family.

oh how i love this family photo! thanks, poppa, for capturing us at this beautiful moment of our life together. (taken 11.29.2014)

tradition.

it's become a sort of tradition (though not necessarily by intention) to send our christmas cards in january. maybe it was my subconscious that left out the 'merry christmas!' part of the card this year, just so we could indeed follow in the time-hallowed tradition... whatever the case, we wish all of our friends and family many merry and bright days to come!

pro.

a friend offered to take some photos of aj for us, and it's so fun to have a professional behind the camera! thank you so much, tori billings! we are so grateful to have these beautiful memories of our sweet babe at six weeks old.

home.

aj has been home for a week now, and we have spent a lot of time sitting around looking at the baby. and holding the baby. and kissing the baby. and poking the baby. and feeding the baby. of course we had to have a birthday party and dress her up in the cutest itty bitty clothing (many of which kj wore not long ago!). oh it is sweet to have a baby in the house again!

abby.

and here she is! we're so happy to tell the world that our girl arrived safe & sound this morning at 3:18am - Abigail Grace, 7lb 15oz, 19.5in. daddy scored another point for the redhead team! all are well & glad to be together. hallelujah!

duo.

kissing cousins, nanna calls them. sj & lj will be forever linked by their close birthdays and close cousin/buddy-hood. we got to celebrate this dynamic duo as they both turned two this weekend! sj has been claiming for a long time that he wanted a 'tractor cake' for his party; when lj heard that, he thought it was a fine idea! lucky for the parents that they were in agreement about their party theme! mj outdid himself with the cake, rmj provided a fabulous menu of 'orchard fruit,' 'silos,' 'pigs-in-a-blanket,' and cow's milk (it suited children & grown-ups alike), tractor colors were in abundance, and sj & lj had their favoritest people surrounding them. hard to beat that for a birthday. happy two years to you two beloved boys!!

caring.

kj is taking care of lj these days by picking out his outfit in the morning. lj is taking care of foxy, dressing him in a warm scarf. perhaps it is all just prep for taking care of the new baby?? :)