppet show by Sir Charles, complete with the Mad Wolf, Crazy Coon, and Hungry Frog. We warmed ourselves by the fire, did a little fishing...
Took in the scenery.... (Kaelyn's favorite toy was the mirror. Every single one had to be touched and then she would wave at the baby, and get tickled when AH! She waves back!! )

We had such a fun time with our family over Christmas, hope you did too!!!

xoxo dae
** DISCLAIMER: Ben is alive and well. He was even present for some of these activities. When not on NFL sidelines or behind the camera, he was with us feasting on sugar cookies too!

Option #547

To all ya'll out there =)

.

.

.

.

.

.

(this is not the Christmas card I ordered - though I kinda wish it was - but ordering Christmas cards for me is like baby bedding, chair fabric, curtains, and generally anything else involving a creative choice. Otherwise known as a personal overwhelming nightmare. Too many... way, way too many to look at. So of course I waited until Monday to decide and order cards, paid expedited (read: should be illegal) shipping, and while waiting on them to get here also found this one, and I'm sorry, but I just can't let the cuteness go to waste.)

.

.

.

Ho ho ho ~ and may uncontainable joy fill you this holiday season!

xoxo dae

The Sullivans

I don't remember how I happened upon this blog a month or two ago, but I did.

And I'm not sure if it's because of all the similarities- they also lived in Texas and Japan, we are the same age, also have beautiful a baby girl, - but for one reason or another, the story of this family and how they glorify Christ through it all leaves me changed and on my knees in prayer for them, among so many other things. It is heartbreakingly beautiful and inspiring to me.

If you want to pray for this daddy and his daughter, please go here: http://bandssullivan.blogspot.com/

Angels and Traditions

So when I was little, it was the most exciting part of decorating the tree- we'd put on all the lights, ornaments, and tinsel (which the tinsel is a whole other story that I would tell but some things you just have to be there for but Mom and Dad know exactly what I'm talking about. Dad really really loves him some tinsel. As in, hey, where's the tree?? All I see is tinsel!) After we threw all that on (also a reference to Dad and tinsel. Threw. Literal sense.) he would hoist me up to put the topper on the tree. I cherish the pictures of that. They're just all warm and cozy and everything holiday, y'know?

So of course the tradition must carry on. Ben and I decorated our tree (which we decided would be, um, modestly sized this year. Ok no. We didn't decide that. We got it home, put it in the tree stand, took a step back, and had a Honey Who Shrunk The Tree moment. But either way, it fits, its cute, and it looks like we have way more ornaments than last year! Bonus. )

Then Ben and Kaelyn put the angel on the tree.
She was very enamored with the angel.

Or maybe she was just hungry.

I can't wait to see what she does with bows and wrapping paper.



Last weekend we went to visit Grandmama and the fam in AL, and had a blast. We played a very competitive round of Bunko, ate embarrassing amounts of Lu's Christmas fudge (finally. heaven.) and lounged around in our pj's while cheering on the new SEC and soon to be National Champs! Roll Tide Roll. (Unless you're playing Ole Miss that is, but that and the outcome of that game this year is beside the point)

I forgot to mention that at 7 1/2 months, Kaelyn has taken on a new identity.

Or at least borrowed one.

It's called her Aunt Heather's.

If I had time to scan and post pictures of her posing for the camera 20 years ago, you would really understand.

Its unbelievable, hilarious, and highly entertaining.

Not that AH was a ham or dramatic or anything like that. ppssshhh. puh-leez.

That would mean she would pause mid-meal to do something like this...

Or ever posed with the head tilt and "yes, ok, i'm ready, you may take my picture now" smile.

No. Nothing like that.

xoxox

dae

We Saved A Turkey

Oh, Thanksgiving. How you annihilate my waistline and make my taste buds sing.

Usually, I'm all over the green bean casserole, sweet potato anything, and dessert buffet. But this year we enjoyed a leisurely long weekend at home for Thanksgiving.
Which means that would have been a lot of wasted food since Ben won't eat sweet potatoes and isn't much for desserts. And I can't afford new clothes. So seeing as how it was just the two of us around the dinner table, we decided to shake things up a bit.

Or grill things up a bit...I think that would be more accurate.

Neither of us are huge turkey fans, so we decided to start our own tradition and be thankful for a thick, juicy ribeye and monster lobster tail.

(and I have realized how much I need better lighting to photograph food. it was much prettier in person)

It wasn't too shabby. It was my first time grilling lobster, and Ben's first time eating it. Thank goodness I didn't screw it up, and the sweet butcher at Publix gave me great advice. They turned out so. so. good. And lets just say thankfulness oozed from our clarified-butter covered lips for a long, long time.
Recipe: Buy huge lobster tail. Split. Baste in EVOO while on a low-heat grill. Flip. Repeat until pink, internal temp reaches 140d. Remove and immediately devour.
Don't thank me, thank the Publix butcher guy.
Ben worked the Titans game (which, if you've seen the ESPN replays of the insane touchdown with 00:01 on the clock, you've seen Ben in the background losing it) so Kaelyn and I had a bunch of girl time.
First we got a super-exciting surprise visit from Becca!
After shopping the midnight sales and getting home at 3:30am, waking up at 6 to a hungry baby, I felt like I had one hairy hangover, minus the bar tab.
Wait. There was a tab. It was boutique baby clothing.
So I get a message that Becca and her fiance are in town all the way from TX, and somehow manage a shower that I don't remember before they get to the door. We had a BLAST going to lunch, going to the vineyard for a wine tasting (hey, don't they say that the best cure for a hangover is a drink?) (Wait. I didn't really have a hangover.) (I'm so confused). At the tasting Kaelyn was hanging out in her sleepy wrap taking it all in. Getting some culture. Learning about the difference in a Riesling and a Chardonnay. At some point while standing there I realized that "I had my baby in a bar!!" (Please tell me you know that line from that movie so I don't feel stupid)
Such a good time. I love surprises.
Saturday we headed to Franklin to see our sweet Jan!

after a yummy lunch we met up at the park where Adyson was hanging out...

Kaelyn wasn't quite sure what to do, since this was her first ride on a swing, so she had to watch the pro.

That night, we went to pick out the tree. Typically a 2 hour process for Ben and I. This year? We looked at three trees and picked the third. Ten minutes tops. It's amazing what a great time manager a tired baby is =)

That's our weekend recap.
Good night.

In between it all

Crazy, blessed, inspired, exhausted. Those are the four words I use to currently describe my life at the moment.

In between the holiday cooking, Christmas card picking, house cleaning, gift shopping, baby food making, full time working, Glee watching, blog reading, oh yeah I really need to get my hair cut this year craziness of it all, when others told me holidays took on a whole new meaning with kids, boy were they right. (And as a side note to the hair... guess what Momma got for Christmas this year?!?! Gray. I got grays. I have no problem embracing turning 30, or a post-baby bod. I do not embrace gray. This is crap.)

Back to the holidays, not that Kaelyn will bat a beautiful eyelash at whether or not I make a turkey or pumpkin pie... but I will forever be changed at how the thankfulness in my heart has grown so much it aches when I look at her. Thanksgiving is a whole different word.

My mom always told me to count my blessings when I couldn't fall asleep and that it would help, and it did because I had so many that I would fall asleep trying to list them all. She gave me my Five-A-Day notebook- this little spiralbound notepad that she wrote in the front of, that I would list 5 things every day that I was thankful for. I found it the other day, and had a blast reading through it. Slurpees, fun at the movies, a hug from my sister, a hot date (yes, Ben read it too. He saw the entry of " staring at a tan six-pack." yaaaaaaaay! Never gonna live that down. Umm, hello?!?! I was so 16. So boy crazy. So normal!) Years of pages of five little blessings a day that made me smile.

So the other night when all those crazy to-do's were flying through my head, and I had to stop because the clock said 11:53pm and really, what was I going to accomplish on my list at 11:53pm laying in bed? I started listing my blessings, and didn't get very far, but I did realize that they all had a theme. The love of a devoted husband, family, health, friends, a job, the sweet sound of my baby sighing in her sleep. Simple things. But not really. The big simple things that make up my days, my family, my life, and that sometimes get taken for granted until they are taken away. (Which a whole other fear of mine that will have to be dissected another day.)

I catch myself very easily getting into the I-would-be-happier-if trap if I'm not careful. And at 29 I have finally realized that I may not be able to change circumstances, but I can change the way I think about them. (For example, yes, if I could snap my fingers and fly to Japan to have coffee with my mom or hug my brothers or hear my dad's laugh, I would. In a red hot second.)

Instead, in this example, I am thankful for webcams, the fact that they are healthy and very happy, spreading the amazing love of Christ, and that my brothers send me pictures of themselves making goofy faces with birds on their heads.

Have a gloriously simple-blessing filled holiday, my friends. And remember, you can either eat the bird, or put it on your head.

Or both.

The choice is yours.

xoxo

dae

You say tomato, I say just give me seconds

I thoroughly intended to have some visual confirmation of how good this stuff is by taking pictures of the finished product, but in between the lovely chaos that is currently my home, I failed to turn on the camera.

So you'll just have to take my word that you will want to make this stuff. It's slap-yo-mamma, stay in for dinner tonight good. A huge thanks to Audra T. for forever changing my life and how much Ben and I crave homemade tomato soup.
I doctored the recipe a little because it originally called for flour to thicken it, but I didn't need it, and it called for chicken base, but I had bouillon cubes on hand so I figured it was close enough, and I only added 2 cups of milk, but it calls for 3, so whatever fits your tastebuds.


TOMATO SOUP

3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup onion diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cooking wine
1 bay leaf
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp sugar
3 chicken bouillon cubes, crushed
sprinkle of nutmeg
6 cups v8 juice
28 oz cans diced tomatoes, with juice
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream, optional (I opted)
1- 10 oz bag fresh spinach, optional

In large pot heat oil and sautee onion and garlic until light in color. Add wine, bay leaf, basil, italian season, salt, pepper. Heat and reduce for 10 min. Add sugar, nutmeg, chicken base, and stir well. Slowly add V8, stirring over medium heat until you have a smooth sauce. Add tomatoes and milk. Simmer for -15-20 minutes. Add cream and spinach, simmer another 10 minutes.

I served it with french bread that I halved, and rubbed with garlic, slathered with butter and fresh-grated Parmesan reggiano, and toasted under the broiler.

Happy cooking!!
=)
xoxo
dae

The Debut

The seven month mark came with a little bit of a, ahem, bite for 'bug.

See this face? This face says "Ha. And you thought you were only battling the bronchitis and ear infection last week."

"I decided the celebrate 7 months by debuting my first tooth! Welcome!"

(I realize that in this picture you can't see a thing, but I promise it's there. Please, take my word for it. We feel the jagged edge of her growing up right before our eyes. Or you could just take the last week of waking up at 3:30am, constant runny nose, and clamping down on the spoon with pitbull ferociousness instead. Either way.)

She's doing all the other fun stuff too, sitting up on her own, rolling around like crazy, in the highchair for dinner, but (and this will not be going in the baby book until it is completely clear) much to Ben's delight, babbling "Dadadada daaaaaaaaaaaa" constantly. CONSTANTLY.

Brainwashing begins tomorrow.

;) xoxox
dae

My Daddy made me wear this

Today, this hit me at the core

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty and gentle spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. --1 Peter 3:3-4

Unintentional

I all of the sudden realized that this blog of mine has quickly turned into a post-a-picture-and-run type of blog. Not completely what I had intended for it to be, but I'll be honest... the fact that I even get a picture up sometimes makes me feel like I accomplished something. You know, I took 3 minutes to log on and upload one jpg. or two in between all the other crazy. Go me!


We have roughly 4,000 pictures I really would love to share with you because I think I have one of the cutest kids in the world, and she is a bazillion times more photogenic than I ever hope to be (there. I said it. someone asked why there weren't more family pics. that's why, ok?!!?!)but I know that crosses the lines of over-sharing.

So back to what I was saying about what else has been going on, non-picture style. Ready for another random update? Yay! Here we go-

• Working full time. I think that says enough. But I will say more. Its a lot. I mean, a whole lot. Its an everyday adjustment. (Who am I kidding. Parenting is an everyday adjustment. At least at work there's consistency) It's a lot to be a stay at home mom too. One of my best friends and I have this discussion often. Both sides of the coin are intense. As for my current side of the coin, it's good most days, tough every day, and occasionally makes me want to invest heavily and hope on Powerball. But I still love my job, I won't complain. I just love being with my child more :)
• Making baby food - Check. Sweet potato, squash, banana-pear, apple, carrots, and who knew ice cubes could be so colorful? The feeding of the ice cubes is a whole different story. Kaelyn has a love/hate relationship with food. She either reallly likes it, or is completely disgusted with it. There is no middle ground. Oh, but the faces they make while they experience this new world, aren't they priceless?? Pears-love, sweet potato-love, apples-hate (wha ???) , squash-hate, oatmeal-mad love. But if I pair up a sweet potato and a squash, we've got a deal. Sneaky. So I'm thinking I can disguise spinach with blueberries, and she'll never know what hit her.
• Making dinner- on occasion. If by occasion I mean twice a week if I can pull it together. (What is happening to me?!?!) And if by dinner you mean a toasted turkey and cheese sandwich. I am determined to get back to my culinary obsession. Just as soon we are completely over...
• Having a sick baby - and by sick we mean "don't think about putting me down, I cannot sleep horizontal for more than 30 minutes at a time because I cannot breath correctly or go much longer without coughing stuff up, so just let me lay on your chest and you can consider putting up the dishes a major accomplishment in one day because that's all that's gonna happen on my watch." We each took a day off work this week to stay at home with her, praise Jesus it isn't the flu, and thank heavens they said at school she did ok today. Maybe we're on the upswing!
• Having a clean house. Or not. Here's my dilemma, please weigh in! I need advice here. This may not be the H1N1 controversy, but it's a tough decision for me. I typically do about 30 minutes of cleaning/picking up a night, but decided that cut into my much needed couch time with Ben watching The Office or SYTYCD, so I decided I would try letting stuff go and only doing it on the weekend. Please understand that with no exaggeration, this took SO MUCH WILLPOWER for me, because if the pillows weren't fixed on the couch, I would leave them. And go to bed. It killed me. But I was trying. Five hours later on Saturday when I was about to beat my Maytag with my Swiffer because I was so mad at both of them for sucking all of my time, I thought maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. So do I pick up a little each night, after feeding Kaelyn, making dinner, feeding us, washing bottles, washing dishes, (insert to say Ben really does help with this, so I'm not all alone here) or do I do it all on the weekend and commit to knowing that a chunk of one of my day's off will be committed to wiping down baseboards?
• Planning for the holidays. Wait. Let me just stop there. I planned for Halloween too, and we didn't even get around to carving our cute little pumpkin. I'll get better at this before Kaelyn is old enough to remember anything, right? She did get to wear all 4 (yes. four.) Halloween outfits last week, but apparently my planning stopped there.

Now, about those pictures =)
Here's what we've really been up to lately.


Kaelyns' Fall Fest at school! (Her room was Jamaica-themed and it was incredible. Her ladies at daycare are FAB!) Here are a few...Discussing the absence of Halloween candy in their room...


Pumpkin patch visit~



and we finally got the six month photos!!!


I'm off to sit on the couch, eat a turkey and cheese sandwich, and cuddle with those cuties.
xoxo
dae

Happy Fall Ya'll

xoxo

the whites

Do the mashed potato

Introducing the good stuff has begun! I broke out the Babycook this week and love it- to all you moms out there thinking about making baby food, lemme tell you a little something. This thing is the bomb-diggity.
And yes, I just said bomb-diggity.
Welcome back to 1999.

Moving on.

The lovebug inhaled ridiculous amounts of pureed sweet pototo yesterday

She absolutely loved it. Was somewhat impatient that it took me .3 seconds to get more on the spoon to get into her mouth.

She then wanted to know what was for dessert. (Very obviously my child)

And she's very obviously learned her table manners from her dad. (When I said inhaled I meant that literally. See sweet potato up nose for reference.)

xo

Country Girl

Last weekend Kaelyn had a reason to wear her new hat.

We headed out to the country for a weekend with friends, and all met up at this absolutely adorable placeHopped on a tractor and went out to the pumpkin patch- I fell in love with all their signs - (I have a mild fascination with the rustic look in case we hadn't established that yet)

Kaelyn eyed the bouncy-house.

Sorry kid. I know, Mom's such a party pooper. But you still looked just edible in your hat.

We tried posing for a few shots ... we got this close to a smile

Because she was worn slap out

And that's how we spent our weekend =)

Hope you're enjoying this fabulous Fall too. Cheers to pumpkins, apple cider, spice cake, old friends, and cozy hats that make my heart happy.

xo dae