A 

Very

Merry

Christmas

Best Books of 2011

I read 56 books in 2011

(not including the half dozen books I finished half of and then discarded.)

Is this something to be proud of or possibly a bit ashamed (cough - I have no life - cough) about? Jury still out on
that.

But in my defense I have always been a really quick reader. And RJ and I don't watch tv at night so I'm typically nose in a book. Plus, this was my first year being part of a book club.

So for better or for worse you can safely say that i read A LOT.

My top 5 fiction books for the year:

in no particular order

Cutting for Stone

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

The Help

The Hunger Games (trilogy)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

My top 5 nonfiction books for 2011:

Half the Sky

Radical

Unbroken

They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky

The New Hide or Seek

(see sidebar titled "Good Reads" for my complete list of 2011 books and their authors)

Family Portraits 2011

For the past three years Hervey Photo has taken family portraits for us.

Each year they are absolutely amazing;

and this year really is the best yet!

Just a few of our favorites:

sometimes we are inappropriate

So I've jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon;

and it's a total time-sucker just like I worried it would be.

Yet I am completely obsessed and loving it!

Lately I've been going crazy picking up ideas for our kids' rooms.

The boys are going to share a room and I just love everything about this alphabet wall.

The new bed we got Landon is a blue and mustard yellow color so I'm really liking this color scheme too.

Since we know we are having brothers we continue to feel that a little lady from Ethiopia is missing from our family. And how cute is this elephant room for our "elephant girl":

So ridiculously girly and frilly and awesome. 

Kids rooms are my absolute favorite to decorate. 

No rules seem to apply.

You can go as colorful, crazy, over-the-top or understated as you like.

(Images from Ohdeedo)

7 Months Waiting

My dear Elephant Baby:

Did you know that elephants are pregnant for 22 months?

That is a looooong time!

But it's a also a sweet time of preparation and growth.

Which is why I call you my special elephant baby. 

We wish we could be with you this Christmas.

But everything in His perfect timing.

We love you.

XO,

Mom, Dad and your brothers(!!!)

snails and puppy dog tails

I've spend nearly all of Landon's nap time searching out room decor for BROTHERS

the box bike

Photo by Hervey Photo (they rock!)

This is our box bike.

No, we didn't make it.

It actually comes this way.

How my husband discovers and hunts down these unique treasures I might never understand.

I just know we all benefit from his ability to shop for obscure and interesting products.

The bike is from the Netherlands (yay for the Dutch heritage!) and it's super fun.

(and a tad bit scary in the passenger seat if you're grown and pregnant and not a huge fan of speed bumps)

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of our acceptance into the 

American World Adoption Ethiopia program.

Although we have already gotten a teeny-tiny taste of the challenges associated with adoption we have also already experienced some of the huge blessings.

So we continue to move forward with excitement and faith. 

We just got the box bike an extra seat:

it now holds four!

18 week bump

I feel as though this bump pic is really inaccurate. I am actually much bigger.
Two days ago my neighbor saw me and exclaimed "you look like you're about to deliver!"
ummm - actually i have 5 MONTHS to go!

A week from today we have an ultrasound appointment to (hopefully!) find our the gender of this baby. 

I.am.so.excited!!!!!!!

Any guesses?

And check out the awesomeness of this tee that RJ's sister Jessica sent me.

She got it from a company called Krochet Kids International which helps impoverished women in Northern Uganda and Peru. 

I am so in love with it that I'm planning on wearing it constantly until I can't squeeze inside it anymore (which sadly looks to be fairly soon).

why adoption matters

because no matter young or old every child wants a family to call her own

things remembered

I hate the fact that I have already forgotten so much of Landon's babyhood. When I think back on those first few months, just a few short years ago, so much of it is already a blur. Thankfully, there are those precious (and sometimes hilarious) moments that I know will stick with me forever: the moment they placed him on my chest in the hospital, my mom, dad and I taking shifts in the rocking chair that first night home (and how RJ got 9 solid hours of sleep that night!), the blow-out of all blow-outs in Cambria, and watching him take his first steps across the front lawn.

Thank goodness for photographs because for ever memory stored I feel as though there are too many lost. Until yesterday I forgot to tell RJ about the day Landon ate his last piece of Halloween candy. It must have been about three weeks ago (we didn't let him get all that much). The moment his little hand gripped that final solitary piece he snatched the handle of his pumpkin bucket and marched to the front door yelling behind him, "Get my Mickey ears Mom." Before I could stop him he was on the porch heading out for a refill!

And I really hope I don't forget the sweet moment we shared in a Target dressing room just a few short days ago. We were there trying to find a last minute outfit for me to wear for our family photographs the next day. I was feeling frumpy in that gross in-between part of pregnancy - when your belly definitely isn't flat but you can't quite distinguish if it's a baby bump or too much fried food. My regular clothes felt too snug but my maternity stuff was still a bit too big - and I was frustrated. Landon was behaving remarkably well for being stuck in a teeny, tiny dressing room. I threw some type of tunic thing over my head and posed in the mirror for a look. My sweet boy turned to me and out of the blue said, "You look beautiful, Mama." The tunic didn't really fit and the color was all wrong, but in that moment I could have been wearing a paper bag and I would have felt like the most gorgeous woman on the planet.

I eventually found something to wear for our amazing family photos
Hervey Photo rocked it once again!

My beautiful boy: inside & out

6 Months Waiting

Dear Wand lj/Se't lj* - 


6 months waiting for you! Half a year! Sometimes it feels as though the days have flown by; other times they seem to have dragged. We can not wait to meet you!


I want you to know that although your brother or sister is growing inside of me right now I do not anticipate your coming any less. If anything, thinking about him/her causes me to think about you more. Whenever I wonder what we might name this baby I also wonder what your name might be. Whenever I stop to daydream about how I might decorate the nursery I also store up ideas for decorating your room in our home. Whenever the baby kicks me I wonder if you birth mom is pregnant with you right now and if she feels your kicks too. I pray for your birth mom continuously - she is never far from my heart. 


During this holiday season it feel as if someone from our family is missing. I long for you. I think about you every.single.day. 


Just as God loves each and every one of us wholly and completely a mother's love is always expanding & never divided. All the love I feel for your coming brother or sister I feel exactly the same for you. All the anticipation I have for him/her I have exactly the same for you. You are a part of our family and we wait for you with open arms.


Love, 
Mama


*amharic for son/daughter. (I think! There were a bunch of version online that were similar but not exact)