A Savannah Wedding

Yesterday afternoon Kyle and I attended my longtime friend Brittany's intimate wedding in downtown Savannah. 

Her (now) husband recently returned from Iraq and is stationed at Ft. Stewart.  Brittany was living in Florida but is now going to be living here!! I'm so excited to have another friend nearby.

For their wedding, they decided they wanted to have a small event with family and a few friends.

The ceremony took place at the Kehoe House followed by dinner at Lady and Sons.

The mansion was absolutely beautiful and the meal was delicious. 

It was a good time had by all and I couldn't be happier for Brittany and her husband!

They didn't have an official photographer so I took it upon myself to take the role.  I had fun bossing everyone around to get some shots I knew she would want later. 

Brittany was a beautiful bride.  This is her Mother-in-law helping her get dressed.

I love the intimacy felt at small ceremonies. 

The cake was a chocolate red velvet.  Delicious!

A toast given by the best man.

It was fun taking pictures of Brittany.  I want that couch!

This one was taken by my assistant Kyle.  We are thinking about going into business... :)

Every bride has to have one of these pictures.

Love this one!

Columbia Square.

Good luck and best wishes to the new couple!  We love you guys!

Christmas

Christmas around these parts was fun.  

It was convenient that we already live with my parents because everyone came to us and we were right at home. 

We enjoyed time with family, ate some tasty food, and stressed down to the last minute getting gifts ready for everyone.  

It brings me so much joy giving special and thoughtful gifts to our families, but this year we really tried to keep a budget so that our spending wouldn't get out of control.  Kyle's love for Dave Ramsey = we make budgets.

Sometimes I wish there was no gift exchanging associated with Christmas, it kinda puts a damper on things.  Too much consumerism!!! Am I the only person who thinks this? 

Because I was feeling a bit anti-gifts this year, Kyle and I decided to buy requested items for needy kids in our community through a program going on at the YMCA.  We decided to spend the same amount on Cambria as we did on the kids, but I have to admit that buying the presents for the kids gave me a much greater sense of satisfaction.  I couldn't help getting teary-eyed and excited thinking about the gifts being open up on Christmas morning by kids who probably don't get new toys or crayons or whatever else very often.  Giving really is better than receiving.  

Aside from all that, Cambria and Kyle and I really did receive some greats things.  We got lots of stuff for our house which is awesome!!!

We had a wonderful time celebrating and it's funny thinking about how different things were last year. Cam is now a year older (almost 17 months instead of 5) I am a little bigger (31 weeks pregnant instead of none) and Kyle is...well, he's still his same handsome self. 

Cambria last year, Christmas Eve 2009

The cutie pie this year, Christmas Eve 2010, pretty red shoes and all :)

Wearing her Ho Ho Hos.  Can you tell I love her?

She got her very own rocking chair, among many other things.

My daughter is smart and figured out how to eat the juices on her plate left from the fruit salad.  Christmas dinner.            

Day after Christmas in a Target dressing room. 31 weeks 3 days.

I made a few of these for gifts and for us to keep. I found the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs here. 

Kyle has off this whooooole week! We have a long to-do list so hopefully we can cross a few things off.  Today he took care of Cam most of the day and I felt like I had a day off.  I sure am a lucky girl to have a man like that. 

I'll leave you with this adorable video of Cambria in her beautiful new hat from her Aunt Ashley.  Her laugh is irresistible. 

Labor of LOVE

We are going to be getting another one of these in just a few short weeks. 

My heart is filled with joy and my eyes with tears thinking about giving birth to another child. 

Everything about a newborn baby is beautiful--there is no creature on this earth more precious. 

I want to breastfeed, kiss, snuggle, sing to, read to, bathe, and touch this wiggle worm that kicks me both day and night.

But on second thought, I am not looking forward to the labor that will bring this baby from my womb and into the world. 

This time around I know what's coming, I know exactly what to expect. 

I know how much pain I will experience and what kind of physical and mental strength is required to give birth naturally. 

Last time I didn't have this knowledge. 

After thinking hard about it, I'm not sure which is worse--the knowing or the not knowing. 

But because I have done it before, I know I am able to do it again. 

I know that my body is powerful and I am equipped with everything I need to push another 8 pound little person out of me. 

I will remember to trim my nails this time in order to prevent injury to a certain someone's hand.

And I will try and remember that as soon as I mutter the words "I cannot do this" or "I really think I am going to die", that's when we will be verrrrrrrry close to meeting our newest addition.
And when I am told that "we can see the head!" or "the baby is right there!!" I will remember that I am NOT being lied to, those people are telling the truth 

And because mother nature is so kind, I know that as soon as I see my baby, the pains of labor will be a distant memory. 
Truly, that's how quickly you forget how bad it was.

The very day I gave birth to my daughter I wanted to have another baby.  That's powerful love.

Music Love

Cambria goes to music class every Wednesday morning at a retirement home in our community.
We get to meet a bunch of friendly little old people every week.  We both love that.

I wanted to find something that would be engaging and fun and the class has been both those things. 
In my opinion, music is the perfect reason for a bunch of babies to come together to interact, learn, and socialize.

For those who know Cambria, it probably comes as a surprise to find out that even though she loves going, she can be the shy, skittish member of her class.   
She sometimes has to be convinced to participate in certain activities such as beating on a drum or playing with shakers.  
 There are two activities she WILL NOT do: swinging in the blanket and riding in the laundry basket. 
As her "mama", I don't like pressuring her to participate in a way that I (or others) think is "most appropriate" or "normal" and I try to just let her do her own thing when we're there.  
Either way, we both enjoy it and I really think the class has strengthened her marvelous 16-month-old musical skills.  
Really, sometimes she claps with the rhythm when we listen to songs, that's impressive.
My younger sister Amber was home last week and was able to come to class with us.  She got some cute pictures I wanted to share. 

All smiles.

Last week, her teacher made a Maypole out of the colorful scarves we usually play with.

Amber was an awesome guest to have join us!  We love her.

Cambria dancing. 
She's a groovin' little girl.   She reminds me of Forrest Gump dancing like Elvis in the first one. 
EVERY DAY I find myself questioning the things I am doing with her and whether or not our daily activities are meaningful, fun, engaging, exciting, or worthwhile. 
Music class is all those things--whew, I can rest assured she's loving life for a whole 45 minutes each week :) 

Free dance time to the Skidamarink.

Good today: I made pesto alfredo sauce pasta with broccoli and spinach for dinner.  Candy cane mint chocolate fudge for dessert.  And I found out I DON'T have gestational diabetes! Woooooo!!!

Bad today: I found out my iron is low (no surprise here) and I have to start taking those nasty red iron pills 3 times a day.  Grossssssss. 

Christmas--homemade style

 When December rolled around this year I decided I wanted to make holiday cards to send out to our friends and family.

Honestly, I never really thought of myself as the type of person who would send out cards, but I got excited at the opportunity to get my creative juices flowing. 

Plus, I thought it would be nice to connect with some of the special people in our lives that we don't get to see as often as we would like. 

I ended up making the cards for less than $1 each before the cost of stamps.  I'm not sure if it's much more for the store bought ones, but they sure were fun to make.

I went to A.C. Moore and bought some supplies without having a clear idea of what I was going to create, soooooo I ended up making about five different types of cards...typical me. 

This was my funky version of a Christmas tree I found here.

Love how they turned out. 

I used up a large portion of my button collection to make these ones, but I think it was worth it.

The Happy Holidays greeting was done by a stamp I got for a dollar or two.

For some, I just decorated the card with paper and ribbon then added the stamp.

I was inspired by this to make the cards a few pictures down and these stockings.

I was finally able to use this Happy Everything stamp I got for really cheap a while back at Michael's.

Again, inspiration for these here.

For some I used fabric for the mittens and others I used paper.  I like how they both turned out.

The inside contained a little update/message from our family and a recent picture taken by my lovely mama.

The assembly line. 

These suckers ended up taking up all of my cherished "nap time" and late night time for a good week or two, but I enjoyed seeing the end product and finally being able to stuff them into envelopes.
Oh, and just fyi, the fabric in the background of the pictures is a beautiful tablecloth I bought at World Market for ten dollars--so purdy!! 

Good today: Amber got to come to music class with me and Cambria. 

Bad today: Cammy didn't take a nap until almost 3 this afternoon...She usually goes down around 12...

circles circles everywhere

I've been wanting to share a crafting tool that I recently purchased that I just LOVE.  Maybe you will too?  Martha Stewart was a guest on Oprah one day and demonstrated how to use the Martha Stewart Crafts Large Circle Cutter.

Right when I saw it I started thinking about all the ways I could put it to use.  Man I wanted it!!!  THEN, during the show, Martha announced that she was giving Oprah viewers a coupon for one of her products that could be printed fo' free online!  So I went online, printed myself out one of the sweet coupons, and went to Michael's and got an awesome deal on it!  The main reason I wanted it was so I could make cute banners for parties and special events.  That's really all I've used it for so far, but I know I will find other ways to use it soon.

It's very simple to use--just press down on the small circle while keeping your other hand on the large circle and cut the paper!

You can make circles anywhere from 4 to 12 inches wide.

The little spot underneath where the razor goes. 

 With my older sissy getting married, I have attended a lot of wedding events lately and it has come in perrrrfect use.

One I made for a couples shower my sister threw for her friend.

Lingerie shower banner for my "sexy little bride" sister.

Again...

Banner for her bridal shower.

Goodies table. Yes, the goodies were delicious.

Before I had purchased my circle cutter I made a banner for my friend Ashley's baby shower.  I had to improvise with this one so I used fabric instead of the circle papers.  Instead of punching holes in the fabric and stringing them with ribbon, I used tiny little clothespins to hang it right on the ribbon.  I think they turned out just as cute on my friend Jessie's beautiful wall colors.

Congrats Ashy Ashy!

She WAS a baby girl after all! ;) 

This tool makes it so easy to make creative, fun, and cheap decorations for anything.  When we move into our house I plan to cut circles for some fun holiday decorations and for certain learning activities I have been thinking up for Cambria.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, my mom is a teacher so for all but one of the banners I had her cut the letters out for me with her school's die cutter.  VERY convenient!

I've been busy hand-making all our Christmas cards and I'm very pleased with how they are turning out! Can't wait to share them :)

I made this veggie & cheese stromboli for dinner last night.  It was gooooooooooood.

 

And this was messy.