First Half of December...Oh My!

The first half of December was jam-packed and lots of fun!

Brayden had hot links for the first time and loved them!

Speaking of Brayden, he became very mobile (and is now running everywhere!).  The below picture is of Satchel barking to let me know the baby was on the move.  Satch no longer does this, but it was funny for a few days.

One day, I was having a particularly difficult day.  Things were just not going well, and everything that could go wrong that day, was.  My sweet husband brought me some hot chocolate in my "I Love You More Than Chocolate" mug.  He's such a great husband. :)

I had the trees up in the house for about 6 weeks this year.  They had been up at least two weeks and Brayden all of a sudden noticed them.  After that, the lower ornaments were doomed.  Thankfully, I had the foresight to only put shatterproof ornaments down low.  I had a small bowl with shatterproof ornaments on the ottoman.  Brayden would empty the bowl of those ornaments then go fill it up with ornaments from the Christmas tree.  Silly boy.

We had a great Christmas party with our Sunday school class.  We did White Elephant, which is always fun with this group of friends, and finger foods.

For my mom and mother-in-love's Christmas presents this year, we went a homemade route.  I made decorative plates with Brayden's footprint.  They all turned out so well.  I made one for myself as well.

Just a random cuddle picture.

One Sunday evening, Kids Academy had a Christmas program.  Brayden's class is too young, so they didn't participate.  But we attended because the kids were wearing jammies and taking pictures with Santa afterwards.  Didn't go well.  Bray isn't a fan of Santa this year.

Brayden is becoming increasingly difficult to shop with.  So, I'm having to learn to pick my battles and slow down a bit.  If he wants to push the cart, I let him.  If he wants to explore the drill bits at B&S, I let him (and make sure he doesn't stick any up his nose).

Nick, Brayden, Joe, and myself were joined by the McKenzie family, and we stood in line for two hours to see the KCS Holiday Train.  Very cool, but we probably won't do it every year it's here.  Brayden and Callen enjoyed it though!  Pictures are a bit scrambled, but I'm too lazy to fix it.

Just a cute pic of the kid. :)

One day at Brookshire's, Brayden really wanted to help check out.  This sweet lady, Angie, held him and let him push buttons.  I love living in a small town. :)

Brayden is MESMERIZED by The Grinch a la Jim Carey.  We have literally watched that 40 times since the beginning of Christmas season.  I believe we'll watch it year round.

We went out with my family to celebrate Nick's birthday on the 12th.  We ate at Fuji's, and hung out with family.  Brayden was being an absolute toot, and Sassy had to bribe him with videos of Mickey on her phone.  We followed dinner with a shopping trip to Target.

The next day, we celebrated Malachi's first birthday!  Sweet friends.  I'm so excited they get to grow up together.

That evening, Nick & I had a long overdue date night.  Joe & Melanie watched the munchkin, then we headed to Longview.  We had dinner at Outback then went and saw Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.  It was awesome, yet made me jump a lot (even though I've read the books and knew what was going on).  I told Nick as we were leaving the theater, "That was intense!  My heart is still beating fast."  Nick said, "Try having a heart condition!"  Poor guy.

Sunday, December 14th, was an extremely busy day for our family.  The day started out with the Christmas Cantata at church.  Callen took a nap during the singing.  I was impressed he could sleep in the pew like that.  We followed by a quick bite to eat and nap for Brayden.  Then we attended Carols & Bells.  I help with the younger bell choirs.  Following Carols & Bells, we had the Children's Sunday school teachers Christmas party.  We did a White Elephant game of board games (lots of fun) and finger foods.  We got home around 9:00.  We were all exhausted, but it was an awesome day that touched my heart and showed me how blessed we are to be a part of such an amazing church.

The Second Half of November...Oh My!

As always, the blog will be filled with precious pics of our boy...

Saturday, November 15th, our Sunday school class and another class got together to put together over 200 Operation Christmas Child boxes!  I'm so very proud of all of these friends who give out of the goodness of their hearts to give a child overseas a wonderful Christmas gift.

Following OCC, Casey, Kenlie, and I headed to Longview to cram in a lot of shopping!  With the new building at church, we needed to buy new Christmas decorations.  There is a huge window at the front, and it was decided we needed a 15-ft tree.  We also got a 9-ft tree for the children's area downstairs.  We shopped till we dropped, and got everything we needed for the trees.  We did all the decorating on November 21st.

I love his sweet personality coming through. :)

On November 21st, Kids Academy had a Thanksgiving Feast for all the kids and their families.  So much fun!  We ate with the Harwells and got some pretty cute pics along the way.

Right after finishing eating, I dropped Brayden back off at Kids Academy and headed upstairs to start decorating.  Holy cow!  It took 8 adults 7-8 hours to finish this behemoth, but it turned out beautifully!

Decorating trees is hard work.  He sacked out on Casey while waiting for a table at Chili's.

We went out one evening for a friend's birthday.  Had to get a pic of the hubs and I. :)

On Sunday, December 23rd, we got to meet one of the newest members of our group of friends.  Miss Savannah Blair Stagner.  We took dinner to the family and got to love on that sweet girl while they ate.  Nick is the baby whisperer and got her to fall asleep.  Alli said she was going to call Nick at 2:30am when Savannah refused to go to sleep. :)

I used to be one of those people who didn't put my trees up until after Thanksgiving, but that has changed now.  I have to get them up early, or they may not get up at all.  I have a small tree for Brayden's room that didn't even get put up this year.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Every store on earth should have these shopping carts.  Brayden was so good in Lowe's because he could see where we were going and was able to act like he was driving!

I finally put together my "coffee bar" for the dining room.  I use "coffee" loosely because I don't drink the nasty stuff.  I drink tea, cocoa, and cider.  But I love the way it all turned out!

Thanksgiving Day was a blast!  We celebrated in New Boston with my family.  Brayden and I spent the night and Sister and I went shopping the next morning.  I woke up around 4:00am to the sound of Brayden crying.  I went to the living room to find Mom, Dad, and Brayden sitting on the couch.  I said, "Do y'all want me to take him?"  Dad said, "No, he just started crying."  I said, "What do you mean, 'Just started?'"  Dad said, "Well, he's been up since 1:30am, but he just now got upset."  I thought they were crazy to be up with him.  Turns out, he just wanted to play some more.  I gave that baby a little bit of Tylenol and a bottle and told them all to get some sleep.  Dad told me to go back to bed seeing as Sister and I were going shopping that morning.  We didn't get up with the crazies, but got up and were at the store around 7:00am, and I was able to get almost everything on my list without having to fight anyone over it. 

November was lots of fun!  Posts on December coming soon!!