Not sure how this happens....

I'm not sure how she manages it but we have recently found Lottie like this.....


when we wake her up in the mornings! Her PJ's are still zipped and buttoned!!! WHO KNOWS but at least it starts our mornings off with a laugh!

Project 52: January Dates

Well, month 1 of Project 52: Date Night has been a huge success! Micah and I have really enjoyed having time together apart from chores and parenting duties!

Our first date was a nice relaxing night on the couch! After we put Lottie down we piled on the couch and just talked...we talked through our goals for the year and just spent time catching up on life....
Date #2 was really fun....we stayed up till 1 am watching the Auburn Tigers win the National Championship!! And then, in celebration, we rolled a tree in our front yard!!!

For Date #3 we were able to have a nice night out thanks to the Isham family!!! The Isham's kept Lottie for us while we went to the new Japanese Restaurant in town to try out their sushi bar! I am new to the sushi world and very picky when it comes to my rolls but this was delicious! We had the Friends roll (my favorite), California rolls, and the spicy Dragon rolls (Micah's pick). We practiced our chopsticks skills--Micah is excellent and I am HORRIBLE--but it was fun!
After dinner we went to the coffee shop in downtown Wake Forest to just hang out and chat for a while! It was nice to just slow down and sip some coffee after a long day! So, fun fun date night--plus I had coupons for both stops which made it even better!!!

Date # 3 was a nice treat! Our scheduled date was to watch a movie at home on Tuesday night, but sweet Lottie got sick (ear infection) and needed special attention so plans had to change. We had decided to reschedule our movie date to Saturday afternoon but my sweet sister in law surprised us with a nice night out! She called and volunteered to keep Lottie for us on Friday night so that we could go to the drive in movie! There is a cute "outdoor theater" about 20 minutes from here and we have always wanted to go! We watched True Grit which was pretty good (I'm a tough movie critic) and had a fun night out!!! Because this date was a surprise it was super special! Plus Lottie had a blast hanging with aunt Bekah!
So, Project 52: Date Night is going really well! It has actually been easier than I imagined to find time and make spending time together a priority. I could still find excuses but we are finding ourselves looking forward to each date!

We will see what fun dates February brings!!!! I'm excited about my Birthday date and our Valentines dates!!!

Birthday Party

I finally have time to update you all on Lottie's birthday party! We had such a special time with our family and close friends! I described the weekend to being very similar to our wedding--we had everyone we loved all together at the same time! Only this time a sweet little 1 year old was the focus of everyone's attention and joy!

The birthday girl had a great day with her "purple baby" in hand---she carries this baby around EVERYWHERE!


The table!!! I am so thankful for my AMAZING mom who worked so hard on making Lottie's birthday everything I every dreamed of! Not only did she host the party at her house, make cupcakes, dip, and help decorate....but she also made Lottie's cake!!!!!


And Lottie loved it of course!!! She was unsure of her first "sweets" experience at first and never got too dirty but she enjoyed the polka dot icing!!!


The birthday girl was spoiled of course...with lots of presents!!!

And, she was able to spend time with lots of special people including daddy's best friends...


All of her friends.....

And ALL of her grandparents!!!!

What a special special day for our family and for our sweet birthday girl!! I know she will never remember this day but I am thankful for photographs that she can look through and know that she is loved by so many people!! Happy birthday baby girl!! Mommy and Daddy love you SO MUCH!!

1 YEAR OLD!!

It is me Lottie again and today is MY BIRTHDAY!!! I'm ONE today and I am so excited!! I will have a big party in a little while and Mommy tells me it will be so fun!! I'm sure she will post about it soon!! Let me tell you about my one year old life!!

• I wear size 12 month clothes and size 3 shoes (my squeaker shoes are my favorite)
• I LOVE to eat (as always) and my favorite foods are green beans, peas, and any kind of fruit!
• Mommy still nurses me at night to help me sleep but she says that today will be my last time-I'm a big girl now.
• I tried cow's milk for the first time yesterday and I think I like it but I'm not sure yet!
• Mommy said that I get to try cake today! I have never had sweets so I'm excited!

• I had a really fun Christmas! I got lots of new toys and I LOVE to play!!
• I love baby dolls! I got 3 for Christmas and I carry them with me all the time! I rock them and kiss them! Mommy says this is the cutest thing she has ever seen!
• I am starting to play pretend now! I like to pretend that the tv remote is a phone--I hold it to my ear and say "hedo."
  
• I have lots of words now! I say: Momma, Daddy, Cat, Ted, Nana, More, Dog, and more!
  
• I also have other words that mommy can't figure out yet! I like to talk and squeal!
• I am one tickelish little girl! If you tickel my feet or tummy I will giggle until I cry!
  
• I like to clap my hands! I clap when I am happy and excited, when I do something good, and when mommy sings "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!"

• Mommy says I don't obey very well. She says no and I know that I should stop but sometimes it is hard. Sometimes I listen, sometimes it hurts my feelings and I cry, and sometimes I laugh at mommy when she tells me now....she says that she has her hands full!
• I love my cat! I chase Shadow around the house all the time saying "cat, cat, cat"...he runs from me!

• I love my mommy so much! I cry when she leaves me sometimes-even if she just walks out of the room! I just always want to be with her!
  
• I have started to whine sometimes when I want something but mommy says that for the most part I am a very good girl! I am happy almost all the time and sure like to play with my family!
  
• My mommy and daddy love me so much and say that this has been the most joyful year of their entire lives because of me!!!

Back At It!

Well, Micah and I are youth ministers again!! After an almost 3 year break from our beloved teenagers at Concord, we are back at work with another group of fun energetic 7th-12th graders at New Covenant Fellowship! We love teenagers and the fun stage of life that they are in! We love the energy that they bring and we are thankful for the opportunity to share in their lives! We have only met with them a few times so far but now that the holidays are over we are planning some fun activities to get the ball rolling and build these fun relationships!!!

Most of our girls with Lottie! She is going to have so much fun with them! They love her already!

All we do is WIN WIN WIN!!!!!

WAR EAGLE and congrats to the National Champions!!!! We are thankful to be apart of the Auburn FAMILY! Our game watching experience wasn't quite what we hoped it would be but that didn't stop Auburn from the victory!!

We don't have cable at our house and we were supposed to watch the game with our good friends Holly and Andy Broyles....but this not so wonderful winter wonderland kept us home.

upset about not getting to watch the game with friends

Luckily, my husband is a technology dork and we were able to watch the game through our internet connection using a ROKU. The picture was definitely not high definition but we were able to watch the game and for that we were thankful!!

Here are some pictures to recap the night!!!

Ready for kick off!

Learning to use a shaker!

Watching on the edge of our seats....

Teaching her baby doll about Auburn!

Smiles smiles smiles!!!! LOTS OF SMILES!!!

Since Micah and I couldn't be at Toomer's Corner to celebrate we rolled a tree in our front yard!!! And Lottie celebrated the victory with sweet sweet dreams!!!

WAR EAGLE!!!!

Birthday Planning!

Birthday planning has consumed me!! I can't believe Lottie will be 1 in less than a week! I have been hard planning her party to make it the perfect 1st birthday!! Here is a glimpse at the decorations, etc....

The decorations....

The "cake eating" shirt that wonderful Aunt Bekah made...

It matches all of the decorations....and the PARTY DRESS!!!!

And, here is the Birthday girl!!! Ready for her party!!!

Resolutions

For our first date of Project 52 Micah and I put Lottie to bed early and talked about our goals for 2011. We listed personal goals so that we can hold each other accountable as well as family goals! This was a neat time to focus on the future of our family and get on the same page as we move into a new year! I won't list Micah's goals without his permission but I'll share a few of my own...

-Take more time for myself: I am going to attempt to take at least 30 minutes a week to take a relaxing bath! I think I'll be a much nicer wife and mommy if I take a break every now and then!
- Cook at least 3 new recipes a month: I did this once before and it was really fun to cook new things and sure does break up the monotony that my kitchen often falls into! Hopefully many will be yummy and I can share!
-Read at least 2 books a month: I LOVE to read, but I have not read a single book since Lottie was born...it is time to get back at it!! So, if you know of any good books, send them my way!!

Additionally, we made the following resolutions together:
-Read 2 New Testament Chapters and 1 Old Testament Chapter each day and we can discuss them at our weekly dates
-Exercise for 30 min three times a week
- Be less "head down": we resolved to take our phones upstairs and leave them for the night as soon as we get home from work. Now that we have smart phones it is easy to find ourselves "head down" most of the evening instead of talking or enjoying family time.

As for our family, we committed to the following things:
-Family time: we will have at least 2 thirty minute times of "play" time in the floor with Lottie during each work week. It easy during our busy weeks to just hurry to the end and this is time we will commit to fun when all three of us can wrestle, play, etc
- Encouragement: We are sure of the ins and outs of this resolution but our goal is to set up some type of system for us to encourage and lift one another up. This will be a practical way of living out the gospel to one another, showing grace and recognizing faithfulness!
-Be more social: We love hosting in our home and we have always had friends over regularly, but since Lottie's entrance into our family we have gotten lax and our home hasn't been as welcoming. We resolved to having friends over at least 1 time a month. This commitment will allow us to host our friends, build community, and have fun!!

There were several other goals we set for ourselves and family but these are just the highlights! I feel like these goals are pretty well rounded and I am really excited about working towards these commitments this year! We recognize that we will probably fail at each of these at some point this year but that is what grace is for! Isn't that one of the purposes of resolutions after all---to show us our inablity to do anything without the grace of God?

So, I'll attempt to post about our progress...and feel free to hold us accountable!! Bring it on 2011!!

Ringing in 2011

To celebrate New Years this year my parents and youngest brother came to NC! Will and Bekah weren't able to make it "home" for Christmas so we did our family Christmas with them and just had a great weekend together!



We went to the new Japanese Steakhouse in Wake Forest, Sakura (AMAZING) and had our meal prepared in front of us---always fun and a yummy! Lottie loved it! She watched so intently as the chef made the steaming volcano and made the veggies sizzle...she was even able to enjoy the rice and chicken which of course she enjoyed!


We also had a whole day of "girl time!" The times where mom, Bekah and I can be together are always a favorite of mine! We shopped for Bekah's nursery fabric (hurry up Baby McGee!)...


And we shopped for Lottie's birthday decorations!

We took a family portrait...no McGee family weekend would be complete without one!


And, we did a lot of hanging out, eating, and watching football! I really enjoyed watching Will and Evan (my brothers) enjoy and play with Lottie! And, as you can see from these videos, she sure did have fun with them!!!

Lottie Loves Uncle Evan from Micah Messersmith on Vimeo.

Ticklish Feet from Micah Messersmith on Vimeo.

I love my family and I am so thankful for these weekends when we can all be together!!

Project 52: Date Nights

For Christmas this year I gave Micah the gift of dates. Micah and I were married for almost 5 years before we had Lottie and had such a fun time together doing all kinds of crazy things. We love being parents and wouldn't trade our precious girl for anything but we have missed some of our alone time! We have not been faithful at finding time for date nights in our new semi chaotic world of parenting and I wanted to change that. I recognize that time alone with Micah is important for our marriage and for the health of our family.

My friend Lindsey told me about Project 52...started by the mom from simplymodernmom.com. The idea is that you commit (sign a contract and everything) to 52 date nights with your husband a year...which is one date night a week. Of course it isn't realistic or affordable to find 52 babysitters and go "out" 52 times--at least not in my world! So, the majority of the dates are at home....during naps or after bedtime.

I didn't follow the original plan exactly and even made my own contract but I did plan 52 dates for Micah and I for 2011!! I had to get creative because we can't just watch 52 movies but I have to say I think I came up with some pretty fun dates!! Hopefully we will stay committed and this will be some fun opportunities for Micah and I to make some memories and have fun together! I am hoping to blog about our progress and our date nights at least once a month!!