backtracking

A series of images from Saturday morning, 7:17...exactly one year from the moment my heart spilled over...

one year down

As the party was winding down today, Brent and I found ourselves on our hands and knees in the kitchen cleaning up remnants of the Pigbear's cake smashing. I looked at him and realized that we were passing through yet another rite as parents...not only the first birthday, but the first birthday party. Then I whispered, "how many more of these do we have in our future?". We decided it was too much of a headache to begin counting all the parties we had yet to throw.

That being said, today was WONDERFUL. Could not have been better. We scooped our baby up together first thing in the morning, singing Happy Birthday. She opened presents from the family and then was in a giggly mood all day. She adored the balloons and insisted that her MamaJo carry her all around the house, chasing and bopping them. I was a little nervous that she might be apprehensive about all of the guests in the house but in true Pigbear fashion, she wasn't even phased. In fact, she seemed to thrive on the attention. I haven't the faintest idea where she got that.

Right before she started opening her "around the house" gifts I got to announce the grand totals for Heifer International: 4 chicks, 2 flocks of ducks, 1 flock of hope, 2 geese, 1 hope basket, 6 shares of a pig, and 4 rabbits. So awesome! We're thrilled that our friends and family jumped on that bandwagon so readily.

Now Sarah's tucked into her crib all warm and snug having no idea that she's a full-fledged one year old. Maybe I just won't tell her. Maybe she'll keep being my baby if I keep it a secret. Doubt it. But I can always pretend...

Happy Birthday, Little One. You've made this the best year of our lives.



















Can't end this post without giving credit to my fabulously talented sister, Meghan, who designed and made Sarah's birthday outfit. It suited her perfectly! Thanks Aunt May May!

let it snow

Did you hear? Did you hear we had a blizzard? We did. The Blizzard of 2006, so they say. There's a good 18 inches of snow in our yard...more in some places. We opened our door twice yesterday and got a living room full of snow both times. Once to get the milk (gotta love the milkman who delivers despite feet of snow) and once to let the Shertzers in. Crazy fools walked down here in their honest-to-goodness snowshoes. Those big webbed things you have to traipse in. Not walk, traipse. I think they were going a little stir-crazy.

We opened our garage door to get out and play. Warning: an obnoxious number of pictures to be displayed...

















Family pic, sans watermark b/c it's actually Photography by AMY...



And, finally, my baby the penguin. This shot just reminds me so much of March of the Penguins. Brent and I saw it when I was pretty pregnant and I just cried and cried over those little birds. Now, I've got my own. And she's just the sweetest little waddler I've ever seen!

proof she really doesn't need presents

A box arrived from Nana and Grandaddy...



She loved THE BOX...



The gifts, of course, are still waiting to be opened bright and early Saturday morning. My guess is that the paper and bows will be smashing successes.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts this week...I'm saving up all my photographic mojo for Saturday!

One more thing. Go welcome Eric, Marian, and Stella to the blogoshere...

cutie cutie Liz

She's officially on her two month countdown...now the clock really starts moving slowly!







And speaking of countdowns, only 5 days until that Pigbear's birthday! And for those of you who are interested, Sarah's Heifer International registry is up to 2 chicks, 2 flocks of ducks, 2 rabbits, and 5 shares of a pig. Talk about making a difference! Thanks, you guys!

because I just can't wait until the morning...

here's another post for today...

Now, if you DONT crack up laughing at this, I want to hear from you. I think it's impossible to look at these two munchkins and not fight the urge to pee your pants!









And, it ended as all good fights between cats and dogs do...



Hope you got your laugh for the day!!

no worries

It's been brought to my attention that this little blog has been sadly lacking in new posts. Has it really been a week? Oops! Instead of fun pictures today, I'll just get some fun little tidbits out into the universe that I've been thankful for lately...

1. Sarah's birthday is one week from tomorrow and we are SO EXCITED. Can't believe we're getting a one-year old. There's still time to shop from her registry so check out her Heifer International site now! If you want to find out more about this...read the original post here.

2. And on a related note, I've been wanting to mention this on here for a while now but never find the right chance...a dear friend came out of the woodwork recently to start commenting on Sarah's blog and was even the first to purchase a flock of ducks in honor of Sarah's big day...Jennifer has known me since I was a wee little one myself and, as my Aunt Lori's best friend, used to parade my sister and I around town like their own personal mascots. Some of my favorite life memories right there. Thank you Jennifer.

3. A big ol' 9 foot collapsible tunnel arrived in the mail last week and I thought that Pigbear would never get out of it. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to strap her in her carseat with a 9 foot tunnel surrounding her. It's been fun. Thanks Aunt Lu. I promise pictures will be forthcoming.

4. It's pretty much a done-deal that we're moving to Huntsville in June of '07 and I've recently discovered that I already have some built-in friends there...real friends and online friends. So exciting! I think I'm most excited about hanging out with Colleen and her new little one, due in May.

5. Liz's shower is on Sunday and we're taking more belly shots on Saturday. Then Amy's shower is in 3 weeks. I just love those bookclub girls.

6. Thanks to (the other) Colleen (who-whom?- I can't link because she doesn't have a blog), I was persuaded to make the Pigbear's Halloween costume. She's supposed to be a dog...I'll let you all decide if that's what she really looks like. Pictures will be available soon, I promise. We've just got to get her friend Caroline the Cat over here for a photoshoot. Hope they don't claw each other's eyes out!

I guess that's all for now. Just wanted to reassure everyone that things here are great and nothing catastrophic has happened even though I haven't blogged all week. I'll get my camera out this weekend, I promise!!

Thanks for checking on us!

okay, I couldn't resist...here's one from this morning...

this is how I found her

Racked out behind the baby gate in her room.

Apparently just one nap a day takes some getting used to.

tomorrow we'll get back to the Pigbear

...but a girl only turns one once, right? So Caroline's the star again. And besides, when Papa John comments on your blog asking for more pics, you don't turn him down. After all, he's the morning delivery Starbucks guy.

So here we go...















I love, love, love that she's signing "light" in this shot...she must have found her way into my brain!

And now, as I've been tagged by Tina, here are 5 weird facts about me that I'm sure you all are dying to find out and use against me later! (btw, if you're looking to add to your photog blog roll...check out Tina's stuff...she's awesome, and her little guy is SO cute!)

1. All doors must be closed when I sleep...that includes dresser drawers, closet doors, and the like. I think it has something to do with my need for closure.

2. I CANT STAND CHALK. Yes, I am a former teacher and I can't stand chalk. Can't stand to look at it, touch it, or even think about touching it. Chalk never existed in my classroom. Poor kids.

3. I once wrote for the sports department of our hometown newspaper, The Anniston Star. That's probably not so much weird, as just shocking. High school football and basketball...that was my beat. And I was only 16. That was just months before I became "the cookie girl" around town...baking and delivering to local businesses. Completely against health department code, I'm sure. But still fun.

4. I can pop my right hip in and out of joint. It's a great party trick.

5. Okay, I'm all out of weirdness. Sorry. Trust me, there's no need to offer anything up. That's enough personal information to float out into the internet for one day!

I'm tagging Susie, Megan, and Aunt Lori. Susie...I know your just a bank of weirdness, so this should be fun!

teasers

I was supposed to do Caroline's official one year pictures today but would you believe we had SNOW! I mean stick-on-the-ground-and-make-the-sky-all-grey-and-yucky SNOW. So much for a photo shoot. In typical Colorado fashion though it's nice and bright and sunny now, just 5 hours later. Craziness. We did manage to get a few inside shots though so here are a few teasers for now.