Christmas!!!!

Christmas Day! 

One of my most favorite days of the year as we celebrate 

the birth of Christ!

 Jesus is here!!!

 Reading the Christmas story with Lolly!

 Hurried Excitement!

 Finally getting to eat the big gingerbread girl from her countdown calendar!

 Sophi and Evie opening stockings

 Maddie checking out her stocking!

 Sweet girls was sick the whole time we were there :(

 Not to sick to share in the Christmas fun though!

 Exchanging gifts with Daddy!

 Maddie's new chair!

 Visiting G-Paw and wishing him a Merry Christmas!

Nana and Papa and their girls!

Sophi and Evie got ballet lessons for Christmas from Lolly and Pops and tickets to the Nutcracker for the next day. It was so fun to see the girls get all dolled up for the ballet.

Despite our whole family being sick and having to come home a day early we had a joyous time celebrating this much anticipated day with our sweet families. 

Already looking forward to next years celebration!

Christmas Countdown: Days 22-24

Day 22: Buy a new Ornament for our Tree

This year we went for the inexpensive ornament and with Sophi's helped picked this cute monkey to remind us of the two crazy "monkeys" in our house!

Day 23: Make Gingerbread houses

This is one of my favorite days! Josh is always home with us for this one and it is so fun to do this as a family! This year we had the Charlie Brown theme going and I couldn't resist buying this snoopy kit! Sophi loves all things candy of course so she LOVED this activity. I think she ate more than she decorated!

Day 24: Open one gift

Usually this is a small gift like Christmas Pajamas but this year, since we were headed to Atlanta that evening, the girls got to open their big gifts from us. 

Sophi got a new Grocery store for her playroom. She loves both shopping at it and being the cashier!

Maddie got a fun push/ride toy that she will be able to grow into for quite awhile!

This is how Sophi found Mary and Joseph Christmas Eve morning, at the stable awaiting the arrival of their baby son!

Christmas Eve we typically spend with Josh's family in Columbia, TN. We had such a fun time opening gifts and sharing special memories with Grammy and Poppy, Matt and Nichole and all the cousins! 

Grammy started the tradition a few years ago of making a birthday cake for Jesus. We all sing happy birthday and the each kid gets to blow out the candle on the cake. So fun!

 After our time at the Strahans we loaded up the car and headed to Atlanta to celebrate Christmas day with the Scobeys. Sophi enjoyed watching A Charlie Brown Christmas before drifting off to sleep with excited anticipation of all that was to come the next day!

8 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that this little thing is 8 months old already! Seriously, how did this happen?!

This was one of our harder photo attempts because she is constantly on the move! She can often be found rocking on her knees, but she prefers to "snake" across the floor, "slithering" on her belly and she can get to whatever she wants. She is also pulling up and loves to walk while holding on to your hands. 

Maddie's hair continues to grow longer and longer and is super curly! In the morning she has crazy bed head that is usually standing straight up! There is fortunately enough of it to tame it down with a bow. So cute!

This poor girl is always sick! Since having tubes put in her ears last month she contracted Roseola which is basically a high fever virus that in turn gave her an ear infection. She spent the better part of 4 days strapped to mommy in the ergo (thank goodness for the ergo!).

She ended up having to go on antibiotic for her ear; however she has contracted a coughing virus just in the last day or two (this is why her mouth is open in all her pictures because she can't breath out of her nose).

You can always tell when Maddie is sick by her eyes. Those bright blues just don't have their sparkle!

We are desperately praying she can get healthy soon and stay that way for a while.

Maddie still doesn't have any teeth but is constantly drooling! Maybe soon!

 Maddie has enjoyed her first Advent season and has had a taste of all kinds of sweets (which she of course loves!). She only nurses twice a day now and eats three big meals a day plus two small snacks! She LOVES to eat and eats everything we do. I have to admit, it is very nice not to have to make baby food anymore! She, however, has developed a food allergy that we are still trying to pinpoint; fortunately it isn't severe and we can monitor it for now without seeing the allergist. I never thought I would have food allergy kids! Too funny!

 If left alone in the living room, this is where you will most often find her these days, pulling on our tree. She is an explorer!

She loves to be outside and play with her sister, but most often just wants to be with mommy. She has become very attached and usually cries when someone else tries to hold her.

When she will let someone else hold her, she loves to be cuddled and rocked; whenever Lolly and Grammy are here, they can always be found rocking this little one to sleep.

 She has to have her paci and lovie to sleep with, though she has discovered how to throw her pacis out of the crib. We have to put several in her crib to make sure she ends up with one when she finally does go to sleep. She is taking two hour and a half naps a day and sleeping 12 hours a night which we are very grateful for!

Maddie doesn't babble much yet but she definitely communicates using grunting sounds! She babbles the most when she is chewing on something, whether it's her paci, sippy cup or Sophi toy. Her newest development though is waving hi. It is so cute to see her wave and she is so proud of herself when she does.

As we celebrate the most awesome gift ever given in the birth of God's son we are reminded of this sweet girl, another miracle given to us by God and we can't help but praise his name. Thank you Lord for giving us our precious Maddie!

Christmas Countdown: Days 14-21

Day 14: RAK - Take coffee to the Homeless

In Nashville there is a program called the Contributor in which the homeless are given the opportunity to earn money by selling papers on the side of the roads for $1 contributions. We made some coffee and took some candy canes, hopped in the car with our good friends Melodye andAbram to find some of these men and women and spread some cheer!

The kids had a blast handing out candy canes and yelling "Merry Christmas" through the window.

After our adventure we headed to our last Community Bible study meeting where the kids celebrated Christmas with their special Christmas program. So cute!

That night we surprised Sophi when she got in bed with a ticket to the Christmas Express! We loaded up in the car with some hot chocolate and treats to go see Christmas lights (my parents were in town and Pops stayed home with Maddie who was already asleep!)

This was a BLAST! I haven't seen Sophi this excited in awhile. She was absolutely giddy!

Day 15: Watch the Grinch and Drink Grinch Juice

We love the grinch!

Day 16: Life Group Christmas Party

I didn't get any pictures of this but we so enjoyed celebrating this special season of Advent with our amazing Life Group Family.

Day 17: Have a Cookie Decorating Party with Friends

I knew my mom would be in town this day which was the only way I could pull this off! It was a surprise for Sophi that morning to see all the decorations and anxiously wait for her friends to arrive. 

We had so much fun making a mess and decorating cookies for ourselves and others. Each family got a box to take their decorating cookies home and decide as a family who they might want to share them with. We choose our local firemen and had fun dropping our cookies off at the Fire Station the next day!

Day18: Serve at Room in the Inn

This is another program here in Nashville for those who find themselves homeless. Our church, along with many others in the community, provide a meal and a warm place to sleep for the night. Our life group provided the meal for this night. We served two family's that evening, one with 7 kids, and one with a 6 month old. It was heartbreaking to think that these children don't know where they might sleep each night or where their next meal might come from. It was, however, amazing to see how the kids in our group loved on them, played with them and accepted them for who they were, no questions asked. I love the questions these experiences stir up for Sophi, like where these families are going to wash their clothes or take a bath, and what can we do to find them a home. This is always a good reminder that we have SO much and there is always room to give back.

Day 19: RAK - Write Chalk notes on Neighbors driveways

It was super fun to be sneaky and spread some Christmas cheer to our sweet neighbors

Day 20: Christmas Party at School

Sophi's preschool celebrated Christmas with a program and class party. It as so cute to see her "preform" and watch her interact with her sweet teacher and school friends.

 (Does this table look familiar? Mommy was in charge of the party :)

 Day 21: RAK - Give some of our toys to kids in need

Sophi did really well with this project considering she is only 3. She made a whole pile of toys to give away! Daddy and I felt it was only fair if we did the same thing so we went through our clothes and made a pile too!

I can't believe Christmas is only a few days away!

I will leave you with a few Mary and Joseph mishaps! 

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful time of year!