Christmas 2010

 Starting Minute to Win it Games!!

Dear Luke, 6 months

Dear Luke,

I must confess I had a little cry the other day when rocking you to sleep.  The emotions I felt in that precious moment made me teary-eyed when I became keenly aware of how sacred it was.  You are growing up so fast and learning so many new things in such a short time.  I find myself wishing it would all just slow down.  Yesterday morning, your dad got up to get you out of your crib and found you sitting up!  He came running back to our room screaming, "Luke is sitting up all by himself!" and then went running down the stairs to get the video camera.  When he came back you had already fallen back over :).  Waking up in the morning to get you from your crib is like experiencing a little Christmas each time, we never know what we might find you doing :).

As I said, you have done a lot of growing this past month despite the major upheaval in our lives.  Over Thanksgiving you learned how to roll over from back to tummy, scream really loud, and spit in 3 different ways.  The week after Thanksgiving you decided it was time you started to try and CRAWL!  Whaaaat!?

This one really threw me for a loop!  You keep getting up on all fours rocking back and forth, doing all you can to figure out how to move forward.  You get stronger and more stable every day.  

We haven't seen a "true" crawl yet, but somehow you find a way to get the toy you were reaching for 2 feet away.  

Have I ever told you how much you LOVE to eat?  When you were first born you were not the best eater, always falling asleep and never finishing a meal.  Well my boy, you have turned into a real champ.  You finish your meals with me in 10 minutes or less!  When we give you a bottle you down that sucker in no time at all.   Once it's finished you always cry, letting us know you WANT MORE!  You also started solid foods this month. You have adapted to the spoon like you were always using one.  You grab for it when we feed you and try to guide it into your mouth all by yourself.  You didn't make any weird faces when you tried your cereal for the first time, you just opened the hatch and went with it.  

You have really been an incredibly easy baby Luke.  You are doing an awesome job sleeping (thank-you-very-much) and you LOVE to snuggle before you go to bed.  Although, I fear you are becoming a little picky as to who does the snuggling at bed time and are starting to make your preference clear (me :).  You are a very content and sweet little baby, people always want to love on you and hold you.  You seem to find the fun in anything you can put your hands around and always find a way to put it in your mouth.

Did you know you will be exactly 6 months on Christmas Day?  That's a very special half-birthday to share on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus!  In honor of your very first Christmas I immediately put the Christmas tree up in our new home (despite the many other boxes that needed to be unpacked) because this year is very special to me.

This is the first time we get to celebrate Christmas as a family of 3!  Your Dad and I have thought a lot about what we want our family to understand and experience during the Christmas Season.  We want to help you understand the GIFT of God's one and ONLY son to the world.  We want you to understand the MIRACLE of his birth and the significance it has to the WORLD.  We want you to have sweet memories of our family time, experience cool traditions, and learn how to be a thoughtful giver.  We know that as you get older and as our family grows we will have nothing but fond memories of the time we have together during this magical season.

Merry Christmas my precious little baby.  May you soon experience the WONDER of the awesome birth of His son-  His special gift to you.

Love,
Mama

Hershey Kiss overload!

I have finally started some baking this week after a long hiatus.  Now that we are unpacked it became increasingly necessary for me to bust out the cupcake pan again.  But not for cupcakes :).  Surprised?  You must try this rich and delicious recipe my sister found on the back of the Hershey's Kisses Mint Truffle package.  Have you already found it?  Well it was a welcome surprise to me!  I am bringing them to Michigan for Christmas :).

This is a rich and delicious dessert that will not disappoint.  Eric said it's one of the most favorite things I have ever made!  Wanna make em?  Go buy yourself the Mint Truffle bag- recipe is located on the back. 

Mint truffle kisses... mmm

Mint truffle brownies!  mmmmMMMM!

I also decided to keep going with the kisses theme and bake the time honored peanut butter kisses cookie.  I cannot stop myself from eating them! **notice the gaping hole in the middle**  We better get to Michigan quick.

These are a few of my favorite things

Elf and It's a Wonderful Life.  I'm getting warm fuzzies just thinking about these two classics.

My sock monkey slippers.  They are so comfortable and are the cutest thing I have ever put on my feet.

Stocking stuffers.  Buckyballs = the perfect stocking stuffer this year.

Buckeye balls, not to be confused with Buckyballs.  These chocolate peanut butter delights are AMAZING.  And if your extra special you put rice krispies in them to make them even more delicious.

White lights.  I grew up with the colored lights on our Christmas tree and I loved them.  However, I have white lights on my tree for several reasons, but mostly because they give the most warm and pretty glow.

Mariah Carey Christmas and Amy Grant Christmas, much to the dismay of my husband.

Family Time under the Christmas Tree.

Documenting Christmas 2010.    

What are some of your favorite things?

In a Stable?

Just read this blog post and was again, hit in the face with Mary's story.  Take a moment out of your day to read this post and think about the story of the woman God chose to take care of His son.

I will praise Him for the stables in my life because He is sovereign and He is good.

{December LOVaLIES}

Tender Tennessee Christmas with a surprise bonus of snow accumulation (and seriously crazy drivers).

Slow and chilly mornings with the family.  Luke looking at his first snowfall in our new home.

Lights and shiny ornaments are curious and wonderful entertainment for this sweet babe.

Probably my favorite Christmas candy

Patiently waiting to make his first Christmas ornament

Just a few of the lovely things we get to experience this Christmas Season.  We are blessed.

I'm back!

Did you miss me?  (just kidding Dad, I know you just saw me yesterday)

Recap:

Celebrated my 28th birthday.

Thanksgiving in Nashville with the fam = minute to win it games and seriously good food.

Luke learned how to roll over from back to tummy, scream in a high pitched nails-on-a-chalkboard voice, and finally give us a real belly laugh! :)

Bought a Van.  Yes, we have joined the van club and I'm proud to say it. This beaut has all the bells and whistles- don't be jealous.

Drove back to Tuscaloosa.

Packed our entire house and cleaned it like it's never been cleaned before.

Saw the new Harry Potter movie.  At the end of the movie Eric (who is not a Harry Potter fan) screamed very loudly in the movie theater "Expelliarmus!".   To which he got several snickers, weird looks, and a red-faced wife.  He also screamed it in the hallway of the movie theater and the parking lot.  So embarrassing.

Said goodbye to some awesome neighbors and friends.

Cried really really hard when we drove away from our 1st home in the moving truck.  It was raining, cold, and depressing.

(goodbye my sweet friend)

Arrived in Nashville to the new pad- so happy we hired Two Men in a Truck to do the unpacking for us.

Sat amongst all the boxes for awhile feeling very overwhelmed.

Began the unpacking/heavy cleaning process in order to put all of our stuff in it's new home.

Felt very blessed and thankful to have people from the church and my family assist in the unpacking/heavy cleaning process.

Eric went to his first day of work and........ loved it.  Bonus.

Staff Christmas party in which we scored a Ben and Jerry's gift card and a Sweet CeCe's gift card.  AND had our first paid babysitter!  She was awesome- btw.

Finally got Internet hook-up in the home today!

Well now we are caught up my friends.  I hope your Holiday was not even as close to as busy and ridiculously insane as mine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well everyone, the time has come...

We are moving.  So long and farewell Tuscaloosa :0(.  I will miss everything about you tremendously!  Even still, I am confident God will meet us in Nashville with lots to look forward to.

We will be busy doing lots of things (as you can imagine).  Here's just a few of the things we will be packing into the next few days.

Eating Turkey, playing games, spending time with family, watching the IRON bowl :), celebrating MY birthday :), driving and then some more driving, packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking, and lots more things I'm leaving out.  All the while toting the babe around.  Please wish us luck and keep us in your prayers.  There will obviously be a blog break, but I will be excited to return with LOTS to update you on.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Love,
Melissa

Question?

What do you do when your cupboards look like this

and you need to bring a dessert to a dinner party?

Answer:

You go to your resourceful blog friends and find an
 easy delicious recipe like this.

I made Eric leave my trusty cupcake pan out of the packed kitchen boxes b/c I knew I would have to bake at least 1 maybe 2 to 10 more times before we left...... aaaand I was right. :)

Here's what you need for Salted Carmel cupcakes-
nothing homemade about this one, but you totally could make most
of it from scratch- if that"s your thang.

1. Bake as cake mix directs
2. Inject with salted carmel     

3. Ice cupcakes with frosting
4. Dip in crushed Skor Bars 

 

Try these Salted Carmel cupcakes if all you have left in your kitchen is a bowl, spatula, cupcake pan, and paper plates.  Or because they are AWESOME.

{MuSiC tO My eArS}

There is nothing better than a relaxing Friday night with great friends, great food, and some Elvis Presley classics.  Yes that's right.  Most every time we hang out with Kortnie we have a "jam" session.  She sings, Eric sings, I pretend to sing, and we all have a fabulous time.  Friday night was all of that and more.  Every time my ears are graced with Kortnie's gift of music I am reminded of God's goodness.  Not only is Kortnie a fabulous musician, lyricist, and featured on a Grammy nominated album- she is a Cancer survivor.  She inspires me in so many ways, but most of all by her incredible faith in the Lord.  I am so blessed to call her my friend.  We know Kortnie will be a life-long friend and we can't wait to have her over for a Friday night jam session in Nashville.

Luke enjoying his serenade

Dancing to the beat

Eyes locked on Kortnie

check out Kortnie Heying and her amazing voice here