Christmas 2009

Christmas. Where to begin. We are so blessed that we have so many family and friends to share this precious time of year. We did like 9 Christmas celebrations in 4 days. I will kind of layout our timeline. I get exhausted every time I think about all that we do throughout the holidays, but I also wouldn't trade or change a thing, as I realize what a true blessing it is to have all these special people in our lives.
Here is a run down of the week...
December 19th-Girls Annual Christmas Party with Necklace Exchange

December 23rd-Lunch at Granny's
Dinner at mom's to celebrate with her side of the family

December 24th-Lunch with my Dad, Brenda, Austin, Amy, Dane and Emily
Christmas Eve service, dinner at mom's (Steven went in nice clothes, and no complaints...see July post:)

Christmas Day-WHEW here we go
7am Up for Santa at our house
9am Celebrate with my mom, Gary, Amy, Dane & Emily
11 am Arrive at Gran Gran's (my granny) for the Blanton celebration
2:30 Home for nap, relaxation and finish opening our presents as we were so rushed to open them all in the morning.

26th-Drive to Destin to celebrate with the Atwell's -Stay till the 28th

29th-Keith's 21st Birthday shabang at hour house with all the cousins

30th-Zoinks with the younger 2nd cousins

Here are miscellaneous pictures from that week...Enjoy.(At some point I will learn how to do a slide show).

Let the present opening begin

Smile for Papa and Nana

Santa's been here (side note, she only cared about the new cups)

Meemaw got her a "car" to match mommies

Precursor to when she is 16, daddy will teach her to drive

My two favorite people

One happy family

Emily "EMMY" enjoying Zoinks

Summer figuring out if she likes Zoinks any better this time

Austin Pratt and Brett DeGloet

Emily hating the ride

The girls in the bouncy house (check out Summer's face)

You don't look sick...

So the stomach bug hit Summer on Friday morning, infected daddy on Saturday and gave mommy the plague on Sunday. It lasted till Tuesday and was terrible. We went thru 19 loads of laundry and 7 rolls of toilet paper. I love that Summer was so sick, but was still her charming, laughing and happy self.

Sweet sicky baby

Nope, I'm not going to eat the saltines

Snuggling sickies...Gosh I love these two!

Snuggling with daddy in the sleeping bag

LOST

So in August, Steven convinced me to start watching the show LOST from the beginning of the series. It has consumed my free time. We sit and enjoy this show at least 1 hour a night. We choose to stay home and watch and talk about each episode and it has been really nice to enjoy relaxing and watching common tv. (We normally can never agree on what to watch). With this being said, Steven states that I am not "allowed" to have my cell phone out or computer on as to be completely focused on this complex show. This has been the reason for my lack of posts. We are now in season 5 and the last season starts in the next few weeks which will hopefully mean that I will get caught up on my blog.

Playdate with Kaley

We headed to Tom Brown to enjoy the beautiful Tally weather on MLK's Birthday...It was actually the first time Summy had ever been in a swing or an actual park other than the playground at her school. CRAZY I know...but we are BUSY. (Hey, at least I took her to the fair).
Posing for the camera

They are little girls now!

My little ham

Look at that RED hair!

Holiday Cards

So, you would think that a simple Christmas card would be an easy task to under take...Well, by the time one shops for the clothes to wear in the picture, co-ordinates spouse, child and photographer, picks out said picture and card, orders card, gathers addresses, writes out cards, writes addresses, stamps cards and finally mails it, it is actually a huge ordeal. Luckily the easiest part for our family is the photography. Caroline Ferguson always captures us at our best (even when it is 34 degrees on a Sunday morning). Here are a few of the proofs. We ended up sending 5 variations of cards as I couldn't choose just one picture. Check out her website! http://www.carolinefergusonphotography.com/

Zoinks-General Dynamics Christmas Party

General Dynamics hosted a childrens Christmas party at Zoinks. Steven and I had never been, so we figured it would be nice to go check it out on GD's dime:) Needless to say, all three of us were overwhelmed. There were children running around screaming, bouncing and having a chaotic time. Summer got into it finally, but she HATED the ride that we attempted at the end.

Not sure about this


I can do it!

Do you see the fear in my eyes?

Getting the hang of things

TaDAAAA

I am ok if you hold me mommy...

Hey you let go!

"ALL DONE"

Fair Fun

So over the last year and a half Summer has implanted many memories in my brain that I will treasure forever. This being said, to date the PIG RACE memory is absolutely one of my favorites. I decided to brave the North Florida Fair with Summer and my friend Nichole. I have many memories from my childhood at the Fair. My dad took us faithfully every year. He would win us huge stuffed animals, ride the rides and eat the "fair food" with us. I am not sure if it was just the time spent with him or the actual fair that I loved, but I wanted to start the random tradition with Summer. With the amusement of people watching, fried food and pig racing what toddler wouldn't love the fair!

So we sat in the bleachers while we tasted all that the fair had to offer. Corn dogs, french fries, funnel cake and homemade lemonade. Summer loved it all. (Most likely as she is rarely ever allowed to eat anything that isn't organic and wholesome in nature). She was dancing and having a blast. THEN the bleachers filled with people of all walks of life and the pigs were released. They were playing music and everyone started to clap. Summer squealed in delight and began dancing even harder. Then it occurred to me...SHE THOUGHT THAT EVERYONE WAS CLAPPING FOR HER! She thought that everyone was cheering her on and she was dancing, clapping and getting down. It was hilarious.

OH, what it must feel like to be that loved as to think that when people clap you automatically think its for you. I hope that she never ever loses that feeling of security and love. I know I will do my best to make sure that she is well adjusted and knows how much she is treasured each and every day.


Watching the pigs race

She looks like a grown up here

These people are clapping for me!

Only in Tally would pigs race:)

Stuffing her face with fair food

Still eating

Too cool for school

A goat drinking a coke

You can't see me!