Parties and Worship!

We have had an eventful weekend!

Friday night we went to a party at Lauren Kelly's house. It was so fun to eat Great food (Wabee you did an EXCELLENT job!) and enjoyed some Great Company! We exchanged gifts and played a little charades! LOVE THAT GAME! My camera battery died, so I didn't get any pictures this night.

Saturday night, we went to my work Christmas party. It was in Dallas. We traveled with some friends...I can't believe I didn't get a picture with them! Kristin and Matt Sessoms. Ugh! I'm sad for not having a picture with them. Anyway, the party had GREAT food and fun conversation, with a strawberry cake that was INCREDIBLE (the one of many kinds of cake offered)! Thanks to wabee, Jill, and Michelle for babysitting! You guys rock!

Today, we worshiped! Laura Beth wore a coat that my mom passed down to her. My grandmother made this coat for my mom when she was little. It's pretty sentimental.

Where's Laura Beth?

There she is!

After church, I wrapped Christmas presents. This is one of my favorite things to do during this season. I took a picture of this one...the picture doesn't do it justice. This gift goes to Gage. I really impressed myself with the wrapping. Does anyone want me to help them wrap their Christmas presents?
Then, Laura Beth and I went to the mall with some neighbors who are moving soon. We saw Santa Claus and played on the indoor play area. Laura Beth looks like she is having a blast, doesn't she? She really did enjoy it, even if this picture doesn't show it. ha!

Then we went to church for a Christmas program and a "cookie" reception. Laura Beth had a great time!When we got home Laura Beth wanted to carry my purse. Then she found my shoes. I wondering how long it would take her to really like "dress-up." Looks like we are well on our way to playing big girl dress up. :)
All together, we are in for another busy week. It is exam week. Steve can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this semester. :)

Deck the halls...or hall...or wall.

So we live at Seminary.... and our home is quite small. Therefore, my Christmas decorating is a bit "scaled back" this year. We bought a BEAUTIFUL (Sarcasm) $25 "Walmart special" fake tree for the living room. We always buy a real tree and have fun traditions with it, but this year we have carpet and "hole" to put the tree in. It was going to be too difficult to fit a real tree in the hole and clean up around it. Steve and I are "fine" with this tree...but often get a laugh at it when walking through the living room. A memory to cherish. :)

Here are some shots of the decor:

THE TREE.
Ceiling Lights on. The REAL picture of how funny it is. ha!

Ceiling lights off. A little better. Still funny though.

A wreath my mommy bought me last Christmas. Thanks mom!!!

Ceiling Lights off. No Chimney this year.

Laura Beth's Christmas tree in her room. The pink ornaments came from her Wabee.

Lastly, these pictures are of Laura Beth being her "grown up" self. She like to puts clothes on and off now. I am folding laundry on the couch and suddenly I see Laura Beth has put Steve's shorts on all by herself. I look over and she is sitting on the floor with her daddy's shorts on. I laughed so hard.

Walking around styling my daddy's shorts. Oops! They won't stay up.
Come on shorts...STAY UP!
So then she decides they will "stay up" nicely around her neck. ha! And a roll of wrapping paper is such a nice toy. Who would have thought?

We are really enjoying these days of watching her grow. We look forward to a Fun Filled Christmas season. Steve and I have LOTS of "grown up" parties to attend. Pictures to come. :)

Thanksgiving

We started out thanksgiving with Laura Beth saying "bye" to one of her newest Buddies. She is pretty much "in love" with this guy, Jesse. We are to thankful to have Jesse as a new friend and Laura Beth likes him too. :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We started our trip by heading to Greenville, MS. Laura Beth's Mimi and Pops gave her these overalls. We found a tractor for her to ride in with them. Thanks Renee for letting us play on ALL of your toys. :)

We hadn't been back to Greenville since we left in June. We enjoyed catching up with old friends!

The Nichols (James is the Preacher at First Baptist Greenville, our former church)

Malia Driving Laura Beth around (so sweet)

Don't let the picture fool you. These two girls are 2 of Laura Beth's favorite people. However, someone must have mentioned picture to Laura Beth and that was the end of it. UGH!

Laura Beth coloring with Kelsey Darby. So sweet of Kelsey to entertain Laura Beth.

Then, we went to Jackson. This was Laura Beth and Steve's first time to meet Gage, my sister's son. We had a wonderful time loving on him.

The men injecting the turkey. It was such a good Fried turkey!

Lou giving Gage some loving!

Laura Beth playing with Gage on his mat. Laura Beth loved laying on the mat and playing with all the dangle toys when Gage wasn't in there.

Our attempt at getting a family picture. It's rough to get pictures these days.

Papaw being a "human High chair" while Laura Beth snacked.

Gran feeding Gage.

Laura Beth loved to kiss and hug Gage. BUT she DID NOT want to hold him. Please tell me it is phase!!!

Aunt gee Gee and Steve

Uncle Lou giving "UNCLE LOVE"

Thursday, Gran (my mom) gave Laura Beth an early Christmas present. Aunt Gee Gee helped pick it out. We couldn't not stop laughing at Laura Beth learning to drive it. It's a volkswagon beetle bug car. I have video and will have to post it later.

On Friday, my mom, sister, and I went shopping at 4 a.m.! I got it all done though. Everything in one morning with great deals.

Friday afternoon, we got to hang out with Steve's family. We tried to get pictures BUT Laura Beth is at the stage where when ANYONE says pictures she is TOTALLY against it. You should see the one of her sitting on Santa's lap. At least she sat in some of these pictures.




Laura Beth had a GREAT time playing with her cousin Hannah Claire. They played so well together this trip. I was so happy to see them hold hands, hug, run after each other, and even sit still and eat together. Hannah Claire is a VERY sweet big cousin.

This is them playing in the leaves.

Almost caught this kiss.

Altogether, we had a great thanksgiving. We're just really tired. This is a picture of Laura Beth in her car seat (one of the many times this week) and she put her Lee Lee (bear) over her head and fell asleep. Steve and I got a good laugh out of it, thought you might too. ha!

When we got home, we went to a "boot Scoot" at Travis Ave Baptist church, where Steve works. It was alot of fun. :) If you look close you can see who the center of attention was during the photo shoot. (Can't believe she wanted to be up front in all of this considering it WAS A PICTURE!)

In MS!

We are in MS!!!! We just got to Jackson tonight. We stayed in Greenville last night and visited with MANY friends today. (I'll post pictures when we get home).

It is so nice to be with family this thanksgiving. Steve and I are so thankful for the opportunity to travel this year on this holiday! We have several friends who are unable to travel home during this time, however they are still celebrating all that they have to be thankful for. :)

Personally, I am thankful for a loving husband and daughter. I am also thankful for these days God has given me to spend with them and the rest of our family (as we live to so far away, in Texas).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!! We'll post more details of our travels soon (with pictures.)

MILESTONES!!

We have been hitting several milestones this week. I don't have pictures of them (as you will understand why after reading what they are. ha!)

Laura Beth sang the entire alphabet this morning to her daddy. Steve said she started it herself and finished it. He said she produced every letter. :) I was pretty impressed. She also says, "Good morning, Mommy" in the mornings when I go to get her.

Last night, she went poo poo on the potty!!! I was so proud of her. She felt the urge, stated out loud, "Poo poo on the potty." and ran to the bathroom.

We can't believe the things she can do and say. Thank you God for healthy (most days), sweet, and happy Laura Beth. We are thankful for the days He has given us to spend with her.

Tonight I am going to see Twilight at MIDNIGHT (I can't believe I agreed to that). Then, I will decorate for Christmas this weekend, since we'll be out of town most of next week.

Steve is doing well in school...study, study, study. He is also busy trying to rent/sale our house in greenville. Any takers? Other than that, he is busy with church work and playing with Laura Beth any spare second he has. He loves that she can say, "I love you, Daddy."

We'll post thanksgiving pictures next week. We'll be in Greenville late Tuesday night and all day Wednesday to see friends. Then, we'll head to Jackson, MS to visit family.

Never ending illness

We have finally gotten through another illness. Laura Beth had her 18 month vaccines (yeah, I was behind in getting them) a couple fridays ago. Then, she got fever 7 days later. We assumed it was from that horrible MMR. She also didn't sleep well and was very fussy during the days. Turns out that we think she had Hand, Foot, and mouth virus. I know you're wondering why I would think that. Well, at this age, her canine teeth are coming in. I thought the soar on her lip was from teething. I thought the rash on her bottom (for a day) was from MMR vaccine or from bad diapers (from vaccines or teething). She also had fever and a sore throat (which I thought was from the cold she has had). At daycare today, I notice a sign stating a child in the daycare had contracted hand, foot, and mouth. I instantly realized what Laura Beth probably had. BUT she was over it already by the time I found out what it was.

Good news is...now that she has had it, she won't get it again (hopefully). That's what our new motto is about illness. ha!

This was her last Sunday after a fun morning of church. She had a cold, poor thing. My dad says, "she looks good and snores...and she got that from me." ha! Turn up your volume. It's pretty funny.



This next picture is quite funny. Laura Beth has a pop-up book that her Mimi gave her before we moved to TX.The book is all about the creation, starting with Adam and Eve. Laura Beth LOVES to name Adam, Eve, and Jesus. Well, last week Steve was reading the book with Laura Beth. Afterward, they came downstairs for a diaper change and Laura Beth handed Steve these 2 heads. Yes, Laura Beth wanted Adam and Eve to come with her. She decapitated them. She did a really precise job. That "precision" is what Steve and I find to be so funny. I guess she isn't happy that they sinned. ha!

More clowning...

Halloween morning was so cold that I thought it was a perfect time to learn about wearing hats in the winter time, as Laura Beth thinks they are toys up until this point. She did well wearing it, especially since Daddy wore his to help us learn. Such a wonderful daddy.

Going to check the mail. So Sweet.Riding someone else's bike.Cheese.

We ended up going to visit some friends on Halloween. Of course, the grown ups were supposed to dress up. We had nothing planned. I had to borrow. I ended up borrowing this Rubik's cube which doubled for the PERFECT toy. Laura Beth is in this cube. ha!


We decided to take the kids down the street for trick-or-treating. Laura Beth said, "trick-or-treat" at every house (she learned it from Barney...that dumb purple dinosaur does teach some things). However, the neighborhood was brand new and all of the houses were still in construction so we didn't have much luck. However, I count it as Laura Beth's first time to trick-or-treat. Afterward, we headed back to the party and Laura Beth shoved this entire cupcake into her mouth. ha!

Then, group picture of the girl's costume. It was fun hanging out with new friends.