Countdown to Christmas (10)

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.
LUKE 1:26-38 NIV

Breakfast with Santa

Brian and I took Thomas to have breakfast with Santa at the country club Saturday morning.  Thomas does not enjoy being in the company of Santa Claus.  Our friend T.J. JONES Santa tried so hard to get Thomas to warm up to him.

We did see our neighbor Matt.  THOMAS LOVES MATT! 

Oh we tried to get a photo of Thomas with Santa.....

But we will be happy with a family picture instead.

HO HO HO Merry Christmas!

We pulled out of the parking lot and our little boy was ready for a long winter's nap!

Wonderful New York City

My very generous father-in-law sent me on a fantastic trip to New York City. My partners in adventure....

Judy, my mother in law (in black), and one of her closest friends, also Judy (in brown).  I'm beyond thankful that theses two let me tag along on their girls trip.

We had such a great time.

Statue of Liberty is GIGANTIC.  She doesn't look very large in the photos below, but SHE IS.

Ground Zero is a terribly empty hole in the middle of a city where every inch in utilized.  Major construction is going on.  The best photos I took were from an observation area.  Right beside the site was a Fire Dept. where a memorial had been erected on the outside wall.  The memorial listed the names of the fire fighters who perished and had images of the ones that perished from that particular fire department.  It was very sad. We got choked up when we read on one pot of flowers, "Happy Birthday Steve, You are missed, We will never forget".  Terribly say.  I cannot imagine what 9/11 must have been like for those living in and around NYC.  

And Santa stopped by the world's most famous toy store for a special treat for Thomas's first Christmas.

It was such a fun trip. I had the best time.

But I sure was glad to get home to my little boy.

9 Month Sneak Peak

I am so very behind on my posts, our days are just staying so busy.... but I wanted to share a sneak peak we received today from Thomas's 9 month pictures.

This last one is of Thomas playing with our photographer's boys, Lawson and Nolan Evan. We love them!

Our Time Away

Dear Thomas,
Tonight I am so excited, so nervous, and so sad.  Tomorrow morning when you wake up, I won't be here. I'm flying to New York City with your Mommaw and one of her closest friends. We are going to enjoy everything New York City and everything New York City at Christmastime.  Your Dad is looking forward to having you all to himself for the next few days. You are going to have so much fun.  I can't wait to hear about all the fun stuff you two have done.
You and I have never been away from each other for more than 6 hours.  I know I'm going to be thinking about you every second of the day.  I know I'm going to drive your dad crazy calling to check on you.  I know my arms are going to feel terribly light not holding you.
When I put you to bed tonight I held you extra tight, rocked you extra long, and enjoyed your little face next to mine, feeling that little paci bob in and out until I almost put myself to sleep.
I love you son and I already can't wait to see you again.

Thomas meets Santa

Our friendly,

always smiling,

always happy,

joy to be around,

precious baby...

 ....met Santa for the first time last week.

We knew that it might not go very smooth.  Thomas is not crazy about costumes (or face paintings).

We tried our best to put him at ease, you may notice Santa has one hand behind his back... he's holding Thomas's bottle.  About the bare feet; it was Florida and 70 degrees.

We look forward to lots more Santa visits.  I'm sure he will LOVE him one day!

Thanksgiving at Sandestin (in pictures)

Thomas spent his very first Thanksgiving in Sandestin with Mommy Bette, Pop, Aunt Mendy, Ashlyn, Tommy, and Bri. 

We have perfected the wave.

We have cut a total of four teeth and Thomas spent lots of time checking out his new developments with his tounge.

We spent lots of time at Baytown Wharf.  They had an outside stage with a lady singing childrens songs.  Thomas has started clapping when he hears music.  It was really cute seeing him dance along to the music.

He is such a sweet baby.

Pop introduced Thomas to Johnny Cash, or at least his music.  Pop came to the conclusion that Thomas may not be a Johnny Cash fan.

This was a highlight.  Dad, Ashlyn, Bri and almost Mendy zip lined across the bay.  Mendy decided against it at the last minute.  I did catch this shot of Dad.

Thomas has several encounters with Santa Claus on the trip.  In addition to Thomas not being a Johnny Cash fan, he also isn't a Santa Claus fan.... or at least not this year.

 

I know, this is a horrible picture... but I had to post it because this moment really made Brian and I smile.  As Mendy was taking this picture these ladies walked by with two dogs each.  Thomas loves dogs and he started laughing when he saw them.  The ladies stopped to I'm sure check out our good lookin' boy (haha... or maybe just aide us in the picture taking).  One of their dogs came and sat down right in front of us... see him in the bottom? We thought it was cute.  So these two strangers are watching us take this picture when one started saying, "Down Kasey," "Sit Kasey", "Stay Kasey".  It took me a second (or three) to realize that she was talking to the dog.  We laughed and I said, "Oh, your dogs name is Kasey... mine too".  She said "yeah, but his is Kasey with a K". 

 

This little boy enjoyed some beach time.

We had such a great time!