Friday, December 30, 2011

Review of 2011

2011 seemed to fly by to me! We had another great year filled with lots of family fun, laughter, playing, picnicing, swimming, celebrating, giggling, splashing, hugging, eating, running, chasing, whining (mostly the kids, but I'm sure I whined some too), cuddling, sharing, baking, crying, learning, sliding, swinging, driving, riding, painting, coloring, crafting, growing, and loving.

January: Apparently we PLAYED a lot in January! Arabelle and Bo both look SO little here to me. Amazing how much they grow and change in a year. Jared went on a duck hunting trip to Mississippi in January and we spent that time in Pineview. We visited Mama Love in Albany and went to the aquarium. Also, Jill and I hosted a baby shower for Lindsey and Caleb! (click on the collage to see it larger)



February: Another fun month! Arabelle had a Valentine's Day party at school and baby Caleb was born. Bo turned 6 mo. old, started eating solid food and started sitting alone this month. 



March: We went to Lawrenceville the beginning of the month to meet Caleb! Arabelle spent a weekend at Mamaw and Papaw's house, Bo cut his first teeth and started crawling backwards! The weather started warming up the end of the month and we started playing outside a lot.

April: What a busy, fun month! We celebrated Isaiah's 1st birthday, went to several Easter Egg hunts, celebrated Easter at our church, Bo had his first buzz cut, started pulling up and cruising, we went to the beach with the Roberts on Spring Break (where Arabelle had her FIRST ice cream cone!), to Athens with Jared for the UGA Spring Football game, and played outside A LOT!


May: We really started enjoying the spring weather in May! Lots of pool time, playing, blueberries, Mother's Day, Bo's baby dedication, Bloodworth Family Reunion, and Arabelle's "school" graduation. Fun times!




June: I think this was our busiest, most fun month! I took a lot more pictures this month. :) Let's see, a trip to Athens for Jared to do some legal education, Bo started taking his first steps, a trip to Newnan to visit Papa and Grandma LaVell, over to Marietta for Matison's graduation party, to Macon for Steven's birthday, to Pineview for Father's Day, lots of swimming and splashing, Father's day at home with Jared, a trip to Wild Adventures, and Vacation Bible School. So much fun!

July: July brought even more summer fun! Watermelons, more blueberries, figs, playdates, pools, and more! We went to Pineview on the 4th, our family beach trip to Fernandina, and celebrating July birthdays with the Bloodworths. Bo really started walking all over.

August: August was action packed as well! Arabelle started gymnastics, school started back, Bo turned one year old, we had Arabelle and Bo's combined birthday party the end of the month, made a trip to Albany to visit Moma Love, and had the kids' pictures made, 

September: Arabelle turned 3 years old in September! We went to Pineview for one more dip in the pool, Arabelle learned to swim this summer, Jared went hunting in Colorado and we survived a week home alone, Arabelle had a party at school, and we had a fun day at home for her birthday.

October: We had lots of fun celebrating Fall in October. We carved pumpkins, went to the pumpkin patch with Arabelle's class, celebrated Mamaw's birthday, went to the church Fall festival, and went to Mamaw & Papaw's church's Fall Festival. Jared had his back surgery the end of the month (yay!). 

November: We had lots of fun in the leaves in the backyard, celebrated an early Thanksgiving with the Bloodworths, went to Albany on Thanksgiving, Jared and I went to the UGA/GT football game, and we got our Christmas tree the end of the month.

December: An action packed month! Arabelle had a party at school, singing at a nursing home, Nativity play, and trips to the park! We decorated for Christmas, made Christmas crafts, baked cookies, went to the library for story times, and celebrated Jesus' birthday with all our family!

I look forward to another great year in 2012! 

*You can see our 2010 review here.









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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011, Part 5

Part 5 and we are finally on Christmas Day! Bo was up early (as usual), around 6:45. I started his bath since we skipped it the night before because he was so tired. By the time Bo was out of the tub, Arabelle was up! I think she had forgotten or didn't realize that it was Christmas Day. I told her and she asked if there were presents to open. She was so excited when I said yes!
Bo's gifts--baseball cap, balls, hot wheels cars, crawl through tunnel

Arabelle's gifts--bike, fishing pole, kinex, look & find book, hair bow holder, princess dress

So excited!!


Bo's toothbrush from his stocking--He was crying because he couldn't open it

Now he's happy!

M&Ms!

Toothbrush and socks--happy boy!

Nail polish

Trying it out

Bo wanted a turn too

His Hot Wheels



Helping Daddy

Dark chocolate trail mix!

Yay!!! A tri-pod!!!

And a wireless shutter release remote for my camera!

Having trouble pedaling


So she just decided to get back on her tri-cycle.



After we played a bit, we had Sambo, Leigh Leigh, Connie, Papa, and Grandma LaVell over for Christmas breakfast. I just did a sausage breakfast casserole, grits, cinnamon rolls (from a can!), and fruit. Easy but good!
Arabelle always chooses someone to sit at the little table with her

Grinning at Leigh Leigh

Dressed for Church and trying out the wireless remote

Finally a nice family picture!
It was wonderful for Christmas to fall on a Sunday! What a better way to celebrate Jesus' birth than worshiping Him at church!

After church, we went home for lunch with Mamaw and Papaw. We had lasagna (Paula Deen's recipe....delicious!) & salad.  Princess Arabelle had a few minutes to play before lunch.


Papaw was selected to sit at the little table for lunch. 

This just makes me laugh!

Then out to play!

Still learning
We all rested for a bit. Arabelle and I took a nap together, then Jared woke us to go to Connie's to see Aunt Kay and Uncle Gary. I was so out of it from being woken up that I forgot my camera! :(
Aunt Kay and Uncle Gary gave Arabelle the cutest Hello Kitty backpack and sleeping bag and gave Bo a BIG toy frontloader. Arabelle and Bo both enjoy that!

We had leftovers for supper, played, read the Christmas story from the Bible one more time, and off to bed we went. It was a wonderful Christmas!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas 2011, part 4

On Saturday, we left Pineview and headed home to unload. Both kids napped on the way back and were ready to celebrate Christmas with the Roberts for supper! We gathered at Sambo & Leigh Leigh's house late Saturday afternoon. The kids played, then we all enjoyed a Ranchero's catered supper (which we enjoyed again on Monday night and I have had 2 more times since then....yummy!). Then, it was gift time!

The big kid table




Waiting on his gifts

Sambo passes the gifts to one of the little girls and tells them who it belongs to. The paper was really flying at this point!



And Bo was DONE!
It was a fun evening with family!