Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a fun-filled Thanksgiving with the Boyd clan in Nashville this year!  Each year gets a little more noisy and a tad more active!  We had such fun times playing and making memories...

We all ventured over to Chattanooga the day after Thanksgiving to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday!!  I was so good to see her and celebrate her life with all our aunts, uncles and cousins!

We always enjoy going to Papa's church when we are visiting...

The kids and I stayed a few extra days to enjoy time with Papa and Mimi...

Bella and I loved going to The ladies' event at my mom's church :)

So much to be thankful for...most of all this year I was thankful to be together with my family. :)

Christmas Festivities...

Each year it seems that Christmas gets sweeter and sweeter...I just love teaching my precious kiddos all about Jesus' long awaited birthday!  I love doing Christmas activities together...serving others and enjoying famy time. :)

We had so much fun decorating this year!  There are now 4 of us to hang ornaments and get tangled in lights!

We look forward to checking our mailbox everyday...our pantry door is now nearly covered in Christmas cards!  It's such a reminder of the Lord's blessings as we glance at our dear friends each day...

We had a blast creating our gingerbread houses...and eating icing!

We loved going to Christnas parties with our friends...

Nothing sweeter than a baby's first Christmas! :)

Daddy decorated the house with pretty lights!

Our house filled with Christmas cinnamon as we made our cinnamon ornaments for our mantle...

We had fun baking Christmas cookies for our neighbor friends...

It was especially fun to deliver them :)

We enjoyed our first Christmas light experience...their heads hung out the entire 30 minute drive :)

And Jer and I got our creativity juices flowing and made this chalkboards sign out of an old frame...I can only take credit for painting the frame and creating the chalkboard...my hubby is the best!

I love how it turned out!!  And I can use it all through the year with verses & quotes!

We have enjoyed our month of December and are anxiously awaiting to celebrate Jesus' birthday with our family!

Beautiful Lengths :)

For the past year I've debated whether or not to cut my hair...and I finally received the confirmation I needed last week to chop it!  I discovered Pantene's Beautiful Length program...basically they take color free, gray free hair at a minimal length of 8 inches.  They create wigs for women battling cancer and give them to the women for free!  I knew as soon as I read about the program that it was exactly where I wanted to donate my hair.  We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Nashville so I had plenty of sitters while I ventured to the salon!  We measured about 10 inches and made the cut!  

For those of you who are "working" stay stay at home moms...you will probably be able to relate...but I was just so excited to have an opportunity to bless someone in need.  I don't have really any spare minutes in my day during this season of life...and not tons to give away.  But, I knew as soon as I read about this program that it was something tangible that I was certainly capable of doing for someone in need.  I pray that my hair will be a beautiful blessing to a special lady battling the awful disease of cancer.  I pray the Lord uses my hair to lift the chin on a precious lady and bring a smile to her face.  And maybe just maybe I can grow out my hair and give one more donation before the gray hair sets in!! :)

4 months!

Our sweet boy is 4 months old!  This little nugget is as precious as ever!  He has just come out of his shell this past month!  He is a happy little guy...and his eyes seem to always be on me (his mommy).  He will follow me with his eyes as I walk all over the house...then as soon as I make eye contact with him his face lights up with the biggest grin!  He discovered his hands and legs this month.  He loves sucking on his hands as well as looking at his long slender fingers.  He kicks his legs and does leg lifts too!  He loves his play may gym...his favorite toy is the mirror.  He can even roll all the way to his sides...I have a feeling he will be flipping over this next month.  He's still a little thing...I met with a lactation consultant and she discovered he had a slight tongue tie.  So we had a procedure to clip his frenulum.  His dr was slightly concerned about his weight gain (although he's gaining about 10-12oz a month just like Bella).  So, I've been nursing every 2.5 hours and pumping to supplement an oz after each feed.  He seems so happy and content most the day so my motherly instinct says he's just following in his sisters growth pattern!  He does great in the nursery and charms all the ladies.  My favorite time with him is at night when it's just he and I awake...we have the sweetest pillow talk.  He just coos and babbles up a storm with me. :)

He continues to be such a treasure to our family...we are blessed beyond measure to have him.  

His stats:

Head 16.75 in. 75%

Height 25.25  15%

Weight  11lb 2 oz

A Birthday Surprise...

Jeremy surprised me with a ticket for Tucker and I to go spend 4 days with my parents in Nashville.  We flew in on Tuesday night and complete surprised them both!  We sat little Tucker on the doorstep and rang the door bell.....sweetest little surprise!

Tucky helped Papa catch up on the news each morning...

My sister drove up from Huntsville and we surprised my parents with a sweet visit with just the sisters and nursing babies...and Houston. :)

We enjoyed a family day Thursday to downtown Franklin...a fun toy store & lunch at Frothy Monkey!  

Mimi with her youngest boys :)

I sure love this beautiful, sweet, Godly mother...I pray I can be just 1/2 the mother she has been to me.  Blessed beyond measure...

And do I not have the cutest nephews in the world??? Love me some Huey! Or as Jackson calls him "Hoochie" :)

These boys got some extra Papa cuddles :)

A Frozen Halloween!

This year we had no other option but to dress as Frozen characters!  Jeremy's mom offered to sew Bella an Elsa costume and I whipped up the Olaf and Snowflake costumes.  It was so much fun and the kids enjoyed every minute of living their dream...

We had Jeremy's brother's family up for tHalloween night and had yummy Chili then we were off to trick or treat!  You can't ever have too many Elsa's or Olafs...right!?!

The beautiful Elsa...

The funny Olaf...

And the cute little snowflake...

Road Trip

I'm We loaded up and made our first road trip...first stop Atlanta!

We made our annual weekend visit to see my 3 best friends from childhood!  It's always such a sweet time together and it's so much fun to see all our kiddos together now!  Between the four of us wi have 11 kids!

We stayed at Em'a house and my kids loved her girls...soany new dress up clothes and outdoor adventures!

Little Blythe and Bella look like they could be sisters...sweet baby girls...

Em, Bets and Katie...I met these dear friends when my family moved to Atlanta and I was just 10. Over the years, our friendships deepened and deepened and grew stronger and stronger.  We just pick up where we left off...love them and treasure each one of them.  They are my prayer warriors and my iron sharpens iron friends! :)

After Atlanta, we headed up to Chattanooga where we cheered for Papa in his 10th Ironman!  It was so fun being with all the cousins!!

Then, I took my kiddos back to Nashville where we enjoyed spending the week with Papa and Mimi!  Lots of sweet times and treasured memories together...