Our Christmas!

Well, for those of you who keep up with Facebook, you can tell I've been a little stressed this year! I waited WAY too long to do Christmas shopping, get started on gifts I was actually making, and decorate the house. I've been dragging my poor child all over creation to do the shopping, and I'm pretty sure she would be okay never leaving the house again! We had a great Christmas, but are SOOOOO ready to relax and get the house clean! I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I was beyond exhausted and Little Miss wasn't cooperating most of the time, but here are a few I managed to snap:










(p.s. yes, I did make her shirt that says "Santa Rocks!)
Lindsay- could you send me the pics you took yesterday? Thanks!

not EVEN fair...

...to be a sister of this green-eyed beauty who has NO idea what a knock-out she is. 5'11", thin, hazel eyes, rocks a nose piercing like its nobody's business- just not fair! I tried soooooo hard to get a pic that would do her justice, and this is what I got. Didn't have to edit it a bit.



Here a few others from that day....it was the middle of the day and the light was a bit harsh, but we got a few that were pretty good!




....AND, as an added blog bonus, some pictures of SNOW!
To make a long story short, yesterday at about 4:00pm I went to Kohl's (after being at Michael's for an hour, mind you...) Shawn met me up there to get something out of my car, drove me back to the store entrance cause it was FREEZING (um, literally). Fast-forward 45 minutes of shopping later, I realize I left my car keys in his truck, he's at U of H and has to go straight to a teeth cleaning appointment afterwards. Nana came and hung out with us and bought Lorelai lots of clothes from Kohls and then (illegally) drove us down to Skeets (it's in the same parking lot people, don't blow the whistle on us!) We left at 8:30pm-ish. WHEW! Okay, so that wasn't really a short-version, but I had to explain why the only pics I got of Lorelai in the snow are of her screaming at 9:00pm at night after falling asleep in the car on the way home! I had to leave her there on the ground and snap a few...it was really only over the course of 5 minutes, don't believe what she'll try to tell you. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I couldn't pass that up, not over a few dramatic tears. After I picked her up she calmed down immediately.
Here it is, Lorelai's first snowfall!!!

She's Officially Mobile!

Okay, so I know I haven't told practically anyone that Lorelai can walk now because it happened so gradually, but now you can see it for yourselves! She took her first "step" (literally, just one step...) on her actual birthday (11/13), took her first official "few steps" the evening of her birthday party (11/15) and ever since then she has added one step a day until one day we looked up, and there she was, toddling around as if it was no big deal! She loves to grasp one small object for each hand and walk around with them, and she will snuggle with literally ANYTHING these days. If she finds a pillow on the floor, a doll, or even the dogs bed (gross, i know) she will lay her head down and say "ohhh" in a loving way. Every day she develops more of a personality and it is amazing to witness! Watch, and be amazed.

Thanksgiving and a new Lens!

Well, we had a great time at Thanksgiving, ate a little too much, and stayed up a little too late. The usual,I suppose. I also got a new camera lens! i LOVE it, although I am still learning how to use it. I started shooting pics in manual mode (you have to adjust the aperture and shutter speed yourself) and I really like it, it's just very different and takes some getting use to. Here are some of my favorite shots from the past week:

Birthday Bash Numero Uno

Well, Lorelai has now officially been one for one whole week. Nothing has changed, except I cringe when people ask how old she is and I have to reply (almost in tears, mind you) "she's ONE!" It's cliche time, people.
***Time Flies when you're having fun. They Grow up so fast. She'll be out the door before you know it.***
They are ALL true!!!
The only thing that I thought would be different right now is I thought she would be walking. I am ready for her to walk! Call me crazy, tell me I'll be chasing her every second. If you say this to me, you haven't spent more than 5 minutes at my house. This kid can cross the house in 5 seconds. She is like lightning. The only difference there will be between her crawling and walking is the heighth at which she travels. She did take a few steps towards the end of her birthday party last saturday, and has continued to take 3-4 steps at a time every day since, but no substancial, for real walking. She is "toddling." My little big girl!
On her actual birthday, Shawn and I attacked her with kisses and then he was off to work! We then turned her sarseat facing forward (yay!!) and went to breakfast with Granna, Auntie L, and Auntie Rae at Empire Cafe. It was, as usual, super yummy! Here's a few pics:







Ok, so here is what everyone has been waiting for. Pictures of the party. I have been hesitant to post the ones of us opening her presents, because besides the AWESOME photography skills of Jodi, I am making a super wierd face in almost every single one. Do I really look like this, people?! How embarrassing. :)






Lorelai honing in on the cake...

Getting her first taste...

"mom, I really like this!"

"um, clearly I'm busy. did you need something ?"

Someone, somewhere has a picture of her faceplanting into the cake once she got going. Thanks to everyone who made it (and made it possible!)! We truly had a great time, and Lorelai was happy and interactive, which I was excited about. One year olds are so unpredictable.

Happiness is old photos....

Ok, so Heidi challenged me to go to my sixth photo album and get my sixth picture (just for fun) to post. Here's what I found:

I know I look full term here, but I was really only 29 weeks along (and I wonder why I can't lose this baby weight....huge!)
As I was looking for this pic, i came across some other super funny pics from the past I had to share.



My, how times flies. I think Shawn and I got married when we were 12. Atleast, thats what it looks like. Saturday I grabbed Rach to go with me on an impromptu photo shoot with Lorelai. Tell me honestly if any of you can figure out where these pics were taken. I'll tell you at the end of this post, so NO cheating! Try to guess on your own.







The sign featured in some of these pictures was painted by Leslie....she had tried to hide it from me because she didn't like the way it turned out, but I found it when we were moving her from her apartment a couple of months ago! ha! i think it's PERFECT and served it's lifelong purpose here in these photos. These are some I am taking as her "first birthday" series, so EVERYONE let me know which one is your absolute, hands-down fav. I didn't get alot of great ones (I didnt realize until I got home I had my camera on the wrong setting and most of them turned out blurry!) but these are too precious to not share.


are you ready to know where the pictures were taken?

Did you already guess?

They were taken at the cemetary off of Cullen in Pearland. I know, it's a little morbid, but I have been eye-ing the old worn white wrought iron fence featured for months and months. The cemetary itself is a little further...no graves in the backdrop or anything. I did have to crop the white chapel out of a couple of pics though! Did anyone guess correctly? If so, let me know.
Hope you enjoy!