Happy Valentines Day!

My heart is full every day with love from these two girls. 

Dakota at daycare with her Valentines bag for treats from her friends.

Our girl's Valentines, goldfish and "I'm hooked on you!"

Mackenna tells me every day how much she loves me, and there is no gift greater than that. 

Bathroom Renovation

This past month, Ben and I embarked on renovating and updating almost every aspect of our small half bathroom downstairs. In time, we plan to update almost all rooms in our new home. Some rooms we have planned for only light touches of updates, and other rooms (such as this dated bathroom) needed a full "gut job!" We are going with a farmhouse feel for our new home, and this bathroom equipped with wood tile, ship lap and distressed wood, is a great start.

I should note, Ben did everything himself from soup to nuts. I can take credit for the design, but Ben's handy work did the rest. (Hey, someone had to watch the kids right?)

The space feels so bright, crisp and clean. And no, we do not miss the green toilet. Or green sink. Or green walls. 

Before & Afters   

Dakota's 1st Birthday Party

A few weekends ago we celebrated our littlest girl's first birthday. We went with a winter ONEderland theme, appropriate for our January babe. This past year with Dakota has been a joy. Being a mom to two kids instead of one has been a whirlwind and quite frankly, harder than I thought. There is rarely a moment of calm in our house, until the girls are in bed. Lucky for us, Dakota has been the most amazing baby. She is such a calm, observant girl. People always comment on how beautiful her blue eyes are. She loves her big sister, and within these last few weeks they have really started to play together.  I'll always remember her first year as the year that Mackenna called her "Toey" (its already going away, as Mackenna has started to call her Kota now.) The party was a great bash with family and friends at our new home! 

Carrying on the tradition of making our girl's birthday cakes.

Cousins

 Sara, Kyle and my little birthday twin Grace

Dakota and her daycare buddy, Edy

Sisters, Month by Month

One year of being sisters!

I'm One Year Old!

• I can say Momma, Dadda, and ba ba ba. 
• I am trying to pull myself up to standing, but I'm not quite there yet.
• I nap once a day.
• I am done with bottles, and drink whole milk.
• I snack and play with my big sister.
• I am a very light sleeper. I awake easily to noises.
• I love to play peekaboo.
• I am so easy going.
• I love to open and close cabinets.
• I laugh when my big sister plays with me and I pretend to push her over.

Sunday River

What a great way to kick off the new year. We started 2015 with Mackenna's first ski lessons, a day at the slopes for Ben and I, and fresh air for all of us.

Is there anything sweeter than this smile?

Check out that view!