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Holidays

Charlotte, Holidays

Trimming the Tree

One thing that I love about having kids that I’m not sure I ever thought about, was how much fun it is decorating for holiday’s.  I don’t ever go all out (honestly, I don’t decorate much at all and only for the big one’s) but Charlotte loves helping me get decorations out!  When we were cleaning out the garage a few weeks ago she saw the box with the Easter decorations in it and asked when we could get them out.  So a few days later I asked Jason to get them down for us and we started our decorating journey!

Charlotte loved getting to help hang the eggs on the low branches!  (Thanks Mom for thinking ahead and buying me some non-breakable eggs before I even knew I needed some!)

A lot of the ornaments on our tree are ones that my great-grandmother, Granny, made.  Here’s C modeling one such ornament that is a hat!

Once the tree went up the Easter baskets came out and Charlotte has since remembered how to have an Easter Egg hunt.  The good thing for us is that she likes to hide AND find her own eggs which saves us a lot of trouble!

Charlotte, Family, Friends, Holidays

Happy Halloween!

We’ve been talking about Halloween since we found out in April that we were having a boy.  Honestly, probably before that because I’ve known all year that Charlotte should be Minnie and she heartily agreed. When we found out that James was on his way I decided that we’d have a Minnie and a Pluto and ordered the costumes.  We’ve been talking about it since then and Charlotte was so excited!
Then James arrived at a tiny 6 pounds and I knew that the the large 0-6 month costume that I had for him wasn’t going to work.  So I moved on to plan B and the Mickey onesie I had purchased for James because I knew Charlotte would like it.  So the plan then was Minnie and Mickey and we talked about it for a while and Charlotte was excited.
Halloween came and I fed James and got him dressed and then set about to put on Charlotte’s Minnie costume.  She hadn’t tried it on but had been looking at it for days and was so excited.  But when I started to put it on I found that the arm holes were too small and tight on her arms.  I took it off and modified it so that her arms would fit with no problems but when I went to put it back on her she resisted.  I couldn’t get her Minnie costume on at all!
For a few minutes she was refusing her Minnie costume or any other options that I suggested.  Ballerina, Fairy Princess Ballerina, Angel Ballerina, until I finally suggested cheerleader.  She latched on to that suggestion and wouldn’t let go.  Trying to hold out I told her that we would get dressed later, hoping I could convince her to put her Minnie dress on after I got James down.  I went ahead with my pictures of the two of them with James dressed and Charlotte not.  Even though they’re not Minnie and Mickey, they’re still cute!

My Little Mickey

After Jason got home from work we took Charlotte Trick or Treating.  Since it was pretty cold in our neck of the woods and was James’ nap time he didn’t get to make the trip.  Next year we’ll trick or treat as a family of four!

Charlotte had a lot of fun Trick or Treating.  For a little while that afternoon she had said that she didn’t want to go but she got over that and had fun.  It was chilly but she loved getting candy!  She especially loved the glow necklace that she got from Mrs Nancy!

Christmas, Family, Friends, Holidays

On the night before Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my Mom’s family on Christmas Eve at my parent’s house.  It was a fun event full of family and laughter with only one sad spot and that was that my cousin Anna is still in Brazil as a missionary and wasn’t able to come home.  We missed Anna but I think Charlotte’s through-the-roof energy level made up for any sadness!

We got there right after nap time and Sam, Abby, Carrie, and Scott followed shortly after.  Sam went to hit golf balls but Abby immediately started helping me with Charlotte and started reading to her.  Charlotte loved it!  I’m looking forward to a few years from now when Abby will become our most trusted (and loved!) babysitter!

Then it was present time!
Aunt Cathy, Lauren, Charlotte, Aunt Candy

Charlotte was a great gift giver and took the presents to each person without even trying to open them!

Charlotte got over her fear of tearing wrapping paper quickly and was overjoyed with her doctor’s kit!

You see how happy she is giving Char-Char a shot?!?!

She just walked around holding the shot waiting for someone to ask her to give them one.

Gramme was the next recipient!

After presents Charlotte and Mary got silly!

And then Charlotte showed off how she can climb on to her rocking horse (that used to be mine)

And she can ride it back and forth!

Sam got in on the reading after dinner and Charlotte loved having two big kids playing with her!

This child is definitely loved! She has wonderful cousins!

Charlotte started showing off her faces.  This is her sad face.

This is her silly face

Another silly face

And this is her happy face!

We had a wonderful night and then rushed home so that we could get ready for Santa to visit!

Holidays

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our house is crazy right now.  I’m still trying to finish decorating our house (our tree has been up for two weeks and has no ornaments since Charlotte confiscated the Elmo ornament for her tree!) while also trying to get ready to leave this afternoon with Kelly for the Deeper Still conference in Birmingham.  We have been planning this weekend since May and I’m so excited about it! I can’t wait to hear some great teaching and enjoy wonderful worship and have some more quality girl time with Kelly!  IT should be a great weekend!

But there is lingering stress over getting our house looking good.  I’m hosting a baby shower here next weekend for my good friend Leigh which I am SUPER excited about but my hours of the day have shortened by 1 since Charlotte’s just taking one nap a day now instead of two and there’s SO MUCH that still needs to be done! I’ll get it done I’m sure, I just want everything to be perfect for Leigh and Jack! We’re also having a Christmas party the next weekend so everything’s got to stay in good shape until then also!   Craziness!

But we are enjoying the Christmas season so far.  Seeing it through the eyes of a child who is starting to understand, or at least be amazed, is so much fun.  Every time Charlotte sees a Christmas tree her eyes light up and mouth opens in delight.  She can point out baby Jessus in the nativity’s that we have and we’re working on teaching her that Christmas is baby Jesus’ birthday.  This is going to be such a wonderful holiday!

Helping get me in the mood is what I have to say is THE BEST Christmas playlist ever created.  I’m telling you, it is awesome! I mentioned it on Twitter a few days ago and got a request to share it so I’m going to.  Believe me, you need to download every song that I list if you don’t already have it!  BUT I’m always on the lookout for new songs that will become my favorite so if you have a favorite song that I don’t include, please tell me about it because I’d love to try it out! I can’t promise it will make my awesome list (you can sense my half-joking-ness right??) but I will download it and give it a try!  So without further ado… here’s my awesome Christmas playlist! (listed in alphabetical order based on album name since that makes it easier for me to look at it on my iTunes and make sure I tell you everything, but I listen to it in random shuffled order)

1. Kenny Chesney, “Just a Kid”
Great Christmas album (All I Want For Christmas is a Real Good Tan) but this song is the best.

2. Faith Hill, “A Baby Changes Everything”
I’m sure everone knows this song but I maintain that it is a wonderful song.

3. Third Day, Christmas Offerings — the entire album
FANTASTIC album! I love the fact that it’s more up tempo than most Christmas albums which makes it so good.  My favorites are “Born in Bethlehem” and “Christmas Like a Child”.

4. Point of Grace, “Not That Far From Bethlehem”
Again, a great album but this song just speaks to me about the real meaning of Christmas.

5. Chris Tomlin, Glory in the Highest — the entire album
As you can see I’m more into the rock-ish versions of songs this year.  Chris Tomlin is a fantastic artist and I love everything that he does.  He’s able to get me seriously worshipping no matter if I’m cleaning the house or sitting down doing a devotional.  My absolute favorites from this disc are “My Soul Magnifies the Lord” (if you don’t download another song I list, download that one!), “Glory in the Highest”, and “Born That We May Have Life”.

6. Kristin Chenoweth, “Born on Christmas Day”
I really like Kristin Chenoweth as an actress and so was excited to download her Christmas album, A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas.  It has some great traditional Christmas songs on it but this is my favorite and the only one that made it into this year’s playlist.

7. Steven Curtis Chapman, “This Baby”
Steven Curtis Chapman’s Music of Christmas album is awesome and has been one of my favorites since I was little.  But this song is the one speaking to me most this year.

8. Travis Cottrell, Ring the Bells — the entire album
Another FABULOUS album!  Travis is an awesome performer and someone I had never heard of before I started following the Lifeway bloggers.  My favorites from this album are “Ring The Bells” with Natalie Grant and “Jesus Saves”.

9. Alabama, “Christmas in Dixie”
If you live in the South how can you have a Christmas playlist without having this song on it?!? Reminds me that even though we don’t get snow every year it’s still lovely celebrating Christmas in the South.

10. Dave Barnes, Very Merry Christmas — the entire album
This download is new this year, again after the recommendation of the Lifeway bloggers (you know BigMama and BooMama right??).  While I’m not 100% familiar with all the songs yet I know by Christmas I will be and so far I’m very happy I got the album.  Right now favorites are “I Pray on Christmas” and “Mary and Joseph”.

11. Harry Connick Jr, What A Night! A Christmas Album — the entire album
A more traditional album but after seeing him in person in New York this summer I couldn’t not include it.  Great traditional songs with Harry’s bluesy vibe to them.  I especially love “Winter Wonderland” which his daughter Kate sings with him.

12. TobyMac, “This Christmas (Joy to the World)”
Another non-traditional song that I LOVE and that speaks to me about Christmas.  Definitely a great one!

I hope this list gets you in the Christmas spirit like the playlist does me!  But now off to finish up my packing and hit the road to Birmingham!

Family, Friends, Holidays

Last Thanksgiving of the Year

Saturday held our last Thanksgiving gathering of the year.  Amazingly enough we didn’t make it to either of Jason’s sets of grandparents and still had four Thanksgiving’s! 

After we drove back from Tuscaloosa and C took a nap we headed over to my mom’s parents for Thanksgiving with that side of the family.  We had a great time seeing everyone but missed those in the family who were missing due to sickness, work problems, or because they’re out of the country doing mission work.  Charlotte especially had a great time playing with her (second?) cousins!  She loved playing with the new-to-her toys at Gramme and Papa’s but her favorite activity came when she found the ottoman and somehow convinced all of her cousins to surround her and let her fall off onto them over and over again.  She had the best time and was laughing and squealing!  I’m sure Sam, Abby, Lauren, and Mary all had sore arms on Sunday though after lifting Charlotte up so many times!

Charlotte immediately found the puppy dog that Uncle Scott gave Aunt Carrie when they were in high school.  So that dog is only a few years younger than I am!

Charlotte’s super excited/can’t believe it/how wonderful face!

New dolls!

Charlotte wanted to sit next to Abby and take a picture

And then she wanted Sam to join them!

She had so much fun with Sam and Abby! I remember when Sam and Abby were her age at Thanksgiving! Where has the time gone?!?!
And then they moved into the den and Charlotte’s favorite trust grame!

Charlotte, Holidays

Happy Birthday America!

We’ve never been a huge 4th of July family.  We never consistently went on the river or to the lake or anything.  When we were in town we did usually go to the Miss Point Mallard pagent but it always ended with a desperate sprint as they called the winner back to our house since Charlie hated — and hated is NOT an exaggeration! — fireworks. 

So last year we just spent some time at the pool with the Dixon’s and Charlotte went home with Mom and Dad since she was too little to swim.  She basically slept through the whole thing.  This year while we didn’t have big plans I did save a red, white, and blue bathing suit for her to wear on the 4th of July!

I think it’s adorable!
Our little girl is seriously a fish and while she’s enjoyed the big pool the most starting last weekend she started really enjoying the baby pool.  Now that she’s walking she can walk around in the baby pool and, I guess, feel a little more independent since there are times when no one is touching her.  Don’t worry though, our hands are maybe 6 inches away, not too far!  So for the 4th we just hung out at the pool and enjoyed some dinner.
And Charlotte’s FAVORITE part of the day was when I gave her half of a chocolate chip cookie to chew on!  The got it EVERYWHERE but loved every second of it!  Miraculously she did end up eating the whole half of the cookie just by knawing on it for so long!  This picture was near the beginning of her cookie eating but look how messy she already was.  Chocolate and the hot Alabama temps don’t mix too well!

Then on Monday (the 5th) our community had it’s 4th of July Parade.  Charlotte wasn’t really sure what was going on but I think she enjoyed herself and loved watching the other kids.  It was led by a fire truck and had lots of golf carts, kids on bicycles, kids in wagons, and even some kids in a small battery powered vehicle.  Poor Charlotte’s wagon was porbably the least decorated but at least her Daddy blew up some balloons for her! 🙂

Please notice her red, white, and blue outfit here also! 🙂
All the neighborhood kids that were in the parade.  I can’t wait to see her next year in the parade!