my favorite post I've written in awhile...

I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

:)

Unbelievably, amazingly, overwhelmingly blessed!

Baby McG #4 will be joining our crew in November. 

We are praising God for this sweet, sweet gift!

nora james

Oh sweet, sweet, sweet Nora James. This picture captures so much about her right now-- so little and so big. So beautiful. Gentle and tender. I look at this and I see a little girl... no longer a baby- but still my baby, you know? I don't know how these transitions happen, but this quick capture makes my heart ache in a way that I have only known since being mama -- that tension of wanting to freeze time and keep them little but, oh, the excitement of seeing them grow. She's the most magnetic little girl; she crawls right up on your lap and wins you over with those big brown eyes. She loves people, loves hugs, loves to help. She is the sweetest little gift by way of two year old you could ever imagine and I praise God every day that He saw fit to entrust us with this little one. He is good, huh?

I have taken many more pictures this week, and I am remembering just how sweet it is to freeze frame these little moments of my sweet kiddos, just doing life in this season. I love these of Nora, though, and was just struck with emotion when I came across that first image. I wonder if I'll always feel that way when I see it... I wonder if I just happened to capture in a picture what I'm watching play out.. that quick little dance from baby to girl? Do you see how big she is in these? and how beautiful?!

If you've been neglecting the picture taking like I have been, let me encourage you: just do it! I have been keeping my camera on top of the refrigerator instead of packed away with all my other gear. It's out of the way and safe, but accessible, and I really DO use it when I know I can just grab it. I'm thinking of starting a weekly post with just snapshots from our week-- those little things happening just around our house. 

OH! one more thing--

Happy birthday to the most amazing man, husband, and father I've ever know! I am so grateful to spend my life with Jordan. He is a faithful, consistant, prayerful, diligent man who loves Jesus with his life and as a result loves me, our kiddos, and those around us so well. 

Hope you have an amazing day, my love!

upswing

True story: I've taken 28 pictures of my family this month. Over 700 of clients, but only 28 in my own house. I've got to break this 'only use my iphone' rut! So.. I'm challenging myself: At least a picture per day. And blog posts to document them. I realllllllly want to get back to regular posting, and picture taking of my family, so maybe this will help create a new habit. These two pictures were taken last week when we got nailed with a bunch of snow:

 (I think Cate looks so grown up in this picture.)

We have been passing around a slew of germs this last week--- coughs, fevers, double ear infections, pink eye, puking, etc. Super fun! ha. :) Anyway, I think we are all on the upswing and I look forward to resuming normal life.  I also should add that Nora is officially potty trained, that Cate and Corban weigh the exact same amount, and that Caters is in the 80th percentile for height and weight! I am starting a new Bible study with other women my age tomorrow and I SO excited for that. I have been cooking quite a bit, trying lots of new recipes, trying to incorporate way more real food and less processed junk. Because of the aforementioned stomach bug, I haven't had coffee (or really, food for that matter) for three days and I am still living, surprisingly enough. :) I also haven't cleaned my house, which means that I should probably do that, instead of this. ha! More posts to come soon!!

this week:

in instagram photos:

• We laid new flooring downstairs last week (which I LOVE) and had taken all of the trim off to do so. It needed to be re-painted, and I have far surpassed my trim-painting quota, so I passed it off to these eager helpers. :) Why, oh why, didn't we do it this way five years ago?!?
• Nora has been fighting a cold and has just wanted her mama to hold her. She keeps asking to 'ride sling on mama'.. and I am more than happy to oblige. :)
• I got to teach a class on the basics of photoshop for the influence network! I was crazy nervous, but it was really fun. A few hiccups, but all of the girls were so gracious. I loved it!
• We bought a new (to us) van! I am way more excited about this than you could ever understand. 
• The sun shone one time. So we played outside. This winter is beginning to feel a little never ending-- I am ready for some daylight in my life!
• Corban has been learning to play Settlers. I love that he loves to be a part of the things we like to do, you know? (any other Settlers fans out there?!)
• My girls are awesome. They were taking turns playing the drum while the other danced. Nora had chosen to wear her owl shirt with rainboots (on the wrong feet) and butterfly wings. 
• I don't like this winter, but Nora's wonder at the snow = priceless. 

not pictured: Potty training for days. Laundry piles from being a week without a dryer. sisters becoming friends. endless lego building and my little pony play. Pretend mario kart races between Corban and Cate in their bedroom during 'nap time'. piles of pictures strewn throughout the house from my kiddos who love to color.

a good end of February week!

five on friday

1. We laughed for twenty straight minutes taking silly pictures in photo booth today. Nothing better than the sound of my kiddos belly laughing... However, Nora was terrified. Kept closing her eyes or covering face, said we were scary. Corban and Cate look more alike than I ever realized. And my heart is overflowing, you know? How's that for a jumbled paragraph?!

2. Nora has been walking around singing and shouting, "Oh no! You never let go, through the calm and through the storm..." for weeks. Talk about blessing a mama's heart. Corban and Cate love '10,000 reasons' currently and my house is never lacking song. :)

3. Also Nora related, I think she sat quietly for a few months observing, and then decided it was time for her to start speaking up. She's suddenly speaking in sentences and it is bizarre to me that my baby is not a baby.

4. On Monday, I will be teaching a Photoshop 101 class! My first ever class with a network that I am SO excited to be a part of. Check it out on the Influence Network here. 

5. A few of my favorite things this week: grace. Coffee. Polka dots. the color peach. My almost live website. Instagram. All Sons and Daughters. a stylized photo session with one of my best friends. sleeping til almost 9 a.m. today. 

 Happy weekend!

december happenings

It's been a fun few weeks over this way. It's been nice to close my computer and knock some things off of my to-do list. and take on impromptu projects like disassembling a crib, a set of bunkbeds, and a trundle bed and having everyone switch rooms. :) 

(insert big sad mama moment here. Can you believe we don't have a crib anymore?!) 

Anyway, Corban and Cate had been sharing the smallest bedroom in the house, so we decided to swap things around. You can see a fine sampling of what was Nora's room:

It used to be Cate's room, and she had 'decorated' every inch of wall space in a days' nap. Sigh. We decided it was time to bid the wall princesses and their families adieu, move the big kids in, and make a room suitable for a boy and a girl. 

Corban helped tear down and rebuild the bunkbeds. He loves to help Jordan work-- and I love that my boy is learning to be a handyman like his daddy. :) The room is not 100% finished so I don't have any crazy after pictures, but the highlight of the room is this:

the chalkboard wall! 

So perfect for my 'all the world is a canvas' little girl. It was finally dry yesterday and we have already spent hours playing on it. 

(Our babysitters did the portraits below!)

 Corban's favorite things about it are drawing targets to shoot his nerf gun at and playing hangman. Hangman is funny when you don't yet know how to read. CAURLGRRO (or something close to that) was one I got 'hung' on last night.

 The kids had their Christmas program at school this week. Both mine and Jordan's parents came and my brother drove over, too. I love that our families make the time for things like this... and it was really really precious. So fun!

 And then, we had our first big snow today. The kids were bursting with excitement from the time they woke up this morning. As soon as we were home from school, it was snowpants/hats/gloves on and outside they went. Cate didn't make it too long, but Corban stayed out and enjoyed for quite a while.

 It was one of those really sweet sort of days. I think I thanked God at least twenty times for positioning us in such a way that I can primarily stay home with my babies. To be able to sit with Nora on my lap as I visit with an old youth grouper home from college, and then to help with the kid's Christmas party at school, and then layer them up and watch them throw snowballs at each other... It really is a privilege  and I am so thankful for these little things that I might otherwise miss out on. I think I did miss out on a lot this fall (by my over-scheduling and time mis-management) and I want to be here, really here, for all of these long, cold, winter days. And on that note...naptime is over and it sounds like my ceiling might fall through with the jumping off of bunkbeds that is taking place.
Have a Merry Christmas!

conversations with Cate

Oh my sweet little Cate... she is the most unique baby girl I've ever known-- bursting with life and wonder and joy. She's quick to giggle and operates only at full-speed ahead. She's passionate and stubborn and tender and kind. Lights up a room with that big smile and is just down right funny. I'm confident that her brain fires constantly and she says or does whatever crosses it. Impulsive, you might say. Spontaneous. Fun. Challenging. All wrapped up in one beautiful almost-four-year old little girl body.

Normally, I tuck Nora in and Jordan puts the big kids to bed. For some reason, tonight we switched rolls and I found myself snuggled up next to my middle baby, laying there lost in conversation. I don't want to forget these conversations, her scattered remarks, her quick thinking-- so here I am to jot it down.

We started out talking about what she wants to be when she grows up. Her response? A horse. When I explained to her that she would always be a human, she decided riding one would be good enough. "A cowgirl, then," she decided. I asked her where she would get her horse from, and she said she would buy one... except she didn't have money. "We should go to Papaw's house, because he has money," she said. When I told her that Papaw had to work for his money (as does the rest of the world), she decided she'd be a 'How It's Made' worker... you know, "because I like to make things" she said. The first thing she wants to make is cupcakes. Chocolate for her mama, she said. And then next she would make lightbulbs. And heaters. and paint. 'Oh, I want to be a painter!' she interjected. 'Did you know that I saw a fish skeleton by the lake with Mrs. Dumas?' she said immediately following the painter remark. (ha!) And then she moved on to being a bride. With a white, sparkly dress- no lace. She would then later have four boys and four girls.. except for when I explained that four plus four was eight, she concluded that she only wanted three. She'd name them Caleb, LuggyBunny, and Ella. And she would make them cake, too, she said. "Where will I live, Mama?" she asked. "Where is the house store? Where did we buy this house? Can I live at the lakehouse we just went to?" she streamed out loud. And then moving on...  "sometime, I'd like to try and make hair. Out of soft blankies. That I cut and paint. Oh nevermind, that won't work," she decided.
I started to uncover and tuck her in, let her know it was time to sleep. "Just one more thing, mama!"... "I can draw really good lady bugs. And Corban drew a good butterfly at school today. I mean tomorrow. Oh, you know, the other time."

and that was that.
Ha!
Isn't she wonderful? I put a picture of her up tonight on Instagram... just bathed, jammie-clad, sweetest smile. She looked at me so sweetly and then leaned in and whispered, "I want to go fight my daddy now." and then off she ran to wrestle with the boys.
So perfectly Cate.
And I would not want it any other way.