Hat

Sometimes my very generous and thoughtful friend Heather sends us delightful hand-me-downs from her beautiful daughter Sammy. This white hat happens to be my favorite so far! Here are some photos from Christmas Day 2009.

This first shot just KILLS me!

Doesn't it look like an old-fashioned football helmet?

Lucy is moderately amused.

Last One

We decided to take one final photo of our family in front of our house in Nashville just before we left for the airport. Tomorrow (Friday), papers will be signed and it won't be our house anymore. Thanks for the great memories!

Empty House

I'm feeling a little sad tonight. Goodbye Nashville house.

Today..

We're in Nashville right now packing up our house so that we can move to warmer weather (which sounds REALLY nice right now, but not so nice in the summer). Phoenix, here we come!

Amidst all of the mess, I noticed how pretty all of these knick knacks looked on the bookshelves. I had tried to group them together so that they would be easy to pack, and then it hit me how pretty they were :).



AND.. Elizabeth Foster came by today so that we could take a look at more of her art. It's my belated birthday gift from Dave! We just LOVE the art we bought from her awhile back (which I posted about here and here), and we decided that we would like more please. It was so hard to choose, but these were the ones we decided on.

I mean... how could we resist flying whales?


... and a horse wearing a Victrola?...

Lucy's Party

This morning I was setting up for Lucy's party and I decided that there was a shortage of festive decorations. So.. I made a little pink and purple birthday banner, which cheered everything up in a hurry!

I've never been a big fan of buttercream frosting, so I made some whipped cream and added some fun pink sprinkles.

Here's my little birthday beauty in her home-made crown! Boy, was she cute :)

We tried to coax her to blow out the candle, but she just kept reaching for the pretty fire with her hand. We ended up helping her extinguish the flame.

I thought there would be cake and whipped cream everywhere, but Lucy was very composed about the whole thing. I think she was just trying to take it all in.

I was so thrilled to see how much she loves Lilly the doll!

She just kept hugging her and nuzzling her face. Oh what good it did a mama's heart!

Happy Birthday my darling girl.

Introducing...

...Lilly the doll!
I can't believe how long it took me to make her, but she's finished!


I had to learn how to backstitch and satin stitch with embroidery floss to make her face :).

It was fun to add my own little touches like:
... a ruffle on the bottom and velcro to the back of the tunic instead of a button...

.. pockets and a button on the pants..

... a felt flower to her hair...

... and finally, a little heart to show Lilly's affection for her new best friend! I bought that fabric with little hearts all over it a long time ago not sure what I would use it for. I'm so glad I bought it now! It was the perfect finishing touch for a home-made doll for Lucy's first birthday. I can't wait to give it to her.

A big thank-you to hop skip jump for making such a charming little pattern.

Random Highlights

There have been so many things going on! I made twenty of these gift bags for our visit to K-LOVE. Each one had a copy of our Christmas EP along with some yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Lucy also started to ride in a shopping cart like a big girl (instead of in her car seat).

AND I found this baby backpack at a yard sale for $10!!! It's so fun to go hiking when I can bring my favorite little person along.