Merry Christmas!

Ally (20 months) and Penelope (12 months)
Grandmother, Mamaw, Ally, Uncle Neal
Mamaw, Aunt Katie, Ally, and Justin
Justin, Ally, and Mandy
Ally loving the snow!

Merry Christmas! I am sorry we are a little late on this posting, but things were a little crazy over the holidays. They were great, but crazy. We spent the first week of the holiday break in Brookville and then the second week back at home. The week in Brookville was great and filled with snow. Ally loved the snow!! There was about 6 in. of snow on the ground when we arrived and then when we left we got to drive in snow the entire 8 hr. trip home. So we had snow again in Atlanta when we arrived. I guess it was the first time since the 1800's it has snowed on Christmas day in Atlanta.

Thankfully we arrived back home safely b/c the roads were not bad at all. When we got back home we got to spend some time with our niece Penelope. The girls had a great time together playing. Oh and I say my brother and sister-n-law too :).

This Christmas was filled of toys and fun. Allyson seemed to have a lot more fun with Christmas this year. Some of her favorite gifts were the penguin pillow pet, princess little people house, gotta go potty baby, and her own chair. But, even with all of these great gifts here favorite gift has been her doll and stroller from her Aunt Jenny. She loves this stroller and doll!! When she wakes up for from nap her words are, "walk baby". As in can we go for a walk and bring baby along. Yes she loves it! Thank you Aunt Jenny! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! We will be posting different pictures and a few different videos from the week.

The Pink Pig

This past weekend we took Ally to ride The Pink Pig. The Pink Pig is an Atlanta tradition that has been around for years that supports the local children's hospital. It is a train shaped like a pig that goes around a few times to see a few Christmas decorations. Anyway, this was something I was dying to take Ally too b/c I thought she would love the train ride. Well, I was right on this one... she loved it. I can't wait to take her again next year. Hopefully next year I will plan a little better and not take her on a day that is snowing and has records lows in the city :)

Friday Night Football

The video above is a little taste of what playoff football is like in Georgia. Last weekend we were in the quarterfinals and played against Lowndes County in Valdosta. South Georgia football is huge. They not only have very faithful fans, they also have big football players!! We played against some of the biggest "kids" so far this season.

Anyway the game was great because it was full of excitement. The video above is just some of the video I took before the game and a little bit before overtime. Since the game was full of excitement and ups and downs, I totally forgot to take video of the game in process. I know I need a little work on that :). The video is not the best because I am using our flip camera, which does not have zoom. We love the camera for Ally just not for football games. Anyway I hope you enjoy.

Think good thoughts for us on Friday. We are now in the semi finals playing against Brookwood. If we can beat them we will be one our way to the dome. Hopefully I will better with my video by then.

Go Eagles!!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to have an entire week off of school. It was wonderful! I think it is the best decision Gwinnett County has made in a long time. I sure hope they make the same decision again next year :).

During the week we did lots of different and fun things to make it a little vacation. Ally and I went to paint pottery, we say Aunt Jenny, Great-Grandpa, and Grandma a lot. We even saw Mamaw and Grandpa on the computer too. We got to do all of this Monday-Thursday. Then on Friday morning the fun started. I think one of the best holidays on the planet is Black Friday. To give you an idea of how much I love this holiday I feel I need to share a story with you about something that happened.

So it is 3:50 in the morning and Target is getting ready to open and I am at a red light. Well, I look over at the car next to me, it is a mini van with a mom in it. So I predict she is going to Target too. So what do I do, I speed past her at the light so I can beat her to Target. Yes, that is me on Black Friday morning. I am up and ready to shop!

I actually stepped it up a notch and it worked out great. I got up at 2 AM to first stop at ToysRus, then I made it to Old Navy by 3:15, and then to Target when they opened at 4. It was great! I had a plan to my madness, but I can't share b/c I am afraid more people might join in. If you are interested let me know and I will fill you in. I was planning all week what time to leave and where to go, I know I was driving Justin crazy with all of this :) So I got done shopping by 4:30 AM and then headed home to make one more purchase online before going to bed, again. The only problem was that Justin was getting up soon to leave for Valdosta and I didn't want to wake him so I just hung out for a little bit until he was up. It was a crazy, but great morning!

Shutterfly Cards

It is that time of year again when I love going to the mailbox. I was actually getting mail yesterday thinking, is sending out cards before Thanksgiving even allowed... Even if it is not I was still hoping I would get a Christmas card in the mail. I don't have any yet, but I am sure they will be coming soon.

This year we are going to get our cards from Shutterfly because they have a great deal going for people that have a blog. I think this is great b/c I always end up posting the holiday card on the blog every year as well. I can't wait to show off the one that we finally decide on. I don't know what is harder when designing a card, picking the perfect card, or finding the best picture for the card. Thankfully Shutterfly has tons of card to choose from this year.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

This year I am trying to decide between two. I am a big fan of Santa so I like my card to have a Santa some where on the card. This year though they have photo message cards that I am a big fan of because you get the picture and include a few details about your family as well. Here are a few of those examples-

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/top-ten-moments-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/family-letter-blue-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

There are many more examples of these as well.

I can spend hours looking at cards and pictures. Thankfully Shutterfly has so many to choose from.

Hair and bows

Ally will be 19 months next week and I am finally able to make this post. Her hair is growing!! We are very excited about this. She has gone from some hair at birth to bold at 3 months and now slowly but surely getting more and more hair now. With her hair growing like crazy I figured it was time for bows too. This past weekend I had my first lesson in making bows. It was a blast and I even made Ally three of them. Can you believe that?!?! I attached the bow pictures as well as a picture of Ally's hair blowing while she turns so you can see a good shot of her really growing hair.

Life as a Mom

I remember preparing to become a mother and everyone telling me I would miss the sleep and the quiet time. Yea, I do remember those great times. I also remember everyone telling me you will talk about poop more than you ever thought you would, and well that is true too. I have realized though there are a few things that people forgot to mention to me.

1. Your memory never comes back.

2. Daily I walk out of my house with banana, milk, or cheerios on stuck to me

3. I worry more of what Ally eats, how much she ate, what she didn't eat, and how much she snuck to the dog that I forget to eat.

4. I actually was excited about Halloween this year.

I decided to start this random list b/c I did one of the craziest thing yesterday that I didn't even realize until it was too late. I went to school with 2 different shoes on!! Yes!! At least they were both black and not too crazy different, but they were still different.

I love being a mom, but I have found myself doing things that just crack me up, that I would never believe I would do now. I am sure this list will continue to grow through the years and the kiddos to come. But as of now I still can't believe I went to school with two different shoes on!! I hope I might get a few posts of some crazy things that my other mom friends have done so I don't feel so bad.