I heart Lightroom...

or I think I do anyway!!! I have never used Lightroom, but MckMama does and I love what she is able to do with her photos. And guess what....she is having a giveaway!! Go here to enter the contest. I have and will in as many ways as possible. But I will still most likely not win.... I never win anything. Doesn't hurt to try though!!

Singles Christmas Party

Funny thing is... of the four couples at the "singles" Christmas party, three couples are married. :) Yep, we've got a lot of graduates!!! It was fun no matter what. Lots of yummy food, a few games, a toasty fire, and even s'mores. The theme for the night was ugly Christmas hats. We kind of forgot this part until five minutes before everyone arrived. So the kids dug around their dress up box and came up with their own versions, as did their Papa!!



Keelah and Brandon gave the kids a Rudolph nose. We had just a little fun with that!!

What kind of parents put a blinkie Rudolph nose on their 3 month old son? Hee hee!!

You're Here

You're Here

This morning I was holding Caleb while we listened to K-LOVE and a song called "You're Here" came on by Francessca Battistelli. It is a song from Mary's perspective. I have heard many variations of songs from Mary's perspective but this song hit me in a different way this morning. As a mother holding her infant son, I tried to understand how Mary must have felt and thought as she held her infant son. Her baby boy was God in the flesh. Wow! She held in her arms the Savior of the world. That completely blows me away. I often look at Isaac and Caleb and am struck that they will be men one day; husbands, fathers, leaders of their church. She looked at her son and saw Emmanuel. Don't let this season of remembering the birth of Christ pass you by. The familiarity of the Christmas story can steal the significance. God became man. He lived, He taught, He died. He rose again and is ALIVE!!! Hallelujah! All glory and praise to Him!!

**By the way you can listen to the song if you click on "You're Here" beneath the picture**

Overheard at the Landes House

Julia loves to dress up. This morning she is Tinker Bell, complete with fairy wings and a tutu. She has been trying to think of all the things that Tinker Bell has and wears so she can match her as close as possible. She came into the kitchen just now and said, "Mommy, I think Tinker Bell has baby suckers just like you" Just imagine the look on my face as I questioned her as to what she was talking about - cringing because deep down I knew. She lifts up her shirt and points to her well, um baby suckers! :) Oh, the things kids come up with. So stinking funny!! I am just glad she didn't ask me to help her make some baby suckers so she could look just like Tinker Bell. And by the way, why in the world does Tinker Bell have baby suckers? Not liking Disney right now ;)

Goals

I am not one to set a lot of New Year's Resolutions. In fact, I don't think I have ever done that. Probably because I know myself well enough to know that I have absolutely no lasting discipline and usually end up quitting what I have started. But even considering my lack of discipline, I now find myself setting some long range goals. Call them resolutions if you like, but I am going to call them goals. I will attain these goals. I will!! You may care less what my goals are, but I am putting it out there for accountability. If you know my goals and areas of "weakness" then I am more likely to keep up with it. That's my theory anyway. We will see! So are you curious what I have in store for myself? See for yourself (or don't, whatever floats your boat)

Goal #1:

To complete P90X without stopping and starting and stopping and starting. (which is what I usually do when I start an exercise routine) I am already headed in a good direction with this one. Gabe and I are doing P90X together and just started our second week today. I have gotten up to exercise every morning at 5 am for the last 8 days in a row!!That is including Saturday and Sunday. Unheard of for me! After the initial jolt (I say that sarcastically - more like a slow crawl) out of bed, it feels good to get up and get moving before the day officially begins with the kids all up and at em' by 7:00. Now that I have added an extra 2 hours to my day, I am going full speed from 5 to 9 and usually fall down exhausted and am ready for bed by 9:30. It is worth it though!

Goal #2:

Train for and complete a half-marathon. If you know me at all, then you know how much a HATE to run! Just not my favorite thing to do. I have vivid memories (nightmares) of my high school coach dropping us off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and telling us to run until we see the bus. Ugh and a double UGH!! So for me to want to run a half-marathon is absolutely nutty! However, I just have this desire to accomplish something big like that. My goal is to start training as soon as I finish P90X.

Goal #3:

Become a "Pioneer Woman Wanna Be"! I feel about cooking the way I do about running. Of course I may not absolutely hate it, but it is definitely not my favorite thing. I just have never had a passion for cooking. Thank goodness I have a husband that never complains about my attempts at cooking. He is such a darling man! But I now have this weird desire to cook more and better. Have you seen the advertisements for the new movie Julie and Julia? That's kind of my goal here....to run down the list of recipes on the Pioneer Woman blog and try most of them. (I am not big on seafood - so that section may get skipped:) The more I try, the better I will get. Don't ya think?!


Goal #4:

To become more organized. I am a naturally organized person. Well, in reality I am more comfortable with an organized environment, but lack of time and resources limits my organization. As I sit here and type this I am surrounded with piles of papers and crates of files. Oh, and my "office" is at the dining room table. That's gotta change!! We need to get a small desk for our room and move all this junk into our bedroom. Not ideal but better than having it all out and about in our dining room. I won't even mentioned the state of our garage right now. YIKES! I am horrible with keeping things organized. Getting organized is one thing, I can do that. But keeping it organized is an entirely different story. So my goal is to get organized and stay that way. Moving on now!

Goal #5:

To be less stressed. "HA" you might be thinking to yourself. Less stress with three children under the age of 6? Yep - that's my goal. I tend to get wound up and stressed out, especially if I do not get a break. So part of my goal here is to take regular breaks. Thursday nights are going to be my night out by myself (okay Gabe?) Gabe is awesome about watching the kids so I can get out. I am the one that is horrible with actually doing it. Take yesterday for instance, it was a rather harried day and I desperately wanted to get out by myself just for a bit. But by the time Gabe got home, I just didn't have enough energy to go out and it seemed more exhausting to give it any effort. More importantly than taking time for myself, is to focus my time with the Lord. Am I alone in the battle of rushing through a day only to realize that you never stopped long enough to put God at the center of your thoughts and actions? I doubt I am alone in that. My goal is to put myself aside and put God first. To start each day talking (and listening) to my Abba. To rest in Him and lay all my cares (stress) at His feet.

So there you have it. Five goals. Not too tough. All attainable. What do you say, you want to join me? Think of five goals for yourself to work towards. I would love to hear what your goals are so that I can pray for you and encourage you. Up and at em' people, let's make some changes in our lives!!!

Pics of the Kids

Took the kids to have their picture taken together yesterday. It takes quite a bit of energy and patience to coordinate three little ones; get them clean, keep them clean, get them dressed, keep them dressed..... You get the point! I did a good amount of bribing my children to try to get the best picture possible. The kids weren't horrible, but they weren't quite angels either. Isaac was so super distracted. He kept wanting to see what was behind the back drops and ask how the camera works. Julia was in a "mood" and was sportin' some sassy attitude. Caleb was happy for the first picture and was done after that. We would position Isaac and Julia then try to get Caleb's attention. By the time we did get Caleb's attention, Isaac and Julia were looking away or not smiling. It was exhausting to say the least. Here are a few of the pictures we got yesterday.





And here are a few of Caleb by himself....

His hair is looking a bit funky here. Even though his hair has thinned out quite a bit, he still has tons of it... and what he has can get a bit wild at times!! Oh and the shiny spot on his chin is indeed slobber :)

He looks so big in this picture. He can no longer wear many 3 month size clothes. I even put him in size 6 months outfits the other day.

Just chillin'

Love that smile

His serious face

He is so silly with that tongue!

3 Months

Caleb is 3 months old today!!! Where has the time gone?! Doesn't feel like it has already been 3 months since Caleb was born. But here we are 12 weeks down the road, and enjoying every moment.

So what has little Caleb Doodle been up to this month? Well, he has started to giggle. Sweetest sound EVER!! He is still pretty stingy with his giggles though. Gabe just heard him giggle for the first time last night and he has been doing it for a few weeks now. Caleb is such a smiley and happy baby. He loves to play on this play mat and can now reach and grasp the toys. Over Thanksgiving he was yanking so hard that he was almost pulling the toy bar down on top of himself. Silly boy!


At his 2 month check up he weighed 12 lbs 7 oz and was close to 24 inches long. I can guarantee that he has at least grown longer since then. He is growing out of his 3 month size clothes fast. He is also too big for his Miracle Blanket. :( Actually he has grown too strong to be swaddled. He kept "unwrapping" himself at night which would wake him up. So we have been working the last few days to train him to sleep without being swaddled. It took him one day to learn. First day he struggled and struggled to go to sleep - cried for an hour that night at bedtime and didn't take good naps. The next day was better, well actually GREAT. He slept 11 hours and did the same last night. So the good ol' Miracle Blanket has been retired and will be lovingly kept in his keepsake box to show him one day how we mummified him every night to sleep!!


Let's see... other milestones this month?! He is really close to rolling over. He is definitely strong enough, he just hasn't made it over just yet. He found his fists this month and almost obsessively sucks on them. But when his fists won't cooperate, the pacifier is his buddy! Other than that, Caleb is just doing great.

Loves those fists

Tummy time

Happy Boy

Loves his Binky!

Thanksgiving in Coleman

Happy (late) Thanksgiving Ya'll

We spent last week in Coleman with my side of the family for Thanksgiving. Other than missing my sister Melinda and her family, we were all there. It was fun and relaxing. We played a lot of games, ate a lot of food, and watch the kids explore the outdoors. I love that my children love to play and climb in the same trees that I did as a child. I think Isaac walked every square inch of their land exploring, chasing baby goats, catching all sorts of critters and bugs, and burying secret treasures. So glad we have places like Coleman and Arkansas to go where the kids can have room to roam. I missed getting pictures of the kids outside, but here are a few pics from our time in Coleman to sum up our trip....


Isaac did a lot of this....

You can't tell by looking at him, but this boy can eat!! He ate every bit of that turkey leg and licked the bone clean!

And this....

Camo boots on and ready to head outside

Julia did a lot of this.....

Smiles and Giggles! Grammy gave her these PJs for Christmas and Julia insisted on wearing them all day, so I let her! Everybody needs a PJ day every once and awhile.

And this...

She loves to draw, write, and color.

She would NEVER do this....

Ok, maybe just a little bit! :)

Caleb did a lot of this.....

Being happy and cute!

And this....

Snoozing the day away!!

Gabe did a lot of this...

Poor guy got a head cold while we were there. He wasn't feeling too wonderful. Thankfully he had an opportunity to rest and recover.

And he did this...

CATAN!!

I did a lot of this.....

**Oh, wait, I don't have a picture of me. Guess you know who takes the majority of the pictures!**

Well, I finally got in a few....

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now on to Christmas!!!