happy christmas!

christmas is here! and thanksgiving was great, but...

...let's talk about Halloween, shall we?

This post should make up for the lack of action around here.
In fact, this picture alone may make up for it:

You're welcome.

Matt, Nikki, and Kai came to visit us the weekend of Halloween, and we had so much fun! On Saturday, we went to our town's Pumpkin Fest. It was the first time the kids wore their costumes. Merit was Dorothy, August was a munchkin (poor second child - her costume was Merit's gnome costume from a couple of years ago), and Kai was his absolute favorite, "Memo" aka Nemo.

I "made" Merit's Dorothy dress from this dress I found at a thrift store...

Add some red sparkly shoes and braids, and she was her favorite character from "Wizard of Pause".

straight from Munchkinland...

Our downtown has little main street festivals every few months, and they are always so fun. August got to go in the petting zoo for the first time and she LOVED it.

SIDE NOTE: People think August is a boy a lot. She doesn't keep clips and such in her hair, and I'm not a huge pink fan. Anyway, while she was in the petting zoo, wearing this costume that is a DRESS with PINK plaid and big DAISIES, someone asked me about her and kept saying "HE". Really? Who dresses their boy like this?! Okay, I feel better now.

They had almost all of the characters from Wizard of Oz walking around the festival. Merit got SUPER excited when she first spotted the Scarecrow. And then when she saw Dorothy? My goodness, pure happiness. She hugged them both like they were family, and proudly told them, "I'm Dorothy!" (Don't think the witch got a hug.) We've got to get this girl to Disney World.

I have to zoom in on the bottom right picture so you can see the group of ladies in the background who stopped to oooooo and awwwww over the Dorothys.

We spent the rest of the weekend before the real Halloween resting and playing.

I'll have to do trick-or-treating in a post all its own. Coming soon!

redbud christmas card design!

Just wanted to give a little shameless plug for Redbud real quick. I still have spots available for custom Christmas card design (details HERE), and I have a shop open for premade designs that you can see HERE.

If you order a premade design by November 30th, your name will be entered into a drawing to get your card for free and you might also win the new She and Him Christmas album, which is awesome. Thanks for your support, friends!

halloweener

Merit: Is it Halloween time yet?

Me: It is getting closer!

Merit: It's just getting Halloweener and Halloweener!

She's pretty excited about her costume this year. Here's a little sneak peek...

the williamson county fair!

We had such a fun time at the fair this year (way back at the beginning of August). It was August's first fair, and you can't go wrong with taking Merit to a fair. She's a girl after my own heart in many ways, and loving the fair is one of them.

Here she is at the fair last year (our last outing as a family of three!)....

and this year...

Both girls loved checking out and petting all of the animals. Merit showed her enjoyment a little more than August, but August was definitely intrigued!

Texas representing at a Tennessee fair! 

Merit went through the little farm and "worked" for an ice cream sandwich. It was adorable - when she was all done with her chores and she got paid, she made herself right at home at the table and busted open the sandwich like it was something she did everyday.

And of course she loved the rides. It's hard not to spend a fortune letting her ride rides all day - they make her SO happy!

Here's a video of Merit riding the Nemo fish ride. At the end it shows August watching the ride go round and round. Super cute. Maybe next year, baby girl.

August got to ride her first carousel ride with Kevan and Merit. She wasn't sure about it at first (it was way past bedtime at this point), but she liked it once it got going.

Oh, my goodness, I love the fair.

drawing daisies in the driveway

We went to the park today, and I let August roam about the big kid park for the first time. She was obsessed with climbing the big slide, which was no surprise. She's a climber! She was so determined to make it to the top every time! Her static-y hair was awesome by the end of it, and her little heart was beating so fast.

Speaking of hair, my super sweet and awesomely rad husband dyed my hair a darker brown for me tonight. It reminded me of how my Grandaddy used to give my Mama Bea "permanents". Thank you, Kev!

before-during-after

after our Sunday lunch with Ava, Audrey, Evie and their families

August's hair can semi-hold a clip now! I know, things are just a little too exciting around here. ;)

so thankful that big sister still takes a nap. at the same time that little sister takes her second nap. bless them both!

Merit can write her name! I love her crazy E's.

hope for Sunday

I have a ton to do right now. The girls are sleeping, and this is usually my Redbud time, but I can't get sweet Sunday Ibok out of my mind. And not that I want to. He embodies everything all of us should aspire to be. Most of you who read my blog are likely connected to ACU and know who Sunday is. If you didn't know who he was before this week, you probably do now. For the few of you who may not, this is Sunday.

(pics taken from his facebook)

On Monday, he suffered a massive brain aneurism and has been on life support since. He has been declared brain dead. The doctors give no hope. (Although we know otherwise, no matter what happens.)

I haven't seen Sunday in person in several years, but knowing the joyful, dancing, encouraging, life-giving Sunday that I did in college, it is hard to imagine that this is happening right now; that his body is now alive, but lifeless. Sunday and I weren't the best of friends at ACU, but he made me feel that way every time I saw him. I remember specifically that he would always tell me that he thought I was beautiful. It was never in a flirty or romantic way - but it always made me walk a little taller after seeing him. My senior year I was Big Sig, or pledge mom, for my social club. I had all 50+ of my pledges outside of the campus center giving some kind of instructions, and Sunday happened to pass by. He came over, interrupted me, and began to tell all of those girls what he thought of me, again, using the word "beautiful". Eight years later, here I sit with that vivid memory.

I've spent a lot of time the past couple of days reading over the hundreds, maybe thousands of facebook messages he has recieved. People from all over the world are coming and telling stories just like mine. "Sunday always made me feel so loved....he made me feel famous...Sunday is a beaming light in my life..." Message after message a testament to the way he followed and truly loved others like Christ. THIS blog post is written by a friend of his from New York and gives an excellent view of Sunday. Another close friend of his posted this on his facebook:

"We want everyone to find comfort in one of the last conversations Brady, Sunday, and I had... We were discussing the message from church, which covered the portion of the Lord's prayer, "His kingdom come", and Sunday began telling us of his dreams of bringing heaven to earth. He also told us that for the first time in his life he was truly happy and confident in his walk and had come to a place where God was enough. He said that if he never got married, or had children he would be content. The conversation ended with Sunday saying that he feels his life has been fulfilled and that if God was to call him home 'tomorrow' he would be joyful with how far he has come. We rest in confidence that this is Gods mercy in helping to prepare his heart and our hearts for today. He certainly is a good God and we hope that this story will bring you comfort and faith tonight. God is our rock and we stand in praise of his goodness even in tragedy."

I've heard that he may be taken off of life support soon, maybe even tomorrow. There are people all over the planet who can't imagine life without Sunday, so they have been praying for a miracle, and I have joined them. But I know that even if his body isn't healed in the way we hope for, he'll continue to have a major impact on this world. In fact, I'm not completely convinced that he hasn't been an angel all along.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 

Matthew 5:14-16

then and now

I hate being behind on this blog. There are things that happened months ago that I need to get on here, for memory's sake, and to ease my own sentimental mind. (I still think about how I never blogged about the wonderful baby shower my friends gave me over a year ago.) And if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know that I still take pictures everyday, but I have failed to get them on here! Anyway, I guess I am apologizing, if only to myself, my mama, and my mama-in-law. ;)

So, in the spirit of catching up, here are a couple of pics from then that I regret never posting from when our dear friends, the Deyos, came to visit us in July. Hopefully, I'll eventually get all of the pictures from that fun weekend on here. Maybe.

Merit and Lily at the creek

(these girls used to look like this)

And now, in the spirit of staying current, here is Merit's new pet - her very first - that she got yesterday. It is a betta fish that she named Jerry Ariel Nemo. Merit loves him, maybe a little too much, as she insists that he needs a blanket and constant snacks. Welcome to the fam, Nemo!

not yet one, but already celebrated!

August doesn't turn one until tomorrow, but we are headed to Colorado this weekend, so we had a little party for her last weekend. The party started at 4, and around 2 that afternoon, birthday girl decided to try crawling out of her crib, which resulted in her falling out and getting a bloody nose. I have never felt worse in my life. She ended up being okay and with a couple of bruises on her cheek. Crib now lowered to the lowest possible spot! It was so horrible, but will definitely be something we'll never forget about that day!

the invites

 

This pic pretty much sums up my vision for this party - vintage yellow rose party (because of her name and duh, TEXAS) with daisies, peach, orange and cream accents

the decorations

the favors - I made yellow rose cookies.

the party!

Since we are seeing my family this weekend in Colorado, my parents weren't able to come to Tennessee for the party, so we put them on iChat as we sang and she ate her cupcake.

 

a sweet bunch of girls - Ava, Bennet, Audrey, Liberty, Lorelei, Merit, and August!

Bennet, Lorelei, and August are all really close in age - her future bff's!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and made August's day so special. It truly meant so much to us to have you there. 

Happy Birthday, August Rose! Tomorrow we will celebrate you all over again!