A Christmas tradition that I wanted to start with our family was getting in our pajamas on Christmas night, making some hot chocolate, setting up the camera on a tripod and snapping away! Here is our family last year:
And then here we were this year:
Have we changed?
To help ring in the 2010 New Year I wrote a post reviewing 2009. I thought it would be fun to do this again. You never think your year was very exciting, until you take the time to reflect on all the many things that happened. Here is a quick look at my life for 2010!
January – Like most people we were very intentional when we named our daughter. Her name holds a lot of significance (you can read about it here), but one of her namesakes is Martin Luther King Jr. So when it came time for the big march in BG, we didn’t even hesitate in bundling her up and heading out. Here MLK is "marching" in her first MLK parade.
February – MLK’s got her first real snow experience. This wasn’t the biggest snow of the year, but the first time we had the opportunity to play in it. I also began my obsession with making hair clips. And lastly, we held a Kindergarten Olympics at school. I am not sure who had more fun, the students, the parents or the teachers! It was a blast!
March – In March we made a quick trip to Tallahassee to meet our god daughter Molly. We also got to use our pull behind bike thing for the first time and experience Mikayla taking her first steps.
April – In April we celebrated a very special first birthday with friends and family, took our first family hike in Mammoth cave and hosted our first Easter dinner with friends. It seems that April was a month of "firsts"!
May – We had a lot of spring time fun with Mikayla and harvested our first asparagus from the garden. I also braved a field trip to the Nashville Zoo!
June – I stole the idea from a friend to take at least one field trip a week with Mikayla this summer. In June we went to the Humane Society, Somerset for Taylor’s birth, local hotel with glass elevator and waterfall, Tallahassee for Molly’s baptism, and Kentucky Down Under. We also took Mikayla to the beach for the first time and I started sewing.
July – In July Ben and I headed to Swaziland, Africa to begin preparation for our move there. It was a fun two weeks, but the hardest two of my parenting so far because we left Mikayla in the states! We all survived, but still hard. Before we left we took a quick trip to Tennessee for a little blackberry picking. Mikayla and I also took an overnight trip with some good buddies to visit the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.
August – In August I started teaching first grade and of course had some last minute summer fun which included celebrating Lylah’s first birthday, a day at the lake, basketball, rain boots and much more!
September – This month we made the decision on working with Cabrini ministries in Swaziland and co-hosted a Labor Day cookout with some great friends!
October – Mikayla took her first plane ride as we traveled to Colorado for a family vacation and then we hosted our last (at least for awhile) Halloween party!
November – Mikayla and I joined my parents and siblings for a weekend getaway in Lexington. Ben also started making kites in November so we flew a lot of them and I made Mikayla her first sensory tub and hosted my first Thanksgiving meal with Ben’s family.
December – We spent December making special gifts (a post in the very near future) and continuing some Christmas traditions! Ben and I also got to spend an evening in Nashville listening to the one and only Garth Brooks in concert!
What a year! I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings for my little family. Happy New Years everyone!
In February I began making hair clips and jokingly called my "shop" – Sugar Mamma’s Shop. Just recently I decided to expand and add a new "shop" page to my blog. I am still making hair clips as a hobby, but if you are interested in buying any you should check out the new page. Just click on Sugar Mamma’s Shop above for details!
Here is a sample of the free business cards I ordered from Vista Print.
Last year I wrote about how making cinnamon rolls was a family tradition with my mom’s side of the family. Another tradition I have always taken part in on Thanksgiving and Christmas is making deviled eggs. According to my grandma, I have been making these eggs with her and my Aunt Beverly since I was around five. It is something I look forward to every year and take very seriously! Just ask Ben! Here is the process.
First boil some eggs, let them cool and then peel them.
Next, very carefully slice the eggs in half and remove yolks into a separate bowl.
Mash the yolks up really good! Add mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, and sweet pickle juice until you reach desired consistency. You just have to use your judgment here, years of experience make a difference!
Finally, scoop mixture in boiled egg whites and sprinkle with paprika. These are really best if made the day you will be serving them!
Last, eat and enjoy time with family!
Mikayla chilling with her great grandma!
In case you didn’t know, Ben and I graduated from Western Kentucky University (three times for me actually) where the mascot is Big Red (basically a big red blob with a huge mouth)! Everyone, at some point or another in their WKU career have a photo op with Big Red. Here is a picture from my glory days.
Over Thanksgiving, we decided to head to a WKU basketball game. Mikayla loved watching all the people and playing with the pom-poms from a little girl behind us. Even though it was well past her bedtime and went into double overtime, she still had a blast. However, I would say her favorite part of the game was meeting Big Red. After she got up close with him and took her picture she kept pointing to him around the gym. It was so sweet!
I think she was trying to figure out why his mouth was so big!
Silly faces!
Hanging with Grandpa.
Checking out the pom-poms! Notice her cutey Big Red clip!
GO TOPS!
After Big Red, I would say popcorn was the highlight of her night!
Watching the action with Grandma!
Have 18 months really passed since Mikayla was born?
She wasn’t very happy here, just moments after her arrival!
Much happier here. Side note – she is sporting a hat made by the one and only Brittany. You can purchase one too for $10!
It is crazy how time flies! Dr. F said Mikayla looked great at her check up on Tuesday. At 18 months she was 32 inches long, weighed in at 22 lbs and her head was a whopping 47 cm. She has grown 3.5 inches since her one year appointment…the nurse was super impressed with this growth. I mean I knew she had grown, but wow! She is still below average in weight and head circumference, but is above the red average line in height. She is also talking more, not sentences yet, but she is putting "I" in front of a lot of statements. For example "I poo poo", "I eat", etc. She is also signing more and communicating with us when she has gone to the bathroom. She doesn’t usually tell us beforehand that she needs to go, but almost always tells us after the fact. I believe we are on our way to potty training this little baby! She still only eats one good meal a day, but apparently that isn’t stopping her from growing!
She took her two shots like a champ at her 18 month checkup! As a reward we went to the park for a little fun, including Ben attempting to fly his homemade kite!
Mikayla loves her tub! I am already making plans for a winter themed tub. Any suggestions?
Daddy’s kite!
Her concentration face!
Making mommy a snack!
Sliding with daddy is so much fun!
A somewhat successful self portrait.
Mikayla, what did you do when you were 18 months old? Oh I just hung around!
We had another successful Halloween Bash. The costumes were awesome, chili yummy (if I do say so myself), pumpkins amazing, and of course company off the charts! Thanks to everyone who came out and helped us "go out in style". My words can’t do the party justice, so here are some pictures to recap the evening.
Amazing Banner by Lara.
Tribute to Willy Wonka himself!
Cutest Dorothy ever!
The Wizard of Oz Family!
Avatar, Earbuds, and a Beautiful Ballerina!
The Hippies
Prince Charming, Cinderella, GusGus and their Rock Star Ladybug!
Cat woman and Spiderman
Collin and Allen (they were dressed as two other guys that were at the party…you would have to know them to get the costumes)
Roller Derby Fan and Roller Derby Jammer
Gorilla and Bride
Whoopi cushion and Chilean Miner (and he stayed in costume all night, which meant no sitting down)!
Pajama Party Girls
Rocking it out with the Chilean Miner.
Pumpkin Time!
Brandi pretending to work hard 😉
Best Pumpkin(s) ever!
Scarecrow and Pumpkin being eaten.
Ghost
Scary face and Haunted House
Apple and …(I can’t remember what the other one was…sorry)
Pacman
Stay Classy
We had a big weekend full of visits. On Friday we met up with some close friends for a night of relaxation and a backyard fire. It was great to be around friends, sit back and relax! Three day weeks are hard!
Ben’s mom came to town Saturday and Sunday. While in town we hit up Jackson’s Orchard for some fall fun. Mikayla got to go on a hayride, pick out her own pumpkin, drink some more apple cider slushies and experience the mad rush that is Jackson’s on a Saturday in October! Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at home. On Sunday we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I love me some Cracker Barrel breakfast (or food in general)!
Corn maze
Mikayla would grab a pumpkin and set it down. Then go grab another pumpkin and add to the group. This went on until I finally stopped her. I am pretty sure she would have kept going all day.
Her stash
Posing with Grandma
Mikayla’s Uncle Tim, Aunt Chel and Grandma Kickert came along for the fun!
On Sunday, Mikayla and I hit the road to Somerset. Way back in 2000, my high school basketball team one the Class A State Championship. For most schools this isn’t a huge deal, but for smaller schools like SHS, it is huge! Our high school now has a Hall of Fame and so our team was inducted into it on Sunday. It was fun to catch up with some old ball friends and really special to have our team picture hanging just below my dad’s baseball team picture which has also been inducted in the Hall of Fame. It was a quick trip, but a fun one.
The old team, minus a few who couldn’t make it.
I have been playing around on Etsy for some time now searching for new ideas for hair clips. After searching for quite some time, I laid my eyes on a handful of ones I just had to try! Tonight, Ben had a meeting at church so I dug my supplies out and got to crafting! I am open to selling these in any colors, cost is $4 each (you can find other clips I have made here). Here is the end result.
Flower, inspiration from here.
Turtle clips with large and small eyes. Inspiration here.
Large eyes
Small eyes
Owl, inspiration came from here.
On another note – does anyone know how to get rid of a mouse??
On the same day even! As we were prepping to leave Colorado we took one last trip to the hotel pool. Then jumped in the car for the drive back to the airport. On the way there we drove through some snow! How crazy is that? We hit it all: desert, snow, swimming, mountains, rocks and sand. It was a great trip with two of my favorite people ever! Here are some of our swim and snow pictures!
