Just wanted to share this smiling face with you :). And in full disclosure when she saw the camera she stopped and smiled!

Arden Tailgating

I heart this store and can't wait to see what they have at their Holiday Open House!!

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner (such a cliche saying that I repeat every year)? We sent out our first Christmas card last year - it doubled as Arden's birth announcement as well but I am already looking forward to putting together this year's card. Checking the mail during the holidays makes me so happy - I sort through the junk and go straight to the cards we get from our friends. I put them on a door frame in our kitchen so we can see them and our company can check them out too. Taking down the cards is hard - mine usually don't come until February when most have fallen off and we are having to pick them up off the floor and retape them, I just don't like taking down all of those smiling faces! About this time of year everyone starts looking for their "Christmas card picture" and if they don't already have a favorite they are quickly scheduling time with a photographer to get the perfect family pic (I am guilty of that but it was also time for Arden's 1-year pics so I had a good excuse) - I am always so impressed with the families who use a beach picture that takes some real planning!

This year I am going to use Shutterfly for some of my Christmas cards. I am always torn between traditional cards or ones with bright colors (which is why I have to start thinking about it now!). These are some of my favorite:

If you don't need Christmas cards check out Shutterfly for whatever else you need: New Year's Cards or even Mother's Day cards and stationery. And Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE holiday cards to bloggers, click here for more info!

Merry Merry!

October 22nd was a special day at our house...it was Arden's first birthday! I think she knew that it wasn't just any regular day because she woke up in a GREAT mood (which she is much more of a morning person than I am). I took the day off of work so we could hang out together (I think a new Shipp family tradition), it was so nice to hang out in our pajamas and not be rushed to work and day care. We ran a few errands and got ready for the little cookout we had that night - this was the night before the 11:00 a.m. Ole Miss game so we kept things low key since everyone was going to the game ;). It was a really fun day overall and as our good family friend asked me "Aren't you glad you are where you are this year instead of where you were last year at this time?" (referring to the 29 hours of labor I had!). Yes, I was definitely glad I wasn't laid up in the hospital bed but I was more happy and proud of our one-year old little girl. I thought her birthday would be more sad but instead I was just so happy because she is at such a fun stage and she is so happy all of the time, she won't let me be sad! It has definitely been a great year and we look forward to many, many more birthdays. (Hint on the pictures -start at the bottom and work up, they are all backwards!)

All finished...can you get me out of here please?

Arden: "What is this you are trying to make me eat and why is everyone watching?"

Arden really wasn't sure about the cupcake, she gave it a try but wasn't really a fan. I feel like that is a good thing!

Eating off of the floor - this was their favorite part of the night :)

Olivia, Ryder, Rowe and Arden playing...look how Arden is so into Olivia, hanging on her every word!

Arden with her "Aunts" - she adores them!!

Arden's buddies - Ryder and Rowe with their dad Roman

Olivia and Arden

Leah Kate and Arden

Uncle Doug and Mary Beth...I love them!

Arden: "Today is my first birthday...I think I like this!"

Happy Birthday Arden!

We have a little catching up to do! I can't recap Arden's first year but I will give you some highlights from the past few months (in no particular order, I need to learn blogger better so I can get pictures in order!)...

We met our new bestie Ellison! She was born 10.13 and she has some catching up to do but as soon as she is able to "play" these two will be all over the place together. Isn't Ellison SO cute?!

Halloween! Last year Arden was only 9 days old so Halloween wasn't an event but this year Arden was a duck and she wore her costume proudly!

Ryder, Arden and Rowe...aren't the lion costumes amazing? They were SO cute! They even had their faces painted which is impressive!

They lions didn't know what to think of the duck at first - they had to check her out and make sure she was ok to ride in their wagon :).

Arden and Ellison's first Halloween together! Ellison was a Zebra and really rocked her costume - it was adorable.

Arden and Mommy together! Weren't the orange and yellow stripe tights the best part of the costume?

Arden and her friend Morgan (Elmo). Is he not SO cute? She loved his Elmo fur!

Arden the duck :).

Nan came to visit! We haven't seen her in a long time so she hung out for the weekend. Arden was too busy to sit for many pictures but this one is while we were tailgating and is really cute.

Arden is a champ at emptying the tupperware drawer! This is "her" drawer and she loves it. If she could only learn to clean up her mess :).

Until next time...

Well, here we are! In the blog world. For a while now I have had this on my "to do list" but now I consider "starting blog" done and done. I think this is what I want it to look like (although I am not a pink person at all). For the longest time my excuse for not starting it was I didn't know how I wanted it to look. Then my excuse was "what will I say?" and "who will care?" but then I realized I will just say what I want to say and then whoever wants to follow can :). This is really meant to share our life with everyone - sometimes it is exciting, sometimes it is quiet but we love every minute of it. Once we have moved :( I am hoping this will keep everyone up to speed on our life in the Northeast and with ALL of the blogs I "follow" I will be in the know with what is going on here (and elsewhere in the South). Speaking of blogs I follow, some of the people I know, some I don't. I have collected quite a list though! I heart the ones that are all about the South - these will help keep me grounded when I am surrounded by Northeasterners ;).

So I decided the first post should be Arden's 1 year pictures (as most posts will be). Jessica Ritchie is a fabulous photographer that I adore so much (personally and professionally). She took Arden's 6-month pictures as well and did an amazing job. I am anxiously awaiting our proofs from our shoot last week but she posted these sneak peeks on her blog.

Her lashes...enough said.

This one is great of Kevin and Arden (thank goodness a lady and her dog walked up behind Jessica so we got a real smile out of Arden). I have asked for some double chin removal via photoshop :).

Such a little sass pot in this one but I have to admit it is pretty cute!

Until next time...