Christmas Pics

Thank you, thank you to my sweet friend Jennifer for taking our Christmas card pictures! I'm not going to post the actual picture I used because I just mailed all of my cards. I'll post it in a few days. Also a big thank you to Aunt Lisa who got Presley this pretty Christmas dress. She looks so grown up in it!

Two more days and I'm off for Christmas...I have plans to bake plenty of goodies and to do lots of snuggling with Presley. I'm getting into the Christmas spirit. It's been so busy lately that it's just now hitting me how close Christmas really is!

Presley is going to be so much fun this year! I already had to put up the presents from under the tree because she unwrapped two presents last weekend! Yeah...she's already got it figured out.

14 months...and some

I'm a little behind on this post. Presley, you are 14 months old. You are getting to be so big and independent. You are still a happy girl and full of energy. You bring smiles to me and Daddy all day long!

You wear 12-18 month jeans, 18 months shirts, size 5 shoe and size 4 diapers. You have grown so much this month. You can say "momma, dadda, bye, hi, juice, milk, outside, ball, bow (hairbow), no-no, baby, dog, shoes, bite, cookie" and jabbers other words a lot! You know how to get our attention and are good at making sure we know what you want. You will lead me into the kitchen and point at the cabinet that has your snacks in them and say "cookie". When you don't want something you say "no-no" and turn your head. You are a good communicator!
You still love being outside although it's cold now so we don't get to go outside as much. You don't nap great at daycare or with memaw but you will still take 2 naps for me here at home on the weekends. You sleep from about 8pm-7:30am each night. I am so happy you are a good sleeper!

You have learned how to climb up into the rocker in your room and the chairs by the kitchen table. You can't climb into the couch yet but you can get down. You are not scared of much!

You are definately all girl. You like baby dolls, purses, bracelets and anything that is shiney! You love to give kisses but you only like to snuggle at night when you are tired. You are a busy lady and don't have much time to just sit with me and daddy.

We love you so much Presley! You are a blessing and we thank God each day for picking us to be your parents. You bring joy into lives!

We love you our little Sweet Pea!

Elf On A Shelf

Presley got a package in the mail today from her Aunt Paula. She wasted no time tearing into it! I started one corner for her and she immediately had it figured out. Christmas is going to be so much fun this year! The package was an "Elf On A Shelf". I had never seen it before but I think it's a fun tradition. Each year around Christmas, you read the book and remind your child that Santa sends an elf to our house to watch to see if they are being good. Then you hide the elf in places throught the house (just out of reach) for the child to spot. Now that we have it, I've had a few friends tell me how much their kids love it. I'm super excited and think it will be lots of fun!

Presley doesn't seem to care that this little elf is here on Santa's behalf but I know she will in years to come. This year....she's convinced it's her baby. As soon as she opened the box she started saying "baby, baby". She loves books so she brought me the book and we read it first thing.

Then we took the "baby" out of the box and she played and played with it. We are supposed to name it and register on the company's website. So far, I've been refering to him as Leland. Not sure why...but it's looking like that is going to be his name. Seems like a good elf name, right?

Presley is currently convinced everything is a phone so she did put him to her ear and say "hell0" a couple of times. It cracks me up. She does this with everything!

And because she thinks this is her baby, poor Leland got lots of kisses!

I know Presley doesn't seem to be worried about what this guy is reporting to Santa this year, but I went ahead and stuck him on the mantle. Might as well get this tradition started right.

Paula, I love this gift and think it will be fun for many years to come! Thank you!

Big Buck Down!

My daddy killed a deer....and then I claimed it as my own!

I am so proud of Jared....he has been hunting every single time he gets a chance too and gets up way earlier than I could probably ever motivate myself to. He killed a nice buck Monday morning with his bow. Jared loves bow hunting and I am glad he has something he enjoys doing so much. Jared had Gary come down and take pictures for him (I was still in the shower at 6:40am when this was going on) and I think they turned out good. I am so happy for him!

We took Presley out to see it before I took her down to Memaw's and headed to work. She seemed a little sketical of it but didn't seem to mind too much. I know when she's bigger she will love deer hunting just because her daddy does!

All I can say here is Daddy's girl!

Bath!

Presley loves bathtime! We work really hard to keep a routine each night and it starts off with a bath. She loves playing in the water and likes to blow bubbles.
She's such a little ham in the tub!

My blue eyed baby girl!

She's also learned that when I ask "Presley do you want to get out of the bath?" she says "No!"

Bridge Pics

I still have so much to learn....but here are a few more pics from the other weekend at Loy Lake Park. I am so glad Jared went along to help me out. He did lots of chasing of our active little girl! She had run ahead of us and Jared had just scooped her up in this picture. Her smile is so playful here. I love this picture of them....they are the center of my world and I am so blessed to have them both.

Presley was not shy at all and was all over the place! This little bridge was neat but turned out even better in the pictures. I think Presley looks tiny in this picture!

We are so lucky to have such a happy little girl. We say it all the time but we truly are thankful to have such a joyful little one. She smiles and laughs constantly. She adds so much to our life!
I am so proud of my little blue eyed sweetheart!

One more post....hopefully tomorrow and I'll finally have all of the pictures posted!

Fall Pictures

I love my new camera!!!

I am still not anywhere close to being an expert but I am working on getting there. Well, maybe not an expert but I do want to capture some great pictures of my little cupcake. I love taking pictures! I'm not interested in photography as a profession or anything but I do plan on taking lots of pictures of Presley as she grows up. She changes so much every single day...I don't want to forget any of it! I am not a fan of posed pictures...which is a good thing when you are working with a one year old! I think letting Presley play when I'm shooting her shows so much more personality. And it's way less work on us! Jared and I spent a couple of hours last Saturday just getting out and taking pictures at a couple of spots. These pics are from an old truck that I drive past on the way to work every day. I've wanted to take her picture there for a long time and we finally got around to it. The owner was super sweet and told us to take as many as we wanted!

I love the color of the truck, the pink bow in her hair, those big blue eyes....I know I'm partial, but I think these pictures turned out great. We took a lot more pictures but I still need to finish editing them. My process is this: take a zillion pictures and then go through and delete all the ones you don't like. Jared always makes fun of me because I snap so many, but he sure loves it when I get one he likes.

Like this picture....he says this one is his favorite and I think we are going to have a big one made so we can hang it up at home. I've always wanted to get a canvas made out of a print. And now I finally have a camera that is high enough resolution that we could....first we need to look through the remaining 500 pictures (yes I'm being serious) and decide on which one! I will post the rest of our "Fall Photo Shoot" soon!

13 Months

Presley Lynn.....I can't believe it but you are 13 months old! You are growing up so fast. You are the center of our world and we love you so much. Our sweet friend Hudson (currently my pic for your future husband) and his mommy Kate got you these cool stickers and shirts to put them on for your birthday. Now we can keep taking month pictures so we can see how much you grow! You are learning to make all of your toys work and you insisted on holding your glow worm for these pictures. You turn it on no less than a 100 times a day!

You weigh 22 lbs and are getting so tall. You wear 18 month shirts and 12 month pants (in jeans you can wear 6 months). You still wear a size 3 diaper and a size 4 in shoes. You are obsessed with shoes and want to put them on as soon as you wake up! I can't believe you didn't have shoes on for these pictures.
You are still a great eater and have really taken an interest in feeding yourself. You still sleep good and you are a busy lady when you are awake. You move constantly and you mock everything! You say lots of words like "momma, dada, dog, juice, moo, nana (banana), outside, no no, get it, who dat, ball". You are so happy most of the time and when you are upset it's always short lived. Your favortie person is Pops. When he is around no one else exist!
You are so much fun and Daddy and I laugh at you constantly. You are our little sunshine and we love you so much! We are so blessed to have you for our daughter. You are perfect for us! We love you!

Cookie Monster

I am loving this fall weather! It feels so nice and it's perfect for playing outside which is Presley's FAVORITE thing to do! And it gives me a chance to play with my new camera which is my new favorite hobby. I baked some sugar cookies that had pumpkins on them and Presley has the same obsession with them as her Daddy. She could eat as many as he could if I would let her!

She's getting so independent and likes to hold her food herself. It stresses me out a little bit but I'm trying to relax and loosen up a little. I have no idea where she gets such a strong sense of independence from! :-)
My favorite pictures of her are ones like this where I just sit down and let her play and do her own thing around me. Here she got a little nosey and had to come check out the camera close up! And of course she likes to see herself. As soon as I take a picture she comes over and insist I show her the screen and she says "baby...baby".

Love those big blue eyes! I'm sure they will get her lots of things in life. For now they certainly work on me and Daddy and pretty much everyone else she uses them on. Even the guy at Tractor Supply when we bought dog food this evening told me those eyes would be trouble!

I love how this camera lets me capture such vibrant colors and lets me focus on my subject and not everything in the photo. I'm still waiting on my "Dummies" book so I can really learn to use all of the features on this camera. I'm getting a little anxious for it's arrival....

Look at those cute little legs! She's turning into a little girl so fast!