Lillian and I went to Atlanta last Wed. to Sat. to visit my sister Leighanne and her fam. My grandmother (Netes) came along with us. Thank goodness Netes came she was a HUGE help in the car with Lillian. I was real worried about how Lillian was going to do in the carseat for more than 30 min. She is not a fan of sitting still for very long much less being strapped down. She did AMAZING! I was in shock. It helped having Netes to hand Lillian her books, juice and snacks. If it would of only been me the car ride would of been a different story. We had so much fun visiting with my sister and her kids/my niece and nephew. Lillian loves Ellie and James. Every morning when I would go in to get Lillian she would say “Elwee (Ellie) James, Elwee, James” over and over until she physically saw them. James and Lillian are close in age so they had a great time playing with each other. It is so fun watching my child and my sister’s children play with one another. Makes me happy they all get along. Below are some pictures from our trip.

Lillian got a red wagon for Christmas from granddaddy and grandmama. She loves it!! While it is cold outside she can’t use it outside yet so instead she sits in it and reads her books! It’s precious. Here are a few pictures of Lillian and her cousin Browning enjoying the wagon inside and outside on Christmas Day.

The other day I was driving in the car with Lillian finishing up running some errands and this song titled “If you want me to” came on the radio. The song is by an artist named Ginny Owens who has always been one of my favorite artist. Her songs are always so real and the words are so intimate and powerful. She truly writes from her heart. It’s like reading her journal. I hadn’t heard the song in SO long. It’s over 10 years old. WOW time flies. As I was listening to the song it really spoke to me and got my mind wandering. (no worries i was still able to drive and focus on the road) It got me thinking about this past year the good and bad things that have happened. Naturally its easier to think immediately about the bad.Examples: death in the family, friends struggling, relationships broken, tough decisions, financial concerns, illnesses, everyday stresses,etc. We all have things that have happened this past year that we wish hadn’t and might  still be trying to figure out why. This song reminded me that God never said it would be easy but he did say we would never have to go alone. I have found through my own life and others when times are hard and things happen that we don’t understand (ie: the saying “when it rains it pours”) God and his amazing grace and love is there with us. Somehow we get through it and are able to move on and are stronger to face the next battle to come our way. The song also reminded me of God’s love for us and and how through every trial we go through there is a reason why it was there for us to walk through. The words of the song are SO much easier sung then actually done. The song spoke to me as a challenge to be able to say ok God if this is what you want to happpen in my life good and bad im gonna go walk through it because you want me to. WOW talk about some faith. How hard it seems to be able to do that but yet it should seem so easy because God promises he is in control and will get us through the valleys of life. So as the song was coming to an end i was able to smile and know that God has been there through each up and down in my life in his own little way whether I knew it then or later. Sorry if this post seems out out of left field or makes zero sense. Just something that was on my heart and I felt like sharing. I’m not the best with words. The lyrics to the song are posted below. I hope maybe someone or no one may and that’s ok if its just me finds the song encouraging and may bring you some hope.

If You Want Me To:

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don’t know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I’m gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to
Chorus:
Cause I’m not who I was
When I took my first step
And I’m clinging to the promise You’re not through with me yet
so if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will walk through the fire
If You want me to
It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that’s not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I’d never go alone
ya oh oh no
So When the whole world turns against me
And I’m all by myself
And I can’t hear You answer my cries for help
I’ll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley If You want me to

I have been bugging Dave for new floors in the den for awhile now. In the den was the cheapest and ugliest carpet you have ever seen. Possible exaggeration but pretty bad. We thought we could clean it when we moved in but nope. It was not cleanable (that may not be a word). It became terrible to the point you couldn’t tell if I had cleaned it or not. Finally we were so blessed to be able to put in hardwood floors in our house so we did! HUGE thanks for Mimi for watching Lillian for us so we could work all day on our floors and also to Poppy and Uncle Chad for coming over to help us install the floors and to lumber liquidators for having an amazing deal on our floors. It was scary getting started because we didn’t know exactly what we were doing. Thanks surprisingly to youtube videos Dave was able to figure out where to start. There was definitely some learning as we went but with some good teamwork (haha) we were able to do it. I am so glad we were able to install the floors ourselves cause it was a huge money saver and it is rewarding to know we did it ourselves. However after this process our next house will already have hardwood floors:) Hope you enjoy the pictures below of our new hardwood floors. We still need to do the foyer, hallway and powder room. Hopefully we can get that done this weekend. Should go faster since we have a better idea of what to do. Oh and we will be purchasing a coffee table to put on the rug. Oh the yellow stuff on the floor is moisture barrier (NOT FUN)!!! but good for keeping moisture out which is a GREAT thing. First two pics is before, then the moisture barrier down, then working on the floors, then done and exhausted. Last few the finish product!!

Sorry the pics are small. At least it gives you an idea. Pics of the foyer, hallway and powder room will come later when we finish. Yay for new floors!! We LOVE them!

Last night Dave and I went to our annual Sunday School Christmas party. Sweet Rebekah (Dave’s sister) offered to babysit for us so we could go to our party and enjoy socializing rather than chasing Lillian around. Her and Lillian had SO much together! Here are some pictures Rebekah took while babysitting Lillian. She did a fabulous job. We came home to a quiet sleeping baby. THANK YOU again Rebekah.

So Lillian has become obsessed with shoes and trying to put them on her feet. I caught her yesterday morning putting on my shoes and walking around in them. She had a blast.  She loved walking up and down the hallway in her shoes. She looked like a “model” on the runway.

New and improved fireplace!

Dave and I got back on our home improvement kick and decided to paint our fireplace and buy a new screen. We like how it turned it and feel it looks SO much better. Hope you do too! This weekend my dad and brother along with Dave are putting new hardwood floors in our den, hallway, powder room and foyer. Pics to come soon! SO EXCITED!!

Before:

After:

As we all know Lillian looks exactly like her daddy and apparently she has some of his same interests. She is taking after him with his love of video games and controllers. Lillian the other day was wearing her daddy’s headset that he uses to play his video games with and loved playing with the Xbox controller. She especially liked saying the letters on the controller (A, B, X and Y). If Lillian could of asked for a pony her daddy would of given her one right then. He was so proud! Oh Lillian’s other favorite thing to watch on the TV besides Wheel of Fortune is the Xbox menu. She will stand or sit in awe and just watch daddy flipped through the menu. I have no idea what i’m going to do with possibly two video game lovers.

These are some more pictures of Lillian just messing around. I was trying to keep her sleepy self entertained while I cooked dinner. So this is what I came up with: wooden spoon, laundry basket, mixing bowls (we have two sets so I used the other to cook with no worries), and colored plastic balls. Who needs store bought toys?!?!?

So here is our Halloween update and a few other happenings. Sorry for the lateness but better late than never. To the left is the pumpkin that Dave carved at our annual Sunday school Halloween social. He did a great job! We won second place in our class carving contest. So proud….haha! Dave being the avid video game player decided to carve a enemy from the game space invaders. The picture doesn’t do the pumpkin justice but you get an idea.

This year for Halloween Lillian was Alice in Wonderland. I found the costume on sale at a local Halloween store and it was on sale so I got it! Love me a sale. I must say Lillian made a precious Alice in Wonderland. We went trick or treating over in Crestline Village with Grandmama, Granddaddy, the Thorntons (Aunt Hannah’s in-laws), Uncle Browning, Aunt Hannah, little “B” (Browning) and Aunt Rebekah. It was cold but fun! Lillian didn’t quite get into the trick or treating right off.With some coaxing from her daddy she started to get into it and walk up to people’s houses and got some candy. The M&M’s were her favorite. We chose to go to Crestline Village because the neighborhoods over there go all out for Halloween. Most of the houses are all decorated and people are dressed up handing out candy. They also have a live band over there and food.

Also during the month of October I took Lillian along with my friend Lauren and her little girl Brooklyn to the pumpkin patch in Hayden, AL. At the pumpkin patch we did the petting zoo, rode the covered wagon out to the pumpkin patch, ran through the maze of hay bales, ran around and touched lots of pumpkins, played with the toys in the country gift shop and all kinds of other things. The girls had a good time. It was an all day event so both the mama’s and daughter’s were worn out! Pretty sure both Lillian and I took naps when we got home. It was tough to get Lillian to look at the camera for pictures. I tried to get some good ones of her.

Please don’t stop looking at our website! Updates and pictures are coming. I figured i would go ahead and give a text update to give you something to look at that is new on the site until we get some pictures on here and videos. We are all doing great! We have actually been really busy this fall. We have gone to a friend’s wedding in atlanta, visited family in atlanta, get togethers with friends, working on house projects, etc. One day we will finish our master bath renovation. WHEW that has taken WAY too long to do. We are so ready to get it done and enjoy using it. Anyways on to more important things ie. LILLIAN! Oh we love her more and more everyday. She is growing too fast into a little girl. She is talking a lot more and has recently begun repeating a lot of the words we say. Now we gotta quit cussing…ugh!! Haha totally kidding! Let’s see what all development wise Lillian is doing umm here is a list:
-knows her numbers, letters and shapes
-new words she can say: puzzle, ok, cake, mommy, pumpkin (“punkin”), chair, tv, car, shirt, shoe, etc. I can’t remember them all but that is some
-can identify her body parts: nose, ears, hair, eyes, mouth, neck, chin, elbow, arm, hands, toes, feet, bellybutton (she calls it “ty “ty”) have no idea where she came up with that??
-She can use a fork and spoon to eat with! YAY!
-She has a mouth full of teeth!! She probably has about 12 or 14 maybe?
-She can climb into the car by herself and climb up in her carseat. She LOVES to climb.
-She is still madly in love with books. She is going to be a bookworm like her great grandmother netes. We think that is where she got her love of books from.
-Lillian has a shoe feddish (from her mama) She loves putting on shoes. She will say “shoe” and pick it up and try and try to put it on her foot. Sometimes she succeeds.
I’m sure im forgetting some things but that’s all I can think of right now. The days start to become a blur and fly by when you have a child. It’s hard to keep up with everything.
In case anyone was wandering Dave and I are great! Dave has been busy with work projects. He is doing awesome at his job and we are so thankful he has one. He is a great provider! I am staying busy taking care of miss lillian, dave and household chores. I have recently taken up a new hobby that I am loving: sewing!! I have sewed Lillian two jumper dresses. Pictures to come. I have a lot to learn still about sewing but so far so good. I have been taking classes in hopes of improving my skills. I hope I will stick with it. It could be a big money saver. Hopefully this week we can get some pictures on here and videos that we have. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and a safe and happy halloween!

I took Lillian to her 18 month checkup this morning. She weighs 26lbs 9 oz and is 33 inches long. She is in the 75% for both her height and weight. She did great at the doctor’s office. This time she did not scream at the doctor while he examined her. It was so nice to be able to talk to the doctor without screaming. However, when the nurse came in Lillian let loose. She knew what was coming. Can’t really blame her. Shots hurt! The doctor said Lillian’s development is great. She is doing what she should be doing and more. We are so grateful to have a healthy and sweet little girl. Her next visit will be after she turns 2. Wow that is weird to say. My little girl soon to be 2??? Seriously the time is going way to fast. Well I hear Lillian getting up from her nap and she sounds hungry better go!