Baby's First Dolly

In the past year, I have come to realize some of the special moments of being a mommy to a little girl. I really did not think having a boy/girl would make a difference [and I'm not insinuating that one is better than another] but I have found myself a wee-bit sentimental about some of the "mommy to a baby girl" moments. Giving Ellyana her first dolly for Christmas was one of those moments. So very thankful to God for this gift of a baby girl.

 

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning

So very fun to sometimes be "at home" on Christmas Eve/Morning and celebrate family traditions of our own. We opened stockings on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning woke in new PJs to eat cinnamon caramel pecan rolls before going to church. Some of these pictures are not so good [funky lighting] but the memories made are awesome!

 

 

 

 

Family Wedding!

So the weekend before Christmas, my cousin Matthew married his beautiful bride, Kristyn. The wedding was at the church where I went with my grandma Z. many times as a child and the reception was at a [relatively] new facility in my hometown. It was fun, classy and so good to be with family & extended family for the day. Here are a few pictures of the behind-the-scenes activities as I am realizing I did not even get a shot of the bride/groom.

The "Younger" Girl Cousins [...and they let me!] 

Time has taken us far & near but always will be family.   

Oh....love this daddy/daughter capture!

Handsome boys & Civil War history buffs!

More H.Family Christmas

We had a "waffle bar" with homemade sausage for breakfast [yummy!] and the U.Kevin/A.Jolynn invited the gang over to their new farm to burn off some "after-presents" energy. Grandpa read an interactive Christmas story & grandma helped with a fun craft-y project. We ended the night with sandwiches, empanadas, chips & cheese, cookies & ice cream. A good, good day! So fun to be together.

H.Family Christmas

Annual family photographs. We added two little girls this year, Ellyana [May] and Devery [September]. As you can see from the family pictures, Devery is a pretty "chill" little girl and Elly, well, not so much!

 

It was so good to be together, having hearts of gratitude for the way God has walked with us each thru the past year. For me, it was especially sweet watching the big kids [EGH family] make the little ones feel extra special with their attention & willingness to play.

 

 

 

My Little Man

He's been begging me to find him a tie & vest when searching around at Goodwill. I have been hesitant because I think there are plenty of years ahead of him to act/dress like a "big boy". Well, little did I know that a tie would transform my "little boy" into a "man" magically. At least that is what he claimed as Blake adjusted his tie on Sunday morning, "Yep. Now I look just a like a man." He was so super-excited to be wearing a button down shirt & tie, just like his daddy. He's growing up, this little man.

Book Review: Playing by Heart by Anne Mateer

I recently read Anne Mateer’s newest book, “Playing by Heart”. I did enjoy this book. I liked the author’s choice to write the book from both Lula and Chet’s first-person perspective. I really enjoyed the description of the game of basketball, though hard at times to re-create in my mind because of the MANY confines that were part of the game during the time period this book was written [World War I]. Wow! We’ve come a long way.

I could relate to Lula’s attempts to correct her former flighty ways and earn the respect of those who should have been her biggest supporters. Her brother, especially was relentless in bringing up those old flaws. Applying a label to an individual is a bad idea – applying a label with permanent adhesive is all the worse. People change. Christ changes us.

While some might consider Lula & Chet as living in a “simpler time” the author was able to illustrate that meeting the demands of others in one’s family and/or community, is not confined within a generation. The circumstances might look different but the pressure to conform, the pressure to do what is socially acceptable, the pressure to choose between the wishes of one person at the risk of disappointing another, those emotions/decisions still exist. There are no easy decisions and I appreciated Mateer’s tackling this topic so realistically.

Some of the characters seems a little bit weak, especially Jewel. I thought Chet’s mother was relatively unlike-able but I am not certain whether that might have been the author’s intent for both these characters. All in all, it’s a sweet story. Appropriate for any age [clean romantic relationships]. A good, fun read.

I was given this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.