December Festivities

I am completely behind on the blog because of the crazy turn that our lives have taken in the month of December with my sister, Ashlie's sudden illness and liver transplant, but I did not want to miss documenting some of our fun events and our holidays even though it's a little late!

Cooper has absolutely loved Christmas this year! We have tried very hard to keep the focus on Jesus and giving not receiving, but it sure has been hard. Two things that we did this month did make an impact- I think! One of these was an Advent Chain that had a devotion for everyday in December. Dan and I started not giving each other gifts the year that we got married. Instead, we adopted a family and bought presents for them. We have continued this tradition with us and expanded it to the kids this year. They got gifts from Santa and then from grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc, but they did not get gifts from us. We adopted a family who needed some help having a Merry Christmas and shopped and wrapped all of the presents for them together as a family. We had the best time doing this, and I think it made Cooper find a little more value in giving- at least for a little while!

Cooper's school program was a couple of weeks ago. It was very cute, and Cooper was the ham of the show.


Here are Cooper and Reese Ann in a rare good picture of both of them before the program


This is a good summary picture of Cooper's behavior at the program- he was very proud of himself and provided much entertainment for everyone!


and another showing how much he amused himself and enjoyed the performance!


Reese Ann loved watching her brother perform, and when the entire room of people was quiet during a break from singing, Cooper yelled, "Calling Reese Ann!" Dan and I wanted to crawl under the chairs, but RA loved it! On the ride home I asked Cooper if his teachers told him to stay quiet while on the stage between songs, and he said, "they did, but not every kid up there had a baby sister, and I really wanted her to see me." At least his intentions were good- I guess!


With Edie & Nanie at the program


Santa was also there, and you can tell by this picture that RA was not a fan!


and another! You can tell in this one that Santa might not have been a big fan of RA either! He did still visit her on Christmas morning, though!

My sister, Ashlie...

My sister, Ashlie, has had a crazy month journey with some serious GI problems and was just added to the liver transplant list at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. I have set up a blog to keep everyone updated with her progress toward total healing.

www.prayforashlie.blogspot.com

15 months!

Reese Ann has hit the 15 month mark this month! She has changed so much since her first birthday, so I thought I would share some stats and pictures about our sweet baby girl! She weighs in at 21.5 lbs which is firmly planted in the 25 percentile. She took her first steps at 13 months, but just in the last few weeks has decided to make walking her main mode of transportation.



Reese Ann is a dare-devil and will get into anything including physically getting into the toy cabinet in our den!




When disciplined for her many adventurous behaviors, she can throw a mean fit! All I have to do is look at her the wrong way when she has done something she wasn't supposed to do, and she melts into a big puddle (note the actual puddle of drool that she is making in this fit)!


You can see the evidence of the adventurous behavior on her forehead in this picture! Reese Ann has had many a bump and bruise (some with the help of big brother, too).


She loves sitting in Cooper's chair, and he has been sweet to share it with her! Thankfully, Edie & G-Chip have given her one as an early Christmas present!




Reese Ann is such a joyful little girl! She is a big talker and loves blowing kisses! She loves her dolls and baby furniture, and when she decides to play with some of Cooper's toys, she picks the one pink car out of his hundreds of cars and rolls it along the floor like her brother!

She is not a great eater, but thankfully, is not allergic to milk or eggs like Cooper, so she gets the majority of calories in her diet from the many sippy cups full of milk she drinks a day. If we would let her, she would ingest only junk food and sweets- she has loved every morsel she has gotten so far!

She is quite the escape artist- she will lose her bow at any given opportunity and has gotten remarkably good at taking off her shoes and socks very quickly especially in the car. I was able to fool her a little bit with her first pair of tights last weekend for church. She tried the whole 5 minute car ride to pull them off!

We are so thankful for all that this baby girl brings to our family! Although she is growing up too fast for this momma, we are excited to see what the next few months bring in the development of her cute little personality!