Bradford's 4th birthday celebrations!

Little B planned his entire 4th birthday party- of course with a little help from mom and dad.  He originally wanted to have his birthday party at the zoo but it was way over budget for a birthday party so I mentioned it would be cool to have a movie party.  The dangled bait worked and he was all about having his friends over in their PJs to watch a movie and eat popcorn.  The big difference this year was we had the parents drop off their 4 year olds.  There were a few moments where I thought we were crazy to do that but overall it was a blast.  I had a few moms stay to help and Lady and Diamond were huge helps too with the kids.  

 Everyone brought their sleeping bag

 We watched the Movie Planes so Dusty pinata was a hit

We projected it on the house which was awesome once the sun went down...no comment on the first 30 minutes when we couldn't really see the movie because the sun was still up

 

These two below have our heart.  Lady is 16 and our mentee  through Urban Young Life.  Jesse is one of her brothers.  He is six and he had a blast. 

Of course MK had on her cupcake PJs.  I also won't talk about me having to nurse her in the middle of the pinata time.  Survival.  Glad there weren't parents here so I could do it  while the kids were occupied outside.

We had his birthday celebration a week before his actual birthday because on his birthday we went to Disney with the Farrells.  They came and visited us for a long weekend and it was so much fun!  4 is such a fun age- you can do so much with them! 

 

To my oldest, you light up our lives. Your kind heart toward your two younger siblings is a gift and they look up to you so much already. I'm so glad we get to do life with you. May you always know you are loved and cherished and chosen. 

Christmas in Alabama

Christmas 2013- Daphne, Alabama

Christmas 2013 was a Christmas to remember!  MK's first Christmas and two boys who LOVE being with family and LOVE opening presents.  We packed the car to the brim and headed on an 8 hour car ride to Daphne, Alabama.  We weren't sure how the trip would go with a nursing 3 month old baby.  Halfway through the trip we looked at each other and asked if we had left Mary Katherine in Tampa.  She slept the first 3 hours and only had a 20 minute crying fit the entire car ride.  The way home was an entirely different story- MK still did pretty good but the boys not so much (a spanking on the side of I-75 happened but I won't go into details about that).

We were excited to see our cousins and grandparents and spend a week soaking up time with them.  We ate some good food, played with our new toys and went and visited Mimi and Grandaddy in Gilbertown one day. Here are some pictures below to sum up our sweet but busy Christmas!

It was really cold in Alabama so I made a Target run to get MK some warmer clothes for the week

Big B surprised me with a great present- he got my blog posts made into a book.  You'd think that would motivate me to blog more but here I am 22 days into January and I haven't blogged once!  It was such a sweet gift and I got emotional when I read through my 1000 gifts posts.

Lots of cuddle time on the couch

Christmas morning- monsters and dinos

All of the grandkids slept in their own tent in the same room.  Well all but Hampton- we had to move him out the first night as he wasn't quite ready to sleep in a room with 4 other kids.  Maybe next time!

The puzzle that was well loved but never finished...

 MK meeting Mimi- She is named after Mimi(Mary). So thankful she got to meet one of the great-grandmothers she is named after.

Fun football game outside- Q got the goal for Christmas

Oh Hambone.  

 I also snuck in a trip to see Jennifer and her new baby, Eberle.  Big B went hunting after Christmas with some friends so MK and I left for the day to go to Louisiana while Soos kept the boys.  I still can't believe we have girls 7 weeks apart.  

MK was smitten with her BF Eberle

Loved every second we got to spend there- even though we are over 10 hours apart- I feel like Jenn and Vanessa and I are raising our kiddos together.  Thankful for the many texts we send each day.  

More blogs to come- MK update and we officially have a 4 year old!  

Family Pictures

Amber did it again!  These by far are my favorite pictures from all of the photos she has taken but I'd hope so as it is our complete family! So thankful to have a dear friend take photos as the kids are comfortable and she knows our hearts and knows how to capture us!  Thank you Amber!

Thanksgiving in Tampa

Y'all. My husband can cook. I knew this but then he went and made an entire Thanksgiving meal (except for my Mom making her delicious squash casserole).  Now I think he should quit his day job and a open a bed and breakfast! Deal was he cooked while we watched the kiddos. Win, win for all. The meal did not disappoint. Our dear friends The Darnells joined us so we had a full table and full bellies. Lindsey is a master baker so we put her in charge of desserts. I knew we were in for a treat but she knocked it out of the park too! Pics below don't do her desserts justice! 

This was Wednesdays precooking- gravy top left, cornbread for dressing, turkey prep for smoker and onions for homemade French onion soup- we ate that Wednrsday for lunch and it was divine.

Morning of Thanksgiving- Love my new painting from my childhood friend, Laurie Ann, who is oh so talented. She is using her talents to raise money for her little girl in Ethiopia they are adopting. Let me know if you are interested in her art or jewelry- she's got an Open House at her house this weekend.

MK didn't want to take a mornin nap so she ended up sleeping on Ranger all morning while we prepared for Thanksgiving. It was a cold morning too!

The amazing chef and his well planned spread

Boom.

The Darnell's

The Littles even got to sit at the big table.

Homemade Darnelll Apple pie- beautiful!

The kiddos made a fruit turkey

More desserts: Acorns, turtle cheesecake(my fav) and festive sugar cookies

The next day we headed to Ergle Tree Farm to get our Christmas tree

We did it two years ago and loved it! There is a train ride around the farm that the kids always enjoy

After we got the tree up we opened gifts from Ma C and Ranger.  We rotate Christmas each year so this year we won't see them.  This was a fun way to start off the Christmas season.  Since we don't really do Santa(gifts are from people celebrating Jesus's birthday- Santa is a mascot of Christmas like Aubie is a mascot of Auburn) it made since to celebrate his birthday early :) We gave my parents a framed collage.  

Look who is back!!

The boys are loving her.  She is even sleeping in their room at night which has gone surprisingly well.

Saturday we woke up and put on our Orange and Blue! 

Look who was at the EPIC Iron Bowl!!

I surprised him with a plane ticket two weeks ago.  I had this strong feeling that he needed to be at that game.  If not it would have been a big regret.  So I bought him the plane ticket for an early Christmas gift and he found a football ticket with one of his college buddies.  Game of a lifetime.  He said he just ran around the field after the game waving to people in the stands- not sure he even knew how to celebrate a win like that!  

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to this Christmas Season and being intentional with Advent in our family.  We already delivered some gifts to friends to give them advent ornaments like we are doing.  Doing the kids advent from this website and my own devotional from Ann Voskamps book, The Greatest Gift. Hoping this brings me time to be in His Presence during this season as we wait for the arrival of our Savior!