The Weekend Before

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with our friends and with Matt's Dad's side of the family.

We had our annual Fairhope Friends Dirty Santa party, hosted by the Steed's, on Friday night. I have absolutely zero pictures, but we had a great time and it's always great to be in the presence of good friends. It's super special when there are no kids around and you are actually able to finish a conversation! Somehow Matt and I managed to leave with the only two alcoholic gifts that were given. Pretty funny considering I'm pregnant and Matt doesn't really drink. Oh well, I guess that's just the nature of Dirty Santa!

Bright and early on Saturday morning we met up with the Nebrigs, Carrigans and Steeds at The Grand for breakfast with Santa. What a fun new tradition! I will say that the food at The Grand is not my favorite (especially considering the bill that comes at the end of the meal) but the atmosphere more than makes up for it! They do go all out for Christmas and that makes it extra special!

Hannah Cate was not such a fan of Santa this year, in fact, I wasn't even able to get a picture of her with him by herself because as soon as I sat her down in his lap she was screaming and there was no way I could back up to take a picture. Shands pretty much felt the same way and I can use his picture to show you just about how Hannah Cate felt.

We did manage to get a group picture of all the kids with Santa. I think it is hilarious that not a one of them is actually looking at the camera. Such is life with young ones!

Matt had to leave Breakfast with Santa early to head to work (another reason we ended up with no HC solo picture), so Hannah Cate and I hung out with the girls for the rest of the morning.

We went to visit The Chappells and new Baby Porter in the hospital and then we headed out for a little shopping.

After a nap for Hannah Cate, we headed down to Orange Beach for Christmas with Matt's Dad's family. We picked Matt up from work and he was showing some visitors around the resort so Hannah Cate and I played around for awhile outside. She loves to run around Heritage!

"Where's Da-Da?"

We had a nice dinner and then opened a few presents. Hannah Cate absolutely loved the Radio Flyer from B and Pops. They pulled her around in it for the rest of the evening and now every time we go in the garage she wants to go for a ride! These things have come a long way from what I remember......they even come complete with seat belts and sippy-cup holders! I can just see both little girls riding around in it this summer......what fun!

I think Hannah Cate is thinking that she could really get used to all these presents at every stop we make! All she has to do is put on a red or green outfit and she's sure to get a present!

More to come on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, plus the day after!

Leading up to Christmas

It was such a different Christmas for us this year, but one that I will probably always remember. It was our first Christmas to actually spend in our own home since Matt and I have been married. I love the traditions that we have in Birmingham, but it was nice to start to establish some of our own traditions as a family. And I'll have to say that I didn't miss all the running around, living out of our car for a week and the packing/unpacking that goes with traveling during the holidays!

We did make a trip up to Birmingham a few weeks before Christmas for a multi-purpose weekend where we had a White Plume baby shower for Madelyn, celebrated my Dad's Birthday and had Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.

White Plume (where I work) is always so gracious to throw a baby shower no matter what child you are expecting (1st or 4th). We opted for a diaper shower for baby Madelyn since we really are pretty covered in the clothes and baby necessities department. We received over 1,000 diapers, plus lots of wipes and a few fun monogrammed things for her! What a blessing it is to work with such wonderful people that truly care about each other. Hannah Cate had such a great time at the shower and I suspect part of her probably thought the "party" was for her. Fine by me, we'll let it be all about her for a little bit longer!

The next night Emily and I cooked a traditional Barnes family meal of spaghetti casserole, French bread and salad for Dad's Birthday dinner. I suspect it's probably hard having a Birthday so close to Christmas, so I was glad we got the chance to celebrate just him for a night! It's hard for me to express just how much I love him and what a special man he is to all of us. I don't think I know anyone that is more self-less and giving than my Dad. You certainly won't find anyone that laughs more than him or anyone that is able to find the good in any situation like he does. I'm so thankful that he is my Dad and thankful for the relationship that we have!

After the Birthday dinner, we had planned to make a trip to see the Zoolight Safari, however the weather did not cooperate with our plans. So instead, we headed to the Galleria to see Santa and ride the carousel. Well, an hour long wait coupled with two 1-year olds getting close to their bed time made us decide to skip Santa all together and skip straight to the carousel. Granddaddy and Mary Rose took the kiddos for their first carousel ride while the rest of us watched and played Papparazi. Cousin A.J. was a trooper, Hannah Cate was not such a fan! Maybe next year!

A pretty good start.....

Went downhill pretty quickly......

And ended like this!

At least somebody was relaxed and had fun!

A sweet memory regardless and hopefully a new tradition!

We ended the weekend with lunch with the entire Barnes family at my Grandmother's house. This was always a Christmas Day tradition in our family, but given the fact that all of our own families have now grown we try to get together at some point before Christmas.

Playing the piano at Grandmother's house was something all the grandchildren did, now the great-grandchildren are taking up the hobby!

We always love to spend time with Aunt Janet. She gave Hannah Cate one of our favorite gifts this year. Hannah Cate especially loves the Baby Jesus and gives him a kiss every time she picks him up. What a great way to start teaching her early about the true meaning of Christmas!

Of course no get together would be complete without some eating....even if it is Goldfish! I am really so thankful this year that Emily and Mick have moved back to the state of Alabama. Hannah Cate and A.J. have had such a great time playing together and it makes our time together that much sweeter!

My Grandmother looked so healthy and pretty. Her mind is pretty much gone, but I know that she loves getting to see the babies (and children) running around and that she loves being surrounded by people that love her!

More to come on the weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve/Day!

Future Photographer

The video below requires a little explanation.

One day we were at Matt's parents house and Hannah Cate discovered a little tape measure that they had tucked away in a drawer. It became her toy of choice for the day. After her playing with it for awhile, I noticed that she was walking around holding it up to her eye. After watching her a little longer, I finally realized what she was doing......she was taking pictures with the tape measure. She thought it was a camera. In her defense, it does kind of resemble a little point and shoot camera.....small, black and has a little strap that hangs off of one end. To confirm my thoughts, I asked her to take a picture of me and sure enough she held her "camera" up to one eye and took my picture. So cute! It's now become one of her favorite tricks that is sure to get a good laugh out of the crowd!

Here she is demostrating for Aunt Emily and Grandaddy (while Aunt Emily videos).

You might have also caught her other favorite trick of the moment at the very end when she blew Mama a kiss. She was demostrating that one in full force yesterday at the grocery store....every single person that we passed got a "bye-bye" and a "kiss" from Hannah Cate. One man told me that she deserved the Miss Congeniality award!

18 months is a really fun age!

18 Months or 18 Years?

It is 11:30 am and this little thing

is still sleeping.

Not from a morning nap, but from going to sleep last night at 7:30 pm.

I'm left wondering....am I dealing with a toddler or a teenager? Did she "sneak out" last night and go visit her friends? Did she crawl out of her crib, play with her books and toys for awhile and crawl back in her crib and now she's just catching up on the sleep she missed?

I thought sleeping until the middle of the day didn't come until much later!

*in case you are wondering, I have gone in to check on her multiple times and she is still breathing!

No Time!

I really just can't find the time to blog these days. I have lots that I would like to say and record so that I can look back and remember the things we did when Hannah Cate was one and right before we had our second baby....but I just can't find the time.

I want to talk about our family trip to the beach, our many trips to Birmingham to visit, our trips to Auburn and to Lake Martin for a weekend with friends.

I want to talk about how much fun I had spending the day with my best friends from Auburn and our celebration of baby girl #2 with our family and friends in Birmingham.

I want to talk about how proud I am of Matt for seeing Heritage through to fruition and for all the hard work he has put in for three and half years and what a success the Grand Opening party was.

I want to talk about Thanksgiving and the fact that my sister, brother-in-law and precious nephew now live in Alabama again and we've had the best time getting to hang out with them on a more consistent basis.

I want to talk about all the little things that Hannah Cate is doing....how she says "outside" so sweetly because it is her favorite place to be, how she "takes our picture" with a tape measure, how she would tell us she wants a cracker and eat them all day if we would let her, how when I ask her where the baby is she points to herself.

I want to remember that before she was 18 months old she started saying "I love you" back to us when we say it to her.

I want to talk more about the preparations for baby girl #2, what her nursery will look like and I want to find time to actually mention that she does have a name and it's Madelyn Virginia.

Well there, I found some time to at least say a few things.

They say the darndest things

You may be thinking that I don't have a child old enough for a post with this title. You would be right, but I do have a husband and they can say some pretty crazy things too! Just yesterday for example, here's two things that came out of my dearest one's mouth.

I'm standing at the stove cooking dinner, Matt is sitting at the kitchen table, so he has a good side view of me in all my pregnant glory. Upon taking me in, he says, "I think you are as big now as you were right before you had Hannah Cate". Ouch! I'm not even 30 weeks yet!

Later in the evening (same evening, mind you), we were cleaning up the kitchen from the spaghetti casserole I had just made for a lady that has been sick at our church. He takes in a big whiff and says, "This smells just like a McDonald's cheeseburger!" Hmmm, not exactly the smell I shoot for when I spend an hour cooking a meal!

It's a good thing I love him!

Here, There and Everywhere

I'm sorry for my lack of pictures and words lately. The truth is that we are soaking up every last minute as a family of three before little sister arrives. We are so excited for her to get here, but we also realize that we'll never go back to being "the three muskateers"! We have been hitting the road for long weekends and loving our time together. I think this picture sums up our quality time the best.
Hopefully I can come back soon and tell you more about where we've been and what we've been up to, but our travels are not over yet so it may take me a little while to catch up!