A Baker Christmas

One of my favorite things about the holidays, or any special event for that matter, is my mother's baking. She can bake a mean apple pie that is unmatched. The crust is delish and when you top it with a scoop of vanilla BlueBell it's to die for. My sister is a pumpkin pie gal so it's always a near fist fight on whose pie is going to be made for the occasion. Of course, my mom, who's as sweet as pie anyway, always makes them both so that both of our hearts (and bellies!) are happy on the holiday!

After a big lupper (that's lunch and supper), we headed in to do the gift exchanging. Rhett was opening his and had no clue what it might be. I cracked up that I caught his crazy expression. He's full of them. (By the way, it's a vintage looking batman puzzle...right up his alley).
Laniebugs got a protector for the icky grocery cart. That's an awesome invention. Now I can stop making her ride in that bubble.

This was one of the silliest presents of the whole day:
I knew Elaina would spend much of her time eating wrapping paper. I'm pretty sure I fished most of it out of her mouth but the tissue paper dissolves so quickly when faced with a stream of slobber. I'm pretty sure her diapers will be quite colorful tomorrow. Ewww.
Tracie found her the cutest (and SO true) little onesie and hat set. Can you read it?
It says " I was worth the wait." Sho nuf she was!
We got Jared a Nike+ for his ipod and boy was he thrilled!!
Tracie mentioned she'd like a towel thingy to wear when she got out of the shower so I had one specially made just for her! I thought it turned out super cute!

One of my gifts was a gift card to Academy Sports. I should be sporting some new workout gear when the new year rolls in!
Tracie and I went in together to get my mom a Pandora bracelet. It has beautiful charms that you can add to it which will be great gifts for birthdays, Mother's Day, and whatever other day that she usually asks for garden gloves for.
My lovely mom and dad:
The boys ripped into all their gifts so quickly that it made me thankful for the rule we used to have at my grandparents: one gift opened at a time. That way you can see what everyone received.
Tracie was muy excited about giving Lanie the other gift she got her.
It was seriously a real, working telephone with little pink polka dots just like her room!
"Hello? George W.? Yes. I just wanted to let you know that two family members received your book Decision Points and we totally think you look like our Papaw. Bubye." Next step, teaching Lanie to actually be able to talk so that she can one day use this phone.
Tracie was in the phone giving mood because not only did Elaina get one, she and Jared got my dad one as well! "Hello? George W.? Yes. Yes. That's correct. Two people got your book Decision Points. Crazy, huh?" I'm just kidding. No one really called George. My dad did, however, call my mom from the garage and totally confused her momentarily. Ah, the joys of the first cell phone.
My sis and me:
The newly engaged Jdubs and T.
Bobby doing a stretching pose after being sedentary for quite some time.
The gals of the family:
The crazies in our extreme "sayiwont" gear. Jared's friend from highschool started a business selling this slogan clothing and it has really taken off. We all got a piece of the "sayiwont" clothing and thought it appropriate that we sport it for a picture.
And besides, one of my best friends Joe wears it and he's hanging with Ashley who knows Rob Pattinson. It doesn't get much cooler than that.

One Christmas celebration down, two to go. This time of year rocks!

First Christmas

I'm not even exaggerating when I say that buying sippy cups and teething toys to put in Elaina's stocking got me choked up. I can't believe that she's finally here.....prayers answered. I'm not sure when it's going to wear off. I hope it never does because it sure is great to have a constant reminder of God's goodness.

I came across this little outfit just last week and knew right away that Lanie needed

this number. I mean, she didn't have any outfits with a santa head. Well, that's a lie. She has one....but it wasn't a pant set. It was a dress and that's completely different. Needless to say, since Christmas is next week, she's going to be wearing this pretty much every day so don't be surprised. I need to get my money's worth!

I sat her down in front of the tree and told her about the reason for Christmas celebration which is Jesus' birthday. She agreed. She knew about it from baby Sunday School. The big shocker came when I told her about Santa and that she'd be getting a present:
She could hardly believe her ears. I hope she gets all she's wishing for!!

Snow! Again?

In a rare turn of events we had some December snow! It's kind of odd for us to have so much snow in one calender year. If you remember, we had the Blizzard of 2010 in January of this year so I thought we had met our white stuff quota. Guess not. Little Tee-Tiny was just THRILLED to sit outside for 5 seconds in her baby bunting.

After a stiff breeze got her cheeks she did let one grin slip out.
Then she tried to make a snow angel. Silly girl.
Given that the temperature was negative one or something absurd she didn't get to sled with her brothers. Maybe next time. As for now this was a good introduction to the precipitation that makes Snowbird famous and the boys squeal with delight. Lanie was the only one captured on film for this snow day. If you want to see what the rest of us look like playing in the snow you can check out the last snow day blog and then picture us in only slightly different redneck getups and with a bit less snow. The mental picture alone should suffice!

Extremely Corny

Bobby and I failed to plan our annual Halloween party. So, in lieu of that yearly shindig we decided to host a Corny Christmas bash! It turned out to be quite hysterical and Goodwill met their December sales quota from our party invitation list alone. Did you know that that place has clothes from every decade imaginable? I scored Bobby a happenin' jean shirt ("jean shirt" alone is quite tacky) with some great memaw embroidered cats (yes, cats) and wreaths. It was atrocious. Paired with his red polyester pants and red sequin tie, his outfit was a go. And, should he for any reason, need to quit his day job and become a Christmas stripper, he'll already have that great tie. As one of my friends stated, I looked like a mom straight out of a 1982 PTA meeting. Shoulder pads and stirrup pants. Doesn't get much tackier than that.

The Joneses in their corny attire:
The Sellers: Between Samantha's caked on eye make-up, and Wes's womans turtle neck, I could hardly contain my laughter.
The Lays and Brad's Cousin Eddie outfit that left nothing to the imagination. "Pooooor Ashley"! :)
Mama Ashlee and her sweet husband
Pulling out all the stops with handmade bottoms, it's the Harrells. Crafty Kelly whipped out some seriously festive attire and Michael added his touch with oddly placed mistletoe. Hmmm.
Jon stylized according to Elf and Tonya accessorized with a holiday purse. Nothin' like your granny's purse to spiff up for Christmas.
Ashman pulled off Cousin Eddie flawlessly and A'lyce dug in the closet to resurrect a bridesmaid dress that she actually sported and loved back in the day... or she's wearing a curtain. I'm not sure which.
For a little friendly competition Bobby and I planned out several Minute to Win It games. The 20 pencil toss was one that was getting everyone.
Skillz.


Samantha tried to tackle the can stacking but after 3 dented cans we decided to nix this game for the final round.
If Wes cracked me up once, he cracked me up a thousand times. His Sansabelt pants proved to have quite a bit of flexibility when it came to the Buckethead game. You need to be able to move to catch that ping pong ball!
Noodling Around. Jon was a smooth pro. Most everyone conquered this one.


Some of the tackiest gals I know:
Bobby donned the pantyhose head to defeat the Elephant March game.
I don't think wearing pantyhose is anything new to Brad.
Or Brent.
Crackup moment number 452....After seeing Wes in a woman's turtleneck, Mardi Gras beads, and a backwards wig I could hardly contain myself. He said this is going to be his picture should he ever become a best selling author. If that happens, judging by the picture, I feel like his name should be Freida Mashburn. I don't know why.....I also don't know why looking at this picture makes me so happy. But it does.
Some corniness:




The Lays were the couples' competition winners. Brad is a pretty mean balloon juggler.
One last look at all the party goin' gals:
And, just for the record, most of the clothes in the next picture came from the SAME woman's closet. What a sport to let us borrow her winter wear!
Party goin' guys:
The Cousin Eddies
And the whole gang!
Thousands of laughs, friendly competition, crazy outfits, and time with great friends. Can't wait until the next one!

It's Coming!

Christmas is right around the corner and I'm SUPER excited about it! I started working the day after Thanksgiving and got most of my decorations up. I have yet to get my ever-growing snow globe collection out. I do truly love it but I don't love all the styrofoamy thingamabobs that encase them in all of their boxes. It's messy. And it feels weird. Something tells me I'll do it tomorrow despite my angst regarding all the foam.

I did get the tree up and it makes me smile.

The thing that makes me smile the most, however is this:
Way back in 2008, a year and some change into our adoption process I was wishing the next year would bring the extra stocking. Much to my disappointment it didn't come by Christmas that year.....oh, but THIS year, THIS one, my mantle is proudly displaying a stocking pink and frilly with a ballerina (even though my girl is going to be a soccer player :) )
This year I'll be most happy to watch Tee-Tiny (who's not so tee-tiny any more!) eat the wrapping paper from her presents and slobber all over her new smocked Christmas dress 'cause, frankly, it doesn't get much better than that!
So, I was lying in the floor snapping some pics of 'Ol Christmas tree admiring the bokeh from my 50mm lens when I noticed something. Do you see me?
Look closely. I'm in that gold ball! After I downloaded them I noticed I could see me in there! I'm glad it's slightly distorted. Me in sweaty work out clothes with greasy hair isn't exactly the image I want saved into infinity in my blog scrapbook.
Although, if you work at Publix then that's the only way you know me. It's a good thing those people are taught to love unashamedly and without prejudice . Greasy and sweaty or not, that old man is pushing my cart and calling me sweetie. Gotta love that! 22 days to go!