1. James started walking in early December. He went from showing almost no interest or inclination to full-on, ready-to-run walking. And since then, he has shown little interest in stopping:)
2. We went caroling with a group of dear friends from our church. Ev had never been caroling before, and Dave and I hadn't been in years, and it was absolutely wonderful. The group of kids singing Christmas carols was about the sweetest thing ever, and they delighted the hearts of all of the folks they encountered, including this group of twenty-something guys pictured at the door below. Hilarious.
3. Santa visited our house on Christmas and left behind a sleeping bag, a globe, and a large dump truck. Also, Ashley, a sweet friend of mine since sixth grade (!), gifted Evelyn with a pair of her old pointe shoes from her pre-professional ballerina days and made our girl's day.
4. We rang in the new year with party hats and monster faces:
5. As I have been slowly taking down some lingering Christmas decorations (all of our Christmas cards were on display until the end of January, for example), I have reminisced about reading through Ann Voskamp's devotional for kids, Unwrapping the Greatest Gift. Evelyn loved reading the stories and coloring decorations for her own Jesse tree (see picture below). It was such a sweet way for us to mark Advent together this year, and we can't wait to pull it out again next year!
6. We celebrated two January birthdays with fun gifts (a tent big enough for our little family to go camping!) and cake:)
And then there's the spaces-in-between, as my sweet husband likes to say. Lots of fun things. A new-to-us children's museum in Murfreesboro, some art at Cheekwood, hikes in the sun and the (sprinkle of) snow, dressing up, and reading by the fire. Not pictured are the less-than-fun moments, mainly because I don't always have the wits or wherewithal to capture such moments on camera;)
Love to you this weekend, friends!
