Never before this year have I fully realized how amazingly awesome of a mother you are. I always knew you were super nice, extremely loving & caring, and thought you were pretty cool {up until I became a teenager, I suppose}, but now understand and appreciate it all SO much better.

So, thank you, mom. For being the mom you are.

For raising me to be who I am.

For giving Ben and I such a happy, fun-filled, wonderful childhood {and then some}.

For showing me what it means to be a mom, so that I can be the best mom I can to my own daughter.

i love you.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .

Mum.

Thank you for being the woman who raised Todd to be the husband & father he is to us.

Thank you for being my daughter’s grandma.

For teaching her how to make silly faces and spoiling her in a good way.

We love you.

.    .   .   .   .   .   .

And to my daughter, for when the time comes that you find this all on the internet…..

The day I became your mom—ahhh, it still brings joyful tears to my eyes to think of it—was a highlight of my life. No matter how much I dreamt of you and wondered what you’d look/act/sound like, God exceeded all those expectations and blew. me. away.

You’re my intense joy, my exhaustion….

my sweet little sidekick, my slobbery kisses girl….

my hyper spastic funny little chunky monkey….

my constant hunger, my blue eyes….

my heart overflowing with more love than I ever knew I had.

I am blessed to be your mother {and I give you full permission for you to remind me of this when you’re a teenager}.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the other moms out there, my aunts who’ve been like moms to me, and anyone who is a mom in every sense of the word but without a child.

Well worth a couple minutes of your time, I promise.

{at a friends’ house while checking on their cats}

{at home with guster}

(a joint post by k & t)

Hope everyone had a wonderful end to 2011, and a positive beginning to 2012. I realize I’m a bit late posting a new year’s post, but when have I ever been on time for anything?

Never. {Ok, not completely true. Last weekend I worked in nursery at church and was there 2 minutes before the recommended time!}

I think I’ll go out on a limb and say that 2011 was my most favorite year of life to date.

Yes, there have been great years before—2008 comes to mind, since we got married and all that jazz—but the year our first child was born trumps them all. In fact, I think it was a little over a year ago that we announced to the world {i.e.: Facebook} that we were expecting. So, basically the entire year was spent preparing for and caring for little Elise, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Each month in 2011 had its very own ‘favorite’ event that I will always look back on fondly:

january

baby makes first official appearance…{via bump}.

february

enjoyed a ‘babymoon’ in Hawaii, including hiking up Diamond Head….{exhausting}.

march

apparently a pretty uneventful month as we have few pictures….ooh, but I did get my favorite childhood book sent to me!

april

baby shower in KC with some of my best friends….{and babies!}

may

2nd baby shower that both Grandmas attended.

june

we waited ever so (im)patiently for baby to arrive…{and waited…and waited…}

july

best. day. of. my. life.

august

took the wee one on a very memorable {and long} road trip.

september

met my tiny nephew for the very first time.

october

visits from lovely ladies.

november

Thanksgiving on Orcas Island with friends.

december

our first Christmas as a family of three.

So much has changed over the past year, it’s actually kind of difficult for me to remember what life was like when I had all that free time to do whatever I wanted to do.

I’m not a resolution person, but I do like to have things to aim for in life, so here’s what I’m hoping 2012 brings:

1. Help Elise learn to crawl, walk, and talk.

2. A vacation for just the hubby and I. {Somewhere warm, perhaps? And somewhere I can just relax. We’ve gone on vacations this year, but not a single one has been relaxing for me. }

3. More visits to see Grandpa & Grandma H in Idaho.

4. Spend some quality time with Grandpa & Grandma S, my brother, sis-in-law & nephew. And have Elise meet the rest of her great aunts & uncles at some point.

—possibly take Elise to spend a week on the farm during the summer.

5. Run {at least one each of} a 5K, 10K & half marathon.

6. Read the bible more and get back into a SHARE group.

7. Learn how to do something new {and do it well}:

—sign language, French/German/Russian, sewing with a machine, and/or yoga.

8. Develop the perfect quiche recipe.

9. Start up my design biz, for real this time. (http://www.etsy.com/people/sweetonedesigns …..sitting idle for 3 years)

10. Turn 30 with a smile on my face.

Yeah, I think that’s a solid starting point for me. At some point I’ll merge these with my ’30 before 30′ list.

Thank you for letting me share 2011 with you. Cheers to 2012, and all that lies ahead!

Plus, it’s wonderful for me to have time with other moms & dads and carry on an adult conversation.

As much as I love being a stay-at-home mom, the downside is that many days the only conversations I have (other than with Todd) are the ones in which both parties involved don’t even understand what the other is saying.

We started classes when she was about 2 months old. Being one of the youngest, she wasn’t quite sure what to think about all the songs, activities, and older kids, so she got overstimulated very easily. I’d usually spend the second half of class listening to the teacher while I walked around with Elise, trying to keep her calm.

But now, she loves seeing the other kids and learning new songs with me.

In fact, this is where she also met her very first best friend—whom we’ll just call, ‘little N’. They were born 5 days apart, so they’re at the same developmental stage. While the other kids crawl or run around, these two girlies lay beside each other and ‘talk’.

{and apparently sometimes Elise’s jabbering puts her friend to sleep. }

I’ve contacted my tech support computer genius guy (um….husband) to resolve this problem, so hopefully we’ll be back up and running soon. I could write a bunch to entertain you, but everyone knows the pictures are always the best part.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll go pack our suitcases. Off to the islands we go! Don’t be too jeal—they’re cool & rainy islands, not warm & tropical ones.

Despite the fact that Elise has taken over the blog postings for the past 4 months—err, longer actually, even while I was pregnant she was the star of this show—it’s not like our social life has totally gone by the wayside. We still get to enjoy non-baby time, it just doesn’t get documented as well.

Recently though, we got to help Ryan celebrate his 30th birthday with a surprise shindig that Aubrey organized. Lots of cheese & wine, and cake! (okay, technically Elise was there, but she was asleep upstairs the entire time)

I just realized that there are no pictures of just Todd & I together. So…..maybe we actually don’t have that much non-baby time out and about amongst society. Elise still seems to be hovering around wherever we go, but that’s perfectly fine with me. She’s the best accessory I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s a proven fact (done by my own scientific research) that you become 100 times more popular in public when you’re with a baby.

It’s a favorite nickname these days.

Runner-up is Droolie. Because she’s really good at doing both of those things.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Cheers to 3 fantabulous years as husband & wife, and numerous more years together. You are my best friend, my steady rock when I am weary, and a more amazing father than I ever dreamed of (and I had some big dreams). I’m pretty sure we’re not exchanging any kind of gifts today, since that’s not really our style–(spoiler alert) or at least I didn’t get you anything. But I want to let you know, as you’re hard at work providing for our family, that you’ve already given me the best gift in the entire world*.

And she doesn’t want to go down for her nap.

*In fact, you could probably get away with never giving me another gift, and as long as we have her, I’d be totally okay with that.

Elise says:


I just got back from a 5000 mile road trip! I got to see my grandmas and my grandpas, my aunt & uncle, and honorary aunts & uncles.
Oh, and I made lots of messes for Mommy & Daddy to clean! When Mommy gets a chance, she’ll post some pics…but I’m taking up a lot of her time.
Bye!

Dad, you raised us to be adventurous and taught us how to fly. You took us snow skiing in the winters and water skiing in the summers, as rewards for long days in the hay fields and working hard on the farm. There were no family trips to Disneyland or princess tea parties (of which I’m thankful), instead it was camping and canoeing and exploring the great outdoors. You raised us with loving hands, scarred & cracked from your years of hard work. Not just to be ‘good people’, but to be children of God and know what it means to truly care about others.

(one of my all-time favorite pictures of me and my daddy)

Papa Barry, you raised my husband to be the man he is today. And for just that feat alone, I think you’re amazing and the best ’2nd dad’ a girl could have. He has your intelligence, kindness, generosity, sense of humor….and your quirkiness. I often see your personality shine through him and it doesn’t make me scared, it makes me smile.

Our baby has some truly amazing men in his/her life. I’m just so excited for them to finally meet!

.   .   .   .

Many months ago, we got a package in the mail from Grandma Harris, and one of the surprises inside was this shirt and a photo, circa 1981:

Any resemblance?