Christmas Day

We had such a great day! We didn't have any plans until the afternoon so we had the entire morning to play with Nate and his new toys. Darren and I even got in a short nap while Nate was napping. We spent the afternoon and evening with Darren's family. We had so much fun and Nate had a great time playing with all of his cousins.

Check out the drawing of all the grandkids we gave Darren's mom and step-dad for Christmas.



Here are a few pics from the day...

Christmas Eve

We always celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve. My sister's birthday is on the 23rd, so it's a Christmas/birthday celebration. We always have the same dinner menu- steak, shrimp, and crab legs (Jill's favorites). After dinner my niece, Ashlyn reads the Christmas story from Luke 2 before we exchange gifts. We always have a great time and get some pretty comical video.

Happy Birthday Sis!

Christmas Party

I joined a women's bible study a few months ago and tonight was our Christmas party. We decided to have a family party. It was great to have everyone together. Nate had a great time playing with the other children.

Christmas Parade

Last night was our local Christmas parade. Nate LOVED it! As soon as one float would go by he would do the more sign for more floats.

Waiting for the parade and playing with Daddy's gloves...

Rocking Chair

My mom sent my old rocking chair home for Nate to use. He doesn't sit still often, but he loves sitting in front of the Christmas tree and looking at the ornaments. He has done really well with the tree. He is so funny because the lights on the tree have to be on at all times. We had a lot of errands yesterday and came home for about an hour in between our errands. I wasn't going to turn on the lights since we were only home a short time. Nate stood in front of the tree pointing at it until I turned them on. We also have lights on our mantel and he pointed at those until I turned them on also. He's really going to miss all the decor in a few weeks.

He looks SO big in this picture. Can you tell he's still working on his molars? He drools more than any child I've ever seen.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were blessed to get to celebrate with both of our families. Last year I decided to start the tradition of getting a family picture on Thanksgiving. We don't do anything fancy, but it's nice to have a picture of everyone together. It's always fun trying to get everyone to cooperate (and I'm not necessarily talking about Nate).

This year was also special because Thanksgiving day was my mom's birthday. I think Nate thought the cake and singing was for him. Check out the pictures of him licking the icing off the candles.

Twilight

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the movie Twilight is now in theatres. I read the book about three years ago when I was working as a media specialist. I really loved the book so I was very excited when I heard it was being made into a movie. A few weeks ago some friends from church planned a Twilight movie night. We planned to have dinner and see the movie on opening night (last night). We were all so excited. It's like we were 13 again. A few girls had on "Edward Prefers Brunettes" t-shirts. One girl even made us all goody bags that included soda cans featuring either a vampire or a werewolf. I'll be the first to admit that the movie was a little cheesy and over-the-top in places and the special effects could have been a lot better, but overall I really enjoyed it. I also loved the environment. There were plenty of other adults in the theatre, but it was mostly teenagers. They were so funny. The first time Edward appeared on screen they simultaneously screamed and applauded. It was great. This happened several times during the movie - not enough to be annoying, but fun. For the few of you reading this who haven't read Twilight, you need to read it. Don't skip the book and just do the movie. Movies are (sometimes) great, but books are ALWAYS better.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Thursday Nate and I got together with my cousin and her two boys and set out to get the perfect Christmas card photo. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I thought I would get at least one good picture for our card. I was wrong. All Nate wanted to do was pick up sticks and rocks and play. That wasn't a big shocker and I wanted him to be natural, but I just couldn't get that "perfect" picture because he was a little too busy. Thankfully my cousin just happened to snap a picture of Nate that ended up being the perfect picture. Isn't it funny how things work out sometimes?

Yippee!!!

Today I reached my weight loss goal at Weight Watchers. I have lost 42 pounds (probably closer to 55 or 60 since Nate's birth). It's been almost 10 years since I've been at this weight so I'm really excited. Now I just have to keep it off. I have to thank my mom for helping me achieve this goal. She asked me back in April if I wanted to go to WW with her and she would pay for it. I honestly wasn't really excited about starting a "diet," but how could I say no to that great offer. Thanks Mom!

4th Picture - I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged to do the following...

1. Choose the fourth picture folder on my computer


2. Choose the fourth picture


3. Explain the picture


4. Tag four other people

This is Sally. She showed up at our house during the summer of 2006. We tried to ignore her and hoped she would go away, but she didn't. The worst part was that she had the mange. Those of you who know us well, know that we are suckers for stray animals (or we were until Nate was born, now they would go straight to the humane society). We knew that if we took her to the humane society that she would be put to sleep and we knew she had potential to be a good pet. We did some research and found out that there are two types of mange - one kind that's highly contagious and one type that not contagious at all. We knew if she had the contagious type that we couldn't keep her because we certainly didn't want Oscar or Emmy to catch it. Thankfully we found out that she had the non-contagious variety so we decided to keep her. We had to give her medicine for almost two straight months to get her well. This picture was taken after she was well (I have before pics, but they are kind of gross). We gave her the best of care. We took her to the vet for all of her shots, had her spayed, and even took her to the park for walks. Apparently things weren't good enough because she ran away to the house down the road. We tried to get her to come home, but she just kept going back. I will have to be honest and admit that we weren't too sad. She chewed up the wicker furniture on our front porch, ruined a UPS package that was left on the front porch, and was constantly bringing trash into our yard. The funny thing is that we had a similar situation happened with another dog about 7 or 8 years ago. You would think we would have learned our lesson. :)

And I tag (I'm going to cheat and only tag two people)...

Beth & Dee

16 Months

Nate is 16 months old today. At his 15 month checkup (which was last Thursday) he weighed 22.6 pounds and was 32 1/4 inches. He is saying dada, mama, bye, more, go, dog, eye, and a few others we can't quite understand. Here are a few of his favorites...

• sweet peas, green beans, pears, apples, raisins, avocados, and spaghetti - He loves to feed himself. It takes three spoons to feed him - two for him and one for me.
• music and dancing
• petting Oscar and Emmy, giving them treats, and taking them outside - They are finally warming up to him and not running from him.
• playing outside - We are not looking forward to the cold weather.
• looking at the moon and stars
• books
• counting - He points at objects and mimics the way I count things for him in a two-syllable sing song way. It's really cute.
• wearing shoes
• going up and down steps

Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year. I love carving pumpkins, eating caramel apples and Halloween candy, and enjoying the cooler weather. We were really looking forward to Halloween this year, but unfortunately Nate has been sick with a stomach virus most of the week. Even though it's been a tough week, we did manage to carve a couple of pretty cute jack-o-lanterns and do some trick-or-treating.

Fall Festival

Our church's fall festival was last night. We had a great time but had to leave early because Nate wasn't feeling well.

Pumpkin Patch

We love the pumpkin patch so much that we've been twice this week! We weren't planning to go twice, but it was too crowded to take pictures the first time we were there. We went back late Wednesday afternoon and almost had the place to ourselves. It was great.

Nate's Big Day

I did a post a couple of weeks ago about Nate's first steps. He hadn't done much walking since then (except for the time I asked him if he wanted a cookie and he walked right over for a bite). Sunday morning I was working in the nursery during Sunday school and much to my surprise Nate started walking, a lot. I left to go to worship and when I returned our preschool director had moved Nate next door since he was walking so well. So Nate is now officially out of the nursery and in the toddler class. This is very exciting for us, but also a little sad since he's growing up so quickly. In the toddler class the children hear a simple bible story and do a simple craft, so we got our first piece of refrigerator art on Sunday. It was interesting that the verses they talked about Sunday morning are the verses we used for Nate's baby dedication. You (God) are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you for the wonderful way you created me - Psalm 139: 13-14. I am so thankful for the wonderful way God created Nate. We are so blessed to be his parents.



After church we had lunch at a nearby park with our Life Group (Sunday school class). We are so blessed to have a wonderful church family that we have so much fun with.

Fall Beach Trip

So many friends have told us how great the beach is in the fall, so a few months ago we made reservations for October. We were hoping that the weather would live up to our expectations and it was perfect. The Lord truly blessed us with wonderful weather and a wonderful trip. Nate loved the beach. He loved playing in the sand and the water. He also loved visiting our neighbors on the beach. He would sit and play for a few minutes but would soon be ready to take off to visit who ever was nearby. Needless to say, I didn't do a lot of reading or relaxing while we were at the beach.

I decided that we should try to get some family pictures on the beach one afternoon. So, we got dressed in our cliche beach picture attire and headed to the beach. I don't know what I was thinking. Nate would not be still, not even for a second. It was a comedy. We were laughing. People around us were laughing. We had our tripod, but a nice man offered to take our picture. First of all, I don't think he had a lot of experience with digital cameras, but that really didn't matter because Nate, of course, would not cooperate. We did manage to get a few cute pictures, but not any of the three of us. If Nate looks still in any of these pictures, it was just luck, trust me.

Here are a few pictures that were taken throughout the week while were shopping, out to dinner, etc. We went to the Bass Pro Shop and I must admit that the fish in their tank are a little more impressive that the ones in Prattville. They had fish bigger than Nate! A couple of the other pictures were taken in a butterfly garden at the campsite. We have been camping at this site for about six years and this is a new addition. The garden isn't very large, but the flowers are beautiful and there were a lot of butterfly fluttering around. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics with Nate and a butterfly in the same shot.

Happy 87th Birthday Nana Wright!

Baby Steps

Nate took 5 steps yesterday afternoon! He has been getting braver and standing a lot on his own. He has taken a couple of tiny shuffle steps, but these were his first official steps. Yea Nate!

The Fair is in Town!

We took Nate to the fair Monday night and had a great time. Nate loves to dance, so as soon as he heard the music playing he started dancing. He had so much fun watching all of the people and bright lights. Unfortunately he did have a major tantrum toward the end of the evening. He wanted down, so we let him walk for a couple of minutes. (He's not walking on this own yet, but loves to walk and hold our hand). When Darren picked him up, he started crying and kicking and arching his back. This went on for several minutes. All Darren and I could do was laugh (great parenting, huh?). How do you explain to a 14 month old that they can't crawl around at the fair because it's dirty, yet he crawls around at home (inside and outside) all day? Anyway, he managed to calm down enough to slide down a slide with his Dad.

Happy Nate




Not so happy Nate




Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

War Eagle!

Saturday night we were invited to watch the Auburn/LSU game with Grandmother Ann and Poppa Dub (Ken). Ken's son's family was there also. They are big Bama fans and are always dressed in Bama attire, so we thought we'd dress Nate in his Auburn jersey and hat. Unfortunately we didn't get to stay for a lot of the game and unfortunately Auburn lost, but we had a fun night.

Check out...

the trailer for the short film my friend, Charity Battles wrote. It has already been accepted to three festivals and nominated for the Southern Lens award. Congratulations Charity!!!

http://www.hangingbyashort.com

Happy Birthday Grandmother!

Thanks for being a great grandmother. We love you!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend camping. This was Nate's third camping trip. Thankfully, he is very flexible and sleeps as well in his pack-in-play as he does at home. The place we camped was pretty crowded, so Nate had plenty of entertainment watching people. I actually read an entire book while we were there and I haven't read a book that quickly since before Nate was born. That's the best part about camping - being able to relax without thinking of all of the things you need to be doing.

We always go to the marina and get ice cream. I don't know why. It's not special ice cream and it's twice as expensive as it would be at a regular store. Nate's had a few bites of ice cream on several occasions, so we decided to buy him a push-up. You can tell from the pictures below that he enjoyed every bite.

This picture was taken last year on Labor Day. It's amazing to see how much he's changed - still looks just like his daddy though.

Who needs toys when you can...

Clean out the cabinets

Get in the clothes basket (on top of clothes I just finished folding)

Play in a big box

Pretend to talk on the phone

Take the tissues out of the box

Poor Nate...

has not been feeling well since the middle of last week. Last week he was having teething issues and had a low-grade fever. On Saturday he had a full fledged fever. Sunday he seemed better until we took his temp before bed and it was 103.6. We went to the doctor Monday morning and discovered that he had an ear infection. He was in a much better mood on Tuesday and I felt sure that he was finally getting better. Wednesday things were going well until Darren discovered a rash all over his back and tummy. The rash was worse this morning, so we went back to the doctor's office. The doctor couldn't give a definite cause of the rash. She said it could be Roseola since he'd had a fever or it could be a reaction to the antibiotics. Thankfully the rash doesn't seem to bother him, but he is still not feeling great. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Susie Homemaker

I have really been putting my Family and Consumer Science (Home Economics) degree to good use the past couple of weeks. Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, I have tried to be super economical and not waste food like I am ashamed to say that we did all of the time when I was working. My mom has even started calling me the freezer queen. So when someone asked me if I wanted (for free) 25 pounds of peaches, 20 pounds of tomatoes, and a bunch of bell pepper; I said of course! I had so much fun freezing all of those things that I purchased some peas to freeze also. I think we may have to invest in another freezer.

Just to be fair, I felt I should balance all of this kitchen time with some sewing. So, I made Nate a pair of shorts and a shortall. They both turned out really well. The shortall is a little bigger than I wanted, but I guess that's better than being too small. I am fortunate to have a friend with a sewing machine that embroiders. She appliqued the t-shirt and monogrammed the shortall for me.

Nine years ago today...

I married the best guy in the world. It's hard to believe that it's already been nine years. I am looking forward to many more!!!

Nate's Birthday

We had such a great time Thursday night. We had planned to have the party outside and was a little disappointed when a thunderstorm changed our plans. Regardless of the weather, it was a great time to be with family and celebrate Nate's first year. He is definitely a people person, so he LOVED all of the attention. He didn't seem too interested in his cake. I thought he would at least enjoy smashing it, but he didn't even want to do that even after Darren helped him get started. He did eat a few bites of icing, but was quickly ready to get out of his high chair and play. Thanks everyone for the love you have showered Nate with the last year. We are so thankful for all of you!!!

On Friday when Nate finished his lunch I decided that I would try giving him some cake and see if he was more interested without all of the distractions he had Thursday night. He loved it! He ate almost all of it and was covered in cake and icing. Needless to say, Nate had a bath early on Friday. I have to admit after seeing the mess he made Friday, I was glad that he didn't love the cake Thursday night.

Here is Nate enjoying one of the many great gifts he received.