Finally, some sunshine!

The sun actually shined last Monday (the 5th). What?! Yeah, It was cold out, but beautiful. Tuesday turned out to be about the same as Monday, but a little warmer. (See below)

Wednesday and Thursday it was in the 10's in the am and only rose to the 30's for the rest of the day. I feel like we haven't really seen a blue sky kinda day in weeks. It's either been raining, cloudy and gray, cold or all of the above. So we took advantage of the nice weather and headed to Nickajack Creek for a walk.

Stella rode in on my back so we could avoid the majority of the mud and the boardwalk, but walked the trail a really good ways. 

Like the outfit? Donald says she looks like a little Swedish baby in the track suit. Whatever that means?!

She thought this was a good place to sit down and rest. 

She also wanted to stand on all of these. 

Not sure if she wanted to walk on the boards in her own accord or if it was because she saw Bandit doing it, but I had to hold her hand to help her since she doesn't quite understand the whole "one foot in front of the other" deal. 

She probably was copying Bandit. He has always walked on the boards down here or anywhere else he can and she's always watching him. 

I love mushrooms. There's just something that's so cute about them. I always take 'shroom photos.

Seeing this tree reminded of our carving that's tucked back deep in the woods of Worth County. Funny thing is, I've never noticed this tree before.

Here she is excavating a nice piece of gravel.

The water was really high due to all of the rain we've had recently.

I think I take a picture of this every time I walk down here. That and the white birch trees against the blue sky. Love that contrast.

I just love this covered bridge. I remember the first time I "surprised" Donald by taking him here to see this. I was so thrilled to find out about this many years ago. I still think it's so awesome to just be minutes from this since we don't have anything like this back home.

A little history for ya.

On the walk back, I noticed this fallen tree which looked like it had been laying here for many, many hundreds of years left by the Native Americans. Doubtful right?! It looked like the ones they hollow out for canoes. Or quite possibly slides? I said to Stella that it looked like a slide and then she repeated when we passed any tree that was at an angle. Turns out, there were quite a few of those.   

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Tuesday, I took Stella to the zoo. We hadn't been since October (I think) and we were dying to be outside and get some Vitamin D. It was chilly, but not too terribly cold. And the sunshine helped.

I parked up near the entrance, but on the way in, we spotted two mounted police officers. I got our stuff out and loaded up the stroller and walked towards them. They saw her waiving and saying, "Hi Horsey" and approached her. She became very unsure the closer they got though. I guess it would be confusing to a child to see a horse far off and think they are one size only to see them grow bigger and bigger the closer you get to them. She said hello, as did they and then we entered the zoo.

Since a lot of the animals at the zoo are native to Africa and much warmer climates, that meant some weren't out for us to view. 

The flamingos are the first exhibit. Stella immediately wanted out of the stroller. She ended up walking almost as much as I did. 

I didn't think I was ever going to get her off of this giraffe. 

She didn't quite get the hang of the stick your head in the hole picture board. 

We did get to see all of the gorillas including babies and Stella just loved hugging and kissing on this mama and baby gorilla.

We enjoyed lunch indoors-Stella barely ate anything. Too much going on I guess. Once again, so glad I didn't buy her a separate lunch. 

We did our usual tour of the petting zoo. We got to see the kangaroos and the little Joey. It's a lot bigger now from when he/she was all tucked in it's mommy's pouch back in October.

Stella had the most literal version of a freak out that I've ever seen....over a goat. She loves the goats and sheep (baas as she calls them.)  It's seriously her favorite thing at the zoo when the splash park isn't on. In the past, she's wanted to pet/brush/hug/kiss all of the goats and sheep. On this particular day we walked in, I sat her down, she eyed a goat, walked towards it and then turned around to see another goat approaching her.  Out of her lungs came the most high pitched scream I've ever heard escape her lungs. She burst into tears and literally leap into my arms. I mean, she seriously used the rest of my body as a ladder to get up in my arms and clung to me as though her life depended on it. 

And me? I couldn't help but laugh. I know, mean. What a horrible, horrible mother I am.  I really just couldn't help it. She calmed down and I was able to put her down but she was very cautious with them. 

We headed over to the carousel and Stella chose the warthog to ride.

We hit up the playground and then hit the road.

Saturday Family Day Date

Saturday was a gorgeous day. It was cold, but not too bad all bundled up. Stella woke up around six, but unfortunately didn't go back to sleep like she normally does. Donald got her down for an early nap and then we headed to Oakland Cemetery. I've been wanting to go back and walk the while thing for a few years now and we finally got the chance. 

Donald asked "Do you think she has any nieces or nephews?"

Donald told me that morning, "Stella wants to wear her puppy dog dress today." The closet door was open and she kept trying to pull it out and give to him. So we put her in the adorable handmade dress from her Aunt Ginger. It has weenie dogs in different colored sweaters. What's not to love?!

We walked right up to the outer wall which overlooks the train tracks and is just below the Marta station. Stella loved seeing the choo-choo go by. 

Stella got this Very Hungry Caterpillar backpack from Aunt Kristi. I put her cup and snack inside so she could carry it. Love that idea!  It has a leash which is a nice option. Not sure if I'll ever use it. It is worth noting though that she and Silver quite enjoyed walking each other around the night she opened it. 

I don't know how king these wreaths have been up but they still looked gorgeous. I peeked inside at the beautiful stained glass window. 

Something about black and white cemetery photos. Makes you feel like you've stepped back in time. 

I happened to notice these two planes near collision, but they were probably many, many miles apart. 

Stella found a metal fork behind a headstone, a patch of ice to crunch with her boots, some dirt to sit down in and essentially make a dirt angel in, and she had so much static from her tights that every.single.time she plopped down in the grass, it stuck to her like a wet sponge. 

I feel like she should be doing the "la, la, lalalala" jingle from The Smurfs in this picture. 

Bobby Jones' grave. I'm not a golf fan. Like, at all. But I really liked the gesture of all of the golf balls left for him.

Afterwards, we drove to Farm Burger in Decatur. I'd been craving a burger and hand cut fries since we were supposed to be eating healthier. I didn't feel so bad after inhaling this since it was grass fed beef and the ingredients came from local and/or small family owned farms. The burger was cooked medium and it was like buttah! I went with aged sharp Vermont cheddar, arugula, tomato and caramelized onions. And that bun. Glossy top and airy. That's the only way I want to eat a burger like this. I do love burgers on Texas toast, but this burger needs the bun. 

Then we stopped by my friend, Amy's apartment in downtown Decatur. She has two girls so it was nice for Stella to play with them and me and Amy to catch up since it's been forever since we've seen each other. 

We didn't get around to giving Stella that much needed bath Saturday night since she passed out in the car.  She finally got one Sunday night after getting hot and sweaty at Catch Air for Landon's 2nd birthday party. Poor thing hadn't had one since Wednesday. I usually do every other day and really try to make it a point of bathing off the germs from MMO on Wednesday and Friday. Honestly though? I just really was feeling super lazy Friday night. Too lazy to turn on the faucet, stick my kid in a tub full of water and just sit there and watch her play you ask? Yes, that lazy. Ehh, whatever. She'll live.

Christmas Traditions

For Stella's first Christmas, she was 6 months old. She could sit up, scoot and roll all over the place, but not yet crawl. She enjoyed the bows on presents and tearing up tissue paper. 

Fast forward to this Holiday season and she is 18 months. She's at such a fun age. Yes, I say that even though this "fun age" isn't always so fun. It's more abut her running away from me, bursting into tears, throwing herself down in a tantrum and waiting/hoping it will pass quickly. But I digress.....Or she does. Whatever.

This is the first year she can have an active hand at helping make new family traditions and memories. 

I remember reading on an older friend's Facebook page where she said every Christmas Eve, her father would stand in the hallway between the bedrooms and read aloud, T'was the Night Before Christmas. I loved the idea of doing this with Stella. It also went hand in hand with the Christmas Book Advent I'm working on collecting books for. 

Stella finally got her stocking this year. I couldn't find one that I liked for her at stores last year. I searched on Etsy and found some I loved, but I just wasn't willing to pay what they wanted for them. If it was something I left up all year it might be different, but for six weeks or so? No ma'am. So I bought some fabric and drew up a rough sketch of what I wanted and gave it to my sister in law, Ginger to make.  She thought it got thrown out so later this year I purchased more (and better fabric) to give to her. As I was showing it to her at a family night dinner, her oldest, Emily, said she had similar stuff in her top draw. I thought Ginger was going to strangle her with the fabric in her hands! Turns out after cleaning the car out, it got thrown in a bag with some of Emily's stuff and has been sitting in her dresser since then but she never thought to mention it to anyone. 

So here it is. I wanted a big star as the topper since Stella means "star". I'll admit, it's a little funny shaped down by the foot part, but it works and it's homemade with love. I found the star stocking holder at HL as well. It's heavy duty, Feels like cast iron. I have a few of the cast iron earthquake stars so it goes with the rest of the stuff in the house. I could leave it up all year if I saw fit. 

I found the cutest little cookie cutter buttons at Hobby Lobby. I thought they'd make great ornaments for the tree. 

Side note: I desperately want a mantle!!! On a deeper note: I desperately want a fireplace which would equal a mantle. This dinky little shelf is what we've used since moving in 6 1/2 years ago. I have a mantelpiece, but only have upper wall space, not lower. 

Our tree minus the star at the top. It was a bit too tall*** and we discussed trimming to make it fit, however it still sits underneath the tree. I decided to get rid of just the cheap, generic ornaments. I only want ones that mean something to us. I started collecting a few years ago. Ones from the Marietta Christmas Home Tour, a palmetto basket for our honeymoon to Charleston (ornament sized since that's all we could afford. Dang those things are pricey!), ones for Stella of course, a bird house one that says "See Rock City" from our trip there. I still have a few that are nearly just decoration, but they go with the overall theme. As the years go by, they might get phased out too, but we'll see. 

***This year, Donald decided to get a bigger tree after last years fiasco. Oh, you didn't hear? We picked out a tree from Home Depot and got it home only to discover (once trimming took place, a huge branch growing out from the bottom making it impossible to put in the stand. So Donald had to cut that branch off. Well, turns out that branch was pretty freaking integral to the shape of the tree. Oh and now it was about 4 feet tall after hacking off said limb. So Donald decides to build it back up with bricks from outside. Then it falls over barely missing Stella, who's watching from the floor. She's screaming frantically. Then, it's revealed when trying to put the star topper on that we once again sucked royally at picking out the tree because we didn't get one with a center limb coming out of the top. The only somewhat good center limb was on the side where half of our tree was missing that was now, of course smooshed up against the wall to hide. Oh, and what's more, is I just wanted to decorate the tree as a happy damn family and get the 6ish Rubbermaid bins out of our tiny house before the in-laws came up, but instead Donald had to decorate it by himself while I saw about Stella and he only used  1/3 of the ornaments because he didn't wasn't to "overcrowd" it. To be clear, yes, I wanted to strangle him over this ordeal. To also be clear, I want to say that Christmas itself didn't suck, but this whole part did. And thirdly, yeah, I know, First World Problems. 

Priscilla, The Pink Pig.

I'd been hearing about this for years, so I thought, yeah, at 18 months, Stella will enjoy this. I also enjoyed it. It was fun and also very confusing-the purchasing of the tickets, that is. We went with my cousin, Kathleen, her two beauties, Kallie and Eleanor and Kathleen's mom, MJ. 

Stella really liked waiving at Priscilla and even gave her a hug, but when I tried to get her to sit in her lap for a picture, she started to cry and reach for me. This was a better reaction than Santa, however. 

Afterwards, we had lunch at True Foods. It was very good and very busy. This turned out to be entertaining for Stella which was nice, but she didn't eat anything which sometimes happens when she's overstimulated. 

Kallie and Kathleen. Out of tickets for Baby Eleanor. 

Kallie and Stella holding hands.

Since this was our first year riding (of many, I hope), I thought it appropriate to buy a Priscilla ornament for our tree. 

Donald's parents came up the second weekend in December to watch Stella so we could go to the Eric Church concert one night and the JAMCO company Christmas party the next. This building is right a the intersection of I-285 and I-75 in Cobb County. Every time I see the windows lit up like this, I'm reminded of the first year we attended 10 years ago. It was held at the Georgian Club across the road at Galleria, in the penthouse level and we could all see it from the top. 

I made Stella a felt Christmas tree for her to play with and decorate. I glued the star and ric rac on with clear drying fabric glue and then glued the sparkly pom poms=lights on top of the ric rac.  I also glued the ric rac to the ball ornaments. The snowman, gingerbread men and candy canes were decorated with puffy paint.  Originally I thought I'd use velcro to apply the ornaments, but then was reminded that felt sticks to felt. Using the craft glue and lightweight puffy paint means it's not too heavy to stick. 

I would have loved for it to be in the living room or kitchen, but I the only open wall space I had where she wouldn't be in the way was in our itty bitty hallway. But, it's just outside her door so we can be in her room or in the bathroom and she can see us.  She even knows the difference in her stocking "S" versus Mommy's "M" and Daddy's "D."  

I "attached" the tree to the wall with painters tape. That way it won't damage the wall and I don't have to worry about her yanking out push pins. I'm thinking I may add felt gift boxes underneath the tree for next year. 

We are Honest Company subscribers and this year for a Christmas gift, the company included a package of organic sugar cookie mix and a snowflake cookie cutter in the cutest packaging. It took several tries at setting out the egg and stick of butter, but we finally got around to making them. Ideally, I'd love to do this a few times during the holiday season. Once or twice to make cookies for gifts and then we definitely have to put out cookies for Santa Claus!

Stella really did have fun helping. She loves helping. Her favorite part was pressing down on the cutters.  Like Stella's apron? It's a vintage one that just ties around the waist, but I put it directly underneath her arms and looped the ties around her torso and few times and it works wonderfully. Plus, she looks so cute in it. Santa may have gotten her one her size for Christmas.  ; )

This picture is blurry because of her excitement. She's shaking her hands and head all around while holding the cookie cutters.  The book in the background is The Sweet Smell of Christmas. The front copy is hers and the back copy is mine. It was one of my favorite books as a child and I was so thrilled to find a copy at a used book store for Stella. I store all of my tin cookie cutters in the teal ceramic cookie jar my mama gave me. 

Sampling the goods-the horse. I know horses are exactly Christmasy, but, follow me here: she loves horses and I had this cutter as a souvenir from The Kentucky Horse Park, some kids ask for them for gifts (ie: "Daddy, I want a pony.") And horses pull the sleigh in Jingle Bells. Need another reason? She enjoyed prancing it around on the counter and smacked it into the dough.

The finished and decorated product. Donald and I did most of the decorating since it was nearing bedtime, but we did snack on a few little ones before laying down for the night. They were really good. We just did powdered sugar, a splash of milk, splash of vanilla and a sprinkling of orange zest. 

Whenever Hobby Lobby or Michaels has a canvas sale, I always try to buy some for projects. I love the hand and feet art because it serves many purposes-gifts, mementos, art, a record of time passing. My mom chose Santa and A.J. (Aunt Jess) chose the reindeer. I kept the snowman. 

A few months ago me and a friend visited Corkscrews and Canvas to paint a canvas. A few weeks ago I was emailed about a canvas sale. Since the teacher paints a canvas with you every class, they have a lot leftover and nothing to really do with them but display. I was so excited to hear about this and promptly put in on my schedule to check out. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of free time the morning of the sale. I was able to look through all of the canvases, but when my time ran out, I started thinking of all of the ones I could have given as gifts, but I'd already put back my selections after narrowing down things. Hoping to catch the sale again soon. 

This elf/Santa countdown was part of the advertisement in the email and I was really happy to bring him home. My mama really wanted to get Stella and Elf on the Shelf this Christmas but I told her to wait until next year, maybe even the next. 

I'm considering Christmas at our house next year. What?!?! That will be a big step since I've always woken up Christmas morning at my parents, but I think the change will be nice. I'm so happy to have made these memories and be on the path to start new traditions for our family.