Merry Christmas

very thankful for these two girls and my wonderful Andy!

merry christmas

&

happy birthday Jesus!

through the months

I was never very good about keeping record of alomae through the early months of her life and have decided to step things up when it comes to Poppy!

I was inspired by this and decided to do a little simple version of my own...

I am excited to keep track of all things Poppy in the months to come!

(maybe even do the same for alomae just not for every month!)

first love

"Living close to Me requires making Me your First Love- your highest priority. As you seek My presence above all else, you experience peace and joy in full measure. I also am blessed when you make Me first in your life. While you journey through life in My Presence, My Glory brightens the world around you." -from Jesus Calling December 16th

spoken to me

I have been praying over some heavy things lately for someone in my life. Today I opened up my bible to Galatians and God clearly spoke these words to me.

"but now that you have come to know God , or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?" 4:9

"if anyone who is caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted." 6:1

one is reminding me that this person must be the one to turn away from their sin and the other encourages me to restore them in gentleness (which can be so very hard when you just want to tell them how it is...)

I am so very thankful for Gods word and how it shows me exactly how to think and what i must do. His word makes me such a more patient and loving person. All good in me most definitely comes from Him.

poppy grey- 2 months old

poppy,

you are two months old today

(I can hardly believe it)

some photos of you over the past 2 months

you are such a sweet girl and we love you to pieces

here are some things about you right now

you sleep great (as long as you are right next to me)

you hate your car-seat and usually scream scream scream when in it

you are barely fitting in your 0-3 month clothes so I am breaking out the bigger sizes

you are such a great nurser (efficient too!)

you have the sweetest smile and one dimple on your left lower cheek

i have gotten you to giggle once!

you are very different then your big sister alomae

you are so beautiful

and so very loved

we love you so much sweet poppy grey!

i was cleaning out our storage unit the other day and found this photo of me at 4 months old

poppy you look like me!

birthday weekend

I had such a good time celebrating Andy on Friday and Saturday!

it started off with us walking around town and going to his favorite shops

in nw- woodlands and tanner goods (at what I like to call the man corner) where he got some fun things! it was super fun going into shops with him because all the workers knew him! I love how Andy invests into peoples lives... he is living on mission for sure!

then it was off to his birthday dinner at Hub hopworks brewery with 15 friends!

it was such a great group of people and just a nice time to sit around and chat with good friends!

Saturday (his actual birthday) was fun too!

coffee at barista

quick breakfast at crema

portland bazaar

home for naps

dinner at por que no?

put girls to bed

and watched his favorite movie (which I had never seen!) Memento

fun times were had by all- good to celebrate Andy and make him feel loved!

here are some of the friends!

and them loving on poppy and nate loving on...uhhhh

exploring the Portland Bazaar

and some good good food on the heated patio

~

speaking of birthdays

something else great happened too...

I found out saturday morning that one of my best friends Amber

is having twin boys!!

she just found out at her 20 week ultrasound that there are two in there...

let the twin education begin!

Happy Birthday Andy

via

Happy Birthday

to my wonderful, handsome, and hardworking husband Andy!

I hope you know how much I love and appreciate all you do for me and our sweet girls!

(you are such a great daddy)

I feel privileged to do life with you

enjoy this last year in your 20's!

the elimination diet

thats what I am doing...

and it's not to lose weight either! (though I would not mind)

I am currently on an elimination diet trying to figure out what is not agreeing with my sweet Poppy!

I have thought for awhile that she may have a food allergy(s) and now I am going to get to the bottom of it (hopefully!!)

instead of eliminating one thing at a time, I am going hardcore and on the fast track.

Basically all I eat is chicken and veggies....(and my oatmeal for breakfast- hoping I don't have to give that up too!)

The other night I made the

Lemon Honey Crock Pot Chicken

I mentioned here

this is the photo of my actual chicken- pretty huh!

it was So So good

I went ahead and made a fun and fancy chicken because the recipe did not have usual allergens so hopefully we are safe!

I made it with roasted veggies (minus the cheese)

really really great (and good for you too!)

make it for your family soon!

it's such a pretty meal and tastes so yummy too

hopefully I find out what my girl doesn't like soon...

food

while on vacation I did not cook a ton but I did make a couple yummy things!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I had found a recipe for these- bought all the ingredients and then when I went to find it, the recipe was gone!!! So I used this one and improvised with what I had...

they turned out GREAT!

I loved the peanut butter in them

(use butter lettuce though- I used normal because the store was out and the cups did not hold up very well...)

baked creamy chicken taquitos

these were great too!

though I do not think they are suppose to be a meal :)

more an appetizer

Super flavorful and delicious though!

I made Beef Stew too but do not have a link to it because it's a recipe my friend Britta gave me!

(she made it for me right after Poppy was born and it's soooooo good!)

I will have to take some photos of it and share the recipe another time!

this week I am making thai coconut curry chicken again and lemon honey crock pot chicken!

try anything new and yummy lately that is worth me making??

our little woodland tree

I like to do things rustic

Christmas is no exception!

our christmas tree is filled with cinnamon scented pine cones, woodland creatures, mushrooms, and a random pair of red rain boots a friend got me that I LOVE

it's perfect for our cozy little home

I have some more decorating in the works but here is what we have so far

I am going to make a tree skirt out of old burlap coffee bags but until it's done

our old silver one will have to do!

this santa snow globe was one of my favorite things from when I was little

I have kept it around because I thought alomae might enjoy it as much I did!

sure enough, she thinks this musical globe is magical...

daddy, mommy

and our babies...

we had our stockings made last year for us and right after poppy was born I made sure and ordered one for her (she appears to have changed her design a bit, poppy gets a much more svelte version)

wrapping this year is just some fun woodland paper with red twine

and brown paper with red or green bakers twine

alomae is at such a fun age and will be an absolute blast to open presents with come Christmas morning!

with little ones in the house, the magic of christmas is back!

I have not forgotten the true meaning of Christmas though- we actually keep it pretty simple here and will be most of all celebrating and rejoicing in the fact the Jesus was born!

getting the tree

we got our tree!

yesterday we ventured out and cut her down like we do every year.

Going on a friday was so much better then a saturday- we were literally the only ones there! after about 2 min of looking, our tree was found (not the typical hour it usually takes me) it was so quick, easy, and fun! Just how I like it to be when I am carrying a newborn who you never know when she is gonna stop enjoying the moments and cry.

kissing the baby trees

(i have pictures of me at her age doing the same!)

the winner!

me & my beautiful girls

a poppy shot- so she knows she was there :)

my oh so handsome man

watching daddy cut

alomae helped a lady who worked at the farm decorate the tree in the barn

loading it on my car

then & now

december 2009

december 2011

(alomae was at grandmas last year when we got our tree, so no photos from 2010)

Excited about the Christmas Season

with a almost 3 year old it is so magical again!

friends

last night we had a fun relaxing night with some great friends...

Ben & Summer Moon

(yes, Summer just married Ben and is now Summer Moon! great name huh?! My sister Autumn is married to Wes Snow and is Autumn Snow- so funny how some married names work!)

Summer was so sweet and had a bag full of treats for alomae

tiara

pink gloves

princess markers

princess notebook

headbands (pink of course)

and hair clips

she knows my girl well!

the pink heels are summers :)

summer and poppy!

(she kinda has a severe case of baby fever!)

the boys eating Summer's moms special spaghetti recipe

alomae eating with her tiara!

it is so nice to have a night to just relax with friends.

(don't you love those effortless friendships that are just so natural!)

Amber & Shawn- we must get together with you two next...

crowded inn

this year Thanksgiving was spent with my family at our beach cabin at Seaside

the "Crawfords Crowd Inn" (crawford is my maiden name)

My dad was there the whole week prior and only ate dinner and then was on his way back north to seattle so most of our time was spent with my sister Autumn, her husband Wes and their two boys Sawyer & Huck! It was such a relaxing (and crazy- with 4 kids under 4.5) time and it was so nice to just get away and spend time with my family.

my dad and wes

Autumn & Huck with Sawyer in the background!

the kid lives in pajamas :)

Andy and the spread

I made sweet potato bites, bacon jalapeno dates, deviled eggs, & olive oil kale mashed potatoes

Alomae & I

striking a pose!

Alomae and Huck trick riding

Sawyer (4) thought Poppy could use some sleeping buddies

so sweet

Alomae at the good ol' Seaside arcade

Wes & Sawyer! I love Andy and Alomae in the background... check out her face!

Huck in the sink

this is how the kids bathe at the cabin! We have photos of all of them doing this throughout the years!

~

the cabin is a time to hunker down, stay in your pajamas and watch movies and play games.

it has been in our family since my dad was a kid and I have so many great memories of this place. I love that Alomae (and eventually Poppy) have a place to get together with their cousins and make fun memories of their own!

we are now on 8 days of vacation!

we are staying home and going to enjoy doing many festive Christmas things with our girls...

tree

decorating

zoo lights

shopping

santa

and relaxing

hope your thanksgiving weekend was fun!