Christmas Traditions

This year we decided to do a lot of different Christmas Traditions and some of the same one's we did last year. We put the Christmas Tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and Lilliana was such a big helper. She loved each and every ornament we pulled out of the box and was so excited to "help Momma." We also started a new tradition with The Elf on the Shelf. It turned out to be one of my favorite things we did because Lilliana got so into it. She named her elf Dobey, and she would look for him every morning when she got up. She was so hilarious calling his name and looking all over the house for him. Sometimes, when he was up in a high place like on top of the window sill or something like that she would tell him, "be careful Dobey, don't bump your head!" She really liked him and was so sad to see him go on Christmas Eve. I know that is a new tradition that will just become more fun in the years to come because she will be able to understand things better and become even more excited.

On Monday night the 14th we had our traditional dinner with the Mefford's and allowed the kids to play. We enjoyed Amanda's wonderful Chili and yummy garlic bread along with some Christmas cupcakes that Lilliana and I made together.


Dorothy, Wilson and Lilliana under the Christmas tree. Lilliana loves her Wilson Bobby and they play so well together!


We also went to Zoo Lights at the Memphis Zoo, which was again such a great time. It was all I could do to get Lilliana away from the front entrance where there was "snow" falling. She was running around, and trying to catch it on her nose and tongue. So precious. She loved all the lights and she got her first chance to meet Santa while we were there. She did so good. I thought she would freeze up and not talk or possibly start to cry but she loved him. She told him she wanted M & M's and Dora for Christmas. (On that note, she wasn't receiving anything Dora related for Christmas because she doesn't even watch that show but her Poppy came to the rescue later that evening when he came across a life size Dora doll just waiting to be bought by him!!)


Gigi, Lilliana and Nana all bundled up waiting for the "Polar Express" at Zoo Lights!


trying to catch the snowflakes at the Zoo entrance!


Mommy and Lilliana in front of one of the exhibits that was sponsored by the high-risk OB that followed me when I was pregnant with Lilliana. Such an awesome man and he has such a special place in my heart :)


Lilliana and Uncle Eric after seeing Santa for the first time, she was greatly enjoying her M & M's from Santa!!

Another new thing we did was going over to The Phelp's house to make Salt Dough ornaments. Lilliana and Becca had so much fun playing with each other and working so hard on their ornaments. Becca choose pink food coloring and Lilliana choose purple so they were able to use only half of their dough and share the other half to have different colored ornaments. They had so much fun and played really well together while Rachel and I had a chance to catch up ourselves. :)


the girls waiting on their dough that Rachel and I were making


Lilliana working diligently on her ornaments


my precious little love :)

We also went over to the Whitsell's house to make Gingerbread Houses with Clark. It was really hard for me to to try and do everything for Lilliana and make her house like I wanted but to see her excitement made it all worth while. I think she ate more candy then was placed on her house but she never gets to do that at home so I tried to just let her enjoy herself!


Clark getting ready to decorate his gingerbread house


Lilliana ready to decorate her gingerbread house


the kids working diligently on their houses, and enjoying the candy along the way


Clark working on his gingerbread house

Christmas started early on Sunday night the 20th with a get together at Clay's parents house. This is the first time in about 5 years that we have gotten together with Clay's Dad's side of the family. They are from all over Tennessee and it was so nice to see them again. Many of them haven't ever met Lilliana so it was nice for her to be able to meet all of her great Aunts and Uncles. She was such a little show-off and was singing songs and talking non-stop!


An early gift that Clay and I allowed Lilliana to open on Wednesday afternoon


she loved it and became a real pro at gift opening over her birthday weekend!

For Christmas Eve, we headed to Clay's parents house where my mom joined us and we had bar-b-que and opened gifts. It was just a nice time to spend with close family and not have to worry about cooking a big meal and getting things prepared. When Clay and I got home with Lilliana we quickly got her to bed and started preparing and putting together her new toys from Santa. It was so much fun to just spend time together and look forward to her excitement the following morning. When Lilliana woke up around 7:30 am, we headed into the living room to see what Santa had brought her. I don't think she really understood at first and was more concerned with where Dobey went! She loved her cozy coupe though and it was all I could do to tear her away from it so we could head to my Aunt's for Christmas lunch. She kept asking if she could "play a little more." After Christmas with my family we headed to Clay's parents again for their extended family Christmas. Lilliana finally caved around 4:00 and settled in for a short afternoon nap. She was more than spent and was about at her breaking point. I think she showed a side of herself that people other than Clay and I rarely see! After her nap she was a new woman though and woke up ready for more fun. It was such a great Christmas and we are so blessed to have family close by and so easy to work with trying to get equal time in.


Lilliana extremely happy about her new Minnie Mouse panties from Gigi and Poppy


sharing her peppermint stick with Dora


helping Momma bake cookies for Santa


gifts under our tree on Christmas Eve


Lilliana making tea with her new tea cart


opening her new Princess tent


driving her new "car" from Santa


trying to fit in her baby doll bed from Nana


Lane, Lilliana and Mimi


Christy, Hal, Nana and Lilliana

Christmas Advent

I decided to do some little Advent bags for Lilliana this year, and she really enjoyed them. She opened one bag each morning and they had little gifts in them such as; a pair of panties, bath toys from The Disney Store, and a lot of things from the $1.00 bins at Target. She really looked forward to doing this each morning and the hardest thing was keeping her from opening more than 1 at once!!

2 year stats

After our 2 year check-up today, Lilliana is weighing in at a whopping 20 pounds 6 ounces, and she is 30 inches tall. Dr. K was very impressed with her speech and the fact that she is potty trained. She is doing so well going and actually had to make a pit stop while we were in the office. She was showing off all her skills, singing her ABC's and telling Dr. K that he had an "elfant" (elephant) around his stethoscope and she proceeded to tell him the noise they make and that they flap their ears. She is such a little stinker and didn't stop talking the entire time we were there! Unfortunately she did have to get her last Hepatitis and her MMR shot. She was NOT a fan of either and cried out for me so loud it just broke my heart. She was a little better when her nurse brought in some stickers for her and then we made a little trip to Panera for a yummy chocolate chip muffie top and some chocolate milk. I still can't believe she is 2 already, she just brings more joy to my life than I ever thought possible.

Christmas is coming ...

and we have been so busy there hasn't been any extra time for blogging but, hopefully soon! :)

TN Baptist Children's Home

Tonight Lilliana and I headed to the TN Baptist Children's Home with our small group for a Christmas party for one of the families that live there. It was so special and a great time to show Lilliana the real meaning of Christmas. This is such a special ministry that is right around the corner from where Clay and I live. I really feel that it is never too early to start sharing the true meaning of Christmas and teach Lilliana the way we should celebrate this time of year. I know things are going to be more difficult in the years to come but I also realize that if it is a tradition we start in the beginning, hopefully it will become second nature to her and she won't realize other kids do things differently. I want to show Lilliana that Jesus is the reason for the season and that through helping others we can show Jesus' love to other's.


It was so rewarding to see the kids faces tonight when they opened their gifts from the class. They received gift certificates to eat dinner out and one to their favorite store along with a duffel bag to help them carry when they go home to their parents. We enjoyed Chick-fil-a with the kids and played games and had craft time. They made some great book marks with their favorite bible verses on them and some other fun things. I am so thankful for a wonderful small group to do things like this with.



getting things set up for the party


this is where the kids stayed most of the time, not sure what was so interesting about this goal!


the "family" we supported


Lilliana running with one of the balloons while we were cleaning up :)

Lilliana's School Christmas Party

This morning after dropping off Lilliana at school, I ran a couple errands and then headed back over to her school for their Christmas Party. I was somewhat disappointed that she wasn't going to be performing in their school program but next year she will be able to. This year they decided to keep her grade in their classrooms and have a party with the parents. I was really excited to be able to see her in that element and with new friends that I haven't met before.

Of course, as soon as I got there, she was really clingy and was crying for me to "hold me Momma". I was worried that it would make her upset when I had to leave again but she ended up settling out and was just fine after about 30 minutes. It was fun to watch her participate in "circle-time", and to see her interacting with her little friends. They had a fun little lunch that the parent's provided and I had signed up to bring chips and a desert. The night before we had made these fun little snowman cookies and wrapped them up individually to send home with her classmates. Lilliana LOVES to help Momma bake and although these were no bake cookies we enjoyed decorating them together. I wish I had some pics of ours but I was so tired after staying up packing them and getting everything ready for the following day that it completely slipped my mind.



I also made some Cinnamon-Honey Butter for her teachers as gifts. I got the recipe from here, and I think it turned out wonderfully. They were so appreciative and I even enjoyed a jar for myself on some yummy toast!




Lilliana's little cubbie with her backpack and sweater :)


My little love enjoying Momma at school with her


enjoying her lunch with her little friends

Already 2!

Today my sweet little love turned 2! I still can't believe it and how quickly the last 2 years have flown by. It has been the best 2 years of my life and I look forward to making so many memories with my little love. This month brought about many changes. Most of them good and exciting things for Lilliana. We transitioned her to a big girl bed, and she loves to sleep in it and be able to climb in and out. She looks so little in it but is sleeping really well and thinks she is such big girl doing so. She also is wearing panties almost full-time now besides nap and bedtime when we wear pull-ups. She is doing so well with her potty training, she just loves to climb on her little stool and do "by myself". She is such an independent little stinker, and I just love that about her.

She loves doing crafts with Momma, and will sit still really well for about 20-30 minutes in order to complete something. Her imagination is outrageous and I just love to listen to her playing "Momma" to all of her dolls and singing them to sleep. She loves to play with Maggie and pretend she is a real sister. I guess one day we will have to give her a real one because as of now, she call's for Maggie to play with her. She is so funny and cracks Clay and I up constantly. She loves to read books and when it's bedtime she always asks me to "rock a minute Momma", then she wants me to "lay-down" with her in her big girl bed and rub her little back.

She is doing much better, with the aid of turning her Jammie's backwards, on the poopy troubles we'd been having. I am not sure I want to give her the opportunity for a while so we will just go with the footed jammies on backwards for now. She knows she's not supposed to get out of her bed until I come and get her in the morning so a lot of times, she will just be sitting there, reading a book or playing with her dolls.

She still loves Minnie Mouse and Sesame Street, but has taken a new love to Little Einsteins. She loves to pat, pat, pat and say "blast off" in the sweetest little voice. She knows all the words to Jesus Loves Me and will sing along at bedtime. She also can about recite her ABC's with a couple of errors here and there but she has it down for the most part. She also can count to 10, sometimes further with assistance and knows most of her colors when asked.

Our bedtime routine consists of bath time, going potty and getting on jammies, reading books in her big girl bed together, then "rocking a minute" as Lilliana puts it. She still loves to rock with her Momma so were not ready to take the chair out of her room yet. We sing, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with multiple stanzas including, Minnie and Mickey, Dora and Diego, Maggie Abigail (our yorkie) and most of her friends and family members. She is such a sweetheart and is always thinking of others. Then I will typically get in the bed with her and "lay down a minute" before sending her off to dream land. She NEVER stops talking, and is always on the go. She is such a sweet spirited little girl and I feel so blessed to have her.

We can't wait for Christmas this year as the excitement through her eyes are almost more than I can stand. She is so excited about Jesus' Birthday and I can't be more proud to teach her the real reason for the season.

I love you my little princess and can't wait to see what the next years hold!

Love,
Momma

Happy 2nd Birthday Lilliana!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

(just know you are the only little love that could ever get your Daddy to wear a pink feather boa around his neck!)

A Momentous Day ...

Last Thursday night was the first time Lilliana slept in Bobby's her big girl bed. We did actually borrow it from the Mefford's so it is Wilson's old bed and so that is what Lilliana demands we call it. We are hoping that this will help fix the current problem we are having that I blogged about here. I guess only time will tell!

Polar Express

The night before the St. Jude Marathon, Clay took Lilliana and I out so I could carb load at Coletta's and then we headed to Barnes and Noble for the Polar Express story time. It was so much fun and we saw so many of our friends there. The kids were to come dressed in their Christmas jammies and they were going to read Polar Express and have a craft for the kids. But, it was oh so much more. The conductor was there when we arrived and she passed out tickets to all the the kids in attendance and they had to present their tickets upon arrival of the train. Then, at the point in the book where the kids start drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies, some servers came around and passed out hot chocolate and cookies to all the kids in attendance. Afterwards, they had bells, coloring pages with crayons, letters for Santa, tattoos, and so much more to pass out. Lilliana had such a fabulous time and I hope this is a new tradition we an continue. There was a great turn out and the conductor was really nice allowing the kids to pose with her for pics after the story was read. I was so impressed how all the kids sat so still for such a long story but I think it was all the little extras that really helped.

Ready or Not!

Tomorrow is the St. Jude Half-Marathon that I am running in. All the training and hard work have finally come to a close and will hopefully pay off. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Unfortunately it is going to be a cool 26 degrees when we take off in the morning which is huge considering the majority of the time I have been running was in 40-50 degree weather! Let's hope I don't allow that to slow me down, but instead allow it to motivate me and speed me up to make it to warmth!

My clothes are washed and laid out, my i-pod is charging and my Nike sport band is synched and ready for the distance. Clay and Lilliana are supposed to meet me at the end but we will just have to see how the weather cooperates. I don't want them out in this cold, unless it miraculously warms up by late morning. I have been carb loading all day and plan to eat some yummy pasta tonight. Not sure what I should eat in the morning but considering I am picking up my friend Sonya at 6:30 I won't have much time to load in the morning.

13.1 HERE I COME!!!!

Storytime and Ballerina's

Today Lilliana and I headed over to Davis Kidd for our typical Thursday outing to storytime. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find some of the ballerina's from the upcoming Nutcracker were there to read us a story on ballet and do some dancing for the kids. Lilliana was such a show-off and was the only one to get out there and twirl around a bit and then posed for pictures with them afterwards. It was so much fun and made me excited for the girly years to come filled with dance classes and ballet recitals!!