Christmas In Heaven - In Loving Memory of my sweet Daddy

CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN

I see the countless Christmas trees,
Around the world below
With tiny lights like heaven’s stars,
Reflecting on the snow.
The night is so spectacular,
Please wipe away your tears,
For I’m sharing Christmas, with Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs,
That people hold so dear,
But the sound of music can’t compare,
With the Christmas choir here.
I have no words to tell you,
The joy their voices bring.
It’s far beyond description,
To hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain within your heart
But I’m not so far away
We really aren’t apart.
So be happy for me, loved ones.
You know I hold you dear
And be glad I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I send you each a special gift,
From my heavenly home above
I send you each a memory of my undying love.
After all “LOVE” is the gift more precious than pure gold,
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other,
As my father said to do
For I can’t count the blessings,
Or the love He has for you.
So, have a Merry Christmas and wipe away those tears
For I’m sharing Christmas, with Jesus Christ this year.

This precious poem has hung on my Christmas tree every year for the past 5 years in loving memory of my sweet Daddy. It is a reminder of God's promise of what is in store for us in His kingdom and that He is taking care of our loved ones. I can't imagine what a wonderful celebration my Daddy must be experiencing. To anyone reading this that might be going through your first holiday season without a very special loved one, I hope this poem brings you peace. You never get used to a loved one being gone and I can't give you false hope that each day gets easier because it doesn't. While it may get easier to make it through each day, it is the memories you make after they are gone that you miss in sharing with them the most. This is what makes each day and year that passes harder and harder. I have lots and lots of memories of a very happy childhood shared with both of my parents and my sister and no one can take these away from me. Since the loss of my father, I have married the love of my life and welcomed two beautiful little girls so there have been lots of days that my heart has been heavy with the memories that I have missed sharing with him, but I know that he is looking down with a big proud grin on his face and bragging to everyone about his precious grandchildren. No doubt, this Christmas morning will be hard, there will be a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye because I can already envision that my Daddy would be sitting in the floor holding Maggie and later chasing Addison around the front lawn as she played with all of her new toys - he was always a big kid at heart. Losing a loved one teaches you many things - cherish every second, make lots of memories, and take lots of pictures! So, to all of my family, excuse the many flashes from my camera, but there are few things that make me smile bigger than looking at a picture and being reminded of a special memory or hearing the sound of a familiar voice on a home video that I miss hearing so often. So, since we never know when God will call us home, it is up to us to capture these memories for those that we leave behind. Merry Chirstmas!

Canton - The City of Lights!

We went to Canton this past Sunday night to look at all the beautiful lights, walk around the square, and of course, ride the carousel. We thought we might ride the horse and buggy, but at $5 per person we decided to pass (Carrie wanted to know if it would take us back home for that price!). We thought we might save that experience for somewhere better than Canton. If you haven't been to Canton at Christmas, you really should - we try to go every year; it is beautiful! Addison had a blast on the carousel and the cars and Maggie never knew she was there - she slept cozily in her sling against CC's chest. Afterwards, we rode around Lake Caroline and Ashbrooke looking at all the Christmas lights. Merry Christmas to all!!!

CC, Lee, and Addison had fun playing the leaves

Us in front of the large Christmas tree on the courthouse lawn

Sisterly Love!

Addison and Maggie love playing together - below are just a few of the pictures from the last week of them doing some of their favorite things!

Doesn't Maggie look like a little doll in the picture above?

Strolling around the house - Addison loves pushing Maggie around and as you can tell, Maggie loves it too! Mom just has to follow close behind to make sure they don't have a crash!

After all that, they both went down for a nap!

On another note: Maggie had her first shower this week and she loved the water sprinkling down on her. Also (knock on wood), she has slept through the night for the past 4 nights anywhere from 8-10 hour stretches! Yeah, hopefully this will continue since my days at home are nearing the end.

Meet our Elf - Toby!

This year we started the Elf on the Shelf tradition and Addison named our elf - Toby! We read the book on December 1st and we aren't sure where she got this name from, but hey, it's their tradition. She loves getting up every morning searching the house for Toby, so far he has hidden on both her's and Maggie's shelves and in both of their stockings, as well as on the rooftops of several of the Snow Village houses. Toby is a magical elf that can't be touched (hence, his hiding in such high places) or he loses his magic, and he flies back each night to report to Santa how good or bad Addison and Maggie have been during the day. It is so much fun watching Addison show him to all of our visitors and explain how they can't touch him or he will lose his magic! This Christmas has been sooo much fun and we aren't even half way through December yet.

Maggie - 2 months old!

I can't believe that Maggie is 2 months old - time flies!!! Here are the snapshots of growth from 1 month to 2 months - she is definitely getting more control of her body. She is starting to be able to hold her head up pretty good and has definitely found her hands. She doesn't really know yet what to do with them, but they seem to find their way to her mouth pretty often! She is also cooing a lot and giving out smiles left and right! We went yesterday for her 2 month check up and first round of immunizations. She did pretty good with her shots (Lee and I on the other hand...it is will always be hard to see a needle go into your little one's legs) she stopped crying before they stuck her other leg and then she cried a little more and stopped soon after that. The following are her stats from her appointment:

Height: 23 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 12 lbs. 4 oz. (85th percentile)

Head: 39 cm. (65th percentile)

On another note: Addison went for her first trip to the dentist yesterday and did wonderful. They called her name and Lee walked her to the assistant and she grabbed her hand and bounced off to the back. After they were finished, they called us back where she was picking out her toy and they just bragged and bragged on what a big girl she was and how good she did. They said that she just jumped up in the chair, laid back, sat still (are you kidding?) and opened her mouth real big (they said that this is not normally the case with 2 year olds). We had prepared her pretty good for this experience and she was very excited about going to the dentist. She has all 20 of her teeth in and since they came in close together, we are supposed to try and floss them every day - that should be fun with a 2 year old! On the way home, I looked back to find her trying to brush her teeth in the back seat and last night she had to make sure that her "tooth floss" was put away in "her" bathroom! We would highly recommend Dr. Amy Jones at Madison Pediatric Dental Group to anyone looking for a dentist - they have a great kid-friendly office and did a wonderful job.

Addison reading books to her little sister! So sweet!

Helping Daddy get ready to Duck Hunt!

Addison loves "helping" anybody do anything! So, it was no surprise that she wanted to help Lee "decorate" his new duck blind and then break it in for him. She was so funny - holding everything just like he did and sitting/standing just like her daddy was at the time and now she says "Daddy, we shoot them deer/duck like this: POW, POW!" (of course, with lots of hand/body motions!). It is priceless to see her do it, words don't do it justice!

Visit with Santa

Our hope is that Addison was old enough to remember her very special visit with Santa Claus, but young enough not to expect it every year because last night she was one very lucky little girl! Flashback to last year, Addison didn't cry, but she definitely wasn't too sure about Santa Claus and didn't flash her precious little smile or utter a single word. We have been talking to her a lot lately about the reason for the season, as well as Santa Claus. She has been asking to go see Santa and has been really excited so we were hoping for a much better experience this year. There was no line (only one little boy in front of us) and she waited patiently until it was her turn all the while waving and blowing kisses at Santa! Well, what do you know, right as it was her turn the camera or computer started messing up, so we had to wait a little longer. After a couple of minutes, Santa called her to come on up while they worked on the camera and since no one was behind us he sat down on the floor and put her in his lap and read her "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - she LOVES to be read to and the whole time she was pointing to pictures on the page and saying "Ho Ho", "Santa", and "reindeer". Once he was finished (they were still working on the camera), they talked about what she wanted and how good or bad she had been, what he could bring Maggie, and that she had left her "pappies" on the Christmas tree to be taken to other little girls! I bet she sat and visited for a good 15-20 minutes and once the camera was finally fixed we sat Maggie in his lap and she even opened her eyes; we got our picture and left! Lucky for me, I remembered that last year I had seen people taking pictures with their personal cameras and was surprised, so this year I took mine and with a minimum purchase they let you take pictures of your own - I would have been sick if I would not have had my camera. Although, I didn't take too many pictures because the moment was too precious and I was watching her take it all in.
A priceless Christmas gift - experiencing Christmas through the heart and eyes of a child!

Merry Christmas!

Maggie in her cute outfit (it is hard to see it in the big picture)

Last year's picture with Santa

Decorating for Christmas!

We got to spend the whole Thanksgiving week this year with my mom since I am on maternity leave and it was so much fun. She is always off the whole week and I am usually jealous at work because she usually visits us and is out shopping/playing and I am stuck sitting at my desk until 5! But, not this year, and we definitely made the most of our week. We spent Sunday through Wednesday in Madison decorating my house and shopping. For the first time ever, I am pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping (still a couple of things to pick up but I know what I am getting so that really doesn't count!) and I have never had my tree up before Thanksgiving, but since we were going out of town I wanted it to be up when I got back. Then, we spent Wednesday through Sunday in Macon and we helped Da'be decorate her house for Christmas after Thanksgiving and just relaxed because it was too windy and cold to be out very much.

Decorating at our house in Madison - Addison was a big helper!
Posing under her "Fairy" Hallmark ornaments that Da'be gives her each year - it is a series that started the year I was pregnant. Maggie has the newest series this year that has a snowman hanging an ornament each year.
Addison has only had a pacifier at bedtime and naptime, but it is way past time to kick this habit as well so we have been telling her since before Maggie was born that we were going to put all the "pappies" under the Christmas tree and Santa would swap them out for toys. She had bought on to the idea and told several people of her plans. Well, while we were at Da'be's house (and no one was in the room with her) she decided that to hang her "pappie" on the Christmas tree! I was so proud of her and now Santa is going to take them to little girls who don't have a "pappie". This was on Saturday and so far so good. Don't get me wrong, we have cried ourselves to sleep several times and had to discuss our plans for the "pappies", but she didn't mention it at all this morning and went to bed without tears or talking about it tonight. We have one on our tree and we left one on Da'be's tree and they will hopefully stay there! Da'be told her it looked like a "diamond ring" hanging on the tree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the Thanksgiving holidays in Macon and it was so much fun getting to spend lots of time with our family and friends. We had Thanksgiving lunch at Da'be's house with Grannie, CC, Uncle Gary, and Nana. Everyone pitched in and the food was wonderful! We all have so much to be thankful for.Nana and MaggieDaddy and Maggie sneak in an "after-turkey" nap!After lunch, we headed down to the pond and Uncle Gary and Addison fed the fish

CC, Addison, and Mama - CC gave her "styling" sweater dress - thank you!Later that afternoon, we headed to Starkville to visit with the Lindley's!

Aunt Lauren played all night with Addie and she had a blast!

On Saturday, Nikki and Camryn came by to meet Maggie; it was nice to catch up!

All Smiles!

This little girl gives out smiles all the time! For anyone wondering if you could possibly love another child as much as the one you already have - absolutely - there is an abundance of love to go around!

Date Night!

Lee and I had our first "date night" since we became a "family of four". We went to the Sugarland concert on Saturday night and had a blast! Sugarland is my favorite band so I was real excited to find out they were coming to Jackson on a weekend and not on a Thursday night. It was so much fun and all of the performers were great, as were our seats! We were long overdue for a night out by ourselves, but we really missed our two little girls. Addison was really jealous and as we were leaving, she kept saying over and over that she wanted to go on a "date" so on Sunday she and her daddy went on a date to the "gun show" - I think she got the short end of the stick!

Ashton Shepherd performed first and she sang several songs that I liked but didn't know she sang! Not surprising since I am not the most knowledgable person when it comes to music history! She sang "Takin Off This Pain" on the CMA Awards just last week and has a new song that is pretty catchy - "Sounds So Good".Next, came Kellie Pickler, who is a ball of fire and always fun to watch. My heart just goes out to her everytime I hear her sing just thinking of how far she has come and yet neither of her parents are there for her to enjoy it with. Just goes to show that fame isn't everything! New song to watch for - "Rocks Instead of Rice" (song #3) - it is a lighthearted funny song that anyone from a small town can probably relate to!And, finally, the headlining act - SUGARLAND!!! They were well worth the price of the tickets as well as the walk in the cold weather from the car to get there! If you wondered why they are the "Duo of the Year" you should have been at the Coliseum on Saturday night. They are so full of energy and definitely great performers that feed off of each other. Jennifer has an awesome voice and is such a free-spirit. The stage set-up was so neat and the big-screen showed some of their personal lives as they performed - really unique element to the show. New Sugarland song to listen for: It Happens, but I must say the Coliseum was definitely rockin' when this song came up: "Down in Mississippi".
Rolling through the audience in large blow-up balls!
The encore song was "Love Shack" performed by everone on tour in funky wigs!Thanks Da'be for babysitting - we know you had as much fun as we did!