From our family to yours....

Merry Christmas! We hope you all had a blessed Christmas and we pray God's richest blessings for your family in 2010!

The Craziest Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I actually LOVE this time of year--the decorations, music, hustle and bustle--all of it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I just love! However, it is definitely a crazy time of the year and I have fallen behind on blogging. Part of the reason for falling behind is because I have done a terrible job of taking pictures! I know none of you are sitting around waiting to read my ramblings so I waited until I had pictures to show you. Lucky for you, I finally have a few pictures--and maybe my New Year's resolution will be to take more pictures!

Arden's 1st birthday party was November 7th. We had such a fun night with our family--we are so thankful that they were all able to come and celebrate with us! Oh, and a big "thank you" goes to April for taking all the pictures--otherwise I would have nothing to show you!

She loved the frosting on her actual birthday but she had a different opinion at her party:

Arden really enjoyed unwrapping her gifts. In fact, she may have been more interested in the paper than the gifts themselves!

We honestly can't believe that Arden is already 13 months old. God blessed us with the most wonderful little girl, and we just can't get enough of her!

Besides her birthday pictures, this is the only other recent picture I have of Arden and Silas (I told you I had been a slacker lately!)

They continue to have so much fun together--what a blessing it is for them to grow up with each other!

I don't have a scanner, so I can't post our Christmas card for you, but this is the picture we used:

Thanks to our photographer, Carla, for capturing such a beautiful picture! If you didn't receive a Christmas card but would like one, please send me your address!

From our family to yours, we hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Happy Birthday Arden!

Last Tuesday, Arden turned 1! I can't believe how fast this year has gone--but I know this is only the beginning of living life in fast-forward. Geoff and I have been truly blessed by God, and we thank Him every day for choosing us to be Arden's parents. We can't imagine our life without her and the joy she brings us each day!

I only have a few pictures to post from her actual birthday--Auntie April was our photographer at Arden's birthday party so as soon as I get those from her I will do another post.

You want me to do what with this?

And you are sure about that?

Well, let me give it a try...

Yeah, this is as good as mommy said it was!

She didn't even touch the cake part--she only wanted the frosting. Yeah, she is a girl after mommy's own heart :)

She loved the frosting so much, she cried hysterically when we took it away from her. I wish we had a picture...it was priceless!

She had a ball opening her presents. It took awhile, but she wanted to do it all by herself!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

I know she doesn't look happy in any of the pictures, but she was having a great time. I guess she was focusing hard on the tasks at hand and didn't know why we kept trying to take pictures! (She also had the fever virus later this week--I'm betting she was already starting to feel a little under the weather)

Stay tuned for pictures from her 1st Birthday Party!

Halloween 2009

Yes, we were those parents who took their almost 1 year old trick-or-treating :) We had tons of fun and are looking forward to the day when Arden will also be able to enjoy these times! Arden was so good all night--her only issue was her hat. She HATES anything on her head, so we were lucky to get this one picture of her with it on! Here's our little ladybug:

Her first stop--Tuck Tuck and Nonna's!

(If you look closely in this picture, you can see Arden is holding on to her candy bucket all by herself. She did a great job with this all night--I think the only time she let go was when she was completely exhausted at the end of the night!)

Uncle Nae-Nae joined us for a few stops. Silas, April, Jim, and mom also joined us for the night. Isn't Silas' lion costume absolutely adorable? Mom made that for him--she is so talented!

We took four of our "Linc" boys with us. I think they had a great time too--they were also exhausted by the end of the night!

Catch me if you can!

I know, I know...Arden is almost a year old and I'm just now getting around to posting her 11 month pictures! In my defense, we have been a bit busy lately, but then again, what's new?! I did take these pictures on time, I just didn't post them :)

So, this monthly picture thing is becoming a bit difficult! Arden rarely sits still, and trying to get her to sit for a picture is no exception. This was our first attempt to take her picture:
As you can see, she wasn't thrilled about sitting there, but who could blame her?! I took this picture right after we arrived home after our trip to Michigan. After spending 5-6 hours in a car, who would want to sit and have their picture taken?! Not me, that's for sure!

So, I tried again a day or two later, and this was the result:

Not much better, I know...but I guess that's as good as it gets with a baby on the move!

I just thought I'd share a few other pictures to show what Arden has been up to the last month or so. She LOVES dogs! She has started interacting with Murphy, and thankfully he is a very passive dog :) When she sees other dogs, she gets very excited and sometimes she even makes a barking noise which is so cute! Here she is with a little board book that is all about dogs:
I often find her playing on Murphy's bed. Again, we are so thankful that Murphy loves her too and puts up with all of her poking and prodding! Doesn't she look like she's up to something here?!
What a big girl she is--I can't believe she is almost one! Every day is a new adventure with her and we can't wait to see her grow and change each day!

Prayers

My Grandmom Norton went to see Jesus this morning. She had battled cancer for 12 years, so although this is a difficult time for us all, we are so thankful she is finally pain-free! Please keep our family in your prayers--especially my Granddad, as he just lost the love of his life and best friend. I can't imagine the range of emotions he is feeling today, but I know he will need our support and God's peace and strength over the next few weeks and months.

Even though Arden will never remember meeting her Great-Grandmom, and am so thankful that Grandmom had the chance to spend time with Arden. Grandparents are such a blessing and I have been overly blessed to have my grandparents in my life for so long. Thankfully we have pictures to show Arden and can tell her what a wonderful woman Grandmom was.

A House Divided

If you're from Alabama, this phrase normally means one cheers for Alabama and the other for Auburn. However, our house is a little different! Luckily we only cheer for one SEC team--WAR EAGLE! But we also cheer for daddy's alma mater, Big Ten's Michigan State. Arden is our little cheerleader for both teams. Thanks Auntie April, for her super cute cheer outfits--she is definitely getting a lot of use out of both.

We haven't been to an Auburn game this season, but we've watched a lot on TV. This was taken the night of the Auburn vs. Mississippi St. game. Hopefully we will make it to a some AU games over the next few seasons.
We traveled to Michigan last week to visit Geoff's family. Besides the many hours spent in a car, we had a great time. We definitely stayed very busy, and Arden was a trooper as always.

On Saturday, we headed to East Lansing to watch a great rivalry game: Michigan St. vs. Michigan. Although Michigan State hasn't had the best start to the season, they played a great game and pulled off a win in overtime! Arden did awesome during the game! She made it until mid-4th quarter when it started to rain. I took her under cover and stayed there until the end of the game. I hate it that she didn't get to see them win, but I was so impressed she lasted as long as she did.

Daddy and Arden with Sparty

Mommy and Arden at the game
Hmmm, did someone tell them this was a silly face picture?!

Final Score--Go State!

Scrambled Mess

I scrambled an egg yolk for Arden this morning... and let her feed herself...

I think she liked it...

but I didn't enjoy the mess it left! I had to take her straight from the high chair to the bathtub! I'm glad she likes feeding herself--but I better get used to cleaning up BIG messes!

10 Months Already?

As usual, I can't believe Arden is another month older! In just two short months, she will be ONE YEAR OLD! Enough about that though--I don't need to start crying just yet :)

Arden has changed so much over the last couple of months. She is crawling all over the place, pulling up and walking along the furniture, babbling non-stop, and just having tons of fun! She can stand unassisted for a few seconds, but once she realizes no one is holding her, she panics! I have a feeling she will be walking soon, because she LOVES to walk when she has help. One of Arden's favorite things to do is to put EVERYTHING in her mouth! I know this is a phase all babies/children go through, but I'm praying she gets over this quickly! She puts everything in her mouth--fuzz from our wool rugs, pieces of paper, crumbs, and even bugs! I pulled a dead caterpillar out of her mouth the other day---YUMMY! She definitely keeps me on my toes and I know this will only continue over the next several months.

She didn't have a 10 month appointment, and I forgot to post her 9 month stats so here you go: She weighs 20 pounds (she went to the dr. for an ear infection this past week and her weight hasn't changed) and is 28.5 inches tall--both are in the 75th percentile. She didn't have to get any shots (YAY!) but she did have to have routine bloodwork done which may have been worse than the shots! The bloodwork showed she is slightly anemic, so we are starting her on an iron supplement to try and get this back to normal. It's nothing to worry about, but we do hope this isn't something that she has to deal with forever.

Over the past month, we have spent a lot of time with April, Silas, and my parents. Arden and Silas have SO MUCH FUN together, and I think she really misses him when he isn't around. She really enjoys playing with children of any age, so I guess this is good news for us when we decide to have another baby. (NO, this is not a hint that another baby is coming soon!)

Summer Hodge-Podge

We have been super busy this summer! I don't have a lot of time to tell you what we've been up to, but I was able to upload some pictures for you (plus, I know that's really all you want to see!) We are headed to the beach again today and next weekend, so I'm sure I will have lots more pictures to share after Labor Day.

Playtime with Silas!

Arden has been able to pull up in her bed for a couple of months now. This is how I usually find her in the mornings or after a nap. She normally has a big smile on her face and is ready to go :)
We had the joy of keeping T and TT(from Lincoln Village) on Thursday nights and during the day on Fridays for 5 weeks before school started. We really loved having them in our home--they played so well together and with Arden and were also big helpers around the house! We really miss them and hope they can come back soon. (They took these pictures of themselves--didn't they do a great job?!)

At the end of July, we took Arden to her first Huntsville Stars baseball game. Even though it was extremely HOT, she had a great time--especially when she made friends with the 3yr. old boy behind us :)

Uncle Brad (Geoff's brother) came for a visit at the end of July. Arden enjoyed spending time with him--she hopes he can visit again really soon!

We spent 10 days at the beach at the beginning of this month. It's definitely a different experience now that we have 2 babies with us, but we had lots of fun. We can't wait to spend the next two weekends there too!

Arden's first experience with corn on the cob. She LOVED it--this kept her quiet and busy during dinner :) I think we will have to try this more often!

On a dolphin-watching cruise

Sorry, no pictures of dolphins (even though we did see lots!), but here's two exhausted babies!

Arden must be REALLY tired to fall asleep like this!

Eating at Lulu's before heading home. I couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time because they were too interested in eating crackers!

"Hmmm, how can I get to that cracker piece before Silas gets it?"

"Since I can't reach it, I guess I will just eat the table!"