You Better Not Pout, You Better Not......Cry

Uh oh...don't think Olivia got the memo...

 We have our fingers crossed for next year.

From Our Family to Yours

The Start of a New Tradition

This year we have started a new tradition. Amberly, Matt, Hays and I know that God has truly blessed us beyond measure and that we really didn't think buying gifts for each other was what we really needed. We have decided to pick a charity each year and spend the money we would have spent on each other helping that charity in a way that they need most.

This year we decided to provide food items for Stew Pot. We loaded up the cuties you see above and headed to Sams to purchase the most needed items and then delivered them to Stew Pot. Hopefully, in doing this each year it not only helps people in need but also teaches our children to give back a portion of what God has blessed us with.

When we dropped the items off at the house the lady receiving them asked us why we were doing this. She asked if we were from some organization or something. Amberly simply told her what we were doing and she started tearing up and was so thankful. It's such little things that we can do to make a big difference in someone else's life. Our hopes are that at least one person gets a nice, warm meal on Christmas this year. That's what makes it worth it.

Just Some Pictures

You probably have noticed  a lot of these type blog entries. Some of these pictures may have no meaning to any of you at all but as I mentioned before this is the way I have chosen to scrape book. I want to remember as much as I can of these early years and beyond. So bare with me on the not so interesting blog entries. :)



Olivia eating breakfast with her nativity scene. Makes my heart smile. We are taking baby steps to her understanding the whole true meaning of Christmas. This is just one of them.

 Now who is responsible for teaching my daughter this trick??? Not good. Not good at all.

She is really into loving on her babies right now. She'll be a great big sister.

Looks like she has a set of twins on her hands. Bless her.

Even likes to read the baby a night night story.

And of course, she has to sleep with the babies. At least everybody is staying nice and warm!

And the Christmas outings begin

There is a little carnival called Winter Wonderland set up where we got our Christmas tree. All the proceeds go to Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital so there was no way we could pass up the opportunity for a little bit of Christmas fun and at the same time helping the children's hospital.

She LOVED the carousel which is a major turn around since Halloween when we tried to ride one at the zoo. She loved riding on the giraffe.

 We also took a little train ride. Love, love, love these two!

The Sumralls joined in on the fun.

She loved the carousel so much we had to ride it twice, this time the elephant.

The little elf that thought she could...

 I will have to say that past years it has been MUCH easier to decorate our house for Christmas but not nearly as much fun. This year we had a little elf to help us out a bit...or so SHE thought.

Picking out our Christmas tree. She was sooo excited she just kept screaming Christmas freee and running around like a crazy girl.

 It's funny how she wants to do EVERYthing we are doing. How can you resist this cuteness though?

Our little elf thought the ornament boxes were stools...she has a bit to learn before next year rolls around.

She did a great job hanging the ornaments though. She has that down pat. We have only had one glass ornament shatter.

But then she thought maybe it was a good idea to get under the tree... Oh Santa, you have some training to do.

She was soo proud of her work though.

Little girl, did we forget to tell you that the decorating is complete?? Time to go to bed!

She had to take a small break and give a call to the big man up north.

Then she felt the need to take some pictures of her work. She hangs with her daddy too much.

Aren't I supposed to be taking a picture of you???

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. It is one of my favorite holidays so we tend to go a tad overboard on the decorating. I LOVE everything about Christmas. I love the gift buying, getting cards in the mail from friends, the parties, decorating the house and cookies, the music...you name it and I enjoy it!

Christmas tree 2011

This year it was a tad more interesting decorating the tree seeing that we had a new elf to help out. I will post about her later.

 It's hard to believe next year we will have 5 stockings hanging from the mantle (yes, Lilly has her own stocking). God is so good and has blessed us beyond measure.

The reason for the season is the birth of our Saviour. Three wise men on the entry hall table are most appropriate.

Happy Birthday to Jesus. Starting this year I think we are going to have a birthday cake in honor of Jesus' birthday. I don't want all of Olivia's childhood memories of Christmas to be about the presents she got but the true reason.

I put Olivia's nativity scene out after she had gone to bed one night. The next morning at breakfast I look over at her and she has the whole nativity scene practically in her cereal bowl and lap. Silly.

Along with the nativity scene, this is probably Olivia (and Hays') favorite decoration that we put out. She begs for us to hold her up so she can stare at it.

I bought this Lenox Christmas plate the year Olivia was born and will do the same for the next baby. It says the year she was born and will be such a treasure to put out every year in honor of our children's birth.

 This little nameless lady has made an appearance. Olivia doesn't get the concept at all so maybe she'll start moving around next year. For this year, she's staying put.

Preggo Shots

Week 27 with Olivia

 Week 26 with baby #2

Well, well, well we ONLY have 25 days until we find out what this wiggly little baby is inside of me. I'm not sure if I'll get any sleep on Christmas Eve. This pregnancy was so very different up to week 16. From then until now it has been much the same as with Olivia (other than the baby moves ALL the time which Olivia did not do). But looking at these pictures makes me think there's a little brother in there. Hays and I were comparing the pictures last night and both said at the same time wow! the belly is so much higher this time. I'm sure God is up there laughing at us right now, chuckling at all of our theories on why it's a girl or boy.



Look who turned 3!!!

Wil Franklin turned 3!!! I can't believe it, I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. What a blessing he is to our family and what joy he has brought to our lives. We love you, Wil Franklin!!!

So.Very.Blessed.

We have so much to be thankful for not only on this holiday but all year long. Just a few things that I am most thankful for:
*Jesus, He died for my sins so that I (a very sinful human) could have eternal life. So grateful that I have heaven to look forward to one day.
*Hays-he is such a blessing to me every day. Thankful for his support and what an awesome daddy he is to our little girl.
*Our very active 22 month old that brings us laughter and joy to our lives nonstop.
*This very wiggly baby inside me.
*Our church, for the people that have been placed there to help guide and direct us in raising our children.
*Family-some may be near and some may be far but they are all very close to my heart. Life's struggles would be so much harder without their unending support and love.
*Friends-for the laughter they bring to my life no matter what.
*Our house-so thankful for a warm and comfortable place to raise our children.
*For the past, present and future.
These are just a few things that I am so unbelievably thankful for. The list could go on and on and on and on..............

Thanksgiving

So, I have a big confession to make. I have not one picture from Thanksgiving. I print this blog as a book once a year for Olivia to have and so I can remember everything going on (which I am SO thankful I decided to do) so it makes me so sad that we have no decent pictures from this holiday.

Even without pictures, all in all it was a GREAT holiday. We have so so much to be thankful for. We pretty much had a whole week of Thanksgiving. We started the Saturday before with my family. After a long drive to my grandfather's house to meet up with the rest of the family we discovered that Olivia wasn't feeling well and pretty much stayed in mine or Nano's lap the entire day. We later found out that she had an ear infection.

She was soon over that (thankfully) and we celebrated with my mom's side of the family in Collierville, TN and then Olivia and I stayed the rest of the week in Memphis. We had a great time relaxing and doing some much needed Christmas shopping.

On Thanksgiving Day we traveled to Oxford to celebrate with Hays' family. We had a great time and I just cannot believe I have no pictures to show of it (my excuse, the batteries were dead in my camera-true story).

I was able to complete one thing off my "to do bucket list". I know it may be silly but I have many "bucket lists" going and two of them are things to do before I die and places to go before I die. Well, cooking a turkey was one of them. I went all out and brined the silly bird for 24 hours in all sorts of things and then cooked it for 3 plus hours while taking it out every 45 minutes to cover it in its juices. All in all it was a success! True stamp of adulthood was made that day!

Making Progress???

So...the little girl FINALLY decided to at least sit on the potty. Nothing else occured but we are making a little progress. I am sure she will be about ready when we have a 6 week old crying baby in the house. Perfect timing, right?

Our Furry Baby Needs Some Prayers

This is poor Lilly at the vet with her I.V. and all.....

 Lilly may be furry all over, have four legs and a tail and eat anything we drop on the floor (literally) but we still love her dearly and she is a member of our family. This past week Lilly stopped eating and drinking and was getting sick a few times a day. She has had this happen before and it ended up that she just had an upset stomach so Hays was hesitant to rush to the vet this time. On day four, I insisted on taking her to see the doctor. It took the veterinarian a day or two to figure out that this was no minor illness. After an x-ray, scope and surgery (yep, we're broke) they found part of a sock in her stomach and a few inches down her intestine.

Needless to say, Lilly had to stay at the vet for several days to be monitored after her major surgery. We are happy to report that she is at home and resting well and is expected to make a full recovery. From now on I WILL be taking inventory on all socks in our household!

What we've ben up to....

We have been doing LOTS of reading around here. I feel like we all the sudden read books all day everyday.She even likes to read the mail on her wagon rides.

We also have been "playing" with play dough quite a bit. She throws it, eats it, it goes on rides in the car with us and is even fed to the dog. What would we do without play dough??

Silly, silly girl!

I go check on her a million times during nap and before we go to bed at night. I just never know what I'm gonna find. Love the booty up in the air!



Olivia has been "helping" me with the laundry.....

And helping herself in the fridge....

We got this cute little potty in hopes that she would begin to potty before or after bath time each night. I sat on it. Hays sat on it. Olivia would NOT sit on it. It's just not time.

She has also been playing beauty shop. So funny to me.

I leave you with this precious picture of baby #2. Looks like a girl to me....or maybe a boy??!! I just have no idea. What do you think???

 

Confession Time...

Okay, so it's time to spill the beans. Ever since we found out we were pregnant we (I) decided that it would be fun to let the sex of the baby be a surprise. We found out with Olivia and LOVED every minute so I thought this pregnancy could be exciting in a different way. Also, Hays says that if it's a boy then this will be our last one. I guess that depresses me in a way and I just didn't want to know our destiny just yet.

I proceeded to tell my doctor our plan and he talked me into getting the sonogram tech to write the sex inside an envelope just in case we change our minds. So a few weeks ago we had our sonogram and everything looked absolutely perfect. We also followed through with the doctor's recommendation. So I carried this envelope around in my purse for days AND I never looked at it. Thought about it once, maybe twice....okay maybe three times but still haven't opened it. So, now the plan is to open the envelope on Christmas morning when it is just me, Hays and Olivia. Olivia will then take a pink or blue balloon to both of her grandparents house. I am so excited I can't stand it!!! Hays said he knew all along that I would crack, guess he knows me better than I do.

Halloween-What a fun night! (warning-picture overload)

We are about halloweened out (made that word up). But, boy was it a fun time! I think Olivia dressed up in her costume a total of 5! times to attend various festivities. I know I am her mother but she is the cutest little bumblebee I have ever seen. We dressed up and attended zoo boo, the kids neighborhood party at the clubhouse, a costume birthday party, the Reformation Celebration at church and of course, trick or treating. Out of all of those I think Olivia's favorite was trick or treating. She had no problem going from door to door and saying trick or treat (in her own little way) and digging into each persons candy bowl to retrieve her handful of treats. She also proceeded to consume at least 1 piece of candy after every single house. I decided to stay at home and hand candy out and let her and Hays go with our neighbors. She came back one WIRED little girl with chocolate EVERYwhere.

               Our little pumpkin family. Even a little pumpkin for the punkin growing inside of me. We had to carve the daddy....oops.   

See....I told you she was the cutest bumblebee ever!

Trick or treating with Woody (aka Wil Franklin).

Are they not the cutest?? I just kept giggling at how cute and funny they were being when we got up to the doors.

Trick or treating with Charlie Brown (aka Semmes).

Do you see the bumblebee already has a sucker?

Pictures with the wolf (aka Emerson).

If you look closley you will see that she is covered in chocolate. I think she suffers from a major sweet tooth....just like her mommy and daddy.

Looking for more candy!

STILL looking for more candy??!!

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving seeing that it is already November. We have so much to be thankful for.