Actually...

Conversation between Luke and me:

Luke: You have a big nose.
Me: (laughing) I have a big nose?
Luke: Actually, it is quite big.

What, what? He sure knows how to make a lady feel good ;)

Ornaments - Second Tradition

Our second Christmas tradition has to do with ornaments. Some people do a color theme when they decorate their tree. Those trees look SO coordinated, sophisticated, and pretty. Of course, this wouldn't do for the Mancini Family tree. Our tree seems more like an ode to pop culture. Sounds a bit more like us, doesn't it?

The tradition started with Dan's parents and has been carried into our family. Each year we get an ornament that says something about that year. For example, we have an ornament called "Christmastime in the City", which we got the year we spent Christmas in Chicago. There is a calculator ornament received the year I started at Ronald Blue & Co. Sometimes things are made into an ornament like the tiny toy model of a Miata that has a hook around one of the tires so it can hang on the tree each year. (Yes, I used to drive a Miata. In three years, I've gone from a Miata to a mini van. Crazy!)

Every year we remember the significance of each ornament as it's placed on the tree. Usually, there's a yearly family ornament and one for each child. Luke and Maddie will get their ornaments when they are grown and on their own. They will have a tree full of childhood memories which they can share with their children. So fun!

Without further ado, here are this year's ornaments:

The family ornament.
We had a photographer meet us at Stone Mountain this year.
It was so fun and the photos were fabulous!


One of Luke's favorite cartoons is the Little Einsteins.
This plays the theme song and he loves it!

Maddie's is called "Living on Baby Time".
Feeding time, diaper time, play time, diaper time.
Yep, that sums up the second half of this year :)

This year we added a forth ornament and it has special meaning for us.

"Every life leaves something beautiful behind"

Dan's Gram passed away this year. I wish you could've know her because you would've loved her. She was filled with love for Jesus and life. She was so fun to be around and had a fabulous sense of humor. She was also instrumental in my accepting Christ. She is getting to celebrate the birth of Jesus in his presence. How cool is that?

This is one of my favorite traditions that we have. I hope Luke and Maddie come to enjoy it as much as I do.

6 Months!

Maddie is six months old. Can you believe that? She is such a great baby and I'm lovin this stage!! She crinkles her nose when she smiles really big. It is SO cute. She can now rollover from back-to-front and front-to-back. She can access items on the floor by rolling back-and-forth until she can reach them. She is currently cutting her first teeth and this has been high drama. She has a pretty low pain tolerance and we have had some sleepless nights as a result.

Here are some current pictures of the princess...

She now has enough hair to wear bows. Yeah!!

She is looking at her daddy. Can you tell she adores him?


I just want to eat her up!

Christmas Cookies - First Tradition

This is the first year that Luke is really into Christmas. It is so fun to see him get excited about the holiday season and I've been thinking about what I want our family Christmas traditions to be. In preparation for putting up the Christmas tree, I decided Luke and I would make Christmas cookies for the family to eat while trimming the tree. This was the very first time Luke and I were going to work in the kitchen and I was unsure of how it would go.

"It's going faster and faster and faster!!"
He seemed to enjoy the KitchenAid mixer as much as I do :)

I would measure the ingredients and he would but it in the mixer.
It was a great time to practice counting.

Luke exclaimed, "Lots and lots of SUGAR!!"

He enjoyed using the cookie cutters and making all the different shapes.

At this point, we are having fun and I'm so glad this is an activity we will do each year.

The result of eating too much cookie dough.
I'm starting to wonder why I thought baking cookies together was a good idea.

Luke's response to not being able to eat all the cookies we baked in one sitting.
All I wanted to do was create some freaking memories.

Our cookies and hot chocolate that we enjoyed while decorating the tree.
The memories of baking cookies are all good. I'm looking forward to next year.