Thanksgiving 2011

We began Thanksgiving by having lunch at Deer Step, my sister-in-law's hunting lodge. 

As you can all see, the views are GORGEOUS.   



MawMaw Smith with 3 of her great-grandchildren (Eastlon was napping)



Friday evening we had our Thanksgiving Dinner with my family. 

Instead of the traditional turket and dressing, we had grilled pork tenderloin.  Delicious!



We had a great Thanksgiving week and have so much to be thankful for! 

We ended our weekend by watching the Iron Bowl with Kenny, Shana and several of their friends in Athens.  We had a blast and a victory over Auburn made the evening even better! 

Looks like AL is New Orleans bound to play in the National Championship against LSU.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We have a walker!

That's right... my little man started walking last week.  He literally went from taking a couple of steps every once in a while to literally walking 10+ steps at one time the first day! I was shocked because I thought it would be a much more gradual process.  I guess I'm used to things progressing slowly because that's how it's been for Noah.  It's so cute and I love watching him toddle around the house.  Although it's a bit bittersweet that he's walking before his big brother, I won't let that take away from the excitement that Collier is now doing it.  It does seem to have encouraged Noah to walk more too, which I had hoped for.  Along with the walking, Collier has developed a bit of an attitude.  He no longer wants to sit still (not that he ever really did) but he gets MAD when I try to change his diaper and his clothes.  And don't you dare try to take a toy or something he's not supposed to have, away from him!  That's just unthinkable.  He throws these little tandrums... arches his back, cries outloud and throws his head back!  Of course, a few minutes later and he's fine.  Although, he's still his happy little smiley self majority of the time. 

He loves talking on his cell phone and will hold it up to his ear, walking around talking.  It literally sounds like he is having a one-sided conversation.  He will be in the middle of talking and giggle outloud, then start talking again.  If only I knew what all he was saying!  He has started trying to say "juice" when I ask him if he wants some juice.  Although it sounds more like "ooice" with a long 'o'.  He now has 3 little teeth: 2 on top and one on bottom with another one that has just popped through on the bottom.  He is 100% on table food and the transition was pretty easy.  He eats much more a variety of foods than Noah did at this age.  I had a hard time getting Noah to eat meats but Collier really enjoys chicken and fish.  I thought he would have a hard time chewing with only his 3 little front teeth, but he has it figured out prety well.

Collier is such a flirt! He will stare people down until he gets their attention, then he will smile really big, and look away as if he's being bashful.  He will do that over and over: look at them, smile really big, then look away really quick.  Its so funny, like he's playing a little game because he definitely isn't a bashful kid!  He loves attention.  The other night, we were at a UNA basketball game and the man sitting next to us wasn't paying any attention to Collier, so Collier was doing everything he could to get the man's attention!  Staring at him, trying to talk to him, trying to get down and walk over to him... finally the guy smiles and says "hi" and Collier was satisfied.  I love his funny, friendly, outgoing, sometimes headstrong, slightly stubborn personality.  He definitely keeps us on our toes and we love him dearly.

Happy 13 months, Collier! 

This video is kind of long, skip through the first 1:30.  I forgot to edit it before I uploaded it.

Jolly 'ol St. Nicholas

Last Saturday, we took the boys to see Santa at the Land of Lolly.  It was no surprise that Collier LOVED him.  He went to him immediately and sat in his lap in amazement at the jolly ol' guy.  Noah on the other hand, was a bit nervous.  It took him a little bit to warm up to him from a few feet away and he did not want to sit in his lap.  However, he was fine standing beside him so we were able to get some cute pictures of the boys.  Of course, Collier jabbered his little head off and gave Santa his "list" of Christmas wants.  Let's hope Santa speaks "baby talk!"

And here's a picture of the boys with Santa last year (when Collier was just 3 weeks old.) 

What a differance a year makes!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It was that time again... Girls Weekend! I LOVE when we all get together and just wish we could do it even more often than we do.  I am so glad that we have all remained such good friends despite distance, children and all the other activities that take over life after college.  We all met up for dinner at our favorite spot, Sweet Magnolia Cafe, which of course did not disappoint.  Their food is absolutely delicious!  We also celebrated Amanda's birthday by surprising her with a Red Velvet Cupcake, complete with a little candle and a rendition of the Happy Birthday song.  After dinner, we all reconvened at Melissa's house for our own little slumber party: pillow fights, junk food, girl talk and a bra freezing pranks.  Okay, well we didn't have the pillow fights or bra freezing but we did have an amazing time.  I appreciate that even though I've known these girls for 10+ years now, I still learn new things about each of them, which makes me appreciate them each even more.  I love that we are all so comfortable with one another we can share what ever is on our minds and don't have to worry about judgement.  We can get advice, sympathy, and encouragement from one another yet we also celebrate eachother's blessings as though they are our own.  I'm glad that God has surrounded me with an amazing group of friends to go through life with! 

Come along to Sesame Street

During our drive home from Birmingham on Sunday, Jamie and I decided very spur of the moment that we should take a little getaway with the boys. Jamie hasn't taken off work since our summer vacay so he was pretty keen on the idea and Sesame Street Live just so happened to be in Huntsville and what better fun that to take the kids! So we decided to do just that, as well as get a room in Huntsville for the night.  Jamie took of work Wednesday through Friday and we were super excited about spending some time together relaxing and enjoying eachother's company... I told him if he would give me and the kids Wednesday and Thursday then he could have Friday and Saturday to play golf... he was perfectly okay with that exchange!  The show was Wednesday morning at the VBC and the kids loved it.  Noah's expression when the show began was priceless! He loved all of the music and dancing. Collier paid attention at times and would clap his hands but he was a little less interested, plus he hadn't had a nap and it was about that time.  All was great until the 15 minute intermission. Once the show started back up, the kids were over it at that point.  They were getting hungry and antsy so we ended up leaving about 15 minutes before it ended... funny thing is everyone I've talked to did the same thing!  We went to Parkway Place mall to grab lunch and do a little shopping.  Collier was so worn out that he actually fell asleep in the stroller, which is very rare.  After shopping, we checked in to our hotel room at the Westin at Bridge Street and the kids and I took 45 minute naps. 

Following our nap, we walked down to PF Changs for dinner... this is where things got a little hairy for us.  All day our kids had behaved wonderfully, so I had to know that they would crack at some point.  That point was dinnertime.  They were hungry and tired and worn out.  Collier wanted to feed himself (his new thing and he gets mad when I try to help him) so he fed himself honey chicken and fried rice, which of course created a huge, sticky mess.  He dropped his cup, his spoon, the chopsticks he was playing with and his toy cell phone no less than 50 times.  Noah wouldn't stay put in his chair.  I honestly can't blame him though... he had rode in the car to Huntsville, sat in the chair / mine and Jamie's laps during the Sesame Street show, then rode in the stroller at the mall.  So he was antsy.  We hurried through dinner (so much so that Jamie left his credit card and we left one of the kid's straw cups and had to return to get them the next day.)  We made a stop at the Chocolate Crocodile to get everyone a treat and headed back to the hotel.  We all slipped into our PJ's and ate chocolate covered strawberries and oreo covered marshmellows in our "heavenly" Westin bed (seriously, that's what they are called and rightfully so!)  Now the tricky part was getting the kids to both go to sleep in a hotel room.  We had a portable crib brought up and actually wheeled Collier into the bathroom so he would fall asleep.  Jamie, Noah and I slept in the king bed.  Once Collier was asleep, we slowly wheeled him back into the room.  All was good.... until 10:30 when Noah woke up.  He does this periodically and he'll "wake" up breathing funny, kind of gasping for breath but his eyes are shut the whole time.  It's almost like he has a bad dream, but doesn't fully wake up.  Sometimes at home, I'll hear him do this so I'll go in his room and rock him gently to wake him up, which calms him down and the funny breathing stops, then he goes right back to sleep.  I've mentioned it to the doctor and she didn't think it was a big deal, either bad dreams or transitioning into a different sleep stage.  Anyways, he started doing this at 10:30 and I tried waking him up to calm him down but I guess he was confused because we weren't at home so he began crying, which of course, woke up Collier.  After 10 minutes of the both of them crying, I wheeled Collier and his little crib back into the bathroom.  He almost immediately calmed down so I just left him in there the rest of the night!  Once Collier quit crying, so did Noah and he finally drifted back to sleep.  The rest of the night was uneventful (other than Jamie being unable to go into the bathroom because of Collier being in there, so he had to pee in a cup!) and we all slept until 8:30 that morning.

The next morning we got up, fed and dressed, and did a little more shopping at Bridge Street.  I guess I should say I did some shopping.  Jamie and the boys were just along for the ride... but they were very patient with me.  A few hours later, we headed home.  Once we got home, the kids took LONG naps and Jamie and I enjoyed the quiet, alone time and watched a movie together.  We ordered sushi and enjoyed an evening relaxing at the house.  I'm glad we took some time out of the normal routine of things, to get away as a family... even if it was just an overnight trip to Huntsville.  I treasure times like these!  Its the small things that mean the most and I hope our boys always remember these little things that we can do together as a family!