I miss this girl!

As much as I have enjoyed my break this week, I can't wait to get back to this little girl! I miss her hugs, kisses, and yes, maybe even her whining too! We love you Arden--can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Our Christmas In Pictures

FINALLY! I know you've all been sitting around on pins and needles waiting to see these pictures!! I hate to disappoint, but after uploading these, I realized we didn't take that many :( Another New Year's Resolution...TAKE MORE PICTURES!!! Anyhow, we had a very busy Christmas as usual. On top of the 5 family Christmas gatherings, almost everyone in our family came down with the stomach bug on or around Christmas Day! What a way to spend the holidays, huh? Thankfully, we were able to get everyone healthy so we could spend time together. I love the Christmas season, and this year was no different. It was so fun to watch Arden actually participate in unwrapping gifts, instead of sleeping like last year. I know that each year will get better and better, but for now we are just enjoying the moment!

Christmas morning at our house---yes, all the presents are for Arden!

She LOVES unwrapping!

Pushing around her new car. She would rather push it than drive it around!

"Hmmm, which one should I open now?"

No, she didn't get a remote for Christmas, but maybe we should have bought her one!

We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and that 2010 is off to a great start.

What a way to start the day!

Most mornings, Arden wakes up in a great mood. I hear her talking and playing, and I normally leave her alone for a few minutes while I finish what I'm doing. This morning was no exception, and this is what I found when I opened the door...

I just love this little girl so much! She makes me laugh each day with all of the silly things she does. It's moments like this I remind myself of when she's throwing a temper tantrum or feeding her lunch to Murphy. The good definitely outweighs the bad, and I can't imagine my life without her!

I know I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging--I haven't even posted about our Christmas! Hopefully in the next week (or two!) I will be able to catch up :)

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!