Ushering in a new year...

I am having a hard time believing that 2007 is over and that a new year is upon us....ALREADY! Where did 2007 go????? Would you agree that the days pass faster and faster the older you get???

This year, as in most in the recent past, will be pretty low key. Having babies in the house makes New Year's Eve not quite as eventful as it was pre-kids, but that's not a problem for me. I'm not in the mood to be out and about, fighting crowds and traffic this year. I just want to be home. So that is what we are doing...staying home. A few of Ty's friends will come over and our neighbors too (who have a little one) to have dinner and then just hang out. Ty's trying out his new smoker that he got for Christmas. We'll do some ribs and tri-tip. Mmmmm....sounds yummy!

Would you believe that I haven't even picked up my camera ALL week??? Amazing, I know! **wink**. So that means no new pictures for today. Sorry. But, I DO have some pictures of past New Years Eves for ya. I could not, for the the life of me, recall how we ushered in the new year over the past several years, so I had to journey through my photographs to remind me.

Here is us on New Years Eve 2003 to 2004. Ty and I spent New Years with Krystal and Will (all pre-babies, of-course!) at Knott's Berry Farm. They were hosting a bunch of Christian bands and artists that night and we saw Jeremy Camp in concert. Pretty fun!


And 2004-2005....the night that I really started to feel pre-eclamptic and swollen. I was admitted that next day...


I have no pictures of the actual night of New Years 2005-2006, and I have NO idea how it was spent. Luke was just 11 months old. I can't remember if we went out or stayed home. We must've done something....we always do. We've never just spent a New Years at home alone. But, again, I can't recall, so here is a picture I took of Luke on the 31st.


And finally last year....we had just moved into our house 2 weeks prior. I was a mere 7 weeks pregnant with Ellie and we had some friends and family over for a chili dinner and games afterwards. We also celebrated Luke's birthday that night, since we didn't have a special party for him planned. Here is us having 2nd birthday cake!


Oh yes...BIRTHDAY...that reminds me. Just 3 short days until my sweet son has his golden birthday (he turns 3 on the 3rd). Has it already been three years! Sheesh! The party plans have been made, invitations sent and all of you within a 100 mile radius have all been invited (I don't think I forgot anyone!). I desperately wish ALL of you could come...even those of you with kiddos far away...(Heidi, Amy, Roni, Diana....well with a kiddo on the way for D.) And with all the plans for an outside Thomas The Train birthday party set for Luke this coming Saturday (were were planning to have a bounce house and everything!) I learned yesterday that it is forecasted to be pouring down rain Thursday through Sunday! Crumb!!! How crappy is that?! So....I've been in a mad scramble to make alternative plans. Not so easy of a task 5 days out! But, My Gym saved me and it sounds like they have some openings for a party this coming weekend. I'm not sure what time yet though...still have to talk to our friend Terra there. So, all of you blog fans who were planning on coming, just know that I will be emailing or calling you in the next day or so with updated birthday details. Hopefully, the change won't mean fewer guests, but I'm guessing that it might. :(

Well my friends...I should be going for now. There's laundry to be done, the dog to be walked and things to prepare for dinner tonight. I hope that you all have a fun and safe night tonight! Happy New Year!!

Christmas

I trust that you all had a wonderful holiday. I know that we sure did! It was busy, busy, busy, but wonderful nonetheless! Monday (Christmas Eve) was Christmas with my side of the family...my sister Jenn and the girls came up to my parent's house, and we treated the day as if it were Christmas, rather than Christmas Eve. We had breakfast and presents, then lounged around until dinner. So nice! Once dinner was through, our little family headed home to prepare for Santa's big arrival! Luke helped Ty prepare Santa's snack, with a little something for Rudolph as well, and then it was off to bed for a Christmas themed bedtime story and a good night's sleep before the big day.

Christmas Eve has always been so magical for me. As a child, I have many memories of lying in our darkened living room, gazing with awe up at a light-filled Christmas tree, and basking in the anticipation of all those glistening presents delightfully wrapped beneath the branches. Our Christmas Eve was much the same this year, only my anticipation was more focused on my kids rather than gifts wrapped with bows. I was eager to watch Luke open his gifts the following morning, and I delighted in all the magical moments of Christmas....setting out snacks for Santa, telling Luke to listen for reindeer hooves and jingle bells on the roof, turning out the lights at midnight and tiptoeing to bed with a giddy heart at the thought of what our son would find in the morning under the tree. And yes, of-course, lying silently in the darkened living room, relishing in the beauty of our lit Christmas tree with the fireplace crackling behind us. Ahhhhh......how much more beautiful can life get?????

When dawn came, I wasn't surprised to find that I was the first one awake. My eyes popped open at first light and I tiptoed downstairs to get some coffee and make sure that the dog hadn't eaten Santa's cookies! :) When I discovered that she HAD (the plate had been LICKED clean!) I quickly scrambled to replace the half-eaten cookie and crumbs that had been left there by Santa several hours before! A chocolate chip cookie isn't such a bad way to start off a morning, if I do say so myself :) It was followed shortly by a warm cup of coffee....not too shabby of a breakfast in my book! :) Ty was up soon after and we actually got to enjoy our coffee while I fed Ellie. When 7:45 rolled around and Luke was STILL not up, we scooped up Ellie and the video camera and made our way upstairs to wake our sleepyhead. Before we knew it, we were knee-high in wrapping paper and toys were spread all over the family room! :) What a delight it was to watch Luke on Christmas morning! We videoed the whole thing, but I'll just put together a quick montage of photos for ya, I think.

The biggest surprise (for me) of the morning came in the form of a little black velvet box, wrapped in a gold bow. Resting inside was the most beautiful diamond solitaire necklace that I have ever seen!! My husband......oh my sweet husband! I tear up just thinking about this. You see....our 'budget' to spend on one another this year wasn't much. We had decided to keep it pretty simple and to just get some smaller things for one another. But my dear husband decided to nix that plan. He had other things in mind, after all. Let me give you a little background so that you can understand why I cry at the thought of this beautiful diamond hanging 'round my neck....

Ever since we moved into this house, Ty has been planning, designing and working on his garage. Its always been a 'work in progress' since money has been tight. He has dreamed about putting in epoxy flooring, is in the process of building a custom work bench and just has big dreams in general for how he wants his garage to be. It is really important to him....something he talks about all the time. His 'retreat' so to speak. Well...all along, his plan has been that he would sell his dirtbike/motorcycle and use the proceeds(which really isn't much to begin with!) to finish as much of his garage as he could. We always agreed that his 'motorcycle money' was his to spend as he saw fit. It was his 'play money' so to speak, since there isn't a lot of room for extra stuff like a fancy garage with our one-income family. And when he finally found a buyer for his bike a few weeks ago, we were so excited to think that he would be able to finally start in on his 'garage plans'. Seriously friends.....he's talked about this garage ALL THE TIME! He has been so excited about it!!!

But as Christmas approached, my husband thought long and hard about what he wanted to buy me, and our small budget for one another just wouldn't cover it. So, what did he decide to do??? He took his dreams for an awesome garage and sacrificially put them aside in order to purchase a stunning necklace for his wife! He took what meant so much to him and gave it to me! I cry now as I type this. His gesture touched my heart so deeply and it meant the world to me! I didn't need a diamond necklace. And we certainly don't have the extra money to buy me one. But he knew that this diamond would mean so much to me. It is something that I will wear each and every day, just as I wear my wedding band.....for it represents to me my children....my husband...and now, his sacrificial love for me. Isn't he the most amazing man?! In his words, he 'just wanted me to know how much he loves me.' Oh, I most certainly do, Ty.....I most certainly do.

I apologize for being so long-winded today...there is just so much to share! :) But rather than continuing on in words, I will leave you with a montage of our holiday. It's a little lengthy...just to warn you, 'cause I added in a couple of video clips. And please excuse my raspy voice in the videos....I ended up loosing it completely later in the day! Anyhooo...enjoy the montage! :)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas wishes....

Since I wasn't able to carve out the time to send a traditional Christmas card to all of you who mean so much to us, I decided to post our holiday greetings here...which I will do in just a couple of minutes. Ellie and I had some time alone the other day when Luke spent the morning at Meemaw's house, so I took FULL advantage of the quiet time and did her four month photo shoot. It's tough to get pictures done with Luke around, as he doesn't like it much when Ellie is the center of my attention...understandably so. And its even tougher to get Luke to be involved when I'd like him to be in the pictures. He nearly flat out refuses now, which is why our Christmas greetings are just of Ellie. :(

I highly doubt, with all the hustle and bustle of the next few days, that I will be able to get online to post again. There are birthday parties to attend, a house to clean, presents to wrap (yes...STILL!) and a bit more baking to do. And to top it all off, I have come down with a terrible sore throat and body aches. Argh! Why do these illnesses always come during the holidays???? We were all sick for Thanksgiving too! But so far, I am the only one affected. I'm sure Ellie will have it soon though, as I am always touching and kissing on her and was doing so before I knew I was ill. :( And poor Ty....I pray he doesn't get this round...he is STILL working on getting over our Thanksgiving bug. Yes....STILL! He has been sick for weeks and weeks....just finally went to the doctor a few days ago for some antibiotics and is starting to sound like himself again. Phew!

Anyhoo....I hope that you all have a beautiful Christmas with your loved ones close! I am very much looking forward to this Christmas morning and seeing Luke's face as he opens his gifts! He has really taken to the idea of Christmas this year. It has taken on a magic that makes my heart swell! :) And the most delightful part for me is that he understands that Christmas is first and foremost about Jesus and secondly about Santa. We talk about both. Santa is essentially Jesus' helper....helping to spread Jesus' joy, love and grace. So....from our home to yours, may you all hold the true meaning of Christmas close this holiday season and may your year to come be full of His blessings!

Sending love to each of you....

Ever heard of Wordless Wednesdays? Well, an online friend of mine occasionally does them for a break from the routine. She posts mostly pictures rather than a written blog for the day. And having decided to end my brief hiatus, I think a good way to ease back into blog land is to do a Thursday version of Wordless Wednesdays. So without further ado here are some of the things we've been keeping busy with.....

Gingerbread house makin'











The finished product...





And the children were nestled all snug in their beds....



A visit with Santa....and a very scared little Luke! (sorry the quality is so bad....I had to scan it in)



And to end my "Wordless Thursday", here is a sweet picture of my Ellie Belly, who turned four months old on the 16th **snif, snif**

The last few blogs have been deleted....it was getting out of hand. It makes me sad to see that the first and only time I attempted to venture out of my comfort zone and actually share my opinion about something that was important to me, it was met with so much drama. That was completely not my intention. I guess I'll be more careful in the future...

Its just not gonna happen....

...getting Christmas cards out this year, I mean. That is such a bummer to me too, especially since my pictures are such an important part 'me', but there just isn't enough time or energy left this season for me to get them done on time. Are Happy Easter cards appropriate??? teeheehee. Oh well. So those of you who are expecting a cute little card from the McLaughlin's this year, please don't be disappointed when you don't receive one or think that you have been forgotten. You certainly have not been. Just chalk it all up to a mommy who feels a little overwhelmed at Christmas-time.

Okay....now that that is out of the way...something exciting happened this week for us. (Exciting for me, anyway!) Ellie finally rolled over from her tummy to her back a few ago! I had placed her in position for some much needed tummy time the other morning, and went about my business of getting Luke some breakfast. When a few minutes had passed and she was still not fussing to be done, I returned to check on her and found her tummy up! :) I was so surprised that I raced for the video camera and hoped for a replay. Ellie, however, had something else in mind and decided her one 'trick' was enough for one day. She has yet to repeat the feat, but I'm keeping a watchful eye on her now!

As for our weekend of flying solo while daddy was gone in Vegas...all went surprisingly well! The kids were so well behaved and mellow. It was actually quite a pleasant weekend. I was able to finish up all our holiday cookie baking one night after the kids went to sleep (that is, until I learned yesterday that we are hosting Christmas dinner here and I now need to make more cookies for our guests!) and Ty seemed to have a great time with his buddies. All in all, it was definitely not as tough as I thought it might be.

My biggest challenge right now is just getting all my ducks in a row for this holiday season. For some reason, I am feeling constantly behind this year....even when I look at the calendar and see that I still have 12 more days left until Christmas. I guess I'm not really doing that bad...all of our Christmas gifts are purchased (minus a couple of little things that Ty and I want to pick up for our kids...but we have a 'date' at Toys R Us planned on Friday to finish that up!), the house is decorated and my baking is nearly done. I still need to wrap gifts, figure out plans for dinner here Christmas day and then of-course just clean and such. But I think the thing that has me most stressed is actually Luke's birthday. Its just TEN short days after Christmas and this year we are planning a little party for him, since we had just moved in last year and weren't able to do much. So, now that he is old enough to appreciate it, we will be throwing him a little bash here at home. I shopped yesterday for his invitations and party goods...he chose Thomas the Train this year, and whoa! that boy is EXCITED about it!! He keeps talking about his party and mixing his birthday up with Jesus' on Christmas day. teeheehee. We've been teaching him why we celebrate Christmas and telling him all about it being Jesus' birthday and now when we asked him who's birthday it is on Christmas, he says "Mine!". Not quite, buddy. We'll continue to work on that one! But he's getting a grip on the idea. All in time.

Anyhoo....my littlest one is starting to stir in bed, so I must end my blogging for now. My post feels a bit disjointed, but oh well. Hope you guys are having a great week!

Another weekly recap....

So as you might have guessed, the lack of blogging this week is indicative of my lack of 'free' time to be at the computer. I've been busy this week with processing a few photo shoots that I've had (everyone wants their Christmas card pictures!) and so any child-free time (aka naptime or after bedtime) has been spent on Photoshop. And while I absolutely love this photography hobby of mine, I am glad it is just that...a hobby, and that it doesn't usually steal me away from my kids and my husband like it has the last couple of weeks. A shoot every once in awhile is great for me! Those are my pleasure to do and I truly enjoy them. I'm just not a fan of this back to back thing. There is just too much to attend to with my family, and that for me, is my first priority.

Anyhoooo......

Guess a recap of the week is in order. Let's see......

Ahhh...our anniversary. Has it really already been a week? Sheesh! Our actual anniversary on Friday was pretty uneventful. It was a cold, rainy sort of day, so when Ty got home from work, we spent the afternoon listening to Christmas music with the fireplace on while we decorated the tree and the house for Christmas. It was a cozy kind of afternoon....all together as a family. Very mellow, but very nice. Luke got to decorate his very own, tiny tree in his playroom this year. He thought that was super special to have his very own tree!

He was actually pretty adept at hanging those tiny ornaments too! I was surprised! And I was equally as surprised that he agreed to wear his santa hat while doing it! Here's my happy boy!

Then he decided to try on Tess's silly antlers....

This was just one of the shots in a series that I took, each with Luke 'posing' in a G.Q. kind of way. They're pretty silly and incredibly cute!

Saturday actually felt more like our anniversary than Friday did. That's when these arrived, accompanied by a beautiful poem...

...a day late because UPS was delivering them and had apparently sorted them wrong. :( Poor Ty was so upset on Friday night when he told me that they were supposed to be delivered earlier in the day to surprise me before he got home. He was crushed that his surprise had been botched. I didn't mind the mix up at all....in fact, getting them on Saturday was actually better, since it was the night we had planned to celebrate anyhow. And......because of the whole UPS mix-up, the flowers ended up being FREE! :) Who can complain about a free dozen long stem red roses and white calla lilies????

Saturday night was our special night out. My mom came over to be with the kids and I nursed Ellie just before we left with hopes of her going to sleep and not needing to be fed again until the middle of the night. That sort-of ended up being what happened...my mom attempted to give her a bottle of pumped milk I had left 'just in case', but Ellie refused most of it. Silly girl! She was fine though until her 3am feeding. (Yes....she's STILL waking hungry at 3 or 4. Wondering when that will end, but that's another whole story!). Here's the fam. just before Ty and I left...not the greatest of shots, but like my mom said, it catalogs what our 5th anniversary was like...our arms full of kiddos! :)

Luke apparently wasn't in the mood to look at the camera. Surprise, surprise.

After finally escaping the little ones, our night out was really nice. We had cocktails and appetizers at the swanky little bar at the resort (I had my first martini ever...a raspberry drop. Not too shabby!) and just talked awhile since we had arrived about an hour earlier than our reservations. Then we got to ride a little boat (they called it a gondola, but it really was just a small motor boat) across the resort's lake to our restaurant....the Sea Grille. When Ty made the reservations, he asked for rose petals and candles on our table just as we had on our anniversary table last year. So sweet. We had a delicious dinner...lobster thermador for me and sea bass for Ty. Mmmmmm....yum! We lingered as long as we could at dinner, drinking our wine and just enjoying our meals. The night was over much too quickly though, and soon we found ourselves back at home, checking on the kiddos before hitting the hay ourselves. ***Sigh*** I still wish we could have gotten away overnight, but so it goes. It was still a nice evening. And five years are now under our belts! :)

Oooh...I almost forgot....Saturday morning before those amazing flowers arrived, I got lost in messing around with my camera and one of my lenses that I hadn't used in quite some time. I must've taken 200 pictures, just playing with settings and such. Here are two of my favorites....of my two most favorite kids in the world!

I just love that little smirk! Its rare to get him to look at my camera, much less smile at it these days, so this adorable little look was priceless. And ahhh....my sweet Ellie. I just adore this girl! She is the most beautiful child I have ever laid eyes on! (Of-course, I am a little biased!) But seriously...she grows more and more beautiful every day! And get a load of those cheeks!!!



In the process of taking all those pictures, I came across one in particular that reminded me so much of myself as a baby that I had to go digging through old photographs to be certain. What do you think....do you see the same resemblance that I do?????



I see a lot of me in her.....but maybe it's just me hoping that at-least ONE of my kids looks a bit like me! :) I grew them both in my belly, afterall. It would be nice to have them look the part! :)

Well my friends.....with all that said, I guess that it is time for me to sign off. Ty is out of town for a boys-only Vegas weekend with his highschool buddies, so I had better get plenty of rest to keep up with my two munchkins this weekend. Not that having them to myself is much different from any other day, but the idea that there is no break in between a long week past and a long week ahead makes me tired! ;) Ta-ta for now.