Wordless Wednesday.

Forever captured.

I first began my blog in September of 2006, only to quit after the first entry, ha! I later picked it back up in June of 2008, just a couple of months before Tilly was born. I love blogging. I love to journal and document events in our life. I love posting pictures of my adorable children, and I love getting comments! This brilliant company came up with an idea of printing and binding your blog for a small fee, ha! For Christmas this year, David's parents gave me a gift card, so you can imagine my haste in wanting to forever capture these precious memories with our family. Saturday night when we came home, this brown box was sitting on our front porch. Don't you love when you get brown boxes in the mail?

May I present to you The O'Dell Family forever captured?

All 274 pages! I guess I blogged a lot in 2010. In fact, when I tried to put it together the first time, it said I exceeded the 1500 picture limit by 12, so I had to go in and delete some blog posts that weren't really relevant to our family, but were maybe just announcements of things going on locally.

Our party of six, established in 2010, thanks to the birth of a certain Story Leigh.

It even had a place for me to write a dedication.

I only printed the 2010 edition of my blog, and I look forward to going back and printing 2009 and 2008 as well. My first entry came on January 3, 2010, the last day before we went back to school after Christmas holidays.

The last entry was on December 30, 2010, a write up of my birthday celebration in Arkansas, with sweet friends. Thanks, Papa and Gigi, for my gift card. I am so thankful to have these memories forever captured for our family to share.

Another weekend at Shelter Cove.

Last Friday after school, David and Story picked up the rest of us and we headed north to Cleveland, Georgia, via BPS, so David could spend his gift cards from Christmas. It was wonderful to get away and spend time with my sister's family. They were such sweet hosts, and we were quite sad to leave.

There's a motley crew for you!

Summer and Zoie.

One of the main reasons for our visit was so David could hunt with Scott. In fact, not only did they hunt, but they got to do some trout fishing too. Sadly, this little "bunny" is the only thing they got! Sometimes, though it's not about the kill, but the enjoyment of the hunt.

Tilly "helping" Story eat her new favorite thing, puffs! She also ate some more table food this weekend, green beans and loved them!

Haleigh loved playing with Story this weekend. She was so helpful with feeding her and entertaining her. I'm sad I didn't take more pictures while were there, but I'm thankful I managed to snap a picture of these two. Thank you, Holland family, for welcoming all six of us into Shelter Cove. We loved our time together!

Wordless Wednesday.

Snow day, which became snow week.

It all began Sunday night, with a phone call from Miss Virginia, which led to a no school snow dance in the kitchen with my party of six. We were so excited for a snow day. Funny enough, there was not even any snow falling from the sky at the time! But it didn't take long. Pretty soon, this is the view from our front porch. Beautiful. There's just something magical about snow, don't you think? The way it falls so quietly and blankets the whole earth, just beautiful, heavenly.

In a matter of minutes, our ground was covered, completely covered with this beautiful, white powder. We ended up getting between 5-6 inches. The snow itself is not what kept us home for so many days. Once the snow fell, the freezing rain began covering the snow with about an inch of ice. The temperatures did not get out of the 20s for most of the week, so the roads might thaw a little bit during the day, but at night they would refreeze causing a mess on the roads. It doesn't help that the city of Atlanta, population of 4+ million only has 10 snow plows! Yikes!

The children were beyond excited, Mommy too! What a treat for this working mommy to spend some days at home with my little family! I loved it.

Now, I'm not gonna lie. I may have had more than one of these each day. Don't judge. I didn't leave the house for 5 days!

Here are the children out in the snow for the first time. By this point, the ice was already covering the snow, so the girls didn't love it so much!

Carter had so much fun, and he would have stayed out all day had we let him.

We cooked a lot, including the yumminess that is snow ice cream. It was so delicious!

We played a lot. And for the most part, everyone got along really well. No one got sick either, for which I am very thankful!

The big 3 enjoying snow ice cream a la brownie.

And the little one. Well, she deserves a whole post to herself. She changed so much while we were home; it was like she grew up over snow week! She got two new teeth, her top fangs just like her big brother and sisters, which according to our pediatric dentist is an anomaly in itself. As if this isn't enough, Story is pulling herself up on the furniture, and she ate her first table food this week, nothing fancy, just mac and cheese. She loved it!

We played dress up. May I introduce Miss Claus with her tiny reindeer? Buzz Lightyear, who comes in peace, and pretty little butterfly.

This Cinderella doesn't need a carriage; she's got a mini cooper!

The highways were closed outside, so we made our own roads inside. And we might have stayed in our pajamas all week, but I'll never tell for sure.

Life is highway, I wanna ride it all night long!

If you're going my way, I wanna drive it all night long.

Lightning McQueen doen't have anything on these 3!

Snow week was so amazing! So thankful for precious, uninterrupted time at home with my family. It's like the Lord knew we needed time just to be at home together and rest, and He provided it in the most amazing way. I will definitely never forget snow week; it completely rocked!

Tilly's namesake.

Just before church began this morning, I received this text on my phone:

Layover in Atlanta this afternoon, praying they bump us for an overnight visit :)

What! This precious text came from my dear friend, Brooke Barney Miller. David and I met Brooke better known to us as Mardye during the summer of 2003, at MFUGE in Nashville, where we were all three on staff together. Since camp, we have only seen Brooke a handful of times, the most recent being just after Carter was born. You can only imagine how excited I was for a chance to see my sweet friend today. And see her I did, with my Tilly girl in tow! It was only appropriate for Tilly to meet this precious woman for whom she is named. Needless to say, they hit it off immediately. Sadly, they did not get an overnight layover, but 40 minutes with my friend left me with a smile on my face and a heart full of joy.

Brooke with Tilly Brooke. Brooke is such a remarkable woman of God, and I pray my Tilly girl will grow up to love Jesus as much as her namesake.

Love these sweet smiles. So fun to see the two of them together.

I can't even remember what was so funny, but boy it felt good to smile and laugh with a sweet friend!

I don't know if you have been to the airport lately, but in the middle of the waiting area is a huge dinosaur, and Tilly was just amazed!

Jason, thank you for sharing your sweet bride for an hour; I can't wait to meet you. Brooke, thank you for taking time to visit with us and for rearranging your flight schedule to make it possible! My life is sweeter and richer because you are in it.

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Well, today made snow day #5 at home for O'Dell party of six! I can't even believe it; we actually missed an entire week of school, wow. It has been such a fun week, too. More on that coming in a later post. I think I am still processing or waking from a week of being in my pajamas all day, same difference I suppose. Tonight we busted out and left Brooks Drive in our rear view mirror. I had not been out of the house since Sunday with the exception of a not so quick run to Sonic for some diet vanilla goodness. Our party of six headed to Marietta for a night out on the town, well as out on the town as you can get with four little people, ha! Once we got home, it was time for bed. I couldn't help but snap of few shots of my precious little ones getting ready for bed.

I mean, just look at that face. Couldn't you just eat her up? Don't worry, I do on a daily basis, even more this week being home with her so much, what a treat.

Big brother helping to put his little sisters to bed. Have no fear, though. She only has eyes for her daddy. What a precious look of adoration.

Tilly Brooke wanted in on the picture taking, which is rare for her, so I took her up on it! Yes, she is still in a crib. Don't judge. We are way out numbered, so we are keeping her confined as long as we can. Besides, she can easily climb out of it and does on a regular basis.

This little one loves her bed and loves to sleep, thank goodness for that!

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Guide me safely through the night,

And wake me with the morning light.

Amen.

I'm lovin' it!

At the beginning of the school year, I discovered something yummy at this place!

If you are a coffee fan, and you have not discovered the McCafe, then you are missing out. It all began with a dollar special on a latte. A latte for a buck! That's the trick of it though. You can get the latte for a dollar for a week, then you are hooked and forced to pay full price in the following weeks. It's not just a plain latte either. You can choose to have nonfat milk, which I did, and you can get a variety of syrups, including sugar free, which I did. Delicious! As you can imagine, such goodness can wreck havoc on your wallet. So, I was more than thrilled when I received this for Christmas from David's parents.

My very own latte machine!

I'm lovin' it!

Wordless Wednesday.