Howie

One of the tough things about this Christmas is that we haven't decorated AT ALL and Madison Claire is crazy about all things Christmas.  Our decorations are boxed up with 1/3 of our old house so I didn't even know where to begin to find the right boxes.  That, combined with the fact that we were going to be in Nashville on Christmas day, made me decide not to decorate.  Well, every time we leave the house at night, Madison Claire will exclaim - "Mommy!  I see lights, EVERYWHERE!" It's precious and it breaks my heart because she should have lights at her house, but we don't this year :(.

So...in an effort to have something to get in the Christmas spirit, we decided to do the Elf on the Shelf this year.  Patrick picked one up for us at the bookstore over Thanksgiving and we were excited to bring him out when we got back to Memphis.  We named him Howard, and are calling him Howie.   It is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!  Every morning, when Madison Claire wakes up, she says "Where's Howie" and goes looking for him throughout the house.  When she finds him, she always gasps, and says "HOWIE!".  She will usually then tell him "good climbing" because he is up high.  

Some days she will report to Howie if she got in trouble, or just tell him hello and make sure he is still there.  I was on the fence on whether to do it, but I'm so glad that we did!  

Pointing to Howie up in the corner

Waving to Howie

Christmas Village

Rebecca told me about this fun Christmas Village that a local church puts on every year at Christmas.  We went this weekend and had such a fun time!  They had all of these little "shops" where the kids could make goodies, a Santa (that wasn't so great!), and a fake snow pit - which was by far the biggest hit for Madison Claire!

My boys!

Notice the buddy eating my hair :)

Working on a snowman with MiMi

Madison Claire loved this display

Making an ornament

Throwing the snow into the big pile

Not quite a snow angel...but cute nonetheless

Watch in the video how she realizes that there is snow in her shoe...hilarious!

Ryan made the short list!

In a somewhat fast turn of events, Ryan was contacted about a head coaching opportunity in Alabama, sent in his resume, had a phone conversation and was notified tonight that he made the short list!  Great news...except he doesn't feel like it is where God would have him, so he's on the phone right now telling them he isn't interested in moving forward. I *love* that even though one of his greatest desires is to be a head coach, he is able to discern the right opportunity from chasing a title.  I know his patience & faithfulness (along with his incredible character, football smarts & personality) will be rewarded one day.  I am so proud of him. 

Thank you God for...

my mommy
my daddy
my annie
my baby
my bear-bear
my iPad
my nice pink bed
acorns
my socks
my Grayson
my pink bike
my pink car
my pink stroller
uncle Ben
Jacob
and Jesus....AMEN

*All serious quotes from Madison Claire during prayer time.  Sorry to Mimi, Papa, Nana, Papa, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Patrick, Aunt Meredith, Uncle Tony...Uncle Ben appears to be the favorite right now :)

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I turned 32 on Friday the week of Thanksgiving and if my birthday week was any indication of the year to come, it's going to be the best one yet!  I had the best week I can remember in a long time...I felt spoiled, pampered and loved by all of those nearest & dearest to me!  Here is the quick breakdown of the week.

We drove to Atlanta on Friday the 18th which meant we got to spend just over a week there.  We got in really late, but gift #1 - the kids were great on the trip and gift #2 - Ryan drove the whole way!  We spent Saturday just enjoying the day with my parents and Sarah/Ryan/Jacob.  Sunday we went to church and then Ryan went to the Falcons game with Patrick while I stayed home with the kids.  I had to work on Monday and Tuesday so Ryan played Mr. Mom with the help of Sarah.  I told Ryan I felt like we owed Sarah money for all the time she spent watching our kids...so THANK YOU, Sarah (gift #3)!  Everyone (mom, dad, sarah, ryan, jacob, patrick, meredith, ben, me, ryan, madison claire, and 3 dogs) stayed at my parents house (gift #4).  One night my Facebook post was - spending time with everyone at my parents house...couldn't be more perfect (minus the dogs!).

Sweet buddy - always looking surprised in pictures

He fell asleep holding onto Freddy

Cousins having fun in the bath - this was a favorite nighttime activity

Tuesday night, Ryan and I had dinner out together at Woodfire Grill (gift #5) and stayed the night at the St. Regis (gift #6).  Dinner was fabulous, the hotel was gorgeous, and it was so nice to sleep in and have a night out just the 2 of us (gift #7).  

My birthday menu - it said Happy 32nd Birthday!

We ordered the Chef's 7 course Grand Tasting.  It was a blind tasting but they brought out
 this menu afterwards so we could see what we ate.  Yummy!!

Wednesday we made it back home and just spent time together - eating, talking, playing games, going to the park, etc.  It was wonderful (gift #8).  

One of my favorite pictures!!!

On Thanksgiving day we had a fabulous meal. Mama Howard, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Alan, Liga & Valdis joined us for the festivities.  It was great to see everyone and catch up (gift #9)!   That night, we played Keno and whomever won got to give me a present - awesome for me!  I got a lot of nice gifts and cards from friends and family who weren't there (gifts # 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 17, 18, 19).  

My Thanksgiving meal...beautiful!

On Friday, I woke up to Ryan, Madison Claire and Mac singing me Happy Birthday (Gift #20).  Ryan had a dozen roses & a fountain diet coke for me and 2 sweet cards (Gift #21).  We had a good birthday breakfast and then I headed out to go shopping with my mom & sisters (Gift #22) while Ryan stayed home with the kids (Gift #23).  We also took our family pictures all sporting our Marine Corps gear for Patrick.  I don't have any from my camera, so will post one later once I get one from Meredith or Dad. I requested mom's lasagna for dinner so we had that and then my sisters and I went to see Twilight at the movies (Gift #24).  

My view from the bed

My sweeties!

My birthday lunch

Mac in his Marine gear - "Major Trouble"

Riding the train at the mall

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Ryan & Ryan on daddy duty while we went to the movies!

Sporting their Marine Corps gear

Add to that a few days of sleeping in (Gift #25) and just overall joy at having everyone under one roof and you can see why it was such a great week.  I am so thankful for each of these gifts and feel blessed beyond measure.  So as I said in the title...Happy Birthday to Me!  Here's to 32!

BIG GIRL!!!

Madison Claire is officially 100% potty trained!  I can't believe it!  A few weeks ago, she came home and announced to Annie and I that she didn't want to take a nap in a pull up - just panties.  So we said "okay" and gave it shot.  That night, she said again - "no diapers, no pull ups, just panties".  I was a nervous wreck!  I knew for sure that I was going to be woken up at 1am by her screaming because she had peed in the bed.  I had a vision of having to change her sheets at 1am and was not excited about it.  BUT...we wanted to follow her lead so since she asked for it, we said okay, laid a towel down in her bed, and put her to bed...AND....SHE DID IT!  

The next morning, she woke up saying "Mommy, I need to go potty".  And that's it.  That was at least a month ago, so I think it's safe to say it's official.  She just decided she was going to do it and she did!  Little strong willed child (wonder where she gets that from - ha!) 

Here she is sporting her panties before bedtime...way to go Madison Claire!

Playoffs!

ECS finished the regular football season 7-3, with 1 region loss to SBEC.  They ended the season in a 3-way tie for first place, but based on the tiebreaker, ended up in third.  For the first round of the playoffs, we traveled to Nashville to play an old rival.  Without getting into the details, I'll just say this - this was a big game for us (and especially Ryan) to win.  Mom, Dad, Meredith & Ben came in for the game and Gary was there too.  Annie's mom kept the kids for me so I could enjoy the game.  It was such a fun game.  The defense was awesome - the first string defense gave up approximately 100 yards (which is really good for all of you who don't know much about football).  I won't say here what I really thought about some aspects of this game but suffice it to say, I am so proud of Ryan - for the man he is, the coach he is, and the character he displays on the field.  

Ryan's fan club

Me doing a "take that" move :)

Our friends Bobby& Kat

The next week, we played USJ and lost in double over time.  We beat them in a close game during the regular season, so knew it was going to be tough.  A few of our players had an "off" night.  The defense started slow, but held them to only 3 points in the second half.  Unfortunately, those 3 points came in the last seconds of the game and sent us into overtime.

It was a tough end to the season, but every season has to come to an end at some point, and this one just ended a little earlier than we would have liked.  We are thankful for our friends on the coaching staff and for the ECS community welcoming us so warmly this season.  The countdown to kick off vs. St. George in 2012 is already on....