Here we go a caroling

Tonight we went caroling for the first time as a family. We went with our church. It was a wonderful night to go caroling.  It was chilly but not too cold (which was nice because of Bethany). Bethany passed out when we had 4 stops left So I st with her for most of those stops.  We all had a great time.

Nope I did not get pictures. But oh well.

Blessing #3 Singing with friends under the stars.
My blessing that I am choosing for the day occurred while we were out.  At our last stop I was able to stand by the just outside the car and listen to the carolers.  The sound was quite sweet.  I think many saved their best singing for last.  the house were were at was one of a member of the congregation.  The wife has cancer and is not expected to be n this earth much longer.  I stood listened, sang along, prayed and looked to the stars. I could feel God with us. It was beautiful!

I may have to cheat and use a second blessing today.  OK I think I will...

Blessing #4 T is for tidings...
  This was the beginning of Naomi's line in her first Christmas program.  She was awesome.  She worked hard to memorize her line  "T is for tidings the big bells chime, over and over, time after time."

Nope did not get a picture of this either but I do have a picture of her in her outfit.

OK so I cheated again. This was taken last year!  But the dress still fits (we got it a size or two big)  It is a bit shorter and she out grew the shoes. It just felt wrong to post without a picture.

Daddy's girl

"Mommy, Daddy is a cute boy!" Naomi Boyd.

Puppy!

You would think my daughter wanted a puppy.  But she has one.  They are even learning to play together. It is so much fun to see them play together.  They are buddies! When Naomi is not around Rubia just pouts.  It is pretty sad. 

A few weeks ago my daughter's boredom level must have been at an all time high and her creativity level at a high.  I  came in the kitchen to cook supper and I discovered that She was playing fetch with....HERSELF!

She would throw the rope over the banister and then run over to it's location, pick it up in her mouth(yuck), then crawl back to the kitchen.  There she would drop the rope, bark, stand up and repeat the process. 

She did it for at least 10 minutes.  And she has done it several times since.  I think the dog was just as amused as Adam and I were. 

Snowman family

Snow, snow, snow!

  (Like the clip? Naomi did mommy's hair earlier.) 

The last snow was great for making snowmen....

Naomi got to make her first snowman.  She was very excited! 

We all made our own showman. 

 
Although I was told my loving husband that mine needed a bit more of a tummy.  (This may be the only time he could get away with a comment like that!)

Beauty shop

So I tried out a new hair dresser the other day....

I really like her.  I think I will make her my regular hairdresser.  

What do you think?

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She is very talented!

 She is super cute. 

 And she loves to accessorize!

I think I had about 15 clips and bows in my hair when she was done.  Sadly the camera battery died. This was the first time she had wanted to do my hair.  She combed it out then added all the clips that she could.  She tried to add some ponytail bows, but she could not quite get them to work the way she wanted.  Since then she has done momma's hair several times, but not to this extent.  I love it!

 

little notes...

Soon after we got back Naomi and I had a craft day.  I needed to send out some cards.  And I know Naomi would be willing to help.  So we made these...

I used thin green ribbon (left over from my wedding 5 and a half years ago) for the stems. I tore up some tissue paper in to small pieces.  Naomi and I then scrunched them up and I put glue on the tops of the stems.  Naomi did all the rest of the work.  She loved it.  I only needed 3 cards but she was having so much fun. We made a few extras. 

Runaway (pt3)

Opps! I forgot to post this picture of our first campground...

We spent a lot of time driving on the second day.  We found a KOA to stay at.  It turned out to be the World's Highest KOA at 10,000 feet.  We used the wilderness camping sights which were back in the Aspen.  This is where Naomi informed me that she would rather go potty in the trees than in a restroom.  Go figure.

We set up camp and then drove through Phantom Canyon on our way to the Royal Gorge. 

Naomi slept through the canyon. 

This is us looking at the bridge and the gorge for free.  I am sorry, but $25 per adult is a bit too much.  So we opted for the free outlook on the side. 

Poor Naomi got sunscreen in her eyes. 

The poor thing was a whimpering mess.  She rode most of the hour back to Cripple Creek with her eyes closed.  When we got there, we stopped to get something to eat.  It was a local's hang out.  When we showed up Naomi just wanted to be held by her daddy. But by the time we left she was entertaining the locals with her newly learned straw wrapper shooting. As well as showing off her dancing and jumping abilities.  

We took the long way back to the car.  Supposedly we had just missed some kind of local festival because there was a sand sculpture.  Here is part of it. ( I could not get the whole thing in the frame and some of it was not quite as "wholesome" as I would prefer.)

That night we headed back to the camp site and Naomi tried roasted marshmallows for the first time.  She was not a big fan.  Then off to bed we went. 

runaway (pt2)

The day after the Fourth (that would be the 5th).  We headed out west. 

Having a toddler who is mostly potty trained means we made plenty of stops.

(I am not exactly sure how picking up after your dog is green.  Courteous? Yes! Green? Hmmm)

There was a stretch of highway that had no services.

 This was a random mailbox in the middle of nowhere

The first night we camped at Pike National Forest. 

It was really nice. Except for the lack of shower facilities.  But ur campground was nice and there was a little stream just down the hill. 

Naomi was in charge of the hammer.  She did a great job of helping to get the stakes in. 

It took a while to get her to fall asleep, but once there she slept through the night.  Although she has the habit of getting on top of her covers.  This was not good considering it was in the 40's that night.  Adam had to keep covering her up. 

And here she is..bright eyed and bushy tailed!

From the mouths of babes

On the way home from VBS last night the following conversation happened...

Me: "How was VBS tonight? Did you have fun?"

Naomi: "Had Fun!"

Me "Did you learn about God making the world?"

Naomi: "Made world!"

ME: "Naomi, who did you learn about at VBS tonight?"

Naomi: "Daddy an' Eve."

Well, I suppose so.  Easy mix up for the girl.  We will have to work on that. 

The VBS theme this year is Saddle Ridge Ranch. It is full of cowboys, horses and Bible stories.  Naomi LOVES being a cowgirl.  Can you tell?  She is having a ball.  Her teachers are doing an awesome job!  Each night when I have seen her, she has had a huge grin on her face.  And she does not seem to care that I am there. Although at the end of he night she is one tuckered cowgirl. So she is ready to come home with mommy. 

Sadly I think she over did herself.  Last night she woke up sick.  She had a pretty decent fever.  So today we have been taking it easy.  I think her fever broke during nap time so if she keeps it down the rest today, tonight, and tomorrow, She may get to go to the last night of VBS.   

Frog

We had an adventure.  My mom called me out of the house while I was unloading the car.  I find my mom, daughter, and sister standing in the grass.  "Come catch this frog for Naomi." So I grabed it. 

Put it into a jar. 

Grandma has just given Naomi a book with a frog in it.  So we got the book out and showed her the jumping frog in the book and looked at the frog in the jar. 

Then it was time for the frog to go home to his mommy and daddy.  So we let the frog go in yard.  This morning we went outside and she looked for the frog.

Birthday!

I know her birthday was a while ago.  but I ahave been swamped.  I was blessed to watch 2 little girls while their parents were in China.  It was a bit crazy at times.  I had 3 girls aged 1, 2, and 3.

To start Naomi got to have her first sleep over.  For her second birthday!  Not many can say that.  but here are some highlights from Naomi's birthday...


Grand ma and Grandpa Brooks gave her a new bedding set.  She was so excited she had to try it out immediately!

At the las minute I decided to go with a fish theme for her birthday party.  you will sea why later... But here is my fish cake!  You can't go wrong with M&M's  

Good Morning Birthday girl!

This would be why we went with the fish party.  Naomi's "big present from Mama and Daddy was a fish. She was so excited she insisted on having breakfast with the Fish.  All morning long she watched it and would run around saying fishhhhhhhhh, fishhhhhhhhh.  (We did actually name it. the name is Pepe.   Adam named it.  He tried to name it Piscado to go along with our "spaninsh" named dog Rubia.  I refused.  I can only imagine how my 2 year old would pernounce it.)        

Mommy and her 2 year old just before her party!

I am not exactly sure what this look is all about.  She looks like she is up to something though.

As par tof the fish theme, I thought bubbles would be fun!

She opened presents like a pro.  I felt bad because we kind of had to rush through them.  She wanted to play with everything as she opened it. 

See?

Over all it was a Beautiful day to celebrate one of the best gifts God has given me. 

My little Girl...

Is now 2!

Oh what will this mother do?

I shall dress her in blue,

Take a picture or two

And try not to cry boo-hoo

Oh my how the years have flew!

Happy Birthday Naomi!

We love you!

For the Lord you God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

hmmmmm

"where is the other shoe?"

Big Girl

Guess who slept all night in her 'Big Girl" bed???

bed time!

Well, we have hit another milestone for Naomi.

At Christmas we wanted to Naomi a toddler bed.  Then life happened.  Our funds are pretty strapped considering Adam's unemployment, so our resources were very few.  We wanted something that would last a while and that was gender neutral. We looked for a little and did not really find anything in our (extremely) low price range.   Then we came to the conclusion that we could just put the twin bed we have on the floor.

So guess who slept in her Big Girl bed today for nap time?