Justin Goes Squirrel Hunting

Towards the end of 2011, Justin decided to go squirrel hunting with his buddies. Yes, I said squirrel hunting. Sorry, but that's pretty gross to me. But the guys had a great time and they say their are plenty of squirrels to go around :)

I think they are on Coach Durham's land... it's really beautiful

Setting up camp

I know Justin had a great time, but I just don't like the thought of guys getting together with guns. Any other wives/moms feel the same way? haha

Ok, so here are the guys with their squirrels. Brad, Justin, and Rusty (all football coaches at ECS too). And I have to make note that they.....yuck...i can't even say it...yes I can....They ATE their squirrels for DINNER that night!!!!! EEWWWW! Justin said the meat was good, just a little, well a lot, tough. haha.

Whatever makes ya happy!

James is 2 & 1/2

Wow, my sweet boy is already 2 and 1/2! Well, he is not sweet all the time...ha! But we love him so much and are just trying to savor every minute of our first born :)

He and Kramer are still best buds.

He loves playing with his best friends, Taylor and Law!

Justin took him to see his first movie!

"Happy Feet 2"

He sat through the entire movie! Well, there may have been some getting up and down ;)

Boy, he loves Reese. He talks to her all the time, shares his toys, and loves getting in the bed with her when she wakes up.

Justin put together another set of shelves for me, and James definitely wanted to help his daddy out. He is using a screw driver to put in a screw.

Reading with Daddy and Reese

Not sure WHAT James is doing here. He wanted to be under Reese in the exersaucer...funny ;)

For some reason he likes to eat his special snacks (cookies) in this little cubby hole in the piece in our dining room.

More loving on that sister!

Taking that paci out for a smooch!

Speaking of paci... James is officially paci free!

He had just bitten them to pieces (seriously a choking hazard). He also started wanting them more often just around the house, not just for sleeping. So Justin and I (more Justin THAN I...haha) decided to nip this paci thing in the bud! We got him a sound machine that has a projector on it for a little distraction to help fall asleep. And we just took his paci away and said, "Pacis are for babies, like Reese. You are a big boy now. No more pacis."

The first night was awful. LOTS of crying. Maybe only 30 solid minutes. But still, that's tough for me. He has had a paci for sleeping every night for 2 and a half years! I felt bad. But I didn't feel bad for long. He fell asleep, and woke up the next morning, and we gave him a big icing topped cookie for breakfast! He loved it and knew he was getting the treat for sleeping without his paci. The next couple of nights were a little tough, but not bad.

And sure enough, now he never asks for his paci! It is a thing of the past! (Thanks for your encouragement, Justin. I couldn't have done this without you by my side!).

I think I might look back at this one day when James is older and say, "Really, Mandy? This was your biggest worry?" Haha

Reese is 6 months!

I am about a month behind in blogging, but anyways, here is Reese's six month post!

Stats:

Weight- 14 lbs

Height- 25 inches

She is so close to sitting up on her own. Still topples over with one wrong move!

Reese is starting to say "Ba-ba-ba-ba". So sweet.

She smiles all the time still.

She is just now beginning to sleep on her side and sometimes tummy during nap and at night.

Reese still wakes at least one time in the night, and her longest stretch will go about 8 hours.

hmm....sounds like we might be doing this waking in the night thing for a while!

I still don't drink cow's milk because it just hurts her little tummy. Almond milk it is then!

Reese absolutely adores James and will just sit and stare at him all day if she could.

:)

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent Thanksgiving in Nashville this year and as usual had a amazing time with family. It is incredible how the drive to Nashville is always sooo pretty to me. When we get there, we see rolling hills, winding roads through beautiful forests, wild turkeys, horses, big red barns, and so much more. Definitely reminds me to thank God for His beautiful world he created for us to live in.

Well, I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. Too busy having fun, I guess! But here are a few.

Right when we got there, we knew we just had to get a picture of Papa Blair and Reese!

Our family picture!

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with such a wonderful family with beautiful hearts to be married into!

(I'm not gonna say how many "takes" it took to get a great picture with this large crew!...more than 10 though!)

Nonie and Reese watch our gift exchange with the kids.

James opened his gift bag and probably was saying, "Oh Man!"

Because that's what he says when he's excited! ha

First he got a kid's catechism CD from his Fish cousins (we LOVE it!).

Then he pulled out a tractor just like Uncle Tim's!

Sweet little Payne is showing James his gift that he got.

Before we know it, these two will be best buds!

James found a football helmet to try on. He thought he was pretty funny :)

Aunt Rachel had the greatest idea of taking our two oldest nieces out early early for a Black Friday super great experience! We started our journey at 5am so we could get to Target when the crowd was there to show the girls how crazy it could get. When we got there, we didn't see more than few people in the store! Maybe Black Friday shopping in Leiper's Fork is a little different than other places! Ha!

Crazy picture!

We had a great time! Love you all and can't wait to see yall again!

Papa's Birthday

My dad's birthday rolled around on November 7th, and we got to celebrate! Everyone just got together at Meme and Papa's house and had a good time hanging out.

James helps Meme bring Papa his ice cream cake.

"Happy Birthday to YOU!"

Papa let James help blow out his candles...

... and lick the icing off the candles!

Yum :)

Reese did a great job sitting in the walker.

Getting attention from her aunt and uncle ;)

Yay! Papa got a Keurig coffee maker for his birthday!

Big hug with Uncle Josh and Aunt Michelle :)

Sweet picture

Dad, thanks for being an incredible father and an unbelievable Papa! We love you so much. Happy Birthday!

October 31st

For Halloween, James and Reese were skeletons! I tried to get some pictures of Reese by herself, but James saw me with the camera and decided to jump on in before he got dressed up.

What a sweet big brother

Did I mention James was sweet?

Here is a Reese picture by herself :)

Both kiddos dressed up

This is James' happy face

and his sad face

I love the way he looks at her sometimes ;)

My two little skeletons, ready to get some candy!

What a great pose (which he came up with on his own!)

Cutest skeleton I ever did see!