Girls Night Out

We had a wonderful time at White Christmas Sunday evening. It was very good, even though I did have to get past the differences. Nothing is like the original. If there was a book it would probably be best, you know how that is?
Thank you mom for a WONDERFUL evening. I had to check my ridiculous smile every now and then during the performance. It would have been embarrassing if most of the others in the room didn't also have the same silly grin. :-)

From Mommies Point of View

This is what I'm finding at my feet quite a bit these days. The poor thing is having a hard time shaking the runny nose from the flu we all shared and an even harder time getting back to normal life where she isn't plopped on my hip all day long. A Cardinal enjoying our Thanksgiving craft from Monday. Dora loves all animals so she will stand at the window with our bird book trying to identify the birds as they land. (cut an orange in half, enjoy the insides yourself and then fill the cavity with bird seed. string it and hang a few together.)Where did the kids go you ask?

The perfect spot for all things secretive. (That is, once you've thrown all the toys out and all over the living room floor. )

A regular lumber jack these days

Mommy has been asking for a lot of forgiveness lately. From my kids but more often from my Savior. Who, by the way, is beautiful from the vantage point of my knees. :-)
I don't know what (besides sin) has reared it head in me but I am stopped often lately with, "yes, Lord, I see it, forgive me." And he does. Then we do it again in the not to distant future.

SO, with that said, I brought in a broken toothpick and a log this morning to explain Matthew 7 "take the log out of your own eye before examining the speck in your brothers" to my kids.
It went over well and I thought, "my won't that be a good tool for me to show them how to quit picking on each other"
Then I got it out for my own log removal.... then myself again... then myself again.
I'll be leaving that in the office now for easier access. :-)
(it did help the kids listen better when we got to the speck part though, just in case you wondered)

precious times

Life is just flying by here in the Livingston house. We are trying to soak up every last minute of this precious weather in between swine flu and other snotty yuckiness that goes around right now.

My favorite fall quote comes from Buggy who said to no one in particular as we were driving through an absolutely surreal forest of Autumn colors 2 weeks ago, " Thank you God for making all these beautiful trees." The birthday girl on her actual birthday with her gift from Aunt Jessica and Uncle Jay.
Dory, helping mommy in the kitchen. I let her cut bananas and chop eggs last night for dinner and she did so well! I was so proud and had all these wonderful thoughts of the fun times we'll spend in the kitchen together and what a blessing it is to have such a... particular child as my oldest daughter. She's extremely thorough. :-) She is having a hard time with writing her name because if the letter aren't just so, she erases it and starts over!

This little guy was stuck to our back door a few weeks ago. I love most amphibians. Isn't he cool?

Anella on the floor of the combine, "Are you gonna eat these leftovers down here?"

If you've never been in a combine before, it's a little hypnotising watching the corn coming in and the whirring sound...the sun..... makes me want to sleep just thinking of it.

wonderful fall finds

I'm pretty sure when she's twelve I'm going to look back and wish for just one more kiss on these two year old cheeks and to play with the dress-up bows in her braids.

Anella Kay

Does anyone else feel it's only been a few months since I posted with this title to introduce our Nella? And now, here she is a big one year old. sigh. so fast.

So, here are a five shots of Anella's first year and five of John and my favorite things about this little precious girl:

1: She is such a sweetheart, peaceful and pleasant 2: She is very funny and always entertaining us with her funny faces. Her eyebrows can tell a thousand stories. Keeps the dinner table entertaining.3: She loves to smile and enjoy anyone who looks her way. We like to give an extra minute to the kind great-grandma's at Kroger who enjoy a chubby, toothy grin. Nella is always good to them. :-) 4:She LOVES her daddy and will lay her head on his shoulder as long as he wants to stand by her bed singing her bedtime songs5: She is our little gift from above. To her sibling and to us. We love you Anella Kay. Happy Birthday!