Wordless Wednesday

There are truly no words for how much I love this picture! ♥

Jackson's First School Christmas Program

I know, I know, it's January 13th and I'm just now getting around to posting this from December 14th, but I did want to at least make mention of Jackson's first Christmas Program at school.  

I had been really talking up this Christmas Program because I knew there was a chance he would be shy and not want to go on stage. Lately he's been telling us before we go somewhere "my gonna be shy" or "my not gonna be shy" Ha! So since he's always shy to go into his class, I knew he might be too shy to sing on stage in front of a very packed church.

Well, it was worse than I thought. The church was full and when I say full, I mean there were people having to stand because all the seats were taken! Then they made the kids walk down the center aisle to get up on the stage. As soon as Jackson saw me, it was over. He started crying and wanted to sit with me. :-( Poor buddy. I did manage to get him to go up on the stage, but he just sat there and cried (along with several other of his classmates). So needless to say, the teacher eventually brought him down with her and after a little while, Jake went up there to try and convince Jackson to head back up onto the stage. Jake said he promised him all kinds of stuff but Jackson had made up his mind... he was DONE!!

(I felt so bad for him up there.)

So Jackson's first School Christmas Program didn't quite go as we had hoped, but here's to hoping he's NOT shy next year. ;-)

52 Project 2015: Week 2

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Jackson: Playing with his cars.

 Avery: Wearing her new Valentines Day jammies. :-)

(Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)

Avery's 7th and 8th Months

Well baby girl, Mommy got really behind the last couple months in posting your monthly update, so I'm going to post 2 months together to get us back where we need to be. :-) 

(Read about her first month, second month, third month, fourth month, fifth month and sixth month.)

You are now 8 months old (as of December 28th) and I can't believe it!! So much has happened in the last 2 months since your last update, I hardly know where to begin.

We had you and your brother at the doctor on December 26th. (You weighed 19 lbs. 5 ozs. at this appointment big girl.) You had gotten the stomach flu earlier that week for the first time and you were in the beginning stages of a cold and pink eye. :-( Baby girl, you were a mess for a few weeks with all the sickness and you were cutting teeth on top of it. I felt so bad for you and you were just not your usual happy self. You have finally cut your 2 top/front teeth just this week and you are in such a better mood now that you are feeling better! I finally have my happy baby back and I am so glad.

You still aren't crawling yet, but you are so very close. You go from sitting to your hands and knees, but you never go anywhere from there. I have a feeling it won't be long now though. You do scoot across the floor very slowly, and this gets you where you want to go. :-) You started trying to pull up on things in early December. I first noticed it on December 7 while you were sitting in your crib you tried pulling up on the rail!! Now you are pulling up to whatever you can and just this past Tuesday, (Jan. 6th) you pulled up to standing at the ottoman in our living room!! You're still a little wobbly and fall easily, but this was a big accomplishment! You aren't scared and will let go like you want to walk, but then always fall down. :-(

You are still taking 6 ounce bottles a couple of times throughout the day. Then you usually have a 7 ounce bottle right before I put you to bed. You are sleeping very well and usually will wake up once a night for another bottle, but always go right back to sleep. You eat 3 meals of baby food daily. You usually have a fruit with oatmeal in the morning and then a vegetable and a fruit for lunch and dinner. You love your food and have eaten everything we've given you. You started eating puffs and yogurt melts in the last month or two which has been really fun for you. You love them and I love that they keep you busy for a little while. :-)

We moved you up to size 4 diapers last month and you are wearing 12 and 18 month clothes! You are such a big girl!!

You had your first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years these last 2 months and it was so much fun celebrating with you!! You went on your first little road trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving and you did great!

You wave bye bye now and clap your hands, it is adorable!! You've said momma before and I've heard you say uh oh, hi and yay but they are very few and far between and you definitely don't do it on command. You also do this cute little happy dance. You kind of bob up and down when you hear music you like, or when you are eating and when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on. :-)

Well, I think that about covers it for the last two months and I can't wait to see what this month holds! You are getting so big and growing so fast. It sure doesn't seem like you should be 8 months old already! Slow down baby girl.

I love you SO much sweet Avery girl!

xoxo - Mommy

Storybook Photography Family Session

I was super busy with Storybook Photography this past Fall. So much so that I missed sharing so many wonderful sessions with you. So I thought I'd try to share them with you now. Maybe just one or two a week or so until I get caught back up. 

This is one of my favorite sessions from last year. We took these at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area and it turned out to be a beautiful place for pictures. It was an evening session, just as the sun was setting... my favorite time of day for picture taking. 

This was such a sweet family and we ended up figuring out that their youngest was born on the same day as our Avery! Such a cool thing in common.

Our 2014 Smith Family Christmas Picture!

Well, we managed to take our 2014 annual family Christmas picture in front of the tree right before taking it down this past weekend. Back when I started this tradition, it was just Jake and I and 2 of the dogs. Now this picture is much more of an ordeal and if I'm being honest, I actually kind of dreaded taking it this year. So I put it off and put it off until the tree was dead and we almost just said, forget it. But then I thought about how I would regret it so much if we didn't take it and I guilted Jake into it and we made it happen for the 8th year in a row... and I'm so glad we did.

Here is our picture from this year, and for comparison's sake, every year since we've been married.

52 Project 2015: Week 1

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

So, if you recall, I started this last year, but didn't make it very far before I threw in the towel. So I decided to try again this year. I'm hoping I can actually stick with it and finish the year with a picture of each of my children, from each week in 2015.

Here's week one!

Jackson: Trying to smile, but never will look at the camera. He's such a silly boy.

Avery: Playing with her new baby that she got for Christmas from Maw Maw and Papa. ♥

(Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)