Christmas Program

Ila had her very first performance at her preschool and it was absolutely precious. She stood up there with all the other kids and even sang a song or two inbetween yawns and blank stares. We were cracking up but were so proud of her! She's in the middle of this photo ringing a jingle bell. 

Merry Christmas!

My 1st Photo Shoot

A friend of a friend has been asking me to take pictures of her family and I finally did it! It was so much fun and I think I captured some really sweet moments. Thanks for this opportunity Lacey! Here are my favorites...

Thanksgiving Photos!

1st stop - Grammie and Jake's house out in Pungo. 

On a hayride!

Ila having a heart to heart with Rocky and Betsy

Next stop - Williamsburg with Ross' extended fam! Ila was so cute running around with Jackson.

Then off to Hatteras for the weekend!

Buddies reunite

Love Kate's face in this one

It was warm enough to play on the beach!

Blizzzzaire

These girls can dance

Soggy bums

Uncle Bla Blak shredding the gnar!

So glad Movember is over.

Checking out the new bridge

The Bobbins? Only 5 weeks old for his first Hatteras trip

Baby Ilah!

It was a very hoppy thanksgiving

Two Times Ila Made Me Cry Today

I have tons of pictures and updates to share, but until I get to that I needed to share a couple of things before I forget! They both happened to make me cry.

- At my dr. appointment for the baby, Ila was in the bathroom with me when I had to pee in a cup. Being that she asks me about 20 questions per minute, I knew I had some explaining to do. I must not have been very clear though because a little later she asked me "when I go to my doctor, can I pee in a cup so my doctor will drink it?"  I couldn't stop crying-laughing the rest of the appointment.

- Then on a sweeter note, I was tearing up in the car on the way to the doctor when Ila was singing the lines from Ross' Christmas song. She has an amazing capacity for memorization (I didn't know as many lines as she did), but to hear your 3 year old belting out things like "O Love, born today come and find us! Search the darkness light the way, come and guide us home" and "a thousand years of progress past, a million hearts beguiled. Now Love alone will reign and last, within one little child" melted my heart. I just LOVE this little girl and am so thankful for these moments that make all the tantrums and ugly moments worth it.

Sidenote: She also sang happy birthday to Jesus repeatedly in the grocery store when she heard Christmas music playing - probably something about Santa Claus or Rudolf. That's my girl! It was a proud parenting moment for me. (No offense to Santa, I just don't think he should take as much credit for Christmas as Jesus).

Oh, but maybe an even prouder parenting moment was the other day when she asked me "Hey what are those yellow squiggles?" when referring to a giant McDonalds sign.

Ok, that is all. Pictures coming soon.

*P.S. if you haven't heard Ross' song "One Winter's Night" that he wrote and recently recorded in Nashville, check it out here if you want.

Ila on Marriage

Today is Ross and I's 6th wedding anniversary! Wow I feel old. 

Yesterday, when I told Ila this she said "I want to get married! But only to Daddy.... and to you." How sweet is that. Life is sweet.

Proud Moment vs. Unproud One

It's no secret that our sweet little Ila, who has always been so agreeable since birth basically,  has been entering into a stage of tantrums and "toddlerness" like I've never seen. I've gotten smarter about how to stop the obnoxious behaviors like whining and badgering, but it's the "start behaviors," the things I want her to do that have been tough. 

It was a proud parenting moment for me as I started the day by making this "Good Helper" chart with her over breakfast. I tried to get her to help me come up with the things on it that she knows would help mommy, especially with the new baby coming soon. She was pretty dumbfounded and said things like "smell the flowers," though still thought it was a fun activity. 

This is what "we" came up with:

She even asked me to take her picture next to it!

This was the scene about 20 minutes later after I got dressed upstairs:

I will now spend the next hour reading parenting books. Any advice out there is welcome! I just want her to simply put her shoes on since I can barely reach my own feet. 

I guess this is a good example of original sin - not even the promise of good can inspire good motivations or actions (like when God said to adam and eve "hey, i'll give you EVERYTHING - all this is yours - just don't eat from that one tree" and then they were like " naaah, I'd rather eff things up for the world if it means i can be in control). I know I can't make Ila want to be good or help out, so i'm resorting to some behavior management for now until she can understand bigger-picture stuff. (Like how we were made to do good and serve others, and as a result are happier people when we do). I'll let Ross have those conversations with her later on, but for now she's gonna get a kick in the crotch. Just kidding of course. That wasn't even close be being funny. Who kicks their kid in the crotch, and who even uses the word "crotch" besides me and my 9th grade biology teacher? That's another story though.

More Halloween Pics

From a 3-year old's perspective, being dressed up in a costume and whisked away to a place with hundreds of people also dressed up funny can be quite overwhelming. . .

Ila had been excited about being a ballerina for the past two weeks, but made a game-time switch to being a princess as we were getting ready to leave the house. No big deal, she could just wear her "leoturd" as she called it, underneath.
The UVA lawn was covered with lots of babies dressed up in cute animal costumes, several toddlers throwing tantrums on the ground, moms and dads who spent a little too much time on their costumes, and of course college students who probably chose their most appropriate costume of their past 4 nights of dressing up for Halloween. It was quite a scene but we were ready for it!

She actually trick or treated for the 1st time! Last year, we had to hold out the bucket.

And once she got that first taste of sugar, she was ok with the whole thing and became thoroughly candy-obsessed like any normal kid on Halloween.

Baby Alexandra looking cute in her superwoman outfit.

And baby Leah wore Ila's first Halloween costume! So cute.

Then after the lawn, we went to a friend's house for chili and Ila had a blast and ran around until way past her bedtime.

Madeleine even mastered her "gentle hug!" I'd say this Halloween was a success.

Last year