New Year's Eve

My sweet Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jeremy spent New Year's Eve with me (THAT is love!) and we had such a blast! Aunt Lucy even wrote about our special day on her Facebook page, so I thought I'd let her tell you how our day went. I love you both so much!

"My leave it to beaver moment...

Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 7:13pm...

happened yesterday in Decatur (where it's greater), GA chilling with my honorary nephew Harrison.We were asked to babysit Harrison a few weeks back and we love spending time with him so it was a no-brainer! When we got there we had Christmas with John and Kathy and Harrison and everyone got great gifts. (Thank you Stuckey's for the halter apron with the fabulous design from Anthropologie!) Anyway, before too long John and Kathy were on their way to the CFA Bowl to set up and J and I were alone with Harrison.

We decided to go and eat and so we walked to Decatur. (That's right, I said walked- like went up the street took a left and BOOM we had tons of restaurants to choose from.) Plus, most of the way up there Harrison was on J's shoulders. I felt like singing it was so Mayberry. We asked Harrison if he wanted Pizza or pasta and he said "Pizza or Pasta" so off to Little Azio we went. DANG TITO, this food was good and Harrison and I (while we were waiting for the food to arrive) started reading "The Grumpy Ladybug". I love how he loves books. So we read, ate super-yummy food and watched the two babies at the restaurant.

We headed back toward the house to "nap" and I once again marveled at how cool it was to be able to walk to dinner. We passed this really cool park on the way back, saw cute rodents climb trees, heard the whisper of the wind (really it was gusty and cold), ogled the cool houses and laughed at Harrison's slightest witticisms ("That red bow is sooooo cute"-he's two)! It really made me long for a home like that one!!

After we all had naps (Yes, all of us, J, Molly-dog, Hudson-dog, Stirling-cat, Harrison-human boy and I-human), we woke up watched the Sun Bowl and played then it was on to bath time and bubbles! Kathy and John came home exhausted and we headed home after a few minutes of hanging out!

I would love to live in an incredible place like that and it was cool to be a part of that for one night!

Lucy"

Christmas with Aunt Kelly

Aunt Kelly came over to celebrate Christmas with us. She always gets us the most thoughtful things - she has such a big heart and we are lucky to be a special part of her life! She gave me a lot of really awesome presents, but my favorite has been the stacking alphabet blocks - I just cannot get enough of them! When I stack them all up, the tower is bigger than me! Thank you, Aunt Kelly!

After all of this excitement, I got to go on a dinner date with Mama and Aunt Kelly, to, where else, Los Loros! What a great night!

Christmas Part II

Finally! We get to see Bebe to celebrate Christmas with her! She was so sick on Christmas Day, but lucky for all of us she was feeling better by Sunday, so we all went over to her and Papa's house to have Christmas: Round 2. We had a wonderful, fun, loving day with our family!

Later on, Uncle George and Aunt Marilyn came over too - it was so great to see them, it has been a while! I woke up from my nap a little after they arrived, just in time to finish watching the Falcon's game with everyone - now that was some great timing! It was a really exciting game.

We opened lots of presents, had a scrumptious meal and just enjoyed being together. I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Part of the duty of the Elf on Christmas morning is to hand out presents - AND help open them!

This was one of my favorite presents of all - a really perfect school bus that Bebe found for me! I LOVE it!

Leave it to Bebe to find a present for me that is an ornament + a wagon with wheels that move!

This Cookie Monster makes us all laugh - he falls over and stands up all on his own! Fascinating.

I love Sammy, so while the adults were finishing dinner, I decided to go and keep him company and read him my new Grouchy Ladybug book (thank you Aunt Dayna!):

And, before we head home, let me show off my skills with my new fire engine ball:

The focus! The form! The intensity! Move over, Beckham!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas is here! Where do I start? Well, how about the first conversation I had moments after waking:

Mama: "It's Christmas morning, honey! Do you think Santa came to our house last night?"

Me: "Yesss! He came down the CHIMNEY!"

Mama: "What do you think he did once he got inside?"

Me: "Mama, he brought me PRESENTS!"

So, I get it. This is the first Christmas I have understood what all the fuss was about Santa. We also talked alot about Jesus's birthday and his Mama and Daddy. I can tell it is going to be an exciting day!!!

Here is me opening presents throughout Christmas day - from Santa, Mama & Daddy and my wonderful family!

All that opening presents has made me hungry! Mama made us monkey bread for breakfast, just like her Mama (my Bebe) used to do! Yum:

I love my new fire engine ball!

Hmmm, what should we do next?

Time to give the puppies their Christmas treats! And to let Daddy share his Reese tree with me:

Sadly, we got some terrible news Christmas morning. I accidentally gave Bebe my strep throat, and she felt so sick that she couldn't come over. We were all so sad - I knew firsthand how awful she must feel. Papa decided to come on over to be with us on Christmas, but everyone missed our Bebe so much. We will make up for lost time on Sunday, when we go to her house to celebrate! You were missed very much, Bebe and we all love you so much and feel just awful that you felt too yucky to come over.

Papa was the first to arrive, so of course I had to show him my new car garage:

Grandmama, Debbie and Mama in the kitchen, making us some delicious dinner:

Time to take a break from cooking to open some presents!

Mama and Daddy are having a great day, huh?

Hmm, the car elevator on my car garage needs tweaking - let me offer some insight:





I love to laugh with my family - especially when they tickle me and hang me upside down!

Cuddling with Mama after everyone had gone home - and having one last cookie before bedtime:

I think everyone will get a good night's sleep after this big day - especially Huddy and Molly:

Merry Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Eve, we went to Grandmama and Aunt Sara's house to have dinner together and bake Christmas cookies. Uncle Zach made us some spectacular spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, and then it was time to start the cookies. I helped roll, cut and decorate the cookies, but to be honest, the thing that held my attention the best was eating the sprinkles. I ate them by the capful (you know you would too, if you could use the fact that you were 2 1/2 as an excuse!).

This is one of the family's favorite picture of my Daddy when he was little. Grandmama loved showing it to me and explaining it was Daddy when he was a little boy (this blew my mind a bit):

Once we got back home, I got to pick one present from under the tree to open. I chose this one and it turned out to be a puppy dog book called Once I Ate a Pie! We read it a couple of times before bed and it is now one of my favorite books!

Riding the Pink Pig with Bebe!

A couple of weeks ago, Bebe came over to spend the day with me. Little did I know that when I woke up that morning, she had a few surprises up her sleeve for our big day together!

First, she brought me this really cool new shirt, which is now of course one of my favorites:

Then, she told me that we were going on an adventure to go and ride the Pink Pig! I wasn't really sure what that meant, but man, she made it sound like a lot of fun, so I was game! We went to Lenox and got our tickets, and then waited in a really long line. But it was all worth it when it was finally our turn - I learned that the Pink Pig is a choo-choo train that looks like a pig! How cool is that? We even got to go around for two rides (this I STILL talk about!) and then Bebe had one more special treat for me - a yummy lunch at Panera AND an M&M cookie for dessert!

I had such a fun, exciting day with my Bebe - thank you for putting so much thought into our day out together - I love you so much!!!

Holding our tickets. And man, this line is long!

Me and Bebe on the oh-so-worth-the-wait Pink Pig:

Bebe, this is so cool!

Re-fueling with an M&M cookie after our ride:

Would you like some water?

Bebe even remembered to bring one of my favorite stuffed animals to enjoy the day with us, Bradley Bear. Bebe, you're simply the best!

Date Night with Mama

On the eve of Christmas Eve, we heard that Santa was going to be reading The Night Before Christmas at Little Shop of Stories, so me and Mama decided we had to go. It was a little chilly that night, so me and Mama got bundled up for the walk. I rode in my stroller for the first time in months and got all bundled in with blankets, Rocky and boy, I even snuck a binky in my mouth!

We were all cozy for the walk to the bookstore, and on the way we looked at all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood and in Downtown Decatur. It was a beautiful night, but I was pretty pooped by the time we got to the store. Santa came in, told jokes with all of us kids, then read The Night Before Christmas to us. Then, to make the night even more perfect, we all sang my favorite Christmas carol together - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

I wasn't interested in sitting in Santa's lap, so me and Mama headed on back home, where we were surprised by my uncles Dan & Zach. We played and laughed and then Zach read to me and finally put me to bed late, at about 9pm. I had such a terrific, but long day, that I slept until 11:45am the next day!

Trimming the Christmas Tree

This is the first year I'm big enough to help decorate the Christmas tree. I was a little confused when I wasn't allowed to throw the glass Christmas tree balls around, but oh well. My favorite ornaments to put on the tree were definitely the angels - I couldn't get enough of them! I looked through all the boxes just to find the angels so I could put them up and then when I got them all hung, I counted them over and over again.

When it was time to go to bed, I made sure to tell the Christmas tree "nite-nite". I love it!