Christmas 09

Where to begin this Christmas post???...but first...can someone help us find our way out of the after-Christmas chaos...Edward is searching for someone to come rescue him from the chaos.Does anyone else's house look like this after Christmas? This is the playroom... and this is everything piled up in the dining room waiting to be sorted through. Oh please pray for me...the mess starts to get overwhelming. Four kids bring a lot of fun but my oh my they bring a lot of stuff with them. When we first moved into this house I remember thinking it was so much bigger than our apartment and there was no way that I would have enough stuff to fill this house, insert huge laughter now, look at us now we are busting at the seams.

Yes I know that I totally outed myself right now because I know that you all thought I kept a super clean house, hahaha! Just trying to keep it real, that's all. I will get it cleaned up, I promise. In fact as I speak Edward is working in the playroom now. What a guy!

I don't know what was wrong today but we were totally "off" today. Both Fletcher and Winston spilled drinks in the kitchen and just as we finished mopping the floor after the second spill, Edward and I were standing in the kitchen talking and my beautiful Christmas platter that was on my baker's rack went toppling to the ground and broke into a million pieces. I got it last year for Christmas from my mom. I only had one large Christmas platter and I loved this one. The crazy part of it all is that as soon as I got over the minute long sadness I had about it being broken I immediately thought, well there's one less thing for me to have to store. Isn't that awful, to have that much stuff that you actually don't stress when it breaks? I think that feeling also comes after you have kids, nothing is really worth that much stress. Oh well, hopefully I'll get a new platter next year. Ok on to the Christmas recap...

Let's just say it was a Big Blue Christmas...after spending 3 years in Tennessee for Christmas we decided to ALL go back to my grandparents house in Kentucky for Christmas. This is where I have spent EVERY Christmas of my life up until three years ago. There were 18 of us in one house and my aunt and uncle live just down the road. We had all missed being in Kentucky the last few years, so we thought we would try it again. Somehow we made it work and we are glad that we did.

The festivities began on December 22nd when I and 15 other members of my family went here...

Yes, that is the beloved Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky...we got to watch my beloved Kentucky Wildcats play...

This was my grandmother's very first time to watch a ballgame at Rupp Arena. It was also Winston's first. The last time we went Fletcher was two and I was 9 months pregnant with Winston. I didn't tell my dr. I was going that far from home for Christmas that year. I later found out that he knew all along, one of my friends had snitched on me. Oh well, I probably wouldn't have listened to him anyway. Winston came 3 weeks later.

The boys loved the game...Fletcher sat on the edge of his seat for a lot of the game...and Winston was a happy man with his Coke and blue and white basketball beads.

And because we believe in training up a child in the way he should go...my nephew Gabriel came at 6 weeks old to his very first UK basketball game.

Oh if only I lived in Lexington...I would be at every game. I LOVE basketball!!! (To my dear friend Jaime, I hope you don't get to upset about this part of the post, I totally respect your loyalty to the Hoosiers. I hope we can still be friends! Ha!) Also I guess I should mention that Edward stayed home with Harper and Jones so that I could enjoy the game with the big boys. A few days before we decided that neither of us would have had any fun if we had had the babies there. So he willingly opted to let me go, of course, I've done my fair share of keeping the kids while he goes to Knoxville to watch UT football. We are equal opportunity sports fans in this house.

I dare not bore you with random present opening pictures because we had a total of 4 Christmases to attend. So I'll just include a few of my favorite highlight pictures.

Harper and her pink feather boa, her umbrella and if you look real close her new silver sandals. She absolutely loves shoes and I promise I have not trained her a bit. She wanted to try her shoes on the minute she got them.

About 5 years ago we decided to mix things up a bit and instead of do a traditional Christmas dinner we did a Mexican meal on Christmas day. We do the traditional meal on Christmas Eve and then the next generation cooks on Christmas day so that my grandma can rest a little on Christmas.

Just a cookin' away are my sister Abby, my uncle Fred, my aunt Shirley, my cousin's husband Kevin and my brother-in-law Alex in the background with his head down. We let Alex do all things related to using large knives, we decided since he was a surgeon we might as well put his talent to good use. Let me just tell you we had some nicely chopped lettuce and tomatoes for our taco bar.

Oh my heart just swells when I see this sweet little face. Jones is the sweetest thing. He's just so happy to be. He was 6 months old on Dec. 24th.

We opened lots of presents. Ate lots of food and then to end the festivities, Harper had her 2nd birthday on Dec. 26th. I spent all week apologizing to her for making her birthday at the most chaotic time of year. I can't believe I had a baby the day after Christmas. We had a nice little party with all of our family. I must say a great big thank you to my Aunt Kim for getting me a birthday cake on very short notice. For some reason I just didn't plan well and had to call in reinforcements just to get a cake. It was a very last minute thrown together party, but it turned out great. My cousin Marissa took some great pictures and put them all on her blog, go here to check them out, they are just great. (She has the awesome camera.)

She wasn't really wanting to pose for birthday pics. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

Harper truly loves presents. She is so much fun to watch, she squeals with delight and loves all girly things. She got jewelry, makeup, and some totally great "Fancy Nancy" red shoes.
I mean how cute are these play shoes??

She finally ditched her tutu and had to try on her shoes.

And then had a grand time enjoying her birthday cake.

We had a great time in Kentucky but we were also so glad to be home. Now we are working to organize all of our Christmas presents and we are so thankful that we got to spend a wonderful Christmas with all of our family.

Twelve Days of Christmas Outfits...#12

Here's our final outfit. I just love this beautiful dress. Merry Christmas to all! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with lots of family and friends.

And I just love this cute casual outfit. She stopped and posed for her daddy for this picture.

A first I've never had before

I'm hoping this is a first and a last for me...

All four kids at the doctor...

Three days before Christmas...two have had fevers, three have had coughs and runny noses and one has had trouble hearing...

So Edward and I loaded them all up and went to see our friend S. Sanderson. She laughed when she saw us all 6 waiting in the exam room. Thankfully all tests regarding flu and RSV were negative, it seems we have a case of the "crud". Treatable with Motrin and Tylenol. Fletcher did have one nasty ear infection though, he's the only one that had to get a prescription.

So now we are all back on our merry way and I have stocked up on all OTC medicines.

Twelve Days of Christmas Outfits.... #11

I love church at Christmastime. I always get so emotional thinking about Mary who had Jesus and what he meant to the world. What an incredible feeling she must have had while raising him. I remember Fletcher's first Christmas because I couldn't get Mary off my mind and it comes back to me every year at Christmas. What a gift we were given.

Harper wore this beautiful smocked blue cord dress to church this morning.

Twelve Days of Christmas Outfits...#10

Yes this post does have Harper's 10th outfit, but it is also the post that starts the Christmas festivities. Actually the parties started on Thursday for our annual Christmas dinner with my two college roommates and their families. We had some great food and a house filled with 9 boys 8 and under and one little girl. Andrea, Merica and I were actually too busy eating and talking that we failed to take any good pictures. Oh well!

The boys have been enjoying all of the parties and they are getting geared up for games with the family in Kentucky. They were practicing Catch Phrase Sunday morning before we went to church. This evening my sister Abby invited us over to her house for dinner. While my mom, Sarah, Abby, Harper and I all ate at the kitchen table all of the men sat in the living room. Edward and Alex held the babies so Sarah and I could eat then we traded. Of course Fletcher was engrossed in playing Abby's iPhone and Winston wasn't about to leave his side. I loved this picture of all 6 of them just hanging out.

Me and my sweet baby Jones.

Harper checking on her cousin Gabriel. She was quite concerned with him. She knew he was smaller than the baby at her house and she knew to be gentle with him.

If you ever come over please be aware that if you take your shoes off she will try them on. She was born with a natural love for shoes. She enjoyed walking around in Winston's boots. They made a very loud noise on Abby's kitchen floor. Did you really think I put her in boots? Oh the horrors. I have saved my favorite two outfits for the last ones. So stay tuned.

Twelve Days of Christmas Outfits...#9

I haven't forgotten you all. I've just been very busy as I know all of you are. So here is outfit number #9. If you look behind me you can see the mirror that hangs in our foyer. I love to hang all of the Christmas cards we receive on the frame around that mirror. It makes for a great conversation piece whenever people come to visit and we love to look at it all month long.

Twelve Days of Christmas Outfits...#8

I absolutely love this photo...big brother and baby brother. Jones has on a Bailey Boys outfit. I love those outfits because they are reversible and you get an extra outfit out of them. You can see the other side here. three brothers...

then the baby girl...

this picture was taken over the Thanksgiving weekend...Harper has a pink fur rug in her room and it is so soft and she loves to play on it. It really makes her room so adorable.

...I did attempt to get one of all four kids but it wasn't working tonight. Oh well!

...also I just finished watching The Sing Off, everybody go vote for Voices of Lee, you can vote 10 times by phone, 10 times by computer and 10 times by text. Here is the link to vote. Lee University is my alma mater. I loved every moment of college. In fact my freshmen year was the year that Voices of Lee began. They have always been an incredible group and are so fabulous to hear in person. So please go vote. Of course I have a strange feeling that most of my viewing audience all graduated from Lee. Ha ha!