The Latest and Greatest

I can't believe we're only 4 days away from not only a new year... but a new decade!!  Where does the time go?

Speaking of time flying by... Taylor will be 4 weeks tomorrow!  She'll be one month on the first!  So crazy...

We've had a really fun last few days.  Sunday, Stephen and Sydney played outside in the snow.  Sydney had a ball- she came back in with her rosy nose and cheeks.  Taylor and I ventured out for a few minutes, only to acknowledge how cold it was and come back in.  I'm definitely a southern girl. ;)  Here are some pics from our adventures.

 Taylor getting ready for her first real snowfall!

 No comment about my hair ;)



We've had a fun week full of friends.  My good friend from high school, Evan, and his wife, Marissa, came over on Monday for a few hours.  I went out to California last November to go to their wedding in Calabasas.  It was beautiful!  Evan and Marissa just moved back to Atlanta, so I'm excited that I'll get to see them more often! 

On my trip to California, I went on a hike and actually hiked right past Kevin Bacon.  I said some silly comment to him, and he spoke to me as I passed him and his hiking buddy (no, not Kyra).  You can't tell from this picture that it's him, but I couldn't be too obvious and snap it walking backwards.  ;)

Anyways, speaking of Kevin Bacon, everytime I see his new commercial, I just die laughing.  Have you seen it?  It cracks me up!



OK, I've definitely gotten off track. :)  Anyways, Erica also came over Monday and spent the day with us!

Today, we got a visit from Sara!  This is my world-traveling friend who currently is in Ann Arbor, Michigan going to grad school.  It was fun to see her.  I burned some CDs from her itunes and am having a great time listening to some awesome tunes as I type this.  Currently, it's Carnival by Natalie Merchant.  Totally takes me back to 9th grade. :)

Oh, and check out this comparison of Sydney and Taylor.  They're actually in the same outfit, and are right about the same age.  What do you think?





Over the river and through the woods...

to Grandmother's house we go!

That's what we did around 11 AM... packed up and drove to Grandmom's (and D-Dad's) house.  My brother, his wife, and their little girl were staying there, as well as my aunt.  My sister and her family were going to come over after lunch. 

My mom made a great brunch when we got there, so we ate, talked, caught up, watched some parade on TV.  This was the first time my brother and his fam and my aunt got to see Taylor, so they were just eating her up. 

Aunt Jen.

Uncle Bill.

Sydney playing with D-Dad's back massager.

My sister and her fam arrived, and the gift unwrapping began!  By this point, I had realized my camera was about to die, so I didn't take too many pics. 

 The "elves" picking out presents.

Taylor was super-excited about opening presents!

 Playing with Aunt Kendall.

Chillin' with Uncle Matthew.

Goodness, we are blessed... the granddaughters all received so many nice things.  Clothes, toys, books, activities... they were all so excited and happy!  Sydney and Taylor will officially be the best-dressed girls in the town of Loganville.  They will also have lots of toys and books to occupy their time for a good while!

We decided to leave before dinner- we wanted to make it home before it got to be too dark.  What a wonderful way to end Christmas... with snow!  It was coming down pretty hard while we drove home, but thankfully we didn't come across any ice.  Mom sent us home with a bunch of food for dinner (it was delicious, thanks, Mom!) and we have been admiring the snow from our windows.  We have promised Sydney that we'll play in it tomorrow.

 Sydney playing with her new "laptop"!

The snow in our front yard!

One highlight of the day... Sydney and I were in the shower tonight, and she started singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  :-)  With all the fuss about Santa, we've tried to teach her the real reason for Christmas.  Although she's still young, I was proud that she sang to Jesus!  That's my girl!

Happy birthday, Jesus!  And Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Morning- Our House

Ahhh, Christmas day... my favorite holiday of the year!  I can't believe this day is finally here... all the hoopla that surrounds Christmas, all the music you hear and the decorations you see, all the holiday cheer.  I just love it!

We woke up this morning around 7 AM.  We made some breakfast and got ready, waiting for Sydney to wake up.  That she did around 8:30 AM or so.  We got her dressed, and told her that Santa had come and brought her presents.  Stephen filmed while we came down the stairs, and she ran over to her stocking.  This is what she saw:

 The stockings, where Santa brought his loot.  Notice the cookie, milk, and letter are gone.

The tree, with presents from friends and family!

Our extra-special present we received this year!

Sydney was so excited about her presents from Santa.

Next, we moved onto the tree:

 Stephen getting some family portraits as a gift.

 Any Dora item was a winner in Sydney's eyes.

 Sydney is officially cooler than both of her parents.  Thanks, Aunt Bobby!

These Dora bath toys were a huge hit!

Sydney's other gifts included a cell phone that helps teach important phone numbers, finger painting activities, clothes, another coat, books, and the My Baby Can Read program... we'll see if that works!  (It's worth a shot, huh?)

I got Taylor dressed up in this adorable outfit our neighbors gave her as a gift... only to have her have a complete blowout with her diaper about 5 minutes after this picture was taken.  Man!  At least I got a cute picture (and thank heavens for Shout stain remover, it all came out!)  Needless to say, we had to do an impromptu bath (I'm talking, poop was down her stockings all the way to her ankles...!!) 

The back of this shirt says, "The best gifts come in small packages"... amen!

We packed up our car and made the hour-long trek up to my parents' house to celebrate some more.  More on that next!

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas, everybody!!  I hope you all had a very wonderful day today... we sure did!

I have a lot of pictures I want to share, so I thought I'd break the blog up into Christmas Eve and Christmas day entries... that way I won't bombard you with too many pictures. :)

Christmas Eve day, we hung around the house, waited for the Comcast guy to come by and repair our box, played, etc.  Nothing too wild. 

Good morning!  Playing with all her "friends".

Wearing their cute little matching outfits from a sweet friend.



We've had an annual tradition of spending Christmas Eve with our neighbors, having a nice dinner.  This year, our neighbors extended the invitation to more kids in the neighborhood, because... Santa came for a visit!  We went over to their house around 4:30, had some yummy food and got to hang out.  Around 5:30, Santa came knocking on the door.  The kids were so surprised!  Each kid got to sit with Santa and tell him what they wanted.  Sydney, again, wasn't so sure about Santa, but I took her to him and we had a little chat.  Of course, all Sydney kept telling Santa this year was that she wants Dora shoes.  So, we told him again.  A little while later, Santa pulls out his big red bag, and had gifts for every child.  Sydney's name was called last, and she was given her gift... what do you know, it was a pair of Dora shoes!  The girl LOVED them.  Check it out:

 Santa arrives!

 Telling Santa what she wants... kind of.

Oh boy, a present!

 What could it be?

 I see Dora... it has to be good!

What do you know... Dora shoes!  Woohoo!

The best part was that the shoes light up, so Sydney has been walking around stomping her feet to make sure that they light up with every step.  :) 

After Santa left, we hung out with our friends, and the kids played together. 

All the 'hood kids.

 The hostess with the mostest.

 Sydney playing with the girls...

 ...and the boys!

 I thought this picture of Sydney pretty much summed up the night.

 Tickle-attacking Mr. John.

Sweet Taylor!

When we got home, we made sure we got things together for Santa's big visit.  This is the first year Sydney has really understood Christmas, Santa, the giving of gifts, etc.  We had made Santa a picture of a Christmas tree a couple days before and wrote a message on it.  We also left Santa one cookie (he's on a diet...) and a glass of milk by the chimney. 

 Sydney displaying her artwork.

An up-close shot.



Sydney went right to bed, and Taylor and I stayed up late watching TLC's Crazy Christmas Light Displays show.  All I can say is... wow.  We all got a good night's sleep last night and were anticipating Christmas morning.  More on that later!

And before I go, here's a little comparison of my two girls in the same outfit!  (Sydney was 3 months old, Taylor was 3 weeks old):

Ok, it's a little hard to compare... but I thought it would be fun anyways. ;)

Way-cross town...

We had an eventful weekend, heading down to Waycross, GA, where Stephen grew up.  It's a small town about 30 minutes from the Florida border, so it took us about 5 hours to get there, including stops.  Not too shabby.  The girls did awesome on the way down there.  Sydney watched her Dora DVD pretty much the whole time (thanks, Allison!!) and Taylor slept.  I mean to tell you, she didn't make a peep.  We got to see Stephen's family, and they got to meet our new addition!

Stephen's cousin got married this weekend, and Stephen was an usher in the wedding.  Our whole family ventured out to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday night.  It was quite warm down there, but really rainy. 

Here we are, post-rehearsal dinner.

The actual wedding was Saturday, but Taylor and I stayed home for it.  The doctor advised us not to get her out too much, and I didn't want her crying out in the middle of the ceremony!  So, Taylor and I had some good girl time... wait, who am I kidding?  She snoozed while I caught up with friends on the phone. 

This is what Taylor did all during all Saturday afternoon!  Don't let that pretty little peaceful face fool you... she made up for lost time between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM!

We had so much fun hanging out with Stephen's family!  Here are some picture highlights from the weekend:

 My pretty little girl!

 Posing in front of the tree.

 Uncle Randy and Taylor hanging out.

 Sydney and Aunt Bobby in a deep conversation.

 Bustin' a move!

Sweet Taylor!

We made it home Sunday late afternoon.  The ride home wasn't too bad, though we did hear from Taylor for about 10 minutes.  That was it.  Then she went back to sleep. :)  Sydney was a little more restless this time around.  But, all is well and we had a great time!