Modeling....

The Christmas outfits that Mommy made.

Appliqued Christmas tree tee (or part of)

My very first jon jon...I made it before the turkey one, but had this one appliqued by a professional. I would have to say it was worth it...I think it turned out cute and I could NEVER have sewn that one!

He's a pretty cute little model, if I do say so myself.

Snacking....

On his shoes.....and everything else that will fit in his mouth!

Eight

I am running short on time to get caught up (Christmas shopping, blog stalking , and work all keep me too busy!) so I'll make it short. My little man is EIGHT months old and getting more and more fun every day. Here are 8 quick things about 8-month old B man.

1. Crawls everywhere....especially where his is NOT supposed to go.
2. Is getting TWO bottom teeth. So cute, but not so fun.
3. LOVES puffs. I seriously think he would eat an entire can of them (if I would let him of course). They are a miracle invention.
4. Still will only eat mostly pureed food. He won't touch it if it is not a puff, cheese, yogurt, or a blended up fruit or veggie.
5. Randomly shakes his head "no". I don't know if he is saying "no" or just shaking his head.
6. Favorite toys: plastic kitchen bowls, Abby (or any animal), books, paper, jumperoo, and toybox (see number 8)
7. Is still not much of a snuggler...or a momma's baby. Still never has met a stranger and is usually good when we go places.  Sometimes I wish he would just let me rock him every once in a while!
8. Is funny to watch pull out each toy from his toybox, study every one of them, chew on it play with it, and then dig another out. Sometimes he just dumps out the whole thing. Either way, they ALL end up in the floor.

Girls Weekend

We decided at our reunion that we couldn't wait another 10 years to all get together so we decided on a girls night at Pickwick at Maggie's parents. We had some good food, exchanged some ornaments, played a game or two, and had a very good time! We are getting old...had the pj's on by 9! It was nice to be baby-free for the night....although I was SOOO happy to see him the next morning!

Christmas at Papoo's

There is just nothing like family. We spent a wonderful weekend with Papoo, Pojo, Page, and Max and had Christmas with Tammy, Alan, Ty, and Logan as well as Leon's Aunt Pam and Shirley (and their families). It was very laid back and we had some wonderful food (which was even better because I did not cook one thing!) The weather was perfect for playing outside (Imagine that, 75 degrees on Saturday and 19 degrees the following Monday...only in Mississippi!) so the kiddos had a blast. I took almost 150 pictures with my new camera (that I don't know how to operate just yet) so here are a few....

Pretty happy boy considering our arrival after midnight! He loves his Papoo!

 I almost made myself sick from these!

Like father, like daughter

 Opening his first Christmas present

 I LOVE this face....

And this face!

 Logan

 Checking out the cows with Papoo

 There are no words .....

 Ty and B man

Playing with the Singamajig...hilarious toy, I might add.

Sorry for the obnoxiuos amount of pictures...I really did cut out a whole bunch...I am loving the new camera!! We already can't wait to see everyone again!

Jake's baby shower

We had a baby shower at my house for my cousin Russ and his sweet wife Audrey. Everything went well and we can't wait to meet sweet Jake!

Audrey lot LOTS of good stuff, but I have to say that this was one of my favorites. It was Russ's dads books from when he was little. They had been passed down to Russ, and now to Little Jake. Money just can't buy stuff like that! She also got Russ's outfit he wore home from the hospital. So sweet!

 And, I have to include my sweetie (who slept through the whole shower and never made a peep)



WAY Behind...

This whole job thing, along with the craziness of the holidays, has me sooo busy that I haven't had time to blog. Maybe this week I will have a chance! I just had to post a quick update that since Thanksgiving, Bishop has started crawling, pulling up, and has TWO bottom teeth coming in. And, we are pretty sure he said "hey daddy" tonight.  He says "da da da duh da" all of the time, but tonight Leon said "Hey Bishop" and we both heard him reply "Hey daddy". Kid is a genious. AND, I ordered him his first "kids meal" at Newks today....cheese toast. He LOVED it. He had some grits this morning which he was a fan of also. He is growing up at lightening speed!  I guess pretty soon I'll be giving him the keys to the car!

Random pic from the weekend (and from my NEW camera...post to follow...eventually!)

Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3 has been a pretty good one. I cooked a German chocolate cake and cupcakes on Wedneday so Thanksgiving was actually pretty stressfree...which was very odd! Bishop wasn't in the greatest of moods (I think he might be teething...but I've thought that before and still haven't seen a tooth so who knows!). He perked up after we got to Grandmothers though. We had a wonderful meal, attempted a photosession, played outside in the 75 degree weather, and put up Grandmother's tree. Jacob, Jonah, and Cole all love Bishop and I can tell he is ready to get up and run and play with them...crazy to think that next year Bishop will be right along with them rolling in the yard! I got a little picture happy today (ok, a LOT happy) even though Bishop really wasn't in the mood and J & J weren't really into cooperating. And, I really have to learn to do one of those collages so I can fit more pics....any help on that would be appreciated!

Happy about his Thanksgiving meal...sweet potatoes and apples with cinnamon

This is the best I can come up with of the three of them...and I have none of the 4 that are postable

I love these two...and the face Jonah is making!

They really are happy...they just don't look it!



 Jacob loves Bishop and it just melts my heart! He is so sweet to him. They were playing in the floor for about 20 minutes and I heard Jacob tell him..."It's ok Bishop, you can pull my hair" How nice of him!

I have to say, Jonah is maybe one of the funniest kids I know of. As we were having the photosession, Heather had all of the boys sitting on the brick wall entrance to grandmother's and he says very seriously "Look, I'm like Honkey Donkey". You know, Honkey Donkey sat on a wall...don't you remember that version?

Watching these boys play "football" was quite funny. They basically just like to yell "hut, hut, hut" and run in a circle and roll on the ground and yell "touchdown". 



Wishing he could be in on the fun



Happy Thanksgiving!

10 things...

...I am thankful for. Sometimes people tend to overlook Thanksgiving. Stores especially overlook it.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas! It is one of my favorite times of the year! BUT, it seems that we go from Halloween to Christmas nowadays. I went to get some turkey decorations or fall sprinkles for cupcakes and all they had out was Christmas stuff! SOO, out of respect for the day of thankfulness, I decided to blog about a few things that I am thankful for. And for the record, I am thankful for so many things it is absolutely impossible to name them all!

1) My child....duh.  Honestly though, he is perfect. Literally perfect. I could not ask for anything more. He is healthy, smart (like mommy, haha), sweet, funny, lovable, snuggly, cute, smiley and I would not trade him for the world. I honestly believe there has never been a child as great as he is (as I'm positive every mother feels the same ;) I never dreamed that being a mother would be so wonderful! I know that I am blessed beyond measure and thank God every single day for this little miracle!

2) My husband. And yes, he knows he comes in second in everything now! Kidding! I am so thankful to have someone who is my best friend to spend the rest of my life with. We just "get" each other...which is probably scary. To top that off, he is one of the best daddy's I know of!

3) Jobs. I am including both my job and Leon's job in this but really it is two totally different things. It's more like a 3a and 3b.

• To start, Leon's job (which I'll call 3a) Leon spent the past 2 years working every single weekend and going to school at night during the week so he could one day get a "normal" job. We missed a lot of birthdays, parties, family get-togethers, football, and church during those two years. Now, he is actually happy about his job, which is more than most can say. AND, we get to do things on the weekends together!
• Now, 3b....MY job. I only started this job 3 weeks ago and I am already SO thankful for it. I was fortunate enough to stay home for the most part of the last 7 months, but now I am back at it. It is so nice working for an independent pharmacy. I never knew that I would like it this much. The people are fabulous and I have a great schedule that allows me to be with my little guy as much as a working mom could ask for. Sure, I would rather be home with him all of the time....it is still my dream to stay home with my babies, but for now, I am thankful for the job I have.

4) My family and wonderful parents. ALL of them! My mom is one of my best friends and I don't know what I'd do without her. I have such a great "step" family that I rarely even use the term....they are just my family and I love them dearly. Family is there when no one else is...they kinda have to be!

5) Rainy days at home with my boy. Well, any day at home with my boy...sunny, rainy, cloudy, hot, cold, whatever!  One day, I'm sure rainy days won't be so great because he won't like to be cooped up inside, but for now...he is happy and so am I!

6) Diet coke. How did I go nine months (ok, well ALMOST...I did cheat a little) without it? Amazing what you will do for your child that you won't do for yourself! The caffeine free stuff is just not the same. I know that Diet Coke is no comparison to how thankful I am for my baby or my family, but I am thankful for the little things in life too!

7) Good friends. I may not have an abundance of friends, but I sure love the ones that I have!

8) Holidays off. This goes back to 3b, but after working nearly every single holiday at the hospital (they don't close!!), I am thankful to be able to spend time with my family. I just can't imagine waking up Christmas morning and leaving my baby to go to work. It wasn't so bad before I was a mother because I felt like I was WAY more fortunate than those I was taking care of...not like they really wanted to be in the hospital on Christmas...at least I was getting paid. Now, however, I am thankful that I have found a job where I can still put my family first.

9) Good health. Nothing like the stomach virus, a bad cold, or a headache to make you appreciate feeling good! Good health is something that I don't want to take for granted....So many bad things can happen so I am thankful that all is well at the moment!

10) Vacations. I LOVE vacations! I am thankful that almost every year, I get to go to my favorite place...the beach! I'll take any vacation, big or small. These days I consider Starkville a vacation. It is so nice to get out of the every day routine and go somewhere different...adventurous or relaxing. I'll take either!

Ok, I know I said only 10...but I have to at least mention that I am thankful for all of the fried turkey, ham, dressing and all the fixins I had today, [stretchy] PJ's that I am now wearing, and having an obnoiously loud kiddo screaming playing happily in his jumperoo (see below).

Oh, and chocolate peanut butter Bugles....DEVINE.

Crafty Couple

Leon's work:

                                                                         My work:

These pictures are from my phone, so they are not the best...but you get the idea.

 Leon made us a coffee table from a door that he found in the basement. He banged it up a little (more than it already was), sawed the top off, added legs, glazed it, and voile...coffee table. Pretty crafty, I think.

 I made Bishop the turkey outfit from start to finish. I was so proud. I sewed the jon jon and was going to have someone applique a turkey on it, but then I took the advice of Jan, and did it myself. It is nowhere close to being perfect...but to be worn once, I think it will do just fine! I got a light iron on sew adhesive, not sure if it matters or not. Also, I read you can use a coffee filter as a stablizer on the underside of the fabric, but I had so much material that I don't think I needed it. I love sewing! It frustrates me to absolutely no end...and it is probably much cheaper for me just to buy the outfits if you consider the ridicous amount of time I spend doing it but I LOVE it! I wish I could stay home and sew all the time!! Seriously though,  I would never make any money because I have to start over so many times. At one point when I was doing the button holes, my machine kept messing up (user error, I'm sure), and I literally thought about throwing it out the window. I am getting a little better if the machine will cooperate! Hopefully I can get a better pic of the the little guy wearing his turkey day outfit tomorrow!

Thanksgiving round one....

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Leon's family at our house this weekend and had the best time. Friday night Kenny (Papoo), Pojo, Page, and Max came and stayed with us. We ate Mexican, made cupcakes, cooked breakfast, played in the woods, watched movies, ate a HUGE Thanksgiving meal, watched some football, and just hung out. It is so nice to relax and spend time with family. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in making everything "perfect" with the perfect decorations, food, clothes or whatever but it so nice to have a weekend with those you love to be reminded of what it is all about!

Making cupcakes

Silly Max

Sweet girl...she is soo good with B!

Playing with Abby

Hard at work

Beautiful!

Dinner is served!!