Many a face has Charlotte Grace

After getting all those great pictures of Elo's many faces for her 8 Month Post, I told Rob that I would love to get some of Charlotte. I highly doubted we could get more than one with her inability to look at the camera when asked about 99 % of the time.

Leave it up to Rob to surprise me! I got home from work one evening, he handed me the camera & told me to check out the faces he captured to see if they would work for the funny face collage I had in mind.

Oh my, I almost tinkled in my pants I was laughing SO hard!

Please, enjoy Charlotte Grace's Many Faces.....

The next two....hahahaha

Oh Charlee noodles....you are hilarious! Thanks for keeping us entertained day in & day out. I don't think we will go long without laughing as long as you & Eloise are living under our roof  : )

Celebrating Jenny & baby Isaac

Oh how I love baby showers...especially when it is for my sister-in-law & nephew to be! Here is that beautiful mommy with a growing belly & a curious Karis taking a peek....

My nephew will be given the name Isaac Haddon & is expected to arrive around March 7th.  Head over to Jenny's blog to read more about how they chose his beautiful name. He will be the long awaited, first boy on both sides of the family following 5 girls on one side & 3 on the other! So exciting!

As the nursery plans are coming together, Jenny & Steve decided on a rustic theme including a plaid quilt Grandma Joyce is working on, a cute little moose (pictured below) & warm, rich colors throughout. Traci & I decided to keep the same theme for our little baby celebration. 

I collected some pinecones from our neighbors yard & some beautiful bright green pine needles on our squirrel hunting trip : ) They made for a nice garland to complete the decor.

I am really enjoying my Silhouette Cameo & put it to use on some projects for the shower including nametags, labels, and a glass etched moose on a mug.

Jenny girl, as I like to call her has had quite the obsession with hot chocolate so we decided to have a hot chocolate bar complete with toppings.  It was delish!

Our menu was simple yet rustically inspired:  hot chocolate bar, trail mix, campfire sticks (pretzels), gummy bears, pigs in a blanket & my personal favorite, s'more cookies.

as I type this, I am eating a very large spoonful of the leftover dough....to die for!

Here is the pretty mama enjoying her cup of cocoa & chatting with the other ladies.

If you have heard me talk about my Jenny girl, you know I love her very much.  I could go on all day about all the things I love about her but instead of doing that, we went around the circle & took turns sharing about why Jenny is such an incredible woman.  She is excited about life, she loves Jesus, she is intentional in her parenting to help Karis understand God's love for her, she stands up for what is right, she is a blast to be around, her laugh gets everyone laughing rather quickly, she can eat like a horse when she is pregnant (thanks for that story Anitra!), she goes out of her way to make people feel welcome....just to name a few.  She really is an exceptional woman who desires to serve the Lord in the way she cares for her husband, her daughter & her home.  I have no doubt that she will do well in the balancing act of adding another child into the mix.

Me, Jenny & Traci, the other hostess. Traci came over hours before the shower & cleaned house with me...WOW, such a kind soul! I was beyond thankful.

One of the many clothing items she received.  We Valentines like things that say "Valentine" on it!

Jenny got ALL sorts of clothes & a few blankies, towels, pacis & sippy cups.  Isaac should be stocked up & well dressed for most of his first year of life : )

I love being an auntie to my sweet niece Karis Ann & can hardly wait to get my hands on Isaac! There are many things to be enjoyed about being an auntie.  One of them is the opportunity to go overboard on shopping and/or sewing.  Jenny picked out fabric & my mom & I whipped up a diaper bag, changing pad/diaper clutch & a nursing cover.  Jenny had chosen a couple bags on Etsy that she liked so we did a little combining to make the perfect diaper bag, according to the mommy to be.  I probably could have figured it out on my own but there is nothing quite like having the master seamstress around when I have an intense project on my to-do list. We knocked it out in about 2 evenings

The other fun gift was something that Jeannine, our mother in law & I went in on together.  It was a big box with this poem on the top.

Underneath the poem was a long clothesline with each months' outfit pinned on with clothespins.  It was SO fun to shop for boy clothes! Maybe this Valentine family will get to do that sometime : )

This was too cute to pass up for next February!

And this outfit, oh my, it is like we shrunk one of Steve's shirts & pants down to 12 month size. It was hilarious when she opened it.  Traci works with Steve & said "He totally has that shirt!" Maybe they can take father/son pic in it : )

Here is the whole crew of ladies that showered Jenny with encouragement, love & lots of little clothes!

Now, all they need is Isaac! C'mon buddy, well, wait at least another week or two but boy are we excited to meet you!

Happy Valentines Day!

We sent out Christmas cards for a few years after getting married before realizing how ridiculous it was for us to rush around to get them out in time during such a busy season. Our solution was that we decided to send out Valentine cards instead. I mean, we are the Valentines right? It only makes sense!

So, here is the Valentine...virtually....

and our year in review- hover over the month descriptions for links to previous posts

highlights of the happenings at

the Valentine Nest

MARCH- Robby turned the big 3-0 & in true Valentine style, we celebrated all week long! Celebration Community Church held the first service on the land where we would soon start building.

APRIL- Lauren spent the final weeks of pregnancy eating, sewing & feeling that sweet baby move around. We arranged the girls’ room to accommodate two beds & attempted but failed miserably at getting the big sis to sleep in her new bed that her Daddy built.

MAY- We welcomed Eloise Hope into our lives on the 30th at 1:57am. She weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces & was 20 inches long. Elo surprised us 2 weeks before her due date & was just precious from head to toe. Char made the move into the big girl bed to make room for sissy.

JUNE- In all honesty, we don’t remember much about this month. We were sleep deprived… need I say more?

JULY- Charlotte Grace turned 2 years old & we celebrated with an owl themed party. We had a low key 4th of July celebration at home complete with yummy food, two uncles from Texas & a firework show by our crazy neighbors that rivaled Disney.

AUGUST- Charlotte finally had enough hair to get the monumental first haircut! She sat in a Barbie jeep & received a pretty hair clip for being such a big girl. She lost a bit of the baby look with the haircut.

SEPTEMBER- We traded in the Pontiac Firebird we left our wedding in for a more family friendly vehicle. It was a great decision but we were sad to say goodbye to that ol’ racecar.


OCTOBER- Lauren lost her mind & flew to Texas alone with a newly potty trained 2 year old & an infant. While she was away, Robby slaved away in the garage building a Pottery Barn inspired Farmhouse bed for our master bedroom… such a handyman!

NOVEMBER- One of our favorite days this month was when we drove out to the coast (& barely made it) to see the gorgeous sunrise. Thanksgiving was spent with friends at our home.

DECEMBER- We celebrated 7 years of marriage with a Cirque du Soliel show & a night without kids. I even got to sleep in till 8:30am! Not sure when that became sleeping in but it was wonderful! We spent Christmas with the Valentines & New Years with our annual sickness after the busy-ness of the holidays.

JANUARY- This month we could say that Celebration Community Church was all settled into our new building. It was neat to see things built from the ground up & we are enjoying the space along with all the new people that are joining us for Sunday worship.


FEBRUARY-the littlest in the house is thinking about crawling.

Wishing you and your family a SWEET Valentine's Day!

Love,

The Valentines

Robby, Lauren, Charlotte & Eloise

The simple things

Last week, on a very warm day, Charlotte followed me outside when I was taking Bennett out.  I looked away for about 2 seconds & saw this when I turned around......

My initial reaction (in my mind) was "Char! What are you doing?" then I thought, "who cares?" I grabbed my camera & enjoyed watching my little one enjoy something. It was something so simple yet so delightful!  One of the best parts was hearing her say "the sprinkles get me all wet mommy!" over & over. There was a lot of jumping, splashing and running and more smiles & squeals than you can imagine! That Charlotte, she knows how to have a good time!

You have got to love that her shoes are on the wrong feet!

Farmer Charlotte

and down again...SPLASH!

I love when her hair is wet + the humidity is high. It means LOTS of curls on her sweet little head! And seriously, where did she get those lashes? Definitely not from mommy!

Once the "sprinkles" were off, we headed inside to strip off the sopping wet clothes. I just loved watching her shadow in the puddles.  Not sure when she got all long-legged on me : )

Spending time with a 2 year old is a great reminder to enjoy simple things that are frequently overlooked.  Maybe next time I will join her ; ) 

project 365: [days 36-42]

Februrary 5- These little missies helped me bake cookies for our Super Bowl party.

February 6th- Got this gift finished & in the mail for my Auntie Deb's birthday.

February 7th- Baby food veggie cookin' day!

*February 8th- Someone's silly bone was acting up at the dinner table.

February 9th- Charlotte was helping her doll go potty before her nap.....oops!

February 10th- Breakfast of champions.  Guess which ones are mine : )

February 11th- Annual family squirrel hunting trip.

the bird ladies

One afternoon last week Juanita called to see if we would like to join them in feeding some birds. I just assumed we would be at the pond behind their house feeding a few ducks or something....boy was I wrong!

We loaded up in the stroller then met Juanita & Matilda on the sidewalk.  The girls were SO excited to see each other.  They ask daily to play with each other so it is always fun to be able to answer the request with a "yes!" Mati is a pro at riding her tricycle & we are hoping that she will fill Char in on the secret to get it to move in a forward direction : ) Charlotte ran as fast as her little legs would carry her all the way to our destination.

Take notice, Mati has her bread stored in the back of her tricycle....how handy!

Our destination was an area of land in our neighborhood that has been cleared for more houses to be built. It was COVERED in seagulls! The girls started throwing pieces of bread up into the sky & attracted a few of the birdies.

Here they are staring into the largest gathering of seagulls I have EVER seen. 

We were debating on whether or not we should let the girls get closer then we thought, "why not?" We hoisted them over the fence & they took off running full speed into the birds...

 Here is a video clip so you can really experience the moment...

Charlotte is usually the ring leader as you can see in the video above. Not much scares her these days other than those chickens, owls & now monkeys that she swears reside in her room at bedtime. I wonder if she will add seagulls in there ; ) I might have nightmares about these birds.  I ended up having to chase Charlotte for quite some time through a lot of dirt & not to mention seagull poop.  I would love to say that Char is an excellent listener & responds with immediate obedience to her calm mother but that would be a lie. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for her to turn around & come back but what do you know, she kept running...and running...and running AWAY from me. I was out of breath from screaming and running simultaneously when I finally caught her. (I only lasted two days back with my trainer Jillian Michaels, she is tough!).  As far as the disobedience goes, I am going to place blame on the deafening sound of flapping wings belonging to 2000 seagulls flying overhead being too distracting for an over stimulated two year old that was having the time of her life.

The Bird Ladies....

Matilda

Charlotte

Once they were captured & lifted back over the fence they were immediately requesting to go back.  The photo above was taken when I told them "no mas!" I think Mati looks seriously angry about my answer ; )

After they accepted the fact that they were no longer going to be running amongst the birds they watched from behind the fence.  I snapped this picture of Charlotte....

I just think she looks so beautiful with her wild hair.  Ooooo I love her! I have asked my mom if it is normal to just look at your children every day & think "Wow, you are so beautiful! How do you belong to me?" She said she still thinks that about the three of us so at least it is normal within our immediate family ; ) 

Eloise was fully entertained watching from the comfort of the stroller with her chubby little leg propped up on the bar. She actually had on some 12-18 month denim shorts on that fit quite snugly for only being 8 months old. This girl has some kissable, squeezable thighs...yum!

She even grinned & squealed when the birdies would get close....

Thanks to Juanita & Matilda for inviting us on such a simple yet fun adventure in the neighborhood! And thanks to Christi for letting me borrow her lovely telephoto lens this week : )