Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas Day

This picture accurately sums up this year's Christmas theme.  It definitely revolved around the dogs. :)  We went to my parent's house for lunch following present-opening at our house.  Andrea, Ronnie, Shay, my grandpa McMillan, Uncle John, cousin Seth, Courtney, Aubrey, Stella, and Courtney joined us for a lovely traditional meal and more presents.


As is tradition, Maddie and Tyson enjoyed the reamins of the turkey!  Might not have been the healthiest for them, but they are old and it made them happy.
Courtney and I tried to get a group photo but only Aubrey would coorperate!  The twins are both newly walking and it's well-known that Carleigh prefers to climb rather than sit still.  Oh well, we'll laugh about this 5 years from now.
Carleigh loves her older cousin Aubrey!  Aubrey is always so affectionate with her!  So sweet!
After a yummy meal, we enjoyed pie.  Even Dusty shared his leftovers with Maddie!  What a good Daddy!  Carleigh took a rare moment to sit and embrace Maddie.

During present time, Stella enjoyed recieivng Ty-Ty's kisses and then had fun pulling his ears.  He loved the attention.

He even got attention from Papaw and it was much gentler.  Ah... heaven.
Maddie was even in the Christmas spirit and was sweet with Caroline.  It was a ter-ARF-ic time!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Santa really came!

Christmas morning this year was truly a joy to experience.  We had my parents and Dustin's parents join us at 7 am.  Carleigh had been up for about a half hour but we kept her upstairs to keep everything a surprise until everyone arrived.  And by the look on Carleigh's face when she came down the stairs and we showed her the stockings, she clearly thought we were all crazy.  All this jibber-jabber about Santa coming and presents for her starting with the small ones in her stocking?  And gifts for Maddie and Tyson, too?  Whatever the case, she figured, new stuff!


At first, she was more interested in Maddie and Tyson's stocking stuffers than her own.  But on her behalf, Maddie received new racquetballs and well, those are balls.  Enough said.

It was so cute to see Carleigh's face when we brought her to the tree.  We left one gift unwrapped and on display above the other presents (one we knew she'd want us to open out of the box immediately and we wouldn't be able to remove the wires fast enough) and upon seeing the doll, she was so happy!  She didn't even know what the doll did yet!  When we showed her, (she sings a "peek-a-boo" song), she danced all over the entryway in delight!  It was a battle just getting her to move on to the next present.
She received a dress up kit from Santa.  I thought it might be a bit too advanced for her age (that she wouldn't be interested), but the crown, purse and high heels were a hit right away!  The clip-on earrings ... not so much and the wand was just okay.
Another surprise was her enthusiasm to not only open the presents but her excitement about the gifts, too!  (if she could tell what they were).  When she saw the pictures on the boxes of the toys inside she would make whining noises to open them immediately.  Carleigh's definitely in a self-centered stage.
One of my favorite pics of the morning - my little princess rocking on her new Rockin' Puppy, from Bubba and Gigi.
Dusty and I got her (among many other things) a pop-up ball pit and tunnel system.  The thing was so big that we could only put together a few tunnels and the main ball pit structure!  Who knew!!!  The great thing is that she LOVES it and it can keep her busy for a long time!

This year Carleigh raked it in and she didn't even have the speaking skills to ask for these things so she's a lucky, spoiled little girl.  Thank you everyone!!!  Will post pictures in the upcoming weeks of her playing with her new toys!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Sawyer's Baptism

 I went up to Houston the day after Christmas to be at my Godson, Sawyer's baptism.  What a special service it was! 

 He was an angel throughout the whole thing and was very interested in the candle I held, so I like to say that he really was drawn to the light of the Lord that day!

 The whole family and Sawyer's Godparents, (me and Rick's father).
Even though I am far, it is so great to be at important events like this in his life!  Congratulations on your baptism, Sawyer!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Eve

What a busy Christmas break! We always go to Aunt Phyllis' on Christmas Eve and this year was so much fun! Carleigh loved playing with everyone and opening presents was the highlight!
Aunt Shay-Shay and her were playing peek-a-boo with the snowman!
Carleigh got to spend some much needed Auntie time!

pic name

This year, presents were actually very appealing for Carleigh.  Not only unwrapping them, but seeing what was inside.  Her second cousin, Blake's toy really caught her eye.

A wonderful time was had by all!  It is so great to be with family during this special time.  It is so important to share in the miracle of Christmas with Carleigh and begin to teach her about our ability to love because of Christ's everlasting love and mercy for us.

Mexico Part 3

Our nights in Mexico weren't late ones.  We learned early on that we had to take Carleigh to dinner early or order her room service and take shifts eating out because she just didn't want to sit still in the restaurants.

pic name

Any time the evening included dancing, she was much more entertained!

pic name

pic name

pic name

And after she went to bed (thanks to my parents and Dusty's parents for taking turns on a few nights watching her), we had a little fun!

Japanese night was Carleigh's favorite!

pic name
She was very impressed with our hibachi chef!  He was very impressed with Shay!  The rest of us were very impressed with our meals!

Her face looks that way because we ran out of edamame.  Apparently, at an all-inclusive, there is a five bowl minimum.  :)
It was great getting some alone time with Dusty!
We had a yummy Italian dinner (sans Carleigh) one night.

Dinner was followed up by some lobby entertainment.  We also made my parents partake in shots.  They were good sports.

Jen and Lori had  a great time with Caleigh.  This trip was a lot of running around after her ... and pulling her off things she had climbed on.  These decorative ball sculptures were a favorite of hers.

Getting a group picture proved harder than we thought on the last night.  Near bedtime, Carleigh just wasn't cooperating... take 1.
Take 2 ...
Take 3.  Oh forget it.  This will do!

Adios, Mexico!!!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Lazy days of Mexico ...


Seven days is a long time to relax. Wait a minute with an almost one and a half year old, there's a lot of chasing going on! Luckily we had family around so we got to enjoy ourselves some, too! It was so neat to see Carleigh's reaction to the beach ... excitement and skepticism! Sand is still an uncertainty to her!
Beach time!
Q.T. with Daddy!!!
Family during the holidays!  Nothing better!
Carleigh couldn't get enough of the virgin daquiris!
Gigi and Carleigh
My mini-me and our matching swimsuits! (totally planned)
Tequila!
The babe of the baby pool
Word fun in the sand
Mimi and Dusty
Gigi and Bubba
Aunt Jen, Bubba, Gigi, Dusty and me with Carleigh waving at the camera!  Cheese!!!
Look at those smiles with Daddy and Papaw!  Vacation is good for the soul.
Shot time!!!
More Daddy time and she couldn't be happier about it!
In the ocean!
Mommy and Aunt Shay
Carleigh with Mimi, Papaw, Daddy and me
Playing with Bubba

 Group photo

The days were jam packed full of fun and so many memories were made!  She picked up many words on the trip including "Bye, bye plane," "apple," and "beach," to name a few.

Night pics to come!!!  Stay tuned!