Unwinding from the Holidays...

Hello! Wow. It's been awhile. So.. let's catch up! The holidays at the Neely's were quite busy! We had such a great Christmas. I cannot explain the excitement we had giving Caitlyn presents this year and watching her open them. Being a mommy is one of the greatest joys one could ever experience. I am so thankful the Lord has allowed us to have such a precious and sweet little girl. She learned so much this Christmas. She learned all about Jesus' birth, we went to "Bethlehem" almost every day over the season- per her request, and we taught her all about the Christmas traditions. Teaching a child and watching them grow- watching their little minds develop brings so much amazement and responsibility. Oh how I long to teach her the ways of the Lord. Well, I could go on and on about all of this. But, instead, I will post lots of pictures to show what's been going on around here. Enjoy!

 She got a slide!

 Cookies! Nathan made these- it includes everyone from his immediate family growing up. I'll get another pic up of the whole board when I do a "cookie post" coming up!

 We made these for all his brothers- who love nintendo! Hehe..

 And.. she got a kitchen! What a blessing.

 And a Bitty Baby from her great-grandma!

 And a train table.. I know. It was basically free though. (For my defense) ;)

 Hammock in the snow! (Nate's christmas present)

Reading the paper!- I love it.

More pics and updates to come! We've had an unbelievable amount of snow the past week- AND, I've been baking away! Until next time...

New Passions

I feel that as a Mom, I need to find some things I enjoy doing that take me out of the "role of mommy," even if only for a moment. Something to lose myself in, per-say. Today it was baking and decorating cookies. So. Much. Fun.

Thanks to my friend Elizabeth, I have a new loved sugar cookie recipe, along with a new loved blog: i am baker. Honestly, I LOVE to cook, but am not usually too fond of baking. Actually, Nathan does most of the baking in our house. He has more patience than me. =) However, I had a great time baking these cookies and have discovered a new passion- and I'm afraid I see much more time and energy being put toward this in my near future!

Here are some pictures of my first-ever baked and decorated sugar cookies (at least that I can remember):

I opted for some cheap icing decorating tips- which I won't do again. I plan to buy some more soon in order to optimize my cookie-decorating abilities. I'm excited to see if they turn out any better- we'll see together if this is a passion I should regularly pursue or not.. hehe.

Well, there are my thoughts of the day! Hope everyone is doing well, seeing they are blessed, and seeking to enjoy this fun season that only comes once a year.

Life as a Blogger

Here is my first attempt at blogging! This blog will be dedicated to our family life and the happenings thereof. My prayer is that each one who reads this will get a glimpse into our world in order to pray, encourage, and most of all be encouraged- for the glory of God. He is so good.

So... here goes.