in the new year

girlfriend and I both got cowboy boots for Christmas. she wears them from the minute she wakes up until the minute she goes to bed. so do I. I love them so much wade asked me if I was going to wear them to his company cocktail christmas party and I think he was genuinely concerned. he had good reason to be - they're frye and they're awesome. emma's cost a million dollars less but equally as awesome. Amen.


guess who has decided she would no longer like to nap and it is completely wearing me out {thankfully her identical twin sister does not share the same sentiment}. I still love the stink out of this child. yawn.


I also love sun flare on pictures. It may be my new "thing." I think it might just be that I'm not only so happy to see the sun again but also that there are some days that it's warm enough to play outside!


here is the child that shares my same sleeping habits - she also shares my dramatic attitude which she displayed at the school park this day. God bless her {and Me}.


and my beautiful emma who now only wants to wear jeans, refuses smocked dresses {to school NOT to church thank you very much} and tells me that she's the only girl in her class that still wears ribbons. I knew this day would come.


and I knew this day would come as well. the training wheels came off and it started with this....


and then moved to shoeless because the cowboy boots were causing problems {sigh}


then this:


and finally to THIS in just about FIVE minutes! blown away.


Oh...AND I love this man.


and emma learned at the same place my brother and I did as well. the memories of my mom running behind saying "keep pedaling, keep pedaling" are so clear to me and I don't know if it's from hearing her stories or from my own memory bank but I love it. and I love our beautiful church so much that our visiting date keeps getting pushed farther and farther away it seems.


meanwhile, kate and her idea of riding the scooter:


and lucy's idea of riding the scooter. the term "identical" is so funny to me.


let's all pause for a little photography moment please. I will get better at reflections. I will get better at reflections. okay...moving on.


unprompted hand-holding. yes please because there's nothing better.


except maybe unprompted bear hugs.


okay, okay, maybe the term "identical" is relevant in certain circumstances ;)


so proud of her and her riding skillz.


so proud of her and her riding skillz.


so proud of her and her well...NAPPING skillz. we'll work on the riding part later.


And as if we weren't having a perfect day to begin with, we threw in cousins to take it over the top {notice wade in workout clothes, emma in tennis shoes = much better}.


life is good.


life is really, really GOOD.