close up of the fun...

you want me to do what??

oh this is a BLAST!!!!

think again... it's DOOM!!

the human rubber band...

our christmas present to the fam... a human rubber band!!

8 yards of stretchy fabric... sew the ends together... 4 people... lean back.... and SLING!!!

note: beware of injuries :)

sitting up at 5 months!

phoebe's present to us... learning to sit up!

just about got it...

ta-dah!!

christmas morning...

started out nice... just wanted to eat the paper

tried some more and more...

see the scowl forming... stop takin my paper momma!

and that's enough of that....

when you can't kiss her enough...

there's something so fun about having a little mini me :)

such a curious little thing...

oh the fun of getting her to smile!

okay momma... i think i've had enough!!

candy cane demo!

in california for christmas this year we went to a candy cane demonstration... this large chunk in the red and white stripes becomes this below...

kneed it, dye it, chunk it, chop it, roll it, package it, and voila!

as you can see, phoebe was absolutely fascinated with the whole process ;)

here are some of the onlookers... miss aleigh, malia, kirra, kristine, and grammie...

simply scrum-di-di-ly-umptious!

early present :)

these two little beauties... gorgeous lamps i wanted that dallin purchased for me from "the dump"... love that place.

hand painted lamp shades on antique buckets! talk about quite the find!! merry christmas to me... er... i mean... US!! :)

phoebe's nursery

so it's finally done! and i LOVE her room! my mom saved one of my crib toys and brought it to us at phoebe's blessing. it's the small rocking horse sitting on the crib rail... too fun! and it still plays music after 30 years!! the toy chest was my toy chest as a little girl that my dad hand crafted. the rocking horse in the front if from the barns of my old place. the green dresser was my dad's as a little boy and i love it-- my favorite color green and the white knobs look oh so cute with it. (my dad painted it and picked the knobs as a young boy too :) the shutter over her bed was a piece tracey and i found in indiana.... someone else's junk. and the t for thomas was a small find from my sister lisa...

i inherited a claude monet poster of a mom and daughter from my grandma who passed away a few years back... she had it framed in a mauve pink frame and matte... mauve doesn't really go with my decorating style, so i came up with this and i love it! i bought old barn wood frames and made up a collage. i found this old coca cola wagon also from the barns of my old place put some moss in it and came up with this! we love perusing antique stores and found these old books "winnie the pooh" and "pollyana". and the doll shoes were something my mom bought for me years ago..... i love sitting in her room. so cozy and peaceful :)

christmas is up!!

lights off... this way you can see the "before"... we love our whimsical tree!!
and the cozy lights on view... the "after"... seriously magical!

kitchen view... love our burlap wreaths :) compliments of my ever talented sister trisha.... and three evergreen minis that i forgot i treated myself to at an after christmas sale last year (love fun surprises like that!)

close up of the wreaths.... so simple i love them! they go perfectly with the evergreen minis.

our new nativity... displayed over our antique piano from the louis parentals last year...

living room view... talk about cozy central... ha! :) (it's all about the lighting)
and had lots of extra ornaments! again i bought some at last year's after christmas sale- surprise to me!... some antique books from my sister tracey. the colors are be-eautiful and voila... CHRISTMAS!!

tummy time... 3.5 months

so now that she's more aware of her surroundings... smiling shots are getting harder to get because she's more curious about the big black thing i'm holding up in front of her :)

and tummy time has been a ba-attle! low and behold we have conquered!! she is one strong girl... strong opinions, strong personality, and strong physically... love her to pieces.

softball fan

i played in the Wish for Wendy softball tournament and daddy brought miss phoebe later in the day... it was a bit of a cold day so she got bundled up!

three and a half months!

she's got that big girl sparkle :) we just can't get enough of her!!