James is saying "Put this post up on the blog already, Mommy!"
Alright, alright! I started this almost a week ago, but breathing treatments, x-rays, antibiotics, Dr's appointments, & lots of snuggles have precluded Mommy getting back up on the blogging horse.
So without further fanfare, here we go:
I'm feelin' all warm & fuzzy tonight, because I got an e-mail from my DAD last night, commenting on my blog. I didn't know my dad even knew how to do that! So this is for you, Dad.
The last 2 months have been both exceptional & excruciating. So we'll go all the way back & hit it from the top.
Starting with Emma's big #8 birthday:
Mom: Hey Emma- let Mom take a pic of you.
This is Emma's response. Classic! I could just eat her up. Emma chose mini-golf to celebrate her day. One of my favorite activities as a fam in a long time.
Then for Christmas Eve, where else would we be but at Joy & Papa's house? Santa was a last-minute replacement, but he did a great job & brought Jack his #1 favorite toy of Christmas, so we sure were glad he made it!
Our nativity gets more chaotic & crazy every year. I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Christmas PJs & silly faces
I'm just going to start the whole Christmas section by saying that CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE ON SUNDAY EVERY. SINGLE.YEAR!!!!!! We got up to meet the friends Santa had brought us during the night & then immediately packed up & headed off to 8 am church.
Then for Christmas Eve, where else would we be but at Joy & Papa's house? Santa was a last-minute replacement, but he did a great job & brought Jack his #1 favorite toy of Christmas, so we sure were glad he made it!Our nativity gets more chaotic & crazy every year. I wouldn't trade it for anything!Christmas PJs & silly facesI'm just going to start the whole Christmas section by saying that CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE ON SUNDAY EVERY. SINGLE.YEAR!!!!!! We got up to meet the friends Santa had brought us during the night & then immediately packed up & headed off to 8 am church.
That sacrament meeting had SO much meaning, & I LOVED being able to sing in the choir & lead the Primary children in "singing our testimonies" about Jesus.(That's my thing in Primary- I teach the kids that they might not think that they have a testimony, but if they believe the words to the songs we sing, they really do have a testimony about almost every part of the gospel!)
Present mania- can't get enough of it.
Santa brought Frank a Transformers Optimus Prime Lego set. Seriously- look at the size of that book of instructions- it had 82 pages! First Daddy & Frank worked on it.
Then Jeremiah jumped in for a while.
Finally it took the combined patience & brainpower of both Daddy & Miah to get that thing done. But there couldn't have been a happier little 5 year old when it was finally finished. Thanks, guys!
Visiting at the Christmas party. Hailey is so stinkin' big, I swear I don't even recognize her anymore!!
Daddy gifted himself again this year. How does that keep happening? Anyways, he could not be happier & we're all waiting for him to go get his first deer with that fancy bow.
We spent the rest of the year playing with all of our fancy new toys. $80 worth of Hot Wheels tracks sure does bring a lot of happiness!
Emma's latest "cooking" gadget. It actually uses hard candy to make the cotton candy- genius! (And lots cleaner!)
Aahh, I love these moments.
So that's it for December- we barely had time to breathe in between birthdays, holidays, parties, & other activities. Now we need a vacation- and that's up next!
And in other news, we had an earth-shattering event here the other day. Emma has finally reached that special age of accountability. Yep, she'll be 8 next week. And so we embarked on the next phase of childhood for her-
Mommy was REALLY mad that they wouldn't let us use the real diamond earrings that Uncle Butch gave her when she turned 1. I've been holdin' on to those babies for 7 years now, just waiting for this day. But when the minimum-wage tattooed lady says you can't use them, I guess that's that. Shiny blue would have to do.
Watch out world! She's all blinged out & ready to roll!
We LOVE our Daddy!
We have been waiting for this green egg FOREVER! And Super Blackbeard decided to start laying right smack dab in the middle of Daddy's big day.
Awesome, right? So imagine our surprise when he decided to just bypass the wobbly first step & walk 2 feet or so. I was just taking a pic of the standing & instead got this one of his very first steps. See how far he went on his first try? Crazy!
This is his 2nd attempt: