Rehearsal dinner.

Eugene’s brother got married this weekend. It was a beautiful weekend, and we were honored to be a part of it. Eugene was the best man, the little one and her cousin were flower girls, and I did a reading during the ceremony. Here are a few pics from the rehearsal dinner night…

 

I posted the photo above yesterday in black & white, but I like the color version too, so I figured I’d share this one too. I absolutely love the picture above of my sister with the two girls. So much beautiful love!

The girls did a fantastic job at rehearsal! We were all hoping and praying they did just as well for the real deal the next day. :)

Sister, cousin, best friends.

My sister is one of the most resilient & strongest women I know. My niece is one of the most intelligent & spunky little girls I know. God has blessed me with a sister who is also my best friend, and the our daughters are quickly becoming best friends as well. {It makes my heart so happy.}

After the Wilson family session, I took a half hour to snap a few shots of these two beautiful ladies…

I’m pretty sure some tickling was involved in the photo below. ;)

The photo below just may be my favorite photo of all time. Oh how absolutely stunning are they…

I’m so thankful to God for blessing my daughter and I with our best friends. <3

Baby Cate is three.

This was such a fun birthday to watch my niece enjoy. She’s old enough this year to really get into everything of the party. She got a little shy for a bit of the time, but she seemed to really enjoy her “Hungry Caterpillar” themed party. {My sister did such a great job putting together the cutest party!} Here are some pictures from the day…

She looks so grown up here! {You can’t really tell from the pic, but even her dress has hungry caterpillar food on it!}

The little one got some time with Grandpa. And even she looks super old here. Gosh it’s nuts our babies aren’t babies anymore!

Four generations of blonde beauties..

I love this photo below. Happy sister, happy niece. Two absolutely gorgeous people…

She loved all her gifts…

I gave her an owl piggy bank, so she’s saying “Whooo” here. ;)

Cate, despite a crazy year, it’s been an absolute blessing to have the gift of more time with you. You are a strong, independent, resilient, remarkably smart, goofy, caring, completely loveable girl and I’m so thankful for your birthday and YOU!

Cousins.

My little one is 8 weeks old now, and I wanted to do a comparison photo of my little one & her big cuz when she was just 8 weeks old. Fun to look for similarities…

I love these two beauties.

And boy do they love each other! :)

A visit.

I enjoyed a long weekend visiting with my sister & niece. My poor niece was sick with a cold or really bad allergies, so I didn’t take many pictures because her sad eyes were struggling to stay open and her nose was running so badly, but I managed to snap a few of the beautiful little girl…

She loves “riding” the tractor – girl after my heart….

Taking a walk with her mama…

Sisters & best friends…

Cate liked to walk back to my parents’ bees. She would walk around the house saying, “Bees! Bees! Bees!” until one of us would walk her back to the corner…

We stopped to blow some dandelions…

And fed “nuts” {aka fish food} to the feechies {aka albino catfish} at my parents’ pond…

Grandma watching Cate & Cate watching the feechies…

This is my favorite pic of my niece. That’s my shoe {I know I have big feet…I’m so cut me a break ;)}, and that’s my big water cup. She loved carrying it around. Makes me smile…

And apparently I was worn out from the walk  to the bees & feechies because I found this on my camera later…

Yes, that’s a baby name book.

Gifts.

First – today’s my mom’s birthday. Yeah! We had a nice family dinner at my parents’ house last night, but we were all to full for a slice of the birthday cake. Happy birthday to one fabulous momma! ~<[:)

And this is a poor transition, but birthdays have gifts, and here are the handful of homemade gifts I made for people for Christmas. {A month late posting on this, but better late than never!}

Eugene’s brother is SO hard to buy for…he buys everything he wants, he gets tons of DVDs and electronics, and the only things I can think to buy him are a few hundred dollars. I finally, after 8 years of knowing him, thought of something to give him that he might actually like: homemade freezer meals. He’s a bachelor and lives in an apartment with a roommate and he doesn’t know how to cook. He’s not even a grilled cheese kind of cook, so he’s a huge fan of my cooking anytime we have him over for dinner. I made him chili, enchiladas, and shells/pasta. He has enough for at least 10-12 meals, and he was pumped. :)

I also made 5 more sets of the tile coasters for the girls in my mom’s side of the family. They were happy…especially my mom, who “hinted” quite a bit that she liked them after I posted it.

And my favorite DIY gift was for my niece, Cate. A long while back when Eugene’s family & I took a trip to the Wilds to see a ton of exotic animals. When I was taking a ton of photos there, Eugene’s mom gave me a great idea of making a children’s book out of the photos. I used those animal photos & the photos of Cate I took on my last visit to Oklahoma to make this hardback book. It’s kind of corny because I wrote it, but I think she’ll like it. {I still need to mail it to her…it got delayed in the mail coming to my house.}

I’m really happy with how the book turned out. Makes me smile to think of Cate reading it as she grows up the next few years. :)

So that’s my DIY gifts for this year. I had a lot more ideas, but was pretty short on time {and energy.} So we’ll see if I can whip up a little more “homemade” for next year!