Christmas Day

We are very blessed to have families close by to celebrate with. We are very thankful for all of the love and generosity they show us throughout the year and at Christmas. However, we are most thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ - the reason we have a holiday called Christmas.

I have mentioned before that one of Nate's favorites right now is Thomas. So, Santa made sure to bring him a train table with several different Thomas trains. He liked it so much that he didn't even care to open any more presents. We talked him into opening two more and seeing what was inside of his stocking. He still had two more presents that he didn't even open until the next day.

Granna, Poppa Dub, Nan and Pops came by to check out Nate's new toys.

We pried Nate away from the train table and went to Darren's Aunt Bill's house for lunch. We have been getting together with Darren's extended family since before we were married. We always have lots of fun...and lots of yummy food. Darren's cousin got a new camera for Christmas and wanted to get family pictures of each of the three families (Darren's mom and her two sisters). Of course, I had to get one made with my camera also.

It's time to open presents!

After lunch, we went home for a much needed nap. Then we headed to Granna and Poppa Dub's for Christmas with Darren's family. We had a super hero among us also - too bad I can't remember which one. This rock 'em sock 'em game was the hit of the evening for the children...

and the adults.

Time for more presents! Nate got sooo many presents, he literally didn't know what to do with them all.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had a really great night (despite my killer sinus pain). Right in the middle of dinner the lights went out for about 30 minutes. Nate kept saying "Turn the lights on, turn the lights on." Since Nate needed some entertainment, we (the girls) started singing Christmas songs. We had a lot of fun and didn't even mind the lights being out, but we were very glad when they came back on.

Nate by our tree

Nate LOVES Thomas. This started when I bought a couple of Thomas DVDs for long trips in the car. A few months ago I found these Thomas bath trains at Target. I actually bought them because I could get three bath trains for the cost of one "real" train. He quickly became very attached to them and wanted to sleep with them and take them everywhere. Here he is playing with his trains before dinner.

Nate gave my sister a paint brush. A couple of days before Christmas, Nate and I were at my sister's house and Nate got grease on one of her walls (I'll spare y'all the details). The only way to get it off the wall is to prime and paint the wall. I am going to repaint it, but her husband thought it would be funny if one of her presents was a paint brush from Nate.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

I had Nate's picture taken at the end of November for our Christmas card. There weren't as many good ones as I would've liked, but it is so hard to get him to cooperate! These are my three favorites. I used the last two for Christmas cards. The last one (in the red vest) is my favorite.

The photographer had some Smarties to encourage good behavior (bribe). I thought this was really cute of Nate looking at the candy.

Haircuts

This morning Darren, Nate and I went for much needed haircuts. I have mentioned before that my mom has cut Nate's hair several times. We decided that it might be good for Nate to get a "real" haircut to shape it up a bit. This was taken this morning before we left. His hair doesn't look as long in this picture, but I have some pics of him and I promise it looks like he has wings on the sides of his head.

The same girl cuts Darren's hair and mine. We let Darren go first so Nate would know what to expect. Nate went next and he did great. He enjoyed 2 suckers during the haircut and was surprisingly still - 2 year old still, not perfectly still.

As you can see, we didn't go too short. I'm not ready to let go of all of those sweet curls yet and I'm not exactly sure if I'll ever be ready.

Finally it was my turn! I was so excited and a little bit nervous because I decided that I was going to get a major haircut. I cannot even remember the last time I had a haircut and I have been wanting to do something different with my hair for a while. But, I kept putting it off because I didn't know exactly what I wanted and I loved the fact that I could fix my hair super fast and get it into a ponytail when I was in a hurry. I finally found a short haircut that I really liked that looked cute curly and straight. I made our appointments on Wednesday and I had several days to decide if I really wanted to go through with it. Before she began cutting, Jill asked me if I was sure I wanted to go through with it and I assured her I was ready and I promised her I wouldn't cry. It's just hair and it will grow back. She did a great job and I LOVE it.

Darren and Nate ran to Wal-mart while I was getting my hair cut and they waited in the truck until I was finished. When I got in the truck, Darren said it looked great and Nate said "I want other hair back" and then he started to cry. I never dreamed he would have that kind of reaction!

It's hard to see all of the layers because my hair is so dark, but here are the pictures.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The day started with breakfast with Darren's family. This is the first year that we've had breakfast together on Thanksgiving. I thought it was lots of fun, so hopefully it will be a tradition that continues. Nate had a blast playing with all of his cousins. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. Later that evening we had dinner with my family. We had so much yummy food. Two years ago (Nate's first Thanksgiving) we started taking a family picture on Thanksgiving. It is super informal. We basically just get together for a family picture so we can see how much we've aged over the year. :)

Our family has so much to be thankful for. We are thankful first and foremost for God's unconditional love that He demonstrated for us in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are thankful to have family close by that we love and enjoy spending time with - not just at the holidays. We are also thankful to be parents. After 6 years of wanting a baby, God answered that prayer and blessed us with the sweetest, cutest, smartest little boy.

I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who works so hard to take such great care of me and Nate. I am so thankful that I get to stay home with Nate everyday. I will never get these years with him back and Darren's hard work allows me enjoy this precious time. Thank you Darren! Nate and I love you very much!

Chickens

Several months ago Darren and I decided we should get some chickens (laying hens). We thought it would be a fun experience for Nate to feed and water them and, of course, gather eggs. Darren did a lot of research on the various types of laying hens and what type environment they should live in. He used a small playhouse that was given to us and turned it into a chicken coop. Then he built a run (pen) to attach to the coop. We went to get the hens today. We got five: two Buff Orpingtons, two Barred Rock, and one Road Island Red. They are 13 weeks old right now and will not begin laying eggs until about 28 weeks.

We put them in a dog crate to get them home. On the way home we discussed possible names for them. I suggested names like Molly and Emily (from Thomas and Friends) and Lucy and Suzy, but Nate didn't like those. Then I started saying silly things like Sprinkles and Cupcake and he liked those. So, we've named them Sprinkles, Cupcake, Cookie, Pumpkin and Brownie. I don't know if we can keep them all straight, but it was fun to give them names.


I have been wanting a fenced in area for Nate to play in outside :)


We were very surprised at how friendly they are. We thought it would take them a while to warm up to us. The family we bought them from has four children that help care for all of the chickens, so I guess they are use to being around people.

Desoto State Park

A couple of weeks ago we went camping at Desoto State Park. This was our last camping trip for this year since it's getting cold. My parents camped with us and we had a great time. The weather was beautiful except for one day of rain.

These pictures were taken at Little River Canyon.

These were taken in the park. There was a huge rock and creek near our campsite. Nate had the best time climbing on the rock and playing in the creek.

His very favorite thing to do was play in the gravel. He LOVED filling his trailers with gravel and then dumping it out and then filling them again.

Walking on the boardwalk

Being silly

Desoto State Park is in Fort Payne, Alabama. These are statues of the members of the band Alabama. They look great, but a little creepy. I also noticed that the chubby guy's (Jeff, I think) statue isn't chubby. Is there a rule against chubby statues?

The day it rained we went to Chattanooga to the Aquarium. Nate enjoyed seeing the fish, but he wanted to see them quickly. He would look at one display for a couple of seconds and then say "Go see more fish." We had a lot of fun and it wasn't crowded, so it was a great day to be there with a 2 year old.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Nate had a great time trick-or-treating and eating chocolate candy. This kid LOVES chocolate candy! One of his favorite shows is Dinosaur Train. When we saw this costume, he immediately said "Dinosaur Train"and wanted to carry it around. I don't know if it's actually a dinosaur costume, but he sure thought so.