One year ago today.

Lily Eve means Pure Life.
There is no better way to describe her than that. You never know what you're going to get when your baby is born and every day, we feel like we are opening a new gift with Lily. She is so surprising and enchanting. We love knowing her and watching her discover life.

9 days before she arrived.

Jan 2, 2009. 18 minutes after we arrived at the hospital!
I didn't sleep well last night and it made me think of the craziness of that night one year ago when Lily entered this world quickly and hasn't slowed down since.

A few things Lily loves: crazy dancing, animals, outside, cheese, music, "PaPa" (piper), yelling, blankies, mommy, feeding Boone, smiling, boys with dark hair, electronics, life

"Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17

Snowed in

our front yard
We heard the forcast, but never thought that we would actually get 10-12 inches of snow! Well, it happened. It snowed all day pretty hard. Now we can't even get out of our driveway. This is the most snow Black Mountain has seen since the "storm of '94." It's a ton of fun!

back yard- boone doesn't know what to do....


Our porch last night

outtakes.

Here is one series of our photo shoot.
This is what we were up against, people.

114 takes.

I should have know this wasn't going to go well when this was the first picture we took......

Here are the "best" of 114 pictures that Phil took trying to get a picture of the girls in their coordinating Christmas dresses for our family.

Seriously. 114 pictures. Lily did not smile one time.


I would take another 114 though. I never get tired of these faces.....

Giving Thanks.

I don't know what happens, but I get turned inward sometimes where all I can think about is me- what I'm feeling, what I need to be happier, how I don't have time to do this or that... yadda, yadda, yadda.....

So Thanksgiving and this whole holiday season helps me turn outward again- almost inside out- to see family and all of my blessings and the Hope that I have.

This time of year makes me want to be better for my family and friends and job. It makes me want to exercise, read and journal more. So I hope that this year the inwardness....will just stop.

Pictures are the best way for me to give thanks. I am thankful for:

that guy in the stripes & for my sis-in-law & my baby...but esp. for that guy in the stripes
people who drive in the middle of the night

family that would and does do anything for you

the memories of these great older people

people who know me (& like me) no matter what
people who give their lives away

family history and legacy & getting to know people better the older you get
sisters.

these kids. but especially the moms of these kids.
this little girl
and this little girl.
I feel very turned outward now. What a difference not thinking about me can make...... Happy Thanksgiving.

A cool giveaway.

I really love this website- www.simplemom.net and she has a great giveaway that you should check out. The jewelry on this website is beautiful!

Click HERE to read about the giveaway!!!!!!!!

My little diva.

This will make you laugh a lot and maybe cry a little. Our friend, Wayne, is apparently a baby whisperer b/c Piper won't perform for anyone and will do anything he says. All moms should call Wayne to babysit......enjoy.

Carlos.

This happened a few weeks ago, but I had forgotten about the photos. So here they are....
The premise of these pictures is that we took care of this sweet 6 week old puppy. Some of our college friends found his litter and named him Carlos. He arrived to our house at night so Piper didn't know that he was at our house until the morning. Piper came into our room in the morning and we put the puppy up on the bed.

As serious as she could be, Piper said, "Did Lily turn into a puppy?"
It was one of the sweeter and funnier displays of innocence.
For the rest of the day, both of the girls were great with the puppy. And it was the first time that Piper really experience responsibility- like picking up something off of the ground that is alive. It was a big deal for her.

Thankfully and kind of unfortunately, a family decided to take this puppy from us- much to Piper's disappointment. At least, this family wasn't taking Lily though.

The Little Daddies.

Well, here they are.....

You're thinking, "Amy, I don't see anyone...."
And really, you don't, but Piper does.
Those are the Little Daddies who live in the stool by her bed.
There are 3-5 of them, and every once in awhile, they come out and put on their pajamas.
They left the house the other day for the first time- needless to say, I was surprised.
Piper & the Little Daddies.
But it doesn't end there- there is also Potty (which is her favorite imaginary friend). Potty holds her hand across the street, is Piper's regular excuse for why she has to get out of bed at night- "Potty has to go potty" (while holding a clutched fist b/c Potty is in her hand) and is Piper's swimming companion at camp- imagine Piper holding onto a noddle and holding Potty above the water.

However, we also have Ninny, Ginny (pronounced with the g sound in "gear"), and the Rangle Tangles. It is a constant party at our house and we are honored when Piper invites us into this world of her's.

Who knew?

So....I volunteered to help with flowers/ decorating for my sister's wedding not really knowing what I was doing (sorry Danielle) or what it would look like. But it was so fun and gorgeous (thanks to my aesthetic genius of my mother-in-law, Martha Jo). And through all of this, I realized something great about my sweet husband- he really believes in me and thinks I'm way better than I am. Seriously.




But we all need that- someone to push us outside of our comfort zones and push us towards excellence. In reality, I think he's pushing me to be more like Jesus- not because I think Jesus was into floral arrangements, but b/c God is proud of His work. He's proud of His Creation and He even calls us His masterpiece/ workmanship.

So I'm glad I have people around me who want to call out/ pull out greatness from deep within me. Thanks to my husband for taking these great pictures and telling me to be proud of me. Am I such a cheeseball?

A Princess Corner.

It happened in the blink of an eye.
She was playing with trains and racecars and construction equipment.
Before we knew it, IT happened.
She put on a princess dress, saw Cinderella (thanks, dad) and was on her way to fairyland.....

It is a really fun thing to watch her get caught up in the imagination and romance of fairytales and palaces and princes and unicorns. As I type this, Piper just brought ALL of her dress up clothes and dumped them at my feet. She LOVES it.

I think it echoes a longing o f all of our hearts to get caught up in a love story- a bigger story. A story that is adventurous and gentle. A story of pursuit and rescue. The bigger story of all of our lives. And it's so innocent and pure.

To organize all of our gear, I was inspired by my friend, Joy Thigpen. She is an amazing designer, photographer and creative engineer. Check out THIS BLOG about her and her website- www.joythigpen.com to be inspired yourself.

I can't paint like she can but I can drill holes into walls. So here's what we did to create Piper's Princess Corner.

Lily likes it, too.

Fun in Fall.

Something about the Fall- especially October- means family to me.
Or maybe it's the fact that we were out of town most of September and I'm craving family time.
So we have been going crazy doing family things.

The fair really kicked off this season of family for us. Here are some photos of that. Lily was there but wasn't old enough for all of the rides, but she loved the animals. I can hardly believe she is 9 months old already and that she is ONLY 9 months!

Then, we went apple picking! It is always a highlight of our Fall here in Black Mtn. We went with our friends, Sarah and Ryon, who we love deeply and laugh a lot with. Piper is such a cool little girl now and has a great zest for life so every event with her is so fun. We made applesauce when we got home and an apple pie is on the menu for tonight- man, the house smells good right now! More fun in fall to come soon. What has gotten into me.......