Christmas

Most of my friends have abandoned their blogs and are spending their time on Facebook or just emailing. I really enjoy my blog and actually write a lot, then never post what I write. My goal for 2010 is to write more and goof off less! I realized today that it has been a month since I have posted on my blog. Far too long to go between postings. Our family is thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season so I decided to post a sampling of our pictures from this December. With the exception of a gift or two, I usually have all of my Christmas shopping complete by Thanksgiving. So, starting December 1 our family can relax and enjoy the fun of the holiday season. Stress, busyness, 'stuff' is not what Jesus Christ came to this earth to give us. He came that we should have life and have it more abundantly. More abundant life is what I am striving for. Not there yet, not even close. But, I can say that I geniunely enjoy Christmas and refuse to allow myself to fall prey to the hectic pace some allow during this season.

I took Eli and MJ to Southern Homes and Gardens and attempted a few pics, what was I thinking?

This is our typical night, hanging out enjoying each other
Is this the most beautiful girl you've ever seen or what? And yes, she is always that happy!

Josey love is the best kind of love there is:
sometimes the 'perfect' picture just doesn't happen!
My best baby:
MJ enjoying the Christmas tree:

I Really Do Feed My Babies

Fall Then & Now

We took the family to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and as I was looking at the pictures I was thinking about how similar some of them are the shots we took last year. So, of course I had to go back and compare. I guess I am going to have to create an album with photos that are similar just taken year after year. I'll do a bigger post on the Pumpkin Patch later, but for now here are some then and nows.

Sweet Weekend Pics

Eli's favorite new thing is to act like a monster - pretty sure he got this from watching Scooby Doo:

Night Night Kiss:Margaret Jane LOVES to play with Josey:
Josey is the sweetest puppy ever:
Puppy Love:
MJ is now wearing Eli's old froggie jams - they were our favorite on him. Everytime he sees her in them he asks where his are:
Eli cheering himself on during potty training:
MJ is finally able to take care of herself around Eli. Here she had snatched his biscuit off of his plate and boy was he mad. As much as he hits and shoves her a little biscuit snatching is nothing:
My sweet husband came home from work Friday night and had stopped and bought MJ these cute flannel footed pjs since she did not have any to wear and it was getting cold outside:
Saturday morning sweet Jason snuck out while we were all still asleep and brought home biscuits, a tricycle, and Elmo (the latter two totaled $1.00 at a yard sale!) It was like Christmas morning:

Do you recall Orange Beach in the Fall

I may never go to the beach in the summertime again! This past weekend Jason and I took all the kids to the beach for the long weekend. We stayed with Jason's brother Jim at his condo in Orange Beach, AL on the beautiful Gulf Coast. The weather was amazing, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. The ocean and pool water was plenty warm for swimming. Ideal conditions to enjoy the beach. The kids had the best time. Hugh & Grant's favorite part was searching for sand crabs by flashlight on the beach at night. Eli enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach. Margaret Jane loved it all! She particularly enjoyed the water, both the ocean and pool. I took about 250 pictures, so I had a hard time selecting just a few for the blog. But, this should give you and idea of our wonderful time.

Grant & Margaret Jane on the slide at The Crab Trap
Hugh & Grant playing at the bay
Grant at The Crab Trap
Jason & his brother Jim
Eli with some sun under his eyes
I just love this pic of MJ, that face cracks me up
Eli playing in the sand

We could not keep MJ out of the ocean!
At Jim's condo
Eli on the balcony at Jim's

Our oldest and our youngest
Our boys



Eli cleaning up the day we had to go home

Golf Anyone?

For the past few years the Robert Trent Jones Course in Prattville, AL has been the host of the Navistar LPGA Classic. Jason went last year and took Hugh & Grant and this year he wanted us all to go. (Well, what I mean by that is he wanted me to get a babysitter for the babies so I could join them!)
Thanks to a good friend of ours that works for the City of Montgomery, we got free tickets to the Sunday round along with VIP passes for the skybox located on the 18th green. We had a wonderful time, it was an overcast day but the rain that was predicted held off until literally minutes after the tournament ended. When we arrived we walked several holes and checked out the golfers, then we went to the 18th hole and sat in the skybox for a while. There we were able to enjoy a complimentary meal and sit and watch some of the golfers finish up the day. After that we headed back out to watch the leaders on a few holes then we finished the day up back on the 18th. We saw several friends and enjoyed mingling with the crowd (estimated at 11,000). Lorena Ochoa won the tournament. A native of Mexico, Ochoa also won this event last year. We followed Honolulu's own Michelle Wie for a few holes and enjoyed watching her intensity on the course. We were glad to be able to see an up and coming star in ladies golf, Alexis Thompson. Alexis is a 14 year old phenom who played the tournament as an amateur, she was very accessible and even took time to take a picture with Jason and the boys! Fan favorite and reality show star Natalie Gulbis didn't make the cut for the tourney. Too much time spent working on her star status and too little time working on her game, perhaps.
We were thrilled to hear that Prattville had their contract extended to host the Navistar for another year. We cannot wait to go back.
CORRECTION: Natalie Gulbis did in fact make the cut for the Navistar tournament. Her tee time was so early Sunday morning she was finished by the time we arrived and I made the erroneous assumption that she hadn't made the final cut.

This was our view of the 18th green from the skybox:
Looking back on the skybox area:
The tournament was filmed for the Golf Channel:
Hugh & Grant looking for golf balls:
Tournament winner Lorena Ochoa:
Honolulu, Hawaii's Michelle Wie:
Ochoa approaching the 18th green:
My guys with 14 year old golfer Alexis Thompson: