2011 Reflections

New Year's Eve 2011.....
This time last year I was pregnant and thinking that I would never reach the point that we are at now. I am amazed at how much I have been blessed this year and how much I have learned and changed...I became a mother this year and learned that I could love someone more than I knew was humanly possible. I am so grateful for my family! I hope that it will continue to grow in the yearS to come. I learned that time literally starts to fly when you have a child! I have learned a lot through school this past year and I hope to carry that information forward as I continue my education throughout the coming year. This New Year's Eve has been much different than any other Will and I have celebrated together...I think it is the first time we have not made it until midnight. This year we went to Joel and Mckenzie's for dinner and just hung out with friends. It was fun evening and we enjoyed spending time with each other and letting Sonni and Hartley play. I have to work 12 hours tomorrow so I early to bed for me and of course there are no complaints from the duck hunters...We were asleep by 10! Maybe we will make it to midnight next year...Sonni did wear her night owl shirt for the occasion!

 Sweet Girls!!!!

Cleaning up...

I have spent the last couple of days cleaning up around the house. I had to find new places to put Sonni's toys and put up all of the Christmas decorations. This is earlier than I usually take down the decorations but I have to work New Year's Day so I decided to take some time off during the week to get things cleaned up. It is always sad to have to take down the decorations...

A sweet bath picture from this week. Sonni's hair is really starting to grow!!!

Also this week I have been working on my photo wall over the stairs! I got gift cards for picture frames for my birthday and Christmas. I think that is looking pretty good and I hope to contuine it all the way up the rest of the stairs over time....

 a trial with paper prior to making a bunch of holes in the wall...

And the finished product...I am so glad to have all of these sweet pictures of our family displayed!

Now the rest of the weekend and the New Year will be brought in with work.....

Christmas Day

On Christmas day we did Santa as soon as Sonni woke up. Just like when I was a kid, Santa left a pile for everyone in their own little spot. Sonni really did not know what to think....she just got this look on her face like where did all of these toys come from....

 Mommy also got a camera which Santa brought early for me to use...

Buddie and Big John come over to eat breakfast and see what Sonni got from Santa. Then we went to the Waterbury's at 11 am. They always get the party started early on Christmas day...we eat and then do an ornament swap. This year everyone was supposed to wear tacky shirts so I made Sonni a shirt to match mine and Will's. Not everyone dressed tacky and some people brought a change of clothes, but it was a nice change since we usually dress up....

 Sweet Alli cat...

 Sonni was attempting to crawl then she would get tired and lay her head down....

 Justin & Angie got engaged this Christmas! Aren't they cute in their matching tacky clothes...

A better attempt at a four generation picture since the last one we took wasn't very good....I think this one is much better except I look like the odd man out because I am the only one dressed tacky....

Sunday night we had Gigi, Pop, Angie, Justin, Anna, and Nana over to the house. I had cooked chicken and dressing for dinner Friday night so all we had to do was heat it up and exchange presents. This was nice because we usually do this on Christmas morning and it is always rushed.

Tonight we went to Buddie and Big John's for our final get together. We usually do this the day after so it is not too rushed. We had shrimp and crab legs and it was delicious. It is always a joy to watch the kids opening their present because they get so excited.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we now have a living room FULL of toys! We are so thankful to have such loving family and friends.

Christmas Eve

Christmas is always such a busy time and there are so many places to go and food to eat! We have managed over the years to make our extended families get together's work so that we can make it to everything. On Christmas eve we went to Nana's for lunch. This worked out good because Uncle Jimmy had to leave after we ate to head home. We had a nice time and were able to get a few really good family pictures. Dad gave me a tripod, which worked great to get everyone in a picture.

We usually do Will's Meemee on Christmas Eve night at her house after communion, but this year we had it at the shop to take some pressure off of Meemee. Will and Big John cooked fish, french fries, and hush puppies. This was a nice change.

 Sonni had on her jewelry for communion. I am usually running late for church and forget to put it on her...but it was really sweet.

 Attempt at more family pictures...the kids are more interested in looking at each other than the camera...

Happy 25th Birthday to Me!

Today was my 25th birthday! Wow how time seems to just fly by....it seems like just yesterday I was planning Will's surprise party for his 25th birthday and now it is my turn. I'm not sure I am entirely comfortable with how close that makes me to 30, but I feel very lucky and accomplished to be only 25. I have a beautiful family and home, a wonderful career as a nurse, and I am only one short year from being a nurse practitioner...not too shabby. Will have a small surprise get together at JT's. It was very nice and I was definitely surprised! In fact Sonni and I had been running errands most of the day and I had not even showered. I was completely oblivious to the people there. Even when we walked in the restaurant and Will started walking to the back the waitress said are ya'll with the party...and I said no I'm not sure where he is going... Duh?

We also had a dinner at moms on Wednesday night. It was very nice to be able to celebrate this special day with family and friends. Thanks!

Tacky Christmas and Ducks

Yesterday we went to Joel and Mckenzies for a little visiting time and to give Hartley her Christmas presents. Sonni stayed the night with Buddie and Big John because we were planning to go to Dustin and Sara's for the tacky Christmas Party...Hartley was disappointed when she found out that baby sonni was not with us but she quickly forgot when she got her Dora bathtub paint!

We did go to the Tacky Christmas Party for about an hour or so before coming home. This year I decided to make our clothes rather than searching thrift stores for hours...

For the last couple of weekends Daddy has been chasing ducks! He and Joel have been getting up early everyday of the weekend to be the first one at the duck hole. They are crazy.....Even Sonni had to get her pictures made with the ducks Will, Joel, and Will King killed this morning.

Today we went to Memphis for a little family Christmas time....there were a ton of kids there! It was fun but Sonni was worn out afterwards....

 Macey reading to Sonni

 A decent attempt at getting a picture of all the kids together!

Sweet baby opening her present! 

 We also went to Dale's to visit with Granny. Unfortunately Sonni was tired and too fussy to get her picture with Granny...