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!

Busting out Deuteronomy

If you haven't read the blog Bring the Rain yet today, follow the link to the left (or right? I don't remember....) It is a great reminder to pray for your child (or children) not just daily, but all day every day. In our small group last week, we read a verse that I've read a million times, but I don't think I've read since becoming a mom. It's funny how you can read a verse all of your life, but the true meaning doens't impact you until it becomes applicable in your own life.
It was Deuteronomy 11:18-21:

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."

I realized that I pray silently all day long and do my quiet times "quietly." These things are great, but I need to be training Lorelai to walk daily with God. I've always been so proud of the fact that we pray with her every night before we put her to bed, but that just seems so minimal after reading that verse. I challenge everyone else as I am challenging myself to "fix, tie, and bind" themselves to God's words, teaching them and talking about them, when you are sitting around at home or walking to get the mail. Post them around your house as reminders to your kids of the loving God we serve.

Double blog.

Below are TWO new posts! Yes, TWO! Just thought you might need that to be pointed out. Please Continue...and Enjoy!

After all, tomorrow.....is another day!

Okay, so my favorite movie of ALL time is Gone With The Wind. Read the book a million times, seen the movie a few million more, have half of it memorized. Always loved the fact that "Katie Scarlett O'Hara" and I shared the same name. It didn't take me long to think of Lorelai's Halloween costume....a southern belle! After picking the colors it was going to be, I was a little worried she would look like the wicked witch of the west, but Kelly (my mother-in-law who MADE the dress!!!!) did an amazing job and it came out perfectly. Here are some pics from Friday....we visited the Pumpkin Patch at St Andrews in the morning, carved our pumpkin at home with daddy, went to the trunk or treat at Fwd Church of Christ, then to Nana's, then over to the Stonemans (new next door neighbors) then Lorelai went home and went to bed (with Daddy home, of course) while Momma got to hang out with neighbor Amee and her friends. Here are my favorite pictures from the day...the yellow outfit featured in some of the Pumpkin Patch pictures is an outfit I found at a resale shop while in Tennessee...it reminded me of something from the 1920's and I fell in love with it. Enjoy!













and, last but not least, my favorite....my stand-alone chick looking all grown up standing up by her lonesome.

"As God as my witness, I'll never be seated AGAIN!"
*queue GWTW theme music*
*end scene*

Technical Difficulties

Well, it seems as though it may just be our internet acting up, not our new computer. I dont know about yall, but out internet just hasnt been the same since the hurricane. Anyways!
We'll start this blog out with some pictures of Shawn's birthday....it was October 18th, and the first last couple of pics are of Lorelai trying desperately to figure out how to open Shawn's presents before he got to them. She is going to have SOOOOOOOOO much fun at her first birthday party.



Next on the list! Last Monday we went to the zoo with our friends Jessica and her little boy Aiden, and our new neighbors Amee and Ava! Ava is 1 month younger than Lorelai and we LOVE having them right across the street! I love the last picture of Lorelai, even though she has snot dripping everywhere!



Next item on the list is a new milestone Lorelai hopped right into....honestly, I didnt think this kid would EVER walk. She will walk right alongside you forever, as long as she has the tightest grip on someone's finger. But, she would NOT ever let go. She knew the moment you were goiong to trick her and snatch your hand away, and she would slowly squat to the ground. Last Thursday (night before Halloween) she finally started letting go of things and standing on her own! I am soooooo excited. My only wish for Halloween this year was to get pics of Lorelai standing up in her cute little dress, and it actually happened! She is showing interest in walking and has attempted half a step, so I'm pretty sure it will happen in the next week or so....just in time for her First Birthday! Yay!!! My internet is starting to glitch so I'm going to post this and then move on to.....Halloween!