Another Year Through

Tis the end of 2011 already and we are only a few hours from crossing into 2012. TIme is so fleeting especially now with a baby growing up in our midst. Lily is such a joy and we have had such a treasured first year with her. The other morning we were watching the news and they had a montage of BIG events that happened in 2011. What an interesting way to look at the year. I found myself thinking about the events that are going to mark the 2012 year and wondering. Wondering, wondering, wondering, what will the future hold for our darling young lady and the entire Longmire family!

We have extended our friend and family circle. This Christmas Grace and I decided to hang up all of the christmas cards that we received. We have been richly blessed and I simply am amazed at the people the Lord has brought into our life.


Our year has been full of new things, most of them centered around Lily and how much she has changed. The most exciting and new thing that 2011 brought us is the chance to do life together with the Jessups. We have been so blessed with our communal living and really find a sense of sadness thinking about the reality that we won't always live together.

Bob has been blessed in his job and is ending the year as a Director in his company. He is anxiously pursuing the possibility of getting his MBA and we are looking forward in anticipation to the day when Bob aka Daddy heads back to school. It will be challenging and exhausting with a lot of homework and me single parenting, but we know it will be the greatest thing for him and us.

I started an amazing business with Lifemax this year and am simply amazed and excited about how it is growing. The power of MILA to transform lives has simply been a blessing and the opportunity to create residual sustaining income has been a treasured discovery this year! I cannot wait to see what is in store for 2012.

And Miss Lily? Well she has transformed from a tiny baby


to a beautiful little girl!


Goodbye 2011 and welcome 2012!

Big Steps and Little Feet

What a week it has been for us. Truthfully, it has been a very laid back week filled with a lot of lounging around and a lot of resting. I have been a non-running soul because of a recovering blister on my big toe. I am having the hardest time not letting my toe get into my head and affect my marathon next weekend. It is so frustrating to have an injury. I just hate not being able to run. Our routine has been completely thrown off and after months and months of running 5 days a week, I have to say that I feel like a dreadful lazy bones. Bob got a new bike for Christmas so he has been exercising on the wheels much to Rocky's chagrin.


At least I have been able to do a little movin' and shakin' with Miss Lily. She is slowly getting more excited about the prospect of walking and we have begun doing laps around the house.


She really is a strong willed little girl and just doesn't want to do what she doesn't want to do. Why walk when you can crawl everywhere?? Makes perfect sense to Miss Lily. I am really in no rush, I know that once she figures it out, hold on tight, cause we are going to be in constant motion!

Lily had a play date yesterday with her good friend Lilian. Lilian is walking moving and practically 14 months going on a teenager. I think that it was motivation for Lily to walk while we were there.




It was just plain safer standing than sitting, much to Lily's chagrin. While the slides hold much fascination for her and she enjoys going down them, the swings are absolutely her favorite most fun thing to do at the playground. She sat in this swing for 15 of the 30 minutes we were there. This girlie likes to swing.




We also spent some dreaded time in the sandbox which was, to Lily, far to dirty and sandy for her to enjoy. She kept her hands and feet clear at all times. This was increasingly difficult too because there was a little boy who kept dumping sand near her, oh the horror!

We just discovered tooth number 5! FINALLY. These teeth are taking forever and creating a rather fussy little lady. Her little nose is constantly running and she desperately tries to chew on anything. Of course anything does NOT include chew toys or teething helpers, no, no, no, anything includes Mom's shoulder, a shirt, the couch, her blanket, a finger, a cord or really anything that isn't "designated" as such.


(Miss Lily as a two fisted muffin eater sittin' pretty on the floor)


Lily has just loved having her Daddy home over the past week. Bob and I take turns waking up early with the baby. I cannot believe that I have slept past 7:30AM 4 times.. Simply Delightful! We have been doing a lot of swimming and we even got to take the Jessups! It took a little time for the babies to warm up to the pool, but once they did it was so much fun to watch them splash about.






Lily was busy, busy, busy either kicking, splashing, squealing or desperately trying to convince me that she could do it herself. The little booger kept holding onto the side and pulling herself out of the water. What a determined kiddo!

She Can Fly, She Can Fly!

We have discovered the best play place in the house.....Mom and Dad's bed! The mountains of pillows and endless cushiness are just a recipe for FUN.


Lily has become a little rambunctious kiddo that just loves to be thrown around, flipped over, tickled and launched across the bed.



SHE CAN FLY!!!!

We spent 30 minutes in our bedroom yesterday just playing rough house! Oh what fun!!!

Merry Christmas Morning

What a great Christmas we had today! It was low key and we sure did miss all of our family, but it was so much fun to open presents with our little girl and share in a day of holiday! Lily was sort of interested in unwrapping the gifts.


Gift bags were much more her speed. She really liked digging into the bag and pulling out a new treasure with each arm.


I loved sitting with her and watching as she discovered each new surprise. Lily was lavished with clothes and more clothes. I watched as her pile of clothes got higher and higher and couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the cutie. 8 new outfits in the span of 5 minutes, a girl's dream! We are so blessed to have so many people who love her and who want to love on her. She truly is a special little girl.


(She got some hair bows that stayed in her super fine hair roughly long enough to snap this picture)

Once the opening was done and the clothing explored, she got bored and moved onto her favorite pink ride. Her little blanket kept falling off of the car so I tied it to her like a princess cape and she LOVED it. (Que Royal Music) Presenting Princess Lily Grace!


Christmas morning was wonderfully Merry and beautifully Bright!

On this Blessed Eve

Lily, Bob and I have had a wonderful Christmas Eve today. It has been quiet. Actually very quiet. Grace, Sebron and Jancsi went home to Charlotte for the holidays and our big house is so quiet. While having a couple of days all to our 3 little selves has been wonderful, we miss them. Our home is just not the same without them. We are truly blessed!


The past couple of days have been true REST days and we have taken full advantage of them. We have really spent most of our time chasing the little blonde tornado around the house. Last night, after spending the entire day in our house, we decided to take a trip to a local park.



The last time that we took her to a park she was rather uninterested. Well, now she is almost 14 months. It's a whole different ballgame.





We started on the swings and she loved them, then we went to the slides and she really loved those, especially the swirly one with Daddy. We LOVE this parenting thing. Watching Lily brought us such joy and made us want to smile from the inside out. Such a special time. Bob and I both found ourselves saying to each other, "Yep, we want more babies!!"

Lily has discovered this new cool place to sit while I do my hair, the sink. It fits her little bottom perfectly and she is safe to explore all of the neat items located on the counter.



Today we enjoyed our Christmas Eve service. Crosspointe had a mid afternoon service so we were able to go in between nap times. It was a good thing too because they don't offer child care so Lily got to go to the BIG service. We went with an aresenal of snacks, sippy cups, and toys hoping to keep the little one entertained. She did so great. Sure, she was all over both Bob and I, but she enjoyed the music (even sang) and kept the fussing to a minimum. She made friends with the entire row behind us which most likely was highly distracting to them and their Christmas Eve expectations, but it kept her happy!

We really miss being with our extended family, but are finding an excitement in celebrating Christmas day together.


I have such fond memories of Christmas with my Mom and Dad and I just pray that Lily will have some of those same memories. Well, maybe not the same, but just as special. Our daughter is such a precious part of us and such a blessing in our lives.


This Blessed Eve, I am humbled by the gift of our little girl and simply bursting with Holiday Cheer!

Celebrating the Season

Christmas is coming and our little family is really looking forward to it! Bob gets the entire week off after Christmas and we are going to have a blast as a stay at home family. It is going to be great. Bob and I are now in the calm before the storm with our running. We are officially done with the long distance, stressful, hours of running and into the tapering before the race mode. It is really nice, but also a reality check that in less than 3 weeks we will be running 26.2 miles. So hard to believe that it is almost here.


Last weekend Nana and Opa Martin came into town to visit the Jessups. Lily Grace simply loved Nana and both Grace and I looked like second rate citizens up against her. What a precious thing.


Opa brought with him all of his bread making magic and blessed our household with delicious Wittebur. Hard to describe, but it is a Swedish sweet bread that is SOOOOOO good! We have been eating bread for three meals a day right now. Is that bad?? Oh well if it is, Christmas time is for celebrating all of the good things in life. YUM!

Lily and Jancsi have become such dear friends lately. It is just so precious to watch them play with each other.


Lily is still the "big kid," and Jancsi so desperately wants to do everything that she does. Both of the little ones are still absolutely enthralled with the pink princess car. Right now, Jancsi just loves to ride and Miss Lily is absolutely content to push his little self around.


We don't have the heart to tell her that she has the hard part. We will let her live in blissful ignorance a few months longer. Right now, they are enjoying the innocence of the moment. Pure joy.

JOY

Such a simple word and such a beautifully joyful little girl!



When I pulled this little toy out of the Christmas Box Miss Lily was just smitten. She was so excited and couldn't push every button fast enough. This little mobile is equipped with music, car sounds, royalty sounds and a singing wand. Lily couldn't get to everything fast enough. Once she discovered that she could ride on it while pushing the heart shaped horn, her smiles and giggles filled our little house. Her joy was unbelievable and practically tangible in these pictures. I just love this little girl!



Jancsi discovered the pink Princess mobile later in the evening and the two little kiddos had an absolute ball toodling around the house. Jancsi rode and Lily alternated between pushing and riding double.



They had an absolute blast and are now permanently attached to it. Joy, pure and simple, Joy!

Life in Community

"People who need people are the luckiest people in the world"- from Funny Girl

That quote was infamously sung by the talented Barbara Striessand. It is kind of cheesy and for those of you who grew up with Barbara I am sure that you broke out in song right after you read that first line! There is a nugget of truth in that little saying and I am discovering just how profound Miss Barbara was when she sang those lyrics. People who need people really are the luckiest. Community, Fellowship, Relationship, really is at the heart of everyone and finding those people to share your life with is a treasure valued far above jewels. I know that this has been true of my life. Since Bob and I got married we have moved several times and have lived in 3 different states. In every one of those locales we have met some of the most amazing people. Many have come and gone, stopping only briefly into our lives, and others have become part of our extended family. Its odd how the Lord takes people in and out of our life. At times I find it sad, and other times I find it just simply a blessing. Every person that we have met has mattered, has influenced, has changed us in some way or another.

Community is just so important and we are discovering this even more now that we have added Mom and Dad to our resumes. North Carolina has brought with it wonderful community especially with MOPS. There is something so special about connecting with other moms for a couple of hours every other week. It really is special to just do Mommyhood together.


I have had the great privilege of being a table leader this year and I will truly admit that I have been the one abundantly blessed by these women. From the left: Courtney, Holly, Kristin, me, Jolene and Eleanor. I cannot wait until we come back next semester!

Bob and I have also gotten connected with a LifeGroup through our Church.


We meet together every Tuesday evening for a time of prayer, fellowship and strengthening our marriage. We may all come from different walks of life, but on Tuesdays we all come together as the body of Christ. It is simply lovely.


Carol and Ron


Sadie and Tron


Bob and Laura and Greg and Betsy aren't pictured.

Life lived without community is really very empty. We are blessed to know people and we consider ourselves very lucky indeed.