Goodbye, 2008!

It's New Years Eve and I always find myself reminiscing on the year we've had on this fun day! 2008 brought us many joys including the birth of our precious baby Rhodes and our first princess Ali turning 2! Of course, there were some not some fun times (like election day!), but we got through them and life is so much better now - you always find out that everything happens for a reason and, boy, am I glad it did! We have so much to be thankful for and I am really looking forward to our fresh start (especially now that Rhodes is at the prime age of 3 months in 2 days! yay!) in 2009! Thank you 2008 for the memories and welcome 2009! Here are our the last pictures on our camera from this fun-filled year!

The joys of being 2 and enjoying time out! :) Rhodes checking herself out in the mirror... (Don't worry - I am sitting right next to her and just moved out of the picture)

Rhodes and Mama

Trying to catch a picture of her sweet smiles - she loves to smile and I love it to see her precious little smile!

Mimi with the girly girls - all dressed in pink!

Ali playing dress up in her princess shoes after having friends over to play today! I love this picture.

Sweet smiles from our almost 3 month old!!!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

Santa came to see us and here are just some pictures of our fun Christmas day!! We are still recovering from an incredibly busy Christmas day/week/month - so I hope to have more energy to type later!! We had a very Merry Christmas and hope you all did too!!

Ali's only requests for Christmas were "a kitchen and a baby!"....and she got her wish! Thank you Santa! And lots of matching clothes for the girls!! (which makes me soooo excited!)

Ali coming in to check out her loot Christmas morning!

Testing out the microwave!

And a baby too! Yay!

Now, on to the stocking....

Rhodes hanging out, excited for her first Christmas! As you can see, I am a super cool (nerd) mom, and got the girls matching pajamas and myself some too! :) I am sure we were a sight to see, but it was oh so fun for me!!

Ali got a little pink tricycle too...

Showing daddy how to dump the stocking...which she loved to do!

Now, helping daddy open presents.....

Daddy got a new rain coat! :)

And Rockband for his Wii.....not sure what Santa was thinking with this one!!!

Daddy and baby Rhodes

Ali playing with Uncle Sig

Sweet Rhodes sleeping through the presents

A beautiful shot of Mama and her girls in matching pjs.
The little things kids pick up on - Ali went into the kitchen and got one of my potholders to get her baby (yes, her baby) out of the oven! Everything was going in that oven, but at least she knew she needed the potholder so she wouldn't burn her hand! :)

Ali getting a "turn" at Rockband

Then, on Friday, Christmas continued and we went out to Lawrenceville to see Grandmama and Granddaddy, Uncle Evan and Aunt Jill and cousins Olivia and Savannah! Ali was so excited on the way there and had so much fun! She crashed in the car on the way home - it was a full and fun week!! We finally found the camera as we were about to leave so here are the few pictures we got.

Sweet hugs from Cousin Olivia!

Giving Grandmama a big hug!

I tried to get a picture last night of the girls in their new matching jackets, but this is the best I could get. :) I am so excited about new matching clothes....it's the little things!

Merry Merry Christmas!! I hope yours was filled as much love and excitement as ours was!! I am looking forward to relaxing the next 11 months to prepare for next year! :)

Happy birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year and I could not wait to go to church and celebrate. I think that it is just the anticipation of what is to come and there is nothing in the world to me like the feeling I have during church on Christmas Eve. I feel like all is right with the world and I love it. I also love getting to share it with my family and to watch it now through the eyes of my child(ren). Ali is really into birthdays right now so she loved that it was Jesus' birthday (well, Christmas day) and kept talking about it! When we got to the church, she wanted to go see Jesus the entire time and kept saying "Happy birthday Jesus!!" - it was too cute! She was so excited to go out (in the rain) to the nativity scene at church and see baby Jesus. By the time night finally rolled around, she started to get frustrated and finally asked me "Mommy, where is he!?!?" It makes my heart happy that she is already knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday - not just about Santa Claus (although she sure is glad he came to see her too!) Here are just some pictures from our Christmas Eve day and night!



On the way to the Children's church service - Ali loved her angel halo and wings! When she saw people she knew, she would get so excited and grab her wings and say "I'm an angel!!" Daddy with baby Rhodes!

Ali, the Christmas angel sitting with Mimi and Papa at our church

Ali loved having her wand to complete the outfit.

Rhodes, our newest Christmas angel

At the altar with the other children and members of the nativity scene.... (Dr. Sam stopped me to tell us that they forgot to mention in the story that sometimes angels brought their mothers with them to see baby Jesus! Ali did not want to go by herself.) A few times, during the silent moments, Ali would turn to me and say "I want to see baby Jesus!" We are very into repeating these days!

Grandmama and Granddaddy came too!

Rhodes and Big Papa

Look who we found - Libby! Giving sweet hugs!

Ali with Granddaddy and Grandmama

After the service, we went to my parents house to see all of my side of the family to have dinner and open presents. Ali did not have a nap that day and completely crashed before the night was over - she tried so hard to stay awake but was a complete zombie by the end. Here are just a few pictures from our night.

Ali or Santa?

Opening presents and trying not to fall asleep!

I hope every one had a very Merry Christmas!! Happy birthday Jesus! :)