Christmas Day 2009

Christmas morning at our house started around 6:45am (which is actually good for us!!) Lily was excited to open her gifts, and played with each one before moving to the next. That worked great for us, cuz then Andrew and I could open our gifts in between...

I told Andrew next year he better tell me when my hair looks like it's trying to fly away!

Later that morning, we headed up to my parents in Atlanta. Clarkes were there too! We opened gifts there and had a great dinner.

Lily is opening a "chocolate surprise" from Germany!

Andrew and Lily

Lily got an awesome "art box" from the Clarkes with fun things for art projects. She was so excited!!

Henry checking out his dumptruck from G&G


Hanging out on the couch.
I have to tell you, this year was wonderful! Henry still isn't moving much, so he was easy, obviously. But Lily played so well with her cousins, it was dreamy! Usually, one of us seems to end up upstairs playing with her and the kids and doesn't get to chat or hang out with everyone else. But now she's getting old enough that she doesn't need or want us...it was fabulous! And she completely adores Ethan and Kaylin, which makes it even easier!

See what I mean? Easy!! :)

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve was at our house this year; and we had a great time! Here are my kids waiting for the Clarkes and Grandma and Grandpa to arrive.

Yo! What up? Cute Henry hanging out with Aunt Britt

What a sweet picture! Henry, with his cousin, Kaylin.

The baby stealer! Even Dad commented on how tiring it is to hold the big hunk!

Wonderful Grandma entertaining the kids. She taught Lily how to bow, and she's been doing it ever since. So cute. I'll have to get a video of it.

At a Christmas Eve service, singing Christmas carols and watching a reenactment of the Christmas story.

Lily, carefully holding her candle for Silent Night. She held it surprisingly well!

Decorating (and apparently eating) cookies for Santa

Me, Mom and Britt

All of us, before everyone headed home. What a great evening spent with my terrific family! I am so lucky to have family so close to spend the holidays with!

Our past week

Lily's preschool Christmas party was last week. Here are all the little 2 year olds waiting for their parents to arrive. They sang a couple songs (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells) before we had snacks and a book exchange. Lily was very excited. It was adorable.

Lily still loves the Christmas Tree. We have an end table near the tree which she climbs up on and rearranges the ornaments....daily.

Andrew took both kids out on a walk the other day. What a fabulous dad!! It was pretty cold, so Andrew cut the walk short which made Lily very unhappy!

My handsome little guy sitting up on the couch!

But watch out! Lily is near by!

Getting pretty good at tummy time now. He can roll over from tummy to back, and from back to tummy...but gets stuck in either place once he rolls. He often rolls on to his stomach when I'm trying to get him to take a nap...then screams (like a girl!!) at me 'til I come and turn him back over. Stinker!!

He is wearing 6-12 month clothes now! WHOA!

Atlanta Children's Museum

Jen and Steve were in town this past weekend so they came with us to the Children's Museum in Atlanta. It was a blast! Perfect for Lily's age. They have a Curious George exhibit going on right now...you could take your picture and email it to yourself...

Cute preggie Jen and Lily


She loved the fishing pond... it had little magnets on the end of the pole and the fish. Lily ended up soaked, even with the raincoat.

We went to Mellow Mushroom for Pizza afterwards. It was a quick visit, but always so great to see them. Jen is due in February...I can't wait!

Horsey Rides

Giggle bug

For some reason, my "roaring" was making Henry giggle the other day. It was hard for me to hold the camera at the same time, but I really wanted to get this on video. It was cracking me up. How come I always sound like such a dork on these videos? Oh well. Henry's giggles are too cute not to post it.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We finally had a day that we could get our Christmas tree! It felt kind of strange to be getting a Christmas tree in 70 degree weather, but I guess that's Georgia for ya. You know how Lily has quite an obsession with putting things on her head...now it's her Santa hat, appropriately so.

On the hunt for the perfect tree!

Lily was extremely excited to help decorate the tree...and was quite upset when we ran out of ornaments. She kept showing me there were more branches to be filled...why weren't there any more decorations??

Even after her bath she put her santa hat back on. We aren't encouraging her to put it on at all...it's all her doing.

She LOVES the tree. We are trying to teach her that the ornaments stay ON the tree and she can only look at them. She just stands in front of the tree with her arms folded, admiring it. It's adorable.

Henry: 4 months!

My cute little man is 4 months old!

Dr. appt today went well...

Weight: 17.5lbs (85th percentile -- not as high as I thought!)

Height: 25 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

He is starting to like the bouncer/jumper thing...check out those cheeks!!

And can sit in his high chair (he was really sleepy here...but I needed to document!) He drools like crazy so we have started putting bibs on him. I sure hope he isn't teething this early.

And he LOVES to stand up on your lap.

He can grab on to toys now and bring them to his mouth. But once he gets them there, he makes a funny face and sticks out his tongue. He gums his and our fingers all the time, so thought he would like teething toys...guess not yet. Also, noteworthy: He has slept 8 hours straight the last two nights!!

December Fun

Santa sent Bob, the elf, to our house this year to watch Lily and Henry for him and make sure they are being nice. Every night, he goes back to the North Pole and reports back to Santa then comes back every morning, picking a new spot to sit and watch for the day.

Lily and I made a gingerbread house! This was the first time I've ever made one...and it wasn't too bad! We had a great time! The hardest part was trying to stop Lily from eating all the icing!

She pretty much did all the candy decorations. I would put the icing on and tell her which candy to use...I think she did a fabulous job!

Ta da! The finished product! I have a cute video of her hugging and kissing the gingerbread house, but it takes too long to upload videos on here. Maybe I'll try to get it on here some other time...

We also made some fun window decorations with felt, beads and ribbon. Lily loves to glue stuff, so gluing on the beads was a big hit!

Today

Just a few pics of Henry hanging out on the floor next to me while I'm blogging...

Thanksgiving, 2009

Thanksgiving down in Brunswick, GA at MeMe and Poppa's. This year it was just our family and Andrew's brother Jason and his family. A smaller group than usual, but fun nonetheless. Here is storytime with MeMe before bed.

Lily loves all her cousins, but had an especially fun time with Isobel this year. She was her little shadow and was always wanting her to come and play with her. Isobel was a good sport, because I know she tired of playing with a 2 year old sometimes.

After dinner, I caught Andrew and Henry taking a snooze.


Henry, chatting with Poppa.


Lily loves playing with play food and the kitchen stuff. MeMe has a neat cash register, and she played with this all weekend.

MeMe and 4 of the 5 grandkids there this year: Ethan, Isobel, Emery and Lily

Andrew, Henry and I

Chrissy and I, trying to get Melynda to let us help do something!!

Lily kept trying to get Isobel to play "sleep" with her....this is Lily's new bed at MeMe's house!

Andrew, Henry and I went down to Gainesville, FL for a quick visit with our friends Danny and Danielle. (Andrew and Danny were in the Navy together) Their sweet baby, Gavin, is only 3 weeks old and feels light as a feather compared to my big boy. We had a great visit and I'm so glad we got to see them! Danny is being deployed to Kuwait in January for a year. :(