a new southern living subscriber

february has been full. full of change, fun things, to-do lists, and now sicknesses(is there a sadder sound than a baby coughing?). before i get to the big news, which all who are reading this probably already know about, i need to share pics of the daddy daughter ball.

i tend to feel that if i don't get a chance to blog about something, it is as if it never happened. it was weeks ago, but still a sweet memory. ben came home with dresses for the girls that he picked out himself. they were thrilled. they all got fancied up and headed out for some food and dancing.

the fact that i am now blogging about this must mean it is really going to happen. drumroll...

we have a peace and excitement about this big move. thankfully, it hasn't been an emotional roller coaster......yet. i do envision a FLOOD of tears when the goodbyes begin. i can't even do justice in describing the bond i have with my friends. and their kids. deep breath. and my family. oh, it will be so, so hard. but, i can do it. for now, i choose to rest in the adventure piece and am buckling my seatbelt for the ride. i am sure there will be a stream of upcoming sentimental posts. we all should buckle our seatbelts for those.
and now for my all time favorite pic of my girls:

before it was below zero

just a few days ago we were outside in the warm sunshine. we spent the day up at sarah's house but mostly in her backyard. fun fun times.

i am in love with this pic of ben and caroline.

sarah is due with their baby in may. apparently getting some early practice with an american girl doll.

my dad is always. always. always. taking pictures of his grandkids.

we topped off the day with face paint and a silly string war.

crafting

goodbye little winter wreath. with the help of my pinecone collectors, you cost me 3 dollars to make.

hello there, valentine wreath. with the help of a wire hanger and old fabric scraps you are a free addition to our decor. better yet, the girl's bedroom is red and white so you can hang there year round.

Victory!

the journey has been tough. extreme. for well over a year, little hallie has had major difficulty going potty. at times, she spent hours sobbing and clenched. we had tried everything and were one step away from seeing a specialist when we decided to give potty training one last go.

this last week, many days were spent like this:

and.....in less than a week--the kiddo is potty trained! the psychological barrier has broken and she is officially a "big girl". she picked out brand new panties and has had her eye on this little robot for around 6 months. after being successful with a potty reward system, she marched down those aisles in Target and brought it home. meet our new robot, alphie.

New Toys

Kinsley Quotes

after a visit to ben's grandma and grandpa...

as ben was beginning his workout...

after receiving allowance and a conversation about giving generously...

Christmas 2010

We arrived home from Minnesota late last night after a 17 hour journey. We drove straight through and Ben was behind the wheel the whole time. Needless to say, that gave us ample time to reflect on our time there and bottle up all our fun memories. Great time with his parents. Great time with his brothers. Great time with cousins. And I had an especially great time with my sister-in-laws. It's always hard to say goodbye; especially when we have no idea when we will see them again. Sweet memories.

The snow was unbelievable. The kids played for hours and Gramps spent a serious amount of time perfecting a snow fort for them.

We went to this enormous play place two times. Look closely and you can see Ben, Hallie, Gramps and maybe a couple cousins at the top.

this pic is blurry but i did my best considering he was whipping them around at fast speeds.

christmas eve photo shoot

christmas morning...santa definitely showed up.

gramps had caroline duty. which i'm pretty sure he loved.

hallie has an uncanny resemblance to baby belle.

she also got a music player that she loves. i caught her just staring at it while listening to her favorite tunes.

there is no shortage of princesses in our home.

my love.

jake, alisha and june...the busiest baby girl i've ever known! we will miss her like crazy.

tommy, amber, adalyn and sawyer. the cousins were inseparable. sledding, swimming, and non-stop playing.

tommy with two of his ladies.

the only hiccup in our week was the sick bug that poisoned almost everyone at some point. hallie got hit hard and we found her sleeping all over. the babe took a 6 hour nap one day.