Merry Christmas!

Way behind...

I am WAY behind on here. I have a running list of blog posts that I need to do. I totally missed Fe at 9 months, Thanksgiving, getting our tree, etc. I'm going to do them soon and then back date them all. I think I just got caught up with so many of the holiday to-do's that I fell off the blogging wagon. Oh well, living in the moment is more important than writing about it! In the meantime, if I don't get to the posts before Christmas - everyone have a very safe and happy and blessed Christmas!

Leah and Andrew's Wedding

Leah, my long time friend from grade school got married last weekend and it was so sweet to be part of her wedding. I think I've officially been in my last wedding of any of my closest friends...which is a little sad, because weddings are so much fun to be a part of, but exciting that everyone has found their other half. We started the celebration with Leah's bachelorette party in Dallas on Thursday night.

Then on Friday we headed down to Longview for the rehearsal dinner...

Saturday morning we headed to the salon to get our hair done...so fun and relaxing. 

The flowers were gorgeous! I love a winter wedding.

Now, if you look closely, you'll notice that we bridesmaids are much tanner on the day of the wedding than the night before...thank you Bath & Body Works instant self-tanner! That stuff is amazing. It was just what this pasty mama needed to pull off a sleeveless dress in the dead of winter. In just two seconds you instantly look like you came off the beach, but it will wash right off in the shower at the end of the day. {A bit of advice if you get some: I wouldn't wear it with something very light colored or really expensive because it can tend to get on your clothes. It washes out, but just to be safe.}

  

Lovely bride!! Happy wedding, Leah & Andrew!!



Parties, parties and more parties

Felicity hit the party scene big time during the holidays. First she attended Poppy's office Christmas party in Marshall...

It's all business in Poppy's office chair at Gillam & Smith LLP.

Then we went to a private showing of the train exhibit at Northpark...

The exhibit was really neat, but I think this would have been a little better for Fe if she was older. I'm pretty sure she couldn't even see into the exhibit from her stroller...oh well. It was at the end of a very long day. :)

Then we had the Christmas party for the kiddies at Daddy's office where Felicity had her first encounter with Santa...

Daddy was proud to show off his little girl.

Then Felicity and I hosted the last Christmas playgroup of the year and had some of her little friends over all decked out in Christmas gear.

Will, Kade, David, Gage, Felicity (L to R)

Catching up on her fashion news, Felicity was going to wear this cute outfit to the playgroup party, but promptly threw up all over it once everyone arrived, so we had to do a quick change.

9 months

9 months has arrived! Obtaining decent monthly pics in her chair is really becoming quite the feat...this one below is the best I could get this round:

She just wasn't going to give up a smile. Luckily I got some better ones throughout the day.

Crawling at full speed has its challenges when trying to keep up with her, but it is nice that now she can crawl all the way from her bedroom to the den. She likes to sneak off and make this trek by herself sometimes -- we always have to be watching her!

Clapping, clapping, clapping!

Waiting for mommy to come get me up from nap!

Waiting for Dr. McClard to do my 9 month check-up

• Felicity weighed in at 19 lbs. 4 oz. (60 percentile), was 28 3/4 inches long (90 percentile) and her head was still at 50 percentile. I guess the scale says she's finally slimming down, but she still has plenty of rolls that might lead you to believe otherwise.
• She is crawling all over the place, and fast...as in, lots of times you have to run to catch her.
• Clapping and waving - still her favorite new "tricks"
• She's still nursing 4x a day and eating baby food at all three meals. She also eats bananas, cheerios and cheese on occasion. I've got to get better about feeding her more real food.
• Wearing size 12 months clothes and size 3 diapers

(I have to admit, I'm doing this post a bit late and didn't really write down anything specific about this month...so I'll just do more on the 10 month post.)

Cleveland family inventions

For the past few mornings, I have been in true bliss. I've been on a mission to get myself up and dressed before Felicity wakes up. If I don't, I often find that I don't get ready until late in the day or sometimes, sadly enough, not at all. Nothing makes me feel more...hmm...what's the word...disgusting?? than when Justin comes home and I look the exact same way I did when he left at 7 a.m. Ughh. But, I digress. This is what has been making me so happy and what you must try!

When you make your pot of coffee, sprinkle a bit of each of these right over the coffee grounds.

It will look something like this:

I don't measure, but I don't think you can really mess it up. I probably put about twice as much cinnamon as I do nutmeg and cloves. I have a bean grinder on my pot, but I haven't been using it as much lately. If you're grinding fresh beans, then I would put the spices in the filter and then the fresh grounds will mix when they fall down.

Then you will be able to enjoy homemade Christmas coffee like this: (and as a side note, your house will smell amazing.)

I highly suggest making coffee the night before and setting the timer, if you have one. It only takes maybe two extra minutes. I usually do it when I'm cooking dinner, waiting for something to finish or when Justin is doing the dishes after dinner. Then you can wake up the next morning and sleepily follow the amazing scent down the hallway to the fresh pot of hot Christmas coffee. Ahhh...

And yes, I am still nursing and yes, I'm still drinking coffee. Please don't judge me! I've switched to the 1/2 caff version, but I just can't cut it out completely. It's what gets me going in the mornings. Well, that and walking into see this little face:

So, I've been thrilled with my new "invention" and then noticed last night, that my darling husband has an interesting invention of his own.

Toe stirrups:

He says it keeps his feet warm. I really don't know what else to say about them. I think they speak for themselves.

So, feel free to take your pick, as a gift from our family to yours, if you want to implement either of our inventions into your home this winter. Merry Christmas!