Burke's Dedication

The weekend before Christmas, we had Burke dedicated at church. It was an extra meaningful day for our family, especially since our hearts were still heavy with grief from the Newtown tragedy. It's hard to believe that last December we were having the girls dedicated, and Burke was just a little bean in my belly. I was just starting to feel better from the first trimester sickness, and this year we have a beautiful baby boy. I never could have imagined how our family would look a year later! I continue to be in awe of what we did to deserve such incredible kids. 

Kyle's parents stayed with us that weekend and were able to attend the service, and my parents and sisters were also there. It meant so much to have so many loved ones there to celebrate our commitment to raise Burke to be a follower of Christ. 

Me and Burke (who couldn't resist grabbing the tree)

Daddy and Burke

Our crazy family

Nana and Papa

He loves the Christmas tree!

Kyle and I loved visiting with Pastor Sonny who prayed over us before the service. 

Big boy!

Kyle took this pic later that evening. I didn't realize how funny this was until Kyle went to get the camera. Pretty much sums up our chaotic life.  

Christmas pics to come soon!

xoxo

Burke {5} Months

Happy December! Burke thought he'd kick off his five month birthday and the month of Christmas with smiles galore today. I've said it once, and I'll say it again. This kid is the happiest, sweetest little ball of chub. He's definitely at an age where he is learning/discovering something new everyday. He's rolled from his tummy to back and back to tummy exactly one time each. It's like he had to prove to us he could do it, but now he's perfectly content just chillin' on his playmat. He adores his jumperoo and just smiles and bounces like crazy when he's in it. Although this past week he fought his first cough/cold and double ear infection :(, he was still the happiest sick kid I've ever seen. His sisters should take notes on that, drama queens. 

Here's a few things we've been up to this past month...

Could he smile any bigger? 

Looking dapper in his sweater.

I could kiss these lips all day.

Sophie teaching him about tractors.

Hi!

My little lamb after bathtime

Tummy time

The girls current favorite thing to do to Burke is rub the top of his head really fast with both hands. I think maybe they're practicing giving noogies?

Delcious hands

Our attempt at a family picture in Taloga for Thanksgiving

Riding Pookie Bob

Campbell and Daddy

Cousin Koleman thought it would be funny to put his hunting vest on Burke. 

Burke giggled for the first time when he was playing with Papa! It was hysterically cute, but of course he decided to stop once I pulled out the video. I still got a few cute pics, though. 

These girls would be naked from sunrise to sundown if I let them. 

My sweet CJ with the carpet burn on her nose that won't go away. 

She's still as cute as a button, in my opinion. 

This morning Burke found his feet for the first time while in his swing!

I have yet to fully complete his room to my liking and will be ordering some shelves and a piece of art that I finally decided on soon. I do, however, really love the little gallery wall above his crib. If you remember the girls' room, you know I love sentimental kids' rooms. I adore the faux deer head from Z Gallerie, found the Major League poster on Etsy (his dad's all-time favorite movies), the top picture is from Kyle's grandma and is a photo of downtown Taloga (Kyle's hometown) from the early 1900's. I just really liked the little fox picture from Etsy, and see below for the history of the bottom picture. 

This is a replica of my Mema's, and is a picture of my grandpa and Mickey Mantle with their highschool baseball team. He and my grandpa were really good friends for most of their lives. I'm fairly certain Kyle will let Burke know someday how cool this is. 

As a joke, they both wore their glove on the wrong hand for the picture. 

And this is a picture from my Dad's baby book. In the middle is my grandpa (so handsome!) and my dad. To the left, is Mickey's wife and their son, Mickey Jr who is a few months older than my dad. And Mickey is to the right. I had a copy made for Burke's bulletin board. 

That's a lot to cram in one post, but there you have it! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is as excited about Christmas as we are at the Nevels house! 

P.S. For a fun comparison, the girls at 5 months. ;)

Story Behind the Picture

This past weekend, we had family pictures taken. The true intent was to get my immediate family (Mom, Dad, sisters, grandkids) pictures taken, but we snuck in some family pics for our Christmas card, too. While I am always pleased with the end result, taking family pictures stresses me out more than anything on the planet. As my family can attest to, and I've confessed to previously, I turn into a maniacal, raging lunatic who screams at her children, sweats like a marathon runner in the heat of summer, and in general, am just a wretched person to be around for the duration of the photo shoot. It doesn't matter how much I "prepare myself" for the chaos that will ensue, I am unable to control the anxiety that comes over me every time. And to make matters worse, this time my mom was around to insert comments such as, "Stephanie, just take a deep breath. The girls and Burke can sense your anxiety. They'll calm down if you calm down." 

You can only imagine how helpful statements like these are in the middle of my wrath. 

That evening when I saw the miracle of photoshop final results, I was more than pleased with how sweet my children appeared, and how un-sweaty I appeared. I couldn't help but laugh, however, at the irony of this moment captured. Allow me to illustrate the events that transpired just moments before this picture was taken:

1. Burke screaming like crazy because he is approximately two hours overdue for a nap. I plucked out his paci and hid it behind Kyle about .2 seconds before our amazingly patient photographer snapped this.

2. If you super zoomed into my head here, you would see that my hair is actually wet on one side due to my anxious perspiration and attempting to manhandle all of my children into their proper positions. 

3. Campbell face down on the blanket crying because she is just plain mad at the world and wants 

n-o-t-h-i-n-g to do with taking pictures. 

4. To her credit, Sophie is just a rock star when it comes to taking pictures. She loves nothing more than being the center of attention, and absolutely eats it up when people try to make her smile. Especially adoring strangers. 

5. Kyle telling me that I'm "acting crazy again" and need to chill out. And also, "are we almost done?"

I know that when most people look at this picture, all they see is my adorable children, and two parents that are pretending to love taking family pictures. When I look at it, I see Campbell's whispy hair in her eyes and still red nose from a carpet burn 3 weeks ago, Burke being more fascinated with his hands than the camera lens, the excess weight I'm still carrying in my face from having three children in two years, and Sophie's neck of her dress stretched out because she insisted on pulling on it all morning. A lot of imperfections that sum up our family pretty well. 

So at the end of the day, I suppose I'll take our imperfect family, our messy hair, sweat, and double chins. 

In fact, I'm not sure I'd have a family picture any other way.  

Happy Holidays, friends. :)

xoxo

P.S. If you're looking for an awesome family photographer, check out our friend, Kat. She's amazing, sweet, and so patient with crazy kiddos. 

Yummy Crock Pot Meals

I'm pretty sure the cold weather is here to stay. At least this week. Last week I made the first pot roast of the year (but certainly not the last), and now I'm all gung ho about the crock pot because good golly it makes cooking 4,000 times easier around here. After about a 50% success rate of pinterest-found crock pot recipes, I'm a little hesitant to try many new ones. I find myself going to back to the tried and true favorites. So I thought I'd share two of my faves that I plan on making in the next few weeks.

Debbie's Chilli (I have no idea what the name of this is, but my most favorite boss ever used to make it once a year for all the teachers at my school. It's DELISH.)

1 lb. hamburger
1/2 lb. bacon-diced
1/2 c. onion chopped
1/2 c. catsup
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. mustard
2 T. vinegar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 can pork and beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can cooked large butter beans
1 can lima beans (optional)

Brown hamburger and bacon in skillet, dump all ingredients into crock pot and cook on low all day. OR Bake 45 minutes at 350. I omit a can or two of the beans because it makes A LOT. And beware...there are still quite a few beans in it! It's amazing with corn bread or over fritos with cheese.

Kay's Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1 can rotel
1 can diced tomatoes and onions
1 can ranch beans
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 pkg. taco seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Do not drain anything but the meat. Bring all ingredients to a boil then simmer. OR brown meat, drain, then dump everything in crock pot on low. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese or corn bread.

Oh and happy cyber Monday! Hope you all found a deal or two (or three or four like me)! Why is it that Kyle never gets as excited over 50% off sales as I do?

Happy cooking :)

xoxo

P.S. Another oldie but goodie from a few years ago.

My Little Skellies

What a difference a year makes...

xoxo

Burke {4} Months

There's something about saying "four months" that makes me gasp a little. Can it possibly already be that long since our little man came into this world? I mean, in two months he will be HALF a year old. And before we know it, he'll be shouting commands at me like "I neeeeeeeed juuuuuuuiiiiice" like his beloved older sister, Sophie, now does. Like all parents find out, our babies growing up is a bittersweet journey. I captured a few *adorable* pics (if I do say so myself) of my little charmer on his four month birthday. 

It's smiles like these that make me cover that sweet face with kisses.

 

Big boy sitting in his bumbo and playing with one of his sisters' old toys. Sorry about the pink, buddy. 

More often than not, Sophie can't contain all the love she has for her Burkey boy. She needs pretty constant reminders on how to "gently" hug her brother. 

We had several fun Halloween events this year. I'll do a separate post on that soon when I have more time and energy. ;)

xoxo

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

This morning I made the easiest and yummiest pumpkin recipe I think I've ever come across (which, if you know me, you know I've tried about anything with 'pumpkin' in the title). And by easy, I mean 2 ingredient easy.

1 box spice cake mix
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
(am I the only one who keeps at least 4 of these in her pantry this time of year?)

Bake 18-22 minutes at 350 in paper lined muffin tin.

Does it get any easier? They were a hit with our little playgroup (as evidenced by the 3 out of 12 remaining afterwards). My sister even brought some pumpkin butter to put on them. Too much pumpkin, you ask? Never.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween this evening!

xoxo