Five Generations

Scott's great-grandmother is still living, she turns 101 in January. It was pretty neat to be able to take a generation picture that included five different generations.

Mimi (holding Marshall), Scott, Randy, Granny

New Faces

Marshall met lots of new people while we were in Texas. Many family members were eagerly awaiting his arrival as they had never met him before this trip. Scott's grandmother and great-grandmother had not yet met him. Scott's brother also had never met him. Other members of the family hadn't seen him since he was only a couple of weeks old. He got lots of love and attention while we were there.

Marshall meets granny for the first time. He was quite taken with her. He just lounged back and stared.

Playing with Katie and Kyle.

Marshall and his Mimi. She got him to laugh and smile lots!!! He loved the attention Mimi gave him.

Uncle Kyle got a good number of smiles and giggles too!

First Plane Ride

Marshall rode on a plane for the first time last week. We traveled to Texas to visit family for Christmas. Marshall held up like a champ on the plane, he did have the aid of some drugs. I love benadryl, that with a little tylenol really seemed to do the trick. This little boy, who never falls asleep in our arms, fell asleep in our arms several times on the flight there as well as on the flight home. We couldn't have asked him to do any better than he did!!! Travel days always feel so long. We had a great time but it feels good to be in our own bed.

"Don't knock em til you try em."

I love my Aunt Kathy. Last Thanksgiving she and Uncle Bob came with their daughters to celebrate with us. She joined in the annual after Thanksgiving shopping trip too. She suggested going to Hamrick's. The response across the board was, "no, that's an old lady store." My mom added by saying, "that's where they sell elastic waisted pants." Mom didn't know that Kathy happened to be wearing elastic waisted pants that day. She started stretching the waist band in and out and saying, "Hey Helen, like these?" My mom kept trying to avoid looking at her. Well, Aunt Kathy wasn't going to let it slide. Finally my mom looked over and had to admit that those were the type pants she was referring to. After that day, Aunt Kathy decided to get rid of all eleastic waisted pants in her closet and replace them with "big girl pants" (i.e. pants with a button and zipper). Aunt Kathy makes sure to let me know whenever I see her that she is indeed wearing her "big girl pants."

This past Thanksigiving she left a special surprise for me. She bought me a pair of elastic waisted jeans on Black Friday, I hope she got a great deal!!!! I was also told, "Don't knock em til you try em." Well.......there are a few things about these jeans...
1. they have an elastic waist, which casues the bottom to look miles long. Always a look I am trying to achieve!
2. they have an extremely tapered ankle, which causes the legs to look stumped. Again, always a look I am trying to achieve!
3. they have an extremely light wash, which causes the thighs to look really wide. And once again, always a look I am trying to achieve! (Personally, I don't think a wash can be too light, I LOVE a light wash jean!)

AHHHHHH.....I can't believe I have been missing out on the beauty of the elastic waisted pant for all these years.





These pants really do incredible things for a woman's body.




So stretchy, I might dare call it a comfort waist band. It sounds better than "elastic waisted pants."

Look at the ankle on these things. So awesome!!! I'll tell all you ladies a little secret, she only paid $3.98 for these suckers. And no, it wasn't a Black Friday deal. That was the regular price. If you'd like to know where to buy a pair for yourself I would be happy to tell you, my Christmas gift to you.

Christmas at Pop and Loni's

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday night. The adults have so much fun watching the excitement of all the kids. We had a wonderful time celebrating with my family.






Sam and Jack picked these out for my dad. Tom and Staci take them to the dollar store each year in order for them to complete their Christmas shopping. I always look forward to opening my gift from them. Too funny! This year I received some lovely princess mirrors and earrings, which could also double as stickers! Pop's large blue glasses took the cake.



They picked out pom-poms for Loni.
This is what we call safe TV viewing. You never know what kind of damage could be done to the head while watching Tom and Jerry. Atta boy, safety first!

Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas on Saturday morning since we will be leaving for Texas and will be gone on Christmas day. It was so much fun. Kids make Christmas extra special.






waiting to open his presents





the excitement builds...



Scott is reading the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2 before we open gifts.
and the gift opening begins. (I hesitated to post these pics as there is an extreme lack of makeup or showers for that matter! Please don't judge. :))

First Attempt at Cereal

While we were at the doctor last week, she mentioned that we could go ahead and start on rice cereal. I was so excited, I thought he was going to love it. Well....he hated it. I was frustrated and I am certain I made him frustrated. It didn't help that Scott was out of town on this very momentous occassion. I was wishing I was out of town after we began the cereal meal. We did get through about two bites, with tears from both of us! I'll have you know, he now loves the cereal and dives in for a bite before I have time to take the spoon from his mouth and scoop a new bite. So glad he is enjoying it now.









This picture cracks me up. He looks like a little bull dog.