New Years Eve

Our friends Ashley and Brandon invited us over for oysters and catfish stew.  It seemed so strange to actually be at home for New Years Eve.  It was a cool evening with a few showers here and there but nothing a warm fire, a large tent and yummy good couldn't cure!!  

 This cracked me up...Andy was holding an umbrella to cover the projector and Brandon's iPhone from the shower...Brandon was pulling out the large tailgating tent for the oyster table and the electronics.  Smart friends...

 The kids thought they were pretty fancy drinking sparkling grape juice from "fancy" glasses.

The Faces of Maggie

As some of you may remember from our Thanksgiving card, Maggie has some interesting expressions.  These were a few that I caught on Christmas morning...she is a hoot!

Ears pierced

Caroline has been asking us for a few years now to get her ears pierced.  I wasn't ready for my little girl to grow up.  We made lots of excuses of why she needed to wait and thought maybe she would forget about it.  She didn't!  She asked us if maybe she could get her ears pierced as part of her Christmas.  I knew it was time...she's 8 and many of her friends have their ears pierced so we caved.  I was a bundle of nerves and she was as cool as a cucumber.  After they pierced the first ear, she looked like she might want to cry but she didn't...I think she was in a little bit of a shock when she first looked at herself but within seconds she was beaming!  Something about having her ears pierced makes her look a LOT older and that makes me a little bit sad...

Goodbye Bentley

We enjoyed another "season" with Bentley the Elf.  Caroline wrote him a super sweet note to read and take with him back to the North Pole.  As I said before, time really got away from us.  One of the things we normally do that we didn't get to do this year was bake Christmas cookies for Santa.  Caroline said she read somewhere that Santa liked Oreo's so that is what we did this year.  Simple and easy!  She also put out 1 carrot for each reindeer.  Sweet girl!

Room Makeover

This summer one of Caroline's friends had a room makeover.  Caroline thought it was great that her friend got to pick out all new stuff for her room.  So I mentioned that maybe she would like to do that for Christmas.  She could pick out the things she wanted and folks could pick from her "wish" list when they thought about buying her a Christmas present.  I loved the idea of getting things she really wanted/needed and not getting a bunch of toys and things we would have to make room for.  As Christmas got closer, I began to rethink my decision...why did I think this was a good idea???  I had to clear our her room and paint.  I was quickly running out of time...I am thankful to report that it was finished by Christmas day.  As she opened gifts, we were able to place them in her new space.  She was so excited.  Once we had everything out, she looked at me and said "I LOVE IT!  It's exactly what I wanted!!'  My heart was so happy!

What her room looked like when we converted from her nursery to her toddler room...(click on the link)

The blue walls becoming gray...

The finished room...we still need to add a few pictures on the wall and organize a few things but for the most part, we are finished with the big stuff.  We moved her bed to the center of her room so that we can use all 8 drawers and both cabinets on her bed.  Hoping that this will help!!

Christmas with Andy's Family

We changed things up a little this year.  Instead of getting together with Andy's family on Christmas Eve night, we gathered for lunch on Christmas day.  We ate finger foods a☺nd enjoyed not being rushed.  It was a good day but a tough one.  The year of firsts are the hardest after you lose someone you love.  We definitely missed Mr. Andy and things weren't the same without him.  Last night at church Andy got upset thinking about his dad.  Our sweet Caroline knew just by looking at her daddy what was wrong.  The two of them cried quietly as we sang "Silent Night."  My heart ached for both of them.  Every year, since our first year together, Mr. Andy would tell me that he had gotten my Christmas present but it wouldn't fit through the front door...he was waiting for someone to help him.  It was a joke between the two of us.  This year Andy told me right after Thanksgiving "I ordered your present but we are going to have to leave it in the garage because it won't fit through the front door." ☺

Christmas Morning

Last night right before bed, I snapped a picture of our den.  I knew that within 12 hours it would look totally different.  There is nothing I love more (decorations wise) than a room that is only brightened by the light of a Christmas tree.  As I look at our tree, I see memories of our life together.  Some of our ornaments were given to us as wedding gifts, some are from places we have visited, some have been made by our girls and some have been given to us by friends and family.  The gifts that surround our tree remind me how blessed we are...blessed to have the ability to purchase gifts and show love to those who we hold dear and also that each gift is for a person who does life with us, another gift! This morning I woke up around 6:15.  Both girls appeared to still be sleeping.  I walked into the den to make my coffee and I hear Caroline's lovey shake.  She met me at the door with her Kindle in hand.  She was obviously wide awake.  I asked her what she was doing.  She replied "I woke up and went into the den to see if you were up.  I think I saw a scooter but I am not sure...I didn't want to be tempted to look so I came back into bed and I was watching my Kindle while I waited for y'all to get up."  SO we woke Daddy and Maggie up and got the day morning started!!

the faces of Maggie on Christmas morning cracked me up!

Caroline did the honors of reading Luke 2:1-20 for us.

Breakfast was quick and easy this year because we had church at 10.  The girls both love crock pot grits with cream cheese and sausage so that was easy.  I cut up fresh fruit and make Christmas tree cinnamon rolls.  

Sadly we never made it to church...my mom came up to visit us.  We all left at the same time.  She was going home to visit the other grands and we were heading to church.  We were almost at church when she called to tell us someone had rear ended her.  Thankfully she is ok and her car wasn't too damaged but never the less, we didn't want her to be alone. ☺

Christmas with Mema and Family

We celebrated this evening with Mema and family.  Sadly Uncle Greg had to work and that was no fun!  We missed him!  Again, we started with the youngest, baby Grayson, and worked our way to the oldest.  Everyone was excited with their new things.

Christmas Eve Brunch

When looking at everyone's Christmas schedules, we decided to get together at mom's for Christmas Eve brunch.  We planned to meet around 9 or 9:30 and planned to eat around 10.  We brought yummy breakfast food-crock pot grits, cinnamon rolls, sausage biscuits, etc.  It was also nice because we didn't feel so stuffed at the end of the day...breakfast and lunch were combined and we were acutally a little hungry at dinner. :)  I loved it!  The kids had a great time playing together.  When it came time to open presents, I was actually impressed.  One of the kids suggested we start with Maggie the youngest and let her open presents by herself.  We worked in order all the way to the adults.  Mom wanted knew barstools for Christmas so we helpled asseble those.  Each grandchild now has his/her own barstool to use and everyone fits at the table together.