Our Year in Review {2011}

As we reflect on 2011, these are a few of the things I hope to remember...

Disney World in January... such a fun time!

College/Young Adult Ski Trip

My cousin, Aaron, married Ellis!

His first trip to the dentist; rockin' his own style.

Shower for Megan and baby Owen!

Couples class 80's night {totally radical}

Much baseball

This boy turned 5

Pre-School Graduation!!!

My 10 year high school reunion... love my Raiders!

Lots of fun outings with family and friends

Mountain trip with friends

Forth of July in Dallas with Clay and Lindsey

Brads first {mini sprint} triathalon

Enjoying Bubba's last summer before he started school

Learned Entrepreneurship

Texas Ranger Fun!

This boy started KINDERGARTEN!

Horseback riding with friends

Kayter-bug broke her arm :(

 Regular lunch dates with Daddy

This girl turned 4

My great-grandma, Wilma Lee, passed away.  Love that woman and the influence she had over my first 29 years.  

 An early Thanksgiving in Austin with the Botos

Our nephew, Colton Wyatt, was born 12/14 {sadly, I don't have his picture}

This girl turned 2

And many new, fun holiday traditions!

Whew!

My two summer getaways were compacted into less than a two week span.  I spent Memorial weekend with my college friends on a lake in east Texas and then shortly after returning home, the Hubs and I drove to San Antonio with one of our couple friends.  Fun stuff!

But I am home.

Whew. 

Tonight was a fun night back in routine.  The males of the house had a guy's night out.  They went to a concert and are still enjoying conversation at Sbux.  The girls... well, we did what girls do. We went to the grocery store, purchased princess bandaids (a must) and then drove through McDonalds for dinner.  My Kayt loves (with a capital L) McDonalds.  Those high-calorie, salty french fries wooed my mouth right over to the joint.  We rented a movie and came home to eat and enjoy the flick.  But... we ended up playing house.  I was the Sis, Emmy was the baby (big shocker), and Kayt was the Mommy.  That sweet girl is a nurturer.   I could not help but laugh on several occations listening to Kayt repeat things that I say verbatim. That girl...

So, vacations are over and summer is officially underway.  The pool is our stomping ground for the next few months and sunscreen is my morning companion.  I am soaking it all in, literally. :)  Happy summer!

Family Favorites

This is a BIG week for our family.

Baby girl will be four months old on Thursday.

Big boy will be four years old on Friday. 

Middle girl is having a blast celebrating with everyone else and has no clue this is not all about her.

In honor of our big week, I thought it would be fun to share with you one favorite thing from each person in our family.

Granted, I have chosen this thing without their help. I will venture to say that I am pretty right on though.  After all, Momma knows best. Right?

Let's start with the youngest....

Emmy LOVES her Nap Nanny.  From my understanding, this is a relatively new thing.  I had never heard of it before she received hers.  I love it! In fact, I wish that I had it with the other two. I put it in her Pack-n-Play (with the infant part in so that it sits up high) and lay her in it at night.  She sleeps so soundly and it just looks comfortable.  I wouldn't mind an extra large Nap Nanny for me! It has a safety belt so after they start maneuvering, you can secure them in place, it is firm, but so soft. The cover comes off for easy washing. 

When we have traveled it is so convenient to only tote this light weight (3 lbs), smaller-than-a-pack-n-play item. I toss it in the back and off we go. No more folding and unfolding of the Pack-n- Play. 

I have sat it on the floor and in our bed.  If you do the co-sleeping thing, it would be a safer option than having to worry about rolling over on your child.    

She has had one stuffy episode in her four months and it was great not having to take an extra step to elevate her.  She is already elevated!

Em is a SUPER FABULOUS sleeper. I don't know how much of it is accredited to the Nap Nanny, but I would highly recommend it to anyone.  It seems that it would be especially good for babies with colic or tummy issues.  

Most cities have a local retailer, but you can also find them here.  

Disclaimer: This is NOT my baby sleeping in this Nap Nanny. 

Disclaimer #2: That was only in case you were curious. :)

Miss Kayt loves her Fisher Price dollhouse that she got for Christmas.  It is super cute. All of the pieces are plastic.  Hers came fully furnished and with the family.  She and Noah will play with it for hours.  It really is fun to play with, I play with them a lot!  The most genius part is that all of the pieces fit inside and then you can close it up. It is easy to tote, easy to store, and doesn't take up too much space.  Plus, it provides its own storage for the pieces. 

You can find it here.

Noah ABSOLUTELY LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his football and baseball guys.

Yes, that is what they are called: football guys.  I met an awesome girl last year from OK whose son is a few years older than Noah.  As I talked about Noah, she said how much he reminded her of her own son.  Noah is a sports f.a.n.a.t.i.c.  And i am NOT exaggerating.  Ask anyone who knows him. He is knows for his love of sports, playing sports all day, and ALWAYS sporting some type of sports attire. This may seem a bit passionate and over zealous, but if you know Noah, you know that I am not exaggerating in the least.  

Back to the story... this sweet friend told me about this product. They are similar to army men, but they are sports figurines. They have football, baseball, hockey and soccer.  Noah has football and baseball, but he is getting the soccer guys for his birthday. Shhhhh, it's a secret.  

They come in a cute little carrying case.  It includes players, referees and something else particular to the sport (i.e. field goals, score boards, goals, etc).  

Noah got his first set just after he turned 3 and it was a great age.  If I had known about this earlier, I would have ordered it sooner.  Before this, we purchased the expensive collectors item sports figurines and he would break off the stand and play with them.  This item cost what only two of those cost.  

You can order them here, from Kaskey Kids.  This genius couple created them for their son, who was much like my Noah.  It is hard to find sports items for the avid youngster and I am forever grateful to the people at Kaskey Kids for the hours of sheer pleasure they have brought into my home!

If you are interested in ordering these, let me know.  I have a 20% off discount code that I will email you. I believe a set is $24.99.  Score! 

It would also make a great gift for your special little boy.  If you order the football guys, you can choose solid colors or from several college teams. Cool, huh?

As for me...

I dig this shampoo.  It is from the John Frieda collection and I get it at Target. I love the smell and I love what it does for my hair. 

I've done the expensive shampoo route and the cheap shampoo route.  This is by far my favorite.  It is kind of a middle of the road shampoo as far as expense goes.  I think it's somewhere around $8.  I had used it for a while and at one point I ran out and went back to my I won't name any names old shampoo and quickly confirmed my thoughts on how great this particular shampoo is.  

Did I mention that I L-O-V-E the way it smells? 

I did? 

Oh. 

Well, I do.

As for the Mister, he is cheating on me with his Kindle.  Not really. But he does love it and uses it quite often. Brad loves to read and this has been great for both of us.

Perks for him: 1. all of his books are easily accessed  2. all of the cool features 3. it is slim and trim and easy to carry  4. it just looks cool

Perk for me: 1. no more books to have to find another place for. Can I get a Hallelujah?  Don't get me wrong, I love that he reads. But. Come. On.  A house can only hold so many books. 

There you have it, folks.  The favorite things of the Ingram Gang! 

What are your families' favorite things?

The Weekend 10

1. Drove over twenty hours with my three nomads. They did ridiculously well and made me so proud!

2. Prayed for my hubby and a team of forty-five church friends who traveled to Belize to do Kingdom work.

3. Visited a wildlife museum.  My older two are still laughing about the chimpanzee named Brad.  The little things...

4. Took maaannny pictures on a daffodil farm.

5. Tried two new Southern Living recipes. One hit, one flop.

6. Ate breakfast at Burger King.  Who knew that they even served breakfast?

7. Came up with a plan for re-doing our sun room.

8. Watched my husband perform the wedding of new friends.

9. Swam with my older two only to discover that my big girl does not like for her swimsuit to be wet.  This could be a long summer.

10. Spent time with my wonderful, hospitable extended family.  And then returned home to my sweet family of five.  Nothing is quite as comfortable as being inside the walls of your home with ones you love mostest. :)

Oh, Snow!

This is for my mom who wanted to see pictures of her favorite people playing in the snow.

All of the pictures were taken from the front door because that is as far as I went. I'm sorry there are no action shots, Mom. I do plan to take part in the snowman building later this afternoon though.

I'm not completely sure where this 1980s snowsuit came from. It just appeared in our coat closet one day. This way-too-big suit swallowed Kayt and I couldn't stop laughing at her because she reminded me of the little boy on A Christmas Story.

If you stick your tongue out while working, more gets accomplished. Right, Noah boy? The shoveling wore this boy out. He was very ready for a nap today.

Then everyone came back inside to have a warm drink, eat pigs in a blanket, wrap up like pigs in blankets and thaw out. We are loving snow day number two!

Our Year in Review

It is hard to believe that 2009 is already coming to a close. This time last year, I knew of very little that awaited our family in the coming year, now I look back at 2009 with fondness, for it held so many special events in my life.

In January, I spent two weeks ministering to the women and orphans of India. They left a lasting imprint on my heart and I think regularly about the things that I learned during my two weeks on the opposite side of the world.

April 4, 2009 my brother-in-law was married. We spent the weekend in Oklahoma City where Brad performed the wedding of his little brother and lovely bride.

April 7, 2009 we found out baby #3 would be entering our lives.

At the same time, we felt the Lord had placed a wonderful opportunity in front of our family by providing us with a new home. We put our sweet little house on the market and two weeks later were negotiating a contract.

In May we left our house on Charles Street and moved in with my in-laws to begin turning this

into this!

At the end of July we moved into our newly updated and renovated home.

In between moves, we spent a week in Colorado at High School youth camp. While there, we informed everyone of our decision for Brad to take a new job within the church. He began the week as the High School pastor and ended the week as the College/Young Adults pastor.

Brad made the news when he and a friend found

a signed Tony Hawk skateboard left in a dumpster by Tony himself.

This stud muffin turned three, began Kinder Tots basketball and has blossomed into a smart and gifted little boy. He left toddler-hood behind and has astonished us with his logical way of thinking, intelligence, discernment and natural talents and giftings.

In July, I spent a long weekend with five of my closest friends lounging at a lakehouse in east Texas. I left encouraged and grateful.

And we found out that our baby was a she!

In August I witnessed this beauty become Mrs. Bo Faulds.

And in September Brad and I spent a week at a couple's spiritual getaway and made new friends.

It was full of vision and encouraged love.

This little entertainer turned two, got her ears pierced and was potty trained. She has blossomed into a funny, creative, smart and charming little princess. She woes my heart.

In October, I turned the big 2-7.

We also traveled with our dear friends to watch U2 in concert.

Since April, we watched this little bump

grow and grow and

grow into this!

And on December 15, 2009 our year was made right when Emery Claire entered our lives. We spent our first Christmas as a family of five and relished in God's goodness in our lives.

So here is looking forward to another year full of surprises and gifts. God was faithful to us in 2009 and he we have full confidence in all he will do in our hearts and lives this coming year.

A heart that is greatful...