what an awesome Christmas we had! it was so nice to wake up in our home on Christmas morning, something we have not done in all the time we have been married. i really think that BellaRose had a great time. she loved all the tissue paper in her presents. worth and i did not go big this year for her since she really has no idea what is going on. we sort of felt bad at first, but then we saw how much fun she was having with the wrapping paper that we knew it was okay. look at that cool wagon she got from T-Love and Big Papa (worth's parents). she also really loved the ornament on the tree. what do you think of her stocking? pretty cool huh?

here is the new puppy that Worth's sister's family got. he is a labradoddle and SO cute! his name is Max. Him and BellaRose got along super well, i guess since they are the same size and all.

we went to Greenville on "Boxing Day" (the day after Christmas). i really have no idea what "Boxing Day" means. maybe it is a British thing b/c i heard Andrew explaining it, but i did not hear the reason. it was really nice to extend Christmas just one more day. it is sad that Christmas is over. it comes and goes so quickly it seems. i hope that you enjoyed yours as much as we enjoyed ours. until next year!

Merry Christmas to you and yours

today is Christmas Eve and it feels like it too! i love that, when it feels like the holidays. sometimes Christmas time rolls around and it just does not feel like it. my Christmas spirit got dampened of course with the ordeal of our Christmas tree trying to commit suicide and it did succeed. we will know rejoice and share Christmas presents under a completely dead tree that is now brown instead of green, but we will STILL rejoice! i made sugar cookies with icing and listened to Harry Connick Jr and i forgot about my brown Christmas tree. then we went to church and watched the little children put on the real Christmas story while i held my sweet child and my husband by my side and that, my dear reader, is what truly put me back in the Christmas spirit b/c Christmas is not about the presents and what we get, although that is nice, but about a tiny little baby who sacrificed so much so that we can REJOICE! So have a wonderful Christmas and hug your family and pet your dog.

Sweetie Baby turned 7 months old on saturday and she woke up clapping, seriously! when she turned 6 months old she decided it was time to sit up and now she is clapping. it is pretty cute if you really want to know. in these pictures you can see what a good guard dog rainy is being. she is really protecting our nice new hard wood floors from any morsel of food that might possible slip by B-Rose. i think rainy thinks that BellaRose is eating her milkbones. the picture of worth and BellaRose is the first time that BellaRose saw snow. granted it is not a lot of snow, but there is in fact snow falling from the sky. she thought it was strange and wonderful all at the same time. well i gotta hit the road and go join in some Christmas eve festivities. we know a couple of kids who are getting a puppy tomorrow for Christmas and i will happily share some pictures with you. have a good time and be careful. we love you.

Music Together

Annie and I took BellaRose and Will to the Music Together
class at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts,this by the way is where Annie teaches her pottery class. Music Together is similiar to Kinder Music I think. It was pretty fun. BellaRose actually had quite a blast. I, on the hand, felt sort of silly dancing around and waving fabric in the air but that is neither here nor there. The exciting part is BellaRose can be anything in life right now. I want to introduce her to as many things as possible and give her the best start at finding her way. I have a feeling that she will really like music. She seems to already and Worth is very talented muscian as well. I bet you did not know that! As many of you can attest to, this girl has some lungs. Mothers with many children have never heard lungs like her's so this could lead to many great things for out Sweetie Baby music wise at least. Of course she could follow in her mother's past and be and amazing cheerleader! Ha, that made laugh pretty good. The only cheerleading I have ever done is cheer on the Atlanta Hawks while Dominique Wilkins was still there. Go # 21! I digress, anyway the point is, Will and BellaRose had a lot of fun at this class and if there is one in your area I suggest checking it out. Will was a little timid at first, but towards the end he got into it. BellaRose from the very beginning was kicking her legs and looking in awe at the teacher. Maybe because she actually heard a good singing voice for once in her life! Whose to say?

updates

our house has been struck. we have the cold! I had it last week, and now poor sweet BellaRose has it now. she sees the red suction ball coming her way and she starts to cry. i don't blame her. i would hate to have my nose suctioned like that. i wish i knew a better way, but until she learns how to blow her nose the red suction ball it will be. i don't think that she really feels all that bad, but her poor nose won't stop running. i am sure it is terribly hard for her to breath. this too shall pass though. i am looking forward to getting out of the house today. i feel like i have been here non stop lately. BellaRose and i hope to finish up our Christmas shopping. can you believe it is a week and a day away. have i told you time flies? i am sure i have mentioned that before once or twice. speaking of, BellaRose will be 7 months old on saturday. she is doing wonderful besides the cold. we have really tried to stick with a routine and she seems to do really well with that. she is a homebody much like myself. so we have stayed put for all of our sanity, not traveled but only for day trips. that has made our life so much easier. i am not sure when we will be able to travel again but for the time being this is just fine. she is eating like a champ. you can give this girl anything and she loves it! what a blessing that has been. right now she is completely in love with her Earth's Best Teething Biscuits. you give her one of those and you better watch your hand because those 2 little teeth will get you. we have given her all sorts of "solids" and the whole time she is eating she is saying "mmmmm". last night i gave her some avacado and she LOVED it. she still only has 2 teeth. i was thinking she was getting more, but she is sticking with those 2 right now. Worth has been working on some "frustration" crawling techniques with her. i am not sure how well those are going. he puts something out of reach for her and tries to get her frustrated enough where she will want to get it. i just feel sorry for her. my poor little baby on her belly crying. oh it is a sight. i have to tell you i am just fine with her not being mobile. we finally are able to just set her down and she actually can entertain herself. it has been heavenly. well i just thought i would update you on what Sweetie Baby has been doing lately since we haven't really told you. enjoy this wonderful time of year and remember why it is so important. a lot of times that just simply gets lost in all the things we HAVE to day. take a break and rejoice!

don't you just love her radio flyer push wagon. it is a big hit. this is her early Christmas present from my Dad and Charlotte. thank you!

Angela's 3?!

heading to Greenville this morning to go see my sisters and my mama. We are going to be celebrating the birthday of Angela, one of my wonderful sisters. her birthday is actually tomorrow, but we will pretend it is today. I love you probably more then i tell you. i am thankful everyday for you! where in the world would i be without my sisters! one lonely girl that is for sure. Happy Birthday big Sista! You deserve all your hopes and dreams!

it is dying!

my tree, is fading quick! i mean i know things die when you cut off their life support, but this is like nothing i have ever seen. i am pretty sad about this. i usually keep my tree up until new years day, but i have a feeling this is not going to happen. i guess when you have a tree that was in a flood plain and had been flooded, and the trunk is all mush then this will happen. i pull on a limb and all the needles fall off, every last one of them. it stopped drinking water awhile ago. you would think it would be happy to be loved so much and to want to be a christmas tree, but i think it liked just being a tree better. 'o christmas tree!

my new plan is simply to not touch the tree. that works out right? especially when you have a yellow lab who is in a constant state of tail wagging and likes to hit the tree with said tail!

fun ole fashion family Christmas

So we had our Christmas party this weekend and it was a BLAST! Fun was had by all! We had 2 kinds of homemade chili. Thank you Angela for the amazing green chicken chili. It was a hit and quickly gone. We watched the movie outside by the fire on the side of the house and I have to tell you, it was fabulous. If you have never watched a movie in your backyard before I highly recommend it. I could hardly sit and watch the movie b/c I was so excited about it. I had to capture a picture of Clark and cousin Eddie talking with the moose cups. I almost bought a couple just to have around the house, but they were a little expensive, maybe next year, because I gotta tell you this will be a family tradition for sure. Thank you to all the good friends that came and hung out with us, we sure do appreciate you! It was real nice.

and while we are on the subject of Christmas I have to tell you about the wonderful experience my sister and I had at 1 o'clock in the morning. I was going to turn out the lights on the tree, closing up the shop for the night. As I was backing out of the corner that the light plug is in I sort of tripped, well as I was falling back the tree decided it wanted to join me on the ground. That is right, it fell on top of me. As you know now it is an ENORMOUS tree. This enormous tree also holds a lot of ornaments and drinks a lot of water. Oh man if you could have seen my sister and I scrambling around trying to pick up this tree, hold it upright, clean up the water, and all the broken ornaments on the ground, you might die of laughter. I am sad to say though that a couple of my favorite ornaments did not survive the fall. I was pretty bummed out about that. This is the 3rd time the tree has fallen, the 1st time with all the lights on it though. If it falls again I have to tell you it might be the end of my tree and and the end of my Christmas spirit. Although I might have to ask myself what would Sparky do, AKA Clark W. Griswald.

BellaRose's stats are in from her 6 month check-up. She weighs 14.1 lbs and 26 inches long. She is still a tiny baby and I love it so much. She got her shots and the flu shot. I feel good about it. I know we are doing the right thing for our baby. It could be different for other people, but for us this is good. She seems to be changing everyday. We are working on a third tooth and sometimes I think that causes her issues but for the most part it is just a whole lotta drool!