Making new friends 101

This is the attire Brody thought was appropriate for one of our nightly walks. Now if only we could figure out why we cannot seem to meet new people!

We can take a hint...

I heard Leilah babbling, and simply taking it as a cue that her nap was over, I went in to get the little miss out of her crib. Little could have prepared me to see her proud gummy grin peeking out over the top of the crib. She was beyond tickled to have accomplished such a feat. Needless to say... the crib will be lowered tonight before bedtime!

"You tickle me"

When Brody finds something extra silly he will blurt out, "you tickle me!" Living with a 2 (almost 3) year old lends itself to countless "you tickle me" moments. When we were praying before lunch today Brody said:
"God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food, by his FINGERS we all are fed." How true... :)

Our Christmas Vacation

After 2 weeks of sunshine bliss we are back, rested, tanned with memories that will last a lifetime! Here are some pictures of our Florida fun in the sun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Santa Claus came to town...

As you know, our chimney (metaphorically speaking) has moved to Alabama... and apparently Santa got the memo. He truly does see everything, doesn't he? In fact... he even knew to pay our house an early visit since we will be in Florida over Christmas. This is our last weekend before we leave and you can imagine our surprise when we awoke to a tree full of presents, overflowing stockings and a half eaten plate of christmas cookies anaccompanied by an empty glass of milk. The reindeers must have been hungry from their early excursion, because both the carrots left for them were devoured; do you think rudolph gets first dibbs? Aside from the recently endured terror of sitting on his lap... Brody is starting to think that Santa is a pretty neat guy!

By the way... if you are 3 and have a baby sister, her toys are way cooler than yours!

Half a year and a lifetime of joy...

I know it sounds cliche but it is so hard to fathom that Leilah is already 6 months old. On one hand, it seems like yesterday that I saw her sweet little face for the very first time and I knew, yet again, love at first sight. On the other hand it seems impossible to imagine life before the joy of her beautiful smile and the completeness that she brings to our family. She is such a little ray of sunshine and simply put we cannot get enough of her. She definitely has eyes for her mommy and thinks her brother is the funniest thing she has ever laid eyes on. As long as she gets in her snuggles and cuddles, she is the most content baby... she makes being adorable seem so easy! Weighing in at 15 lbs 8 oz and 26 3/4 inches long, she falls in 25th-50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for length. Sitting up almost all by herself, scooting around the floor and starting baby food are subtle reminders that she will soon be a little girl... running, dancing, singing and playing. I can only imagine what God has in store for her, but I have no doubt that she will continue to bless the lives of those who know her in her own sweet way. For now, I appreciate each and every moment... embracing the sleep deprivation and the baby attached to my hip as a privilege. A privilege of the all-encompassing gift of motherhood. As soon as I think life cannot get any better... it does!

His eyes- how they twinkled! His dimples- how merry!

"A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know there was nothing to dread."

We paid a visit to the jolly old elf himself at the Wiregrass Commons Mall. We were a bit apprehensive about how Brody would do... seeing as how he has cried every other year and the poor kid is scared of his own shadow. His little lip quivered as we sat him down and I just knew he was going to lose it. However, whether it was for the promised cookie afterwards (otherwise known as a bribe) or the big brother front he was putting on for his sister he held it together; terrified... but together nonetheless.








Just an interesting FYI:
Instead of ordering prints, they gave us the pictures on a usb with the copyrights. I'm not even sure that there was such a thing when I got my pictures taken with Santa (which I should admit, wasn't the most comforting experinece for me either).