| 486 Days |

Our guy has been with us for 486 days. That is 16 months of deep rooted joy, wet tears of frustration, long days and even longer nights, rolling giggles, and some pretty sweet dance moves. Life is new and exciting through his little eyes, and I love this new perspective.

Words: Outside "ouuuts", dog, up, mama, dadee, juice, shoes, trees, ball, balloon, more, cheese, bird, bath

Favorite Thing to Do: Go outside, run, hide in the bushes, splash in the pool, take a bath, dance, go to camp, climb, run, jump

Favorite Food/Drink:  cheese, pouches, grilled cheese, pb&j, avocado, strawberries, apple juice

Favorite Book: Little Blue truck, Brown Bear, If I were a pup

Favorite Toy: Toothbrush

Favorite TV Show: Chuggington, Tinkerbell (because of the cute girls, right?)

We Love when you: Dance, Give Kisses, Belly Laugh

Weight: 27lbs

|Soaking up the awe|

I observe as they play. The smiles the giggles.

Do you ever feel like you meet someone and God brought them into your life to simply show His goodness to you. Our friend, our sister, or neighbor she is just like that. She loves, she serves she is a little piece of heaven right here on my living room floor rolling around with Callahan.

It's been two years since this girl walked into our world. Two years since I saw those frustration tears of a new job, hit the floor of the office. My stomach turns as I think about her moving away. How will I survive with out the most comfortable friendship I have out here in California. Why are we created as relational beings when life is full of goodbye's? Nothing is eternal here.

 I sit in a place of wonder.

In choosing to enter into authentic relationships with people, I'm choosing a hard goodbye. Is it worth it? I could stay surface level with everyone and I would never have to feel the hurt of a "goodbye". If I don't open up, and have real authentic relationships with people, am I missing out?

I think about Eryn, what if we never formed a deep meaningful friendship, I completely would have missed out! Eryn is an image bearer of God (as we all are). Her servant's heart, her sensitivity,  and her love for my family; I would have missed it all!

As I read Anne Voskamps Blog, "A Holy Experience", the words pop on the page. They read, "if you don't take it all as a gift, you end up taking it all for granted--which amounts to not taking anything good form life at all.

She goes on to say,"you don't get the always, you get the awe." Why do we feel the need to capture the always. Why can't the awe be good enough! I will sit now and linger in the "awe" because I will never get the always. I will soak up the awe of the moment until the moment is over.

1st Birthday | Chalkboard Sign | DIY

When getting ready for Cal's first birthday I knew that I wanted to buy or make a "Birthday Chalkboard." So of course I wanted to try to figure out to make it first, I think it was a success! Here is what you need:

-Either Illustrator, or you can use picmonkey.

-printer

-pencils

-chalkboard (I got a huge one from Home Depot for less then $10)

-chalk markers

Here is what you do:

1.) Create design in illustrator or picmonky and save it as a PDF

2.) Create a poster print in the size of your chalkboard

3.) Take it together and make a graphic transfer. (do this by shading over the lines on reversed side of the writing)

4.) Place sign on chalkboard and tape it down. 

5.) Transfer images in graphite by pressing on the lines with a en or marker (i used a sharpie with the top still on)

6.) Go over lines in Chalk Markers! 

7.) Step back and admire your creativity!!!!

Callahan had a shared birthday so we actually did a double chalkboard! 

12 Months of Blurry Pictures.

Our dude is growing so fast. Here are pictures of his first 12 months!

{one HAPPY baby}

The last nine months have flown by! Our guy is actually pushing 11 months now but I wanted to share his nine month photo shoot. These photos were taking by the awesome Eryn Alexander. 

Cal loves smiling and laughing. 

He loves people.

He loves to wave and clap.

He loves eating. 

He wants to walk everyone even though he doesn't know how.

He picks up anything he can get his little hands on, and puts it in his mouth. 

He has man paws. 

He loves being outside.

Christmas Spirit

The other night my friend and neighbor Eryn came over, and we attempted a Christmas Photoshoot with Cal. It turned out better than we expected! You can see the full shoot on Eryn's Blog {Here}.

We Got It!

It's that time of year again! The time when we go into the woods and hunt for our favorite tree! In 2012, I wrote a post about our first tree hunt adventure. So much has changed since then! Now we actually know where to find the best tree's, and we have a tiny addition to our family! We also have a awesome neighbor and best friend that is an amazing photographer! You can see more picture of our Christmas Tree Hunt on her blog {here}. 

This year we found are tree about 25 miles & 45 minutes up the mountain at about 6700 feet!