Weekend Update

This weekend was probably our last low-key weekend for a while. At least until the New Year. Friday night, we did our usual. Sadie and Dennis went and got take out while Sawyer and I hung out here. Both of the kids have been a little under the weather this week with stuffy noses and coughing, so we didn't do much. Even though I probably shouldn't have, I took Sawyer with me to Target after dinner to get a couple of things. I don't think I realized it was going to be in the 20's outside! But, I ran into some good friends I hadn't seen in a while, so it was worth it. She asked me if Sawyer was sleeping through the night yet, and I literally busted out laughing! She said her little boy that is 13 months old is still not either, and I was like "uh oh"....not a good sign! I did start this week with putting Sawyer in his bed for all of his naps, and it has actually been quite successful. One day he even took over a 3 hour afternoon nap! Whoa! I didn't know what to do with myself! And, I will even give the little man some credit and say that he is doing a wee bit better at nighttime. Sometimes. But, the best part is that he's getting out of the "crying" phase, so at least it makes everything else a little more bearable. His little personality is so precious. I just love it. Since Sadie sleeps so much, we get to spend a lot of time together just the 2 of us, and I've seen him change so much these past couple of weeks. He interacts a lot more and stuff like that. Here's a pic of my little Santa baby!

Anyways, Saturday we didn't do anything at all. Sadie was still not feeling good, or at least she didn't sound very good. She's just been really stopped up and coughing. But last time when she had this a month ago, I took her to the doctor and he said it was just a cold and there's nothing you can do, so that's why I haven't rushed her back. And, I'm actually feeling like I may be getting sick again too. This will be the 3rd time in 6 weeks for me!!! And, the 2nd time in 6 weeks for Sadie. My mom and dad said it's because of our firewood. I know, that sounds crazy. But they said that when we were growing up, we all kept getting sick over and over, and the doctor asked what kind of wood we were burning in our fireplace and come to find out, it was the wood! Supposedly you're supposed to burn wood that is much older, and the wood that we are burning is new wood, which supposedly emits gasses into the air causing your immune system to break down. Anyways, with that being said, we're going to go fire-free for a little while and see if it helps!
Saturday night, we met our friends Shelly, Ryan, and their little boy Greyson, at the Goodlettsville Christmas Parade. The kids had a lot of fun. I thought the parade was kinda weak, but Sadie would've never known the difference. She enjoyed every minute of it, even though we were all freezing! We weren't going to take her because she's had a cold, but we figured she would enjoy it so much, and we knew we'd only be outside for about an hour, so we went ahead and I'm glad we did. Here are a few pictures. Notice in this first picture that Sadie is sitting in Greyson's lap, who is sitting in Ryan's lap. Too cute! She totally just walked over and plopped right down on him.






Sunday morning, we went to church. I had contemplated not going since both kids still had a bit of a stuffy nose, but I'm so thankful that we decided to go. The service was wonderful. We had a guest speaker and he was so good. He spoke about peace, which is something I struggle with so it was so good to be reminded of what we need to find our peace in.
I went to the grocery store when we got home from church while the kids were down for their naps.
When they got up, we went and met Dennis' dad and Barbara at Opryland Hotel so that Sadie could walk around and see all of the pretty lights inside. There was also a really neat light/water show that I was pretty fascinated by myself. I love stuff like that. We had a good time. Sadie was in rare form just a tad bit though. She was just being a little wild, but I think it's because she knew she could get away with it because she was with Gimmy and PawPaw!! Here are a few sweet pictures from the night.





We stopped about halfway through and grabbed some snacks. Sadie of course had a few crunchies and PawPaw bought us some chocolate chip Christie Cookies! YUM! So, we all snacked on those. I thought these 2 pictures were cute.


I thought it was so neat to just walk around because my parents used to take us there when we were little and we'd get our pictures made, etc. It was a lot of fun. It's neat to take my own kids there now.
On a side note, we stopped on the way home to grab a bite to eat at Krystals (I know, I know) and sat in the drive through for 24 minutes!!!!! Are you kidding me????? The guy in front of us at one point got on his cell phone while he was at the window picking his food up because they were out of chili and he wasn't sure what else that person would want, so he just picked up his phone and called. Seriously? We're at Krystals, dude! Anyways, that kind of stuff happens to Dennis and I all of the time...
Let the Christmas season begin! It's going to be a busy week!!!

Christmas Questionnaire

Okay, I stole this off of another person's website, but I thought it would be a neat thing to do. Let me know your answers as well!!!

1. Fresh Tree/Fake Tree? Fake; and it absolutely must be pre-lit. I don't do strings of lights. Waaaaaaaayyyyy too frustrating!

2. Favorite Ornament- My stepmom took an ornament of a fireplace with a picture hanging above it and put mine and Dennis' wedding picture in it the first year we were married. It's so tiny, but I love it. You clip it to one of the Christmas tree lights and it shines through making it look like there is a fire in the fireplace.

3. Favorite Christmas Song- Wow...this is a hard one. My favorite secular song hands down is "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". It makes me laugh til I cry almost every time I hear it. (on a side note, Sadie was watching an Elmo Christmas DVD the other day and Big Bird started to sing "I want a Snuffalumpakus (sp??) for Christmas" with the same words! I was dying!!!!!!
But, I also love "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", preferably by Amy Grant and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams. And, you can never beat Martina singing "O Holy Night".

4. Favorite Tradition- Well, we are in the midst of starting new traditions, but for me and Dennis, mine has always been that we sit down and watch our wedding video together every Christmas Eve. And, I think I cry almost every time. The year I was pregnant with Sadie, I think I was hyperventilating because I was crying so hard.

5. Favorite Gift Ever Received- This is a hard one!!! I will go back to my childhood on this one and say that it was when Rachel and I got our 4-wheeler. It was a TOTAL surprise! We just walked into my Grandma's house and there it was! My mom didn't even know about it! My dad had kept it from her too! I think I was about 13 years old.


6. Favorite Christmas Meal- Another hard one...I just like food so much. It all makes my mouth water. I can't come up with a favorite meal, but I know that when we went to my mom's on Christmas morning, she always made monkey bread and I love that stuff.

7. Favorite Christmas Cookie- I'm not sure that this really qualifies as a traditional Christmas cookie, and with me being the cookie monster, I will refrain from saying the typical "chocolate chip cookie", but my mom used to make the best lemon cookies growing up when she would go to her high school friends' Christmas get together every year. They are topped off with powdered sugar and when they first come out of the oven, oh my goodness! Mom, are you making them again this year? If so, I'm coming over!!!!!

8. Favorite Place to be- at home with Dennis. There's just nothing more special on Christmas than being with him.

9. Favorite Memory- I have two.
First one is from my childhood. I will never forget it as long as I live. I was probably 6 or 7 years old. My parents would make me and Rachel stay at the end of the long hallway and wait until they told us we could come into the den to see what Santa brought us. I will never forget hearing my dad yell from the den "uh-oh girls...it looks like Santa thought ya'll were boys! All of these toys in here are for little boys!" I'd like to have died!!!! I can still feel the way my heart sank when he said that! How mean was that????? Of course, he was joking...

My other most favorite memory is my last year of college, I was on campus taking my finals and Dennis snuck into my little apartment where I lived alone and he decorated the whole thing. He put up a little tree, hung lights and decorations everywhere, and even went and bought the new Amy Grant CD and had it playing when I walked in. I still get cold chills thinking about it. He wasn't there when I walked in, and I think I literally fell to the floor and cried. It was just an unbelievable sight, and I had NO idea he was doing it. It had been a hard year for me, and for some reason which I can't remember, I was not looking forward to coming home for Christmas that year, so he knew that I had been down and he wanted to lift my spirits. Boy, did he ever!

10. Favorite Christmas Movie- Again, I can't come up with just one. As a child, it was "One Magic Christmas". Now, it's a toss up between "Home Alone" and "Elf". I know, I'm silly, but I've just always loved those movies!!!!

Now, it's your turn!!!!! Let yourself go back in time, whether it be recent or not, and reminisce about your favorites!

Craziness!!!

Last night, Dennis and I were invited to dinner over at his cousin Brent's house with Brent, Jen, their 3 kids, Bryan, Cayce, Steele, and our crew. It was craziness!!
Wow!!! 6 kids under the age of 6 years old, 5 of which are 3 and under.
The decibals that were reached in that home last night were from the "realm of the unknown"! I didn't know that kids could actually be that loud!
It was so much fun though.
Jen said "it's all in what you are used to". I now know what she means. We're used to little Sadie playing with her dollhouse quietly or reading a book, etc. Every now and then, she'll giggle or squeal while running laps around the kitchen at nighttime. (taught to her by her cousin McHaney!!) But, that's about all. And, I'm sure Sawyer will be the one hanging from the chandalier one day, so don't think I'm oblivious to that!!
Jen fixed homemade pizza for the kids and we sat them all around the island in the kitchen. So cute.
The adults had homemade lasagna (YUM!), salad, bread, and coca-cola cake (YUM) for dessert. There wasn't a whole lot of adult conversation going on, but it was still a good time. We tried to squeeze in some conversation every now and then.
Wrestlemania IV was being held in the den by all of the boys, Sadie played with the Geotrax (race track) that was set up in the foyer, Sawyer chilled in someones arms all night, and poor Mary Harbin was not feeling well, so she was wanting her mommy most of the time.
I had to take some pictures, and I only wish I would've gotten a short video of the sound at one point. It was out of this world!!!!
We all kept laughing and talking about how it will be at Dennis' grandma's in a couple of weeks when we all go for Christmas. There will be 2 more kids added to the bunch that night, which will make for so much more fun!!! ha ha I can't even imagine. I will definitely be taking some video that night for sure!!!!
Thanks Brent and Jen for being such great hosts! Ya'll are angels for being brave enough to cook dinner for all of us!!!! Ya'll are such a precious family.

Weekend Update

We had a great, great weekend. Friday night when Dennis got home we all went and grabbed a Family Pack of b-b-q from Whitts. Yummy!!!! I love that place! And, it's so cheap! We came home and ate and just hung out together. Dennis' grandparents even stopped by for a minute.
Saturday, we all got up and Sawyer and I went to the grocery store. Fun, fun! Saturdays at the grocery are impossible. There were a million people there and everyone seemed to be just standing still in the aisles! But, Sawyer was a good boy and slept the whole time.
Saturday night, me and Dennis decided to take Sadie out by herself. We haven't done that since Sawyer has been born and we felt like she would enjoy having us both all to herself for an evening. My mom had originally offered to come and keep Sawyer and Sadie so that Dennis and I could have a night out together, but we decided to do this instead while we had the chance, so she just ended up having Sawyer. And, I'm sure he enjoyed the one-on-one attention all night too!!!

We definitely got a taste of what it was like to just have one child again. Although it was so much fun, I definitely thought about my precious little Sawyer all night long and missed him a ton! We took Sadie to eat at Red Robin and then we went to a place in Gallatin that we like to call "The North Pole". It's a house that is located right off of Highway 109 that has tons and tons of lights, music, Santa, etc. They've done it for years, and they now charge $8/car to ride through. But, it's worth it. Sadie was fairly impressed. She wasn't jumping out of the car by any means, but she seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Here are a few pics from our evening.

Here's a short video of when we drove "into Santa's house".

We think Sadie's just confused as to why there are lights everywhere all of a sudden and why there are Christmas trees everywhere, and why does she keep seeing this Santa guy everywhere...??? It's part of the "wonder and magic" of Christmas though. I think it'll all come together for her as each year goes by. And, I've tried to talk to her a little bit about what's most important at Christmas and baby Jesus and showed her our nativity scene, etc. Well, she thought that was very neat and she played with baby Jesus so much that she amputated his little arm the other day. Whoops!!! (she was banging him on the donkey in the nativity scene and it caused his arm to fall off)
On a side note, my sister came over Saturday night too so that she could decorate a wreath that my mother-in-law gave to us while my mom was keeping Sawyer. My sister saw the wreath as a canvas! She did SUCH an awesome job!!! I couldn't believe how great it looked when I got home and saw it. She even painted polka dots on the ornaments and she painted a "P" to put in the middle, etc. She is so incredibly talented. I know if I were to go and try to buy a wreath somewhere that looked like this, it would probably cost over $250. She is so awesome! Thanks so much, sis!! You have made my house look so festive this year! We all appreciate it so much! Here's a picture of the finished product, although the picture doesn't do it justice. She put so much thought into it and it just looks incredible! I'm almost afraid someone will want to come and steal it right off of my door!!!

Sunday morning, we went to church and I got buzzed out of church service for the first time about Sawyer. I went to his room and looked in and he looked totally fine. I asked the teacher if there was a problem with him, and she said "oh, he's just really hungry". I thought..."oh, did he tell you that????" She said "he's been eating his hands". I thought..."he always eats his hands...he's a baby!" I just took him anyways and went and sat in the nursing mother's room with him the rest of the service. He was a completely happy little boy and he was not hungry at all. I knew this because I always feed him right before we leave for church. Anyways, at least he wasn't screaming!
We came home and hung out at the house all day. I started today putting Sawyer in his bed for naptime. He's been just lounging with me during his afternoon nap in the recliner. But, I need a break. So, it's my duty to "teach" him to sleep in his bed for his nap and not just at night. It started off really well for about the first hour and then he got REAL mad. So, after 30 minutes of me calming him down, we gave up for the day and will try again tomorrow.
Dennis and I went to the Long Hollow Christmas program tonight at church. Grammy and Capt'n came over and kept the kiddos for us. It was a great program. I fought back the tears the entire time. I was almost glad that we snuck out a few minutes early because I didn't think I could take one more song! Our worship team and choir is the best around. I am convinced.
So, I think I finally feel in the Christmas spirit and I want my spirit to be focused on the right things this season. What is most important to me is my relationship with God, Dennis, and my children. That is what I want my focus to be on this Christmas season. It's too easy to neglect all of the above when all of the distractions seem to take your focus off of what is most important. I want to look back on this Christmas season and remember all of the time that I got to spend with them. I want to make lots of memories and start lots of traditions. Isn't that what it's all about???