Christmas Eve

I have so many Christmas pictures I am breaking them into a couple of posts. We spent Christmas Eve at Honey and Poppa's house. We went to an evening church service (which was one of my favorite Christmas Eve services in a long time) and then came back to our house, where we read some favorite Christmas books (Twas the Night Before Christmas, Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree, and Song of the Stars) and set out cookies and milk for Santa. Then Annie went to bed and the grown-ups munched on appetizers and sweets and watched football while waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.

Honey's Christmas Eve spread


And her pretty tree . . .


And her table. I guess they are technically Poppa's, too, but I doubt he had much to do with the decorating. ;)


We opened gifts with Honey and Poppa on Christmas Eve


Tyler and the Papaw smirking at my camera


Wow, my hair looks really good in this picture. If only it looked like that in real life :) And the Gent's not bad looking either.


New toys!


And a cool box!


An activity table, watch out for noise . . .


Nana and her "little" brother


The Gent reading to Annie


She's listening!


Yum, time to eat again


Looks like Santa Claus has been here . . .


. . . wonder what he brought?

Annie: Ten Months

She just gets cuter every day. :)







She loves to wave. All the time. In any mirror she can find. In this picture she is waving at Huck.


And she loves to crawl. And pull up. And scoot. And practice walking with our help. Baby girl is on the move!


Besides waving and crawling and other forms of locomotion, Annie has learned to clap this month. Her facial expressions keep getting more and more expressive. She babbles and tries to mimic our conversations. She likes to play peek-a-boo and still loves to eat and nurse. She has gotten quite good with the sippy cup. Still no teeth, but I just love that gummy grin! She knows her name and the meaning of no, and sometimes she obeys it. Stranger anxiety is still in full force and I'm not pushing her. I realize I lean toward attachment parenting and that's fine with me. :) I like baby-wearing, nursing, and responding to Annie's needs as they arise. But Annie does sleep in her own room and we do stick do our daily routine or she (and Mama) get all out of whack.

She is still sleeping 8-8 at night and taking two good naps a day, hurray! We are working on eliminating the 6am nursing so she will sleep 8-8 straight through. That sounds lovely - wish I could sleep that long!

Each month I think "this is my favorite" but each month it gets better. Can't wait to see what next month brings!

Christmas Cookies

Yesterday Annie and I went to Honey's house to bake cookies with her neighbor's little girls. Annie had lots of fun eating the sprinkle jars and supervising the decorating! Honey held Annie in one arm and decorated a cookie with the other, so she claims that this is Annie's cookie:
















Thanks for including us in the fun, Honey!

I knew this day would come

She's getting married and leaving me. :(

Just kidding about the frowny face. When I first met Dwight about six months ago, I knew this day would come. Tessie is getting married and we are so excited for her and her fiance!

He made her a rice-crispy treat cake as part of the surprise (Tessie loves her rice-crispy treats)


Sparkle, lots and lots of sparkle


They look pretty happy :)


Switch sides so we can see that ring!


Surprise party to celebrate

Always Winter, Never Christmas

The Gent frequently hears me say "I hate winter!" when I climb into bed at night and pull the covers over my head. Sometimes I even say it in July if my feet are cold. :) It has gotten to be a standing joke now and I don't really mean that I hate winter, but I do mean I hate being cold! Thankfully my flannel sheets make it bearable, ha.

But the best part of winter is CHRISTMAS, my favorite holiday, of course. I remember that line in the first Narnia book about how under the witch's rule it is always winter but never Christmas. How awful. Christmas is what redeems winter for me. Christmas is the Advent season, the anticipation, the waiting, the reminder that a Savior has come. Christmas is lots of time to visit with our family, decorating the tree, sending cards to friends old and new and far and near, and eating too much yummy food. May your holidays be merry and bright!

As my contribution to spreading Christmas cheer, here is a photo of Annie watching the Grinch. She was fascinated for about three minutes. And for the record, we don't really let her watch television unless it is football.

Two Favorite Things

I finally found some jeans I love! And they are inexpensive, too! Target has revamped their denim and it makes more sense than any other jeans line I've tried. They have six different fits, from fit one (mom jeans) to fit six (teenybopper jeans). I prefer fit four in curvy (yep, that's me). Each fit comes in different styles - boot cut, straight leg, skinny, etc. BRILLIANT.

And the Gent has found the best men's dress shirt. From Joseph A Bank, so not super cheap but they have great deals if you get on their email list. The fitted traveler shirt fits him best. They come out of the dryer looking ironed. FABULOUS.

In other news, I'm still looking for socks that stay on Annie's feet that also have grippers on the bottom so she can practice walking . . .

Christmas Begins

We went to visit the Gent's family last weekend for an early Christmas. Annie had so much fun with the presents. She was fascinated with the wrapping paper and bows.

Opening a book from our friend Lily


Trying to figure out how to stand up and walk like Lily, looks like fun!


Isn't she a cutie-pie?


This look on Annie's face cracks me up.


Girl friends


Reading her new book with Granny


Making Granny laugh!


Waiting to open presents


Looks like Santa Claus came early . . .


This is going to be good, Annie just knows it!


Wow!


Now what do I do with it?


Bebe


Papa Rick


Pretty silver bracelet from Granny


All Annie wants for Christmas . . .


. . . is to play with . . .


. . . ribbons, yum!