Christmas season updates

Luke has thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas season so far. Luke's been to a cookie decorating party with some friends, had a Christmas program at school, visited the Alpine Village, seen Santa and still has more fun to come! His favorite song is The First Noel (though for a while he was singing the First Nowhere). He also wants me to write that his "next favorite" is Silent Night. One of our daily favorite things to do when Luke wakes from his nap is to check the mail and eat a couple of Christmas gumdrops or cookies and milk while opening our Christmas cards. Luke gets SOO excited to see all of the new cards that arrive--just like Mommy!!

Charlie enjoys the ride and gives out smiles to anyone who looks at him! He's been such a trooper during this busy time and just seems to sparkle right along with the Christmas lights! He turned 8 months a couple of days ago and has 2 tricks! He can clap and has just started waving too! He's nowhere near crawling, but he can scoot around in a full circle to see whatever he needs to see! He's also mastered the art of rolling over in his crib----he's loving being more mobile now that he's not swaddled to sleep anymore! Though Charlie hasn't actually said these words, I'm going to guess that Silent Night is his favorite Christmas song. He listens so sweetly as I sing it to him before his goodnight kisses!

Merry Christmas!

Luke putting the first ornament on the tree. A train--of course!

Look at all the cookies I made Mommy!! Can I eat them all now??

Sweet brothers!

I'm 8 months old now!

The Christmas Spirit Award

I recently came across a friend of a friend of a friend's blog that was given The Christmas Spirit Award. I loved it, as it involves Christmas cheer! I decided to go on and give myself The Christmas Spirit Award, strictly because a) I love Christmas, b) I wanted to tell you why, and c) so I can give the award to someone else!! Even if I don't "tag" you with this award---feel free to take it and use it on your blog too!


There are some rules with this award:

- You must be a true Christmas lover to accept this award.
- The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas.
- You must link back to the person who gave you the award.
- You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can’t limit it to 5 things, then keep going until you run out of space!
- Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 45; it’s up to you. You must pass it on to at least one person in order to keep the Christmas cheer going.
- Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment on their blog.

SO, here are my 5 favorite things about Christmas~~~


1. Going to the mailbox everyday during the month of December! I absolutely love getting Christmas cards!! The best days are when 5 or 6 come at once!! Love it!!


2. Growing up we had the tradition of going around and looking at Christmas lights after our Christmas Eve service. We still do it with my family, but now that Chad and I have our own, it's so much fun hearing the squeals from Luke when he sees them!


3. Picking out, decorating and enjoying our Christmas tree. We always listen to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie while decorating the tree. Seeing each ornament after it's been a year since we saw them last is wonderful--all the memories! AND--the smell of a real tree MAKES Christmas for me!


4. Our Christmas Eve candlelight service at church is probably my favorite part of Christmas. It's the hour closest to Christmas when I can sit and be still and really appreciate the biggest gift we've ever been given---the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I cry every year when the church goes dark and is gradually illuminated with candles while we all sing Silent Night. It's amazing! Then, to follow it up with Joy to the World and hearing people sing with JOY is awesome!


5. I love Christmas music and play it non-stop during the season. I love the hustle and bustle and actually wait to do my Christmas shopping until December so I can feel the energy from everyone (in the traffic, in lines, in the music, etc)!


6. Christmas morning--enough said!!!!!!!!!!


Yes, I could have kept going, but I'll spare you---I love everything about Christmas! Now check your blog to see if you have been tagged!

Family, Food, Football and Fun!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Since it's now only 2 weeks until Christmas, I realized I needed to blog about our Thanksgiving adventure before things get Christmas crazy! What a fun Thanksgiving it was! Chad, the boys and I traveled to my parents lakehouse in South Carolina to celebrate with my parents and my sister and Chad's parents and his sister's family. We had a total of 13 people in the house--9 adults and 4 kids (oh and my parents 3 Golden Retrievers)! My parents were incredibly brave to welcome all of us into their new place!

The lakehouse is smack in the middle of nowhereville so we all spent quality time together--talking, eating, watching football, enjoying the beautiful outside when it wasn't freezing and eating some more! One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching Luke play with his older cousin Jackson. They were too cute and inseparable! They played with cars from sun up to sun down, did crafts with Aunt Kristen, went on nature walks with Aunt Mary and Grandpa and even drove our boat! Luke and Charlie's little cousin James was non-stop too. He's full of energy and was checking everything out. Charlie on the other hand is still not mobile so he practiced sitting up and looking cute!!

It's impossible to write about everything that went on, but we had lots of fun. We're incredibly thankful for our families and think it was a treat to have us all together--for the first time ever! AND---since it's taken me 1 hour to look through the billion pictures we took, I'm only showing 3. There were too many to choose from!!!

My side of the family!

Chad's side of the family!

The 4 grandsons (Luke, Charlie, Jackson and James)!

Our 13.1!!

Well, we did it! Our big 13.1 half-marathon was this past weekend!! Thank you so much for all of your sweet notes, support and prayers! What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been in training for the run. . .

Chad and I both injured ourselves in some manner or another, so we both only ran 9 miles 3 to 4 weeks before Saturday. We had hoped to accomplish 10 or more and definitely closer to the race, but that didn't happen. Turns out, I spent all of Friday at the doctor getting x-rays on my hip and being twisted into a pretzel only to have the dr. tell me he thought I had a stress fracture and not only wouldn't be running, but would be on crutches for 3 weeks!! I had a mini-meltdown with the x-ray lady and she assured me I'd be running again in a few years. I explained I really wanted to run in THIS race---as it was for baby Sam and I had been training since June AND that I had 2 kiddos, one of whom can't walk yet and that I couldn't be on crutches! The x-rays came back negative, but the dr. was still convinced I had a stress fracture. So, he ordered me and MRI for an hour later. Finally, at 4:30 on Friday afternoon, my MRI results came back negative too! Sooo, I was able to run afterall. The dr. told me to take Advil and stop running when I hurt. I still don't know what's wrong with my hip, but I was able to run and SOOO thankful for it!!

We had a big pasta dinner with some friends on Friday night---all in the name of carbo-loading! Saturday we woke up early and met our dear friends the Stouts, who came back into town from Atlanta to run with us! It was so much fun seeing them again (and their kiddos on Thursday night too) and experiencing my first half-marathon all together.

Race Day was freezing cold (actually below freezing) and I was numb throughout the run and even for 2 hours after the race! The atmosphere was awesome! I loved running down Riverside Dr. and seeing our city's skyline and the mighty Mississippi River. Running on Beale St. was fantastic and running by St. Jude knowing that we were in this for Sam was incredible! My sweet sister made it to 2 different points in the race and shouted out for us----how special---it meant so much to me to have her not only freezing for us, but waking up early on a Saturday morning for us was HUGE!! My parents brought Luke and Charlie to see us too---unfortunately we were a little faster than they anticipated and they missed seeing us, though they spent quite a long time looking! So sorry Mom and Dad!! Chad and I hadn't planned on running together, but since he injured his foot he was a little slower and we ran most of the race together! It was so much fun!

For those of you who have followed baby Sam Grant's story with us, our team raised over $13,000 for him and the children of St. Jude. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping out and most importantly for keeping him in your prayers. He's still enduring his chemo for eye cancer like a champ and when Chad and I were feeling the pain as we were running---we kept saying "Go Baby Sam" and it helped us keep going! What a hero he is!!

Dana, Kevin, Chad and me---exhausted, but excited after our run!

13.1--we did it. Baby!!

Falling leaves!

A couple of weeks ago, Luke wanted to go outside and play in the leaves. It was really cold and I had to scurry around to find something for Charlie to bundle up in for his first fall leaves photo shoot! Most of Luke's clothes from his baby stages haven't fit Charlie since they were born in the exact opposite seasons, however, his cute winter hat looks adorable on Charlie! Luke had so much fun throwing leaves up in the air and making piles to run through. He even sat still for some sweet brother photos--what a treat for me! Charlie just had a blast watching Luke run around like crazy. He didn't get to stay out too long since he doesn't have shoes yet!

Getting bundled up!

Charlie reaching around to watch Luke's every move!

Lovin' the leaves!

All smiles!