embassy "sweets" :)

daddy had to be out of town all week for work, so he invited keller and i to come stay with him.  it was keller's first stay at a hotel, and i have to say (not surprisingly) that he was a fantastic little boy!!  he slept like an angel every night we were there in his pack'n'play.  he and i shopped all day every day while we were there and he was such a trooper!  i am trying to enjoy this time that i can tote him along on all the girly things i love to do before he can say "aw, mom...you've gotta be kidding me!"  i honestly can't say enough how much God has blessed us with such a sweet, easy and HAPPY little man.  he makes this parenting thing seem easy.  i meant to take some pictures of him during his first stay but we were having too much fun...so this is all you get :)

new playmat!!

this is my latest project...completed.  even if you think you are not "crafty" or someone who can sew, this is a project you can do.  it was so so simple.  i followed a pattern for sizes, simplicity 4225.  the pattern also has highchair covers, grocery cart covers, little bags, a bunny rabbit, boppy covers and this playmat.   the whole thing took me about 2 hours from cutting out the pattern to finishing the last stitch, so not only is it simple but it's quick!  it's a great size and has a fleece center so it provides some cushion for my bitty baby when he's playing on it.  i recommend giving it a try :)

the front of the mat, quilted with 5 different patterns....

the back, you can use the same pattern as one of your front pieces or something totally different....

the finished prodcut, the sides are bound with orange (keller's favorite)  :)

i think he was saying "thanks mommy, i love it!!"  ;)  

playing on his new mat, showing off his rolling over skills...

such a handsome model

community group

this week we had our first official community group meeting!  it was so much fun, there were only about 9 of us (not counting all the fun kiddo's)   we played apples to apples and just got to fellowship and laugh.  we are going to be meeting on sundays at 6:30, and i'm already looking forward to next week at ed's!!

abby and jeannie in deep thought...hey there jaxon

matt thinking he has the perfect card, i'm sure shelley won that hand though :)

so much fun!  can't wait to see you all next week!

edmond friends...

we got to go see karsten in the hospital on wednesday, but chris had to miss out.  so we made a trip up to edmond so chris could meet him, and so keller could see his new friend one more time :)

keller having so much fun talking to jonathan about how cute karsten is :)

i'm sure there will be many more of these taken over the next 20+ years...the boys will get bigger and we will get smaller :)

lunch with the fuqua's..party of 6.5

kirk and heather are friends of ours (kirk used to be our boss) from edmond.  their CUTE little girl chloe is almost exactly 1 year older than keller.  she was born october 27th, 2008, and keller was born october 21st, 2009.  we haven't seen them since keller was born, so this was his first time meeting these fun friends of ours that we miss dearly!  we had so much fun eating at mama roja's with them, and of course getting to see all the new tricks that chloe has learned since we last saw her.  can't believe how grown up she is and to think that keller will be that big in just a year's time!  they are expecting baby girl #2, bella reese, in march and we can't wait to meet her!  so much fun getting to see you guys, we'll do it again soon :)

chloe checking out keller...not sure what she thinks 

heather and i with the babies...well 1 baby and 1 big girl :)  if you look close you can see bella (well you can see heather's bump)

the daddy's with their first born

i love this one :)  chloe likes to give kisses, and keller is clearly just an irresistible little guy

coach atchley

chris is coaching an upward basketball team at our church....5th and 6th graders.  if any of you have seen the "how i met your mother" episode where marshall coaches the kids team, where they don't keep score, it's all just for fun etc....well that is kind of what we have going on every saturday at noon :)  chris is convinced that the other team has 6th graders that are 6 ft tall, but i think it's just his imagination haha!  chris did a fantastic job in his coaching debut!  it was so cute to see all the little kids out there having a great time, and learning about God's mercy and grace in the process.  i am looking forward to the next 7 weeks and cheering on the wolverines!!

coach atchley giving nicholas a fist pound!

running out after half time :)

all 10 of his little wolverine's getting some pre-game instruction from the referee.

another addition to team atchley...

no, we are not pregnant :)  on tuesday january 12th at 9:39 a.m. our friends kristin and jonathan atchley (no relation) had their first little boy...karsten ace atchley.  we couldn't wait to get up and visit him and see how sweet his little face looked!  jonathan and chris were roommates in college and we have been good friends with them since before any of us were married.  we used to joke that we would all get married and have boys that would be best friends and teammates in little league...well as God would have it, that all played out!  the bummer is that we moved 90 miles away, so we won't get to see them as often or have as many play dates as we'd like, but we still hold out that we'll be moving both of them into dorms at osu in 18 years :)  congratulations kristin and jonathan!  your little man is absolutely precious!

the boys meeting for the first time, keller looked like a giant next to karsten!

4 atchley's .... 4 friends :)  

karsten and keller checking each other out...future roomates :)

Karsten Ace Atchley...sporting the onesie that we got him :)

counting down to spring training....

keller was getting excited to cheer on the cardinals, so we busted out the fredbird onesie :)  i wonder if this will still fit him when he is the starting left handed pitcher for the cards??

All tuckered out...

This is the cool new play mat that aunt carrie, uncle kevin and jackson got keller for Christmas, he absolutely LOVES it and thinks the moo cow is so funny.  I can lay him on this mat and he will just smile and coo and laugh at the cow...i think it's because there is a mirror on the cow and he really enjoys looking at himself, he's so vain   :)  i laid him on his mat so aunt maggie and i could talk and he was just talking up a storm, then i realized after a couple minutes that he'd gotten very quiet, i looked over and this is what i saw...poor little guy had worn himself out.  we love this toy, thanks miller's :)

isn't he the cutest little sleeper you've ever seen??

looking back on 2009, a wonderful year...

with 2010 underway, i have seen some people who have done a month my month review of 2009 and i think that's a fantastic idea.  2009 was a very big year for us, with some months being much more eventful than others.  i tried my best to highlight the most important things, so here goes!

january 2009...

starting the first monday in january, i went to work for kirk fuqua state farm, yes the same office chris was working in.  so many people told us that we would regret this, or that it would be tough on us and our marriage.  i have to say that after working together for 6 months, we could not disagree more.  we felt that the 6 months we spent working together, a mere 10 feet from one another were some of the most fun we've had!  we definitely were spoiled by this situation and found it a hard one to transition out of, but there is a season for everything.  i wish i would've known how much i'd love working for state farm, because i would've made the move much earlier.  it's a fantastic company and one i'm proud to be a part of still!  like a good neighbor right?  :)

february 2009...

we enjoyed celebrating valentine's day...we had started trying to get pregnant in the middle of january and were hoping for some good news by valentine's day, so we were a little bummed to have no news to share on february 14th...

but then 3 days later, we found out we were PREGNANT!!  we were so so so excited!  chris was still at work when i took the test, i took 5 before i told him that evening...i wanted to be sure :)  i made him brownies that said "congrats daddy" to tell him the good news!

march 2009...

we had our first doctors appointment and got the first official picture of the little atchley that was growing in my belly.  here he is at just 7 weeks and 2 days old :)

april 2009...

we celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  they say time flies when you're having fun and let me tell you that first year went by at super sonic speed!  i can't believe still how lucky i am to have married my absolute best friend and i still take for granted how he builds me up daily.  i wouldn't be myself without him, i love you christopher!

may 2009...

we found out we were having A BOY!!  we were both so thrilled, although i'll admit chris was more excited than me, as i think most dad's are when they find out they are going to have a little mini-me to play catch with, teach life lessons to and raise up into a young man.  we have a family tradition of going to bedlam baseball every year, and since we are such big baseball fans, we used this opportunity to tell our family that we were having a boy

our "england" family, enjoying the bedlam baseball tradition...note we bleed orange!

june 2009...

we took a family vacation with our wonderful atchley family.  we went to orange beach and had a blast!  carrie did all the planning so we just got to enjoy the fruits of her labor, it was so relaxing and enjoyable.  we celebrated my 25th birthday while we were there, i felt so blessed to get to share it with my amazing in-laws, i'm a very spoiled girl.  bare in mind that i'm 22 weeks pregnant in this picture, so don't hate the bump!

while we were in florida, we found out that we SOLD OUR HOUSE!  after only 6 days on the market, the only words to describe this were "thank you God!"  we know that he had his hand in every step of our moving process and it was so evident.  i still miss our house in edmond sometimes, it was the first house we had together and i have such fond memories of our time there...but it does not compare to where God has taken us today.

july 2009...

after 19 months with kirk fuqua statefarm, chris took a new job (still with state farm) at the agency field office in lawton, ok.  it was a wonderful opportunity for chris to advance his career with state farm and it has proved to be something that chris really LOVES to do.  i am so proud of my husband the hard worker that he is.  he is not recognized enough for all the fantastic things he does for the company he works for...so proud of you sweetie pie!

august 2009...

on august 7th, we OFFICALLY moved to duncan, ok.  after living in a pretty urban area for the previous few years it has definitely been an adjustment, but one that we were more than happy to make and we absolutely love it here.  we are thankful that God chose to move us to such a wonderful small town where we can be close to family and that he blessed us with a gorgeous new home...here is a tiny picture

september 2009....

getting bigger all the time, i think this picture might actually be from october, but you get the point, waiting around and getting bigger

we also spent the month getting keller's nursery ready for his arrival.  it's crazy to look back at this and remember how it felt to not have him here with us, he definitely increased the cute factor when we laid him in his crib for the first time :)

october 2009....

october 21st at 3:40 in the morning we welcomed our beautiful baby boy keller oran atchley into the world.  our lives changed drastically, definitely for the better and we already can't imagine ourselves without him.  God truly blessed us with the best baby, we know it's not always this easy, so we are thankful!

november 2009...

we celebrated our first thanksgiving as a family of 3!  keller was a big hit of course as the cutest little turkey :)

we had lots of family visit when keller was born, but we were blessed to have our family from alabama come during thanksgiving so we were able to spend more time with them and really enjoy their visit...thanks for making the 13 hour drive!

december 2009....

we played mary, joseph and baby Jesus in our church's Christmas play.  it was such a fun experience that we almost passed up.  my dad was also in the play as one of the 3 wisemen, he and keller had a special role, it brought the house down :)

clearly 2009 was a big year for us, and one that we will always look back on with happy memories.  however, we are so excited to see what God has in store for us this year, hopefully i will do a much better job of blogging...cheers to 2010!