Christmas 2009

This was truly busy busy busy during the month of December. We had Chris' Graduation Ceremony along with his birthday on the 19th and 20th. It was so great to be able to have Joe there to watch his daddy walk across the stage and receive his diploma. We are soooo proud of him! Afterwards we came back to the house and celebrated along with celebrating his 26th birthday. It was so much fun!

The next week was Christmas. Christmas Eve we had Chris' mom's side of the family over for a late lunch/early dinner and played Dirty Santa. It was a lot of fun! We later went over to my parents house to open up our ornaments and pajamas and had pictures with our stockings in front of the fireplace (a tradition!). Afterwards, we met up with Chris' parents again and we all went to church at Trinity. It was very special to be there with Joe and both sets of grandparents.

Christmas morning we had brunch over at our house. My parents, Chris' parents and brother, Stephen, my Uncle Johnny, and my Aunt Jan and Uncle Perry and two cousins, Jay and Jonathon all came over and hung out. It was fabulous having our family over to spend time with and enjoy on Christmas morning. It was our first as a family and our first time to host brunch. I loved every bit of it! Later, we went over to my brother and sister in law's, Adam and Lindsay, and had dinner with the two of them, Adalin, Uncle Johnny, and my mom and dad. There we opened my family's gifts and spent time together.

The NEXT weekend for New Year's we had my mom's side of the family in town for the big family Christmas. We went over to my parents' house for New Year's Eve dinner until 9pm then came home to put Joe down. Chris and stayed up toasting and drinking champagne. It was quiet and perfect! The next day we went back over to their house to have brunch with all the family then went shopping. Then the next day was the big Christmas present exchange and family day #2. It was a really good weekend with everybody but a very long one as well. We ended up having people over here every night after they left my parents, so we stayed up late hanging out several days in row. My body was in desperate need for rest by the end of it all. But all in all this Christmas and New Year was the best ever and I'm so blessed to have the best family I could ever wish for!!

Pictures coming soon!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we all traveled to the coast of George to St. Simon's Island for Thanksgiving. Joe made the trip without too much trouble though it's not easy at all traveling with a six month old for 9 hours! We were there for the whole week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We rented two houses very close to one another so we were able to travel back and forth fairly easily on bikes. It was a beautiful week with only two days being rainy and or cold. Chris and I actually went kayaking one morning and had a truly delightful time. We're even thinking of buying a kayak for future trips to any body of water. Lukily, mom had just bought a new camera for her birthday and Christmas so we were able to get beautiful pictures on the beach, at Christ Church, as well as other local spots. It was great be witness to Joe meeting the beach and ocean for the first time...he absolutely loved it!!

Fall Camp 2009

The second weekend of November brought Fall Camp. Fall Camp goes from Thursday to Sunday and hosts older special adults as the campers. We were able to bring Joe to camp and thankfully it was easier having him there than it was at Summer Camp. We had a really great time seeing everybody. It has about a half a dozen "grandmothers" there and the campers are really good with him. Our trip this year was to a horse farm for horseback riding and barbeque. Joe loved the horses! We're really blessed to be able to expose him to such a wonderful enviornment at such a young age.

Other Random Fall Pictures

He loves to try and put his whole fist in his mouth.
I thought this was sweet

Those lips trip me out!

Meme, Joe and Cade will get into trouble if I don't watch them closely!

Chris is working so hard with him on crawling....but he still does more drooling than anything!

Halloween 2009

We didn't do much for Halloween due to Joe only just now turning five months old. However, I drug Joe, Chris, Mom and Pop to the Botanical Gardens during the day for pictures and an afternoon stroll through the gardens and to look at the Scarecrow Trail. Mom and I had a great time but I think the boys would have rather have gone fishing! But I just had to do something festive and Joe had the absolutely the cutest costume ever!! He was a lion and Alisa, Joe's nanna, made it for him! She did a beautiful job and helped us have such a memorable Halloween. He was soooo cute. He will definitely hate me one for taking so many pictures, but I'm sure I will never care! He is just too cute for words in these pictures!!

Rachel Visits!

The weekend after Homecoming, my friend, Rachel, came to visit from Thursday until Sunday! She and I were roommates while we lived in Dallas and San Antonio together but we haven't seen eachother in almost two years. She moved to Florida and I moved back here a few months later We actually got back in touch through my blog. So she kept her promise and went out of her way to come visit us for the weekend and our reunion was absolutely wonderful. It was like we hadn't been away from eachother at all. She got to meet Joe and the rest of the family and we got to have a "Ladies' Night Out," which I've been needing for about a year now. The crazy thing is we ran into my sister-in-law, who never goes out, out at Humphrey's that night! We really had a good time. Chris, Joe, and I can't wait to visit her some time in the spring hopefully! I miss her so much already!

Rachel and Joe

Rachel, Joe and me

Us at Humphrey's

About to take an Irish Car Bomb! (Don't worry we took a cab)

Lindsay and me

Homecoming

It's been a while since I last posted but the name of the game around here has been "BUSY!" Chris has been busy with work, I've been busy with school, and we've all been busy trying to keep up with Joe and his growing! He is getting so big and it seems that every time we turn around he's doing something new and different. We're really getting an opportunity to see his personality and it's just wonderful. I couldn't be happier with life than I am right now!

So, to catch you up we all went to Tuscaloosa for a very cold Homecoming celebration for the Tide. It was Joe's first visit and very memorable. To say the least, the cold kept us from even attempting at going to the game but we got pictures on the field and by the goal post (which were great!). We ended up making a lot of memories and having a lot of fun though poor Joe baby looks so pathetic all bundled up. Again, at least we got pictures of him at his first Alabama Homecoming on the field! One day he'll appreciate it...I hope...or he'll tell just how crazy we really are!

Joe all cozy underneath piles of clothes and blankets!
Four Generation picture in the end zone! Our little family is down below!

Uncle Andy let us in through the tunnel where he's posted during the games....how fun!