What our February Looks like

Well, we are going to call February our BIRTHDAY month!  We celebrated Camp's birthday the 29th and then a few days later we celebrated our furry baby, Eli, 3rd birthday!  next month will be a continuation of birthday month with Asher's birthday & their combined party.  But I am LOVING getting to document our month in pictures.  If you are new here, check out why I'm doing this & our January month here.

We had a little Ethiopian day complete with coffee ceremony followed by a gotcha day party for our sweet friend Emme.  wrote about it here.  

I went to the amazing Created for Care adoptive momma retreat for the second year in a row.  God really spoke & I"m still trying to soak it all in.  but it was a weekend of refreshment and encouragement and hearing from the Lord.  more here.  

Our big boy turned ONE on the 29th!  we had a day full of celebrating, ice cream, party hats and balloons!  what a special day to celebrate our boy.  

I wrote him a birthday letter you can find here.  

in our family, we celebrate our dogs birthdays too!  so with Eli's birthday right after Camp's, we had to continue our birthday tradition of taking him to McDonalds for a happy meal!  this is always such a fun tradition and the dogs love it too!  eli even shared a few friends with his sister Milly ;) 

our sweet babes got dedicated at church!  it was a special special night that we'd be waiting for anxiously for a long time.  a chance to tell our church family that we were committed to raising them in a godly home.  amazing to see friends and family stand with us in support of us.   post here.  

Besides all the birthdays + dedication, we had fun doing other things too.  going for walks, meeting friends and neighbors at the park [must take my camera next time], lots of starbucks drive thru.  Bunni came in town to play and we went to Barnes & Nobel and shopping.  and besides all that we had fun just hanging at the house! 

this boy will find a BOOK anywhere he goes!  even a 500 page camera manual!  snooze....

and my sweet Asher remains obsessed with the dogs.  milly is sweet + doesn't run away from her anymore.  eli on the other hand... 

and to continue our goal of taking a picture of the kids every week!

[except we missed a week when momma was out of town]

1.20.13

2.3.13

2.3.13

well friends, that concludes my "what our February looks like".  really it was half of January & half of February.  but I am LOVING doing this.  keeps me motivated to take pictures of our everyday life.  stay tuned for next month :) 

Be sure to go check out my friend Lyndsey's post herehttp://pinkcoffeephoto.com/blog/2013/02/13/what-our-february-looks-like/.  

What our January looks like

I was really really excited when Cass asked me to be a part of this little blog circle.  to document our lives with pictures.  every month of the year.  can't wait to look back & see each month what that month looked like.  As you will soon see, I am not afraid to photograph my kids when my house is a mess.  and I have horrible natural light.  or when my kids are unbathed.  when their hair is a mess + they are still in their pjs.  yep.  because that is real life.  and that's what this is all about.  real life.  some of these pictures you've already seen (sorry about that) but some are images I took today.  this is good - this is going to make me bust out my "real camera" aka my DSLR and capture the memories and moments that happen in our house day after day.  We will be making a complete blog circle, so when you're done here, be sure to check out Cass and make your way through the circle until you find your place back here.  That way, you'll know you've made your way through the circle.

last night as I was rocking Asher at midnight, I thought "this is real life".  this is a picture I probably won't ever have, but it's etched in my memory.  those late night rocks as I hold her close and pray over her.  sometimes (like tonight) I wanted to cry as she is being a little stubborn and does not want to sleep, but nevertheless it's a moment and a memory I don't ever want to forget.

January has been cold.  like it snowed.  so we've been spending lots of time inside.  and I absolutely dream of the day it's warm & we can be outside all the time.  but I don't want to fall into the category that "once it's summer" I'll be happy.  I want to be happy and content in the here & now.  even when it's cold & we spend the majority of our days inside in our pjs (yes, even me).  

it snowed the first week of January.

it was such a magical time & was so glad daddy was home to enjoy it with us! 

camp + asher love it when we read.  and our nighttime routine is one of my favorite parts of the day.  although we don't always read them a book, I love it because Stephen is home and we do it together.  we feed em (and usually jam out while we eat), get em all clean & lotioned and in their jammies.  then when we do bottles .  then most every night, not every we sit in their room together and each feed one and we pray.  you see, I am for some reason always an awkward prayer just w/ stephen and so now that the kids are home it's so much easier.  it's the perfect time and we know every night when we are in there together we pray.  it's become one of my most favorite parts of the day.  

eating is always fun.  messy.  and asher started eating cheerios so you know they are all over the floor.  ever since camp got his tubes in his ears he's been such a better eater!  they sit in these chairs facing each other and if I'm feeding em alone I sit in the middle & take turns giving bites.  

we spend a good amount of time in my studio.  it's where I used to meet with photography clients (and maybe one day will again) and have all my noonday samples in there - but now it's just my space for computer time & a little play area for the kids.  I love this picture even though it's poor light b/c this is so asher.  on. the. move. 

this is maybe mean, but it's so funny that camp always wants to play with ashers girly toys.  i'm chalking it up to africa.  there is no gender preference with clothes or toys when they are babies. 

and lastly, reading.  this pic is of Camp + my mentor, Becca.  the one who's katie's mom?  she's like my midland mom.  comes over just right when I need her.  like tonight when Stephen was gone on business and I wanted to pull my hair out.  

anyway, camp is a book man.  seriously, if he's crying - read him a book.  if the book is over - and he cries - get him another book.  this boy is a scholar. i'm just saying. 

finally.  I think this will be a great place for me to put my weekly pics of the kids. 

it was one of our family goals for 2013.  take a picture of them every week to track their progress.  

1.5.13

asher said her first word this week, "baby"

camp started eating much better + getting in crawling position

1.13.13

this picture was right before we took em to church for the first time

alright!  that's all folks. 

stay tuned for what our february looks like

(which will include BIRTHDAYS!)