Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve morning we met all of John's partners and their families at the hospital to pass out cookies to the nurses. Chase, Alex, and all the other kids love riding on the cookie cart:)

Then we headed out to Jimmy and Emily's to have our Christmas with them. Alex had to scope everything out and see what all he was going to get.


Avery got some new cool rain boots! She loved sucking on them.

But didn't like it when I took them from her and we put them on her feet.

Alex got a recorder, rain gear, and an Alabama sweatshirt to name a few.



Avery loves her little puppy dog that will bark at her. She also got some new clothes.

I know he doesn't look happy in this picture but he really loves his new rain jacket and boots.


My Rose Bowl ticket!


Alex and Papaw.


That night we headed over to Mimi and William's for Christmas with Emily's side of the family.
Alex with his new "football" nutcracker.

Avery got a new play mat. She loves to sit on it and check herself out in the mirror.


Alex got a new piano from Mimi and Grandan.

Alex and his cousin, Elly, playing their instruments together. Alex and Elly also got guitars.

Elly kept coming in towards the end of the night saying, "Mimi has a big mess." We thought she meant all the wrapping paper thrown all over the room and then we realized she meant the dishwasher was bubbling over. David put the wrong detergent in the dishwasher:)

Christmas with Richard and Louise

A few days before Christmas we had our Christmas with Nanny and Great-Grandaddy over at Kristy and David's house. The kids of course had a lot of fun!
Avery opening one of her presents.

Avery with Nanny.

The Rudolphs!

Alex got an easel that has a chalkboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other. He has only marked on the wall with a dry erase marker once.:)

Avery got a ball popper and some stuffed animals.



Great-grandaddy and Avery.

Christmas at Alaca place

This is starting to be a tradition (I hope) and I love it! We went last year and Alex enjoyed it and we got to go again this year. Thanks Kristy and David for inviting us! Don't move! :) Their street has this big Christmas celebration with horse drawn carriage rides, food, and Santa throwing gifts off of a roof for the kids. Alex was so tired! We had church and two birthday parties before we made our way over to Alaca place. He even fell asleep about 5:30 when we were in the car. So I was trying to make this a quick trip and there wasn't much time for pictures. We rode the carriage while Kristy was taking care of Avery in her house. Then we made it outside just in time for Alex and Avery's name to be called by Santa. Alex was very excited! Here he is with his present.

His gift was a Mr. Potato head and some little plastic dinosaurs to play with.
Alex opened Avery's gift for her and she was so excited to see her Mr. Potato head too! I can't remember this lady's name but she was a friend of Kristy's so it was safe for her to feed Avery, right?:)

The start of Christmas!

Mimi gave us this snowman and Alex asked me to take his picture with it:) So I gladly obliged!

Alex and Avery with Santa. We had breakfast with Santa the first Saturday in December at our church. When we were walking out of the church to go to our car Alex said, "I think Christmas is over." He said it sadly but like he would be ok if it was. John and I both were like, "No, it's not. You have no idea that this is only the beginning."

Hanging out one morning watching the train. Yes, Alex does have shorts on but somehow the blanket looks like it is strategically placed.

Eating our Christmas cookies we baked.

BCS National Champions!

Last Wednesday we headed out to Pasadena, CA for the National Championship game. This was our Christmas present from John's parents-THANKS A TON! It was going to be a quick trip for John and I but we were excited. My parents came in Tuesday to keep the kids until Saturday morning. John and I flew back in late Friday night(he had to round Saturday morning)-I think we got home about 1:30am from the Birmingham airport. Jimmy, Emily, and Parker got to stay until Sunday. Here are Emily and I waiting to leave.

Our flight got in late Wednesday and we went to dinner and then back to our hotel. So Thursday, we got up to do a little sight seeing. We went to Santa Monica and Venice Beach. We walked out on the famous Santa Monica pier and they had a trapeze school! How cool is that??? I so wish I could have stayed longer and taken a class. How fun!


I forgot marijuana was legal in Cali. Wow-it was weird seeing people smoking pot right there on the beach. Lots of interesting folks at Venice Beach.

John was not a big fan of walking through the "smoky weed haze":) He was standing at the car waiting on us-haha! It really wasn't hazy but man, was it a great place to do some people watching! We looked for famous people everywhere we went, and by we I mean Emily and I (and maybe Parker, too) but we didn't see any. I have a friend who said her sister in law saw Courtney Cox and Angie Harmon in the bathroom at the game and another friend saw Angie and her husband, Jason Sehorn, at the game but that's as close as I came:(

Finally, at the Rose Bowl!

The sea of people walking in. I felt like there were 5 TX fans to every one of ours.

Josh Groban sang the national anthem.


Even Elmo was there!

I loved this guys hat!
After we won he actually took a picture with me! You know he was excited if he did this willingly!
Celebrating the big win!

Happy 3rd Birthday Alex!

My big 3 year old!

Alex and Avery before church.

His room decorations! They look a little shoddy but remember we were doing this at midnight Saturday trying not to wake him up. Sleeping has been a little shaky around here these days so I didn't want to do anything to wake him up.:)




He opened our present Sunday and we had cupcakes for dessert after dinner. He is having a friend party Friday at Chuckee Cheese and a family party Saturday at our house-so he'll have 3 days of celebrating.

He got the game elefun. He loves catching the butterflies in his net.





Alex Facts:
Alex weighs 39lbs and is 3ft 5in tall. He is in the 97th plus percentile for height and weight. Alex is a great big brother. He is just now kind of starting to get irritated when Avery reaches for him and grabs at his stuff or his hair, but usually he loves to play with her. He is so sweet, always making sure she has a toy to play with. One day she was crying and I was getting dressed and she had stopped. I went in to check on her and Alex was holding her hand taking care of her. :) See how sweet he is? He loves to read, sing, play instruments, and dance. He makes up his own songs sometimes which usually just consist of him naming things he sees around the room or what he just saw. Example: bookshelf, rug, chair with clothes on it, pillow-sung to whatever tune he chooses. He has also started calling people "bowl of spagetti." He'll say "bye bye bowl of spagetti" or "thank you bowl of spagetti." I don't know where he got it from but he says it at the most random times. He is always happy, but he is starting to get in moods where he acts shy around people and will hide behind our legs. He loves his grandparents and family. He still knows they are his playmates 24-7 when they are here. He loves to watch tv. Wonder Pets, Little Bill, Little Einsteins, Toy Story, Cars, Dora and Diego, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you name it he'll watch it. He has always been a great sleeper but a few days before Christmas he started saying he was scared to sleep in his room. It was hard to deal with because we weren't sure if he was just wanting attention or really serious. It eventually ended a few days after Christmas but now he is getting up everynight to come into our room. We will find him in our bed and not know how long he's been there. Or I'll hear him cough and look down and there he is laying on the floor by our bed. I don't know how to stop him. Yesterday he didn't get to watch tv because he didn't stay in his bed at night. Last night he got up to potty about 4:45 and then came in our room at 6:30. His "alarm clock" (a night light that is a moon at bedtime and then turns into a sun in the morning when we set it, so he knows when he can get up) doesn't go off till 7. Hopefully, tonight will be better. He really wants to do things on his own now. He told me twice today "to leave him alone" which meant letting him potty by himself and brush his teeth by himself. It's pretty funny for him to tell me that! Alex is one of the funniest little boys I know! We love him dearly and are so glad he is ours!