Happy New Year!!

I had a fun New Years weekend with family and friends. New Year's Eve a group of girls got together for a fancy dinner and night on the town! We had a wonderful time together!

 My sweet roommate and me:

 Mary Elizabeth, Maggie, and me:

 Ringing in the new year!

 New Year's Day is always a great time to reflect on God's faithfulness in the past year, and start the year with eager anticipation about all that God will do in the coming year! My New Year's Day started with a great service at my church, where the pastor reminded us that the best resolution that we can have today is to resolve to trust in Jesus more and more each and every day. After church, I went to my parents house to help my mom prepare the traditional New Year's Day dinner (two guys at church this morning had never heard of the tradition of black-eyed peas and greens!). I LOVE this meal and look forward to it ever year!! This year we had pork chops with chutney, black-eyed peas, greens, slaw, baked apples, and fried potatoes!

 Some of my very special friends came to join us in celebrating the beginning of 2012!!

We had so much fun playing together! (you'll have to excuse my apron which I forgot to take off!)

 Charlie is such a sweetheart...can't get enough of these precious little ones!!

 We went out on the front porch after lunch and worked on getting a family photo!

 And then came back inside where we just relaxed and visited and let this little cutie pie entertain us! She had us all laughing!

 It's been a great start to the New Year already and I can't wait to see what this year holds!

Happy Birthday, Sister! :)

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister, Ivey! (Her birthday was yesterday :) Ivey is such an amazing woman, and one of my very best friends! We are only 20 months apart, so we really grew up more like twins than just sisters! I cannot say enough about how much I love her! :) I am so thankful for her life (and that I get to talk to her just about everyday on the phone!).

We also have a little sister, Kathryn who was born when Ivey and I were teenagers, and we couldn't believe that God had given us another sister! We are so thankful for the gift that it is to have a little sister like her...

I could go on and on about her, too, but today, I will tell you about the birthday girl! :)

We have many special memories of traveling together:

 Ivey is a true example of what an older sister should be...she leads by her life! I have learned so much from her and look up to her!

 Ivey and I graduated together with Master's Degrees in education: 

God gave her a wonderful husband who understands the bond that sisters share, and appreciates the relationship that we have with each other! :) Couldn't ask for a better brother-in-law!

 

Ivey is truly exemplary as a wife and mother! God has been so good to her!

 Happy Birthday, sweet sister!! I am so thankful that we were able to come visit you on your special day! Tom and Ivey at the birthday lunch yesterday:

 Thomas and Grandmommy at the birthday lunch at Chuy's! So yummy!! :)

  All the girls!

Happy Birthday! Looking forward to many more wonderful memories together! :)

Pretend Christmas and Christmas Day 2011

Christmas is always a very special time for my family to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior! There are many traditions that have been passed down through the years, and it is always fun to be a part of them all. As all of the children in the family have gotten older, it is harder and harder to arrange schedules so that everyone can be together at the same time. So, this year, we basically had TWO Christmas Days so that everyone could participate on at least one of the days! We decided to call the first celebration our "Pretend Christmas!" And pretend we did...so much, in fact, that it really did feel like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day even though the calendar said that it was December 20th and 21st!

Our pretend Christmas Day was created so that this part of the family could celebrate with us:



 On our December 20th Christmas Eve, our sweet mama had new PJs set out for everyone, and we gathered up our blankies and went to bed...

 Pretend Christmas morning was such a cozy day...it was pouring down rain...it wasn't the white Christmas that I was dreaming of, but at least it kind-of felt that way!

 Having little children around on Christmas day makes EVERYTHING so much fun! We had a blast just watching little buddy take it all in!! He looks like he is not quite sure about all this excitement:

 But it didn't take him long to figure out that this was really FUN!!

 Aunt RuRu reading Thomas one of the books he got...

 Snuggle bugs on Christmas morning...

 My mom found the cutest present at a thrift store in Atlanta...a miniature leather recliner just Thomas' size!! Here he is reading in his new chair:

 This is what he did when we told him to lay back in his new chair! :) Hmm...maybe he has seen someone use a recliner before? :)

Mama Claus fixed a fabulous breakfast with biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon, grits, eggs, donuts, and fruit. Yum!

After breakfast, it was back to playing with the toys...

 I love Thomas' expression in this one! He seems to really like his flashcards from Aunt RuRu:

 We had a photo shoot to remember this pretend Christmas day!

 The boys minus Robby who was in New York City!

 Group picture:

 Real Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were really different for me this year. Unfortunately, the ER does not close for holidays, and I was scheduled to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Christmas Eve was SO busy, and I am glad that I was able to be there for all the kiddos that we saw (Santa Claus came to see all the children on the floor and we had bags of wrapped gifts for each patient and all their siblings), but it really didn't feel like my normal Christmas Eve!
I had planned to spend the night at my parent's house Christmas Eve night, and when I called to tell them I was leaving the hospital, my dad told me to come on...that they had saved me a plate of squirrel and collard greens! I just laughed! :) Y'all, I promise my family is REALLY not redneck!! My brother Jonathan got a rifle for his birthday and had gone hunting in the woods with one of his friends and shot these:

I wanted to be a supportive sister, so I did try some of the squirrel, and I can't believe I am saying this, but it was not too bad! :)

I am so upset that I did not take more pictures from the real Christmas day! My dad read us the Christmas story and we thanked God for the gift of his Son Jesus! We had a special time opening presents and enjoying being together! We missed the Irelands, but were glad that Robby was there to celebrate with us! We had to be on a tight schedule because we had church, but we did manage to snap a few quick photos before we rushed out the door!

 Merry Christmas!