New Year's Eve

We had a quiet night at home this New Year's Eve. The evening started off with a bang, literally - Daddy shot fireworks on our street. Jane Gray and Charlie loved helping Daddy with the Roman candles. Then, Jane Gray, Charlie, and Havens ran around the yard with their sparklers. It was a lot of fun! But, it was so cold - after the fireworks, we headed inside to warm up by the fire. We ate dinner, played cards, and roasted some s'mores. When the kids finally wore down, we sent them to bed and told them that we would see them next year. This has been such a blessed year with the addition of our little Meg; we can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the year 2009.

Sarah's "almost" spend the night birthday party

Sarah Herring had an "almost" spend the night birthday party tonight. The girls wore their pajamas, ate pizza, roasted some s'mores, and watched a movie. It was such a cute party!

Charlie's first trip to the dentist

One of our good friends, Mary Tison Brown, is Jane Gray's dentist. Jane Gray loves Dr. Brown! Today was Charlie's first time to visit Dr. Brown. Jane Gray went first, and Dr. Brown asked Charlie to be her assistant. Dr. Brown sprayed the water in Jane Gray's mouth to clean it, and Charlie vacuumed out the water. Charlie even got to wear gloves (he loved them so much, he also wore them to the library!). We thought Charlie was so funny, Dr. Brown's dental hygienist took a polaroid picture of him "assisting" Dr. Brown. Not to be outdone, Jane Gray had her picture taken while Charlie was getting his teeth cleaned.

Nest in the Christmas tree

Daddy was taking down the Christmas tree tonight and found this little nest in it. Last year, we found an Easter egg in the Christmas tree we cut at the Christmas tree farm (guess they also have Easter egg hunts there). This year, it's a bird's nest. I wonder what we will find in next year's tree.

Eleven months old

Meg is 11 months old today, and she is loving life! She is such a sweet, happy baby! She is cutting four teeth in the top of her mouth, but you wouldn't know it. They don't seem to bother her; she's too busy playing and having fun. She is trying lots of new foods and hasn't met one she doesn't like. She is still cruising up a storm, and she is thinking about walking. She can stand on her own, and she loves to hold your hand and walk to you. She is working on her sounds, and just the other day, said "nana." Meg's one-year birthday is right around the corner, and we can't believe that our little angel is growing up so fast!

Nana and Grandpa's spend the night party

Nana and Grandpa wanted to have the big kids (Jane Gray, Reece, Charlie, and Abby) over to their house for a spend the night party. We went to see The Tale of Despereaux at Malco Grandview, and then ate dinner at Nana and Grandpa's. We helped bathe the children, and then Mommy and Daddy went home to put Meg down and visit with Mommy's friend, Carley. We went back to Nana and Grandpa's house the next day for lunch (the kids grilled hot dogs) and to pick up Jane Gray and Charlie. Nana and Grandpa reported that the night was a success (though two little unnamed children did NOT want to go to sleep!).

Christmas night at home

After our visit with Dicey, we went back to Pop's house and loaded up the car to go home. We put some very sleepy kids to bed, and then Mommy and Daddy had a nice, quiet dinner of leftovers together.

Visit with Dicey

Christmas afternoon, we went to Dicey's house with the Hursts. Dicey was her usual warm, cheerful self, and we loved visiting with her.

Christmas in Yazoo City

We ate Christmas lunch in Yazoo City. The children were so eager to open their stockings and gifts! They hit the stockings first in the den and then headed straight to the living room to find their Christmas presents. We decided that it would be cruel to make them wait until after lunch, so they tore into their gifts. When all the gifts were finally unwrapped, we sat down for our traditional Christmas lunch of beef tenderloin (Mommy's idea!) with all the fixings. It was delicious! Mommy and Daddy crashed in the den while the kids played in Pop's office with his new train until we all got our second wind, and then we headed to Dicey's.

Christmas Day at the Orchard

Before heading to Yazoo City, we stopped by the Orchard to see Margaret and Alice. They were downstairs waiting to go to lunch. They looked so beautiful, and we had such a nice visit. Jane Gray was so funny - she left our group and went to each person in the room individually to wish them a Merry Christmas. The men and women of the Orchard seemed so pleased to see the children in their Christmas outfits, and we loved getting to visit with Margaret and Alice on Christmas Day.

Meg's first Christmas

Christmas finally arrived, and Jane Gray was in our bedroom at 7:00 sharp (Daddy warned her not to wake us up before 7:00). We woke Charlie and headed to the den to open our stockings. The kids were thrilled to discover that Santa Claus had indeed come, eaten the cookies, drunk the milk, and even written Jane Gray a note on the letter she had left for him (she drew him a picture of our Christmas tree and told him how much she loved him; Santa wrote that he loved her, too, and thanked her for his and Rudolph's snacks). We then ate breakfast and waited for the grandparents to arrive. Pop arrived first, and we visited with him. Then, Nana and Grandpa, the Zupas, and Momma came by. They watched the kids open their presents before heading to Kim and Walker's house. After they left, Daddy and Mommy exchanged presents and then loaded up the car to go to Yazoo City.

Christmas Eve

After church, we headed to Pop's house in Jackson for Christmas Eve dinner with the Barbours. After dinner, Mary Stewart and Genevieve took turns reading The Night Before Christmas. Shortly after the reading, the phone rang - it was Santa Claus! Jane Gray and Charlie talked to Santa before we all dashed home so that we would be in bed before Santa stopped by our house. The kids put on their Christmas pajamas (their Christmas Eve presents), and then Daddy read us the Christmas story from the Bible, and Jane Gray read The Night Before Christmas. We put out some milk and cookies for Santa and some reindeer food for Rudolph, and the kids went straight to bed.