Since most Christmas mornings we are either with my family in Florida or at Paul's parents house because we spend the night there on Christmas eve, this year since we did Christmas early with the Blakes, we were able to have Christmas morning at our house. We also had the special treat of having Paul's parents over for Christmas Eve dinner. We woke up to hot chocolate and krispy kreme doughnuts. Paul also made french toast. Paul asked Harrison to pray before we opened the presents. Harrison said a beautiful prayer that almost made me cry thanking the Lord for coming to earth and dying for us so that we could be free. It is so great when you can see that your kids really understand the meaning of Christmas and that one of the reasons we give gifts is because the greatest gift was given to us. We then enjoyed watching each other open presents. In the afternoon we went to Paul's parents to just hang out. While there Noah wanted to be like his big cousin Wyatt and walk around in his diaper too before bed. Oh the innocence of children to pose proudly in their diapers. I love it.

Faces that make me smile

So for those of you who don't know this past week has been quite stressful. Between Paul's dad going to the emergency room twice for two different things, my dad having an operation on his leg and remembering Art on his birthday on the 19th, I have been a little emotionaly drained with tears and prayers. If you think about it, we would love prayer for both my dad and Paul's dad for health and comfort for Art's family especially during the holidays.

In light of that, here are two things that Noah has been doing lately that have brought a smile and laughter to me as a way of lifting the heaviness. One, he copies the pictures in his book of himself. This is his favorite one: the open mouth, he does it even when he is not looking at the book and does his eyes really funny. He knows it is a sure laugh. The other is discovering his body parts one being his nose. I thank the Lord for this little man so much and the joy he brings me.

dance dance.. yeah

wrestling

So the boys found a new use for mom's new couch... a wrestling mat. This was the hot event this weekend at the blake household.

here we go again...

but in the end we love each other.

If you want to see some live action footage you can click here.

Noah's inside workout

You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

Thanks Meme

Thanks for my new Christmas shirt, hat, gloves and slippers. Now I can go outside and swing or just hang around without being cold. I hope you are having a good time on your cruise. Tell Granddaddy and Momo hello for me.
love and miss you- noah

p.s. mom really likes her starbucks card too!

Christmas came early this year

Last week, I went to anthropology to get my final present for the blake family christmas. When I walked into the store they had my favorite couch on sale for about 85% off the floor model. I could hardly believe it. I asked if this was the price of the pillows on the couch and they said no it was the couch. I asked how much was on my gift card I had and sure enough there was enough money for the couch and the sunflower pillows that were on the clearance rack.

Not only did I get a fablous Christmas present early, but we also had the Blake Christmas early since my sister in law from texas is pregnant and won't be able to make it for December. We had a wonderful time being together this weekend. It was an emotional Christmas especially since Paul's dad had another heart attack and his mom went into the ER with heart attack symptons just last month. We were all very thankful to be with each other and healthy. The Lord suprised us when we woke up to our Christmas morning with snow so we even had a white Christmas.

The kids had a fun time playing in the snow:

Noah enjoyed opening up and playing with his presents more this year.

Harrison's favorite gifts was a lego with his name on it and spending time with his cousin Landon who he doesn't get to see that often:

I will leave you with a picture of my niece Cassie as a reminder of the reason for the season:

Feeling Sad

Today I am experiencing a heaviness that I know can only come with grief and missing my late husband, Art. I don't know if the trigger is the holidays or just me missing him. Every once in a while I see his smile in my mind or in the picture I have on my desk and it makes me smile and cry all at the same time. So I guess you are probably wondering why I am blogging about this, in part I am wondering the same thing too. I guess it is because I have talked to the Lord, wrote in my journal, read scripture, listened to music and yet I am still wanting something more tangible but not too tangible like a phone call or seeing someone. I don't have that much energy right now. So I thought I would blog maybe get a comment or some prayer from some of you out there who read my blog and it might help although who knows when you will read this. Thanks for reading my blog, it is a community in its own weird way.

The Mystery Continues...

So there has been rumors that one of the blake boys use to poop in the tub. The mystery is which one? After Leah's post on Cassie pooping in the tub, we thought for sure the mystery was solved that it was Tom since the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree and everyone says she has Tom's personality.


However, within this last two weeks, Noah has pooped three times in the tub. The first one happened while Paul was giving him a bath at my parents house. I came upstairs and Noah was crying and Paul had this look on his face like this is so gross. I asked him what happened and he said Noah fell and pooped in the tub. I was shocked since he had never done this before but sure enough I looked in the tub and there was some floating in there.


Round 2: One of my best friends from college, Ali, came up to see us at my parents house in Florida since she moved to Fort Myers from Chicago. She and her husband brought their little girl Cami who is only a couple months younger than Noah. We thought it would be a fun idea for them to take a bath together before putting them down for bed. We decided to put them in their swim suits so we could take pictures and it was a good thing we did. Noah was acting really strange during the bath he wouldn't sit down and didn't really want to play; however, he did try to give Cami a few kisses. Once bath time was over, I discovered why. Yep, you got it there in his swim diaper was a big poop.

Round 3: Today, I gave Noah a bath since he hadn't had one since his bath with Cami. No more then one minute into Noah playing in the bath, I sit down to read my book when all of a sudden I see poop floating in the tub. He is three for three right now. I am hoping this is not going to become a trend.

So.... Paul Blake, you are now back in the running for the mystery pooper.

"Those are some big shoes to fill"

"I want to be just like you, Papa!'

Noah loves his cousin Cassie!

What a joy it is to watch them together. It brings a smile to my face even as I am writing this.

Hello from Florida

So the big news in Florida is that my sister got a new pool put into her backyard and a new dog who they named blessing. The great part about the pool was that it was heated. Noah had a blast both with the dog, the pool and his cousins. His new thing that he has been doing is hitting and hugging. We like the hugging part but we are still working on him to be more gentle.

We celebrated thanksgiving early with my family in Florida since the plane tickets were ALOT less two week before. My mom of course cooked a wonderful meal and had the house all set up with decorations and special touchs here and there. Everytime I am around my mom I appreciate and admire her more and more. It was such a blessing to spend time with everyone; however, now that I am home it makes me miss them even more. Below are a few more pictures from our time there.

A little video of my 3 year old niece, Ellie, in Florida

My first official photo job

For those of you who don't know, I decided to start a photography business. I named it Captivating HeARTs. The reason I choose this name is because you can often see someone's emotions through the photographs that can captivate those who see the pictures. The reason ART is captialized in the HeARTs is because ART is the name of my late husband and I truly treasure every photo I have of him. This is one of the reasons why I have such a passion for photography.

So here is how I got my first job: Leah, Maerett, Susan and I go to a coffee shop that has a playground in it at this church every Wed. morning. There are lots of moms and kids that go there so I decided to put up a flyer on the community board about taking photos. The other day I was going about life as usual when a different number showed up on my cell phone. I answered the call, the person said is this Lauren? I said yes. She said I saw your flyer at the coffee shop then asked a few questions and then said can I book you? I said yes. So we set a date and I hung up the phone. I was excited.


However, on the way to the job I was nervous. I asked the Lord for a peace and His creativity. The family was really great and I had a lot of fun taking the pictures. Below are my top five.

A nice fall day for brothers to play

"What should I do with all these leaves?"


















" What happened, ma ma?"