Monday Morning Musings

Yesh, this weekend flew by!  As was to be expected, the holiday craziness has set it and we are going 50 miles per hour.  I am going to work really hard this year to be intentional with the time I spend.  I want to enjoy this season with my family, just the way it is.  Kaitlyn was talking this weekend about "next year Kamdyn will be able to pull ornaments off the tree" or "will we be able to take our annual trip to Chicago, even with a baby?" - these things tugged at my heart because for as much as we have prayed for this baby and as ecstatic as we are for her to finally be here…the reality is that the way we do business as a family will be changing drastically.  Those of you reading who know me in real life know that this doesn't bother me one bit as far as day-to-day life…but holidays - OH BOY.  I am a creature of habit when it comes to holiday traditions.  I think there is nothing more important than those special family traditions around the holidays - and two things are about to happen 1) my traditions are about to be changed {WHERE is Kamdyn going to sit in the seating arrangement at my parent's house on Christmas night?!} and 2) Our family unit {Kevin, Katie, Kaitlyn & Kamdyn} is going to develop our own traditions {these are hard to develop when we only have Kaitlyn every other year for every other holiday}.  The thought of this makes me a LOT excited and a little LOT anxious.  Anyway, here's the point - I want to cherish this year with our family just as it is, because I know it won't be the same ever again - that's not bad, just different.  :)

On Friday night, I enjoyed a blissful night of scrapbooking.  I just love this time with my friends working on Kamdyn's scrapbook.  :)

Festival of Trees was the perfect kick off to our holidays :)  The studio always performs the weekend before Thanksgiving and it always, always, always puts me in the holiday spirit.  Speaking of holiday traditions, we have a few photo traditions before the show, as I looked back at these I got tears in my eyes.  Sometimes I wish I could just stop time.  Stop babies from growing up.  Or even just re-visit these days.  But since I can't - pictures serve as the perfect way to remember.  Freeze time.

The top row of that collage is 2010, the bottom was this weekend.  3 years.  The blink of an eye.  Impossible to believe.

We also decorated our home for the holidays this weekend.

I just love my house at Christmas time.  It puts me in my happy place.

Speaking of my happy place.  My fabulous, talented husband took pictures of Kaitlyn, Sam & Maicey this weekend.  {I'll also put in a disclaimer that I took many of these because Maicey refused to cooperate for Kevin!}  I'll leave you with a few of my favorites.

Have a beautiful week, friends!