My Favorite Christmas Moments...

We have had a simply wonderful Christmas...so many fun memories spread out over the entire month of December. I wish I could post all of my pictures, but there is just not enough time or space to do so. Here are just a sampling of my favorite moments ~

Every Christmas, up until she & my dad moved to Foley, my mom would cook a huge breakfast complete with quiches, muffins, and this amazing grits casserole. We decided to revisit that yummy tradition since every one was coming into town to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. It was a great day!

This was Isaac's first Christmas. The very first present that he received was a Glo-Worm! I was even more excited than he was because my brother, Chris, and I both had one when we were little.

Noah received a Big Wheel from my parents, Mimi & Papaw, another classic toy! He was very excited as well and just could not wait for Jared to put it together for him, so he decided to do it himself. He worked very hard at it for a while, trying to figure out exactly how all the parts fit together.

Rach & Noah's preschool choir sang several songs as part of our choir's Christmas "Cantata" (love to Rose Potts!) Apparently our Noah was just too much for little Erin Faulkner. She decided to lavish him with kisses right in the middle of Jesus Messiah! I'm still waiting for someone to send me the pictures, but there's a great video of it already up on Facebook.

A new tradition, or what I would love to become a tradition anyway, this year was a trip out to the Howards' Lakehouse. We spent the night there with the Howards and the Merediths. Troy & Aaron lit a bonfire, and everyone enjoyed roasted marshmellows. Shortly after coming in from all that, Noah was hit with a stomach bug, and our family was up most of the night with him. Not the most fun memory of the season.

There are a very few moments in the year that I enjoy more than Christmas morning with the kiddos. Noah was not having a good day until he realized that there were more presents wrapped inside his & Isaac's new Auburn toy box.

We spent Christmas night with Jared's family at Pop & Mamaw's. This was the first year in a while that his family hasn't all been together. Nate & Hannah recently moved to Philadelphia, and we missed them terribly. After the traditional Sibling Photo session (which Kyle looks forward to any time we all get together), we ate supper and opened our Great Tower of Presents. Noah recruited Cousin Cynthia to help him with all of his gifts, and Rach made tea for everyone afterwards with her new tea set. Isaac is just waiting for the weather to get cold again so he can break out his new leather jacket, yep, thats right, I did type leather jacket. Gabby rocks!

What a great night...

I feel as though I am finally fully ready for Christmas. Today was Jared's last day at work for the year, well almost, he does have to go in Monday, but I'm not counting that day. Ha! To celebrate, I made a fruit pizza, which he and I are about to dive into as soon as I finish this post, so forgive me if I seem to rush! Also to celebrate, the whole family (yes, even Isaac) piled onto the couch after supper and watched the first half of "Its A Wonderful Life." Rach & Noah had their sippy cups and big lollypops (thank you miss anna and ms shirley) and were glued to the story. Noah's favorite part was the swimming pool under the floor and Rach laughed at Mary hiding in the bushes! They didn't want us to turn it off but considering it was past bedtime when we started the movie, we couldn't very well watch it all in one night. Besides, Jared & I are anxious to get to the fruit pizza I mentioned earlier. Anyway, here are some of our favorite quotes from the movie, from tonight's viewing at least,...anyone care to share theirs?

*Violet: "I like George Bailey."
Mary: "You like every boy."
Violet: "Whats wrong with that?"

*George: "Hey, Hey Mary."

*George: "Wait a minute, what am I doing? This is a very interesting situation. A fella doesn't find himself in a situation like this every day, not in Bedford Falls anyway."

*Mary: "He's making violent love to me, mother."
Mary's mom: "Well you just tell him to go on home."

Christmas Card Picture

Every Christmas, since we've had children, I have tried to take a cute Christmas-y picture to put on our Christmas card. And every Christmas, it turns into a huge hassle. It doesn't make any sense to me why my children can take adorable pictures during the year doing random stuff, but when it comes to taking a Christmas card picture, it just doesn't happen. Here are some of this year's attempts.....

Confessions of a Facebook Junkie

I am too weak for Facebook.
For weeks, no, months, I have turned a blind eye to this truth and pretended that I could handle it. I could log out when I needed to, well, when I wanted to. I could resist logging on when I needed to, well, when I wanted to. It didn't distract me from more important things, well, not very often. I hadn't turned into a facebook stalker, well, at least not every day. See, I reasoned with myself, I can handle this. At some point in this conversation with myself though, I realized that I was doing some serious rationalizing and begin to doubt my *mastery* of facebook.
"Okay, okay, fine," I said to myself, "maybe I have some issues, but no worries, I'll fix it. I'll set limits." So I did and my self-imposed limits lasted for about a week and a half.
Last night, I was talking with Jared about some recent facebook drama, and I was hit with this crazy realization ~ I am spending half an hour descibing to my husband a conversation that occurred on facebook....on FACEBOOK! What am I doing? I became so frustrated with myself because I could see the absolute absurdity of it and yet here I was getting sucked back in.
So, I've decided to bite a huge bullet. No, I'm not deleting my account. There are several redeeming qualities to facebook like keeping in touch with family and sharing pictures and videoes en masse. What I am doing is asking Jared to keep me accountable by changing my password and keeping it a secret. If I want to log on, I'll have to go to him. Now, some people may sneer at this, and maybe they have good reason to do so. After all, it is rather sad that my facebook junkieness has reached such a level. However, I think that one of the hallmarks of wisdom is knowing your weaknesses and safeguarding yourself.

Play Laugh Grow

I love those Fisher*Price commercials. Something about the song and watching children have fun always makes me smile and become nostalgic. Two thumbs up to their marketing department.

Rach is constantly reminding me through her conversations and mannerisms that she is definitely moving on past her days of being a baby and fast becoming a little girl. I came into the den earlier this evening and found her painting her toenails on the couch. Seeing her wearing a t-shirt and jeans and focusing so intently as to not get any sparkly pink polish on her toes...wow, it is so true what they say about kids growing up so fast. I had to grab my camera and take lots of pictures.

One of those moments

I had one of those moments last night...those moments where I realize exactly how much my life has changed in the past 4 years, those moments where I'm reminded that yes, I'm very much a parent now. We stopped at a gas station on our way home from Johnny Ray's last night. Jared got out to pump the gas, and I glanced over at the red jeep grand cherokee beside us to find Wyatt Earp standing there pumping gas as well. I looked past him and saw Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story sitting in the passenger seat. A few minutes later, a skeleton and Carrie Bradshaw walked out of the convenience store and climbed into the backseat. As I'm watching all of this, I hear Noah asking me what song was playing on the ipod and Rach say something to Isaac. The immense difference between our evening and the evening of the folks in the red jeep grand cherokee next to us was just laughable.
On another note, the children and I went "trick-or-treating" during the day yesterday. We all dressed up: Rach was a princess, Noah was a train engineer, Isaac was Winnie-the-Pooh, and I was a bridesmaid. As my friend Alice put it, my friends did say that I would be able to wear the dresses again someday! I did take a couple of pictures, but alas, I have left the camera in Jennifer's office at church, so I'll have to wait to post them.

Please go see Fireproof...

I went to see Fireproof last night with a group of ladies from church, and Jared and I are going to see it again tonight. This movie has a wonderful story, and I'm convinced that God is going to use it in a mighty way in many, many marriages. Here's a link to an interview with the Kendrick brothers on Family Life Today.
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/FamilyLife_Today/archives.asp

Jon & Kate visit the Ham

This past Thursday, Rachel and I went to the BJCC along with the greatest babysitter in the world, Anna, for the Southern Women's Show. I wouldn't normally get into something like this, but Jon & Kate Gosselin were there this year, so I just had to go. If you've never seen Jon & Kate Plus 8, you really should check it out. I just love watching all their crazy adventures. Their life really makes mine seem a lot less stressful.

This is the closest we could get to the stage, and I zoomed the camera in as far as I could to get this shot. It really was ridiculous. I don't think that they thought there would be as much craziness as there was that day. After maybe five minutes, Anna & I decided to just head over to the autograph line instead. This was a great plan as we were very close to the front of the line and just ate lunch and chatted while we waited.

There were some pretty strict rules for the "celebrity autograph" line. You could only have one autograph per person, and there were no pose pictures. I guess this was all in an effort to keep the LONG line moving. Two people tried to talk us into getting in front of us, and one lady even offered money!

Rachel's favorite part of the whole day was throwing pennies into this fountain outside the BJCC. She probably would have been more into it had the children been along.

The Great Outdoors

Today was another great day to just go outside and play so thats what we did. It was so relaxing and fun that almost two hours passed by before I realized it.













I traced myself and Rach with chalk on this huge piece of cardboard. Noah would not lay down to be traced himself. He just wanted to help us color.

Isaac ate and then enjoyed a nice, long nap.

Rach & Noah love to play with these little berries that they pick out of the monkey grass. We discuss how the berries are just for the birds and squirrels to eat, and we can only play with them. Hopefully none ended up in their tummies.

Did Abraham & Sarah have a sad spoon?

It was such a pretty, cool day today that the kids and I played outside for almost an hour after getting home from Bible Study. Rach rode her tricycle in the driveway while Noah pushed his little car around, and they both occasionally stopped to draw with sidewalk chalk. I sat in a chair in the shade watching them while I fed Isaac and started to wonder if the parents in the Bible ever had afternoons like this. I find it interesting that God didn't record for us what our spiritual fathers were like as toddlers or as parents really for that matter. I wondered if Sarah ever sat under a tree and watched Isaac run around throwing leaves at Ishmael. Actually, thats probably a bad example. Or if Leah ever fed Levi while watching Reuben & Simeon run around the well. Things like that had to happen because even the sons of Israel were three at some point. I wondered what those mothers thought about as they watched their children play...if they ever imagined what their sons and daughters would grow to become. I think I'll chat with them about that in Heaven someday.

"the end of an era"

Nate & Hannah leave for Philly a week from tomorrow. To wish them well, a bunch of friends and family got together this past Friday night at Dave's Pizza. It was a surprise party and true to form, the guests of honor were about 30 minutes late. I guess technically they can't be considered "late" since they didn't know that we all were waiting for them. Can you be late to a function if you aren't aware that it is happening? Anyway, it was a good time, and I'm so glad that we did it. Walking back to the car afterwards, the reality of their move hit me for the first time when Rachel said that she was sad b/c Gabe & Abigail were moving away, and I cried.

Wanted: Time to sit

We are in the middle of a crazy busy week and a half. Note to self: Always coordinate schedule with husband. This Wednesday will be the 10th night in a row that we have had some something to do. Aside from the children's birth days, I don't know when I have been more tired. This can not be healthy. It's all been good things, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. Yep, it's so true.

AU v. Southern Miss

So this was an incredibly fun GameDay! We had a bunch of folks over to the house for the game from our awesome church family. I hope we can have more Philly Game Days this season...it was so much fun! We love y'all!

Freshman Firsts

I came up with this idea for a blog topic as I was feeding Isaac at 315 this morning. Its interesting the thoughts you think in the middle of the night. Anyway, I don't know if its the start of college football or the fact that I've been in touch with a bunch of folks from college via Facebook, but recently I've been reminiscing about my years at Mississippi State and Auburn. Here are some of the things that are forever ingrained in my memory ~
*That first night in the dorm room, realizing that this really is real, that my parents and hometown are 4 hours away, and I'm about to start college.
*That first class, being blown away by the number of people in the classroom and wondering what in the world to do with my syllabus.
*Buying my first text book and thinking that there must be some misprint on the price sticker.
*The first home football game, hearing those LOUD cowbells, seeing that some folks actually dress in their Sunday best and being introduced to the "party cup."
*The first roadtrip with my roommate, thinking how great it is that I can just leave town without asking my parents' permission.
*The first trip to the grocery store, not having a clue how to feed myself.
*The first date, hoping he's not really a psycho and kicking myself for saying yes to basically a complete stranger who just happened to look cute walking to class on the drill field.

Crown...Week One

Jared and I are doing the Crown financial ministries course with a small group from Philly. I'm just about to finish the first week's homework, and I'm already having trouble. Already...in the first week...not good. The part that's giving me issues is defining my life's purpose. Thats a tough one, isn't it? Especially for the first week? Most of the studies that I've been involved with tend to give you at least a week or two to get warmed up before busting you with one of those "WOW" questions. It's kind of sad, but I've never really thought much about my life's purpose. Oh I could give you the broad-brushed, Shorter catechism answer: to glorify God. But as far as what that specifically looks like in the narrow scope of my life, I don't know. Jared (and my parents) can tell you that I tend to not think too far ahead. This tendency causes issues when it comes to my decision-making. Anyway, there must be a lot of folks who struggle with answering this question b/c Crown gives several leading questions to help answer the big picture question of "why are you here?" What matters most to you? What are your passions? Those I can answer easily ~ my children, being a mom. I have had this dream for about a year now of running an orphanage. Jared shares that desire, but how would we even get started down that path and when could we feasibly do something like that? Oh well, maybe I'm just dreaming or maybe we could find some direction through this Crown study. We'll see....

Football's Back!

Yesterday marked the beginning of Isaac's first football season. The kids were so adorable in their AU gear, so I had to take some pictures before we headed over to Joe & Jennifer's house. (Thank you!) I'm always a little nervous when we take the kids over to someone's house for the first time, especially if those someones don't have young children. All was well though. I hope that the kitties weren't too traumatized and that they were able to find all their toys again this morning.

Precious Parenting Moments that Make all the Rest Worthwhile

*Watching and listening to Rachel laugh hysterically at Tom & Jerry cartoons. There's just something about watching your child enjoy the same things you enjoyed at her age.
*Hearing comments like "The trees are dancing, Mommy" while you're riding in the car. (The wind was blowing this afternoon on the way home from Mamaw's party.)
*Seeing Noah fast asleep in his crib holding a football.
*Listening to Jared pray over the kids as he's holding them.

My 2020 Olympians

We watched Rhythmic Gymnastics this morning. Someone please tell me how that became an Olympic sport. I'm not taking anything away from the "athletes" that "compete" in rhythmic gymnastics. I know it takes an incredible amount of talent and practice to perfect a dance routine with a hoola hoop. I just don't see why one should earn an Olympic Gold Medal for it. Anyway, Rach and Noah were fascinated with the dancers. After the first routine, Rachel gathered some shakers and began to dance and jump around the den. Noah had to join in the fun as well, although he soon got tired of dancing and just began smacking the floor and furniture with his shakers. It was cracking me up.

"Baby Isaac is my cousin"

We spent the morning with Hannah (my sister-in-law) and Gabe and Abi (my nephew and neice.) They are moving up to Philadelphia in the next month, so I really want us to spend as much time with them as we can. Rach & Noah are really going to miss being able to play with their cousins pretty much whenever they want to do so. It has been so nice to have all the family this close by. Hannah and I always have a good time chatting while the children play...we do have to referee occasionally, but for the most part they are on their own. I absolutely love being able to just call Hannah up and head over to visit for the day. Wow, I'm going to miss that so much! We didn't take any pictures today, but here are some from the week before Isaac was born....

Let's Play Dress Up

Rach & Noah had some friends over this morning to play while the Mommies (and Anna) watched some Olympics. Dress Up time was just way too cute. I had to get out the camera and record it, especially for Noah. I'm sure that he will really appreciate these pics in a few years. Ah well, it was just too classic!

We got soul but we're not soldiers...

We are loving the Olympics. I have watched more events this year than in all the other years combined. I guess it's probably because I'm at home and am able to watch more. The kids don't usually get to watch a whole lot of TV during the day, but the Olympics don't count as TV-watching, right? Besides, they are learning a lot of fun, new things. They recognize the music and NBC's intro each time. Noah noticed the flags around the Bird's Nest this morning and asked to watch Volleyball. Rach started dancing around during the Gymnastics competition. The funniest thing so far was tonight though during the Diving competition. Noah got so excited to watch "them jumping in the water."

Baby Blues

I'm just going to be painfully blunt for a moment. Life is hard right now. And even as I'm writing this, there's a part of me that's feeling like a whiny baby. I don't want to seem that way at all. I know that there are plenty of women in the world who would trade places with me in a moment. Missionary moms raising four young children in the jungle, for example. (Thank you Shirley) All the same though, I find myself struggling fairly often these days.
Isaac has brought so much joy and wonder into our family. He is such a beautiful addition. Words can not do justice to how I felt the moment I first held him in that delivery room. Rachel just adores her baby brother, and he thinks she's pretty neat as well. She can get the biggest smiles from him. I already can't imagine our little family without him. I'm so thankful for the blessing that he is to all of us. And I try so hard to keep all these truths at the forefront of my mind during the day, but it is difficult.
I'm learning that I prided myself on how "together" I thought I was. I found more comfort and security in keeping my schedule and routine than I realized. I felt as though if I could tick all the bullet points off my to-do list, then that meant I (and the children) had had a good day. If I could do all that with minimal discipline drama, that meant not only did we have a good day, but that I was an exceptional mother. This was the reality that I was failing to see. See, I thought that I was depending on God to get me thru the day, trusting in His sovreign plan. I'm sure that there were moments when I was doing that, but overall, I was trusting myself and my organization of my plans for my day.
With all the joy that has come with having this new little man in the house, there have also been a ton of kinks thrown into my plans. Pretty much every day has gone nothing like I thought or even wanted it to go. But God is patiently bringing me to the place where I can not only say, 'thats okay,' but that I can also fully be at peace and embrace the plans He made for my day. "Submit and trust" has become my little mantra. It is a hard, hard lesson to learn but it is good.

More Baby Items that I just love...

*Footie Pajamas that zip instead of snap ~ at 3 in the morning, it is sooo very hard to get those snaps lined up just right. I can't count the number of times that I've had to resnap a pair of pajamas!
*Gas Drops ~ These things are a huge blessing especially since all 3 of mine are/were spitters. I give Isaac a dropperful at bedtime, and his little tummy settles down very quickly.

Rach's 1st Dentist Appointment

Another milestone has been reached by Miss Rachel Belle. She went to the Dentist for the first time yesterday. I was very nervous for her ~ she's not real big on new things/people/experiences. I was all prepared for the classic crying and screaming scene. But she surprised me! With Speed by her side, she did it all and was a very big girl. No tears! No drama! No whimpers! She was a little unsure about things and didn't say a word the entire time, but she did everything they asked her to do. Her favorite part was probably the strawberry toothpaste. I have a feeling that she swallowed most of it. The hygenist said that she got just as much on her tongue as she did on her teeth.

Can I just say that pediatric dentistry has come a very long way since I was little? Rach was able to watch Finding Nemo on a flat screen tv attached to the ceiling while she was having her teeth cleaned. Taking x-rays consisted of one SMALL square camera placed in the front of her mouth. Two clicks and she was done! Remember the nasty tray of flouride the dentist made you suck on for 5 minutes? It's been replaced by a quick swab with a q-tip. Our children are very fortunate.

The hygenist, Jessica, I"m sure had some good laughs at our expense later on that afternoon. I took pictures of the whole process as you can tell.

Taking One for the Team

I'm having to say Good-bye to dairy for the next 11 months...not completely, I can have 4-6 ounces a day. Jared and I were talking about it, and I'm pretty sure that translates into one small glass of milk. I'm so sad. I'm a big fan of dairy. Think about it: Ice Cream, Cream Cheese, regular cheese, Yogurt, Butter, Sour Cream. Wow, thats a lot of food taken off the table. (Pardon the pun.) It's quite a sacrifice, but you do what you have to do as a parent. Besides, a good night's sleep for Isaac (and for us) is worth the trade-off.

Baby Items I'm Most Thankful For...

1. Swaddle Me Blankets ~ I'm not sure if it was Jared or me who found these nifty little diddies when Noah was a newborn, but they are the best blankets. Like the name suggests, they make swaddling simple.
2. Swing ~ All 3 of my children have loved this classic piece of nursery furniture. Its very calming. The one we have now has a music setting and a toy bar across the top, perfect for teeny eyes learning to focus.
3. Non-manual Breast Pump ~ oh so much easier and faster than the manual ones they give away at the hospital, very much worth the investment.

Phone v/s Email

I'm so not a phone person. I used to be. When I was in high school and even early college, I loved talking on the phone. That was standard operating procedure upon arriving home from school or class. It didn't matter that I had just spent the last 8 hours with most of the people I talked to. There always seemed to be something or someone to discuss. I'm not even sure exactly when my feelings about the phone changed. Perhaps it was about the time that cell phones became popular. Maybe I started feeling pressure to talk to folks at any time b/c now they could get in touch with me at any time. And since they were now calling my cell phone, I couldn't the play "oh i wasn't at home" card. That's the beauty of cell phones, right? The ability to get in touch with a person at any given time no matter where that person might be or what that person might be doing? Perhaps it was the convenience that killed the joy for me. Who knows? All I know is that getting on the phone is one of the last things that I want to do. Phone calls are almost always the last thing that I scratch off my to-do list. It's really rather sad.
I don't know what it is exactly about talking on the phone that makes me want to avoid it like the plague. Perhaps its the fear of those awkward silences when the conversation lags, or maybe its the uncertainty of the length of the conversation. I don't know, I just almost dread hearing my cell phone ring. Not that I don't like keeping in touch with my friends and family. I love being around people. I'd just much rather email or text or check facebook. Those seem like much less invasive ways of communication. People can respond at their leisure and oftentimes while they're doing other things.
So if I ever seem uncomfortable on the phone, at least you know the reason.

Isaac "Shug" Jordan's Week Old Pictures

I'm not sure exactly how this tradition started, but with each child, I have taken their One-Week pictures in an Auburn outfit. Gotta start 'em early, right? War Eagle baby boy!