Christmas

What a wonderful day it was!  Little T was a little overwhelmed but quickly sat down next to big brother to open up her gifts.  Her favorite by far was her little mommy doll.  The minute she opened that present she stopped and wouldn't open another one until we got that doll out of the box.  Then she sat there and sang to it for a bit then fed the bottle to her.  It was so sweet!!  L was a great big brother and helped her by giving each present a little tug so that the paper was ready to tear for her. 

This is a picture of an ornament that used to be my grandmothers.  The note on the box says 1962.  There are 3 other ones that go with it, 2 round ones and another oblong one.  Grandma is here with us in spirit and I love that I can also have her here through this ornament.

Speaking of ornaments, every year my mom used to get me a new one for Christmas.  I came to be a tradition between the two of us.  When she passed away in November of 2006 and then my dad in June of 2007 I inherited all of her Christmas decorations.  Now she is with me through out the year but especially at Christmas, which was also her favorite time of year.  Miss you momma!!

This is one of my favorite ones that she got me.

Here are some ornaments of the boys when they were little visiting Santa Claus.  L decided to hang them all together this year.  Weren't my boys cutie pies??!!  Ha - L was not very happy in that one picture!!  T was always my "little man". And that picture where L is not crying - look at the mischief in his eyes.  T is as cute as ever in it also - can't believe he's a daddy now himself!

 

Here's Little T's first visit with Santa Claus - very guarded, no tears though!!

 

Her favorite baby

J and D came over and gave Little T a bunch of toys that their daughter J no longer plays with.  They also got  an adorable outfit  for her - here's a picture of the shirt - too funny!!

J got a Nintendo DS for Christmas so we got her two games to go with it.  Here she is opening one - she was so excited!!

This is a kitchen set that Aunt J and Uncle D brought over.  Every time we go over to their house Little T runs to this set and plays with it so they decided to give it to her for Christmas.  They also gave her all the stuff that goes along with it!!  Thank you so much guys!  We love you!!

Uncle D holding one of Little T's baby dolls and yes, it has a diaper on!!

She's sitting with her baby watching the KaCee chew her bone.

Feeding her baby. 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year. 

The Mountains

I forgot how serene it is where our friends live.  It's absolutely beautiful and Murphy is a quaint little town.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely and they fell in love with Little T.  Of course, everyone who meets her falls in love with her!  The only thing I did not love was the winding roads.  I'm not talking about the lazy winding roads you might see on TV, no, I'm talking about hairpin curves!  And most of the curves going up to their place are like that.  Good grief!  Oh, and when you are riding in a big old conversion van up a mountain don't.look.down!  OMG!! If you do you might think you are going to go off the road and crash because the stupid van is so big and the road is so skinny!!

While we were there we wanted to go to Rock City to see the lights but because it was so cold we decided against it.  It got down into the teens which is way too cold for this transplanted NC girl!! Instead we drove around (in the back of a jeep...on winding hairpin curve roads....) for a bit and saw the sites.  At night we played pinochle which we haven't done in 3 years.  Fun game, good food, great friends - couldn't ask for a better quickie vacation! 

Beautiful creek that runs on their property.  When we visited in the summer we opened the window in our room and we could hear this creek at night. 

This is their house.  It has a huge front porch that is nice to sit out on.  Oh, and that big blue van?  Yep, its ours and I really dislike the thing.  When it's windy outside and you are driving it - you are pushed all over the road - not fun going up a mountain!!

This is the road going away from their place - I bet it was gorgeous during the fall!!

Their "backyard" has bird houses.  There must have been 50 or so finches that were flying around! 

Big T and Little T having fun with cards.

While we were there L bought Cranium  - run right now to a store near you and get this game!!  We laughed so hard playing it. You act out different things, or you use play dough to create the object you want your partner to say, or you use your partner as a puppet to act it out, or you hum a song, or you draw the object on a piece of paper with your eyes closed - you get the idea. 

Here's Big T with R.  He was supposed to be using R as a puppet acting out bobbing for apples.  Don't ask me what he was trying to do with his mouth!  I kept taking my partner S and putting her head to the table!  :)

L is rolling out some play dough getting ready to make an umbilical cord!

Okay - one of the things we all had to act out was a nutcracker. Picture this, Big T and L pretending to punch themselves in their "nuts and then making a face while trying to crack them!  Oh my - I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!!!

This is Little R with play dough on his cheek - don't even ask me why!!

Build a Bear Contest

Mom to 3 Angels is doing a Build-A-Bear contest.  You can win a $25 gift certificate just by commenting on her blog about which animal you'd like to have.  I choose the big ear bunny - so cute and cudley!  I happened accross her blog by Diana's blog (thanks!).  Go on, hurry up!!  Go check out Mom to 3 Angels!!

Decisions, decisions

So, I know that some of you are wondering what the decision was that Big T had to make. I got a phone call last week out of the blue from our agency asking us to consider adopting a little boy. He's 1 1/2 yrs old with some developmental delays. Now....don't get too excited (Jonni), we decided that at this time it's just not right for us. Yep, my heart was broken, he's such a cutie pie! But, I told Big T I would yield to him on this decision because my heart was already in love with the little guy. Big T made some good points as to why we can't adopt him right now and I do agree with him. We prayed about it for almost a week and just felt that God wasn't leading us to adopt him. But...BUT, Big T did THINK about it! Hmmm...maybe another adoption isn't out of the question!! We'll see next year! :)

Update on T - he went to the surgeons on Monday and that doctor doesn't think it's an infected lymph node, he thinks its some type of fatty tissue/tumor thingy. No, not the C word, both doctors don't think that but he is going to cut it out next monday. Please keep him in your prayers!

Here are some pictures - the first one is her school picture and the last three are some pictures we had taken in July!

Have You Heard About Coco Bons??

This is a very cute and whimsical line of clothing.  Plus Diana over at Diana's Daily Rambling is doing a Giveaway! (click!!).  I love their lines of clothes for little girls.  Coco Bons is having a great sale right now so go check them at at Coco Bons then head back over to Diana's blog and enter to win!!

Decorating the Tree!

Little T caught on pretty quickly when it came time to decorate the Christmas tree.  She was amazed that we had a tree in the house and when we put lights on it she just kept smiling and pointing.  Of course the ornaments she hung ended up all in a row on the bottom. 

Keep T up in West Virginia in your prayers.  He has an infected lymph node down just lower than his belly.  As you might remember he had MRSA almost 2 years ago that landed him in the hospital and in surgery.  Since then he has had it 3 or 4 more times.  When he was around 8 months old he had an infected lymph node in his neck that also landed him in the hospital for 10 days.  (Oh the memories.  Poor kid is allergic to the tape that they used to hold down the IV.  What did our wonderful staff at the hospital do?  Put the same tape on his other hand - never mind the first hand was red, swollen and had peeling skin.)  Anyway, they tested him for some off the wall disease (Chronic Granulomatous Disease or CGD)and it came back inconclusive so now we aren't sure what is going on.  He goes to the surgeon on Monday to have it cut out and sent off for tests.  He's rather excited because he's going to watch them cut it out but I'm a bit nervous. 

Also, keep Big T in your thoughts and prayers.  He's got a big decision that he needs to make that will affect the whole family.  He knows my thoughts on this but I've yielded the final decision to him. 

Here are a few pictures of Little T.

Thanksgiving Week

Wow - I have so much to be thankful for!!  My wonderful family, my husband, my 3 beautiful kids (3 - love that number!), my gorgeous granddaughter, my soon to be wonderful daughter-in-law...and so much more.  What a great week we had with the kids.  Little T and Baby H did real well together though Little T did get jealous a few times when I would hold the baby.  That's good though - shows good attachment.

Thanksgiving at my BIL's was also very good.  It's always great to see family and friends.  Everyone was so excited to see Baby H and Little T and oh my how the A's, C and G have grown!!  Little A is only 10 months old and he's been walking for 2 months now.  Look out world!  Big A is just as handsome as he always is and so full of energy.  C is always shy at first but warms up quickly especially when we give him a big tickle hug, and G - her eyes and her curls will steal some boy's heart one day.  See?  So many things to be thankful for!!

I took a ton of pictures and will post some tonight.  We also went and had some family pictures taken.  I know I promised Little T's school photo but I haven't had the time to scan it yet - sorry!  I'll do that tomorrow and get that along with the family pictures up.  In the meantime here is a bunch to enjoy!

 

Little T and Baby H:

Baby H

Baby H showing us her tongue!

Baby H - she smiled all the time!!

Little T giving me "the look"

Little T on the wrestling mat - she had a ball running and rolling around!

This is Foy - he is a friend of T's and came bowling with us.  He's a great guy and we always enjoy his company!

Umm...mom...I'm not sure this car seat is mine!

Little T choosing her bowling ball.

At my BIL's house I told his son B that I was going to take his picture and post it to my blog - this is the pose he gave me!!  Such a clown!

Little T helping Baby A drink some water.  Baby A is 8 months old and almost as big as Little T!! 

Little T on the swing at my BIL's house.  She finally loves to swing!!

I know - too cute!!  This is Baby A!

I tried to get a picture of the two girls together but that was just about impossible.  They were both too busy!! This is probably the best shot of them and Little T is flying out of her chair!

My beautiful granddaughter.

Yep - another one - can't help it - she's just too cute!!

A good picture of T with his daughter.

Playing with cars

 

Baby A standing on the wine rack.  J & J had to remove the wine glasses because he stands there and shakes it!!

 

Ahh Big A - his smile will brighten anyone's day!