Christmas Joy.

Another Christmas has come and gone and this year it was incredibly fun with a 17 month old! She is quite the little sport these days. She speaks her own little language and goes to town with it! I'll be happy when someone else can understand her!

Christmas Eve is always a busy time in our house, and this year was no exception. I sing in the choir, so we got all dressed up to be at Mass early for practice. Mass was lovely this year. Lucy is well behaved in church which is such a blessing! The steel drums played and the children's choir joined us. I love the children's choir. They just bless my heart! I envision Lucy singing when she is older and it is so sweet to think of that! After Mass we went to my parents for our first ever Fondue Party. This was an idea I saw on someones blog and it just made me smile. I have two fondue pots from our wedding that have never been used. Mom and I did a little research and bam! Christmas Fondue was born. I loved it. We did a great job and I look forward to doing this every year.
Christmas morning Lucy woke at 6:30....which was a surprise because since I have been on vacation we have been sleeping until at least 8! She must have known something exciting was happening! Santa left presents and a sweet letter. She loved all her presents and had fun opening the few that we gave her. And.... on a total side note, my husband did a fantastic job this year for me...The one thing I care about name brand is my purse. I love name brand purses. I'll rock some Wal-mart bluejeans, but I want a good-stand-the-test-of-time purse. I've been carrying a Coach for about 4 years. I have 2 of them and trade them out often. I am also a huge Project Runway fan also and this year have fallen in love with Micheal Kors. So I've been asking (read: begging) for a MK bag. I knew they were too expensive so I set it aside for another day, but Christmas morning I opened a package and there was a beautiful black leather MK bag! Wooo!!!!!! I also got a Nookcolor which I have not been able to put down and it fits so wonderful in my MK bag!

I digress..... after we opened presents, my parents came over for breakfast. It was delicious! We opened presents with them, cleaned up, and Lucy and I crashed! We were so tired from our fun! After our nap, we headed to Scott's moms for late lunch, which was delish, and opened presents with her. After another nap, we went to MawMaw's for presents (Scott's grandmother) and stayed there and visited for awhile. We are so blessed and received way too much stuff. I got some amazing gifts from my parents (a necklace from mom I wear every day, and a bracelet with LC's birth date on it...pure love!)

We are blessed beyond belief and I thank God every day for the gift of my family. I pray that this new year will be as amazing as this past year has been! Thank you, Lord! I love you!

praying

Today, my heart is heavy for a family of church friends who lost their daddy this morning. Sweet Jenn is a blog writer also. I cannot imagine their pain or grief, I only know that God will sustain (Psalm 54:4). I cannot imagine the road they are going to walk, I only know that God will walk with them (Isaiah 43:2). I cannot understand God's ways, but I know He is faithful (Isaiah 55:9). I also know that there are many who are praying for their hearts, for their pain, for their loss. And I believe that God hears our prayers (Psalm 66:19) and will not leave them.
"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)
Praying....

I heart my Mac.

I won a contest at school over the summer and my prize was a Mac computer for my classroom. I was excited but a little hesitant because I knew they were so different from regular PCs. Needless to say, when I finally hooked it up and and got busy with it, I am a changed woman. I want to pack it up everyday and take it home. I love it. The things I have been able to do with it as a teacher are amazing. We've made videos, recorded ourselves reading, and even made a music video for a technology grant (which we didn't win, btw.) I decided this week after school, I would make something for myself. So with the videos I had uploaded from my last pictures with the kids, I saw some of Lucy. So I jumped at the chance to make a video montage of my child! She loves it! I think its pretty cool too....

It's hard to believe that 2010 is coming to a close! We have been enjoying our December in our household. We are gearing up for Christmas, and even though Daddy has to work a lot, we do have a tree up. It has no decorations, but we do have a tree! And I have put out our stockings and our nativity. I have been in such a thankful mood lately. I am so thankful for our health, good friends, amazing family....It has been a rough couple of weeks in my classroom and I think that is why I have had some good reflection time. If you could, could you please pray for two of my children? (Ya'll know I call my school kids my children!) I have been pretty emotional because they were two very special students with two very sad stories and now I am not a part of their lives. So taking some time to thank the Lord for what I do have, and to remember my two sweet girls in prayer often is making me a little sentimental. All that being said, here is what I am thankful for right now! (in no particular order!ha!)

This sweet girl. A momma's girl who is funny and sweet...and starting to be a bit stubborn.

Good friends and girl's night out. We all needed that! I love these girls! Big Bunkoooo!

Bundled up baby with amazing eyelashes!

Third Day. 'nuff said. My favorite band since as long as I can remember. Up close and personal. In fact, I am honestly thinking I am going to be a groupie. Either that, or I need to work on my recording contract so I can open for them. I had a blast!

Lucy having sweet friends to grow up with. I pray that she and Foster grow up to be life-long buddies. I am thankful for his mommy, Jolie. I am glad we are friends! And I am also glad we like train-wreck blogs and shopping! ha! :)

I didn't have any pictures of my husband or my family for this month. But I am always thankful for them and their love. In fact, tonight during prayer, Lucy and I prayed for a multitude of things we are thankful for, like warm clothes, a heater, mommy and daddy's job, that Gammy is her daycare, and that she is full of love. We always pray for babies without mommies and mommies without babies. I want her to understand how lucky she is to have a family that loves her and provides for her.

Okay. This post was really just going to be about me getting to see Third Day in concert, and look where it led me! ha! I am thankful for you, blog reader, wherever you are! Praying for you!

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

16 months

My tiny little girl is now 16 months old. Wow. I have to say, she is one amazing kid. She makes me laugh out loud all the time. I totally love this age! She is doing all kinds of fun things and saying tons. "Oh no" is a word we hear at least 100 times a day. But true to her southern roots, it is more like "ooooohh nooo" so drawn out and southern!

What else are you doing, my sugar plum?

• You weigh in at 23 pounds and are 32 inches long.
• You are in a size 4 diaper.
• You eat salad. and love it. Your favorite part is the tomatoes!





Lucy at the Peanut Festival. The girl loves her roasted corn. She ate two ears!



• You carry a purse. OMG. how I love this. It is so funny!
• You wear a size 18 month clothing. True to size, kiddo!
• My favorite thing you do is when you see a crucifix, cross, or a picture of Jesus. You point and say "Jesus?" I love this. At night when we pray, you almost have the sign of the cross down. You can do "The Father and Son" part. We are working on "and the Holy Spirit." Lately after we pray, when I tell you to tell Jesus you love Him, you look up at your crucifix and blow it a kiss. Love.
• Speaking of praying, we have the ultimate bedtime routine down! You take a bath, get your jammies on, brush your teeth, and then we get a blanket and a stuffed animal and sit on your floor. You pick out a book and we read it together. Then we say our prayers and off to bed you go! You just get right in your crib and go right to sleep. You will either wake up around 6:30 or I have to wake you up for Gammy camp. You sleep from about 8:30 to 6:30.
• You have started to "throw fits" oh, my. This is serious! You will throw your head back and say "oh, no" over and over. They can be pretty rough!
• Fresh Beat Band is your favorite show. Of course, the show mommy hates would be your favorite. I go around singing "it was a great day...." all the time (here it goes again!)
• We got your ears pierced last week. It looks so cute and you have done so well with it!
  
  Why, hello, mini Rachel Zoe in your fur jacket. I would have so bought this for you if I didn't think your daddy would have had a fit! And yes, we did do a photo shoot in the middle of babyGap. Yes. and we would do it again. totally. babyGap? do you want to offer her a modeling contract?
  
• You are growing too fast little girl! I love you so much. I love your dramatic personality (where did that come from? ha!) and I love your love for Jesus already. I love being needed by you and I can't imagine what Daddy and I would be doing without you!

Halloween butterfly. I loved this costume. and we only spent $9.88 on it! Whoo!

How I love these sweet kisses! Even after I traumatized you with piercing your ears! ha! I love you!

"God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear it will laugh with me!"

Genesis 21:6

Something exciting!

I am super excited about something my class and I did

What a fall!

Whew! It's been a busy time in our household (inserting an Amazing Word from our first grade lesson last week) We have celebrated my birthday, a fall break from school, and tons of good quality time with friends and family. Lucy also turned 15 months old on the 16th. Where has time gone? I need to update some stats about her, so while I wait for my pictures to upload to my computer I'll write about her...
What can I say about that giggly little girl? I honestly looked at her the other day and thought...where did this "kid" come from? She is funny, she is inquesitive and smart, she is busy...so busy. She can eat like a champ, she loves most all food, but is very picky about her vegetables and most meat. She LOVES salad, which cracks me up. She runs when she wants to get somewhere and has a mouth full of teeth. She can say tons of animal sounds, and says a lot of words. She calls me "mom" ha! She can say Daddy, Sissy, Ta-Ta (for Papa), Jesus, pumpkin, JoJo (our neighbors dog), hi, bye, oh no, oh wow, uh-oh, "what's that?" and will mimic anything if you help her. She can climb on the couch. I finally moved her carseat to forward. She is putting herself to sleep at night. She loves to read. She tries to count and can hold a pencil or crayon like a first grader!
Here is our life in pictures this Fall:

This is Lucy before her school one day. She goes once a week. She has to carry a lunchbox!

Lucy and I at the Atlanta Zoo. Lucy at the Georgia Aquarium. She loved counting the fish and watching them swim by.We went to BabyLand General Hospital in Helen, Georgia on our trip. Lucy got her first Cabbage Patch Kid! Gammy, Sissy, and Lucy went on a playdate with some friends to a fun pumpkin patch! Lucy on the front porch. Last year when I took these pictures she had to sit in her Bumbo because she couldn't sit up! Fun times at the park with mom! Got to wear our shades! Well that about sums up our Fall so far! Bye Ya'll!