Christmas Eve

Adam was off on Christmas Eve but I was having a really hard day! I felt like I had soo much to do and I was the only one who could do it all. I had gifts to finish and wrap, house to clean, Alabama to have fun with and take care of, last minute shopping to do, christmas cards to finish.....just a lot of stuff! Adam was working on a car and tried to help a little but mostly it was stuff that I had to do myself and I just felt overwhelmed by it all. By the time we left the mall and got to church for our Christmas Eve candlelight service I was definitely grateful for the time to sing, think about why we celebrate, and just relax in the candlelight. This is Adam and Alabama, his Mama, brother Chris and Daddy at church.

Ryan wasn't at church because he was sick, but he picked out a red purse and a purple hat for Alabama..so sweet!

We went to Adam's parents house after church to have Christmas with them. We had chili and opened gifts together. Chris M. read us the Christmas story. Alabama was loving her some Ethan (or EE as she calls him) and he taught her how to shoot his new Nerf gun. The first thing Alabama opened was the new santa pajamas I gave her. Of course she had to put on Ho Ho right away! ha!

Uncle Chris gave her a stuffed reindeer and blanket. Really cute.

Morgan gave Alabama a bowling set. Seeing as how she loves to knock things over, this will be a favorite! ha! Anna (with her own money!) gave Alabama a Sesame street DVD. Aunt Georgia and Uncle Chris gave her a new doll and also had given her earlier a matching nightgown for her and her Bitty Baby.It is so precious!

Here is Morgan holding Alabama's doll. So pretty!

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a princess dance book with princess "i-pod", a Veggie Tales DVD, and Dora Pajamas . I really enjoy giving gifts sometimes more than receiving them...finding the perfect thing for someone is so fun! I love Ethan's face as he opened his Nerf gun from us. I also love it here as he is so excited about what he got for Uncle Adam. (a duck call!) And it's hard to tell in this picture, but Maxine is opening her framed baby dress. It turned out really nice.

The highlight of the night was the "show" from the kids! Alabama joined in for a special dance routine and then Anna, Morgan, and Ethan sang "Mary Did you Know". It was so cute!

Then we were heading home to go to bed and get ready for Santa to come!!!!

Christmas Part 1

Alabama had a wonderful Christmas! She is so blessed by lots of friends and family who love her! I want to make sure we remember the gifts she received from everyone so it may be weird, but I'm going to try and write down everything she got. We are very thankful for everything.

We haven't gotten to see Aunt Ann and Uncle Phillip for Christmas yet this year, but they sent some gifts. They gave her the cutest Hello Kitty pajamas, a beautiful pink and black dress (picture to come soon!) a Jesus Loves Me kitty, some lip balm, and a snowman blanket that she loves!

We had Christmas with Granny and Aunt Judy on Thursday night. (I love this picture!)I'm glad that we could spread it all out a bit so that it's not so much at one time. They gave her a ball. ( she loves balls!)

Granny gave her a beautiful porcelain tea set for her table to have tea parties with. I've got it on a shelf up high so it won't get broken. Aunt Judy gave her a cute teacup pig that talks. It's so funny! Her name is Princess!

Aunt Judy had some delicious Christmas goodies for us!

It was a really nice time and Alabama loved it!

Christmas Craft

Alabama and I decorated a few foam Christmas trees with the little foam stickers.

Simple and easy. She loved it!

Lights and Santa

We took a family outing with Adam's side of the family to see the Lights of the South the Monday before Christmas. I knew Alabama would love all the lights and I was really hoping that she would love Santa since Morgan and Ethan would be there with her.

Everytime we have gone to the mall this Christmas, we talk about Santa and she says "Ho, Ho" and then she will pat her lap and say "sit down". I say "You want to sit in Ho Ho's lap?" and she tells me emphatically, "Yes!".....that is until we get close! ha! Once we get close to where she can see him, I hold her up out of the stroller and she starts whining and saying "No, Mommy! No, Mommy!" She won't have anything to do with him! and then sometimes she will say in a sweet voice as we're walking away "Bye, Ho Ho, bye-bye!" It is the funniest thing! (Oh, and the funniest part is that later on, she can retell the story to us ..mall, up-down(elevator), Ho Ho, sit down, No Mommy!) hahaha! So I thought our best bet would be to see Santa with the lights. Needless to say, that didn't work out too well, either. This is the only pictures we got....Alabama sitting in MY lap and Santa behind us. Oh, well. Maybe next year!

The lights were beautiful of course and we had a really fun time. The even had Barney in lights! (Alabama's favorite thing on TV.) We also snuck in some hot choclate to drink and marshmallows to roast! ha!

Christmas Parade 2010

We had the Thomson Christmas Parade last weekend and had fun with our family, Sasha, Leslie and two of her girls! We now have a usual spot beside the railroad tracks and it really works out great! Here is some of the fun!

Okay, the pictures are added to the previous post...sorry for the technical difficulties!

Sunday Funnies

I was in Wal-Mart buying a few things for our cookie swap last week when Shana called me. A few minutes after we were talking I looked at Alabama in the buggy (yes, we call it a buggy! ha!)and found she had torn a little hole in the package of the almond bark and was scraping pieces out with her fingernails! ha! In another minute she decided that was not the most successful way to eat it so she was taking bites of it through the little hole! I probably should have taken it from her...but it was too funny...and it was keeping her very entertained as well! haha! This is her reenacting it later when I was telling Adam about it!

My friend Casey came over to make some boxes for our cookie exchange and Alabama and Ryan were playing in the play room when Casey said, "Virginia, you've got to come see this!" This is what I found! Crazy girl climbed through the sink in her kitchen to sit down! ha!

A few days ago Alabama came out of the playroom and looked like she was moving something around in her mouth (like she does when she has put a coin in her mouth) and I asked her "Alabama, do you have something in your mouth?" As I was putting my finger in her mouth to look I said "What's in your mouth?" She grinned and said "Teeth!"

Riding in her "boat" with her friends!

I have an ornament of a grand piano that Adam gave me a few years ago on the front of our tree. Alabama is fascinated with it and likes to "play" it! It's the funniest thing...sometimes she even pulls up a chair to sit and play the piano. Of course the only music is her voice! My Daddy tunes pianos and a lot of times she will go with me to take him or pick him up from a job. Well, the other day, she was playing with the piano ornament and she turned to me and said "Papa sit down." Yes, Papa does sit down to tune the pianos! It took me a minute to put it together but Wow! She is soo smart!

Alabama has a new "funny face" that she does. It started when I would get on to her and put my chin down and raise my eyebrows and say "Alabama" she would copy me and I would crack up laughing at her! Now she will do it and she usually puts her bottom lip over her top lip as she puts her chin down and cuts her eyes to look up at you! THE funniest thing ever! How can I ever stop myself from laughing??? This is a modified version of the face (I'll have to get a better pic of it) as she had a lollipop in her mouth.

With a Thankful Heart

We started our thanksgiving with our annual service at church. We ate a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and had a sweet service of communion, worship, and testimonies of God's faithfulness this year.

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with family on Thursday. We have spent a lot of time lately getting the old "Store Building" ready for Daddy to use as his music room. Adam's daddy has worked hard for us the past few weeks working on it and then Adam and I did some cleaning and arranging for us to use for Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious as always but of course wayyy too much food! We ate with my family around 12:30 and then cleaned up, and looked at sales papers, and cooked some more food to take to Georgia's for Adam's family's thanksgiving.

We went over about 5:00 to spend time with them. Adam's brother Chris got to come home so that was great! The other Chris cooked a great meal for us. We ate supper, then hung out a while, watched the annual "Punkin Chunkin" on TLC and also had an amazing performance by Anna, Morgan, and Ethan! They were soo cute singing for us! Love them!

Such a great picture of Alabama and her cousin Ethan! I love it!

Thanks Georgia!

We have so incredibly much to be thankful for. This year I am thankful for:

God's grace and mercy

Our amazing church family at Grace Baptist

My wonderful "real" family

My husband and the hard work he does each day

God's provision to meet our every need

Being able to stay home with Alabama and see her grow and learn

A job where I can work with my Daddy and take her with me

Great Christian friends

My sweet little girl

Fair Fun!

We went to the Columbia County fair last night and had such a fun time! The weather was great and it wasn't too crowded either. It could have gone either way, but Alabama loved it! When we first got there, she (and Adam) wanted to see the dogs doing tricks. She was so intent on it! ha! The first ride was the cars. She loves to drive cars, so I thought this would be an easy transition. I think she liked all the rides but was still a little uncertain with them, too. Next was the fish ride. Then she rode the Rockin Tug with Katie. I don't think she was too sure about that one. Next up was the Tea Cups. She rode with me and Katie. It was just like the Tilt-a-Whirl but it closed up all the way. Much fun! Then Mimi rode the Carousel with her! She kept sliding off the horse the whole time.

Next she finally got to ride the boats (which she is still talking about!) She drove the pretty sparkly pink one!

I think that was her favorite ride of all. After all the rides were over, it was time for my favorite part of the fair - the food!!!! I had a corn dog, Culler's fries with vinegar, and Alabama shared with me.

Mimi bought a bag of cotton candy that was almost as big as Alabama! ha!

Of course, she wanted "mo". She also had a bite of Alicia's caramel apple that she didn't want the rest of.

My what a difference one year makes....last year she was so little and couldn't ride anything and this year she could! Here we are last year at the fair.