Merry, Merry

Merry, Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

Have a happy weekend!

Double Trouble

JM and his ever-faithful companion, Jack!

And did I mention we have a very passive baby?  He couldn't care less that I changed him on the den floor in the middle of Jack running around and JM playing with toys all around him!

My wonderful hubby is off on paternity leave and I've been so happy to have him around.  Perhaps we'll even get a Christmas movie in tonight! 

Verse O' the Day:

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

 

Tree Times Three

Last year I did Boo Mama's Christmas Tour so this year I'm doing Christmas Tour of Homes through the Nesting Place!  Last year I got majorly inspired by the Nester's ideas for decorating mantles so I copied some of her ideas and it turned out great!  I used the same pieces for the mantle this year, also.

Last Christmas I showed way more pictures from around the house, but this year with a new baby I decided just to concentrate on our little trees and a little bit on our mantle!  I hope you enjoy!  Merry Christmas!

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I made a post last year with John Michael's little Christmas tree in his room and now I'm doing it again, except adding one for our new Matthew!  Here's a link to last year's picture of John Michael with his little Christmas tree.  He looks SO different!  He's such a big boy now!

http://maryblogimages.x10.mx/?p=243

We have three Christmas trees this year.  I basically do not love our Christmas tree in our den, but it's full of special ornaments and it looks pretty all lit up at night.  I love having the Christmas lights on all during the day.

First up, Matthew has a little tree with blue ornaments, his little shoes that he and JM came home from the hospital with, and some special ornaments for his first Christmas!

I got a little set of blue ornaments that were all baby boy themed from Target.  It has a duckie, bottle, and little blue pacifier and they look so precious hanging on his tree!

John Michael's tree is more of the same from last year except this year we added ornaments that represented things he has been interested in over the past year.  We have quite a few stars because he loves "stahs"!  Also, if you notice the little bunch of blue ornaments sitting in a little nest on the tree, John Michael put these on the tree himself!  He started decorating his own tree and he put all the little balls on the tree himself!

 

We have quite a few football ornaments and some Alabama ornaments too.  JM loooves football so much!

We have a fish because JM loooves for us to read "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and he can identify a fish, too!  He says "Shhhh" which means fish!

A Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament and Rocket from Little Einsteins round out the new ornaments on his tree this year.  There's no telling what he'll be into next year!

This is our tree in our den.  As my mother-in-law could tell you, I had a pregnancy-induced breakdown over how ugly it was when we pulled it out of the box this year.  I could find nothing right with how it looked this year, but after we got all the ornaments on and turned on the lights I realized that your Christmas tree isn't what Christmas is about. 

We are fortunate enough to have a beautiful tree filled with sentimental oranaments and plenty of presents sitting under it.  We have so much to be thankful for this year.

This year as we celebrate Christmas in our home for the first time with our two precious boys we will be thinking about the REAL reason for the season:  Jesus' birth and the REAL reason He was born : 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world,

that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in Him

should not perish but have everlasting life.

So, while we will be exchanging gifts with each other this year and John Michael will probably be getting way too many toys, I hope we can always  remember Jesus' birth and how awesome that one birth was that changed the world!

And on a more fun note, what post would be complete without pictures of the boys?  Here's John Michael at Sam's eating a whole lot of pizza.

I cannot even tell you how cold it was that day.  I think it was in the 20s and windy!  Brrr!

And here's Matthew getting a little bath!

Biiiig yawn!  What a cutie!

Out and About...Sort Of

This past Friday was our Sunday School Christmas party and I could not decide whether or not we should go.  I really didn't want to take Matthew out in the cold and around people, but I really wanted to get out of the house and see all of our friends!  On a whim, we decided to go just for a little bit, and I'm glad we did!  We had a really good time and it was nice to get out of the house for a little bit and show off our newest addition.

The biggest problem was finding something that I could wear.  I'm in that inbetween stage and it's frustrating, but technically I'm only a week and a half out from delivery, so I shouldn't be too concerned yet!  Not a lot fits right now so I really didn't have much to choose from.  It's not so fun to keep wearing maternity clothes after you've had the baby!

 

Here's Monica, Amanda, and Laurie.  I really think Amanda's fabulous vest should have won the contest for ugliest sweater.  LOOOOVE the sequins!

Here I am showing off Matthew to everyone.  Don't worry, he stayed in his sling the whole time and no one touched him!

Say Cheeese!  Who knew I would ever show up to a Christmas party with ill-fitting clothes and dirty hair, but that's just how it is with a newborn so I got over it.

The next day (Saturday) I slept in with this cutie pie and Jordan cooked breakfast and entertained John Michael.  Matthew was really awake and smiling and having a really good time!

What a cutie pie!

I took about a million pictures of him smiling away!

Sunday morning I tried to be a professional photographer, but I now realize I AM NOT!

I tried my best, though!  At least my subject was cute and patient with me!

Here's John Michael wearing one of his Christmas outfits.  He looked so cute going to church on Sunday morning!

His new favorite thing is stars!  He loooves "stahs" and he can find them anywhere and point them out!  He loves the stars on our tree.

John Michael says Merry Christmas!!!!

Verse O' the Day:

I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

Psalm 4:8

Ready To Roll!

We were ready to cheer on The Tide this morning at our house.  Granted, it took myself and Jordan until halfway through the day to finally get ourselves ready!  The game is over now and Alabama won!  We are some happy folks around here!  Roll Tide Roll!!!  Now it's on to the National Championship game!

Both boys had their Alabama gear on!

John Michael is interested in Matthew's ears and eyes....

He likes to point out his eyes...I promise JM wasn't hurting Matthew!  Lately, this is kind of how it's been going.

Our boys say Roll Tide!

We WON!!

Verse O' the Day:

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.

Exodus 34:6-7