sometimes i wanna wear my tutu.

snuggling with momma.

watching my cartoons in the morning.

tea and cupcakes before bed, oh my!

fun fun fun!

the day after Christmas we went to janie & jamey's house to jump on the trampoline for the first time. stella LOVED it!

playing with janie.

jumping with mommy.

watching chloe jump HIGH.

playing with my kitchen later that night.

Stella's first Christmas!

walking in with daddy on Christmas morning!

playing with my kitchen that santa left me!

opening more presents . . .


opening my BIG present from my nonna and poppa d - it's a TRICYCLE!!!


waiting on daddy to put together my slide!


concentrating on climbing up my new slide!


eating yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast :)
cooking up something yummy!

Christmas Eve

well, i wasn't a very good momma about taking pictures on Christmas Eve this year. stella wore this A-DORABLE dress that night to church. my friend Chi sent it to us from south carolina (it was her daughter's and i LOVE it!). after church we do Christmas with my dad's side of the family. this is stella opening her cabbage patch doll.


and here she is when she realized it was her BABY! she is hilarious. she is all girl, but don't underestimate her! she can hold her own with the boys! my cousin has 3 boys and she was all up in the middle of their little football game in the hallway!

308 Christmas party

theworkshop 308 had it's third annual Christmas Party last night. we do a dinner party with good food, good drinks & good friends. our little "family" has grown - there were 14 of us total. it was a cozy evening and tons of fun. we have the most amazing, supportive friends, who have become so much more. we are family.

my heart.

last night, the garners came over for dinner. we threw the girls (stella and reese) in the tub together after dinner. they are best friends already :) they love each other!

stella wondering why on earth she had "shared" all her toys?!?!?!

my beautiful girl.

they left early that night (to keep reese on her sleeping schedule) so we had fun, just the 4 of us (including meg)

meg was having a quite impressive drooling episode that night! we love her, drool and all!

decorating!

my parents came up last weekend and we went Christmas shopping on 12/6. this photo gives new meaning to shop til you drop!


stella was so tired after our shopping day that we had to wait until sunday to finish decorating. she was SO excited to "help".



on 12/11 stella got a package in the mail from our friend amber in SC. she sent her a cupcake ornament. stella was SO excited to unwrap it and put it on the tree. as you can see from the look on her face!

Christmas tree picking

we went to pick out our Christmas tree last saturday night. this is stella and daddy walking around to pick out the perfect one.

here we are with our tree! stella was fascinated with it and wanted to feel the needles!

we decorated on sunday morning. i WISH i would've gotten a video of stella's face the first time we plugged in the tree lights. it was so funny! her eyes opened up really big and she got a huge grin on her face and started running over saying "aaaahhhhhhhh" in a really high pitched screech and laughing. she is doing really well with the tree so far! she helped us decorate - daddy would unwrap the ornament and give it to stella, then she would bring it to me to hang on the tree. she was so excited to be helping! she knows she isn't supposed to touch it, but will go over and get really close and just stare into it every night. this is such a special Christmas. our first one as a family. we are having so much fun already!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to me. yesterday was my 30th birthday. i have to say, i was totally dreading it. for those of you who know me, know that i am a TOTAL planner. always have been. THANKFULLY i actually didn't have a full list of things i wanted to accomplish by the time i was 30. if that had happened i would for sure be in some serious therapy. however, even though i didn't have a complete map to my 30th birthday, this place i'm at in my life is not where i thought i'd be. like i said before, i don't know where that is, but i do know this is not it. i'm not sure why i was so upset about though, because i honestly have SO much to be thankful for :
* i have the best husband EVER.
* i have the best, best friend EVER.
* i have the daughter i have always wanted and the exact one i was meant to have. it is amazing that she came from a place so far away, yet was made just for us.
* i have the best parents EVER.
* i am surrounded by people who genuinely care for me and love me for who i am. (which is a good thing, because trying to be someone/something i am not is just not in my dna.)
* i have a roof over my head and food on my table every single night.
* i have a job that pays our bills.
i could go on and on, but you get the idea. so mid-day yesterday i decided that turning 30 suits me. i figure my 20's i was a mess - well, because you're SUPPOSED to be a mess in your 20's. my 30's are when i will get my s*it together. so, by the time i hit 40 i should be good to go. not that i'm wanting to rush through it all, because this is my LIFE. i only get one. so, i've decided to enjoy the ride, whatever it may be. and since the ride entails turning 30, here i am!

Thanksgiving Trip to Indiana.

we always go to indiana to michael's parents for thanksgiving. this was our first thanksgiving as a family and it was crazy - i know SHOCKER. we waited until 3pm for lunch so that the little kids could have their nap. that was good for their moods, but stella wanted nothing to do with food, so we spent all of lunch-time chasing her around to make sure she wasn't getting into trouble!

this is stella and noah coloring after lunch.

we took stella to the park to play the day after thanksgiving. it was a little chilly, but the sun was shining and it felt good to get some fresh air!

that night we went to kyle and jessica's so the kids could play and we could catch up. their daughter, jaelyn, is my god-daughter and their son kaiden was named after michael. they are fabulous friends and we SO wished they lived closer and that we got to see them more often!

stella and her god-sister watching cartoons together.

most of the brood.

stella and her god-sister again. stella was getting sleepy in this one.

stella and kaiden. they are going to have crushes on each other when they get older!

this is a random photo of stella and her daddy that i took the saturday after thanksgiving. she had just got up from her nap and was extra cuddly with her daddy. i love this picture!