Kylie's First Haircut

Yay! Kylie finally got her first haircut at 19 months old!
She has so much thick hair and it is growing really fast now. But it had gotten so long and stringy. It was just time. I wanted to cut it into a bob, but I think we will wait until next time to see how it will grow now that it has been cut. She was such a good girl and sat very still. She wasn't scared at all. Here are some pictures of her exciting morning at Pigtails and Crewcuts in Cumming.

Before we left. . .

Seconds before. . .

During. . . "Look how good I am doing!"

Almost done. . .

Yes, that's it! That is the look for me!
Aren't I cute?

Sorry guys, this post is not about the kids. No pictures. . .
I just wanted to share something that I learned this morning from our wonderful pastor at Stonecreek Church. It was too good not to share. The series is called Consumed. I missed the first week but went this morning and came away hearing a message that I feel God sent just for me. Its a series about how everyone today seems to be so concerned and worrying about all the possession we have or want(clothes, car, house, etc. ) instead of giving in time and service to others.
In my family, starting with events early last year we have tried to shift our focus away from all that we want to buy and only focus on what we really need. I am very grateful that my ears and heart were open to this message this morning.
I came away from this message with not just one meaningful message, but TWO! How great is that! All of us worry from time to time, but if you know me. . . I worry alot! I obsess over things I should not be obsessing over. Gracious, Kylie had a stomach virus on Friday and man, did that send me into a worrying frenzy!! Anyway I won't fill the blog full of the entire passages, but wanted to share several verses that I felt were very inspirational.
Matthew 7: 25-34,
1Peter 5:7
1Timothy 6: 17-19

Yay! Snow!

Well, we have SNOW! Even if it was a just dusting. . . ha! We were so excited to not have to go to school today!! It was a beautiful day of doing nothing except spending time together!

The girls couldn't wait to get outside in the backyard to play in the snow. Kylie stood by the door saying, "outside" over and over. Ansley tried to head out with her PJs on. She had no idea just how COLD it was outside. Chris and I had to work hard at redirecting her until a little later in the morning when the sun was actually shining.

This was Kylie's very first snow. I was pregnant with her the last time we had snow on the ground. She didn't seem over excited, just curious. She followed her big sissy around doing everything she did. She was a little reluctant to get down in it. They both just seemed to walk around, checking it all out. Chris was excited too. He made us some yummy snow cream! As Kylie says, it was "um, good!" However, there was no snowman this year! There wasn't enough on the ground. As one of my neighbors said in her facebook post this morning, we would have had to "borrow the snow from a neighbor" to get that task accomplished! :-)

Here are some pictures. We also have a video that I will get Chris to upload this weekend. Look for it on the YouTube videos.She is trying to act mature and collected here, but Maggie was more excited about the snow than the girls!

Do you see what I mean? She loved the snow!! She ran laps around the yard. She hasn't been this active in a LONG time! Go Maggie Go!

She was checking out the neighbors' snow

She finally got down in it!

All smiles! Ansley loves the snow. This is her second snow. She was 18 months when she first saw snow.

Enjoying some snow cream that Daddy made!

The Stinson Family on You Tube

You can now watch our family videos via our blog!
They will be listed on the right side of the blog. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

If you watch the first one until the end, Ansley sings a sweet little song.
If you watch the 3rd one all the way to the end, you will see a funny(or not so funny) ending to Ansley first experience in riding a bike. Shh!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. .. Welcome 2010! I am looking forward to what the new decade brings for my family! For the Stinson Family, 2009 was a year of filled with lots of ups and downs, blessings, new beginnings, new opportunites, second chances, and SO much more. From all of the experiences of 2009, I have grown as an individual, mom, sister, wife, and friend. Hopefully 2010 will be filled with much of the same.
By the way, I don't make New Year's Resolutions. However, one thing I hope to do different in 2010 is to be less stressed- Less stressed in general and certainly less stressed about all the things I cannot control. I feel that 2009 was a fast and frenzied year between balancing work, home, and 2 children under the age of 3 1/2-whew! My prayer for 2010 is that God will work through me to create a since of peace and clarity in my life.

On a different note, I actually had a few minutes to quickly read through Parents magazine yesterday. I came across an article that is called "The Daily Do". It is an article about daily challenges. I know, I know, my plate is "full" and running over the edge between work and my kiddos, but I thought the ideas were really cute. One of the ideas was from a mom who has taken pictures of her children every day of the year. Wouldn't we love to look back and see the faces of our children captured in pictures for a whole year?

Whether I can keep it up or not(I certainly can not promise to post everyday),but here is my 1st picture of 2010!

Kyky, Uncle Shawn, Ansley, and Eden

Happy Birthday Eden! We love you!