Portraits

Today the cousins had their portraits taken at a nearby studio in Richmond. After a fun filled morning of cake and excitement (we celebrated Owen's first birthday this morning!! Happy birthday love!!), we all tried to take naps before the late afternoon photos. Mom was gracious enough to stay after the photo shoot to order the pictures, and here are the ones we selected! Sorry for the fuzzy pictures - the scanner is to blame:)Does anyone else out there think this is Andy in a dress??????

Increbily precious!!!! Look at how lovingly CS is holding Alley - and no one asked her to do it!

The cousin-twins...love it!! What's in the air???

All three together with the queen bee...Aren't they adorable in their outfits...Thanks Candi for the most darling outfits!!

What a wonderful dday in Richmond! Thanks you guys for making it so memorable!

Happenings...

Life here has been rolling by fast. I can't believe my Christmas break is almost over! We've been having a lot of fun over the past week. My best friend and roommate from college flew in from Wisconsin with her boyfriend on Sunday and spent a wonderful few days here in Farm-vegas with us. We had a blast! It was wonderful reconnecting with her and meeting her special someone:) Not only have we been busy with basketball and visiting with friends, but Alley has been busy expanding her world. It's been amazing to see the changes she has been going through. We now have some meltdowns and tantrums, but we also have an emerging vocabulary and understanding/recognition of things. She is chattering NON-STOP and then when she pauses (which is rare!) she gives you a look like, "so, what do you have to say about that?". Alley is not only expanding her vocab, but she is expanding her appetite as well! This girl can eat and wants to do it all the time!! But, the biggest thing we've seen lately is that she has started doing somersaults!!! Were did that come from??!! The other day she was walking and she completely stopped and bent over on her head and flipped herself over...only to do it again after she got up...laughing the whole time!! Wow, it's hilarious:) I am so mad that my camera isn't working because that photo and video would be priceless! Andy and I roll around laughing when she does it because she looks so funny. Hopefully I'll be able to get her on camera soon for the blogging world to see. Until then, I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

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....