Libby's First Christmas-Part 1

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love decorating, Christmas music, shopping for the perfect gifts, time with family, and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ! It is the most wonderful time of the year! This year was even more exciting for a couple of reasons! First off, it was Libby’s first Christmas. Secondly, Uncle Parker got to come home! Christmas is always busy, but that is the way I like it. I love spending my days filled with family!

We got busy on Wednesday. We headed to the airport to pick up Parker and then went to eat at one of his favorite Mexican restaurants. Libby immediately was drawn to Parker. She reached for him at the restaurant and smiled her little scrunched up smile at him all night.

Thursday some of Parker’s college friends came to my parents for lunch. They all had kids and it was a house full. We had a great time. I know Parker really enjoyed catching up with his friends.

Friday was Christmas Eve we ate lunch at my parents before heading to Reform to open gifts with CiCi and Pop. Libby got plenty of toys to play with. Then we headed to Aliceville to Grandmaw Rickman’s house. This is a tradition that has been around for a really long time. It is a packed house and a great time. We always have a time set apart for family pictures.

Saturday was Christmas! We woke up and had Brunch at our house. Cici, Pop, Gran, Coach, Mamaw, Pop, Uncle Jeremy, and Uncle Parker were all there to see Libby open her gifts from Santa. Then we had a small brunch and watched Libby play with her gifts. Later we headed back to Reform to go celebrate with Nanny, Poppa, and the rest of the Drake family. It was fun and we had an interesting game of Dirty Santa. Once again, Libby scored some great gifts. She has played with every single gift and really enjoyed herself. Her lack of sleeping also caught up to her and she passed out! It was really cute!

After Nanny and Poppa’s we headed to my parents house. We ate a wonderful meal and then opened up gifts. Libby got a soft and comfy chair that she loves. She also got some great books. Uncle Parker brought her a few books. One was the Christmas story in French. He tried to read it to her but her attention span is a little short steal. However, she listened to a few pages before she started flipping them herself.

On the 26^th we returned to Aliceville First Baptist Church. Parker really wanted to visit Aliceville and eat at the Plantation House while home. It was really good to be back and I was flooded with wonderful memories of our times at Aliceville FBC! The Plantation House was great too!

Tonight we will go to my Aunt’s to celebrate with the Windle family and on Friday we will go to Marvin Chapel to celebrate with the Pate’s! I am looking forward to many more great times with family! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas too!

Coach and Libby waiting on Uncle Parker to get here

Reading the Christmas Story

Thanks Santa!

Let me show you how to do this Uncle Parker

She just passed out at Nanny and Poppa's

She loves her chair!

Uncle Parker reading to her

Cookies and Santa

We had a fun weekend! Friday night we went to watch Holt play County High in basketball. I got to watch several students play and we also got to see some of the girls we had coached who know play for County High.

Saturday we went with the Hootons to see the newest in the Chronicles of Narnia movies-The Voyage of the Dawntreader. I was more excited about this one because I recently read the entire series. (After much pushing from Jason and Parker) It was really good! I was sad to see a small crowd. We went to an afternoon showing, but I expected more people.

After the movie we came home and made Christmas cookies, fudge, and a few other goodies. The Christmas cookies did not turn out so great. We used pre-made cookie dough and didn't know that in order for the shapes to keep we needed to add flour. We also didn't have the most beautiful cookies because we were all not so great when it came to icing them. Mainly because we have not done this very often. I called it a practice round. We probably have another practice or two before Libby understands that we are really bad at baking and decorating Christmas cookies. I do look forward to when she can really get involved.

Sunday afternoon we went to see Santa. I just knew Libby would love him. She never meets a stranger and loves men! I would say she loved him..... but she didn't cry or freak out. She looked unsure! She just sat there and didn't really do anything but stare. It was cute. For her picture with Santa she wore a dress that was mine as a little girl. She is a little taller then I was but it fit pretty good.

Some of our better cookies

Waiting to see Santa



Hum.......do I cry or not?

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Sorry. I guess I am not a very consistent blogger. I will try to catch you up. We have been super busy. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We first went to my Aunt Emily’s and enjoyed eating with the family. Next we went to Jason’s Nanny and Popa’s house. We ate a little bit more and looked through the sale papers. After that we went out to Jason’s Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house. Once again, we ate! We also continued to look through the Black Friday sale papers. We also began to make our plan. After returning home we took a nap and headed out again. Thanks to Jason’s dad for keeping Libby, because we needed to split up. Jason and his brother went to Target and I met his mom at Wal-Mart. She had been up all night! We had several things we wanted to get and we got them all! We conquered Black Friday! We all know what came next…. A certain football game…..but that is all I will say about that.

Since Thanksgiving we have been super busy with the girls’ basketball team we coach. In December we have 3 games a week! As you can imagine, with a little one, (well, even without a little one), that can be really tiring! We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Paige who is willing to hold Libby during the games. Our girls have been doing really good. Right now we are 10-2.

I also would like to say that our house is decorated and I have almost finished all of my shopping. I only have one or two Dirty Santa gifts to buy! Also, the gifts I have bought are already wrapped! Don’t be a hater if you are behind….. I just like to get it all done because I like to have gifts under my tree!

Last night we had a wonderful time with our Sunday School class at our Christmas party. We ate too much and laughed soooo hard! Dirty Santa was fun. I left with a gift certificate to Charming Charlie’s. I don’t know if you have one of these stores where you live, but it is amazing. It is basically a purse and accessories store that is color coordinated. After playing Dirty Santa, we played a game that Patrick came up with. It was basically a trivia game about Christmas movies. We either had to finish a quote, say who said the quote, or name the movie the quote came from. My team dominated!

Well, I hope you are not stressing out about Christmas! I love this time of year! If you have a lot to do still take a breath and remember why we celebrate this holiday!

At my Aunt's on Thanksgiving

Our Sunday School Class minus Kim and Jarrod -they had a sick baby =(

Libby in her Ornament DressLibby checking out the tree
Merry Christmas!

Meet the Flintstones

Well, I know this Halloween post is late, but I wanted to post some pics from last weekend. Saturday night we went Trick or Treating with a few friends. Sunday we had the church fall festival. It was a packed weekend but we had a great time. Libby really enjoyed the fall festival and being around all the people.

I also needed to post to say that we did not move. (Well we did move stuff to my parents garage and later back to our house). The week leading up to our move several things happened. The final thing was that the house we were buying did not appraise. Jason and I discussed this after a very stressful week and prayed about it a lot. In the end we felt led to walk away from the trade. Immediately after we walked away I felt a huge amount of peace. I know we made the right decision. One day we will sale this house and then we will find a home that is perfect for us. Until then we will be thankful for the house we have and that God has provided us with direction in this decision.

Now, on to the pictures.....

Pebbles

Pebbles and Bam Bam


CiCi and Gran helping Libby on the slide


Libby and Coach-she loved the rocks on her feet

But she loved the swing the most.....can you tell?

Jason and Adam boxing

Alex, Super Delilah, and Libby (looks like they are discussing something important!)

Libby in the bouncee-she loved it too!

Blessed

So……we are moving! We worked out a trade with a builder and will move this coming up weekend! We are so excited. The house is only 5 minutes from church (we currently drive about 20-25 minutes to get to church.) It is closer to work too! It also is bigger with a bigger FLAT backyard. If you have seen our current backyard you would know it has a Mound System Septic tank. It is actually fun for kids. We kept a friend’s 2 year old earlier this year and he loved running up and down the hill. We are super excited. The problem is we didn’t choose the closing date and it falls on a super busy weekend for us. We have a basketball tournament Thursday-Saturday. So, Jason will be coaching while we move. Also on Sunday we have our church’s fall festival. Jason is the chair of that committee. It is also Libby’s first Halloween!

We sent out a help cry to our Sunday School class. All I can say is that we are so blessed. We have a lot of muscle willing to help. We also had a few people offer to keep Libby. One thing that I never would have thought to do is cook lunch, but I had a friend offer to make chili for lunch Saturday too! God has blessed us with such wonderful friends! We are also blessed with a great family that is willing to help!

I also received the most encouraging card this week from one of my friends from Sunday School. It was just what I needed in the middle of this stressful week. Such a blessing!

Tonight I returned some borrowed baby clothing to a friend and picked up some extra bubble wrap they had from their move. Jason and I were on our way home from church about to cook noodles in the microwave (since we have packed all of our kitchen stuff and we are trying to save money). When I stopped by my friend’s, she had made us plates of food. It was wonderful and again such a blessing.

This week has been so difficult on me. I have been stressing about the house, finances, and other everyday things……however on the ride home I became aware of how blessed I am. As I watched lightening flashing across the sky, I was reminded of how powerful our God is. He is the great provider and He is the great encourager. He has blessed us richly and I am so thankful!

In closing, I must post about my favorite blessing, sweet Libby! She is currently walking down the couch. She is also holding her own bottle. She is working on waving. One of the sweetest new things is laying her head on your shoulder, the floor, the couch, my shoes, anything really…… It is so sweet!

Libby holding her own bottle
All ready to move!

Don't forget me!

The Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, AL yesterday with a few couples from church. It was a fun trip. There were several things to do. Obviously, there was a pumpkin patch. There was a big, covered wagon to the patch. Then you got to spend as much time looking for the perfect pumpkin as you wanted before returning. Since it did not feel like October yesterday, we didn’t spend too much time looking for the perfect pumpkin. However, I think we found a good one! There were also inflatables, a petting zoo, pony rides, and some booths set up selling fun stuff. (Including great prices on cute bows!) There were also great snacks. There was fresh squeezed lemonade, snow cones, fried pies, and funnel cakes! It was an almost perfect day! The only thing that could make it better is if it felt like fall, but we still had a great time!

My Little Family

Looking for the perfect one

Found it!