christmas morning

I can not begin to describe how completely ADORABLE Micah was on Christmas morning, once he woke up that is. Zach and I laid in bed with Connor waiting and waiting. We opened Micah's door hoping he'd wake up with the noise. Finally we just woke him up and reminded him that it was Christmas and he got to open presents. He grabbed blue bear (of course), shuffled down the hall in his Christmas footie jammies and stared at the tree. After a few seconds he looked at us and said there's presents!

We let him sit and stare at the tree a little bit and then Zach was planning on reading the Christmas story from our storybook bible, but we had left it in Enterprise so instead he filmed Micah saying his version of the story. SO CUTE! Stockings came first and it seriously took him TEN minutes to get through the whole thing. He took each item out and lined them up. We had put 8 candy canes hanging on the edge of it and he took them out one at a time and each time said "Here's another candy cane!" He did the same thing with the fruit snacks that were in it. I learned quickly not to give him too many multiples. I'll be sticking with just a sample of each next year :)

He LOVED opening his presents and kept saying "I can use this" after he saw what it was. We kept having to remind him to open another one because he kept playing with each thing. He got a matchbox garage for his cars, a few board games, lacing beads, an awesome remote control car (that zach played with most of the morning), dinosaurs, How do Dinosaur's Go To School (the only thing he asked for), and a few more things. However the things he hasn't stopped carrying around are Doc and Lightning McQueen (from CARS) and two aluminum M&M stocking stuffers.

Connor also seemed to enjoy the morning. He didn't get much this Christmas but Micah picked out two toys for him that he got in his stocking along with some snacks and this AWESOME snack holder that I've wanted for awhile. We also got him some stacking blocks that were all stacked up under the tr

ee. While Zach was filming Micah opening a present you can see Connor in the background knocking the whole thing over on himself. It was pretty funny!!

We ate our 'will be' traditional breakfast of Sticky pullapart buns and hot chocolate and then packed up and headed out to Gainesville for Zach's families Christmas. Zach and I absolutely LOVED waking up at our house Christmas morning and sharing that time with our boys. I can't wait to continue to build memories and traditions with our little family.

christmas eve

We have been home 3 of the last 12 days. I am so not used to that. We've had a great time (and tiring) every where we've gone and I am hoping to write about it before the 'I need to clean and reorganize everything in my house' feelings kick in. Which might be VERY DIFFICULT for me. Especially with the new label maker I got for Christmas!

First things first. Christmas Eve. We had our first Christmas Eve Service at CCC. Having a new building has been such a blessing. It has enabled us to start doing the work we've been hoping to do. It was a simple service. Acoustic set. Children welcome (there was LOTS of coloring going on) Reminders of why Jesus is the best gift. I loved it. We got a great picture of the four of us which made me super excited!

After church we went home and ate a super yummy but late dinner and put the boys to bed. Zach and I watched It's a Wonderful Life (a May family tradition) and then set up Christmas. This was our first Christmas Eve and Morning at our own house and we had NO clue what we were doing and what traditions we want to carry on from each of our families and what we want to start all our own. It might be hit and miss for awhile but it'll be fun to figure out!

a christmas story

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes

lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host

praising God and saying

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they heard it wondered at those things where were told them by the shepherds.

Luke 2:8-18, KJV

christmas with the keels

It seems as if the older I get the more christmases i get to have! Last weekend we traveled to Enterprise to have Christmas morning with my family. My siblings, inlaws and I draw names for each other and each buy gifts for the nieces and nephews. My parents OF COURSE buy for everyone and I mean multiples! I'm not sure how much longer that will last but it will be GREAT while it does :)

We had so much fun on our "christmas" Saturday. Micah was super excited to watch people open presents this year. Every time someone had a gift he'd ask ooohh what'd they have? and every time he opened something he told me I wanna take that to my house. haha! His big gift from my parents were Woody and Buzz Lightyear. He's a HUGE fan of Toy Story and along with those, the Mr. Potato Head Jen gave him and some other presents from us and his Nana he will almost be able to recreate the whole movie!!

My nieces were also SUPER cute. Haley helped my dad be Santa and passed all the gifts out and Keelie said Dora everytime anyone opened anything hoping there was a Dora on it. She's a bit obsessed with Dora!!

Christmas Mornings have always been pretty humorous in our house. There is always something that either goes wrong, an odd incident with the presents, etc. In honor of these I want to share my ten favorite memories/traditions of my Christmases past. (In no particular order)

10. Never failed that my sister who could never wake up on time in the morning would ALWAYS wake up and get everyone else up for our allowed 5 am present opening.

9. No name tag Christmas. My mom thought one year it would be fun to wrap each person's presents in a certain wrapping paper. Great idea except she ran out of paper and started using other paper and couldn't remember whose was whose. I think David opened ALOT of Jen's presents that year :)

8. Opening an accessory first. You always knew if you were getting the camera you wanted for Christmas because they would make you open the film first! (back when cameras used film)

7. One year we bought our dogs stuffed animals for Christmas. They were all destuffed within 5 minutes. They made a bigger mess than we did.

6. Pre present story. My mother is OBSESSED with prefacing presents. Tim HATES it but it just wouldn't be christmas without hearing the who what when where and why about each gift :)

5. Peeking at the tree. The same sister who always woke everyone up to open also always woke me up in the middle of the night to check out the tree. We just had to see if everything was out there yet.

4. Price tag Christmas. One year my mom forgot to take price tags off of pretty much everything.

3. One year our tree fell down. It's only happened once in our life and it just happened to be the year my mom had hung up all her vintage ornaments she got after her parents passed away. Was not at all funny then but we can look back with some humor.

2. My dad always shops for my mom on Christmas Eve which also happens to be his birthday.

While everything else is not in any order #1 is my #1!

1. My most memorable Christmas gift as a child was getting Teddy Ruxpin!!! The humorous part (if my memory serves me) is that he didn't work and we had to drive to Montgomery which was the closest place that had another one to exchange it. I LOVED that bear so much!

Awwww I love Christmas memories! Can't wait to start making my own with my little family :)

higher and higher

Micah is really into jumping off things. Much to my chagrin the low jumps no longer interest him and he now climbs higher before jumping off. To make it even worse his father is a BIG OL' FAT ENCOURAGER. My poor mama heart is going to have a hard time getting used to this boyish danger.

M&M Christmas

We had our annual (not inaugural) Christmas with the Moons Thursday night. This tradition started when Justin was still in Korea. I can't remember where that was or what we did though. So sad :/ The 2nd year was at Stephanie and Justin's apartment and was also Micah's first Christmas. Last year's was in a hotel room before BTLOG at the Ryman, but alas we couldn't go this year (insert lots of tears here) so we had a cozy little dinner and present exchange at our house. It is definitely one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Connor and Silas weren't too interested, but Micah definitely was and loved his gift. They bought him dominoes. It is his favorite toy when he goes to there house. He loves building with them. Our evening was cut a little shorter than normal because of a certain family who had to drive ten hours to south Louisiana, but any time together is good time.

ornaments part 2

For Micah's 1st Christmas we went to a pottery place and painted a first ornament for him. I so so so wanted to do a large round ornament with his hand print but they were all out and his hand was so huge it wouldn't fit on any others. Last week we took Micah and Connor to paint Connor's 1st Christmas ornament and to let Micah paint one for his this year ornament. They had the big ornaments so YAY!! we got one with both of Connor's hands on it! It turned out so cute! Zach painted Connor's while I helped Micah paint his. Not sure how I got the messier job ;) They make me smile hanging on our tree!

mobile equals

MESS MAKER!

Isn't he cute though :)

seven months

Today is Connor's monthday! He's the big 7 months today!! We just had his 6 month well visit last week and he was 19lbs 13oz and 27 1/2 inches long! I looked back in Micah's baby book to compare the two of them and they are about neck and neck. Connor seems bigger than Micah did at that age, but I remember very few specifics from the baby years. I think is a self coping mechanism! haha!

These days Connor is...

*eating real baby food three times a day.

*crawling everywhere. Well more like doing the worm everywhere because he still can't quite stay on all fours when he starts moving!

*just recently starting to pull up. It takes him FOREVER to get all the way to his feet but he's super cute while trying.

*talking, babbling, yelling. Making all those noises you can't wait for and then think hmmm they will never be quiet again will they :)

*smiling CONSTANTLY. All you have to do is look at him and he bursts into this huge grin. Too cute. I think he might be more social like his daddy :)

*still enjoys staring at Micah and Micah is constantly talking in silly voices and jumping around to make him laugh. I hope hope hope the two of them will be good friends growing up!

ornaments part 1

I'm on the laptop right now and since I am not a very proficient laptop user I don't want to try and organize these pictures. Therefore they are not in any kind of order which is going to drive me a little bit crazy but I'll try to get over it :)

This is a vacation ornament. Zach and I visited the Biltmore House during my birthday trip to Asheville, NC in 2007. Micah was 9 months old and this trip was our first time away from him. This ornament is a replica (smaller of course) of the official Vanderbilt Family china.

This is picture has two vacation ornaments in it. In the foreground is an ornament of the Ryman Auditorium. Last December we, along with the Moons, went to see Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God concert there. Words can not describe how AMAZING that show is.

In the background there is a lime green and pink easter egg. During Spring Break of 2006(right before I got pregnant with Micah) Zach and I spent a long weekend in Savannah/Tybee Island. We LOVED Savannah!! We have tried going back since then but it hasn't happened yet. We are hoping to take the boys there next summer because neither of them have played on the beach either and we could do both!

This is Micah's first Christmas Ornament. We made it at a paint your own pottery place. We wanted a round ornament with his handprint on it but his hands were SO BIG the ornaments wouldn't fit it all! We are actually going again this weekend to make one for Connor!

In October 2006 Zach went to the Oracle Conference in San Francisco. I wanted to go with him SO BADLY but 5 months pregnant and trying to save all my days for maternity leave. Zach had a blast and remembered to bring an ornament home from the trip. I think a trolley car was definitely the perfect choice. We are actually planning a 6thish anniversary trip to go back. Hopefully Mimi or Nana will be willing to watch the boys for us :)

This was our family Christmas ornament from 2005. Zach and I went to eat at The Blue Willow Inn in Oxford, GA. SO YUMMY! They had a cute little gift shop and this little church stood out to us both. It's country just like the surrounds of the restaurant and we loved you could attach it to a light to make it glow. This is the first ornament Micah looks at each morning. I guess he likes the glow too!

trimming the tree

Our poor tree sat naked in our living room for almost a week. We had some planned, some unforeseen instances happen this week so there was not one night we were all home together to be able to decorate. Thankfully the Lord is good, all things are well, and we were able to put our 'ormanents' on the tree this past Saturday.

It took awhile for Micah to get the hang of putting ornaments up and he definitely needed guidance but he had a lot of fun with it! He kept bringing me ones that needed to have 'hoods' or hooks for us regular people. Also every time we asked him if he wanted to hang a ball, or a snowman, or whatever, he would say no mama it's an ornament. haha! He is very specific. I have no idea where he got that from ;)

Connor spent the first part of the tree trimming in his high chair and the last part eating a basket. He seemed excited about it though!

I always love going through the ornaments as we hang them up while trying to remember where they each came from. A lot of the ones we have now are mine from when I was growing up. My mom always bought us an ornament every year and we I got married she handed me my box to start my own tree. I am continuing that same tradition with my kids but also stealing an idea from Leslie and having a picture ornament made each year to show their growth. Zach and I also buy an ornament every time we go on a trip to have a memory from the visit and buy a family ornament every year. This has developed into a pretty eclectic grouping. Let's just say if I ever want a themed tree I'll just have to have two in the house because I can never give up the memories these ornaments hold!

Though it will be just for my own keepsake I am doing a post this week showing some of those special ornaments and telling where they are from and what memories they hold. I hope you'll enjoy it too though!

thanksgiving tradition

Most of our brains have already forgotten about Thanksgiving and have moved on to Christmas. I LOVE Christmas. The meaning, the music, the togetherness, the cold, the clothes, the decorations, it all wraps up into this present of AWESOMENESS in my eyes. However, I always feel like Thanksgiving Day gets looked over just a bit. Most families get together and eat, hang out, and watch football but the meaning of it gets lost in the anticipation of getting ready for Christmas. No offense to my friends and family who are big Black Friday shoppers. I have plenty of them and while I don't like that craziness, they can go right on ahead and join in!! I guess I just would like to honestly set the day completely apart as a day of thanks for what we have and try to forget just for a little bit what is coming next. Make sense to anybody else!?

I'm over that little tangent. The real point of this post was to share one of my fav Thanksgiving traditions before I too am so into the Christmas Season I forget all about this. You might think that I'm going to share this sweet, sentimental, family loving tradition. Especially after I just went on and on about not looking past Thanksgiving. However, I'm not.

The thing that sticks out most in my head from the first memories I have and still happens every single thanksgiving no matter what is the famed "eating of the turkey skin." Not once in my family has a turkey got to the table without being stripped of that crispy, juicy goodness. My siblings and I would hover over the big ol' bird every year just waiting for the go sign. Then within 30 seconds He is naked as a jay and we are happy as a lark!

This year my lovely husband decided to take pictures of the annual Thanksgiving Day Massacre. You might notice that David is not in these pictures. Well what can I say. We wait for no man. If you're not there, tough cookies. That's just more to go around!!

monkey see, monkey do

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we went to Imagine It!, Atlanta's Childrens' Museum, with Leslie, Isabella and William. I had been wanting to take Micah for awhile because one of their current exhibits is Curious George. Micah LOVES Curious George...aka George...Monkey. I am going to be as positive as possible in my explanation of our experience yesterday. Ready, it was MASS CHAOS! SENSORY OVERLOAD! There were three buses full of kids on a field trip who had about as little adult supervision as possible.

The whole point of a hands on children's museum is to see how things work, but you have to put everything away when you are finished with it. This did not happen. There were balls being thrown into the wrong places so some of the 'machinery' was clogged up and wouldn't work. The food from the farm and grocery exhibit was thrown EVERYWHERE.

I could go on, but I won't. Though my brain almost EXPLODED from the unorganization of everything, Micah and Bella seemed to have a pretty good time. Yay, because that's who we were there for! At one point the Imaginators (the museum's entertainers) did a show that all the field trip kids went to watch so we had more of an opportunity to check things out without being run over.

We spent about 3 hours total there and Micah and Bella tried almost everything. Except of course for whatever Micah deemed 'cared'. They drove the fa

rm truck and tractor, went shopping in the store, painted on walls, built shapes with this awesome sand they have, played in the water, fed balls into all the 'machinery' and of course visited the monkey exhibit. However the most Micah wanted to do there was just walk around and point at all the characters he knew. It was still cute though :) Their favorites seemed to be shopping in the store and the sand.

By the time we were ready to eat lunch my brain had had it with noise so we ate in the vending machine area which was a small room with a wall of glass. You could see the chaos but you couldn't hear it :) We will definitely return to the museum again to play, but hopefully there won't be a field trip there next time!!

As promised here is a list of Micah does/has done/learned just because Monkey did them on an episode.

*Takes HUGE bites of his sandwiches. We call them big 'ol monkey bites.

*Eats whole carrots. (George did this when he helped Bill feed the bunnies)

*Went to a corn maze.

*Likes Doughnuts.

*Penguins, Seals and Whales live in snowy water.

*Builds things out of sand.

*Started wearing a ball cap.

*Notices the birds and wants to feed them.

*Talks in a New York accent occasionally. (Seriously for weeks he called water...wada because he heard someone say it on the show)

*and many more names, animals, places he's been introduced to because george saw them, went there, or destroyed it :)

Two Crazy Monkeys!