Merry Christmas!

I have so many many things to be thankful for this Christmas! Way too many to post here! I am especially thankful for a healthy family! I am grateful for being part of such a fun family who fill our lives with lots and lots of fun times, laughing moments, and special memories! I am very blessed to have loving friends! I am amazed this Christmas at how much Jesus loves each and everyone of us and yet we still can't imagine the depth of His love for His children! He's amazing and I am His child!

Here's some special moments that I am reflecting upon this Christmas with my wonderful family!

The Leviners

December 24, 2010

Miss Caroline!

Silly baby girl!

This girl loves puzzles! She's trying to do two

at the same time!

Like my reindeer shirt! It's all girlie!

I've got my Santa PJ's and my singing dog

so I'm good to go!

Aw!

I'm reading the pictures of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"!

My very best "Cheez" smile!

I can be silly too!

Are you excited about Santa!

Ornaments are my favorite!

Mama said to smile big...

so I am!!!

Hmmm...

Trying to put on her shoes all by her big girl self!

Cheez!

Sweet!

Thank you Ms. Leah for my stroller!

I am going to have a great 1st dental checkup soon!

Aw! You sure can open up your presents!

My girls! They just love me!

Perfection!

Happy!

Love my family!

Here's all the girls!

My Aunt Melinda has a baby secret! (OOPS!)

I am the best present to my

mommy and daddy!

I love to "culor"!

Tending to my babies!

Pretty girl!

This is my favorite!

Here's daddy and me!

Stroller derby round 1!

More "culoring"...

and more! (The reason there's no presents under

our tree is because I will tear them open)!

My mommy has hid them elsewhere!

Silly girl!

Me with my baby doll friends!

Just passing through!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Finding my favorite ornament!

I am ready for church!



Miss C meets Mr. C!

Last Friday, we took Caroline to Saluda Shoals for the viewing of "Lights at the River"! It was spectacular and a lot of fun! The line to view the lights was bumper to bumper for 45 minutes but once we were in the park, we woke C up and enjoyed the show the lights put on for us! My favorite part of course was when Caroline met Santa! In the pics she looks terrified but she didn't cry! We prepared her for their special visit by talking about Santa, showing her books with Santa Claus, and even singing the all familiar "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" song. She still gave this blank stare but Santa was really nice, there wasn't a wait to see Santa, and all the pictures that were taken went home with us on a special CD for a very good price!! We will visit Santa at Saluda Shoals from now on (maybe next year she won't look so terrified)!

Caroline can't wait for Santa Claus to visit her on tomorrow night! She's anticipating his arrival by practicing going to be bed early tonight (she's also on her second round of antibiotics due to a lower respiratory infection so she's needing her beauty rest)!

This was C's Santa pic last year!

Santa and Caroline!

Aw!

"Big" Girl!

When I think about our girl growing up (because she is), I think how it's all happening too fast! I remember as a child wishing and wanting to be older than my age at the time. I remember thinking that time moved too slowly and how I wanted it to speed through the week because Fridays never arrived to quickly for that anticipated spend the night or Saturdays for that fun birthday party or youth trip. Now as an adult, its just the opposite! Time is moving but now its going a little too fast for me. In previous posts I've talked about how I don't handle change well, I still don't. I do however look forward (and accept..well sometimes, because right now we need to break C's crib down to a big girl bed beacuse she's crawled out of it about three times, but the mommy in me is just not ready) to each new thing Miss C is doing at each new developmental stage. She's doing so many new things that I can't keep up with and I hardly have time to write them down (sad), so I go mainly from memory! For instance, last night I saw her do about four things she's never done before and in another post I'll talk about those newbies but for now I have to replay those actions in my mind (crazy I know). So here's our big girl doing some very big girl things! These were taken on Nov. 3rd! (so yeah, I'm a little late, but they are my thoughts for today).

Hmmm. I do like mommies shoes! Wonder if I can

wear them? Now, how does this work?



I figured this business out, (I'm determined

ask my mommy and daddy)!

Yay for you! Show us what else you can do in

those clodhoppers!

I'm traveling in them! You go girl!

Clomp, clomp, clomp!

I can also get into my booster seat without

any help!

Ready, Set,...

I'm in!

I see that!

Another yay!

As many of you know, I love stationary!  I enjoy writing cards, sending cards, and occasionally making my own. Anything that coordinates with stationary, I love too...address labels, address stamps, label tags, gift tags, etc., you get the idea!
Lasy year, as I was searching for the perfect address labels for C's birthday invitations, google led me to what is now my favorite stationary online store! The Polka Dot Paper Shop has everything that you need from invitations to address labels and all the in between items you'll need to send the perfect invite, card, or message! It's usually my stationary faux pas to order from the same stationary store twice, but I love all the fun stationary styles that the Polka Dot Paper Shop has to offer that I keep coming back to it time and time again!
Kerrie is also launching a new site design soon and here's a sneak peak!
The second best reason why I love this site is because Kerrie, the owner, will personally email you a proof to see your product in its finality before its actually made! She is also the one that will email you should you have further questions. Now folks that is 100% customer service, and I'm a satisfied customer!

Last Sunday, Dec. 5th, Sam's work held their annual Christmas party! The food was delish and everyone had a great time! C enjoyed being entertained by the "big" girls at the party and they adored her as well!

C has become accustomed to taking pictures. Look at the cheese/squint smile in this picture! Now that our tree is up, she loves having her picture taken while sitting/standing in front of it. I'll just ask her if I can take her picture and she'll run to the tree and make that same cheese/squint smile! Sam says she's now used to the flash, but in all the pics she has this same facial expression (as you'll see in the next few posts)! I think I'm in trouble for "future" pics of our girl!

Hope your Christmas season is off to a great start!

Hangin' Out With Friends!

Last Saturday, Caroline and Nolan had some fun hanging out together as did their mommies and Heather (MK was having fun with her daddy)!

Isn't this little guy just the cutest! Here's Nolan!

I loved his baby noises! He's so cute and fun!

C loved loving on him! At one point she was loving

on him so hard she knocked him over. She

loves babies just like her mommy! I don't think

he minded her kisses either!

Huggey huggey!

AW!! Love these little ones!

C is trying to see what all he can do!

He sure looks like his mommy in this picture!

Heather was so much fun! She gave C, MK's flamingo

glasses and she was hysterical wearing them!

Funny baby girl!

A New Tradition!

While celebrating Thanksgiving at my mom's this year, we took a hayride! This seems to be one of our newest traditions! The girls love it as do the adults. This year, I'm not quite sure who had the most fun, the girls or D! We had a blast even though it was subzero!

Getting ready to go!

The Leviners!

Rhonda and D!

Sweet Kelsey!

PC and Mama!

Miss C warming back up!

The two C's! C loves apples and would have

taken a bite out of all the pink lady apples at Nanny's if

we let her! She was happy eating most of this one!

Shutterfly's Holiday Card Promotion!

I am really liking all of the Christmas card options that Shutterfly has to offer! The selection of cards and options are limitless! My experience with Shutterfly and their options has been nothing but wonderful photographs filled with personal memories! I have already checked out their Christmas card selection and have chosen a few that I like for this year's Christmas cards! Family Wall Red, Dear Santa, With Love Blue, and Candy Boxes (my favorite) are just a few that I love! I enjoy cards where I can place more than one picture of my sweet family! I also like Shutterfly's selection of calendars! You can choose from wall calendars, desk calendars, or calendar posters! I personally like the wall calendars especially because I can choose up to 9 photos in a layout! They offer 12 month as well as 18 month calendars!
I have never made a photobook but I want to try out Shutterfly's Photo Book Custom Path options.
Shutterfly is offering a promotion for bloggers! Bloggers can get 50 free cards if they write a post and describe their Shutterfly experience! If you aren't a blogger, then check out Shutterfly's website to get started making your Christmas card today!
Here's also some coupon codes to use as you find your perfect Shutterfly Christmas card!

Free shipping on orders over $30- SHIP30
One free card- CARD4U
25% off cards- FATWALLET5
5% off Cards- CSHARE5
10% off your order- SAVE10
5 free cards- TRYFIVE

As I'm preparing my home and my family for the Christmas season, I want to keep in mind the reason why we celebrate Christmas! We are celebrating the birth of Christ Jesus. How very special was that very moment, the birth of our Savior!
I know that sometimes we can get bogged down with gift buying, wrapping, and decorating (I know that I do). This year I want to enjoy every minute of this Christmas season's preparations. Last year was C's first Christmas and I felt like I was rushed and behind with decorating and gift buying instead of thinking and reflecting on what the season really means for me and my family. This year I want to keep my focus on the reason we celebrate this holiday. I don't want to rush any part of it (even though time isn't always on a working mother's side).
Sometimes though it takes a little humor to see what we are really like around the holidays! I need a little humor when I'm trying to not take on too many tasks at once. So to help me slow down and laugh a little I found Lucy! I love watching the I Love Lucy shows! I've watched them every since I was a child. Lucy is funny! Her comic shows even today have parts in them that I can connect with! I've included a few links to snippets of past episodes! My hope is that as you are preparing for this Christmas season that you are not driven by time schedules or the holiday rush. I hope that your focus is on the real reason why we celebrate Christmas (a little humor can't hurt either)!

Finding that perfect Christmas tree!

How to not decorate your Christmas tree!

The Dinner rush!

The Madness!

I participated in this mommy blog survey. I got the link from Kelly's Korner's blog! A friend of hers is doing a thesis on mommy blogs and this is part of her research! Give it a try if you are a mommy blogger!

"If you are a woman who writes a blog with content predominantly about her family, and you have 10-15 minutes to spare, we would love to hear from you! We are doing research on bloggers, and invite you to take a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/mommyblog Your participation will help one graduate student get one step closer to completing her thesis, and one step closer to graduation! Thank you for your input and for your time!"

 C has a very special message for her sweet and precious friend Morgan Kate!
We will be thinking about you and we'll be saying a prayer for you in the morning! We love you MK!


 

Happy 20 month birthday Miss Caroline!

You are such a sweet sweet baby girl...

 whose laugh is contagious...

who is happy everyday...

and who loves to talk on her telephone "Hello! Hello!"

Dear Sweet Caroline,

You are the sunshine of our lives! You are perfect! There are so many fun things and sweet things that we love about you! Everyday you are growing and changing. It's all happening way to fast and I can hardly keep up with all of your new words (your vocabulary increases daily) and expressions! You are sweet but you are also strong willed (psst, I think you get that from your mommy, but don't say that I ever admitted that)! Just like last Saturday morning, we heard you happily talking in your crib. You kept saying ew wee, ew wee! The next thing we know is that you are very quiet (this usually means trouble) and you come running into our room saying "ew wee mommy!" while pointing towards your room. You apparently found a way to climb out of your crib (you didn't even make a peep) and you tried to blame the crib for your fun deed! You scared us but we were thankful you were safe. We now know you are sneaky!

Your personality is so bubbly! You constantly make us laugh with your Carolineisms! Putting on mommy's shoes and walking around the house juking is my favorite! Daddy's favorite would be when you make all of your animal noises including the Gamecock rooster (by the way, daddy is a Clemson fan but you can crow anytime you want)!  You love everyone that you meet and you love your family, especially daddy! You have become a daddy's little girl! You just light up when he comes into the room and I love your special bond! You and I have a very special bond too, but there's something about yours and daddy's that I absolutely adore!
To honor your 20 month birthday, here's 20 things that I love about you!
I love...
1. how you count the school buses every morning on the way to Ms. Seah's,
    you say, "ew, one bus mommy" in your most proud counting voice.
2. when you say, "hold you" when I'm cooking so you can see what's for
    dinner or when you're really tired.
3. when you say "ew, wee mommy!"
4. how you open up your mouth in the shape of a big O when you get
    excited or when you hear a fun noise like your music, an airplane, or a
    train whistle.
5. when we ask you what each animal says and how you say them,  
    especially "no, no" when we ask you what mommy says! 
6. when you tell us "love you"!
7. when you say Happy Da Doo for Happy Birthday! This is my most favorite
    phrase from you! I hope you never stop saying it!
8. how you are always trying to be a big helper! You can find the smallest
   piece of trash on the floor and you'll pick it up and walk it right to the
   trash can and throw it away! You get that from your daddy!
9. when you say, "okay" to us after we've asked you to do something!
    "Caroline can you help pick up your toys?" "OKAY!" or how you ask,
     "How are ya?!" This is hilarious from a 20 month old!
10. how you twist when you run! You are so cute when you do this!
11. how you can crow like the Gamecock rooster!
12. your hugs! They are the best!
13. to watch you play outside! You always have a blast!
14. how you love to read books! You always try reading the pictures and
     your favorite book right now is your baby "Bible". You recently sat and
     listened as I read 74 pages from your little Bible!
15. how you make pretty hands right before we say the blessing!
16. how entertaining you are!
17. how sweet you are in the mornings and right before bedtime!
18. your smile!
19. your laugh!
20.  how smart you are!
You are quite a delight and I love you!
Love, Mommy

I have always loved calendars and all the things they entail! Every year before school begins I find myself browsing the calender and planner aisle over and over until something catches my eye! I need the cutesy planner with bright colors and oh it has to have the month on a two page spread along with several sheets behind it with each date of that month having it's own huge block so I can write in events. But even this didn't seem to be enough so I went as far as to buy an oversized dry erase board month planner for our laundry room last year. Once when I forgot four events in a month, it was time to go to plan B (obviously I didn't have time to look at filled in boxes in my daily planner, so I had to go out and buy a big one so that when I did the laundry I would actually have to take the time to read what's coming up next, dr's appts, baby showers, birthday parties for C, etc).

Well now I've extended myself! As a wedding present a dear sweet family friend gave to us a birthday calendar. At first I thought why would I need this? It ended up being one of the best gifts I've ever received. Not only did I fill it in with birthdays but I also included anniversaries. It's by now quite full, and I love it, because when I turn to each week's dates it gives me the chance to pray for those having birthdays or anniversaries.

I said all this to say, that Sam has a very large family! So in order to help me keep up with the Leviner's I needed to have a separate birthday and anniversary calendar (my 1st one is getting quite full like I said and I was running out of room to add new babies etc.) So I made this one...

and I thought since it would be helpful to me,

it would also be helpful to all the Leviner

women, so I made them each one.

On one side it lists birthdays and on the other

it lists anniversaries, one page for each month.

In the back I've included all of the Leviners' addresses.

Pretty handy, huh!

 As Thanksgiving Eve is tonight, I'm filled with all thoughts of what I am thankful for! I can list thousands. Last year, of course was C's first Thanksgiving but it will be our 3rd together (including the year I was pregnant). I am so very thankful for my family and what each member means to me. They are precious! We have great times together, but I am so thankful for the opportunity for being chosen to be this little one's mother! I love her! I adore her! She's my sweetheart! So I am especially thankful for my sweet Caroline this Thanksgiving! Like I've said many times before, she's spunky, she's fun, and she has quite the personality!

My happy Caroline!

This little one is all clad in winter gear at her cousins'

band competition! She's such a sweet treat!

Love you Caroline and Happy Thanksgiving!