Merry Christmas 2011

oh we had such an awesome Christmas! here are pictures in reverse order...hey at least i'm still attempting to blog...i don't know how you people with more than one kid do it! and yes, all my punctuation is incorrect...that should be par for the course from now on :)

Aunty Em, Jonas, and Avie came to celebrate Cmas on the 26th! We had breakfast with them, let the girls play in the adorable dresses mom got for them this year, and opened a couple gifts. we were so thankful they came down to b'ham for a little bit for cmas so we could see them. we really missed my brother, rochelle, jess, and levi...but maybe next year! they were celebrating with her family in mexico, so i'm sure they were having a great time!aunty Em showing B her new cmas pop up book

scary uncle Jonas :)

girls in their matching dresses and tights!

B showing off the kitchen she got from mom and dad for Cmas...she has loved it!

Little Amelia playing with Nanny and Papa - they came down on Cmas eve and stayed the night with us. it was really fun having them here for Cmas morning! we are so thankful they came so we could be surrounded by family.

Brookie opening her first gift from Nanny and Papa

Little Amelia getting loved on and yawning

Brookie had to try on Papa's boots - silly girl

Bebe and Mister came to celebrate on the 21st and stayed until the 23rd. We had a great time with them, ate way too much food, and had some great gifts. First off was the cozy coupe which now travles all over our house every day! :)

They also got her a fun bead toy that mom and dad have owned for over 2o years. they found it online and B's having fun w/ it.

Here's a family shot, all in our PJs :)

A family tradition of mine is to make Cmas cookies, like tons of them, so i wanted to do this with Brooklyn this year. Well, this is our second batch of reeses cups cookies b/c I dumped the first batch in the oven when taking them out...i was furious!

we made a ginger bread house with...well, in front of B...she sat in her high chair and played with the candy...and me and Matt made the house :)

tasting the icing

she got to put some candy on the house...very quickly! :)

Second round of Cmas cookies...we only had one cookie cutter so every cookie was a bell...B didn't seem to mind that they were all the same :)

Rolling out dough with mom and Bebe

Amelia says Merry Christmas!

Little miss Amelia snoozing in a basket...this is just how we take naps around here...haha not really...couldn't resist the santa pic thanks to Ellen and Mike's gift! :)

Amelia!

Sweet Amelia joined us on December 1st at 9:53 am! She was 7 pounds 3 oz and 20 inches long. She is doing great and we are getting use to waking up at night, Fortunately Matt is on vacation this week and next so I have an extra set of hands!! Special thanks to everyone praying for us and feeding us!!! It is so helpful!!

Also special thanks to my parents who kept us going for a week after A was born!!

Sweet Matt had an "A" charm for my necklace!

Sprinkles!

My sweet friends and family have been so good to me! Below are pictures from my sweet friends in the "wives club" as we like to call it. They have been a constant support and encouragement to me and Matt throughout the residency process. All of these ladies are ahead of us in the residency/fellowship process so its been great to learn from them. They are also ahead of us in the baby process as they all have 2 already so I'm learning about that from them also!

We had a great Saturday morning at Laura's house. All our husbands were working so it worked out great for us to get together, eat too much yummy food, open fun gifts and let the kiddos play. It was right before Halloween so it was also a great excuse to get one more wear out of the kids costumes! Thanks to Melissa, Laura, Kate, and Meredith for making me feel so special and loved!

The pictures after those are from my sweet "sprinkle" in Nashville with my family and a few close friends. My sister, sister in law, and mom worked really hard to make it beautiful and special and it was! It was so nice to see all my family before Amelia gets here and to see a couple of really good friends that live in Nashville. Enjoy the pics!

Meredith and Ellis, Melissa, Me and B, and Laura and Penny at "wives club" shower.

Pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing!

Dogs in blankets!

Rice krispy treats and ghost string cheeses!

Pumpkin diaper cake!

Pretty flowers in a pumpkin that I got to enjoy all week!

Kiddos dressed up - B as a lady bug, Lee as a construction worker, Audrey as "Belle", Noah as a train conductor, and Carter as a storm trooper from starwars.

Mom, me, Em and Rochelle before the family shower at mom's house.

Delicious petifores with Amelia's monogram!

Em and Roch made these adorable popcorn containers!

After the shower Jonas brought Avie and Brian brought the twins over for a family dinner, it was a lot of fun just hanging out and playing in mom's back yard. I love those times, but we missed Matt!

Jesse and Levi teaching Aves and B how to play baseball.

Avie...if you are going to play for TN you have to learn all about throwing the ball!

21 Months!

I can't believe my baby is 21 months today! And that I'm going to have another baby soon!!! We are so excited and blessed to be looking forward to Amelia's arrival and back over the past 21 months of Brooklyn's life. I am humbled just thinking of all the blessings God has poured out on us through Brooklyn and to know they are coming again with Amelia is almost too much. God is SO good!

Brooklyn is a little monkey, that is for sure - her favorite thing to do is climb...on anything! We have had so much fun exploring parks in Birmingham since the fall weather has been upon us...something we are sure to miss this winter. We'll just have to see what we can climb on at the McWane Center! :)

Here's a little about Brooklyn at 21 months...

- you have moved into your big girl room and done very well so far! you are in a twin-toddler bed with rails all around to keep you in!

- you still take a great nap from about 1-3 every day

- you still eat great most of the time. you prefer chicfila or pizza...those are your favorites but you still eat veggies, fruits, and chicken very well, we are thankful for that.

- you love milk and juice - you drink a LOT

- you mostly wear pants and tops due to your climbing adventures

- you talk a lot - you say almost anything I say - like a parrot. its hilarious and keeps us laughing a lot!

- you have started singing and it is so cute! you love rocky top (thanks to me) and you love twinkle twinkle little star, that was your first song to sing. you have also sang happy birthday to....everyone a few times, and Jesus loves me...you are also singing the ABC's and God is so Good which of course warms my heart! :)

- you LOVE your daddy, and talk about him most of the day

- you love Nanny, PaPa, Bebe and Mister and always ask to go to their house...i guess ours is already boring!

- you know where baby sister is, what her name is, and when she's coming to see us (big sister day)

- your favorite toy has been the climber/slide thing Bebe and Mister got you for your b'day and more recently the Noah's Ark set from Nanny and Papa.

- you love Word World, Sesame Street, but mostly Signing Time...you ask for it ALL DAY LONG!

- we have a motto we are working on..."no whining"...when i ask you what our motto is you say that but usually you are whining while you say it :) maybe someday you will understand it!

- you haven't been too fond of Elle lately, its kind of sad, you walk up to her and start crying and tell her to "go" and you talk more about the neighbor's dog...Bo-Bo!

- you were a cute little lady bug on halloween, pics to come

- you love to say, "mommy up please" and i have to keep telling you that i'm too big so then you say, "mommy sit please"...to which i find it hard to say no

- you LOVE school - ms. Leslie is your teacher and you love her, you run into class with no crying and run to me smiling every time i pick you up.

we love you Brooklyn, and we could never attempt to write down all the adorable things you are doing...like right now you are sleeping for like going on three hours...i think that is really really adorable and i wish you would do it every day! :) hehe!

Gentry Farms

Two little pumpkins holding/throwing/fighting over pumpkins! :)

While I was home (previous post) we took the kiddos to Gentry Farms. I've always heard of my Nashville friends and family going to pick out pumpkins or have a fun hayride or just do some fall-ish activities so it was fun to see what all the hype was about. Gentry Farms is definitely a great place to go with kids! They have a huge corn maze for adults, a smaller one in a barn for kids, a hay-less hayride for the hypo-allergenic ones, a few small farm animals to pet, and tons of pumpkins! Brooklyn didn't have her game face on but she did enjoy several things about the farm. Aves and the twins had a great time and of course acted perfect! :) Thanks Bebe and Mister for a fun time at the farm! Pics below!

Sweet Avie missed her nap! :(

Kiddos on the hay-less ride

The only pic I could get of me and B without her completely losing it.

Avie learning all about corn

B loved this - I think I may have Matt build a big trough for our back porch and fill it with corn!

Tractor men!

Mister goofing off with Jesse and Levi