So since we try to alternate holiday locations, this year we headed south to bask in the warm Fort Lauderdale sun! We had an all-too-brief (but very wonderful) Christmas celebration with Rich’s wonderful parents and then left the next morning for 11 hours in the Pilot with our little ones. And let me just say that we are SO proud of these two! The trip from Chattanooga to Fort Lauderdale can often be 12-13 hours depending on the number of stops we make, and of course the traffic, but we actually made a beeline there and arrived in just under 11 hours! The girls did an amazing job of tolerating the drive, and are turning out to be fabulous little travelers.

It’s actually been a little over a week since we have been back in town from our 3 weeks in Florida (yes, 3 whole weeks. Running our own business requires a ton of hard work, but it also allows for some flexibility in the off-season). The latter half of our week home has been spent sick. Well, let me rephrase: the girls have been sick and Rich and I have been waking up in the middle of the night for 3 nights straight to clean up vomit So I’m feeling sorry for the girls and going a bit stir crazy myself. And if I do another load of nasty laundry, it is highly likely that I will go completely insane.

So hopefully I’ll get through this blog post: it’s the kind of mommy day that makes me feel the need to go to the loony bin. Sierra is soooo fussy, clingy, needy, and clearly just doesn’t feel completely back to normal yet. As I type, she is loudly fighting a nap in her crib. Give in, baby, just give in. Mommy wants to blog. An overdue blog, at that.

Most of our Christmas vacation was spent in absolutely beautiful weather, in the 60′s, 70′s, even 80′s, which allowed the girls to play outside and have a blast. The pool water itself is actually really cold in the “Florida winter” even when it’s warm outside, so the girls mainly played with the sand and water table and enjoyed all of the pool toys.

Examining the sand…

And deciding to eat some. 

And deciding that it doesn’t actually taste good at all.

Alana has an absolute blast hanging out by the pool, even when she doesn’t go in the water. She has always loved it out here.

Her own little pink net for cleaning the pool – she loves it and hey, she helps the pool stay clean. Nana is brilliant  

Go Miami Heat  

Thank you so much to Rich for these photos of the girls (minus Aunt Pixie, whom we eagerly awaited the arrival of on Christmas Eve)!!!

I loooooove this series…

This was Sierra’s adorable little Christmas Eve dress – too cute

Thank you for the Christmas Eve family photo, mom! 

Christmas Day was just the sweetest thing. Since it was Sierra’s first Christmas, Alana wanted to properly introduce her to the wonderful presents. She was a little smothered, but hopefully she felt loved

Since Aunt Pixie had flown in late the night before, the girls had not seen her yet. So when we’d all waited as along as we could handle, we snuck in with the girls and let them crawl onto Amber to wake her up. It was so cute. Sierra was only 6 months old when Amber moved to South Dakota, so it had been 6 months, but her reaction was adorable and we all deduced that she totally remembered Aunt Pixie

We ate a delicious Christmas morning breakfast together and then began opening presents. 

I love my “I’m taking a picture of her taking a picture of her taking a picture of him” image  

Sierra didn’t actually make it too far before she needed her morning nap. So most of our gift opening was spent sans Sierra. But at least we had a happy baby later on! 

I put Sierra down for a nap and the opening continued! 

I made fun of my mom for getting dad – among other things – socks for Christmas. But dad reeeeaaalllly wanted some new socks. And the fact that he’s rubbing them on his face, well, that’s a really funny family joke going back a few Christmases  

Dad surprised mom with an iPad for Christmas – so cute! She was so excited! Mom and I found the MOST hilarious slippers for Amber – they looked like the abominable snowman – we were pretty happy with ourselves. Sadly, they shed like crazy! Might as well have a pet!

Gifting dad some happiness:

Ya, you really can’t go wrong with cash.

Alana sporting Aunt Pixie’s new slippers  

Yep, Rich got the coal in his stocking – I think he may have gotten it last year as well He and my mom have a special (i.e. feisty) relationship. But don’t feel bad for him, he can dish it out!

Stockings!My adorable mom, checking out her new work toy! 

Sierra woke up in time to have stocking fun – she kept putting candy canes in her mouth with the wrapper on, probably wondering why in the world we like them  

Then we let Sierra open her Christmas gifts that had been left unopened while she napped. Oh, she did not disappoint. I’ve come to expect babies to have more fun with the paper and boxes than their gifts, but Sierra, on Christmas Day, was an exception. She let Alana help her with the opening, but then she would hold up her gifts, give Nana a HUGE smile, and then proceed to play with and enjoy her new toys. Really, I was so impressed with her! It was the most rewarding baby gift opening episode I’ve ever seen  We might be the last young family on earth who did not yet have Sophie the Giraffe, but Nana got her for Sierra!

Both girls LOVE to be on Papa’s shoulders, mess up his hair, slap his head, giggle while he runs around the house…

And giggle when Nana comes to get them!

Then, once Amber was in town, we needed to take a few more photos with all 3 girls! Thank you again to Rich for these photos! They make me so happy  

Soon I will be able to blog Sierra’s first birthday party because the one and only Amber Holritz flew down to document it! We are so excited to share those photos as well!

Last year, we went to a really adorable and quirky local Christmas Tree farm to take some photos, have some family time, and cut down our own tree. This year, we didn’t need our own tree since we were going to be spending the holidays in Fort Lauderdale with my family. But we still wanted the festive family time and the holiday photos for our Christmas card, so we went anyway

It’s surreal to look at the photos from last year when I was 9 months pregnant with Sierra, and now we’ve known her for almost a year! This Christmas I’ve found myself constantly reminded just how blessed I am. I love my family!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

This year has, without question, felt like it has passed more quickly than any other year of my life. I turned 30, had Sierra, and here we are ten months later and I’m wondering what just happened to 2011.

It’s been a year full of blessings, laughter, love, growth, and family bonding, and there have definitely been some stress and some challenges along the way. But we are so very thankful for this little girl and so honored that God saw fit to put her into our family and ask us to raise her to love Him.

We are doing the best we can, and some days that feels like enough, other days it feels like our “best” isn’t very great at all. But we know that God has plans for this little one, and so we pray for her. We pray that as she grows, God will help her to glean whatever wisdom we can offer and we pray that He will give us grace in the areas that we fail.

Here are some photos that I took of Alana – a little 4th birthday portrait session in the backyard. Maybe it’ll be a tradition, to keep taking photos at each birthday in the backyard like I did last year when she turned three. It’s all I can manage to actually get some photos of her during Sierra’s natime (otherwise she’d be in the backyard with us, crawling around and eaitng dirt, bugs, and leaves, no doubt). So anything beyond our yard, at this point in time, seems unlikely

Here are some that I loved, primarily because Alana’s personality really comes through in these photos!

We walked onto the back porch and she was so excited about all the leaves that had fallen lately. She is so girly, but also such a tomboy! She wants to wear nothing but sweater dresses every day yet loves to play in the dirt, with sticks and leaves. Something about this simplicity of life makes me want for her never to grow up

This photo is definitely one of my favorites from the session. I love her expression and the way she’s sitting. Argh. Too cute.

Can you be a ballerina while flinging around a stick???

Then a change of sweater dresses was in order. After all, she can’t decide which is her favorite. And this session doesn’t even include her purple sweater dress that she wears almost every single day. I’ll have to be sure to get some of her in that one, too

And as you will see in the photos below, I am really, super, outrageously funny At least my little buddy thinks so.

Happy, happy birthday baby. We love you more than the words we could possibly type.

And I hope you never forget the game we play almost every day.

You say to me “I love you mom. How much do you love me?”

And then I say to you, “I love you all the way from Chattanooga, down to Fort Lauderdale, out to South Dakota, back down to Fort Lauderdale, and all the way back up to Chattanooga.”

And then you say to me. “Wow, mom! That’s a lot of love!” 

After a few crazy weeks with Rich in and out of town and very busy schedules, we enjoyed some great family time today. It’s the first year that Alana was fully aware of Halloween and got extremely excited about dressing up and getting candy

We went trick-or-treating for a short time at Publix, which was completely adorable, and then we headed to Randy and Susan’s house to be with family. It was a perfect evening and we enjoyed every second. Alana went trick or treating tonight for the first time and had an absolute blast. We took some videos for posterity and all in all, it was a fabulous day full of smiles, laughs, hugs, kisses, family, and candy

Here are a few photos that Rich and I took of the girls before we left for our adventures. I’m biased, I know, but holy cuteness.

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you got to enjoy the day with friends and family and see the world through the eyes of a child.

But first, here is a shot of the beautiful birthday girl!

Alana started off on the swings where I snapped photos in between pushes

Heidi had gotten the cutest princess-themed party stuff from Etsy! 

Party favors!

Bri was helping me with Sierra while I took photos, and I couldn’t resist putting a crown on Sierra too! 

Thank you for letting us be part of your party, sweet Maddy! We love you! 

Rich and Alana decided to take me to breakfast at Cracker Barrel in the morning, so off we went to enjoy some time together and yummy food. I grabbed a camera as we walked out the door because I wanted for Rich to grab a few photos of me with my girls on Mothers Day.

I took this image below because seriously, it kills me that Alana treats every walk to the car like a leisurely exploration of the yard. In this photo, she is walking AWAY from the car, probably on her way to check out some rocks, bugs, dirt, or something. It’s hilarious – and sometimes totally aggravating – that she almost always “stops to smell the flowers.” I’m so task-oriented that I usually have to FORCE myself to have a conversation with her about the wonderful tiny rocks (or what not) before asking her (again) to get in the car!

Once we got to Cracker Barrel there was a bit of a wait so we relaxed on their rocking chairs. Rich and Alana are buddies. It’s adorable.

Sierra just hung out and failed to nap

Thanks to Rich for this shot of me and the girls. Alana’s smile is a little creepy but hey…

Silly girl time

While Rich and Alana ran to the store for ingredients (to make me a New York Style Cheesecake!), Sierra and I attempted to self-portrait. I could not stop laughing because she just kept trying to eat me! She needed a paci or something because she was slobbering ALL over my face. Hysterical.

Rich and Alana returned, set the cream cheese out to thaw, and we all headed out the door for some Smith Family time. For Mothers Day, Rich’s Uncle Ron flew Memaw into town for the weekend. The last time we saw Memaw (Rich’s precious grandmother) it was Christmas time; just a few days before Sierra was born. It was fun to introduce them, and I made sure to take a few photos of them together

Memaw is 90 years old and as sweet as can be. I am so glad I have had the opportunity to know her and take some photos of her with both of our girls as babies! There have been some sweet moments!

We saw Memaw and Uncle Ron off at the Chattanooga Airport and headed to the mall. I had a coupon for Gap and Rich wanted me to be able to do a little kid-less shopping. I have a few more pounds to lose before I am in many of my pre-pregnancy clothes again but it’s already getting so hot that I desperately needed a few pair of shorts. It’s so frustrating to shop for “in-between” sizes but I refuse to diet while I’m nursing. I’m always hungry so I’d rather eat enough and not love my body for a little while than to feel deprived and ravenous!

Anyway, that was my mothers day in a nutshell. Relaxing with people I love is the perfect way to spend a day.

Alana has had her first ever ear infection for the past three weeks and has been on her first ever round of antibiotics

In order to help her get better, we have been keeping her home a ton and away from groups of kids…so that includes her Mother’s Day Out program, my women’s bible study, our home group, church, etc. Not only do we want to avoid making anyone else’s kids sick,  but we want to keep Alana away from additional germs while she is SLOWLY recovering. We’ve had lots of cancelled plans and events, and we’ve done a lot of resting and tylenol-taking. It’s been very sad around here, and poor Alana hasn’t felt like herself for what seems like a very long time.

On Saturday, Alana really seemed to be feeling great. Finally. Thankfully. We enjoyed taking her to her cousin Addy’s birthday party and then to a VERY fun easter egg hunt and cookout with her other cousins. Sadly, by the time the kids started their easter egg hunt the sun was going down and we didn’t get any decent images. So to make up for the lack of photos on Saturday, we took a bunch on Easter Sunday, as per my mom’s request

So here you go, mom! I hope you feel like you got to spend Easter with the girls!

We started the day with a couple of family self-portraits:

And an Easter Basket from Nana to Alana  

The newest member of Alana’s Beanie Boo family  

This face cracked me up. Opening Easter eggs is intense! 

Then we took a break, spent some family time together, and when Aunt Pixie came over, Alana enjoyed some more surprises: 

Thank you sooooooo much to my sis for these completely NON traditional family Easter portraits! 

I love this image of me and Sierra. She is hilarious. Her current M.O.? Open mouth, insert fist

HA! This photo makes me laugh out loud. I love it, Amber!

Happy first Easter, Sierra. 

SO MANY entertaining faces. 

And then we had an Easter Egg hunt for Alana, which was equally as exciting as the Easter basket presentation. She LOVED it.

Rich and Amber hid the eggs, and Rich took these photos. I just followed Alana around with a huge grin on my face. 

(Note the Easter egg in the background)

These photos are brilliant. Rich captured Alana running at full speed across the lawn to get her other Easter Basket when the lambie one was full. It was a perfect moment. 

Success! Now with an empty “princess” basket, she was ready for round two – there were still more eggs to find! 

This is one of those photos that we could never have staged even if we had thought to try, but it’s just perfect! I LOVE the energy and youthfulness in this image! I love Alana’s body language, crazy hair, and even the fact that the basket is facing the camera perfectly. Awesome. 

She took several “candy breaks,” even though we told her there were still eggs to be found and that she could have some candy once we got back inside. I don’t think she heard us  

Then when Alana had found all of her eggs, she and Aunt Pixie had some chill time in the grass. I love these two so much. 

Happy, happy Easter, friends and family! We love you and are so thankful that you are in our lives!

Are you happy, mom?

Amber and I started off by testing our camera settings…and of course we had to get in the mood to be quirky, so why not get started right away?

Then we got started I’d never done Strut with this particular group of friends before and it was an absolute blast. I knew Bri would be a perfect fit because she is a silly, hilarious, super cute person. I have always loved her personality SO MUCH. Here are just a few photos, but if you want to see the rest, click on the link above!

The Strut girls

Briana, you know I love you and I hope that you are enjoying your birthday Strut photos as much as we are. Can’t wait for the next time!

We LOVE this place…great food, great service, and best of all, the private jets take off and land RIGHT outside the windows! Alana loved it just as much as always, and I think this place will be a tradition for years to come!

She loved every second, and her enthusiasm was pretty contagious.

Thanks again, mom, for taking another photo! You should go pro  

Could they be ANY CUTER???

Pretending to be an airplane…

Happiness…

Once we were done at the cafe, we hit up the Boca Town Center Mall for a little Baby Gap fun and then made lunch out of Jamba Juice – and we brought some to Papa at his job site.

Back at the house, I snapped these of Alana:

And then we went out back to play. This was Sierra’s first time in a bathing suit, and we squealed about how cute and chubby she looked! 

(Thanks again for this photo, mom!)

Sierra was reclining on my lap and this was my perspective of her round little face  

To supplement the fun Alana had in this little canoe last summer, we made sure to add Sierra this time…

Lounging. It seems that both Alana and Sierra have inherited my dad’s piercing blue eyes…and I’m wondering why I wasn’t so lucky! 

Kissable chubby cheeks:

And some Papa time! 

One of my favorites: 

One of our last days in Florida, we decided to head to the Promenade and have a DELICIOUS lunch at Lime Mexican Grill. Oh, we love this place! And I’m so mad for not getting a group self-portrait!

Super cool architecture! 

Rich took these photos and we couldn’t manage to escape the wind, so they’re just funny to me! 

30 year old me and 17 year old Shawn. I don’t want him to get a big head so I’m not going to talk about how stinking cute he is. 

Then on Friday night we went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate dad’s birthday. With our 45 minute wait, we decided to be productive and take pictures

Impromptu self-portrait…

Kinda sad I didn’t think to include mom in this photo…I didn’t get a single one with both my parents and both girls! Shoot!

On Saturday we had one last backyard fling: 

My parents backyard is a beautiful Florida oasis! 

The End

In some ways, it becomes harder and harder to leave because as Alana gets older, she is increasingly aware that we are leaving Nana and Papa’s house in Fort Lauderdale and we won’t be seeing them again for a while. She was VERY sad to leave, and as we drove north on Sunday, she mentioned (many times) how much she will miss them. So we talked about the fun we’d had. The beach. The pool. The sand & water table. The book reading with Nana. The toys at Nana’s house. Hanging with Papa. How much we love Nana and Papa. And we talked about how, Lord willing, we will see them again before too long.

It occurred to me that Sierra was ten weeks old as we went to Florida for the first time, just like Alana was ten weeks old when she first crossed the state line! So in light of this being Sierra’s first time in my home state, we pulled off at the Florida Welcome Center and snapped a few photos. It’s strange looking at these photos now that we are a family of four!

Here is Alana when she was only ten weeks old (terrible quality, taken with a point and shoot at night – but a memory nonetheless!):

And here is Sierra, also at ten weeks old:

One of the first things I do when we arrive is to get our camera out, make sure there is an 8-gig memory card inside, and put it on my parents dining room table so that I can quickly and easily grab it all throughout the week. I’m always glad I make photos a priority when I look back over the memories. There are definitely moments that are missed, but the photos we do take make me happy – even though they are not comprehensive.

Rich grabbed a couple of photos on day 1.

Me and the girls: 

All four of the girls  

Here is my mom with Sierra, who is growing like crazy, and very different from Alana! From day 1, Alana has been VERY petite for her age, always below the 10th percentile for weight and height, and sometimes off the chart (on the low end) altogether. But Sierra is my little chub She’s in the 75th percentile for weight and height, and is outgrowing her 3 month clothes already I’m thinking that she will grow into Alana’s clothes around the time Alana grows out of them – even though there are 3 years between them! Ha! 

Adorableness in the car before doing some shopping at Sawgrass Mills Mall

This was Sierra’s first time in my parents backyard and she seemed to love the warm Florida weather! It was so fun for me to have all the help with the girls, and particularly exciting to have someone else to interact with Sierra so that I could grab some smiling photos She had started smiling at two months and I had yet to capture her contagious grin on camera! I just snapped away, happy that she was so happy and thrilled to be documenting her joy!

Rich took these of me and Alana, and I love them. We were just on the street outside my parents home, and you can see the stereotypical bright, sunny Florida skies giving way to the rain clouds. I love Florida and I love the weather.

And I love my ‘Lana.  

We have so much fun in Nana and Papa’s backyard that we actually don’t go to the beach that often! It’s only 15 minutes east but we only went twice during our week-long stay.

This was the first trip, and Alana was in HEAVEN. Granted, she is scared of the water, but she will love it in time. She was just overjoyed to have so much sand at her disposal

I love this first shot because she had no idea I had the camera…she was just running around, plopped down, and sat like this for a split second. I am getting quicker with my camera, since Alana is not still for ANY amount of time! I just love how sweet and innocent and adorable she looks in this photo. 

I’m so proud of my mom, who was willing to brave my big camera to get some shots of me with Sierra, since it was her first time at the beach! Thank you mom! Way to go! 

The next day I grabbed a few photos of Rich and Alana having some cute moments…

Don’t let this sweet little feminine photo fool you…

She loves to play in dirt and she thinks there is nothing better than rocks and sticks. Look at her filthy hands!

And to conclude part one of our trip, here is an image that Rich took of me…

And a Rich and Alana self-portrait in my glasses

Stay tuned for part two, coming right up!