Christmas with our families

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Christmas eve started out a little rough. I had planned to make all this good stuff and it all ended up in the trash can. Orange balls - trash, Martha Washington balls - trash, coconut shrimp balls - trash. Everything I made was supposed to be a ball of some kind, but nothing turned out that way. Everything was mush. Oh well. After I sat down in the floor and cried, I felt better and all was good with the world again. Anyways, we went to my mom's house that night. We ate and opened presents. We had a good time. The boys loved all their presents. Then, after that, we dropped the boys off at Maurine's house so we could go and get our Santa stuff that we were hiding at Adam's house. We got the boys in the bed around 10:30 and Santa came around 1:30. Austin was the first one up at 6:30. We ate breakfast, then just stayed around the house and lazed the rest of the afternoon. That night, we had Christmas with MeMe and Paw (Maurine and Donald). The boys always have fun with Eli, Gabe, and Sam. Kamden seemed to favor Eli this time. :) I put together a slide show, but I didn't have any pictures from Maurine's house. I took my camera in, but got so preoccupied that I forgot to take any pictures. It was another great Christmas. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to celebrate your birthday in such a special way. You have given us the ultimate present.

Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Gravette Christmas get-together...

Mawmaw and Pawpaw opening their presents!

This is my cousin, Shana, and her fiance, Jeremy.

This is my mom and her sister, Sheila.

This past Saturday, My mom's side of the family, the Gravettes, had their Christmas at my Aunt Sheila's house in Southside. Me and Austin rode with my mom up there, because Andrew was at home with Kade and Kamden, who had a stomach virus. It didn't feel right without them there, but it was still nice to go and get together with family. Austin always has fun with Charles Robert, his cousin. They are only two months apart and it is easy for them to play together. Here are some of the pics.

Nine years ago today......

Nine years ago today I married a wonderful man. He has not let me down in any way over the years. I love him more today than I ever have. I have many times wanted to pinch his head off, but I have come to realize that he is who he is, and that is the reason I love him so much. All of his little quirks is what makes him Andrew, and I would not want him to be any different. As I think about our relationship today, I want to share some of the reasons why I love him so much.


1. He prays with our boys every night before they go to bed.

2. He works hard to provide for his family even if it means working until 8 or 9:00 many nights.

3. He drives a truck that is probably not worth more than $2,000 with a missing bumper just so he can provide more for his family, rather than spending it on a payment.

4. He takes Austin hunting, and Austin and Kade fishing, which teaches more life lessons than a regular hobby would.
5. He accepts bath duty for the boys on alot of nights without complaining.

6. He tells me that he loves me everyday.

7. He leads his family to church every Sunday, which at our house is hard getting everybody heading in the same direction or even on the same page.

8. He disciplines our boys when they need it.

9. He has never lost his temper with me.

10. He accepts and loves me for who I am even with all the flaws and quirks that I have that would send anybody else running.


Just wanted to share this with everyone and to say Happy Anniversary Andrew! I love you!!!!

Austin's school pictures

What a Face!!!!

*See post below

Austin has a complex!!!

I got Austin's school pictures back this week. The regular fall picture is okay. He is holding his mouth funny though. But, his Santa picture is just hilarious. I asked him why he made that face and he said,"Well, he told me to smile real big." Austin hates pictures. It is so hard to get a picture of Austin with him looking natural or with a natural smile. He always sticks his tongue out, makes a face, or makes this terrible looking huge smile. I just do not understand why he can not act right in pictures. The only logical explanation I can come up with is because Andrew is his father. Andrew hates pictures and has always hated pictures. From what I gather from his cousins, they used to always hate making family pictures because it took so long because Andrew would not act right. When I got his Santa picture with him making that face, I started pulling out old photos to just see how many pictures I had of Austin acting crazy. I got a laugh out of this and just thought I would make a slideshow out of some of the photos so you could get a laugh too.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What are your favorite things?????

This is in response to Candice's post, What are your favorite things about Christmas? Well, here are mine.

1. Shopping for the boys' Santa stuff.
2. A pretty Christmas tree.
3. A pine scented Christmas candle.
4. Memories of my Mema's Rudolph Parties when I was a child.
5. Jenny's coffee punch.
6. Martha Washington balls.
7. Our Christmas Eve get together at my Mom's.
8. Christmas morning watching the kids get all excited and playing with their things Santa brought.
9. Christmas night at MeMe's house. (Maurine)
10. Classic Christmas songs that remind me of my childhood.
11. Classic Christmas cartoons, such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
12. Larry NeSmith's beautiful piano playing at our Christmas service at church.
13. Taking the boys to look at the Christmas lights.

I could go on and on. I just love this time of year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Austin's Birthday Party

Here are a some pics from Austin's birthday party that we had on Saturday. We had it at the Hackney Center @ AIDB in Talladega. The kids had a blast!

Today is Austin's Birthday!!!!!

This is me and Austie a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

I love this baby picture of Austin! What could be better than a naked baby?

Six years ago today @ 2:23 p.m. I gave birth to one of the three most beautiful babies I have ever seen in my life. After 2 days of trying to be put into labor on my own (because of my blood pressure being elevated) and that being unsuccessful, I had to have a c-section. I can still remember how scared I felt that day, but even more than that I can remember how happy and how amazed I was that this was MY baby boy. Austin has grown to be a very loving, bubbly, caring, smart, and amazing six year old little boy. I think he is perfect, and I would not change a single thing about him. I love you Austin and Happy Birthday!!

O Christmas Tree............Poor Christmas Tree........

Well, this is our Christmas tree. It has had a rough few days. It looks really bad in the picture, but I think it is just my camera. It really is prettier (or was) than what it looks like. We bought this tree about 3 years ago. We got it at Lowe's and paid a pretty price for it, and it has only worked right the first year we used it. It is prelit and now there is more lights out on it than works. We have had to rig another 300 lights on it just to make it look right, and the boys have done something to it today and knocked out a big chunck of lights on the bottom. They have took all the decorations off within reach. That is why the top half looks decorated and the bottom half does not. If I am out of the living room longer than 10 minutes, the boys just mutilate the tree. This really stresses me out, because I loooove a pretty Christmas tree. Looking at a Christmas tree puts me in a peaceful childlike spirit. Until now!!!!!!! I give up on having a tree with three little boys in the house. Maybe I'll be able to decorate for Christmas like I want to when they are teenagers. :)

Here is a Christmas prayer that I came across. Let's remember to not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas!

A Christmas Prayer

"Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake, Amen!"

Thanksgiving at Meme's house

Kamden, Sam, Eli, Carson holding Preston, Austin holding Garrison, Gabe, and Kade

We celebrated our Thanksgiving evening with Maurine's side of the family. We had a great time visiting with our family, Jeff and Jimmie Nell's family, and Nannie and Pop (Janice and Fred). But, I got the greatest blessing seeing all the little boys being able to get together at one time and play together. Nannie and Pop have nine great grandchildren of which all are boys. And of these boys, eight of them are age three and under. So you can imagine what a great and humorous time that we had together. I feel so blessed that my boys have these cousins to grow up with.

Thanksgiving dinner at Sweet Nanny's house

I know I'm really my mom's favorite!!! :)

Wow! The boys were so wild! And, yes that is a biscuit hanging out of Austin's mouth.

This is my mom and my brother, Brian, and of course Austin had to jump in there just so he could make a face at the camera.

This would be Andrew shooting the kids with a watergun! Thanks Andrew!!!!!

Last night we had our Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. This would be Sweet Nanny. I don't know why my boys call her that but that is her grandmother name. It all started when Austin was about 2 or 3. He already called her Nanny, but her name just evolved into Sweet Nanny. The boys were especially wild last night, as you will be able to tell in the pictures, and their daddy doesn't help. He was squirting them with the water gun (in the house). Even the dog was shaking and trying to hide. But, we had a nice time visiting with my mom, Brian, and Angie.

Kade now has a big boy room!!!!!

Kade finally has his own big boy room now. He has been sleeping with Austin ever since he was able to crawl out of his baby bed. But, with Austin being in school now and needing to get some beneficial zzzz's in every night, the bed sharing had turned into a big problem. There has been several nights when Austin has got back up out of the bed to tell me that he couldn't go to sleep because Kade wouldn't be quiet and let him sleep. Then, there is the every night issue of them waking each other up, Austin ends up on the couch, and Kade ends up in between me and Andrew probably 5 out of 7 days of the week. Then I end up not being able to sleep so I go to the couch and you can probably guess it........Kade wakes up, discovers I am not in my bed, and finds me on the couch so he can sleep on the couch with me.........then when he goes back to sleep I sneak back in my bed. As you can tell we do not sleep very well and I wake up with a headache almost every morning. But, Kade has been in his big boy bed for several nights now, has not hesitated to go bed, and has slept all night in his own bed. And because of that, Austin has slept all night in his bed, and me and Andrew have slept all night uninterupted. :) And wow is he proud of his new room!! When I first showed him his room, I was sitting on the bed eating yogurt, and he said, "Mommy, not eat on my new bed, go to the table." I said,"okay baby, you're right we're not supposed to eat on our beds are we?" and Kade said,"not sit on my bed either, Mommy." Even during church on Sunday he looked at me and said that he liked his new big boy room. Oh yea, and did I mention that he also makes (or tries very hard to) his bed in the morning? I didn't even know he had it in him. Maybe Andrew should take some notes from his three year old about housekeeping!!!! :)

Cheaha

Today I took Kade and Kamden to Cheaha and to Lake Chinnabee for a picnic. When I seen the weather was going to be beautiful today, I knew that we had to get out of the house and do something. I could not sit in the house any longer. I was starting to get cabin fever and getting out and doing something is always good therapy for me. :) The boys were excited when I told them that we were going to Cheaha. They didn't know what or where Cheaha was, but they were just happy to be going. That is until I mentioned that were we going to be on top of a mountain. At that moment, Kade starting crying and saying, "not goin' to a mountain. Neber, Eber goin' to a mountain." I don't know why the word mountain put fear in him, but it did. It was quite funny. But, we had a nice day. I wish Austin could of went with us. The warm sunshine, the nip in the air, and the smell of pine was so nice. I loooove the smell of pine in the cool weather.

Kamden's Birthday Party

We had Kamden a birthday party on Saturday and celebrated with a fish fry. Kamden was cranky and ill at first because we had to wake him from his nap. Bad idea! But, eventually he got okay with everything and starting enjoying himself. It was nice having the family here and the boys had fun playing with Eli, Sam, and Gabe. Next, it will be Austin's turn in a few weeks!

Today is Kamden's Birthday!!!!!

I can't believe my baby has turned two years old today. The past two years have flown by. It seems like only yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. Kamden has blessed us beyond words, and he brings something different and something wonderful to our family every single day. As a mother I feel so blessed to have three healthy, beautiful little boys. They brighten my day like nothing else can and I can not imagine a life without my three boys. So Happy Birthday Kamden! I hope you have a great 2nd birthday!

Trick or Treating

Tonight I took the boys trick or treating. Andrew was not able to go with us this year, because he had to work, so my mom rode with us to a few places. I always get so excited about getting them dressed up and taking them trick or treating. Andrew just does not understand why I get so excited, but I do (I guess its just an Autumn thing). Here are just a few pictures that I wanted to share. Notice I am in one of the pictures and I too dressed up (as a hippie). I actually dressed up for Austin's Halloween party at school today too, and he told me that I kind of embarassed him. Hehe! :)

We finally have high speed so I am going to try and start "blogging". This is going to be all new to me, but I wanted to start doing this so I could try and share some of our memories with everyone. I just thought it would be a neat way to share some stories and pictures of our family.