As Fresh As Fallen Snow

For those who may not know it...I am a transplant to the south. It's true. I am a northern girl by birth. I lived the first eight years of my childhood in Kenosha, Wisconsin. My memories of winter are filled with snow! We lived right off of Lake Michigan...so not just snow; lake effect snow, and lots of it. To this day winter always makes me wish for just a little bit of snow, but this week. It rained...and it rained, and rained...and it rained. For five days straight I wore rain boots and sloshed through cold wet puddles every time I went anywhere. It was miserable. All of my winter decor seemed to mock me...

 

But then, on Thursday, after a morning filled with more rain...something beautiful happened.

 It started snowing! I know my northern friends are laughing at me as they read this...but after years of snow days and sledding and hot cocoa...you just miss it every once in a while! It has been a few years since we had more than a dusting here where we live. I was thrilled when the flakes started pouring!

  



And they just kept falling! I bundled Savannah up when it was still coming down and took her out for her first time to play in the snow at her own house. She absolutely loved it. (Landon was not as excited.)

We caught snowflakes on our tongues, took a long walk making tracks in the fresh snow, and even got to do a little sledding later that night! I loved it. One of the things I love about snow is that it always reminds me of fresh starts. Some of you may be reading this and thinking that you haven't heard from me much at all this year and here I am blogging about snow... Sometimes life gets busy and we get buried beneath a list of things to do and that is kind of what happened to my blog this year. It got pushed to the bottom of a long list.  However, one of my favorite things about a new year is that it always feels like a clean slate, a fresh start... you know, like snow.

I know I won't be able to do it as frequently as I want, but I do hope to update my blog more in 2013. This snow fall was just a good motivator and reminder for me.

So here's to new projects, new memories, new dreams, and a new year...as fresh as the fallen snow.

A Berry Good Day

Just wanted to post a few photos of our time today at a nearby berry patch. I have good memories of berry picking when I was little so I was so excited to take my kids.

 

We went with some friends of ours - Kristen, Hayden, and Ava. We had so much fun spending a little bit of time with them. These two boys were great berry pickers, although Hayden ate most of his - so cute!

Savannah is such a free spirit. (Yes, I am trying to say that she has a short attention span but doesn't free spirit just so much better?) She picked a few berries and then enjoyed running around.

I managed to find quite a few nice berries and have even enjoyed some of them tonight. I think I actually prefer them small because you can just pop the whole thing in your mouth.

This is my beautiful friend, Kristen, and her absolutely adorable new baby girl, Ava. Savannah really likes babies so she loved that she got to hold Ava today.

What a sweet day. Can't wait to enjoy the fruits of our hard work and fun! Yum...bring on the strawberry shortcake! 

Spring Picnic

Everything bloomed early in Knoxville this year! Spring weather came about a month early and it has been absolutely beautiful. A couple of weeks ago I decided I wanted to get the kids out for a photo shoot/picnic. Th picnic was a perfect solution to my kids current protest to having their pictures made. A bribe? Maybe, but they loved it and we got to enjoy some gorgeous spring scenery.

It wasn't a fancy picnic. We had peanut butter and jelly, and fruit loops. (I may have needed groceries...)

More often than not I get faces like these...

When I'm going for this...

But no matter what, we had fun in the process and I ended up with some more memories to cherish.

 

Happy Spring!

Savannah's Lemonade Party

As you may have read in a previous post, my baby girl turned three just a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to share some pictures with you from her super cute party! It is so much fun to have a little girl and get to do girly things like this. The theme that I decided to go with with "Cupcakes and Lemonade."

I used pink and yellow decor, lemon candy, mason jars, burlap, and lots of lemons for my sparkling strawberry lemonade and for decorations! 

This was my first time making the tissue pom poms and I think next time I'll try to make them a little bit more full, but I love how whimsical they look. Perfect for a birthday party or a shower!

Food was just finger food - sandwiches, chips and dips, and cupcakes of course! 

I made pink lemonade cupcakes. They were very yummy! I love lemon desserts! You can find the recipe here on this awesome food blog. 

But the best part of the party wasn't the decorations, or the food, but the company! We invited just a few people who are special to Savannah and she had a fabulous time.

She just smiled and took it all in as we all serenaded her with "Happy Birthday..."

I'm so thankful to all of our dears friends who came, and I'm especially grateful for the blessing of having grandparents living close by! I know that Savannah will treasure these memories when she is older.

With Papa and Ju-Ju. (My mom and dad.)

Letting us know she is three years old! 

By the time I was able to get a picture with her she was over pictures...so Craig snapped this random shot. I may have a little bit of a bittersweet expression...I was probably thinking how I can't believe that my baby is three years old and definitely not a baby anymore! How time flies...

With Grammy and Grandpa (or Pi-paw as Savannah says - Craig's parents.)

And finally the measure of a successful birthday party...the birthday girl fast asleep on the couch. Priceless.