Happy Birthday Nancy!!

You know those people in your life who know all about you and love you anyway? Those who are so close that you don't have to say a word to know what the other one is thinking? Who can make you laugh and make you cry and make you laugh again with just a look? Well TODAY - yes, today - is the day we celebrate the birth of just one of those gals!

Today is Nancy's (also known as Aunt Nance, Nanny, or Na-Na) BIRTHDAY!!! From the time I was two years old, Nancy has been my very best friend. We were always in it together - playing house, school, or beauty shop - and making huge messes! Today, we are still in it together - sharing fashion advice, beauty tips, and everyday life even though we live hundreds of miles apart. We spend our extra money on plane tickets  to visit each other and STILL cry every time we have to say goodbye!

Nancy is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out. She has a gift with children and was born to be a teacher. Her bright eyes and smile are contagious and can brighten any room. Nancy's heart is as big as Texas! She always goes the extra mile to make you feel special. Nancy is a wonderful gift-giver and always knows just the right touch to help you feel loved.

Nancy is the most wonderful "Auntie" and loves with her whole heart. Barrett loves his "Aunt Nance" and she adores him too. Whether it was rocking him in the middle of the night as a newborn, teaching his Mama the "baby bounce" or reading Barrett stories, she has always known just what to do. Aunt Nance spoils Barrett with lots of wonderful goodies - books, fun toys, and darling clothes - and that is just so special to us! 

I wanted to take the time today to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister and best friend. I am so proud of the woman that you have become. Thank you for making a difference and walking through life with me. Thanks for plucking my eyebrows, making me laugh, and helping me get it together in those times that I have needed it most. I admire you for your strength, perserverance and kind heart.

While we don't see each other more than a few times a year, you are always on my mind and in my heart. I am so grateful that God blessed me with you for a sister. My wish for you today is that you know just how special you are as you celebrate your day.

Happy Birthday Nancy!!!

We LOVE you!!

Sesame Street LIVE!!

We kicked off the New Year with a bang! Not really, it was more like - Daddy's on call, Mommy's asleep on the couch, and Barrett is sleeping (hopefully) soundly until (possibly) 7:00 a.m. on New Year's Day! However, it was still fun to see the arrival of a New Year, and get ready for another year of fun!

Our first activity of the New Year was going to our very first live performance. Sesame Street LIVE came to town with their show 1-2-3 Imagine! Our resident family girls decided that we would take the little ones to see the show. They had discount tickets for a Friday afternoon, so with some special permission from my boss, I cut out a few hours early for some fun!

Barrett has a new fondness for Elmo (thanks to the lifesaving YouTube videos on my phone), so I thought we would give it a shot! It was a HUGE success! He and his little friends loved the music, bright lights, happy characters and lots of activity. It was a very cute show and so much fun! If you are thinking of taking your little one, please GO!! Arm yourself with plenty of snacks and sit away from the stairs, but just GO!

Barrett had to enjoy a pre-show snack of graham crackers and water

Our Mommy and Barrett shot

Watching closely for Elmo

There they are!

This is the whole gang, with the little gals munching on some popcorn

More characters and "Big Duck" as Ellie calls him...

So pretty Mom!

He loved clapping along and dancing to all of the great music!

After the show, we tried to get some shots of the kids with an Elmo cutout near the merchandise, but this was as good as we could get. They were all worn out, but had a great day together! I hope we can make this one of our "family traditions!"

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? 

Meeting Santa

With Christmas time comes a tradition that most mothers and children remember fondly - meeting Santa. I had no idea it would turn into such an event for us! We enjoyed our first meeting with Santa, but it was a little more "exciting" than this Mama had hoped for.

We took Barrett to Disney World in early October and he LOVED all of the characters, so I just assumed he would have the same fondness for the man in red. Little did I know that we would have a grand adventure just trying to meet the man!

Our first attempt (which was supposed to be our only attempt) was at the Carnegie hotel. They have a Santa come in and you can take your own pictures instead of paying big bucks for the package at the mall. Perfect, right? WRONG! This was on a Sunday afternoon, after we went to church and had a wonderful lunch at Cracker Barrel. Barrett was right on the verge of naptime, so I really should have known better.

We arrived with a few minutes to spare before B got really tired, but...we didn't quite make it. As you can see from the pictures below, Barrett was obviously not interested in meeting Santa on this day. We were there at the same time as our friends - the Moss' and the McDonalds, but none of us had a successful visit with this particular Santa.

Playing with Ellie just a few minutes before...happy as a little clam...

AND...MELTDOWN!!!

Don't get one step closer there, Santa, you hear me?

Our second attempt followed naptime, so I truly thought we were safe. WRONG again! Santa and Mrs. Claus sit outside on Saturdays downtown. You can go meet them and drop off your letter, so we thought we could take Barrett for another quick shot. He liked Mrs. Claus just fine, but still wasn't too fond of Santa.

Lady, don't you put me close to that Santa man!

and...MELTDOWN!!

With two unsuccessful attempts, I was discouraged, but undeterred. I needed a picture of Barrett with Santa! We gave it one last shot at the mall on Christmas Eve. The packages are expensive, but you are not required to pay unless you are satisfied with the picture. We put Barrett in his Christmas gear, loaded up, and we were off to the mall! After a brief wait and some careful maneuvers by Mom and Dad (yeah for teamwork!), we got the MONEY shot!! So, was it successful? I'll let you be the judge. ;)



December activities

Now that I have shared our Christmas post, I thought I should recap the December activities for memory's sake. We had so many fun outings that I couldn't help myself! Our little town is the oldest town in our state, and hosts many cute little Christmas celebrations. From a traditional tree lighting to a Santa and Mrs. Claus who sit on a sleigh on Main Street, no activity is left uncovered. We tried to enjoy as many of these as we could (and as Barrett would allow.) Making memories together is just so much fun!

In early December, we visited the downtown tree lighting. After rushing through our afternoon errands, we made it just in time! Barrett was almost ready to walk alone, so he had more fun running up and down the street than anything else, but it was so sweet to be able to watch him love the lights on the tree!

Hanging with Daddy

And, he's off!

My smiley boy

Beautiful tree

The rest of the month was a bit crazy. With call schedules and normal life, we didn't have time for much else. We did try to keep up with everyone as much as possible. Here you can see a few shots of Barrett doing what he does best - entertaining! He loves to talk on the phone and really had a great time "decking the Hall's."

MUAH!  

Mom, these are soooo cool!

Okay, that's it, I'm busting out of this joint

Daddy and Barrett helping to make things a little festive 

WOW... his favorite phrase when it came to the Christmas tree. Every morning when we went into the living room, he would insist that we turn on the lights first thing. I just love it that my boy already loves Christmas as much as I do!

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Enjoying some yummy dinner

Precious

Visiting with Santa and Mrs. Claus in downtown Jonesborough - he loved Mrs. Claus, but wasn't too sure about Mr. Santa.

Okay, not sure at all about Santa...

Maybe I'll just send him a letter instead.

We also have the most WONDERFUL group of friends. They are really more like our little Resident Family. We get together to celebrate all sorts of special occasions and help each other out any way that we can through this five years of crazy. These are a few shots from our "Resident Family Christmas."

Barrett entertaining all of us with a song...

Maddie, B, and Ellie

These last few are especially for Grandma. I just thought she might like to see how much Barrett loves the rocking chair she brought for him this summer. He loves to climb up in the chair and just rock away. I still have a hard time believing that he is old enough to do this, but I guess time flies when you are having fun!

Just rocking away and looking so cute!

Another of his favorite activities is carrying things around. This is a Christmas box that we used to wrap a gift, but Barrett found it the PERFECT size for toting around the house!

 

Exchanging a few gifts with Maddie and Jon Michael - so precious!



WHEW! December was super busy and super fun. I think I will plan a little better next year so I remember to get things going early!

Christmas Time

Christmas 2011 has come and gone (over a month ago), but I wanted to preserve some of our special memories. Although this year was a quiet Christmas for us with no traveling, we certainly enjoyed the few days off we had together as a family. Ryan's Mom came to visit and we had a wonderful time with her!

It is always fun to make new Christmas traditions and watch Barrett enjoy the magic of the season. We celebrated Christmas all month long with several special activities and new traditions. I will just do a quick recap for you in pictures.

We spent most of our time together at home, just enjoying each other's company. We made a quick trip to the mall and Target for some last minute things, AND made a special stop at Starbucks for a special ingredient to make Ryan's favorite- Caramel Apple Spice - at home! It was a recipe on Pinterest and soooo delicious!!

threeyearsofdeath.blogspot.com

Nanna joined us for a trip to the mall - and some successful Santa pictures!

Little strong man carrying around his tractor

Nanna - you are funny!

Barrett loved playing with the Christmas tree - especially pointing to all of the sparkly ornaments and saying "ball" - we had to remind him that the ornaments stay ON the tree, and for the most part, he was great about leaving them there...but sometimes, they were just too hard to resist! :)

Playing with the Christmas ornaments

Up and down the stairs - Barrett's favorite!



Just taking a little break

Breakfast time for these boys

Sportscenter fanatics already - LOVE it!

Mommy, see how cute I am?

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church's Candlelight Christmas Eve service. It was beautiful and so special to start this tradition with our little family. I still have a hard time believing that we are all grown up and get to start our own fun traditions.

All dressed up after church

After church, we invited our friends Lynne and Ellie Moss over for a few snacks. Lynne's husband Chad works with Ryan and was on call Christmas Eve. Ellie and Barrett are such sweet friends and had a wonderful time playing together!! Ellie was all ready for "Ho Ho" to come and so very precious in her Christmas dress and her "Ho Ho" outfit! We enjoyed a few snacks and a little visiting before getting everyone tucked in to bed.

The littles enjoying some snacks

Posing for a Christmas shot - so sweet!

Hamming it up for Mom

Ellie, please don't go! Ho Ho will come here too!

Before we knew it, Santa had come to visit the Hall household as well. Barrett really must have been a good boy! This is a picture of the tree before he started the fun! He loved opening the gifts and tearing the wrapping paper. We had such a fun Christmas morning!

He made a beeline for his new chair! I would say it was a BIG hit!

Love that baby bed head

More presents Daddy? WOW!

Have you ever seen a sweeter face?

Loving on his new bear

 

We just HAD to call Grammy, Pops, Nancy, Dustin, Val and Logan on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought them too! It is wonderful to be able to use modern technology and be able FaceTime with everyone. Barrett loves to give kisses to everyone before saying goodbye - so sweet!!

On Christmas night, we cooked a nice dinner and got out of our jammies to eat. It was my first time cooking a dinner on my own, and I would say it was a success! Although it is much smaller than our normal family feast at Grandma's, it was still fun. Santa's Little Helper joined us for dinner too. Isn't he cute??

Family Christmas pic

Barrett loved his new fire truck from Aunt Ginger and Uncle Scott - thank you guys!!

 

After our Christmas was over, we just enjoyed our time left with Ryan's mom before we took her back to the airport. Come back again soon Nanna! Some of our gifts arrived a few days after Christmas, so Barrett got to enjoy opening a few more gifts. Here are some cute shots of that too!

This Dancing Dog is a HIT!

He was just precious playing with his first doctor set from Brad and Whitney. Thank you guys - he LOVES it!

Gotta check those ears...

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas!! It was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet, but we think we will be back in Texas and Oklahoma for the Christmas Crazy next year!