My Birthday Baby is THREE

Happy 3rd Birthday to my baby, Anna Christine! Anna is my sweet reminder of God's perfect timing in our lives. I never would've planned to have my children so close together, but without a doubt, I would do it all over again! Anna has taught me to enjoy the simplicities in life. That it's okay get your hands messy, to giggle often, to love deeply, to be silly, to listen closely, and that being the center of attention isn't the most important thing in life. She has certainly made me a better mother and a better person. My heart overflows with love for this little girl. She is a diamond in the ruff and a dream come true. I thank the Lord everyday for the gift of Anna. I can't imagine my life without her in it.

Anna- You are loved and treasured beyond measure. What is more amazing is that there is someone who adores you even more than your family and that is the Lord. My daily prayer for you is that someday soon you will understand the depth of love the Savior has for YOU! You are a true princess because you are loved by the King! Happy Birthday Sweet Anna!

Photos by: Nikki James Photography

www.NikkiJamesPhotography.com

Snowy Days

We are enjoying some down time during a normally crazy time of year! Watching movies, doing crafts, putting puzzles together, building "forts" and reading lots of books! We hope y'all are staying toasty warm and enjoying your snow days!

They love to paint! We also made some special Christmas treats! Pictures to come!!

December Snow

The girls had fun playing in the fluffy white snow today, even if it was ridiculously COLD out there!!

Anna is eating the snow. Not necessarily a safe activity with a dog around!

My skinny greyhound can only take a little bit of the cold!

Who says you can't swing in the snow!?

Claire's attempt at a snow man! Maybe next time...

PRICELESS!

I cherish these moments! They are truly precious to me!

The girls loved having Grandma McDowell read Charlie Brown Christmas to them!

Festival of Lights

For the second year in a row, we've gone to the Cincinnati Zoo for the Festival of Lights. We had a perfect night to go with temperatures in the high 50's. The lights were bright & beautiful and the animals were fun to see, as always! The girls were mesmerized by the lights. This display of lights were flashing in rhythm to the music from Mannheim Steamroller. Very neat!

Claire is over her fear of "puppets" as she refers to them. Anna, well... not so much!

The cutest thing we saw all night was undoubtedly the baby cougars. They're only two months old and oh so playful and ADORABLE!

Petting the goat and sheep!

The live nativity!

On the train!

Would be perfect if ONLY Anna was looking at the camera!

We rode on the Carousel a couple times!

Once again... Anna.

Beautiful lights!

The elephants are always entertaining. Of course, the highlight for the girls was watching the elephant relieve himself (it was quite a sensory overload).

What a FUN night!

Gingerbread House

The girls just made their annual gingerbread house at Grammy & Papa's! It's a fun Christmas tradition. It's hard to know whether they really like decorating the gingerbread or just like chowing down on candy! Either way, it's a fun time and the house always turns out so cute!

The masterpiece!

McDowell Thanksgiving

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent Sunday with my family for our Thanksgiving. It's great splitting up the holiday over two days. It's hard eating two wonderfully delicious meals in one day. We truly enjoyed our time with our families. There is no place we'd rather be than with family!

Nuna, Papa & the girls!


Love my mom's mantle and sleigh with Santa!

My mom's lovely Thanksgiving table!

The "little girls" table (plus Connor!!!).

The "big kids" table (minus Connor... remember, he was with the little girls!). Clearly, Jillian wasn't in the mood for pictures!

The "adult" table (and that term is used lightly since my brothers are sitting there!).

What a fun holiday! Thanks to both sets of parents for preparing a yummy meal for us and always making things so festive!