Christmas. . .

Christmas was such a whirlwind of events. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with Brandon's family- spaghetti and meatballs, yum. We opened gifts with them, which is always exciting. They always get us something special that we would never get ourselves. Brandon got a Wii, which we can't seem to stop playing. I was very pleased- Vera Bradley and Corningware!!! Miss Brynn was thrilled with her gift from Brent - a princess scooter. Once she saw it she didn't want to do anything else until it was put together. Thank you Papa for all your hard work (it was missing some screws).

Next, we headed to my parents where Brynn received her favorite present of all . . . a digital camera!! She loves taking pictures of everything. Addison got a wagon, which was helpful in putting everything in.

The next morning Santa came and Brynn was very excited! Her favorite gift from Santa was her baseball set. She wanted to go outside immediately and play. Addie is still so little so she has no idea what Santa is, but for Brynn's sake we still have to pretend. Santa was gong to bring Addie a new walker but Brandon ruined that by giving it to her 2 weeks early. She was left with a few toys that she seems to be enjoying.

We went to Inman for my Dad's family and then to Pauline for Brandon's Dad's. Deal or No Deal was a hit amongst the adults and Clay's drum were a hit (ha ha ) with the kids, especially Brynn!

Gifts to Parents. . .

For Christmas i never know what to get my parents or Brandon's parents. This year i got them both a collage picture frame. It holds 6 pictures and at the bottom it says- Family Ties. I thought it would be a good gift and it was cute. Well being the procrastinator that i am, i didn't take the pictures until Christmas Eve Eve. Mainly because my brother was not home until the Friday before and it is like pulling teeth to get Brandon's brother to do anything that is not related to fishing. i had the pictures developed on Christmas Eve and i was praying they turned out ok. They did ! ! I was very excited and the end result looked great. My parents and in-laws were both surprised.

Christmas Traditions Old and New. . .

Well I am little behind but I am going to try to catch up today. We have lots of Christmas traditions between Brandon's family and mine. This year Brandon and I thought we would start a few of our own. So here they are:

OLD TRADITIONS

Going to parent's on Christmas Eve

Opening 1 present at home - pajamas

Making cookies for Santa

Reading Christmas stories before bed

Getting a new Hallmark ornment

Adding an ornment to Brynn's tree

NEW TRADITIONS

Eating spaghetti dinner on Christmas eve

Having a birthday cake for Jesus

Leaving reindeer food

Brynn's Pictures

I have made another blog for Brynn's very own pictures. Check it out. It is pretty interesting.

Click on the link on the side--Brynn's Pictures, or click here http://theworldthroughhereyes.blogspot.com/ .

And it begins. . .

Well our crazy Christmas offically starts today!! It should have started last night but we skipped a party. Tonight we are going out to eat for Brandon's work party. I don't fully understand why we are doing this since the only people that work with Brandon are his family, but whatever it's a free meal. Tomorrow after church we have Christmas with Brandon's mom side of the family. The real fun starts Monday, Christmas Eve, at 4 we have Christmas with Brandon's family and with my family at 7:30. We will get home, rush to get the girls in bed, and SANTA will come!! Christmas morning is going to be so much fun this year. Brynn is in to Santa so i can't wait to see her face. Around lunch time we head to the big town of Inman for my dad's side only to rush to Pauline by 3 for Brandon's dad's side. Busy, busy, busy. I guess it wouldn't be Christmas if it wasn't. Merry Christmas everyone!

Adventures in Babysitting. . .

On Saturdays i usually work a couple of hours and Brandon is at home with the girls. Today was no different except he had one extra little girl. My friend from work, who typically doesn't work on Saturday, had to work and had no one to watch her daughter, Carly. The nice friend i am volunteers my husband. He has watched Carly before, but that was before Addie. Brandon reluquently agreed and i have to admit i was a little worried. Not that he would not be able to take care of them but that his nerves would not survive.

At 11:17, i got the phone call that comes just about every Saturday that i work, "Are you done yet and how long before you will be here?" Well, I had only been at work since 9:30 and Carly came over at 9:45 so i was concerned that he was already calling. To my surprise it was not the number one question but the number two..."Will you bring lunch... soon." that he was calling about.

When i got home, with lunch at 11:40, Brandon was relieved of his babysitting duties. He informed me that he had already cleaned Brynn's room 2 times because a category 5 tornado/hurricane had come through, and by the looks of things possibly a 3rd. It was fine, i was just excited to see smiles on everyones face including his. i am very lucky to have such a great husband!!

Brynn's Christmas Party!!

Brynn had her Christmas party on Wednesday and she was very excited. Me on the other hand no so much. i tend to over do it at times and sign on for a little more than i can handle. this would be one of those times. This has been a very hectic week at work and at home, but i still think i can be Super Mom. We made chocolate covered candy canes as gifts for all her little friends. Brynn helped which was very interesting since i like things to be perfect. i made reindeer cookies, that turned out to be a lot more work than i had anticipated. The end result was worth the trouble.

i had to get a gift for the gift exchange last minute because the gift i orginally bought, is lost... no where to be found. Barbie came to the rescue which was ironic because Brynn's gift from Livi was also Barbie. All in all the party was fun and the kids loved the cookies.

Another Busy Weekend. . .

Once again our weekend has flown by. I think we try to cram as many things in as possible. This weekend was filled with a variety of good events. On Saturday after work, we traveled to Laurens to visit Brandon's great grandmother, Granny Ruby. She is in her early 90's. She is so nice and full of lots of stories. She usually has this room mate that yells at Brynn -- "Come to me. Come to me." She does this over and over the entire time we are there. But she wasn't there this time so it was quiet and we could really enjoy our time with Granny Ruby.

Brandon, Granny Ruby, Addie, Me, Brynn

Sunday was jammed pack at church. Both our families were there and our friends, Patrick and Ali, from Lexington, because i was BAPTIZED!! i was very nervous because i do not like to be in front of a lot of people, but i over came. In Sunday school we have Focus on the Family, well of course this Sunday was our turn. It was fun to look through old pictures, but hard to choose just a few. We had our Christmas drama/musical Sunday afternoon, which was not the typiacl Christmas program, but it was good.

Parade. . .

We went to the Spartanburg Christmas Parade last night. The weather has been completly out of the ordinary, in the 70's last night. That is just crazy for the middle of December. Brandon's parents went with us, which made Brynn very happy. She loves her Mimi and Papa very much. Little Addie did not attend this year. We thought she would not enjoy all the loud noise.

Brynn had so much fun. We were standing beside one of her friends from school last year, Allen, who just happen to have a cool lighted sword. Well of course we have to have one too. 7 dollars later we are the proud new owner of a red lighted sword, thanks Papa.

She liked hearing all the bands, catching the candy, that by the way we did not eat, the hot air balloon flame, and of couse SANTA CLAUSE!! Hopefully, the weather will be good next year because this will be one of our new traditions.

Overall the night went will. That is until we got home and Brynn said she was cold, which I thought was odd. I saw that she had goosebumps and decided to take up temperture---102.6. Not good. I gave her some Motrin and this morning she is feeling better.

Typical Monday. . .

Well, this is my first post and i hope i will keep this up. Today is Monday so i am off work. Brandon is working. Normally Brynn goes to school until noon, and i get my running around done. Once i pick her up we come home and i do the house work. Today i did the typical running before i picked Brynn up, but i've been a little slack on the house work. Instead the girls, Addie Grace and Brynn, and i have been having lots of fun. Addie Grace who is 3 months now has been sleeping most of the day. Brynn and i have been having the most fun. We have been playing with elephants, one of her favorite animals. We talked to the post man, who is very nice. She got a new book in the mail , My Lucky Day. We have read it ten times already. Brynn who doesn't always like for me to do her hair was in a good mood today and wanted me to give her "octopus" hair. Yes, i said octopus. For those of you who have no idea what this is, let me inform you. You have to put your hair up in 8, yes, 8 pony tails. This looks very crazy and we do NOT leave the house, but she likes it and thinks it is fun, so we do it. As much as i hate to, i think the house work is calling my name. Until next time God bless.