Merry Christmas!

My Christmas present to you: pictures of my family!!

As always, Christmas started out on a bed, reading the story of Jesus' birth. Yes, my PJs are crossword puzzles.

The boys got their annual t-shirts:

And Cole's last gift was the only thing he asked for: an iPod Touch. (we actually got it for free!!!) I don't think he was expecting it. He really thought he was done with gifts. It was in a small box completely wrapped up in tissue paper. I love the look of true surprise and happiness!

Boys and their toys!

Naomi LOVED her gifts!

Notice the trend?

This was our first Christmas to just stay at our house. It was lovely! My mom and dad came over for lunch, gifts, and games. Naomi got to nap and Cole got to play - literally. He was so excited about getting the Charlie Brown Greatest Hits piano book. After stockings, he immediately went to the piano to start working on "Linus and Lucy," the dance number in the Christmas special.

PLUS, Birmingham had its first White Christmas in recorded history! Now, my house didn't see anything stick to the ground until the next morning, but it did snow all day Christmas day! Brice and I sang a lot of "Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!" from White Christmas.

We didn't send out a Christmas card this year, so no, we didn't leave you out! Maybe we'll send out Easter cards. I don't remember my life ever being this dizzying. I can't imagine what having three or four children would be like.

I do hope you had a wonderful time of fun, worship, and rest on your Christmas! Praise to the Lord for the greatest gift of all time! May everyone come to know and love the name of Jesus.

New Heights

Naomi loves to lie on her play mat and look up at the colorful bees, dangling from the music box. They are always out of reach though! I thought I'd give her a new perspective on the little creatures. I put her in her Bumbo seat right up next to them. She loved being able to reach them.

Reaching is her latest development. That and squealing!

Thumb and Blanky

Naomi has started to hold her burb cloth to her when she finds her thumb and snuggles in our arms. So I figured it was time to give her something soft and clean, meant for snuggling! I found her like this after her nap earlier this week:

So sweet. I hated to wake her up! At least she always wakes up with a smile on her face.

I love my Pop!

Halloween Part II

Yes, I missed out on the trick-or-treating fun for this:

And I'm so glad I did! I love this twice-a-year outing with the gals. I love them a whole lot more than the loud cars going in circles over and over again!

Halloween Part I

Over the years, Cole has been many things for Halloween: Buzz Lightyear, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Spiderman, a human Ninja.

This year:

Any guesses as to what he is? Leave a comment.

Props to JD for making this great costume!!

While you're pondering the above, gaze upon our little punkin from her 1st Halloween.

Thanks to Penny or Olivia for the outfit - not sure which of you it came from!

Brice was a trooper! He took both kids around the neighborhood and linked up with a family with a boy in Cole's class at school. Naomi loved all the activity! So much to see! She really enjoys being outside. I hate I missed it.

Where was I? Stay tuned for Part II.

Could She Be Any Cuter??

No, no she couldn't.

A Chair for Goliath

Sam's always does things big!!

Bumbo

It may be a little early, but we thought we'd let her try it out just to see how she did.

She's laid back gangsta style in her pimped out blue Bumbo (courtesy of Penny - thank you!)

Froggie PJs

She likes 'em!

Playing and Sleeping

I got a new toy this week! I'm just now learning what toys are. I think they are bright and fun things to look at. Check out this cool contraption my mom put together for me.

I think I look good in it! There's this little mirror (you can see it behind my head below) and there's another baby in it. I smile and talk and talk to that baby - she is so cute!! It looks like she has a toy just like mine!

My mom loves to get me to smile. She keeps telling me I'm beautiful. I don't know what that means, but it makes her happy to say it, so that's fine with me.

After a bit of playing, I get pretty sleepy. I usually sleep in my bed, but sometimes I fall asleep right where I was hanging out with mom. Daisy likes to be near me. Sometimes she sniffs my ears, but in this picture she is falling asleep with me.

And of course, one of my favorite places to doze is on daddy's chest. I can tell it makes him happy too. He looks at me kinda funny sometimes, but mom acts like that's a good thing.

Next time I'll try to show you some pictures of me hanging out with my brother, mom, and maybe the cat - though she doesn't like to come near me! Now I'm feeling sleepy again. Night, night!

Helping Dad

Tuesday was the last prep day for teachers. Brice had some last-minute things to take care of at school, including assembling a new piece of furniture for his room. Here's a trivia fact about Brice - he absolutely does not like to assemble anything, especially furniture.

Sidebar: Ever heard the Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials? This one is spot on! Written for Brice!

So Cole and I set to putting the shelves together - and we had a ball! Again, evidence of our personalities. So here's the completed project:

Meanwhile, Naomi could be found close by, sleeping through the hammering!

And Dad could be found close by giving moral support and downing a Dr. Pepper.

To his credit, he actually put in most of the shelf pegs. Yea, Dad!

Now each student has a slot for their work and Dad was one step closer to having his room ready for the 1st day of school!

First Day of School!

Yes, today is the first day of school - August 11th. It's actually late compared to last year. It couldn't come soon enough for Cole though! He's been counting down the days and hours.

Monday was orientation and he got to meet his new teacher. He put his supplies away and got his desk ready while I filled out paperwork and dad chatted with the teacher. (Each of these tasks completely fit our personalities!)

He has two of his buddies in his class which made him even more anxious to get back in the groove. This morning he was up as soon as his alarm went off at 6:00 am - before we got up! Yes, he set his alarm himself the night before. He was ready pretty early and decided to just go outside and wait for the bus, in case it came early. Bless his heart, he waited for 15 minutes - the bus was actually right on time!

The afternoon report: It was a good day!

Cole thrives on structure and routine so he's settling in to his 5th grade life quite well. He's on the Safety Patrol so he got to open car doors in carpool this morning and direct kids in the halls lining up for bus loads in the afternoon.

I hope this enthusiasm lasts, but considering his goal was the Perfect Attendance award last year, I'm not too worried about his commitment to school!

6 Week Changes

Our little girl turned 7 weeks yesterday and the past week has held many changes. I understand why 6 weeks is considered a pivotal time.

First of all, to the delight of my heart, we've been getting more of these:

And thankfully we've also been getting more of these:

since she's doing more of this:

She started skipping a feeding in the middle of the night. She's sleeping 6-7 hours now! Yea!!

I went back to work last week - that was hard. But I'm only working 2 days a week now so it's not that bad. My mom and Brice's mom are keeping her those two days. My heroes!

And one more picture, cuz she's just so darn cute!

One of Cole's 1/2 Birthday presents was this cool wall decal of a basketball player - his favorite, Dirk Nowitski of the Dallas Mavericks. Here he is showing off his new wall decor.

Now all three of his favorite sports are represented in his room!

Soccer, Football, Basketball

Thanks, Aunt B, for the way cool addition. He was SO excited!

A Video to Make You Smile

This is a few weeks old, but still adorable! Notice how Brice captivates her when he's singing. Just precious!

Cole's Half-Birthday . . . With an Extra Surprise for Me!

I like to think that I come from a pretty fun family. We have fun together and do fun creative things. I mean, who else makes t-shirts for every momentous occasion? One special thing we do every now and then is celebrate a half-birthday.

"What is a half-birthday?" you ask. Well, it's 6 months after your actual birthdate when, in Cole's case, he turns 10 and a half! This is a great little celebration for those with December or January birthdates who often get overshadowed by or have their gifts combined with Christmas.

Last weekend my parents came over to celebrate Cole's big 10.5 before they left on their vacation to visit my sister's family. Cole had no idea!

They even brought half a birthday cake . . .

to be served on half birthday plates!

He also got some great gifts - movies, a new novel, and this way cool wall sticker of a basketball player - #41 in blue, anybody know who?

But before the festivities got started, I went to get the baby up from her nap, knowing Memom would need to get her fix before leaving town for a week. As I came back up the hallway, Cole said, "Look who's here!" And what to my wondering eyes should appear? My sister!!!

I was SO excited! We needed a video camera to capture that moment. I almost squished the baby! I know I scared her half to death with my screaming! What a wonderful surprise! She had flown down to catch Cole's little party, meet her new niece, and then drive back home with mom and dad.

We spent the rest of the day together and it was so fun, just hanging around the house talking. She is a great resource for this "new" mom. And we laughed a lot. Everyone needs a good friend they can easily laugh with. My sister is that friend.

But she wasn't here an hour before she put this ridiculous bow in my little girl's hair. Good grief! Sorry if I offend any readers, but I personally think bows and headbands on babies are silly. I'm just saying. I mean look at her! She looks like a present!
The day flew by and was over before I knew it. I so wish it could have been a longer visit, but she has her own little ones to attend to. I am grateful for the time we did have. Thanks for making it happen, Beck! You too Jeremy!

And happy 10.5, Cole!!!

One Month Old!

I am one-month old now! Look how sweet I am.

I've been eating well - check out my cheeks!

My Aunt B took pictures of her kids every month next to a stuffed animal to see how much they grew. So my mommy put me next to this lamb. Next time we'll use a colorful background so it will be easier to see.

Here I am striking a pose in my cute shirt/shorts set. Turquoise is a good color for me!

Yep, that's red hair! Well, more auburn or strawberry blond like my mommy's. It gets lots of attention!

When I get toweled off after a bath, it looks kinda crazy and curly!

It's been a great first month! I can't wait to see what next month holds!