Catching Up

To say that it has been a while since I have done an update would be an understatement. These pictures start the week before Thanksgiving. We have been having a blast anticipating Christmas this year which is why I have been slacking on the blog. We have been circling the state and have been out of town four of the past five weekends and have spent some great time with family. We start celebrating with Dan's side of the family tomorrow night and are looking forward to making more memories. This is going to be a marathon post so hang on, it's going to get bumpy, messy and probably convuleded so let's get to it.

I just had to capture Ben's first tea party. MB was very particular about which cup he used and which muffin was on his plate. He was a true gentleman and didn't spill any tea or get any crumbs on the floor.

He really is this happy most of the time. It's so much fun to have a baby that loves to grin!

I am in love with this picture and the two subjects. My friend Merran made the shirts and they are awesome!

Drake and Ben's first time at the Harvest Supper. My Maw Maw's church has a pot luck the Saturday before Thanksgiving and it is one of the best meals of the year. They slept right through the entire thing! Notice Ben's boots, they are adorable.

Ben spending some time with his great Maw Maw over Thanksgiving.

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Moultrie and had a play date at the church playground. MB was showing off her mad jump rope skills here.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to pick out my parent's Christmas tree and a had a lot of fun trying to find the perfect one.

These girls are so sweet together.

She enjoyed the freedom of the tree farm.

This picture is a classic. The boys are screaming, the big sisters are concerned/put out and the grandparents are cracking up. Typical!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we drove back to Atlanta to watch a terrible football game and then we went to get our tree. We went to Kinsey Farms for the second year and loved it! This is the tree that we ended up with and it has smelled soooooo good all month.

After we took a ride on the tractor and picked out our tree, we roasted some marshmellows. This was a first for MB and a highlight of the night.

What's not to love, right?

The next week we went with the Doyals to see the Christmas lights at the Bottanical Gardens. They were beautiful!

These two had a blast as usual. Those may or may not be MB's Christmas pajama pants that she was wearing. :-)

I saw an idea on pinterest to countdown to Christmas by wrapping up books for each day of December. I loved this idea and it has been such a fun thing to do with MB. This is something that she looks forward to every night. I didn't have 24 Christmas books so I mixed in some of her other favorites and she is always surprised at which one she opens even if it is one that we have read to hear a thousand times. The Christmas tree was my great Aunt Ann's and we put it in MB's room. She is obsessed with the tree and she likes to hug it and she talks about it all the time. It's so fun and colorful with the fiber optic limbs and colored lights. I often find her taking ornaments off of the tree in the living room to hang on her tree.

Book number one: The Christmas Story. She also is obsessed with baby Jesus in the hay.

Bubba has been a busy little guy. MB loved it when he showed up in her stocking! She is very quick to tell you that Bubba was in her stocking, not Ben's, not mama's and not daddy's.

MB had a Christmas party with her class and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them all dressed up. I could just eat them up!

MB loves her teachers, they are so great!

We took the kids to "Walk through Bethlehem" last weekend and it was so much fun. All through the town, MB kept asking where baby Jesus was and she only stopped in her journey to feed some hay to a sheep. I couldn't believe that she was brave enough to stick her arm in the pen for them to eat out of her hand. That girls loves animals!

We finally made it to baby Jesus and MB gave him the gifts that she collected while we walked through Bethlehem. It was a fun night!

I made a wreath this year for the front door and am pleased with how it turned out. This is another idea that I got off of Pinterest! I found the wreath for $2.50 at goodwill, bought the ornaments for $1 at the dollor store and the M from Hobby Lobby for about $2. After a little spray paint and some florist wire, it was ready for the front door.

This is the second try by my parent's to get a Christmas card photo. It's so hard and pretty much impossible to get all six of them to look in the same direction and smile.

I will end with this picture of MB showing Ben one of his new toys. It's a work bench and he was totally fascinated with the lights. He is growing up so fast and is sitting up like a big boy in the bumbo. Many more updates to come!