So I got Erin these boots for Christmas, and I just have to say how happy I am that she wears them all the time.  She had told me that she wanted some riding boots, and I had done a little looking around, but I didn't really dare to just buy something so nice without her trying them on and making sure she liked them.  She wanted something timeless, and I agreed that a classic style was the way to go.  These were my first choice, and she loves them.  She looks great in them too, by the way.  I'll have to get some photos of her actually wearing them.

the thumbsucker

beth is our little thumbsucker. 

i tried and tried to attach her to the pacifier, which worked for a few weeks, but eventually she took the reigns and convinced me it wasn't for her.  she had her own - her thumbs.  and she doesn't care which thumb she gets, she'll take either one.

   

it is so adorable to watch, i have to say.  and i love watching her switch back and forth between the right and the left 3 or 4 times before settling in on one.  i'm not sure how i will feel about this in about a year, but we'll deal...  for now, we'll just enjoy the cuteness!

dreams

you know how sometimes you have a dream and it is so great or so horrible that the feeling stays with you all day?  or even for a couple of days?  wow.  i had the worst dream of my life the other night.  i am still shuddering from it's effects.  apparently i have been watching too much intervention :)

it was horrible. 

thank goodness for things like this to help me out :)

keep checking in

i am going to try to post at least a few times a week, okay at least a couple times a week :)  let's be realistic.

maybe i can do it?  i used to!

and i started blogging again over at thislearningmom.blogspot.com

i'm going to try to be a little more positive this time :)  it put me in a funk before so we'll see how it goes...

another quilt

i know, i take a break from blogging and then when i do show up it's to "show off" something i made?  i promise i'm not being self-indulgent with these "look what i made" posts - my mom tells me "you should be taking pictures of things you have made!" and i reply with "i have, i do!  they're on the blog!"

so, here's another:

my dear friend, shireen, had a baby boy last month!  shireen is the one who got me making baby quilts in the first place.  she makes beautiful blankets and i love the "shireen quilt" kate received as a baby!

here are photos of the quilt for baby sam (and weston wasn't around to do my photography, so you'll have to make do with mine!)

we love you, shireen & brett!  and sariah of course!!!  love that baby for me :)

beth: blessing dress

i decided, about 3/4s into the pregnancy, that i was going to start a tradition of my girls wearing the same blessing gown.  i just hope it doesn't backfire on me later when they both want to keep it...

so it only took us an extra month to get beth back into the blessing dress for photos, but we did it.  so just ignore the fact that she looks like a 3 month old and not a 2 month old, or even a month old like when most people bless their babies...

please also ignore the wrinkles in the dress - i couldn't be bothered to actually press it for a photo... shame on me, i really really should have.

not to be ignored, kate wanted in on the photos too.

just for fun, here is a comparison of the 2 girls.  (remember, beth is a month older) 

we really haven't felt that beth looks much like kate, but as she is getting older, i think i have to change my stance there.  she still definitely has her own look, but she shares more similarities with big sister than i once thought.  in fact, when we looked back at kate's blessing dress photos, we both said, "woah..." a la joey lawrence.

and here are a few more, just because i think my daughter is beautiful.  you don't have to look at them if you are tired of this post already :)

100% colton baby - look at that face shape, rounded cheeks, little mouth... maybe i have to have a boy for it to resemble me???

quilt for baby kate patterson

my good friend, janna, is having a baby girl in march!  she is going to have the most beautiful name - kate :)  we're a little biased around here, of course.

here is the gorgeous quilt (i can say gorgeous because it was really hard to give up - kidding of course - but there was a teeny tiny part of me that wanted to keep it and trade out a different quilt!)

thanks to weston for the beautiful photos so i can always remember this quilt ;)

after christmas hangover

it's been awhile since christmas was here and we are kind of still recovering :)  kate is loving all of her new toys

and beth is just loving her life.

 

she is such a happy, easy baby and really only cries when she's hungry (or teething, as i've discovered).  we l.o.v.e. this beautiful little girl.

 

it's always amazing how you kind of forget how life felt before having children, whether it be your first child or, as in my case, your second.  how did it feel when it was just you, me, and kate?  was it really just the 3 of us?  of course it was - we were all there.  remember it was just the 3 of us when we went to strawberry days, or to the movies, or to colorado?  it's not like you can't remember life back then, it's just hard to remember what it felt like - before beth was with us everywhere we go.  deep thoughts...

either way, we love her and are beyond thrilled she's ours! 

one of my resolutions (i hate to even use the word resolution because i feel like it's setting me up for failure) is to take more photos of our #2.  she has already felt the snubbing that comes with being a child after "the first" - you know "the first" - the one photographed doing anything and everything.  any child after "the first" gets photos on birthdays and christmases...  poor kids ;)  

wish me luck!

santa found us!

we have a few photos of christmas morning - before things got too fun, that is.

wondering if she can touch her stuff

digging for gold in that stocking

stocking stuffing was too fun this year - as much fun kid stuff as you could cram

beth is teeming with excitement and anticipation

what a good big sister

beth and her new bff

and then the camera was forgotten!  we had a great christmas morning that extended well into that night.  we finished, cleaned up, got ready, and got off by around 11 that morning.  we headed south to spend the day with our families and got into monroe a couple hours later.  after opening presents and visiting there, we met up with weston's family and had dinner and more presents.  that night, weston and i went to richfield and saw true grit.  we highly recommend it and i really want to see it again.  we stayed through sunday and then went home that night.  we had a great christmas weekend with family and it was kind of over too quickly!

christmas eve 2010

i suppose i better post about our christmas this year before it's actually next year.

i give you: christmas eve 2010

we spent the day together, which was lovely.  weston had the day off and we were out shopping.  yes, shopping amongst the hoardes of other last minute shoppers.  only it wasn't a crazy nightmare - we weren't shopping under any kind of deadline of "i have to get something!  it's christmas eve and i am out of time and options!!!"  we were just looking for fun.  weston came up empty with his quest for a new camera so we headed home and i started working on our christmas roast beast.

side-note: this year marks the very first time i have watched "how the grinch stole christmas"  did i get the title right?  i am constantly chastised for never having seen any of the christmas classics... my "yogi bear's first christmas" suited me just fine all those years :) 

anyway, i made this beauty,

 

as well as one of the yummiest meals i have prepared to date.  we ate chicken cordon bleu, roasted red potatoes, and salad.  we had the yummy welch's sparkling grape juice that i found last year and, again, it took me right back to my grandma nielsen's yummy bottled grape juice.

 

after dinner, we had kate open up her (and beth's) new christmas pajamas and got santa's plate of cookies ready so we could leave the house.

putting on her shoes

beth's not too sure about all this christmas hoopla...
 
typical...

(we were hoping kate would crash out in the car and we could put her right to bed when we got home - no such luck.)  we drove around for a good 2 hours looking at christmas lights and daydreaming about a house of our own, but kate held strong and was wide awake when we pulled into our driveway.  at least she didn't take more than an hour to finally fall asleep in her bed.

we just went to sleep hoping that santa would find our new house...