A Season for Giving

Everyday it seems there are more and more things added to my "to do list" for the month of December. And as I write this post, I am almost overwhelmed by the busyness of this holiday season. But with a little one, I am continually reminded to not lose sight of what Christmas is truly about, the gift of God's grace....through Jesus. I'm so excited and thankful to be able to carry on special family traditions. Emma and I have already driven around to look at Christmas lights twice! That "childlike" faith and excitement is a breath of fresh air.

Here are a few pictures of Emma visiting one of the older ladies in our church, Ms. Barkley. She went with Mimi and Papa to deliver her a gift basket. She had so much fun playing with Ms. Barkley's frogs.

Superhero Sighting!

This is probably the cutest little superhero with footed pajamas I've ever seen!

Maples

Aren't mom and dad's maples beautiful? I couldn't pass up this picture perfect opportunity!

"I love to be home"

This is what Emma told me last night as she crawled into her big girl bed. And do you know how that makes me feel as a mommy?

Our Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We went to my mom and dad's and then onto Mississippi to visit with my grandparents. We had a great time. First we visited with my mawmaw Mason in the nursing home and Emma was so sweet, she said "You remember me mawmaw?" and of course she did. Mawmaw said she is just precious....It was a good visit with mawmaw, she talked more that day than the last few times dad has seen her. We were really glad about that. Emma had alot of fun. We blew up a latex glove into a balloon, so she played with that a long time! And she played "tickle worm" with pawpaw and Uncle Brad.

Afterwards, we had our HUGE Thanksgiving meal at mawmaw and pawpaw Vines'. We had quite a spread: turkey and ham of course, peas, butter beans, corn, corn salad, corn casserole (can you tell we like corn), turnip greens, dressing, cranberry sauce, rolls, corn bread, macaroni casserole, green bean bundles, hash brown casserole, and you don't even want to know about dessert! Needless to say our plates and bellies were so full! But more than that, our hearts were full. I am so thankful for the family that God has blessed me with. Whenever we get together, there's always laughter and memories shared.

One of my favorite things that my family does at our big get togethers is guitar playing and singing! My goal for next Christmas is to play with them! My friend Kevin has started teaching me to play the guitar but we've taken a break due to holidays and their new baby. But I'm so excited to pick it back up!

If you've read through this lengthy post, thanks for sticking with me. I could add lots more, but we all have other things to tend to! Hope that your Thanksgiving visit not only made your belly full but most of all your heart!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Just wanted to let you all know today Mike turned 28 yrs and holding! He had a great birthday. We had cake yesterday with all of my family after our Thanksgiving meal. And today he helped my grandparents buy and put together a 42" flat panel plasma tv (or flat back as pawpaw calls it)! We are heading back to Huntsville tomorrow to make it home for Jonathan's ordination service. There will be photos from our visit to come!

Amy & Robert

Today Amy sent me more pictures of the wedding ceremony. I thought you would all like to see how beautiful and happy she looked. What a special day in the life of one who is so precious to us. We are praying for Amy and Robert as they start on this awesome journey!

Cute Picture

Even though they cheer for different teams, they're still the best of friends! Last night at church, everyone wore their team colors, so we thought this picture was priceless!

War Tide!!!!!

You all know what huge Auburn fans Mike and I are, well some friends of ours own a bookstore in Tuscaloosa and we have been working with them at the bama home games selling t-shirts and other bama propaganda! It's been alot of fun and I've seen some interesting things. I still remain true orange and blue even though I did wear an "Alabama" navy t-shirt. I tried to go as neutral as I could with out getting myself into trouble. Saturday I even wore my striped scarf that had orange and red in it so that my point was more subtle or at least I thought it was!

But after the game was over, a drunk bama fan came riding by shouting WAR TIDE!!!!! I don't know if it was just a lack of judgement and brain cells or if he actually in his moment of intoxicity realized what I was doing.

Hmmm?

Instant Friends!

Just a cute picture of Emma with her old friend Will and her new friend Jordan!
Congratulations Kevin and Jenny!

Emma's Got Skillz!

Emma loves playing on her "special" computer.....that's what she calls it! She's getting very "skilled" with the mouse!

It's Potty Time!

Yes my child is playing with the potty! But thankfully not IN the potty!

Mike was fixing our toilet and Emma had to join in the fun. And no, he didn't fix it with Elmer's Glue! Ha Ha...

Two Becoming One

Congratulations Amy and Robert on your wedding! We are so excited for you guys and are praying for you!

Amy and Robert were married in Alaska on Saturday Nov. 11th! We can't wait to celebrate with them in December and again in the spring!

Lazy Sundays

I love Sundays...... for alot of reasons. It's always nice having one day of the week that we can all take or attempt to take a nap, laze around, and just enjoy being still. It's neat that God planned it this way....... it refreshes us and gets us ready to start a new week. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon.

Christmas Cookies and Santa Hats

OK! So, this is my attempt to keep in touch with all of you family and dear friends that mean so so much to us! A few of my friends have blogs on this site and I am always so encouraged when I read them. So, now it's my turn I guess. I've been wanting to set this up for a long time but just haven't had the time or energy to sit and do it. But it's been kindof a lazy day around here today so I thought this was the perfect opportunity!


Well, Christmas is my favorite time of year and Emma makes it even more fun. She gets so excited, but I have to tell you we've had the movie Elf playing in our DVD player for the past several monthes. Emma loves it! We've sang Frosty the Snowman before she goes to bed at night since I can't remember when. Yes I love Christmas but this is all her doing! With all that said, we had a little fun today dressing up in our santa hat and making Christmas cookies.

Don't get me wrong... we are definitely not looking over the importance of Thanksgiving. That is definitely a pet peeve of mine. But we try to practice being thankful on a daily basis.