Clay Family Craziness!

We had a great time hanging out with the Clay family on Christmas night! There is never a dull moment when we all get together! There are four little girls that love to dance and have a good time ... and you throw sugar and presents ... WHEW! I stole some pictures off of Betty's camera, so I had quite a few to choose from ... so I decided to make a slide show out of the pictures!

We were so happy that Michael, Leanne and Eden stayed at Mom's for the weekend and we were able to spend extra time with them! Lydia and Eden had a of fun playing together. Can't wait until we can all get together again!

Christmas with the Hall Family!

After we packed and loaded the car Christmas morning, we headed over to Jeff's Memaw's house to have Christmas with the Hall family! Again, it was so good to see family that we do not get to see very often! Jeff's cousin, Scott, and his wife, Megan, were in from Alaska ... it was great to see them! Lydia LOVED playing with his other cousin, Charlie's, little girl Heidi! They had so much fun together!!

Some of the family before we played a little Dirty Santa!

She looks SO big in this picture! She loved playing with these swinging doors ... they made me a nervous wreck though! Was so scared she was going to pinch a finger or something!

Lydia spotted this present with Dora on it the second we walked in the door ... and could hardly wait to tear into it!!

Finally, she got to open it! It's a new play kitchen!

Lydia and Heidi opening their gifts! She's such a sweet little girl!

Opening her gifts ... she got some really cute toys and books!

Look at her pile! She started to get a little overwhelmed I think!

She loves her new LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy! She was SO excited when she heard Tad's voice on it! She could hardly believe it!

We feel SO blessed to have family that we can spend the holidays with ... and so many other days out of the year! God has truly blessed us!

Santa Came!!

After Lydia was fast asleep in her bed ... Santa came by for a little visit! He loved the cookies and milk that she left out for him! He said that she had been a really good girl this year, so he left a few surprises for her ...

She did not know what to think when I took her in and she saw her pile of presents!

It didn't take her long to spot the "Beby"!!

She LOVES Slinky's ... so she got one in her stocking! She loves it!

Taking a break from opening presents to take care of her baby!

What is it?!? What is it?!? Another puzzle! Yea!

Oooo ... a new ...

APRON! Can't wait until we can cook together and wear our aprons!

Still holding her baby ... and opening presents! Such a multi-tasker! She'll make a great mom one day!

Santa also left a few things for Jeff under the tree! Lydia loved being able to help him open his gifts! =)

I have so many memories of Christmas morning ... coming down the stairs with my three brothers and seeing what Santa had brought! I really hope one day Lydia can look back and remember all of the Christmas memories from when she was a little girl!

Cookies and Milk for Santa!!

We made gingerbread cookies for Santa! Lydia decided that she needed to try them out to make sure that they tasted okay!

This one tastes pretty good!!

Now I'll try out this one ...

Ahh ... now I need a drink of milk!

Yummm!! These are really good!!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve night with Nena K and Papa T. We had a wonderful time. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church and then came home for dinner and presents. It was great to take a little time out and spend at church reflecting on the real reason for all the craziness this time of year! It's something we plan on doing every year from now on as a family. We want to make sure that Lydia knows the real reason we celebrate Christmas, and what better way to do it!

Hmm ... what can it be?

Opening her presents like a big girl!

Her very first "Olivia" book!! These are some of my favorite! Can't wait to share them with Lydia!

Helping Nena K and Papa T with their Christmas present!

WoW! A princess castle! She LOVES it!

She wanted it open right away and put together. She played with it right up to bedtime and then wanted to play with it first thing the next morning!

Christmas with the Colclasure's!

Lydia made her first trip to Stuttgart for Christmas this year! We had a wonderful time being with Jeff's stepdad's family for the evening ... but we thought we were going to have to have a boat to get back home! The rain was CRAZY!!

Everyone just hanging out waiting for the food to be ready!

Aunt Connie and Uncle Terry got Lydia a new puzzle and she loves it!

Can you tell she enjoyed the chocolate pudding?!? She was a mess!

She loves reading with her Nena K!

Sitting with Stephen watching Grandma Jane open up her gifts.

I guess she didn't think she was doing it right ... or opening them fast enough! She decided to help out!

Everyone got a kick out of her new face! This is her excited face! So cute!

We are so glad that we were able to make the trip down and see everyone! Love this time of year! Nothing better than spending time with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus! Stay tuned for even more pictures!!

Santa's Elves Did What?!?

Santa's Elves came by our house and left Lydia a present for her to open early!! She was so excited about opening a present!

She opens her presents so carefully!

Love watching her excitement grow as she opens her presents!

Unless she gets faster ... we could be opening presents for a while Christmas morning!

Hmm ... wonder what is in here?!?

NEW PJ'S!! And they have monkeys on them!!

I think she loves them!!

Cunningham Christmas!!

On Monday night, we got together with the Cunningham family (Jeff's mom's side) for Christmas. We had a lot of fun seeing everyone ... and like before, Lydia had a blast playing! She LOVES to play! I didn't get a picture of her in the playroom with all the boys (it was her and 4 boys!!) but she had so much fun! She was so funny watching them run around and wrestle, don't think she knew what to think about all of that! I'm sure by next year she'll be telling them what to do and where to go! They better get ready! ;)

Lydia with her Nena K and Papa T!

"Eating" dinner with Daddy. Here lately her diet consists of bread, cheese, fruit, yogurt and milk. No wonder she's not gaining any weight! Hopefully this will change soon!

Oh, she also will eat graham crackers, goldfish, and cheerios! Here she is sharing her snack with Santa! The only Santa she wants to get close to ... the fake ones!

Checking out baby London! She loved to look at her ... even offered her a bite of her graham cracker!

This year, before we opened gifts we sang a few Christmas songs ... some fun ones but also the more meaningful ones. It was neat to take time and remember why we are all together and celebrating Christmas. It's not about the presents and the food ... but about Jesus being born to save us all. I pray that as a family we don't forget that ... while presents and food are fun, it's all about Jesus.

Is this not the sweetest picture?!? Grandaddy LOVES his great grandchildren!

Lydia watching Mommy open her presents ... can you tell it was way past her bedtime?!?

Ahh ... "Papi" makes everything better!

Grandaddy (or CooKoo as Lydia has started calling him because of his cookoo clocks!!) and Bonnie got Lydia this soft little pig (from the book "If You Give A Pig A Party" ... which she actually has!!) and she carried it around for the rest of the night! She LOVED it!

Again, we had such a wonderful night spending time with our family. Wish that we could get together more often with everyone!

Just a quick question for you out there with toddlers ... Do a majority of your pictures turn out like this?!?

I mean, she's cute no matter what, but I would REALLY like to have a picture of her face! I've been trying to get a good "Christmas" picture of her in front of the tree ... and I can't seem to get one! The ones where I can actually see her face, she normally has her eyes closed! Just wondering if I was alone ... or if you had any tricks!