Bah Humbug! And Auld Lang Syne

I took my Christmas Tree down this past Saturday. I needed to know what my living room was going to look like post-Christmas. We are STILL unpacking. I feel like I've been doing it forever, but I know it's only because of the interruptions... traveling, Christmas, etc. I'm ready for 2008. I feel like it's gonna be a year of settling. Settling into a family of 5. Settling into a new home. Hank and I have even made a decision that should bring more income into the house. More on that later.

This year, instead of resolving to loose weight like I always do (I still want to do that, but instead of working at it I just want it to disappear! Ha!), I want to resolve to get things orderly in my life. There are the obvious things I want organized like finishing the unpacking process, having a HUGE yard sale (come one come all in 3 weeks!), and getting cabinet doors on my kitchen cabinets. But I also mean finding a routine for daily devotions, quiet time, and family time with my Savior. Right now, I am ashamed to say that I fit devotions in when and where I can.

The other day, I was witness to a conversation between Tres and my mother that got me thinking.
Tres: Grandma, I know you love Bryant more than me.
Grandma: No, Tres, I don't. I love you and Bryant and Sophie and Luke, and all your cousins the same. I love my family more than anything in the whole wide world.
Tres: Even more than God.
Grandma: No, I love God first, then I love my family.

That small conversation made me take inventory. And I didn't like I what I found. It is WWAAYY to easy to get caught up in family time, obligations, and extracurricular events and neglect the most important relationship I will ever have: The one with my Savior and Friend.

BLESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were certainly blessed this Christmas season. Hank and I received a card from my parents promising some plumbing parts and work from my parents! I was so excited! Not only was it something that we wanted, it was something we needed. Now, our washer and dryer are hooked up (that happened the day after Christmas). Up until that was hooked up, I had been hauling laundry to my parent's house every day. And we received a new kitchen sink and faucet of our choice. We're just waiting on when Dad or Matt has time to do it. But our sink is still hooked up until then!

From Hank's family we received annual passes to Disney. We already have trips planned for both boys' birthdays and possibly our anniversary. The bonus to that is that we get to see Hank's parents and the boys get to spend time with cousins every time we visit.

Tres got a set of Lego Star Wars and Star Wars Collectibles for Christmas from 'Santa.' From Grammy & Pop Pop he got another Lego Star Wars set (wanna know what we've been doing ever since we got home?). From his Aunt Jackie and family both boys received a Lego Gift card, good to spend at the Lego Store in Downtown Disney. They had an absolute field day spending their present! From my parents Tres received... can you guess... more Lego Star Wars, a Magic Kingdom Board Game and several more gifts.

Bryant also received Lego Star Wars and Star Wars Collectibles from 'Santa.' From Grammy and Pop Pop he got Moon Sand. From my parent's he got a set of Lego Star Wars, a Shrek matching game and several more gifts including a Star Bucks gift card (he's addicted to Mocha Frappacinos and my Mom calls him her coffee buddy!).

Tres got me a set of pearls from Wal-Mart. I know this because when I went to Wal-Mart on Friday, he showed me the case they were in!! He asks me every day if I'm wearing them, so if you see me out and about and you see me wearing pearls with a sweatsuit or jeans and a t-shirt... you'll know why. There is no other jewelry I'd rather wear right now (with the exception of my wedding ring)!

Another great gift that Hank received was a surprise from my parents. They had one of his Daniel Moore prints professionally framed! It looks so amazing! And it's already hanging down in the man cave/family room.

Disney Christmas!

The Good Ones!

Here are the good pics that came out of our family Christmas picture.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that we had an amazing, and exhausting Christmas!! We spent this year in Valdosta with Hank's family. The entire family headed to Disney World for three days before Christmas and returned to Valdosta on Christmas Eve for all the normal festivities. We headed home on Christmas afternoon, and got in around 5, just in time to head over to do Christmas gifts and dinner with my family.

The bad news is that we left our camcorder in Valdosta. AAANNNDDDD on top of that, we had downloaded all of our digital pictures from Christmas in GA onto Hank's parents computer and tried to burn a disk. When we got home, we found ZERO pictures on the disk. I am NOT a happy camper to say the least! We have some amazing pictures and hilarious videos that NEED to be seen! :)

Hank heads back to his parents in a couple of weeks and I am mortified to report that pictures cannot be posted until I recieve them.

Until later, this is a very sad blogger, signing off.

Our Adventure Begins

I've been up since 4:30 Birmingham time, and we are about to head to Disney. The kids got up willingly and got dressed then went willingly right back to sleep! :) The cars are being loaded even as I type. But no one seems to be in too big a hurry so I thought I'd take a minute and document this trip a bit.

Betsy and her crew got here yesterday late afternoon and everything kicked into high gear. We had a BLAST last night playing Sing Star and Guitar Hero. I have some seriously F-U-N-N-Y video from Sing Star. I laughed until I almost wet my pants! Here Ashton and I are dueling with a little Britney Spears "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and 'I must confess' that I beat her hinnie!! I thought it was pretty funny that when I realized that Sing Star was gonna be such a funny time, I said quietly, "I'll be right back" and everyone said, "She's going to get her camera!! It's gonna be on the blog!" I almost got locked out I think! :) This will be my last post until Christmas Eve more than likely! 'Ears' to all of you!

Rest

We are in Valdosta and enjoying NOT unpacking or working on the house. I wish that Santa would show up and magically finish everything while we're gone! I slept until 9 this morning and it felt so good! We are all enjoying time with family and the boys are playing to their little hearts content with cousins. They all have
Nerf guns that are a big hit. Tres actually hit Hank smack dab in the middle of his forehead last night. It was so funny so he didn't get in trouble! :) I actually thought that he had hit Hank's glasses because of the loud 'Whack!'

Santa Baby

Well, I keep forgetting to take the kids picture with Santa to my Dad's shop to scan, so I thought the next best thing would be to give you guys a visual of our Santa pictures over the years. They all fit perfectly on the mantel this year, but next year, we're gonna have to brand out to tables. This is my favorite Christmas thing to get out every year. We plan to do it as long as the kids will let us!

Christmas Pictures

We are definitely behind schedule getting our family Christmas picture taken... but better late than never as 'they' say! So if you check this blog and you receive a Christmas letter and picture from us, it's gonna be there, just later than usual! :0 I thought you guys might enjoy some of the outtakes from our photo session. We never get anyone to take our pic, we just set up the digital and make it happen. It's not professional but at least it guarantees that we have one family picture taken a year! I'll post the family Christmas card picture later on hopefully. Wait a minute! Hank's supposed to be in the picture and Mom is distracted by Bryant's untucked shirt. But look at that awesome smile by Bry! A little off. Sophie wonders if we really have to do this every year.Bryant inspects the booger on his finger. Daddy tries to get him to stop! Sophie and Tres think it's pretty funny!Tres is about done with this family bonding exercize!Are we done yet?

Daddy's Girl

Unpacking boxes can sometimes be fun! I ran across a baby picture of Hankie and wanted to show you guys just how much she favors her daddy!Her eye shape, her nose, and her smile. Wasn't Hankie just the cutest little thing? That picture was taken at around 4 months I believe... correct me if I'm wrong Mrs. B!

Opening Boxes

Don't be jealous cause I get to unwrap... I mean unpack more boxes than you do this year!

Moving Day!

Moving day was stressful but necessary! Ha! Especially if we wanted to LIVE in the house that we had just bought! Everything was fine until Hank pulled the moving truck up our driveway. I say up because it's on a hill. He pulled it in, then decided he needed to back it in. I guess the back and forth of it all took it's toll. Here's what happened:The dresser that goes with the master bedroom furniture took a hit, but Hank says he can fix it. Mostly everything was fine. Now it's just time to settle in. We still have work to do on the house. Mainly stuff like finishing the cabinet doors in the kitchen and then all the little details that make a house a home. I know I had promised pictures by the end of last week, but things are just piling up a bit with Christmas so close. So you'll all have to wait until next year for pictures of the house. I'd rather take this time to concentrate on my family!

Out with the old....

The boys helped Hank dispose of the old dishwasher in our new house. It was original to the house (1984) and had seen much better days! :) We were furtunate though. My parents had just gotten a new dishwasher and were getting rid of their old one. It is about 2 years old and just needed a few new parts. It's stainless and a perfect fit in the dishwasher hole! Aren't my muscle men cute!

Our Sophie Girl

I snapped this pic the day I took the kids to see Santa at the mall. She is such a sweet baby. Quick to smile and loves attention and watching her brothers!

Parade Day

Bryant and my Mom enjoying the day at the Alabaster Parade a couple of weekends ago. All my boys enjoying the parade. Bryant really liked the motorcycles!Gangsta Boy Tres loved getting candy, but there just wasn't enough to go around with the amount of people watching the parade this year! And the parade seemed forever long! Hank and I had taken a break from working on the house to take the kids to watch it. By midway through, I was tapping my foot and thinking of all the things I could be doing!

Ava Sophia ~ 4 months

Sophie went in for her 4 month check up yesterday.

She weighed in at 11 pounds, 2 oz. "Petite and perfectly preportioned!" her doctor said!
She can almost sit up on her own, and the doc said that he would be impressed if she was doing that when she was 6 months old!
She reached for him and now regularly reached for her toys.
She loves to eat cereal and applesauce. And the cereal has seemed to help with her reflux issues!
She take 2 naps a day. One is 2-3 hours long and the other is about 1-2 hours long.
She sleeps from 9 pm till 6:30 am then gets up and eats and goes back to sleep. She's still in our room, only because it's easier for me. I'm just about ready to put her in her new room, though.
She's outgrown newborn clothes and is now in 0-3 months and some 3 month stuff.
She loves bathes and she loves it when she's on her changing table. I call it her 'happy table.' She just talks and laughs and coos at me when I'm changing her or getting her ready.
I love how she laughs out loud. Sometimes she'll be laying in her bed and we'll hear her laughing at what seems like nothing.
She is a friendly baby and is so good!

That's all I can think of right now!

Disciplinary Action

After I picked Tres up from school yesterday, both Bryant and Tres got into trouble. I told them that when we got home, they would each receive a lick (that's how I do it... one lick for the first offense, two for the second, etc and we start over every day). They both got very solemn. Then came the questions, "Just one, right Momma?" "When will we get it?" I answered them and everything got quiet again. Then I heard Tres say from the back, "Momma, after our spanking, when we get done crying, I think I'm gonna watch TV, okay?" I had to stifle my laugh before I answered him.

HHHEEELLLLPPPPP!

I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of boxes!! But everything is sssllllloooooooowwwlllyyy coming together and our house is becoming a home! Painting is done. The cabinets are coming together. We've updated some light fixtures and hardware. We bought and installed a new stove, and are waiting on a 'new to us' dishwasher that my parents are giving us. They got a new one and gave us their old one which is less than two years old. It needed a few new parts, and we are waiting on those. We plan to upgrade the fridge in a year or so and our kitchen will be all stainless.

I now have a pantry! Can you believe it? I'm so thrilled! And thanks to buy-one-get-one-free sales at Publix and Winn Dixie, it's pretty well stocked now.

I love my hardwoods! I love the den downstairs and upstairs! I love that my children's rooms are right next to mine. I love how my kids love to play out back!

We took time out from moving about a week ago, and set up our Christmas tree and decorated it as a family. I think that went a long way in helping the boys to feel like this is home!

Now... I just need to clear out enough boxes so I can get to wrapping. That is going to be a chore, people. I am going to post before and after pictures soon. I want the rooms to look pretty decent when I take the after pictures, so look for them later this week or next week!

Brotherly Love!

Bryant loves his sister. I'm so thankful that we have had zero problems with sibling rivlary.

Weekend Warriors

Hank and I are busy painting and getting things ready to move into our house. Sophie has been our buddy. I set her up in one of the rooms that doesn't need painting and she plays and sleeps and waits for me to feed her. She makes me smile when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Thank God for her!

By the way... she's had a busy week! What with figuring out how to grab things and discovering her hands. Last week, her big accomplishment was laughing out loud.

Growing Girl

Sophie has had a couple of spurts of getting up every 2-3 hours to eat at night for a couple of nights at a time. I'm guessing she is growing. It's no fun to wake up now that I'm used to getting my rest again! But it's a worthy cause! I had to take Tres to the doctor for what turned out to be an ear infection the week before Thanksgiving, and I had them weigh her them. She weighed 10 lbs 10 ouces then. We'll see what she weighs at her four month check-up. To me, she seems chunky... but I'm the one hauling her around all the time, huh?

Sophie got dedicated the Sunday before Thanksgiving too! I didn't get any pictures, but we did get video. Hank said he needs to finalize the DVD before he can pull video or pictures off of that disc for me! So stay tuned for that. The dedication was so sweet. I cried (of course!). Ava stared at the pastor the entire time. She was just fascinated. Not one peep, and no spit up either!! Thank goodness. I was having nightmares about her puking on Pastor Tommy!

Also, Sophie got an early Christmas present from my parents. They let her have it since she doesn't know any better and she would love it!Who am I kidding? I LOVE THIS THING!! Isn't it cute?? And the hood of the 'car' comes off and their is a snack tray under it. It's a bouncer/walker/push-behind walker in one!!I snapped these pics this morning before we headed out. She stays content in this for about 10 minutes or so... which is awesome for me!! Gives me a chance to get ready or do laundry or whatever and know she's okay!