Christmas 2008

We had an amazing Christmas this year. It is just so much more fun with a little one around. Caroline had such a great time and got so many wonderful things. She is a very blessed and loved little girl. We counted it up and we had eight different celebrations in the following order: Christmas Eve at Granny's, late Christmas Eve at the Coulter's, Christmas morning (Santa) at our house, Christmas morning at Mom and Dad's, back the Granny's for "Granny-Claus", Grandmother Maggie's for Christmas lunch, Christmas night at Mymamma's and Pop's, and back at Maggie's the day after Christmas with Dan's extended family. Whew, tiring but very fun. The following are a random assortment of pictures that were taken during all of the festivities.

Caroline in her new wagon that Pappy got her. She loves this! We have ridden every day since Christmas. Pappy even had the "Radio Flyer" scraped off the sides and her name put on.Caroline's "Kenmore" refrigerator. MeMe, Mammy, and Granny all gave her a piece so she has the fridge, stove and sink. Very cute and hopefully will last a long time.

Caroline riding her giraffe. I did not know that she could ride something like that but she got on and took off!

What Santa brought to our house.With Mammy and Virgina on Christmas morning.

She got this adorable table and 4 chairs from Granny. (Along with some puzzles, the sink, and a basketball goal among other things)With Daddy, Birdie, and Uncle Dave on Christmas morning. Boo on Dave and Dan for not being in pajamas.....its tradition!

Caroline and her Aunt Judy (Vicki's sister).Playing with Hannah.So beyond exhausted from all of the fun. She layed her head on Angie's leg and literally could not lift it back off. So pitiful but very cute.With the kids/spouses from my Dad's side of the family. We take this picture every year at Mymamma and Pop's house but it keeps growing and growing.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.....WHY WOULD ANYONE GIVE DAN ONE OF THESE:!!!!!

Thanks Granddaddy......Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Cookies!

We had our annual Christmas cookie making day at Granny's yesterday. It is an tradition that Caroline is going to love for many, many years. She had a blast this year. Mammy tried to help her actually cut out her own shapes but she kept eating the dough so we scratched that idea. She instead played in all of Granny's cabinets and drawers until the cookies were done. She then helped me decorate by shaking the sprinkles until she got distracted by trying to eat the sprinkles and suck on the tubes of icing! All of the kids won a prize this year but congrats to Mary Bibb for winning best overall.
Forget the cookies!!!I found a old taco bell hot sauce Mom!!!

The cousins and their prizes. CAroline has just thrown hers on the ground.

Santa's Village

We braved the frigid weather Monday night to take Caroline and her cousins to Santa's Village in Huntsville Monday night. We had a really good time even with the temperature being way, way under freezing and a huge crowd. In fact, the line for Santa was so long and it was so cold that we didn't even wait to see Jolly Old St. Nick. Oh well, I am pretty positive Caroline would have screamed her head off anyway. We did get to meet up with some of our family from Scottsboro that we never get to see so that added to the freezing fun too! (Did I mention that it was cold?.............) The highlight for me was that Caroline really wrote on her "letter to Santa" and it kind of looked like she "checked" the Nice box.

Virginia face shows exactly how cold it was!Caroline's letter to Santa. You have to look closely but there is an "x" right under the Nice box.

My Three Little Elves!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh How I Love My........

CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas....

STUCK!!!

While I was in and out cleaning up yesterday, Caroline managed to get herself back in her booster seat and shut the tray and lock it. The only thing she forgot was her left leg. Pretty funny when I found her....

Thanksgiving!

Ok, well my Thanksgiving was not as great as it could have been this year. I came down with some mysterious illness that really put a damper on things. I drug myself to my grandparents and to Vicki's but was not too much fun at either place. I did not even make it to Granny's that night. I was sad to miss out because I really love seeing all of my family on this great holiday. However, even with the illness, I have a TON to be thankful for. Especially for the following two people:

A few other memories from Caroline's second Thanksgiving:

Catching Up...........

Since I am so behind in blogging, I am going to catch up on the last two weeks in one post. On a bad note, Caroline was really sick last week. She had a high, unexplained fever and a very elevated blood count so we were in the doctor's office for four consecutive days for blood work and other tests. Poor baby, she was so miserable. The doc even mentioned putting her in the hospital, but, thankfully, she rallied and is now better. I have never known such a feeling of helplessness before. It is hard, hard to be a mommy with a sick baby and I am so thankful that she is normally very healthy. We had to spend a lot of time indoors so we were very very thankful for all of her new birthday toys. Some of these include her dolly stroller that she pushes around the house constantly (which means that I am constantly turning her around every time she bumps into something. Some nights Dan and I just sit at opposite ends of the room and she goes back and forth and back and forth) and her new slide which she can climb and go down all by herself. She LOVES this thing! Some pictures:Now that she is feeling better we have finally been able to get outside a little more which is good for both of our mental health! Even though it is cold, we just bundle up and go. The picture below is from a cold weather stroller ride. Please note that Bibby was crying because she did NOT want to wear the headband but her mean ole Aunt Mo-Mo made her.
Every once in awhile we get a decent afternoon and Caroline loves to sit outside and play with Lily.On one such afternoon recently, we stopped by Granny's and did a little photo shoot on her back deck. I did not realize that the swing she was on would be so "dizzying" on film. The results:


We have also been practicing our basketball skills whenever we get a chance and I even stole back the uniform I gave Bibby when she was a baby! (I am not being serious about the practicing, but we are a basketball family and hope that it is something that she enjoys someday) She looks like a natural in the uniform. Please notice her "guns" in the first picture.


Finally, I had to add some pictures from last Saturday night because they are too cute. We had some friends over for pizza and the big kids played Hide and Seek. They were hilarious and I can't believe that soon Caroline will be getting in on the action. She is already following them around everywhere they go. Won't be long now!