Because I can...

Guess who joined the rest of the world?? This girl. 

I am the brand new, first time owner of an iphone. Folks, I have been avoiding a smartphone of any kind for as long as they have been around. On purpose.

I had my reasons, but the main one is that I am cheap and did not want to pay for the data package. I knew if I ever took the plunge, there would be no going back, so I just resisted as long as I could. 

I also am not a fan of the new generation of phone addictions I see everywhere. People live with their nose in their phone and I just hate to see that. I still have a fear that I will become that  person and I am making a concerted effort NOT to. Really. I'm going to try hard. 

The first week of own-age doesn't count.

A few pics from the phone. I already love instagram, which I knew I would.

 SNOW DAY 2013! Baker hated it. He inherited a cold hatred from his dad.  I was highly disappointed, but got over it since the snow melted in about an hour. BOO. We all got home by 2:00 though, which was a win.

Peace

I am not a writer. I don't really know what prompted me to even talk about this, but I just feel like I need to.

My heart aches for a child, age 3, that passed away on Christmas Eve. A child I never knew at all. The mom is a friend of my cousin, but I keep seeing posts all over Facebook entitled "Remembering Ann Reese" and my heart hurts every single time.

The truth is, I struggle way too often with the thought of losing my child. I can well up with tears at the first tiny thought of that.

If this couple were my friends, I would not have any words of comfort for them. None. They are people of faith, thank goodness, because what would you do if you weren't?

I think this situation, combined with the Sandy Hook tragedy has prompted me to hug Baker a little tighter and kiss him a million more times throughout the day because we are just. not. promised. another. day.

Thank you God for allowing me to appreciate the boring, but not boring- "Peaceful"moments of my life. There may be a time when I long for life to just be what it was and I don't want to take for granted that right now, things are "boring". I'm sure this precious family would give anything for their lives to be "boring" right now.

I just pray that this family continues to find peace in God and that every family out there that has had to experience the loss of a child continues to find peace.

It just hurts. That's all.

Christmas Eve and Day

We always have Brent's family over for Christmas Eve lunch, but every single picture I took that day was blurry, so we will have to fast forward to the night. We were sad to see Pete go...luckily he left a note.

 I was more sad to see our Christmas tree go. I have been mourning for 3 days. It just makes the living room so much happier.

 Because Brent doesn't get enough candid's taken.

 Cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer.

 Christmas morning was fun, although I expected Baker to wake up freaking out that it was Christmas morning. We had to remind him that Santa came and that he brought presents.

 So, this entire season, when asked what Santa was going to bring him, he said "a purple puppy". Umm, this was a challenge for Santa since they don't really exist except on Ebay. Of course, mom knew that a purple puppy would be hugged once and then left alone for the rest of his time at our house. This picture below is just that. I'm pretty sure this is the only time he touched him.

 The slide, however was a hit.

 Bake is serious about knocking Spiderman down.

 Zoe got a hoop baton!

 Then it was time to see the trampoline Shug and Daggy got him. It was in the garage, unassembled, but it is together now and he LOVES it. See those Stompeez? When he opened those from Grandmother, he said "I really did want these!!"

 Hungry Hungry Hippos was also a hit with this guy.

 Then we packed up and headed to Birmingham to spend the day at Nathan and Amy's and see my parents and Honey.

In my opinion, it was the perfect Christmas! So much excitement, activities, singing, joy, and family togetherness. I could not have asked for anything more.

Christmas Weekend

We spent the weekend before Christmas at Orange Beach with our extended family. My uncle just bought a house on Ono Island and it certainly wasn't a bad way to spend the weekend.

 Baker found a friend to play catch with. They played for hours with that ball.

This family is multiplying quickly. I hope we still get together over the years, but I know it will get harder. I am cherishing all the moments we still have to spend the holidays together.