New Years

New Years was a lot of fun this year. It was very low key which is exactly what we needed seeing that our world is about to be very hectic. Olivia stayed with her Nano and Pops and we rented a cabin with the Bakers and Gurners near Pickwick Lake. We relaxed, slept in, played games, watched movies and rang in the new year. Exactly what we all needed and we were sad to go home.

Sad, sad but this is the ONLY picture I took the entire weekend. How pitiful. I don't even think I actually took this one. I guess when you are having fun the camera is just forgotten.



 The boys didn't want to drive home so they got stuck in the back seat with Olivia and all of our stuff. It was kinda funny, I think Olivia had more room in her car seat than they did. Good grief...surely we don't need to already upgrade to something bigger because we don't have enough room???

Spreading the News

Christmas mid morning we took a wrapped box with a blue balloon inside to each grandparents house for Nano and Gigi to open.

Everyone was very excited to say the least.

 Gigi opening the BLUE balloon.

Nano opening her BLUE balloon.

What an exciting day it was for our little family. I wouldn't take back the time we waited for this news for anything. It was perfect.

Christmas Morning with our Girl

It was really nice spending Christmas morning at our house with just us. Besides the excitement of finding out if Olivia was having a brother or sister, it was nice to let her get up and leisurely (but quickly) play with her toys and have some time with just the three of us. It was a bit early and she was a bit tired but she enjoyed playing with her new toys.

Gifts that Santa brought. Highlight was definitely the kitchen. It's been a highlight every day since. 

 She held the blue balloon the entire time she played. Silly girl!

Our Christmas Surprise!!!

As you know, the plan was to not find out the sex of the baby. Well, that didn't quite work out so we decided to have the sonogram tech write it in an envelope for us to open on Christmas morning. Everyone kept asking me how in the world I was doing that but I really didn't give myself another option. I tried to not let my mind wander to the verdict because that would just make me more anxious UNTIL Christmas Eve. I did NOT sleep a wink that entire night. I watched EVERY hour pass by. I just could not imagine what the baby was going to be and it drove me crazy all night.

FINALLY, at 7am I woke Hays and Olivia up. We let Olivia play with the toys Santa brought her for a few minutes (which seemed like eternity). I grabbed the envelope off the mantle and opened it and read what you see below....WHAT??? A BOY!!!! There's not a ton of families that have a child of each sex (believe me, over the last several months I have noticed this). So, I thought for sure we would just have all girls. Is God not so AWESOME??? He knows the plans for our lives before we ever even think it. Awesome. So in a few weeks we will be welcoming a little boy into this house that is full of pink. We are so ecstatic that I really need to pinch myself to make sure this is my life I am living. Thank you, God for my undeserved life and many blessing.

Bedford Hays Collins "Ford" will be arriving in a short 7 weeks or less.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve day is very low key. We pretty much pack, make Christmas breakfast and play while time passes until we have to get in high gear for more celebrating. We go to Christmas Eve service at our church and then to spend the rest of the night with the entire Collins family having supper and opening gifts.

It was a lot harder this year to get a good picture of her in her Christmas dress. Took 2 of us and about 30 minutes of acting ridiculous to get one half way decent picture that is not even in front of the tree. Oh well.



Me and my girl.

The Collins Family.

Christmas Eve Eve

So for the next few days we are going to be back tracking through time. Pardon the tardiness on these blog posts but I still want to remember these days even though they have passed. We'll play catch up and then be back on track. So here goes nothing...........

Our traditions have changed a bit this year. Both of our families do big celebrations on Christmas Eve so the first year Hays and I were married we flipped a coin to see which family we would be with on Christmas Eve and have flip flopped every year since. Well, since Olivia's arrival we have decided to stay at our house through Christmas morning then go spend the rest of the holidays with my family in Memphis. It is what is best for our family and our traditions.

That being said, we now spend Christmas Eve Eve with the immediate Collins family having supper, opening gifts and starting this year, having a birthday party for Jesus. It's a lot of fun to take our time and really enjoy the kids opening their gifts and just being with each other.



Our two little elves waiting patiently to open their presents.

That smile is too contagious not to post. Love her to pieces.

She wanted to open every gift AND play with it right away. Calls for very patient onlookers as this process took A LOT of time.

Wil Franklin opening his fireman costume. He LOVES to dress up these days.

Ummm....you've got some static, girl.

"Mommy, you look soo cool!"

Aunt Leelee and Uncle Matt got Olivia a piano. I guess pay back is pretty harsh seeing that Wil Franklin has recieved 2 instruments from us the last 2 years.

Gran and Aunt June (who was here visiting from Australia...how cool is that?)

Olivia got a cozy coupe. Fit for a princess.

Wil Franklin got a golf cart. Watch out pedestrians!!!

Last but not least, we had a nice birthday party for Jesus. I pray this is really what Olivia will think about when we celebrate Christmas. My heart rejoiced as I watched Wil Franklin and Olivia sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Whew...We're Back!!!

So I took a small hiatus from the blogging world but I am back and ready to get back on track. I have sooo much to post about so this might just take a couple of days. Our days have been so busy lately. We were busy with the holidays, went out of town to celebrate New Years, celebrated birthdays, cleaned up Christmas after mess (which was no small feat), planning a little girls 2nd birthday party and last but not least preparing for a specials someones arrival! Whew....that makes me tired just to type it! So stick around, lots of updating is coming your way!