Diapers & Dresses

On December 1st, some of my dearest friends hosted a small little get-together for Caroline. It was so much fun! My mom came in town for the weekend, and my dad decided at the last minute to come too! We loved having them here. The party was wonderful--they thought of everything! And Cayce's home looked beautiful with all of her Christmas decor--it was a great start to the holiday season. I loved catching up with dear friends--new and old--and I felt loved and celebrated.

We are so blessed to have family and friends who love us and encourage us as a family. Caroline is one lucky girl!

All the yummy desserts

Fun mugs for coffee & hot chocolate

Milk & Cookies!

The sweet hostesses: Cayce, Becky, Lauren & Dana

BeeBee and Debbie came to meet Caroline for the first time!

Getting some love from Debbie

Caroline got to meet her friend, Lila Humphrey, who is 6 weeks older than her. I see many play dates with these two in our future!

Me & Sarah (Lila's mommy)

We love Aunt BeeBee!

GJ, Caroline, Aunt BeeBee

Me, Melissa, Becky

Caroline's party shoes   :)

My snuggle-bunny

Me & my little love

The guest of honor

Mom & me

Three generations

What a special night! Thank you to my hostesses--it was wonderful! Love you all!

O Christmas Tree...

The camera has been found! Hooray! Will was the culprit. It was in one of only two drawers he can get into in the kitchen, buried in a box of Ziplock baggies. Stinker.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we took the family (MiMi included) to the Christmas tree farm. It's one of our traditions to chop down our own tree. I grew up doing this with my family, and I love that we are continuing to do it.  We had so much fun last year, we went to the same place. I'm glad we went, but it was much more of a challenge this year--mostly because of the weather. It was cold and WINDY. Caroline absolutely hated it. I had her bundled up as much as possible--I even wore the Moby wrap to keep her close--but she cried the entire time. And by cry, I mean scream. To make it even more eventful, it was really muddy. Mud + 21 month old = crazy. All Will wanted to do was run around (which we mostly let him do), but we tried to get him to avoid the mud. He got frustrated and started to melt down pretty quickly. SO....all that said, we chopped down the first tree we saw. Seriously. I didn't even check the shape/if it was straight/color/etc. I'm usually really picky about the tree, but this year time was of the essence. And good thing--the minute we got in the car, it started pouring. Not just a thunder-storm, but torrential rain. Phew. I'm exhausted just remembering the whole thing. However, we got a beautiful tree and it was a year I'll never forget. :)

Freedom!!

Will always loves on Caroline when she is upset. He is the sweetest big brother in the whole world.

My man, chopping down the tree. It was sad to see so many dead trees because of the drought this summer.

Classic "will face". I like to think he is saying, "really C-C? You're STILL screaming? I mean, come on...I gave you a hug and a kiss. Get over it! It's fun getting a real tree!". :)

How we both felt about the crazy wind

An action shot

Even with all the chaos, we love having family adventures together!!

Yes. She's still screaming.

We love MiMi! We couldn't have done it without her help. So thankful for loving family.

Attempted the petting zoo, but this was as close as he got to the animals. He kept saying, "Woa" over and over. :)

Much happier back in the car.

She loves staring at her big brother. They love sitting next to each other in the car. :)

The finished product

Some other decorations around the house...

I love our crazy little family!

Merry Christmas! Only 7 more sleeps until Christmas Eve!

Sittin' on Santa

Well, the bad news is that I've lost my camera. Either I put it somewhere crazy in my sleep-deprived state, or Will hid it in the best hiding place ever. We are 99% sure it's in the house somewhere, but can't find it anywhere. Matt, being the sweet man that he is, was on his hands-and-knees with a flashlight for almost an hour trying to find it. Oh well. I'm sure it will turn up someday. Thus, the lack of blog posts. Unfortunately, my camera had pictures from Caroline's precious sip-and-see and pictures of us getting the Christmas tree. (sigh). Whenever it turns up, I'll post those pictures. The good news is that I have an old camera I can use in the meantime. Unfortunately, it's 35mm film so the blog posts might be spaced out until we go back to the modern age of digital. :)

So here is the first post with the old camera....SANTA! Matt was off from work yesterday, so it was the perfect time to go see Santa. Last year we went to Preston Center, but they only are open on Saturdays, so we went to the Bass Pro Shop instead. It was great! There were tons of activities and we only waited about 5 minutes to see Santa. We even ran into a friend of ours from our playgroup!

They had a GIANT tree that Will loved. One of his favorite words is "light" as he touches each one.  :)

Gotta love film--you have no idea if your toddler is looking!

Off to see Santa!

Will didn't really like the big man. He didn't throw a huge fit, but he definitely wasn't happy. We attempted a picture of both of them with Santa, but Will didn't want any part of it.

Our sleeping beauty

First time on a carousel--was a little nervous, but ended up liking it

She was an angel the whole time!

Now that we've met Santa, we can't wait for Christmas Eve! One of the cutest things of all time is when Will says "Santa" anytime he sees a picture of him! :)

Thanksgiving in Tyler

I think we may have started a new tradition this Thanksgiving. For the first time, we went to Tyler for Thanksgiving! Matt's Uncle (his dad's brother) and family live there, so we were able to spend the holiday with them, Matt's mom, and some of their extended family. It was wonderful! The food was delicious, Will loved being outside (even though is was a cold & cloudy Fall day), Caroline was in heaven being held by loving family members all day, and Matt had a ball playing with all of Uncle Danny's toys (4-wheelers & guns). Since Caroline isn't sleeping through the night yet, it was nice to have somewhere close to visit family so we could make it a day trip & come home to sleep in our own beds that night. Judging by how much Matt & Will loved being there, I see many future father/son trips to Tyler!

p.s. Excuse the quality of photos--of course I forgot the camera, so I had to use the iPhone!


Will took a great nap in the car, so he was ready to play when we got there!



Will loved playing with the baby goats! :)



Playing with Uncle Danny...



Matt LOVED 4-wheeling all through the woods.






Bev getting some shooting practice...



Matt was a pro...



I shot a handgun for the first time, and surprisingly, I was pretty good at it! Danny said I had "natural talent". :)



I hit all 10 shots on the target, and 7/10 on the bullseye!



Caroline loved being held and rocked with Aunt Lisa...



Cousin Jordan...



And of course, MiMi! :)



Caroline being adored by her fans. :)



My sweet girl...



And of course, my happy boy!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Can't believe it's almost December! Christmas will be here before we know it!


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