I'm a lucky lady

My 3 Favorites:

Looks like she got her daddy's kinky curly hair:)

My handsome

man and little man.

I LOVE MY LIFE!

Valentine's Fun

I wanted to post a few pictures from Valentine's Day this year. Evan and I don't celebrate Valentine's as a couple really. We do have an annual dinner with 2 other couples every year and play games, but we don't do gifts or anything. I did tell him however that when we had kids, I would be celebrating with them because it is a FUN holiday! So here are some pictures from the day:

Dixie enjoyed going through all of her Valentines from a friend's party. She was super excited that she got 5 suckers and a cookie:)

Valentines morning:

I think Knox likes his outfit...he confirms with a sweet smile.

Dixie helped me make heart shaped strawberry muffins for breakfast:

I made these YUMMY cake balls to pass out to neighbors and friends (thank you Krista). These are seriously addicting and my new favorite dessert. Unfortunately they are just a little too easy to pop into your mouth and then realize you just ate 10...ooppps.

Evan bought Dixie a heart ballon...figured she would like it more than flowers (at this age)...she LOVED it.

We played with pink playdough and cut out heart shapes.

Evan made me a VERY delicious dinner...not a Valentine's Dinner, because he hates Valentines, but an I love you everyday and don't need to prove it on Valentines Day dinner (which just so happened to fall on V day). He was going to do it the night before when he got home from his trip, but I wanted him to spend time with the fam instead of cook. Needless to say, this meal was AMAZING and is going in my top 10:)

Red wine and baked brie with amaretto toasted almonds on top....I could have eaten this ENTIRE tray...I almost did.

A delicious crabmeat salad loaded with all the fixings and topped with remoulade dressing.

BBQ shrimp (you would die if you saw how much butter went into this, but it was sooooooo worth it).

We also spent some of the day in the park because it was GORGEOUS outside. It was a fabulous day and I felt SUPER blessed to be able to spend it with my 3 Valentine's.

He's Home!!!!!

I haven't posted in a few days because Evan is home and who wants to blog when you have a handsome stud at home after 11 days of being gone:) I was so thrilled when he sent me a text saying that they finished the trail early and would be home on Sunday rather than Wednesday.

His absence was really starting to take a toll, especially on Dixie and we were ready for Daddy to be home. It's so nice having the 4 of us together again. I know that I make it sound like it has been a year or something, but seriously...it felt that way. Now things are back to normal and it feels so good.

Here are a few pics from his trip this year. He said it was his favorite year so far:

One of the shelters along the trail. They set the tent up inside of it to sleep. 3 walls

Do you see how little this tent is?? Yep..they both slept in there.

One day they ran across a working farm. This was the school house from the 1890's. I had to post this because I would love my own little school house:)

Getting drinking water from the creek...YUK! They do treat it will pills though.

The first day they ran across wild ponies. How cool is that?

Crazy Love

I LOVE to read! I am currently reading a book that is really challenging me and my Christian walk. It's fairly popular, but God is using the author's words to stir things up in me and desire some change in the way my life looks. I encourage you to read it if you haven't already. It's an easy read (only in the sense that it's interesting and easy to understand, but hard in the sense that it will really make you question your priorites, your view of God and view of others). I am praying that the Holy Spirit will do a work in me in certain areas and I look forward to and am a little scared to see what God has in store. I've had spiritual highs when I have read some books, but I really desire ACTION and LIFESTYLE change after reading this and I'm not even finished.

This would make a GREAT Valentines gift as it is about God's relentless love for us. For there is no GREATER love than that!

1 John 3:16:

"In this we know LOVE, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." (also Dixie's first memorized scripture verse)

Check out the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan and the website which has some great videos at www.crazylovebook.com

Counting the Days

3 1/2 down 1o 1/2 to go before Evan gets home. Every year he takes a trip to hike the Appalachian Trail. I know what you are thinking..."At this time of year?" Yep, he's insane! I don't understand it, but I know he really enjoys it and needs his "adventure" time away. I was second guessing my decision to tell him to go this year with a newborn and a toddler at home, but so far we are doing great...I think because keeping that daily routine has helped the days pass faster and run smoother.

The worst part of his trip is that I never know when or if I will hear from him while he's gone, due to cell phone service in the mountains. I am a worrier and not knowing that he isn't frostbitten, stuck under a boulder or eaten by a mountain lion, makes me a little nervous. So far I have gotten 1 text that says this is the best hiking he's done...beautiful weather and that he misses us. That made me feel better, now I'm just waiting for the next one.

I thought I would upload some pictures from his trip last year just to show you how crazy he really is. How this is enjoyable...I have no idea! Sure hope he's having fun. We are ready for Daddy to be home!

ok.....so this looks pretty nice.......

Yours Truly,

Had to test out my new custom signature for my posts. I LIKE IT!

Facelift

A Blog facelift that is...what do you think????? I don't have a family photo with all four of us, so I created this on picnik. I didn't want Knox to feel like he wasn't part of the family. Check out this tutorial from "Life Sweet Life" below if you want to make one for your blog:

http://www.lifesweetlifeblog.com/2010/09/diy-simple-blog-photo-header-tutorial.html

A little Knox for good measure

I've had so many Dixie posts that I had to at least throw a little Knox in there. Poor baby..he doesn't do much on a video camera, so here is a picture of him getting his bath. I love the way that he is staring up at his Daddy.

I had to post this one because I am soooooooooooooo in LOVE with this man. He is such a good Daddy and his kids adore him. I can only hope and pray that my son will turn out to be as much of a Godly and AWESOME man as his Daddy.

Tech Savy Dixie

Ok, so since I figured out how to upload videos from my phone, I have been a little obsessive...sorry. They are all silly randomness, but important to me.

My friend Amber (thanks girl) suggested the Fisher Price website for some cute and easy infant games for Dixie to play during her activity or lesson time. So Dixie played her first computer game today. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it since I am always telling her not to touch the computer. It did keep her attention and I think can be a great learning tool though. Hopefully she will learn when it is ok to push buttons and when it is not or else this is going to be a mess. I must say that she did practice pretty good self control and this is a good way to teach her some:)

Paint Bags

For yesterday's lesson, I made a paint bag and taped it to the window. I used red since that is one of the colors we are learning this week. We practiced writing the number 1, the letter Aa and drawing circles. I wanted to be able to put it on the table, but it showed up much better on the window. I put just a little too much paint in it, next time we will do a different color and a little less paint. I am leaving it taped to the window for the week so that she can "draw" as she wishes. Just a note: if you want to make paint bags, make sure you tape the top of the bag so nothing leaks out.

Abby and Eve

I'm so excited that Dixie is starting to recognize Bible characters..even if she does say "Abby and Eve." Maybe we watch a little too much Sesame Street. She will go and pick up the Bible and flip through it periodically throughout the day. She really just likes the pictures. Her favorite is of Jacob's ladder. She likes to see that he is "Night Night." I hope that she will continue her love for the Bible as she grows and we do more Bible Time together. This video is kind of drawn out, but to a momma it's sweet as pie.

Daily Routine

I started a daily routine with Dixie, thanks to my friend Amber recommending the book Toddler Wise. It's great because Dixie is learning that there are certain times to do things, like watch TV or Bible or a lesson. I left lots of room for free play time, but it is helping to make our day rn smoother and helping me to get things accomplished. I felt like before our days were just kind of wasted, now we get stuff done and spend lots of quality time together while encouraging some independence and learning for Dixie.

One of our alloted times is "Lesson Time." This is short and sweet and this week we are focusing the number 1, the letter A, colors red, and green and circles. I don't know how much is getting through to Dixie, but she likes to color and stamp:) She did pull off the "Dixie Face" we made and said "circle." Yay!

We are also memorizing 1 scripture a month. Here is our February scripture. She said it the first time...guess I pushed the limits after that. But she's doing great repeating it after me. She even asks to do it when it's Bible time and when we pray at night.

A Sweet Moment

Knox gives Daddy one of his first smiles. It melted Evan's heart and he wanted to just stare at him the rest of the evening..who could blame him?