on the road.

Our family will join millions of other Americans this weekend on the highway as we head to my mom's house in Nashville for a Thanksgiving celebration. Sarah has been there for a couple of days already since she left with my mom on Sunday. Yesterday Brent called her on the phone to see how she was doing and this is what he heard on the other end:

"Hi daddy! I was just calling to see if you could bring Ephraim with you to Grama's house tomorrow. Would that be okay?! I love you! BYE!"

I think someone's been missed. Not surprisingly, it's not me.

But really, who wouldn't miss this little dude?

More on the business blog if you're so inclined. And I may have one more round to share next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

don't cry for the B-Ro.

I think my little post yesterday might have given some of you the notion that B-Ro went without any birthday hoopla. No way! His birthday was Thursday but we spent the entire weekend celebrating our little man. Saturday was his big birthday bash and then Sunday was his baptism. It was such a special weekend and he seemed to revel in all of it. I was reminded once again how happy I am that we chose to move "home". All 6 of Ephraim's grandparents were at his party and 3 of his 4 great grandparents were there! When he was baptized on Sunday and we needed two witnesses to sign the certificate we were thrilled to have his great grandparents each pen their names. That was something special.

So yes, there was a party. And he was pretty pumped about it...

I had lots of fun with the cake although I wish the second tier had been thinner...

The top tier was for the birthday boy. Grandaddy was there to help restrain him as he tried to grab for the fire.

And his big sister stepped in to save the day and make all his birthday wishes come true. Gotta love a big sister.

Of course there was lots of this...

We tried to have Brent behind the camera as much as possible to keep his foot out of his mouth. He made me promise not to blog this but he should know by now that nothing is sacred so here we go:

some relative or another: I think they're about to cut the cake.

my dear Aunt Jenny: I love cake!

Brent: And it shows!

To be fair, Brent was referencing the fact that my Aunt Jenny is an AMAZING baker and creates the most beautiful, mouth-watering cakes you've ever seen or tasted. But still. It was funny. And we spent the rest of the day teasing him about it!

B-Ro's love of cake showed too!

Then it was time to open presents which he was pretty into for a one-year old. Whenever he stalled a bit Sarah and our neighbor Betsy swooped in to help him out.

No actual pics of the present-opening since I was facilitating the tissue tearing but I have to share the hands-down best present for a one-year old ever:

My grandpa made this latch board using a cutting board and every cool brass closure he could find. To say it's a hit would be an unbelievable understatement. If you've ever had a one-year old in your house then I'm sure you understand!

Lastly, a peek at the front of the invite...

Happy, happy birthday B-Ro.

love, less ordinary.

Ephraim's birthday was last Thursday. It passed much the same way his first year did - in a cloud of errands and laundry and snacks and meals and life. I felt the sameness of the day like a heavy weight on my heart as I remembered Sarah's first birthday. It was on a Saturday and felt like a celebration of her, of me, of her daddy from sunup to sundown. I longed for Ephraim's birth anniversary to exude that same specialness but as the day passed the feeling kept escaping me. Then, as 5:45 approached (his birth moment), I realized the truth that was held in this seemingly normal day: that this precious son of ours brings joy to the ordinary. There is nothing mundane about everyday life with B-Ro. Not with squeals of delight punctuating the silence and crawl-into-your-lap snuggles to interrupt the work of the day. One year ago I questioned my ability to love and adore another quite the same way I did my first. But now I understand the heart-clutching power of the sweet, simple love that only a second child can bring. The fierce, unassuming, far from ordinary love.



Happy Birthday my sweetest boy.

behind where it counts.

With the bulk of my holiday business busy-ness behind me I'm finally getting back into the swing of documenting my own family. I know the blog has been a bit stale and I apologize to the loyal readers! I'm now finding myself with tons of pictures to post so I'm starting to play catch-up today!

On Friday I was grabbed a few shots of B-Ro hanging out in his room. I rarely bring my camera in there because the light is pretty awful (for the record I'm thinking of painting his room white when he switches to a big boy room...for better bounced light!).

I have birthday celebrations to post and Sarah-hanging-out pics to share and we just got home from doing his one-year session so don't give up on me this week!

=)

from there to here.

One year old.



And still very, very much adored.

the boys.

It started with a faceoff...



Okay, not really. =)

I think it's safe to say that Ephraim and William are both exactly like their sisters and yet, nothing like their sisters. Probably true of all siblings right? Their most notable deviation from their older, wiser siblings is that, well, for lack of a better term - they're chill. Or maybe it's just that their mamas weren't helicoptering quite so much during their infancy. Either way they required very little attention during the visit. During the day at least. Night time was a different story. William was a big fan of musical beds the first night he was here but that's a different story entirely.



I didn't mind the musical beds thing because that William is one of the snuggliest things I know!

Samantha offered to sell him on her blog recently but I was unable to place a bid. My financial advisor was concerned that if they were selling him by the pound we might go broke.

He's a chunk.

If you need to see more of these cheeks (and you KNOW you do!) I'm about to head over to the photography blog and post a few more. All that cheekage just wouldn't fit on thepigbear.

And because I know you want to do this...

I let Sarah do it for you.

ten on tuesday.

1. I guess I lied about the boys' post...that will come tomorrow. I've just been missing TonT and din't want to miss my chance to jump back in!

2. Speaking of fun, alliterated, blogging days of the week, I think I'm all Mama Monday'ed out. It's been missing for a while now and I thought I'd get back into it after the holiday rush but, to be honest, I'm not sure I have any thing else to share. I've told you all I know! I'm sure there are lots of you out there with wisdom to impart though so if anyone wants me to pass the baton I'd be more than happy to do so!

3. I really, really, really want to be against the commercialization of Christmas but my extreme excitement over holiday shopping is winning that battle. I was such an emotional/physical/mental disaster last year after Ephraim's birth that I was far from the poster child for Christmas cheer. I totally missed out and I hated it. This year I'm back with a vengeance and I'm SO EXCITED. I'm not a big spender but I do really enjoy the little surprises that come with Christmas and I'm not holding back.

4. On Sunday, four days shy of his first birthday, Ephraim finally pushed a little tooth out.

5. Yes, he turns one on Thursday. I know, I know.

6. In the spirit of his first birthday we headed out this weekend for a little photo shoot. He was having NONE of it so we came home empty-handed. I was dejected to say the least.

7. Breakfast in my house has gotten lame. Any ideas for healthy, yummy, fast options?

8. Sarah has been announcing at most meals that "I like to try new things!" or "thanks for cooking healthy food for our family, mom!". Lest you think she's the poster child for health I'll also add that this is usually followed by a bite or two of whatever our meal of the night is and then the inevitable, "can I have dessert now?!". Nice.

9. I've been wanting to get a set of plain white plates for a while now. I have several colors of pastel Fiestaware but it isn't very versatile for entertaining since I'm stuck with one color scheme. I was thrilled to find these in the lastest Pottery Barn catalog and grabbed a box last week. I really, really wanted to add these orange ones to my collection too but I couldn't justify it.

10. A little elf came to my house last week and heard me bemoaning a certain set of orange plates that were made for my kitchen. Yesterday, they arrived. I love elves.

the girls.

I wish I could sum up in bloggable length our relationship with these Clarkies. I wish I could tell you who they are to us. If you have your own, then you know. If you don't, then I wish that for you. What you should definitely know is that these girls were created by their mamas to be best friends. They have no choice in the matter. Choice is overrated anyway. Arranged marriage works in many parts of the world, right? So arranged best-friendhood works for them - don't judge.

The day I found out I was pregnant with Sarah I called (in this order) my mom, my dad, and then, timidly, Samantha. Samantha had been hoping for a pregnancy of her own for a while. I had been not preventing a pregnancy for one month. And then, there it was. I called her on a Friday. She congratulated me, also timidly. On Sunday morning at 6 a.m. she called me with a screech and a squeal and a "HOW WOULD YOUR BABY LIKE A BEST FRIEND?!!!". And thus, our girls journey to us, and to one another, began.

Our whirlwind weekend together was filled with joy such as this...

painting...

and playhousing...

and snacking...

gaming...(and puzzling)...

and lots and lots of crazy, gypsy, princess dancing...

There was also snuggling at night (the girls shared a bed...and Sarah went to sleep last night crying, "but I miss HER!") and wakeup calls in the morning ("MOMMIES, IT'S SIX O'CLOCK!") and Christmas lights and tea parties and lots and lots of best friend love.

Just as the world should be. Well, maybe not the 6 a.m. wakeup call part.

(tomorrow, the post for Cobb/Clark BFFs V2.0)

one year later.

I abandoned Samantha in Ephraim's room with 4 crazy kiddos so I could run in here and post a few pics from our sweet reunion yesterday. So consider this a drive-by post...

And for posterity's sake...check 'em out last year. Same month, same airport, same girls...