Merry 1st Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Snow, toys, and daddy - we've had a great day, hope you have too! 'Joy to the world - the Lord has come - let Earth receive her KING!'

10 Months!

B was 10 months last week! On the very day she "turned" 10 months old, she took her first un-assisted step...and both of her parents missed it! Matt was at work :( and I was busy with small group. At least Marlee and Meredith saw it while I was trying to get the VCR to work! I got her to do a couple more the next day for me and Matt, but wow, it was painful. She's wanting to move but the connection isn't quite there yet between brain and foot! She's cute trying though! Here are a few things B is doing at 10 months!

- you enjoy exploring - its keeping me busy!

- you enjoy playing with your toys in your "play pen"

- you love your bottle - i think its the highlight of your day

- you are eating pretty well - your favorites are green beans, blueberries, oranges, and toast!

- you are working on the sippy cup but aren't great at it yet

- you are crawling really well and standing up a lot - walking is a ways off but you are on the move!

- you are wearing 12 mo + clothes, just depends on the brand

- you smile a lot and laugh at mom and dad when we play with you

- you HATE getting your diaper changed or your clothes changed

- you are trying to go from 2 naps a day to 1 and i'm fighting it :)

- when you laugh it makes the world right! its the best noise i've ever heard!

- you are starting to get more hair - so hopefully people won't think you are a boy anymore! hairbows here we come

- you are sometimes interested in Elle, other times you are annoyed by her

- you sleep great at night - 8pm to 7ish am

Do you ever feel like Jesse Spanno?

Because I do! "I'm so excited...I'm so excited...I'm so...scared!!!! ....There's never enough time!!!!!!!!!!!" Yes, its the most wonderful time of the year with no extra time to blog! This is what we've been up to! More soon...

Picked out a Christmas tree with dad...his favorite day of the year :)

Got a Christmas picSaw Bebe and Mister...they helped us decorate...open your eyes Mister!Went to Dothan to visit uncle J And Nanny and Papa! Loved their tree!!!

Shutterfly Rocks!

So...here's my blog shout out to shutterfly. I love them - we have created so many fun memories on this website. We have done Christmas cards for several years, we have created many photo albums of trips, birthdays, etc; and we have made my mom a photo calendar every year for her Christmas gift. I really love the calendar - you should make one for a family member this year...its the gift that keeps on giving photo-wise all year! You can personalize it to include all family birthdays and special holidays. Here's the link for the calendars...www.shutterfly.com/calendars

We really have enjoyed these calendars for years - we have tried other sites but none compare in quality to shutterfly.

We are for sure going to order Christmas cards from shutterfly this year - see this link to browse their cards. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/flat-stationery-cards

For those of you who blog...you too can blog about shutterfly and get 50 of your Christmas cards for free! Just go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Enjoy! We love you shutterfly!

Christmas Hats!

We've had some serious fun making and wearing Christmas hats this week! Brooklyn and Avie were great models for me...let me know if you want to order one! They are$15 but if you order two they are $25. I can do any color scheme you want and I can also put a flower instead of the pom poms on top of the ones below.

Brookie sporting the striped hat
Two pom poms on this one!

One pom pom on this one

Avie cakes was a great model! I miss her already!

Salsa-rific

So last weekend we got to have dinner w/ some great resident friends. Thanks to the Grahams for having all of us over. Its really rare that we can all get together (ever) b/c at least one of our husbands is usually working or on call. In fact, I think half of them were on call Saturday, but it was home call, so we all got to share some time together. Mere and Laura made two different kinds of chili that were delicious! We had five kids running around all over Laura's house...it was really funny and very entertaining for Brooklyn.

Here are most of the kids playing...B; Lee III; Carter; and you can barely see Audrey. I think Noah was entranced by a movie at this point.

She just took it all in and LOVED exploring a new place and NEW toys. It showed me how sick of our toys she probably already is...that happened earlier than I thought it would!

Well, Mere and Lee brought chips and salsa from La Paz that was of course amazing and we all were eating on it for most of the night. Right before Matt and I were about to go, he was watching Brooklyn for me and I hear a very loud...."Ashley...Ashley...Ashley..." getting louder with each one and coming from several men mouths. My child decided she liked salsa so much that she pulled the entire bowl on top of her. She. Was. Covered. It was hilarious.

I know Matt felt bad b/c technically it happened while he was "watching" her, but I thought it was hilarious. We had to throw her in the tub and she came home in Noah's little boy pjs! It was truly a nasty mess but hilarious! I'm sure this is just the beginning of what we have in store with kids. I'm so thankful it missed her eyes!!!

9 Months!

Happy 9 months to Brooklyn! I can't believe how fast time flies, it is super fun though! We have been wearing some new PJs this week...I think she may take these to college w/ her I love them so much (and b/c they have owls on them!). Here are some things B's doing at 9 months...and a few pics to follow!

- she loves to play and explore - I'm having a hard time keeping up with her!

- she is crawling faster every day, and enjoying finding new things to play with

- she loves the speakers to the TV - which is a "no no"

- she loves Elle - which has meant more separation for Elle :(

- she is chewing on absolutely everything - her favorite is the bed rails - yuck, several mornings she has wood chips on her mouth! She can take the protective plastic things off...so its back to Buy Buy Baby for me today!

- she is wearing mostly 12 month clothing and size 3 or 4 diapers, just depends on what I have!

- she smiles so big at her dad when he comes home and plays with her

- she loves her bath in her little ducky thing

- she says "ma ma ma ma ma ma" a lot - especially when she wants out of bed

- she says "da da da" while playing mostly

- she loves pretty much all baby food we've given her, plus we've done cheerios, puffs, and yogurt...no complaints there

- she loves to feed Elle out of her high chair - Elle's going to gain weight!

- she is starting to wave at us randomly - its so cute but not always at hello or goodbye

- she is a pretty happy baby - doesn't cry too much unless she hurts herself or she isn't getting her bottle quick enough...like right now...I better go!

First vacation of 3rd Yr

Matt's first week of vacation for third year started the day after his b'day (Oct 24) and we had a great time! We decided that a partial stay-cation was the way to go this time, so we stayed around the house after a trip to Dothan. We got to spend a few days with Matt's family which was a lot of fun! Then, we had some friends over for some Halloween/cookout/football fun the day before Halloween. It was a great week. Below are pictures...unfortunately they are in reverse order, so think backwards :)

Matt and Brooklyn after trick-or-treating (2 houses only this year)
You know mine looks better! :) All lit up at night!

Brooklyn is more interested in the leaves, I guess she hasn't decided which team she'll root for yet!

Kerry and her puppy dog Allan, me and my chicken, and Jenny and her pig Corrie!

Jenny, Corrie, and Conner

Kerry and Allan

We had a lot of farm animals representing...a chicken, a dog, a pig, and a cowboy carrying a horse!

Conner loved playing w/ Matt's cornhole.

Sweet Corrie - this girl is so laid back!

I just had to put a picture up of my yummy dessert I made. Mom showed me how to do this pumpkin roll while I was home last time and I mustered up enough courage to try it. It was delicious! I was so proud of myself hahaha!

Nanny and Pa-Pa's was so much fun!

Lovin' on Uncle J Chillin' on the porch w/ Daddy

Pulling on Gabby's hair!

Now Braden's turn!

She LOVED riding around all over Nanny and Pa-Pa's hardwoods in her walker they got her. She's going pretty fast these days!

Playing with Nanny

Happy Halloween!

From our little chicken!

Go Saints!

In early October we got the opportunity to go to New Orleans for the first time! We were thrilled to have a great reason to go - seeing our good friends Chris and Michelle Reis. We had a lot of fun catching up with them and exploring the French Quarter. Their house is in the garden district so we got to see that really neat part of NOLA. We did all the touristy stuff on Saturday in the quarter then on Sunday we got to go to a Saints game before we left! Thanks to mom and dad for keeping B for us - we were much more mobile and able to explore without her! Here's the adorable Saint's outfit Chris and Michelle got for B! She wears it most Sundays this fall! Go Saints!
Kolsh and Ty - our loving hosts! :) These guys are the most fun boxers ever! Michelle and I went on a couple of long walks with them - even saw Sandra Bullocks house on one of them!
Me and Matt outside Cafe DuMond (officially my new favorite coffee)

Chris and his defense buddies before the game (Chris is #39)

Me and Michelle in the Superdome

At the game!

Who Dat!

Chris in action - he got to play much more than usual for about 2 quarters because the safety in front of him got injured...unfortunately so did Chris :(

Another shot of C in action!

Thank you so much Chris and Michelle for an unforgetable first time in NOLA! We are so sad Chris was injured at this game, but it was a great trip until then! Get well FAST Chris! Love you guys!