Merry Christmas to All...

We hope that your family had a Christmas celebration as wonderful as our family's. We celebrated the birth of our Savior and absolutely delighted in the joy of both the season and of our children.

There are too many precious pictures to put them into a collage where you can't see expressions, so please forgive the picture overload.

Our living room after Santa visited

Carter first spying his train table

Playing with the trains

Carter's new golf clubs. It rained here all day, so he didn't get to go outside and play with them, but he asked no fewer than five times. The boy LOVES to play golf. When he told one of his teachers that he was asking Santa for golf clubs, she said, "oh, yes! Everything is a golf club: spatula--golf club, bat--golf club," etc.

This is his excited face as he opens gifts. It is too precious. Here he is opening some magnetic balls and a wand that he has played with at school and loves.

Almost shoulder deep in his stocking to see what else is in there!

Another excited face...this time over Dora, Boots and Diego "action" figures, as Nick would say.

Now, it's Callen's turn to open her gifts from Santa. Big brother was happy to help.

Carter is so funny because, unlike most children, he doesn't really care much for ripping the paper. Once he opens something, he wants to play with it and keep playing with it. We have to encourage him to open more presents. So, we were still opening presents at 4:00pm. Carter was very excited to see that he got a "Roll Tide" puzzle, as he calls it.

Even Callen was too excited today to take too many good naps. She was very alert and was happy to play with one of her new dolls that Bamma and Big Pat gave her!

We had a lovely Christmas full of love, family, food, & fun. My cup runneth over.

...and to all, a good night!

Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve, my little helper and I made some cookies for Santa. First, we rolled out the dough.

Then, we cut out the cookies.
As I was taking some of the cookies off of a pan to cool, I hear Carter saying, "boop, boop." When I turned around, Carter was pressing his finger into the cookies every time he said "boop." So, here are some "booped" cookies after they finished baking.
Here are lots of the cooled cookies waiting to be iced.
We had a grand time icing them. Carter, Nick and I were all involved in the icing, so I don't have any action shots. As we were icing them, Carter decided that he needed to taste test one for Santa. I think it passed.
Callen didn't get to participate with us this year...instead, she snoozed in her swing. I have no doubt she'll be an active participant next year!

The finished product!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!!

Thanks, Rachel, for designing our precious card!

A Visit to Santa

Sunday morning we had our annual brunch and Santa visit with the Murphys. This is the third year we've done this, and it is always so much fun. This year, instead of brunch at Highland, we headed downtown to Cafe Pata.chou. We enjoyed a delicious brunch and then delighted in watching the boys exchange gifts.

These two are just 2 months apart. Together with their friend, Miles, who is also their same age, they are a fun little crew who enjoy playing together. It certainly doesn't bother those of us who are their parents, as we are all good friends, too!

This is what Callen did during brunch. She got to open her gift when we were visiting with Santa.

After brunch, we headed over to the mall. On a tip from our friend, Becky, we decided to forgo the mall Santa and visit with the Nord.strom Santa. It was FABULOUS! No lines, not many people, lots of personal attention, and just a very nice Santa.

We actually first ran into Santa while we were walking through the store. Carter was GREAT with him. He went right up to take a picture with him and then wanted to show him that he had a Santa on his shirt.

Santa told us that he would be reading books and taking pictures upstairs in about 30 minutes, so we killed a little time until then. After Santa was through reading, he gave everyone a candy cane and Carter felt it was his duty to carry the book around for the rest of the time we were there. Then, we had the kiddos take their picture with Santa please disregard the clothing hanging in the picture background...I guess this is the downfall of the Nord.strom Santa.

Carter and Connor decided that they could sit in Santa's chair.

Carter kickin' it in Santa's chair.

Our family pic!

We had so much fun with the Murphys, and it was a great way to start off the week of Christmas!

'Tis the Season

Friday, Carter's class had their Christmas party. There weren't but 6 children there that day, but it was a fun time to spend with my little man in his element. First, they decorated cookies. Carter was far more interested in eating the cooking than in decorating it, but we did manage to smear it with some icing and shake some sprinkles on.

Then, on to the important stuff. It was really funny. All of the other kiddos had piles of sprinkles on their cookies, but Carter didn't slow down eating it long enough to pile on the sprinkles. He did however, use a spoon to scrape up the rest of that icing you see on his plate, so he could eat that, too. SUGAR! Yum, yum.

Doesn't this look like the face of a little one who just enjoyed his cookie? Right after this picture, I asked him if it was a good cookie and he responded, "YES!" and nodded his head at the same time, eliciting a chuckle from all of the adults.

After the cookie decorating, they ate a few snacks and then decorated stocking ornaments and construction paper trees and ornaments with stickers. They loved it, and I was glad to be able to share in the simple joys of experiencing Christmas through the eyes of my child.

I know, I know

I have been an absent blogger of late. I have been busy. Well, busy and a tad overwhelmed. You see here a picture of our house.

Yes, you saw it. One of these.

That's right, folks. We are moving. And not just across town. We are headed back south! We are moving back to Birmingham.

I am not going to lie...while we are very excited, it is also very sad. We have amazing friends in Indy, phenomenal childcare, and have really enjoyed living here. However, we are truly excited to be closer to family, Tide football, the beach and to reconnect with our amazing friends down south on a more regular basis.

Nick started a job with Ibe.ria Bank in Birmingham and I will be working in sales for Lilly in Birmingham after the first of the year. {I have to be in training up here until then.} So, that said, during the week, I have been in Indy with two children and two pets by myself. Let's just say that I understand why God intended parenting to be a partnership. As you can see, little time for blogging.

I promise to do better. As Christmas quickly approaches, I'll be sure to share pictures of what my two sweet children are up to more frequently!

Deck the Halls

I guess when I was on maternity leave, I forgot how rejuvenating weekends are. It was great to have our sweet family together this weekend.

This past week Carter and I decorated the tree with ornaments although we've had it up with lights on it for a week. He was TOTALLY into it. He would hang one (with help, of course) and then say, "I want to do another one." Carter would even ask me to lift him up so he could "reach it" when he wanted to hang it up higher. We are, however, having a hard time convincing him to LOOK at the ornaments and not take them off the tree. Twice now, he has brought ornaments from the tree to us upstairs. Every time he walks past the tree, he has some sort of comment. Sometimes it is just "OOOhhh," but he has also told me that it is a "pretty cool tree." He cracks me up.

Below he is getting a lift from Nick to hang an ornament that my mom sent to him. Please notice both how intent he is and how he is pushing Nick's arm back.
In other news, our weekend was not without incident. Carter decided to color on his bedspread with crayon when he should have been napping in hindsight, I suppose we should know better than to allow him to take the box of 4 crayons upstairs . Wrigley swallowed another pacifier, which requires a not inexpensive endoscopic surgery at our local animal clinic that we've already had to do once in the past three months. AND, Callen has been a little under the weather.

I am not 100% sure what is wrong. Last Thursday night, Callen started losing her "voice," and they called me from school saying that it was all but gone on Friday. When I called the doctor, all of the usual questions seemed okay {eating, sleeping, fever, disposition, etc}, so they didn't say I needed to bring her in unless I just wanted to. So, we've been watching her this weekend, and she's developed a little cough, but seems to be getting her voice back and is still sleeping and eating well. The good news is that she has maintained a happy disposition. The better news is that she keeps giving us HUGE smiles. The best news is that I heard her sweet little laugh for the first time this weekend!

Firsts

This morning, we woke up to our first snowfall of the year. As you can tell, it wasn't that much snow {my preference!}, but it was enough to make the roads fairly treacherous this morning.

And, when you pull away from the close-up, you can see our Tide flag waving in support of our team on its way to the National Championship! Roll Tide!

Apparently, our neighbors are Gator fans {not really}. This was posted in their window before the game on Saturday. {This is their kitchen window and is right across from our kitchen window.}

Our neighbors have twin girls who love to give Nick a hard time about just about anything. Their parents used to live in Florida, but they aren't really U of FL fans. They just thought it would be funny to leave us a little message prior to the game. Last year, they put one in our mailbox. I thought this was pretty clever!

And another first in our house....

While this sweet boy was enjoying an ore.o for being such a good eater and a good boy {not firsts}

This little one was doing her best to roll over {a first}.

Success! Clearly she was not a fan when she ended up on her tummy. I sure was proud, though!

First Day Back

Well, the big day has come and gone. I started back to work today. Overall it was a good, but somewhat crazy day. Nick was out of town for work, so I actually managed to get both children and me up and out the door. I know that doesn't sound like a very impressive feat, but when it is the first time you've ever had to do it... Well, I was impressed, anyway.

We left the house about 7:30am, and got to school in time for Carter to have breakfast and me to talk with Callen's teachers for a bit and love on her before I headed out. Gosh, driving away from school is still tough...but I made it to work by 8:40, and managed to have a good, productive day!

Callen had a great first day. She took lots of little naps, which I remember Carter doing at first too, ate well (drank all of all three bottles!--I don't think Carter did that), and enjoyed new experiences. She got to go on a buggy ride to see her brother. Carter's teachers said that he was so cute. They opened the door to push the buggy in and Carter said, "that's my baby Callen" and climbed up on the buggy to hug and kiss her.

When I picked them up, I picked Carter up first and took him to Callen's room to pick her up. He found her in the floor and wanted to read her a book. How precious is that?

I think it did me good to get back to the working world a bit, and it is so wonderful to have Carter and Callen in childcare that I love and that they thrive in. Though, I sure do miss those two precious kiddos when I am not with them!

Christmas Card Out-takes

Well, yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and try to get a good picture (or two) for our Christmas card. 100 pictures later, I think we found that we had a few good ones to choose from to showcase on the Christmas card. While I'll save the selected shot for the cards, I'll share some of the non-selected ones for your viewing pleasure.

Thanksgiving weekend

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with our sweet little family of four...and it couldn't have been better! Nick and I prepped and made all of the yummy sides on Wednesday and Thursday, and Nick smoked a {WONDERFUL} turkey on Thursday.

I couldn't help but think of how truly thankful I am to have such a precious, healthy family. My husband is amazing beyond belief and my sweet children are one of God's greatest blessings in my life. My cup runneth over.

I start back to work on Monday, and I can even say that I am looking forward to it a bit. I know that it will be hard to leave Callen, but I can hope that over time she will have as many wonderful experiences in school as Carter has had. In preparation for my return to work, Callen decided to start sleeping through the night last week. Praise the Lord. I am much appreciative!

We also enjoyed the too close Alabama-Auburn football game yesterday. Callen was awake for most of it, and Carter wanted to play his own football game while we were watching it. They were decked out in their Tide gear...

Heaven forbid that he tear his eyes away from the game for a picture...he must be his daddy's child.

There, that's as good as I could get.

Yeah, keep wishing me luck with that Christmas card pic...still looking like I'm going to need it.

Our New (not-so-new) Front Door

A while back, I posted this about our front door being restored/repaired. About 2 and half weeks later, our door was re-hung, and we were absolutely thrilled with the result. They repaired the warped part of the door, refinished both sides, and added some much needed (and, now, much appreciated) weather stripping along the bottom.

So, now, our very old door still looks appropriate for our house, but has a nice new luster.

About a week and a half ago, I got a call from a woman at the Indian.apolis St.ar. They were doing a piece on the owner of the company who restored our door, and wanted to ask us a few questions {one of which was, can we photograph your door for the article}. So....this morning, I get a call from a friend who says, "Is that your door on the front page of the Extra section of the Star?"

Indeed, it is. Check it out here!

A little of this, a little of that

I suppose I have been very neglectful of the blog lately. We haven't had too much going on, but, as a result, there hasn't been that much to share. Well, I guess there still isn't too much to share, but I feel compelled to update nonetheless.

I ordered Carter some Christmas pjs the other day, and they came in the mail on Saturday. I wanted to make sure they fit so I had him try them on. Then, I decided that I'd put Callen's Christmas pjs {that Popsy and Gigi gave her} on her, and Carter wanted me to take a picture. I got just a taste of how difficult it is going to be to get a good Christmas card picture. Wish me luck!

On to a totally different subject: fruit. Carter has always been a pretty good eater, but lately he is getting a little finicky. Since babyfood, he has always eaten fruit well, and despite being finicky about other things, he still LOVES fruit. In fact, he can put away so much fruit that Nick and I wonder where in the heck it goes! {side note: the only fruit that he doesn't like--that we've found--is watermelon! Not sure if he doesn't like the texture or what, but he is not a fan.}

We had apples, pears and grapes at our house most of the weekend, and he was pleased to eat all of them. However, Nick went to the Fresh Market last night to pick up a few things for dinner and they had berries 2/$5, so he brought home a surprise for Carter.

Carter was going after them like they were, well, fruit. {yes, that is a blackberry in his cheek!} I don't think that Nick could have brought home anything else that would have made him happier!