Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day was jam packed. We woke AG up and took him to see what Santa brought. He was quite taken with his tool bench and the noises that it made. (Santa did a great job!) We opened presents and AG was not to sure what to do about the whole thing. This time next year I am sure will be a different story. Samson enjoyed his traditional peanut butter candy cane bone while we opened gifts. My sweet husband got me the UGGs I had been asking for and I can't seem to take them off. They are so warm with this ridiculous cold weather we are having...if it stays like this snow better be in the forecast. Afterwards, my dad kept his tradition of cooking Christmas breakfast 'cept this time it was at my house. :)

That afternoon we packed up and headed out to Murfreesboro to join the Edwards/Perkins clan. AG and Ronnie were too funny running around in all the chaos. Caroline and I enjoyed watching their relationship as cousins develop. For the first time they can actually really interact. AG's favorite gifts were his black UGA jersey with #8 on it (AJ Green!) and his Little People Little Drummer Boy set for his Nativity. The little chunker already looks like a lineman with it on. Ha.

We spent the rest of the weekend in TN and it was nice to just catch up and relax with family. That Saturday night the guys went to a movie and the girls stayed home to put the munchkins to bed and watch Julie and Julia.

Our first three Christmases were amazing but they pale in comparison to this year with AG. Andy and I loved every minute of it with him...we can't wait to continue the traditions that we started this year and build upon them in the years to come.

A few snapshots...the rest are on facebook.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was wonderful and full of new traditions. Ginny and I had been planning for weeks to get together and make cookies and the only time that ended up working was Christmas Eve morning. So we decided to cook a big breakfast together and then make cookies. Hopefully, in the years to come AG and Emma will look forward to helping us bake. Andy and Josh cooked breakfast and did a great job. The Roberts stopped by to help us bake before setting off to their own Christmas Eve celebration. There was something warm and cozy about the whole morning that I just loved. I loved that we were able to spend time with great friends. I loved watching AG and Emma playing together. I loved baking with one of my dearest friends. I'm grateful that my child has wonderful people in his life. Again, there is something warm and cozy on a frigid day about baking with friends you love.

That afternoon I cooked a big dinner and my parents came up to join us for the night. While I cooked Andy and Dad put together furniture for Caro's new apartment. (We love having her around the corner.) After dinner AG got a bath from his GiGi and some sweet snuggle time before heading to bed. Andy throughly enjoyed putting together AG's Little Tikes workbench! He was like a little kid...it was fun to watch how excited he got over how "authentic" the tools were. We left AG's gifts from Santa out on the hearth. We listened to the the sound of the rain outside while watching "White Christmas" to finish the evening and wished it was snowing instead outside. :)

It was a great first Christmas Eve as a family.

Wordless Wednesday...

Short update...

Well Christmas has come and gone and so has this month! Here's a short update on life...once we get back from our trip I'll update with extensive holiday posts/pictures.

Christmas was fabulous! The tool bench was a hit! AG is becoming a handy man just like his daddy by "fixing" things for me around the house. He carries both of his screwdrivers around bangs on things. We find it quite amusing. Andy's already teaching him the difference between a flat head and phillips head.

We are headed tomorrow to the mountains to celebrate New Years with the Withers. We love the tradition that we've started with them and we are excited to see AG and Hannah together. (Last year Erika and I were both pregnant!) There is a chance of snow Friday/Saturday, which would be lovely. We'll keep our fingers crossed. :)

AG's birthday is just around the corner and I've made his invites in iPhoto (oh, how I love my MAC) and just need to order them. I'm waiting to finalize a few details before I do. Once we get back next week I'm going stop by Honeymoon about making AG's cake. Things are coming together and I can't believe that its time to celebrate his first birthday. (sigh.) This year has flown by...2010 is shaping up to be a super busy year already. Happy New Year!

Wordless Wednesday...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

This post was started a week ago but due to the chaos it never wasn't finished till now. Enjoy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Edwards house. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. The tree is decorated and AG's first ornament is on it. Below we have brown paper packages tied up with string. (Red ribbon actually!) Here are some pictures of the house:

Wow. This month is flying by. AG turned 11months old on Friday. I look at him and can't believe that I have a mobile child that is almost a toddler. Speaking of mobile we are walking everywhere these days...he's almost up to full steam and it's a matter of days before we are running after him. AG is quite the independent child...must be that red hair! Which is really starting to come in. He walks all over the house and is purposeful in his adventures. For example for weeks we have wondered how in the world the Xbox would turn on and be running without being touched. (It's kept in the entertainment cabinet that has a child lock on it.) On Friday, Andy was playing a game and AG strolled over to the Guitar Hero guitars and started mashing buttons...thus interrupting Andy's game and solving our weeks long mystery. Well, today I moved the Guitars to the other side of the ottoman that we use to block off the back hallway. Well AG took off walking thru the den to the kitchen, hung a left at the fridge, and then proceeded to head thru the front hall to the guest bathroom and arrived at the guitars. Sneaky, sneaky little one.

The nativity with a gently used Virgin Mary...

So last week I promised a post about our nativity...for those of you who've been waiting patiently here it is.

The first week of November AG was recovering from surgery and had a virus so we spent a week inside cooped up. That Tuesday he discovered a box under his bed that contained hisLittle People Nativity Set. Since he found it I thought we might as well go ahead and open it. I set it up in the den where we keep all of his toys...he enjoyed looking at and holding each of the pieces he also enjoyed making the angel play "Away in a Manger". After two days I noticed that AG had singled out one piece in particular...the Virgin Mary. He carried her all over the den and kitchen. So I commented to Andy as he got ready for soccer about my observation. Off he went to soccer and dinner from Moe's arrived via Jess and Aunt Caro. (They brought it to us since AG was sick and we couldn't go to college night.) As we were sitting down to eat in the dining room I notice Samson chewing vigorously on something...now knowing good and well that he is out of bones (because I hadn't made it to Sam's that week to pick up a new bag due to my sick child) I knew he had something he shouldn't. So I grabbed his collar and pried opened his mouth with one hand to reveal a slobbery, half eaten Virgin Mary!

I'm not going to lie...I was pissed. Really, there is no other word to use there. When Andy came home I showed him what was left of Mary...despite having no hands and half a head she was still smiling...bless her heart she couldn't help it. My husband, always finding humor in my frustration, informed me that now it was even more of an immaculate conception. Ha. I went on and on for the last month about how mad I was because it was a gift from some dear friends. And because you can't call Fisher Price and request a replacement Virgin. Or so I thought.

This past week I came home from our last college night at Moe's of the semester to find sitting on the window in the kitchen a "gently used" Virgin Mary...right alongside the half eaten one that I hadn't brought myself to throw away. I did a double take when I saw it and looked at Andy and said where in the world did this come from. My amazing husband spent quite a bit of time scouring eBay for a replacement. He finally found one and bought her. She's slightly smaller than the current model and shows she's been played with. I could care less about either of those points. I'm just happy that we have a new, gently used, Virgin Mary for AG to play with.

The lessons I have learned from this humorous little story are...1) I need my husband. Simply put. He is my other half. He finds humor in my frustration and he goes the extra mile to serve me. AG wouldn't have noticed much less known what was missing from his nativity but I knew and it bothered me...Andy found a way to fix it for me. So thank you Andy for all you do for our family. I couldn't do it without you. 2)Even when I'm frustrated I need to laugh. Our life is only going to become more wild and wooly as the years pass...laughter is a great way to let off steam and realize this moment is not what defines us. It's just a moment to laugh at and retell years from now when our kids are older. 3) You can buy pretty much anything on eBay...even a gently used Virgin Mary. :)

Ps-On Samson's behalf I will say that this episode was totally out of character for him. He has only chewed up a hand full of items since we've had him. I think he was frustrated at his lack of exercise, being cooped up, and not having plenty of bones to chew that week.

AG walking...captured on video...

Well we captured a video and I've tried for over an hour to get it to load to the previous post...for whatever reason Blogger will not let me load it to the previous post. So I'm going to try and load it to this post.

Excuse AG's getup...we had mac-n-cheese with dinner and despite wearing a bib he ended up with a ton on his overalls. Andy took 'em off so that he could play. We couldn't decide if he looked like an old man or a hillbilly. You decide. :)

Walking...

Well, AG hit a huge milestone this last week! He started walking! His pediatrician predicted at his 6 month check-up that he would walk before his first birthday and he started right at 10 1/2 months. Last Tuesday night we were in the kitchen and we did a double take because we thought we saw him do something but we weren't sure. The next day I was on the phone and sure enough he started walking towards me! I ended up stripping him down because his footed pjs weren't helping him and I wanted to see what all he could do. He started with 3-5 steps at a time. He would get excited, clap for himself, and then fall down...thus starting this whole process over again. We celebrated with dinner at Chick-fil-A for chicken nuggets...it was a nice way to end a rainy Wednesday. Also, check out that red hair coming in. :)

So proud of himself.

Multitasking it...

What a big man!

Since last week he's done up to 9 to 12 steps in a row. He's starting to get the hang of it. I'm still trying to get it on video...when I do I'll post it. Emma came over for dinner last night and AG enjoyed trying to keep up with her. Andy and I are looking forward to seeing him walking with his cousin Ronnie in two weeks for Christmas...last time we saw her she was almost walking. Should be fun. :)

Wordless Wednesday...

Making room...

Christmas is just around the corner along with AG's first birthday (where does the time go?!) and so we cleaned out his play space in the den to make room for new items. Since we don't have a playroom in this house I'm trying to keep the chaos to a minimum. As we approach the year mark I knew he would need new toys to play with and work with...so we packed up his first toys to put in the attic till we need them again. AG decided he needed to make sure the lid was on tight...he climbed up there all on his own.

We have several Fisher Price playsets that would probably be considered vintage...they were Andy's as a child. We have the zoo, airport, and western town. Toys R' Us had a great sale last week on playsets and so we bought the farm and Noah's Ark. We went ahead and pulled the farm out and we are saving Noah and his menagerie for the first birthday. We also have the Nativity set minus the Virgin Mary...a whole post dedicated to that story is forthcoming. Ideally I'd like to have several different sets to rotate in and out...guess that is the teacher in me coming out. They even have a set of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving that I'd like to get some time. AG helped Andy set everything up...he was quite excited about it.

Samson wasn't sure about all the mooing/crowing/oinking that was going on...

Wordless Wednesday