home

After two weeks of being gone, we're home once again. We had an incredible time getting to see our families and friends, traveling the southeast and celebrating our 6th anniversary and Christmas. I must say though that it's really good to be back in the place where the Lord has called us, and now reflect on this past year and look forward to the new year upon us. Getting unpacked and organized again, doing laundry and finding a place for all the new toys is another story! :) I'll try and get pics up from our trip soon, but I'm not promising it will get done this year!

merry CHRISTmas

We hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas. May you experience the peace and joy that come only through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Love,
The Baughers

Happy Birthday Papa!

We love you and hope you had a wonderful day! We look forward to seeing you soon!
One year ago today...

cookies and candy canes

My friend Allison D. and her kids came over a week and a half ago and we cut out cookies and decorated them as well as made candy cane ornaments. The kindergarten teacher came out in me and we even read a story, "The Legend of the Candy Cane." We all had a really fun time and being reminded of Christ's sacrifice for us in the simplest of terms for the kids was such a sweet encouragement to my heart!

it's a parade

Last Saturday we went to the Christmas parade in town and were able to sit with friends from church. Esther was pretty entertained, and Arden had a blast. She really got into waving to everyone in the parade and saying "Merry Christmas" to them. She also discovered candy canes and held one in her mouth for the longest time, not really knowing what else to do with it! Here are a few pics from the parade...

mommy's new fingers

Yesterday I went and got my hair trimmed and while there was surprised with a manicure...Woody had gone in earlier in the day and gotten it for me! I can't tell you the last time I got my nails done, so this was really a special treat! I never have color on my nails and in the past have only gotten french manicures, so I decided to really shake things up and get some fun, dark color. (which I'm told is in style right now, and if you know me, you know that I'm not really in the know when it comes to style) And to top it off we went out with some couples last night to see Pierce Pettis...I felt so pampered with my hair done, painted nails and a low key concert in a quaint cafe! Anyway, this morning as I was giving Arden her bowl of cereal for breakfast, she says, "Mommy has new fingers. She does have new fingers!" Just thought this was too cute!

she's a climber

This afternoon while I was getting dinner ready, I turned to face our table and Esther was sitting on her knees on top of the table!! Sorry, I didn't take the time to go get the camera! There she was, playing with a Santa cookie jar in the middle of the table, pointing to his eyes,nose and mouth. (She's really into pointing to and naming these parts of the face right now.) She's gotten good at climbing into our dining room chairs and we've taught her to sit down in them, so I'm pretty comfortable with her doing that. But now that I've witnessed her getting on the table so easily (within seconds!) as she attempted the climb several more times throughout the afternoon, I'm not so sure. This really is a new thing for us, as Arden never attempted even climbing into the chairs until she was a whole lot older. Esther, on the other hand...if there's a way to climb onto something and use it to climb up higher, she goes for it. It's just never been as high as the table until today!

aunt ti in town

Christi came to visit us for a long weekend this past week. We enjoyed a quick trip to the beach, cupcakes, a not-so "winter wonderland," Christmas parade (more of that to come in a later post), a tour of the local winery, and of course, Chick-fil-A for the CA girl! We had a full, but fun time together and it was great as always to get time together in person. And although Arden can now actually say, "Christi," she still mostly referred to her as "Aunt Ti," much to the delight of her Aunt Christi! We love you! Thank you for coming to visit!

thankful

I'm very thankful that we were able to spend some extended time with my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. The girls and I went up early to see our nieces, Hannah and Halli, perform in the Nutcracker, and then Woody came up later in the week. We all had a great time...Arden got lots of opportunities to play with Halli and took advantage of dressing up like Minnie Mouse every time we were at "Halli's house." Esther loved playing with Halli as well, but stayed pretty close to me and gave everyone besides G.G., Papa and Aunt Jenni looks that would kill if they even came close to trying to take her. She later sported two new teeth (finally adding to her four! yah!) on Thanksgiving day, that I think were the reason for this. Woody and I even got some time away for dinner and Starbucks! (Thank you G.G. and Aunt Jenni!) And it was especially great to be able to spend a whole week with my parents, sister and her family and then my aunt, uncle and cousin for Thanksgiving day!

Happy Belated Birthday Nonie!

Well, I didn't exactly get this posted when I wanted to, but know that you were thought of and loved on your birthday! We hope you had a wonderful day and look forward to seeing you in a few short weeks!! We love you Nonie!

I've been tagged...

I have been tagged by Heather, a very dear friend of mine in B'ham. She and her husband, Todd, actually had a part in introducing Woody and I when we were in Orlando! The instructions for this tag are to pick the 4th picture folder on my computer; choose and post the 4th picture; explain the picture; and tag 4 other people to participate. Here it goes:


This picture was taken this time last year when the girls and I were living with Nonie and Dagan waiting to move down to be with Woody. Arden was 22 months old and I remember wanting to take this pic b/c she just looked so sweet rocking her baby. I especially love her cute chubby legs with her ankles crossed!

So now I tag-
1. Hannah Armstrong
2. Allison Davis
3. Jenni Deal
4. Brittany Sivyer

Arden's made the switch...

to a toddler bed! Arden's crib was recalled a month or so ago, and so we decided it was time to move her into a bigger bed! We actually were given a toddler bed, so everything fell into place quite easily. She's been in the bed for 3 weeks now and has done marvelously! We really didn't know how she would handle the transition, but by God's grace, it has been such an easy switch! It also helps that she LOVES her new bed and for the first few days, she was practically begging us to go to bed. She loves being covered up with her quilt and hasn't once gotten out of bed at night. It did take a few days to get her to stay in her room for her nap, but now she's got the hang of it and reminds us to close the door on our way out. Below are a few pics the first night we set the bed up. The first picture is her waking up from her nap in her crib for the last time. After we got her out, she helped Woody take the crib down and bring the new bed in. The first few nights she had to have all her animals and babies close by as you'll see, but now she just wants "pink baby" when it's time to lay down.

Georgia girls

Well, these were actually taken the day of the FL game, but I just couldn't bring myself to post them that day! :) So, since we won this afternoon (not that it was a pretty win), I decided I'd go ahead and share them.

15 months

It's hard to believe our sweet little Esther is 15 months old! She is growing up so fast and getting into a whole lot lately! She's practically running, trying to keep up with her big sister, and she's our little climber as well. She loves being outside...she'll get her crocs on and go to the backdoor and say "go." And speaking of shoes, if she doesn't have any on, she'll find the closest pair and put them on-it doesn't matter who they actually belong to. Her new favorite things to do include taking and drinking from her sister's straw sippie cups, unloading book shelves, laundry baskets, etc. and talking. She's learning all sorts of new words, which has been so exciting to watch and hear. Her favorite song right now is "He's got the whole world in His hands." She puts her arms over her head and says, "worl." She has us sing it quite often! Esther's also becoming very independent, wanting to do things herself and letting you know when she's not happy with what you've said or done with her...isn't it a little early for this?? :) She keeps us on our toes, and I wouldn't have it any other way! She is such a delight and watching her makes my heart so full. She is a precious gift from our Lord!
We love you, Little Miss!
The pictures are some we took downtown yesterday, as well as a couple showing her love of shoes and books! (A note of thanks for her "wardrobe"...the "E" dress was a bday gift from Aunt Jenni and the peach colored dress was made by a sweet woman in our church!)

who turned the moon off?

Late this afternoon we were in the backyard, and I pointed out the moon to Arden. She acknowledged it was there and then a few minutes later said, "the moon, it's stopped." I tried to explain to her that it really wasn't stopped, but I'm sure you can imagine how that went trying to explain that to a 2-year-old! Anyway, a few minutes after that she said, "the moon, it's stopped. it's off." This made me laugh out loud!

trip to Birmingham

Two weeks ago today we made the 10 hour+ journey to Birmingham with the girls. It was a very last minute decision, but we're so thankful that we were able to go. Woody took a course and is now a "certified green professional" in the home building industry and I was able to get some down time to physically and emotionally heal from the miscarriage.
(On a side note, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement during this time! The LORD has been so faithful to heal and restore and continues to do so.)
We had a great week and were really able to relax and be refreshed. We were able to get a lot of good time with Woody's family and enjoyed being able to see our nephew, Kai, for the second time! Arden especially LOVED "Baby Kai" and was in his face every chance she got. Esther, on the other hand, wasn't too sure about Kai being in everyone's arms instead of her! We were also able to catch up with several longtime friends, which is always great for the soul! Even the girls got a chance to see friends while we were in town, not that Esther remembers anyone :), but Arden seemed to really enjoy seeing old friends again! And lastly, Woody and I got some much needed "date nights." Our weekly date night hasn't really existed since we moved, so it was really great to get time with just the two of us, and I know Nonie and Dagan loved having to take care of the girls. Two highlights of our time in B'ham were going to the fall festival at Nonie and Dagan's church and then going to the "Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch," one of my favorite things this time of year. And although the leaves haven't completely changed, the weather was cooler and it was so nice to experience a little fall! I could go on and on about our trip, but I'll just end and let you see the pics below...