Small Group Brunch

We had a holiday brunch at the Mowery's this past weekend. Ryan and I took the VitaMix for a little demonstration and we had a great time. Madison Claire was none to pleased...the brunch started at 9am which is usually right when she goes down for a nap. She was pretty good until about 10am but from 10-11am she was just cranky & mad. Luckily our small group friends love us and didn't mind a fussy baby.

Our small group has been such a blessing to us this year. It is so nice to have people to "live life" with. This year we did a study on building self esteem in our mates, the Principle of the Path, and Crazy Love. They are there to encourage us, pray with us, keep us accountable in our walk with the Lord and our marriages, love on our kids, and most importantly just live life with us in community. We are thankful beyond measure for these "providential relationships"!!

Work holiday party

The last time I posted about work and mentioned the name of my company, my blog showed up the next morning in the Google alert for my company...hello....mortifying! So, this post we will just call it "work". My annual Nashville "work" party was this past weekend and we had a great time. I have to say, after 7+ years, I think it was the best one yet! Annie kept Madison Claire so Ryan and I could go out to a nice dinner before hand. We went to one of our favorites - the Cheesecake Factory. We had a great time at the party - especially visiting with the "oldies" - Ben & Phoebe, Steve & Missy, Andrew & Meggin and Amy & David.

The "oldies"

My little ham...

Sleeping..

It is such a blessing to me that she is a good sleeper. All of you know how much I love my sleep and I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for her sleep schedule! Most nights she sleeps at least 12 hours and she is still taking one long nap in the morning and 2 shorter naps in the afternoon. God has been faithful to me! I think it will be harder for me when Madison Claire is a toddler and wakes up at 6am wide awake and ready to play. Right now when she wakes up, she just plays in her bed...and there aren't even any toys! She'll clap her hands and play with her feet or just lay there and suck her thumb. So sweet!

Putting Madison Claire to sleep is one of my favorite times of the day. Usually, when I start walking her upstairs she will start to snuggle her little head into my shoulder. I'll turn on her sound machine (Thank you, Linda Morrow!) and sing her Jesus Loves Me and she will just lay her head on my shoulder and suck her thumb. It is the sweetest! Once I put her down, however, she is a rolly poly. Here are some cute pictures that show some of her various sleeping positions:

Look at her sweet little legs crossed

Her head is literally BURIED into the corner of the bed here

We call this one the running man...or stair stepper!

Folded over at the waist

All stretched out

Curled up in a ball

Ear phones!!

Where is her head? I don't know!

Girls Weekend!

My friend from small group, Ashley Ethridge, called me this past week to invite me to go to a cabin in the mountains over the weekend with some girls from church that I'd met a few times, Audra & Whitney. Ryan said he would be okay with Madison Claire for the weekend, so off I went! We left Nashville on Friday night and made it to Blue Ridge, GA around midnight. We stayed in Ashley's dads cabin and had a great time! We were able to sleep in, shop, eat, make crafts, watch a movie, and talk...all kid free! I so enjoyed getting to know Audra & Whitney better and look forward to more outings with them all in 2010! In case you are wondering - Madison Claire was an angel for Ryan....no troubles at all.

A fun week!

Mom came into town last week for a visit. She got here on Tuesday night and stayed through Saturday morning! It was great fun having her in town and Madison Claire was spoiled rotten! She kept Madison all 3 nights while we had something planned. Wednesday we went downtown to hear our friend Cyndi sing for a Pancreatic Cancer benefit, Thursday we kept the Morrow kids so Nate & Anne could go out to celebrate Nate's birthday, and Friday Ryan and I went out to sushi for date night! If only mom could come every week!!!

Here are a few pictures from the week:

Cyndi & DJ singing

Small group girls - Zan, Ashley, me & Cyndi. We missed you Val & Kristina!

Me & my honey

Zan & Craig with me & Ryan

Me & Ryan in front of our tree. Special thanks to Ash for my fun turquoise birthday necklace!

Mom brought these precious matching Aprons for us. Madison Claire's says "Madison" and mine says "Madison's Mommy". Too cute :)

CPA Football banquet

We officially closed the CPA football season this past week at the football banquet. Ryan had a lot of fun this year despite their 3-7 record. The record doesn't show how close many of the games were. They lost 6 games by a total of 30 points. Ryan switched up the defense this year to work with what he had and enjoyed creating & implementing the new defense.

We'll remember this as Madison Claire's first football season, the rainiest season yet, the year Ryan was completely tricked by the practical joke between Trent Fisher & Nathan Tutor, and the year he survived a potential brawl with the line crew at Pearl Cohn.