Anniversary Weekend

The boys each hit a new milestone over this last week, and I just have to share. It took a little longer than we were hoping, but now...Jacob is finally walking!!! He started taking a few more steps and trying to stay upright more around Thanksgiving, and now he's just going all the time. Sometimes he'll get really excited and try to take off and run, but if he tries to go too fast he just ends up tripping over his own two feet. It's so cute to watch him, though, and it's such a relief that he's finally doing it. It looks like there will be no MRI for that little guy come February. Praise the Lord! It dawned on us this past Sunday that Jonathan will be four years old in about four months. And that means that he is going to be too big to go into the nursery. Now on Sunday mornings he'll have Sunday School and Children's Church, and on Wednesday nights he'll have either AWANA or KidStuff. But on Sunday evening activities like The Lord's Supper or Christmas plays, etc., he'll be too big to go into the nursery and will have to come into "big church" with all the grown-ups. So we decided to let him have a trial run at "big church." The kids' Christmas play (which Jonathan will be old enough to participate in next year) was last night, and we figured it was a perfect time for his first attempt. Paw-Paw Davis was dancing in the play and Jonathan wanted to see it. He did sooo good! He sat quietly on Daddy's lap for most of the play. He sat in his own seat a little bit, and he climbed onto Mommy's lap at the very end. He even tried to do some of the motions to the last song! We're having a special candlelight Lord's Supper on Christmas Eve, and that will be another wonderful learning opportunity for Jonathan. We are planning on letting him come into that service as well. Our boys are growing so unbelievably fast. It's so hard to believe they're going to be 4 and 2 before too long...

John and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary over this past weekend. It's also hard to believe that five years have already gone by. Since it was a "landmark" anniversary for us, we decided to do something special. We decided to get away for a little while, so we spent Friday and Saturday in Lubbock. On Friday night (our anniversary), we went to a movie ("Brothers") and then to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. Then on Saturday--since we were sans kids--we got our Christmas shopping out of the way before heading home. We are so grateful to my mom and Nana for taking care of the boys while we were gone. It was so wonderful to have a little time to ourselves. Thank you to my wonderful husband for putting up with me these last five years. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us over the years to come!

Blessings to all of our family and friends during this very special time of year. From our family to yours: Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

The boys w/my cousin Lacy.

Watching the "Cars" movie after the Cowboys' game.

Playing in the Christmas tree's box.

Yeah, I don't think she knew I was taking this picture until she saw the flash...

Tadadada....Super Jonathan!!!

Jacob trying to figure out how to get back in the box.

Jacob & my cousin Lauren.

Jonathan being Jonathan.

This year, for the first time EVER, we had Thanksgiving at my parents' house. They are remodeling their kitchen, and my dad wanted to show off the new look--so he and my mom hosted Thanksgiving dinner. My mom's parents also came, and (another first for us) John's parents came, too. Everyone made part of the meal. My contribution (you guessed it--another first) was the relish tray. My mom usually makes it, but since she made the turkey this year and I had to actually be a grown-up, the relish tray was my job. It was actually something I couldn't ruin. One more big first for us this year: my Granddaddy made a deep-fried turkey. None of us had ever had a deep-fried turkey before, so it was awesome to get to try it this year. It was absolutely delicious. Really, we all had a hard time telling the difference between Granddaddy's turkey and Mom's turkey. Both were soooo good.

After lunch, we all watched the Cowboys/Raiders game. (My brother and his wife alternate holidays they come up here for. They're coming for Christmas this year.) Aaron & Allison were at the game. We looked for them on TV but never did see them--go figure. The next day was "Black Friday." I do not like crowds, and I refused to go out and shop. My mom, Nana, aunt and cousins did shop, but they didn't get out insanely early. I, John, the boys, my dad, and a friend of Lacy's met them all at Kabuki for lunch early that afternoon and that was the extent of our "Black Friday." Later that evening all of us--minus Lacy, who spent the night w/a friend--got together to watch "The Burb's." Saturday we all got together one last time to put up Nana's tree--a tradition all us grandkids who are in town do every year.

It all came to an end too fast, but Christmas is just around the corner. In just a few weeks, my aunt and cousins will be back in town, my brother and his wife will be here too, and we'll all get together for more food and fun as we celebrate the birth of Christ together. Hope all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving, too!