the 12 days of Christmas ...

We have had a crazy month, or rather, week. Christmas was wonderful and I think we successfully crammed all that we could in the past 7 days.

1. Christmas at the Plaza

Since our church meets at the theater, a Christmas eve service is a little difficult. Instead our 2 year tradition is to get a ballroom downtown at the Crown Plaza and have a meal together. We love sharing in the fun and celebration of Christmas with the fellowship of our church family. We had a great time with friends worshiping, laughing, and, of course ... eating.

2. Candymaking

For 20+ years or so, we've been making candy with a few family friends. Monday was the day. There was 25 people and we were only missing 2 of the regular bunch. It snowed so much during the 3 hours we worked that a few got stuck in the driveway. We had fun and Amelia loved having so many people to watch and run around with.

3. Cookies!

Tuesday my sisters and I with my mom spent the morning making cookies, a new tradition. We got 3 different kinds of cookies done with minimum difficultly.

4. Wicked!!!

I have been begging James for YEARS to take me to see 'Wicked' and for my Christmas present, he surprised me with amazing tickets. We sat 6 rows from the stage and on the aisle. It was awesome. and We are still singing from it. We had a great date night out among a crazy week. So glad James finally listened to my begging :) Hope we can do it again!

5. Roommate Reunion

Thursday, I was able to see 5 out of 7 of my college roommates. We have tried to get together at least once a year, all 8 of us. Although, only 6 could be there ... it felt like we hardly missed a beat. I love these girls and so glad we could make it happen, even if it was only a few hours.

6. Humphrey Christmas

Thursday evening we headed to Lafayette to see some of the Humphrey clan. Amelia got to play with her second cousin, Olivia and run around with Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Great-grands. Ah, and the BBQ was delish! Thanks Angela for hosting! Always fun to be together.

7. Christmas EVE.

We spent the afternoon/evening at my parents house. It was fun to see how excited my niece and nephew were about presents. My mom decided she would let each kid open one present before we ate dinner to help hold them over. Each got a book so they had 3 to read and keep busy with.
We had a great dinner, played games and watched our traditional Christmas eve movie we have watched since young kids. Oh, and we sat in the hot tub... excellent new tradition.

8. Christmas morning.

Amelia was even more fun this year than last. She could open more on her own and was excited to see what was behind the paper. She woke up to find her stocking bulging with books, Veggie Tales, and fruit snacks! And after opening presents for Momma and Da, we spent the morning playing with all the new toys.
9. Christmas day

After a good nap :) that was much needed. We headed into Danville and spent the day with James' parents. Ate more ... and had more presents. Amelia got a nice kitchen to master her cooking skills. She was quite content to take her play food in and out of cabinets and ovens and pans. We spent the afternoon in front of the TV watching NBA ... oh and eating. :)It was also nice catch up with Uncle Michael.
10. Smith Christmas

Sunday, after church, we met again at my parents house for my mom's side of the family. And did the usual, food, gifts, sit around and play games and watch sports. Thankful for the colts win :)

OK, so it wasn't 12 days of Christmas activities, but it sure did feel like it. James got the spend the week home with Amelia and me. It was nice for both of us to feel like we had a short vacation. Amelia only got half as much sleep as she should of but seemed to do well most days. We got Zoo passes, gifts cards for date nights, kitchen tools for momma, and garage tools for Daa... We truly had a blessed week of family and friends. We ate entirely too much and will probably enter the new year with that infamous 5 extra pounds. We have enjoyed our Christmas memories with Amelia. And, most importantly, we are incredibly thankful for the gift of Christ Jesus. Hopefully, Christmas found you well. Merry Christmas and Happy new year!!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

This weekend, Amelia was able to enjoy playing in the snow for the first time. She was quite unsure at first but decided she was excited to be outside. Daddy made her a snowball and she immediately tasted it ..."mmm!"

I am still not sure what she thought about being ankle deep in it ... or how her world was now all white and cold. She repeatedly ran around saying, "cold, cold, cold." I love being able to watch her discover new things and how she employs all 5 of her senses now to learn about them.

And, still, points out trees... everywhere.

Our advent calendar activity today was to go get donuts! (One Momma was looking forward to) I am enjoying these activities and gives me something out of the normal to look forward to. But today was great! We stopped in at Dunkin's and got a few donut holes to munch on. We had fun playing around, giggling, and popping wonderful delicious fried dough. Amelia pounded 3!

Amelia seems to be growing up fast and today I felt it. Sitting at a table, almost conversing with her, I could almost see her growing ... 2, 3, 4, ... 10. I am thankful for our happy, healthy toddler and with eager anticipation, I look forward to the next weeks, months, years watching her.

Christmas time is here...

Ah, I am just busting at the seams with Christmas spirit. I have been looking forward to all that this time brings ... decorations and music, family and traditions, and most importantly celebrating, worshiping, and thanking Christ Jesus.

Sunday we were able to get our tree. My parents came with us per tradition, although we missed the rest of my family.

Amelia thoroughly enjoyed walking through the trees. This kid could just walk for hours and with tons of trees to check out... we could have kept her busy all day.
We found a good one and Daddy and Papa cut it down for us ... now to decorate!


In eager anticipation of the season, I made some crafts last month. the Noel sign...
I also put together an advent calendar. I wrestled with a few different ideas for how this would work. Finally settled on one, and got it done the day before Dec. 1st. Each day we have a Christmas related activity. Some are as simple as watching a movie or making cookies, but we also have days to visit a nursing home, deliver goodies to a neighbor, and write Elsa, our Compassion Child. Along with our activity, we have scripture to read to prepare our hearts and minds for the season.

December 1st activity was get a new ornament for the year. Because we own few ornaments, I decided last year, we would make a new tradition to let Amelia pick out a new ornament each year. We had fun finding this one, and this year, she actually had an opinion about one.

Oh, and she is not foaming at the mouth here... she is sucking on a mint m&m :)
And the first snow on the first day of December was perfect! Enjoy your holiday season. I am sure we will!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Week... James took the whole week off and it was wonderful to have some much needed time to spend just the three of us. We painted our living room and kitchen in between playing games, getting ready for the family gatherings and enjoying a down week.

Thursday morning we went over to my parents house and helped get a huge thanksgiving meal ready. After we ate we snuggled up on the couch for a few hours for some football ... does it get much better?

Why are family pictures a giant struggle?

Amelia with her cousin Ellie

Thursday Afternoon we braved the rainstorm and headed down south to the Humphrey Thanksgiving. It was an enjoyable, relaxing time as usual and got to see family we hadn't seen in a long time. Mom-Mom and Dad-dad let us crash there until Saturday afternoon.

Amelia did great as usual and was being silly most of the time.

dressed up for mom-mom... Thanks, Aunt Teena!

Amelia also got to play with Olivia, her second cousin (and by "play with" I mean steal Olivia's toys and play with them.)

Amelia got to walk with Dad-dad to get the mail in the morning... she liked his hat!

After the craziness of Thursday and Friday, we were able to enjoy a calm, restful Saturday. Watching football, eating left over after left over, and ...

reading.

Again, the struggle of a family picture.

What a wonderful time ... a time to remember and be thankful for the things we have, the family and friends we have been given, and grace, oh the grace abundant. We have been truly blessed.

Weekend Activities

We had quite the weekend ... 3 different parties to go to. Friday night we had a small group party to finish out our "semester." We greatly enjoyed growing together and the fellowship we have had over the past couple of months and look forward to starting back up after the holidays.

Saturday was another crazy day. First, our nephew, Lincoln turned 3! We had fun at the monster truck party ... complete with the monster truck cake.

Lincoln

The awesome monster truck cake from the artist stylings of Landon Kauffman.

Amelia always loves hanging out with her cousins. Here she and Ellie are watching a video of Linc's 3rd year of life.

Cousins ...

After that party, James and I attended an 80s party with several friends from church. It was excellent. Costumes, food, 80s music, an 80s scavenger hunt ... All in honor of our friends about to have a baby. It was the best "before two become three" party I've been to. :)

James and I ready to go.

So thankful for such great friends. Looking forward to a calmer week ahead and Thanksgiving!!!!

Sweet girl reading her bible ...

Happy Tuesday!

Trick or Treat!

Our little Lion...

Pumpkin Carving

This Saturday, Daddy took a break from studying for some much needed family time, and we carved our pumpkins... a favorite tradition for us. Amelia loved it. We let her paint the outside of her pumpkin first. This is her "smile" face.

Daddy helped the bug get started gutting her pumpkin, which she immediately started eating ...

Amelia's favorite part was taking the lid on and off... over and over. The finished product:

She even let us take a few pictures afterwards. Looking forward to continuing Halloween festivities this coming weekend. Our little lion roars and everything.