Christmas comes early!

We had Christmas with my parents a bit early because they'll be traveling for Christmas and we'll have the Patterson crew with us.  It was a quick visit but we had a blast and DM kept us all on our toes.

DM found a new friend in Winston, my parents' dog.  Tahoe will never let her cuddle but Winston tolerated!

David and DM open a gift.

DM shows Mom part of her new book.

DM wants to stop opening presents to read another new book.

On a slightly unrelated note, I love all china, crystal and silver despite the additional care it takes when compared to today's tableware. Pretty sure I'm the only one of my friends who insists on having multiple sets of everything. This is the children's set to Mom's silver. LOVE.

Christmas is Coming!

DM and I made a trip to Lenox with Mom, Amie, and Ro!  Every Atlanta child needs to ride the Pink Pig as much as possible!  As is typical there was so much to take in and DM was quite serious as she observed.  We did get a few smiles ever now and then.

 Pretty much the best picture of DM and me.  She's not one for staying still.

 Here it comes!

Not so sure!

 Okay, this isn't so bad!

DM and part of her "village"!  (Village = people who we feel are helping to raise DM into a loving, giving member of society.) 

 This is the Pink Pig I rode.  It was kind of like a traveling jail cell now that I think about it.  You can even see the wires over the windows.  I think this was the one that was around when my parents were young, too.

 Our goal is to keep Christmas simple.  The chaos of the holidays can easily suck all of the JOY of the holidays.  I am so guilty of allowing this to happen but the I am going to try to be very intentional about it this year!

DM's simple tree.

Our tree is also quite simple this year and we're pretty sure it may not make it to Christmas day but we love it. 

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving weekend.  I ran my first race I'm embarrassed to say since we had DM.  It wasn't the prettiest, but our friend Tim stuck with me.  David was kind enough to stay home with DM and get the turkey going while I ran.  My family came down for Thanksgiving dinner.  We opted to get one last "Home Depot" Christmas tree figuring this is the last year DM won't realize we're just going around the corner to the big orange box to grab our "live, fresh" tree.  After much discussion, we opted to stay home to watch the Dawgs beat the Jackets.  (Really, I do not know why they hate us so much.  It makes me want to recommend that they see a counselor.) 

 Cousin Cricket is ready to eat!

 Maddy teaches Darsey something . . .

 DM is asking for an I-Phone.

DM watching the game with Dad.

Gobble Gobble!

Once a Dawg, Always a Dawg, How sweet it is!

It would have been sweet without the win, but the win, especially after this season, sure did make it extra sweet!  I am embarrassed to say that this was my first time in Athens all season, but then, we're in a new season of life that doesn't leave much spare time for heading to the Classic City for the weekend!  It was wonderful to be under the trees, listening to music, watching the crazies (and the cute kids) and enjoying chef Tim's good eats. 

Randomness!

1.   We're working on drinking out of a "big girl" cup.  Soon we'll get out of the highchair too and move to our new "dining" table.
2.  Yes, we went back to the pumpkin patch!  Didn't want David to miss out on this glorious place!  And we enjoyed a fun picnic, too!

3.  St. Jude!  Another huge thanks to my donors that helped me meet my goal so quickly!  If you still want to donate, my friend Elizabeth just has a few more bucks to raise for St. Jude.  You can access her donating site by clicking HERE!

4.  A blog post 50 Rules for Dads with Daughters has been floating around Facebook and I love it.  Click HERE to check it out!  And on a not so serious note,  An Open Letter to Toddlers speaks on behalf of many, many parents.  Click HERE to check this blog post out.

Happy Halloween!

 I am not wearing this hat! 

 Unless you let me pick flowers!  (But that didn't work either.)

 And we are off!  Not so sure about this!

 First stop - neighborhood party!

 Then we stopped by the ole' rental house.

 Finally cheering up some!

 We ran in to babysitter Elizabeth along the way.

 And soon, with Dad's help, we had the hang of it.

 Checking out our stash!

And Mom hid the stash and I cried because I caught on immediately.  I tasted Skittles for the first time.  I like them.  That is all I got to taste.  There is a bucket of candy in the house that I WILL find!  See ya next year!   And big kids, look out!  I've got this figured out now!