Christmas 2010 Part I

We have celebrated Christmas for several days now and still have one to come. As with every year in the past, we were very blessed with time with our families and many gifts. It was such a joy watching Matney celebrate her first Christmas. As I sit in the living room and watch her play with all her new toys, I can only see her happiness and curiosity as she plays with all of her presents, not the mess that is strewn about the floors! Though Matney had a bad cold and cough on her first Christmas, she still enjoyed the presents and of course the food. This girl can eat!

Our first Christmas started at Nannie B and Papa G's on December 22, 2010. We spent the day at their house fixing dinner and preparing for the evening ahead. The boys helped Papa bring in wood and Matney and Kennon supervised as you can see in the picture below. Our first annual grandkid Christmas picture was a bit of a challenge, but we got it done!

The highlight of my Christmas was the amazing surprise from my parents. This past year Abby and I have started learning how to sew and often have commandeered Mom's sewing machine for hours on end. We were both completely surprised by our presents, new sewing machines just like Mom's! Thursday morning we had to take a trip to Wal-M*rt to get material and thread so we could start our projects! I have already been working on a few things and cannot wait to do more. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great present!

Santa

Matney's daycare had a Christmas program last Saturday night and we were able to enjoy singing, dinner, and Santa. Matney hadn't been feeling very well and had only had a short nap, so I was worried about how she would respond to her visit with Santa. I think it was a success!

Today on Christmas Eve, we reflect that there is a Santa and the joys that Christmas morning will bring, but we lean more on our belief of Jesus and celebrate His birth. May you all have a Merry Christmas and remember the real reason for the season.

8 months

My little Matney, you were 8 months old on December 3, 2010 and are such a blessing to us. We recently had the discussion on what life was like before you existed and had a hard time remembering what we ever did without you.

Here is a list of your accomplishments in the last month.

*You weigh between 17 and 18 pounds now and still wear mostly 6 month outfits. If we put a 9 month outfit on you the pants are either way too long or fall off of you and the sleeves have to be rolled up.

*You have 5 teeth and your 6th one is on its way! Besides pulling on your ears and maybe changes in your diapers, you haven't been overly fussy while teething.

*You have added a new word to your vocabulary and I am pretty sure it made your Nannie B melt when you said "Nannie" for the first time. You said it really well one time and now you jabber nannna nana nannn.

*You wave "hi" and "bye" very well. You know when someone is walking out the door and when you wake up in the morning you start waving at us!

*You had your first Thanksgiving and ate with the best of them. You are a fan of broccoli cheese, just like your daddy.

*Miss Tara at daycare told us on 12/3/10 that you took two steps going after your pacifer and then tumbled over (you don't take a paci, you just have to have one in your hands when your friend Lillie has hers).

*You "cruise" with the best of them and will let go of things for a second or two and then you grab hold again. You like to hold our hand and take several steps.

*No matter where I am in the house, you will crawl at top speed to find me. I don't remember the last time I went to the bathroom without you finding me :)

*You love to clap to "If You're Happy and You Know It".

This month will be so exciting as you get to celebrate your first Christmas! As we celebrate your first Thanksgiving and Christmas, my heart overflows with love and the thought of how blessed we are to have been given the chance to be your parents and to help you become a beautiful, strong, Christian woman.

Deck the Halls

We started "decking our halls" on the night before Thanksgiving. It went much easier than I expected with a 7 1/2 month old under foot. Matney was in awe the entire time I worked on the tree and has been loving it ever since. She will crawl over to it and look up at the lights and then just sits there most of the time staring. Putting up the tree was apparently a lot of hard work from her as you can see from the picture below. We started our first family Christmas tradition of watching all the Christmas shows that are on t.v. in the evenings. Matney loved the Grinch and kept crawling up to the t.v. to get as close as she could. The Grinch has always been one of Brandon's favorites so while I was out shopping on Sunday, I picked up the book and a stuffed 'Max' for Matney and Daddy to play with and read.

Can't wait to see my little lady at Christmas and how much fun she is!!

Thanks Giving

In the past few weeks, we have been reflecting on all the things we have to be thankful for and this year our blessings have be bountiful. We celebrated our first Thankgiving with our beautiful daughter and all day I just kept thinking about how blessed and thankful I was for her. She has changed my life in ways I never expected and can only imagine how blessed I will feel in all the years to come.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Mam'as and Pampa's just the 5 of us and then went to my Uncle Bob's to see my side of the family. Grandma Janie wasn't able to make it to Thanksgiving this year because she has been pretty sick, but we were all thinking about her and wishing she was there, but knew it was for the best.

We are so lucky to have our health, our faith, a warm and happy home, vehicles to get us to and from, and our jobs; as well as many more blessings that I cannot begin to list. I am so thankful for the life I have been given and can't wait to see what all the future Thanksgivings hold.

Brrrrrrr

Today has felt and looked like the first day of winter in the Ozarks. As I walked in to work the morning air was damp and cool and as I left for the day it was rainy and cold (and for some crazy reason, I wasn't wearing a coat). On the way to pick up Matney I reflected on the enjoyable moments that every Fall and Winter brings such as cozy evenings at home, decorating for Christmas, and enjoying cold, snowy days.

I couldn't wait to get home this evening; put on my jammies and relax after a long, busy day at work. As I sit here drinking a glass of wine and watching my little lady asleep in her carseat, I am letting the stress release from my body and thinking of all the fun memories that will be made in the next several weeks as we celebrate our first Thanksgiving and Christmas with our beautiful little blessing. My mind quickly moves however, from all the fun to all the things I have to accomplish between now and then and I realize I need to start making my list of tasks. I look forward to the challenge of decorating with my little love underfoot and watching her every move as she celebrates her first Thanksgiving and Christmas and I look forward to the chilly, winter days and evenings to snuggle in and enjoy the Reason for the Season and my many blessings.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Matney's first official holiday this weekend and boy was it fun! We spent the evening at Auntie Ab's and Uncle Brian's with our favorite little boys and Nannie B and Papa G.

Our evening was filled with tons of food and candy. Our 4 little trick or treaters were such troopers and made it around a majority of the subdivision with lots of candy received for both the kids and the mommies and daddies!

Here are a few pictures of our little Wolverin Brayden, Chef Grayson, Kennon the Monkey, and Matney Moo. Our little baby calf fit her part perfectly, as we were about 4 houses in to the tricker or treating when she perked up, bent over, and spit up her milk all over a neighbors sidewalk! She was just reminding us that baby calves eat lots of milk!