Blog vaction break

Though we are on vacation, and I have chosen to be on blog vacation; I thought it only appropriate to blog on the last day of the year, sentimental reasons of course. I mean this has been a rather awesome year! :)

We've celebrated birthday's of friends, and childrenAmazing birth of our first daughter

a transition from only child to big brother, it's like Abby's always been here now! :)

Always trying to have a good time, or at least always trying to get Stephen to eat!

Learning about being a big brother, and still working on very important terms like - no hitting, please don't bite your sister - you know the important stuff

Then there's just been some great moments together, just hanging out!

Alan learning all about how easy it is to love on his little girl

and what a cute little girl she is!

flexible too!

then the year has come to an end with a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth!

Family (I know everyone says Abby looks like a Maddox, but I'm tellin you she looks a lot like her Aunt Jo Jo did when she was a baby!)

And Stephen finally got to sit in a jet - and one that his Popi used to fly! :) What a great year

Thanks so much for all those reading as I've enjoyed this little blog. I love all of you, May Christ be with you throughout this next great year! God Bless you all!!

A full bed!

What happens when you have a 2 1/2 yr old, a large lab.... A 9 month old with two ear infections :(.......

A large lab (did I already mention that?), mommy and daddy, and one bed room?

That's a full bed and a long night! Around 2:20am Alan felt Stephen crawling up his leg (he was supposed to be sleeping on the floor in his sleeping bag) at which point he said "Hi daddy!" and crawled in between us (in a double bed). He was so excited to be in the same room and the same bed with us he wanted to talk to us, snuggle with us, roll around, and all that fun stuff. Then poor little Abby who was in a pack-n-play next to the bed started having a rough night and could only sleep with her little ears up against me. So as Stephen started to settle down and I think Alan was able to go back to sleep, Abby and I retreated to the living room. Around 5:30 little Abby got some relief from the Tylenol and we went back to bed.

All that being said, at one point last night, I was still in the bed I had Abby on my chest, and Stephen was snuggled up next to me; it was a very sweet moment with my babies! :) Oh, I can't forget that Augie had snuck up onto the bed too! Merry Christmas! :)

Stephen got a Gaaatooorrrr

Ok, so I know I have a southern accent, I can't deny it - but let's be honest it's not the deepest southern accent out there AT ALL!! Some how Stephen has developed a very, very deep southern accent. There are moments that I notice it, and yesterday was one of those moments. He was able to open one of his Christmas presents early from his Grandma and it was a John Deere Gator. He was so stinkin excited to see this, and I mean this thing is awesome, cool, neato and all that plus a bag of Christmas cookies - and after we told him what it was he repeated it and I haven't been able to stop laughing b/c that southern accent came out with flying colors. I just don't think I can spell it as southern as he said it but it was funny! He said "I got a John Gaattooorr!" :)

He was even so excited he wanted Abby to take a ride with him.....that didn't really work!

He even helped Daddy out by hauling some logs to the burn pile! :) May the rest of this Advent season be an amazing time of preparation for you and your family and may your Christmas be filled with the joy of Christ! God Bless you all!!!

A step by step guide to Beef Bourguignon.........kinda

What sounds like more fun than an afternoon filled with great friends, cooking, and then an evening with an amazing dinner and a movie! So here we go....

Step 1 - Make sure you have enough wine - you do actually have to put some in the recipe

Fancy blue pot, just in case the recipe doesn't turn out at least it might look good in this!

Step 3 - husbands please take toddlers out of the house

Don't forget the meat....

The yummy bacon......

Now we're cookin - good lookin!

Add one pregnant lady....

Then one silly goose!

Mix well together to equal great friends and fellowship

Enter in the children....

And of course the husbands..... yes that's football on tv

We're still cooking.....Hey Lauren, don't burn the baby!!!

Can someone please say yummmmmmmyyyy.......

Then set the table, light the Advent wreath....

Now everyone say Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Random moments

I have some pretty darn good lookin kids if I do say so myself :) And since I can never, and I mean never get pictures of them together, I had to post this one! :) They are so funny in the bath tub, I'm sure many of you have the same experiences as we do - but to say the least, bath time happens to be my children's favorite time

Now this is my personal favorite of our "Christmas pictures" b/c I think it shows a small glimmer into our funny/chaotic/personality filled life! ( I had a death grip on Stephen to hold him there!)

Another random moment in the Maddox family - I really, really, wanted a picture of them sitting together, but Stephen was a bit interested in driving his tractor through the pile of leaves I had built up for him. So he just wouldn't take a picture with Abby - this is the best I could get :) Silly little guy, I had to bribe him just for this - I wasn't obviously ready for it :)

Life long friendships

I most certainly have some amazing life long friendships - one started in 6th grade with soccer, some started in high school, others in college, we can't forget FOCUS, and now some amazing friends after marriage! But I can honestly say I do not have any friends that I've known since Kindergarten! Alan on the other hand does! Well the guy above is considered the new friend (he moved to Vancleave in 6th grade). It is an amazing experience for me to see him with these life long friends, guys and gals that he's known his entire life, roomed with in college, they were all in our wedding, I am just amazed! And now they all have families!

Since those who lived out of town (most have moved back to the coast) where home for Thanksgiving we decided to get together, and it was a blast!

we started off at Uncle CC's for the big game - go State! Then after a very eventful afternoon we headed over to Trisha's (remember Walker and Sophie?) house in Alan's old neighborhood for some more playtime and fun time!! I hope my children have the same friendships as Alan does! :)

Favorite Thanksgiving memory.......

It's funny how ever since I met Alan most of my "favorite" memories have changed. Now they are filled with him and our two amazing children! But to pick out one from BA (before Alan) I would have to choose Thanksgivings at my cousin Carl's house! There's just nothing like it at all! Carl is my mother's first cousin, life long buddies, and hilarious stories to prove it! When I was little we lived closer to them so we would head over to St. Louis for a fun filled trip to hang out with my cousins; I love those memories - and I can say that my love for Crab legs stems from these trips! Carl has a legendary crab dinner the night before Thanksgiving, I still miss it!

We are of course invited every year, and now the house is filled with Carl's grand kids, which at this time are the closest cousins in age to my children (one being my god child!) I love and miss them, wish we could see them more then we do! But now our Thanksgivings will be filled with making new memories with our beautiful children and their grand parents! :)

So what's your favorite Thanksgiving memory? Do you have a funny story, a particular place that your family always goes, or maybe a funny dish that your family always eats? Please share! I will post some randomly chosen entries this week to share for all!

The end of a long day....

It's been that kinda week, what can you say? I can say that something has gotten into Stephen this week -

There have been moments all week were I wondered if Stephen was sick - I've taken his temperture so much he now thinks it's a game, why have I done that? b/c if he's acting like this b/c he's 2 then I have to discipline, get frustrated, walk away, put him to bed a little early and open that funny little labeled wine my mom got me for a good laugh - if he's sick, then there's a reason for this sudden change of mood, and I can turn on the tv, snuggle with him, hold him, give him all sorts of special attention

So at the end of this week, after taking his temperature a few times, I know he's not sick (thank God b/c I really don't want him to be sick). But I did have to put him to bed early last night...

But with all of this I wouldn't give up a minute with either one of my amazing gifts from God! I am truly privileged to be able to be with them during the day - b/c I get to witness them growing together, playing together, Abby crawling on all fours (she has been an huge fan of the army crawl for a long time now!) and pulling up on her own! I do love this job! :)

Oh those wonderful 2's!

I would like to introduce you to Stephen - though you all know him! He is 2 1/2 and this post is dedicated to all those mother's with 2 yr olds or have ever had one! :) This was our morning project, paint grandma a get well soon painting (she fell and hurt her leg, but is getting better!) I just laugh how we went from this above to.....

this, then......

back to this; all in about a 10sec span! gotta love it! :)