Evie {one year}

Baby girl is ONE!

Momma had a hard time with it for a little bit.

But something happened to her when she passed that year mark.

She got even cuter.

{I know... is that even possible?!}

She also got even more spunky and feisty.

Her little {BIG} personality just cracks us up and we are having so much fun watching her become her own little person.

At one year Miss Evie is:

*still "teacup" sized and weighing in at 18.7 lbs

*walking all by herself! She hasn't figured out how to stand up without holding on to something yet, but she can walk anywhere she wants

*climbing on EVERYTHING

*eating EVERYTHING and stealing your food. She is very very sneaky sir.

*dancing any time she hears music or someone singing

*a mess maker - her favorites are pulling the cushions off of the couch, emptying the tupperware drawer, and pulling all of the clothes out of the hamper

*talking up a storm. Words we understand: Momma, Daddy, Silas (Die Die), Hi, Hey, Hello

She talks constantly but most of the time we have no idea what it means.  She also "fusses" at toys and inanimate objects when they don't do what she wants. That's pretty hilarious.

*She signs please, thank you, more, finished, and sometimes help.  She has also started pointing to things and my favorite to ask her is "Where is Evie?" and she smacks her chest with fervor. :)  The only body part that she is interested in pointing to is her bellybutton.  I go over all of the others with her daily, but the bellybutton is the only one she cares about. :)

*nursing twice a day, morning and night.  She gets cold whole milk in a bottle before and after nap.

*climbing the stairs.  Silas has a hard time remember to close the gate behind him and more than one time I have "lost" her only to find her upstairs in his room giggle like a school girl and looking so proud. 

*still in her infant carseat.  Poor thing might be 3 before she can face forward!

*still friendly to EVERYONE and makes a normal shopping trip take twice as long as it should because she talks to everyone and everyone comes to talk to her. :)

We had a little party to celebrate and it was a perfectly beautiful day for it. Evie enjoyed opening her gifts and she devoured her cupcake.  She ate every.single.bit of it, icing included, except for the tiny bit that got flung on the wall in her excitement. :)

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you and your spunkiness!

Check out the new TANKS!

Rachel added some awesome tanks to the Love With Abandon shop.

They are a flowy racerback tank and I am smitten with them.

And the best part - they are just $20!

Like everything else in the shop, 100% of the proceeds go to orphan care.

Click each tank to view in shop

Don't you want one of each?!

Love with Abandon

Hello friends!

So the blog got a makeover...what do you think?  I still have lots of work to do (like put something other than "coming soon!" on all of the pages!), but I love the new look. More on who did it for me to come.

Today I want to tell you about a very neat project that I had the honor to be a part of recently: the Love With Abandon Project.

My friend, Rachel, started this project with the goal of raising $6000 and dividing it evenly among 6 different ministries/families that are devoted to orphan care and prevention.  She tells the story of what prompted her to start the project here.  I urge you to read it and check out each of the ministries that will benefit from it. 

She has a store set up and 100% of the proceeds go toward this project.  There are shirts (from infant to adult sizes!), stickers, posters, bags, and bracelets.  

How awesome would it be to fill your loved one's Easter baskets with some fun stuff that would help ministries educate and empower families to stay together and also support the care and adoption of existing orphans INSTEAD of (or at least in addition to) candy?

Rachel is placing her first order of shirts today so if you want yours in time for Easter you better scoot on over there and fill up that shopping cart!

To keep from bombarding you with tons of pictures, here is a sample of a few things she has in the shop.

I designed all of these. Click each picture to go shop!

Love with Abandon dolman style tee $20

Speak Up slouchy long sleeve tee $30

Ethiopian hut classic tee - $20 adult, $15 infant and children

Hut tee - infant and children $15

 Speak Up tote bag $20

 All of these come in different styles and colors and don't forget there are other goodies besides shirts in the store too!

SHOP HERE

Thanks for supporting this project!