We are THOSE idiots!!!

Oh! Yes! We most certainly are!!!

OK, so the mall is mass hysteria this time of year, right? And what good mother that has no job other than her beautiful and perfect son HASN'T taken him to see Santa???

Oh, that would be me!!! I know he's 8 1/2 months old and won't remember, but I can't start out my first Christmas as a mother without taking my child to see Santa!!!

Let me first preface by saying that we attempted to see Santa Thursday night in Athens... and, let me admit, my heart LEPT when I saw that THREE people were in line. We jump in line, and a HAPPY elf tells us that the lady in front of us is the last one because Santa has to go to supper!!! Are you kidding? My little baby does too... what's one more little picture going to hurt???? Isn't that why Santa has a gut anyway? To get him through the holidays on minimal food and sleep?????? COME ON!!!!!!

So, anyway, that is why we ended up at the Mall of GA on Friday (which, I would have gone earlier in the day, but BJ 'read' Santa's hours the other day and said he doesn't get there until 1... ummmm... that was his BREAK HOURS!!!!)

I say WE are idiots, because BJ was with me, but he was only there in body... I think he went into his happy place somewhere between sitting in traffic on Gravel Springs and 'fighting' all these professionals (WOMEN) in the parking lot for a space! I was telling him how to do it, but he refused to be "that guy"!!!!

Nonetheless, we did it - we waited for almost THREE hours (Santa decided he needed a break about the time we got in line - oh, no... that's when we thought he GOT there!!!!!!!!!!), got run over by other idiot parents pushing strollers, and finally got a REASONABLE picture with Santa...

I am sorry to say that I didn't do the CD, so, if BJ will ever recover, maybe I can talk him into scanning the picture so I can post it... he is definitely STILL in his happy place right now!!!!

Sam was GREAT the whole time, though! He was so interested in everything going on around him, and Santa just fascinated him! His Santa picture includes his oh-so-famous "OOOOHHHH" face!!!!!!!

I remember last year walking through and seeing the never-ending line and thinking "Those poor people..."

Well, poor me this year!!!!

New Year's resolution: plan better next year!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas again...

I just had to post a couple of pictures from yesterday...

Sam got a Build-A-Bear, and, sadly enough, REALLY LOVED the box!!!!!

Sam has found the tree, and, with his new-found ability to stand, he is constantly reaching for the tree!

Here, he crawled over the big dog and got a present from on top of the huge tree stand and is attempting to "open" it!!!! Looks so relaxing, doesn't it???

Here are the pictures of me and BJ before we went to his office party... too bad I didn't have time to photo shop us into one picture together!!!!!

Enjoy the weekend... and CHRISTMAS!!!!! (I can't believe it's here already!!!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!

AND - I have to share Santa Sam pictures!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday! Remember the reason for the Season... it's when baby Jesus was born!!!

I even impressed myself!!!

BIG NEWS... BJ and I went to get Sam out of his crib after his afternoon nap yesterday (yes, we do this together a lot!), and he was STANDING!!!!!! Just standing there looking at us - so cute!!!!! He just, overnight, it seems, does this stuff!!!??? He's growing up so fast!!!! After that, he wanted to pull up on everything - Stormie likes to be bigger when they're playing...

Here he is earlier this morning when I was trying to get him to nap... he wants to keep doing his new "trick!"
More pictures...


We met and went to dinner for Mama's birthday last week... and they brought Sam a prize - they always do... this was just too funny!!!!

I know no one is smiling and looking at the camera (except Sam), but this is typical now-a-days... Rocky and Stormie want their attention too - it's a zoo!!!
I have made Mama a caramel cake for the past 5 or 6 years, and every year, they just get worse and worse - case-in-point... here's last year's cake...
It tasted all right - but I just had to glob the caramel onto the layers - it's not this ugly just because we cut it - it started out this ugly!!!!

This year, I turned to Paula Dean - and, if I do say so myself, it was pretty AND it tasted good!!! This was Mimi's birthday gift from Sam... I found the frame and glued some magnetic letters onto it - turned out cute!!! (It's hard to tell, but there's a 4-wheeler, boat, jet ski, and a truck hanging off of the bottom!) Sam on the move...
It's the middle of the day, and Stormie has had enough - she's ready for bed!!! That's all for now...

Sam-date time...

It's time for an update on what all Sam is doing...

He is talking his little head off. The other day, Mama was holding him and he reached for me as he said "Mama!" He really did - I am not sure if he really puts my face with "Mama," though, because that's his new favorite word! We still get "Dada" and "Baba" and I swear I've heard a "Papa" when Pop Pop was trying to get him to say Pop Pop!!! No Mimi yet, but Mimi is just fine being called Baba or AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Sam is completely mobile now. He still mostly does the army crawl / freestyle swim stroke, but yesterday he spent a lot more time on his actual knees and hands! He goes much faster that way! BJ and I have given him an early Christmas present... BABY JAIL! If he's in the floor with no boundaries, he's in the foyer, kitchen or the fireplace before I can get my tired rear end off the floor to go get him!!! I have millions (only a slight exageration) of toys on the floor for him to play with, but, if there's a Stormie toy out, he zeros in on it and wants to play with it!!!! It's also getting harder to get him to forget about stuff... such as a Stormie toy - he realizes that I just put it out of reach! I'm telling you - he's a genius!!!

As of now, we are working on getting him to sit up from crawling and pulling himself up. I can tell he's really close - he gets really frustrated that he can't QUITE do it by himself. He has sat himself up a few times, but the pulling up is really making him mad! It's so hard when he's working on it (usually using me) and fussing to not go ahead and help him!!! I make myself make him try for awhile on his own, then I help show him how to do it!!! I get good hugs when we do it together!!!!

His bottom tooth is all the way through now, and he is working on the next one! He really hasn't been too fussy about it - let's keep our fingers crossed that this trend continues!!!

I have always known he was a good baby, but he really is a little angel! He went to big church with us last Sunday and made it through the whole service! He is so laid back and GOOD!!!! I am almost scared to have a 2nd because I have been so blessed with Sam's easy-going personality!!! No, we haven't put him in nursery yet... it's certainly not because I don't trust someone else to keep Sam - it's really BJ!!!! I don't know why really, we just haven't - and now, cold and flu season is upon us, and Sam hasn't been exposed to much, so I might still wait!!!??? I think it will be a spur-of-the moment decision!!!

All right... picture time...

Sam pulled the big dog on top of him - this is before baby jail... but he rolled over before I could snap a picture!

Do you see Stormie? She's hiding from Sam!!!!Sam funnest toy...My friends from high school came over last weekend, and I got Jess to snap a family picture!!!!This is Sam, Kaden (2 months), and Riley (8 months - he's 4 days older than Sam)... it was such a hoot to try and shoot them all... one that crawls is tough enough, but two - and keeping them off of Kaden was a trip! Riley is a super-crawler - poor Kaden was just stuck until we moved him!!!! Enjoy that Cat!!!!!Can you believe they were all looking at the camera? Or in the general direction!!!!One of us must have been doing something funny to get this look!?Sam - sweet to the baby, PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Riley attacked Santa right before he crawled off!!!!!This one turned out cute!!!!We used to always get a picture of all the girls, but this year, the babies are all we came out with!!!!????

I used the same props the next day for a photo shoot with Sam - I was loving the overalls and hat - he was such a hit at church... again!!!!!!!

Guess that does it for now!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Recap...

So, here are the pictures from Thanksgiving...

This is Sam's Elmer Fud hat... words escape me...
Sam just after his bath - with the rubber duckie he refuses to put down...
Our little center-piece... just before he knocked a glass over. I quickly decided we had enough shots - before he made the china and crystal "prettier!" Here's the food... we had turkey and DRESSING (not stuffing), jello salad, sweet potatoe casserole, bean and corn casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, pineapple casserole, Veg-All casserole, and some other casserole I can't remember!!! Yes, we are the fat kids!!!!!!There's always at least one ride on the mule - this is one of many!!!

Me, Nanny and Sam...
Hello... the 80's called and want their glasses back! It was sunny, and I did what I had to do... see BJ??? He opted for style over comfort!I think Rocky is funny here! Sam has Pop Pop's hat - he now travels with two!!!! Sam always wants to come see him when he has a hat on - sneaky, sneaky!Sam loves to ride on his daddy's shoulders!!!!

Hey Jealousy...

It's 10:00 in the morning...

The baby has been up for almost three hours, and I have been up for over three hours...


I look around - where's Stormie??? I look outside to make sure I didn't let her out and forget about her (yes, I am afraid that has happened before - thankfully in the warmer months so I don't find a 'Stormie-sicle' - and she's very good about coming back onto the porch and waiting for me!). No, she's not there. I keep looking and make my way upstairs...

Here is what I see...

Yes, this sorry little thing is still in bed - hasn't even gotten up yet!!!!! And she's on our pillows (which is where she sleeps most nights anyway!)!!!!!!

Let's be honest, I'm just jealous!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving...

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

My most favorite part of Thanksgiving is that it is the beginning of the Christmas Season!!!!

But, Thanksgiving was great. All that work on the casseroles, and it was over in less than 30 minutes!!!! However, we always have PLENTY for leftovers for a few days and then plates to bring home for lunches...

I have lots of pictures, but they are on Mama's camera, so I still have to get them from her - then I'll share all of the fun and excitement of the weekend...

Until then, these will have to do...

BJ and Sam were playing - hence the "Doo Rag" on Sam's head - he didn't seem to notice or mind that it was there!?

Then, we put Stormie's toy on top of Sam's head - which, again, he didn't notice... except that Stormie was barking at him for some odd reason!!!So he decided to go get her...And BJ threw the toy, which Sam promptly crawled off after... while Stormie watched like "Are you really going to let him play with MY toys???"

Then, Sam started waving it at her and they played together...

And, the best part - the first of many Christmas pictures...I have discovered that he is a much more difficult subject - moving targets are much more difficult to shoot!!!!

And he was spent... until next time!!!

LET THE HOLIDAYS BEGIN!!!!!!