Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas! We had a great (and exhausting!) day over here. The festivities started last night with the family all getting together and going for our traditonal Christmas Eve meal at...McDonald's...yummy!! It's a wonderful tradition that we have been doing for years. We will never get rid of this tradition if I have anything to say about it:) After the meal we let the kids open a few gifts and put them to bed. Here are a few Christmas Eve pictures:

Our attempt at a family picture...

Andy and Alley reading a Christmas story, Silent Night

I think we've got a tired little girl on our hands

Alley opening a present from Aunt Pat and Uncle steve on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day was a lot different then in years past. First, we have more kids and several different schedules. Second, part of the family wasn't here to celebrate with us in person. We managed to have an enjoyable but extremely busy day. To tell you the truth, it was a blurr of wrapping paper and hyper babies. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning.

Alley coming out to see what "Santa" had brought her

Just a picture to show you the pure chaos (but fun!)

Just a cute face...I think:)

Alley showing how tiring the day actually was...she walked over the Andy and laid her head down on his back for the longest time...What a wonderful day it has been, tiring, but wonderful:)

Mimi and Papa's house

This Christmas season has been such a busy time for us that it's even hard for me to catch my breath! We came to Richmond earlier then planned, due to a funeral and I had an important doctor's appointment. Since our arrival we have had family gatherings and Christmas preparations every second of the day. It's been late at night when my head has finally hit the pillow and way too early in the morning when I rise (thanks to an over-excited Alley!). Here are only a few pictures from Mimi's camera (mine is still broken - go figure!).

Alley lounging with Uncle John and trying to play with Kit-Kat

Papa attached Alley's musical keys to her belt buckle and she spent several minutes circling around trying to get them - silly Papa!!

Peek-A-Boo:)

Cousin Carlee Scott showing Alley how to play with dress up dolls.

A blurry picture, but here is Alley in her Christmas sweater:)

"See you later...."

It's not a "good-bye"...it's a see you later and Godspeed. Last night my older brother, Will, left for Iraq for a possible 16 month deployment. This is the second time he has been deployed, but the first time to deploy after having his 2 kids. He leaves behind in Texas a wonderful wife, Jessica, and two adorable kids, Carlee Scott and Owen (and a third one due in July!!!). He has answered his calling and has become an army chaplain and is now serving our heroes overseas. Please keep them all in your prayers as they adjust to the huge changes and try to find some sort of normalcy to their lives. We love them dearly and pray that God uses them where they are and that he meets them where they are emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Aren't they a beautiful family?!!!
May God bless them tremendously as they listen to His guidance and turn to Him for strength.

Tubes

Alley finally got her tubes put in today! It was a success:) She was the first surgery of the day and man was it quick. She had tubes put in both ears, blood drawn for allergy testing and received two stitches in her gum after they had to separate her upper lip from her gum. When we got her home to Mimi and Papa's house we assumed she wanted to take a nap, oh not so...all she wanted was to eat!! I was very concerned because they say to wait three hours afterwards to feed them! Well, we finally gave in and she ate a whole banana and a scrambled egg. Then she fell asleep:) She took a good nap (and Mimi and I went to do some retail therapy for Alley while she slept!) and then after she woke up we drove back home. Here's a picture of our pitiful little thing:

Just my luck...

...my camera would break! It's a fairly new camera (Andy got it for me for Mother's day before Alley was born) so I didn't except it to fall apart so soon. It's been messing with me for a couple of days and then on Thanksgiving it completely died - go figure! It is now official...we're camera-less!

On another note, please keep Alley (heck, all three of us!) in your prayers. Alley is suppose to be getting tubes in her ears this Friday (she's had more ear infections then most people her age). She had an ear infection (which prompted the tubes) the week before Thanksgiving and then over Thanksgiving she seemed to get worse. We took her to Patients First and they determined (after taking all the blood in her body!) she had a bacteria infection. She was put on antibiotics and sent home with hopes that we'd all finally have a good nights sleep. Oh not so - she seemed to get worse, even on the medicine. To make a long story short, we took her to her pediatrician today and found out she has tonsillitis and has broken out into a rash! She is miserable - so much for a good nights rest...I hear her crying now...she has awoken...again....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great time with family today. We traveled to Richmond to spend TG with my family - it was great getting to catch up with my cousins and aunt and uncle! Alley did a fabulous job and even took an extra long afternoon nap! YEAH!! On another note, my camera flipped out on me and wouldn't work at all today! Go figure:( So mom was gracious enough to send me some of her pictures. Here's our day!Andy and mini-Andy playing

Alley in her cute TG dress trying to get food on the table...sneaky sneaky...

The family

The extended family!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby dolls...

Alley got her very first baby doll today from Geemaw (actually two)! She was very intrigued by them and tasted every inch of each doll. I guess they passed the taste test;)

holding one by her binky and the other by her hair bow...not such a great mommy yet;)

checking out the dolls binky

trying out the dolls binky - which one is better?!

putting the dolls to bed on Geemaw

Going night-night on daddy

Geemaw is here!

Andy's mom and Jim arrived today from Arkansas! They haven't seen Alley since she was 4 months old, so we were so excited for this visit:) Alley has hit a stage where she is freaked out by anyone new or anyone she doesn't interact with frequently, so Sally had to take it slow...Here is the progression which took the entire afternoon! :)

Who's that?!

Getting closer...

a tad closer...but playing shy in daddy's lap...

Oh! She's got food!! My new best friend:)

Totally friends now:)

Uh-oh

This is Alley's favorite past time...poor cat!

Birthday Girl

Today was Alley's first Sunday as a 1 year old...and to celebrate that, Alley wore a smocked dress that her cousin (Carlee Scott) wore on her first birthday! Doesn't she look cute:) Thanks for sharing Texas Alley's!! Football season is officially over for Andy - it brings sadness because the season ended on a bad game, but happiness because we have moved on to an indoor sport (basketball)! No more heavy jackets and rainy games:) We are looking forward to a week of family time before Andy officially takes over his next sport...yeah for having him home;) We are also excited because Andy's mom is coming to visit this next weekend! We can't wait to see Gema:)

Alley is 1!!

Last night we celebrated Alley's First Birthday! We had a low-key celebration with family and a few friends. We ordered pizza and had a very cute Rubber Ducky cake:) We had a little bit of a struggle with our very independent (yet clingy) 1 year old though. I guess it's not really the best idea to have a party so close to bedtime;) Anyway, we had lots of fun and enjoy having our family and friends there. Here are some pictures:

Alley showing off her new ride-on toy...she loved all the noisy buttons:)

Mimi and Alley trying out the new bean bag chair...sooo comfortable:)The adorable ducky cake I made! :)
She looks so excited about the cake, doesn't she....

Ok, not so excited anymore! Maybe it has something to do with the fact we are trying to get her to eat the head of the duck...yikes! She refused to eat the cake!

Are these for me??!!

oooo...what's that?!

A ducky, my favorite!

On another note...this morning I took Alley to her 12 month appointment and we got some interesting news...she has a chronic ear infection and has to go see an ENT (I was worried about that!) so she's now on medicine, again. This poor child thinks medicine is a normal part of her every day diet! On top of that, the doctor said she was a little concerned about the fact that Alley's upper lip covered her whole upper gum, so they are sending Alley to the ENT for that as well...goodness gracious! Happy Birthday!!;) The goodness is that she's growing wonderfully and is in about the 80th percentile in height and weight...yeah! So all is beginning to get better here in the McPherson household:)
I'll keep you all updated about the ENT appointment...

A weekend with the family...

This weekend Alley and I went to Mimi and Papa's house. The Texas Alley's were coming in and we couldn't miss on occasion to hang out! Andy wasn't able to show up until early Sunday morning. He came all the way in from Alabama (through the night) and then drove straight to Richmond to be there in time for church. Will (my older brother) was preaching at my dad's church in honor for Veteran's day. Will is an army chaplain who is being deployed to Iraq the week before Christmas. This would be the last time we'd get to see him before he left, so we made it a point to be there! We had a great time with the family and were so grateful that we got to be there for such a special occasion. Here are some pictures:

Alley and Owen playing "together"

The birthday girl wearing the birthday glasses (what a fun tradition!)

ok, the book is called Pat the Bunny, not Pat Owen! She seemed to really enjoy patting Owen:)

A family shot (man was it a struggle!!)

Here she is laughing at Uncle John and Papa...I thought it looked funny - check out her two teeth!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! This year was our first Halloween and it was interesting...Where we live, the town closes down Main Street between 4pm and 5pm and all the businesses come outside on the sidewalk and give out candy. This was the first time we had done this...goodness gracious it was wild! I didn't know that many people lived in Farmville!! We were a tad overwhelmed, so we decided to just let Alley walk around and not even worry about the candy...she loved it! We cut out early and came back to the house to get ready for all the trick-or-treaters (and eat dinner, bath and get ready for bed). Around 6pm people started to show up at the door, so Alley and I sat out on the front steps and handed out candy. She loved it! We had a great time looking at all the costumes and even were serenaded by a group (singing the ABC song - which Alley proceeded to sway back and forth to!). Our candy was gone in minutes, so we called it a night soon after. Here are some pictures and a video of the evening:

Momma and her little pumpkin waiting for the trick-or-treaters

playing shy while we talked to some friends

Alley and Daddy walking Main St. while everyone else trick-or-treats

Our little pumpkin

Here is Alley walking Main Street with her candy bag...too cute:)

Fall is in the air...

Not that it hasn't been chilly in the past weeks, but today felt like fall. There is a chill in the air, the trees have been changing colors and just look glorious, and my hands are blistered from raking leaves. Plus, Alley looked festive in a dress that had fall leaves all over it. So adorable! This dress Alley has on is a dress that was made for Carlee Scott (my brother's daughter) by Jessica's (my sister-in-law) mom (Candi). Thanks to all for letting Alley borrow it! It's a gorgeous dress Candi - you have an incredible talent!!Alley checking out the cat - who just wants to get out and away from her!

Walking in her new dress with her new church shoes:)

Checking out the leaves on the ground and on her dress:)

She wasn't into getting her picture taken, she wanted the camera

Hope your weekend was enjoyable!