Our Family Christmas

Sunday afternoon we had our Christmas with Grayson. We've got a pretty busy week ahead and didn't want to have to travel with the toys, and since Grayson has no clue what is going on this year, we decided to celebrate a little early.
Grayson loved ripping the paper on the gifts--I think he would have been happy with just paper!

Here's Grayson with his best bud, Dakota. We invited Dakota into the living room to join us for the special occasion.

I think Dakota was more interested in Grayson's new toys rather than her own! Before the end of the night, Dakota's new toy was already in 3 pieces!! Oh well, at least she had fun with it for a little while!
Merry Christmas!!

Oh yeah!! Do you want to know what Chad and I got each other for Christmas?!?!?
A window seat! We hired someone to do this little project for us. I just love the way it turned out! Chad and I are going to finish it off ourselves. We still need to order doors for the front, paint, and make a cushion for the seat. Yay for more storage!!!

First Christmas

Grayson is so interested in all the decorations and presents under the tree!! Now that he's crawling, he heads straight to the presents!!

He thinks it's so funny when I tell him "no". Can you tell he's a bit anxious?!?
We can't wait to share with him the true meaning of Christmas!

Play Day with Lydia

Sweet Lydia came over to play with Grayson yesterday. She is one of the 5 children Chad and I kept last summer and she just adores Grayson! The day went really well. Lydia kept Grayson pretty busy. She fed him....
.
She carried him all over the house...

She dressed him....
She crawled with him...
and she even drug him all over the house by his arms and his little bottom was sliding across the floor!! (I didn't get a picture of this because I was too busy following them around making sure she didn't pull his little arms out of the socket!!)
Surprisingly, Grayson loved it all!! He just laughed and laughed!
So I was actually able to get some things done around the house while they were playing.
During Grayson's naps, Lydia and I made homemade marshmallows and cookies for neighbors, wrapped some presents, and even did some sewing!!
It was a very productive day!

Crawling

This video was taken on Monday, so we're going to claim that day as his official "crawling" day. Hang in there- he takes his first "steps" toward the end of the video. I got a shot of the tree to document that this happened right before his first Christmas!

Santa Is Here!

Yep, there he is! The big man himself and his cute little wife! He officially arrived here in Marietta Thursday night and we were there for his grand entrance!! And Grand it was!--complete with a police escort, blaring sirens, and Mr. and Mrs. Klaus riding in on a firetruck!! It was really cute to see all the children squeal with delight as Santa came to town! I know this is a terrible picture but it was as close as we could get for now. It was so cold we didn't even to try to tackle the long line of children waiting to sit in Santa's lap! We hope to take Grayson back sometime in the next few weeks.
Grayson with Mimi and Papa--he's not quite sure what to think of all the excitement!



My parents were in town this past weekend for the Historic Tour of Homes here in Marietta. We loved seeing all the beautifully decorated houses! Grayson was such a trooper and hung in there with us the whole day--did not even fuss once--and it was super cold (we even saw the season's first snow flurries!) !!

Thanksgiving Week

We had a busy Thanksgiving as we traveled to both families' houses. We spent the first part of the week with Chad's parents and the last half of the week with my parents. Grayson had a good time playing with (mostly watching) his cousin Noah and his new cousin Sophie.




And here he is with grandmama who just can't seem to get enough of him--she wants to hold him constantly!

Yes, the picture says it all. What is going on, Tigers?!?!!!! We hated to see the outcome of the game, but we're just excited to be able to play again this weekend for the ACC Championship!! Go Tigers!!

Family Pictures

Some friends of ours recently did a little photo shoot of our family. We love all 300 of the photos!! These are just a few of our favorites!!

Somebody was a getting a little tired.

Thank you Kevin and Amy!!!

Visit with Mimi and Papa

Last week, Grayson and I got to go to Clinton to spend some time with Mimi and Papa while Chad went to Texas for work. We had a great visit and everyone was so excited to see Grayson.
Grayson with Daddymac and Grandmama

Grayson and Mimi

Papa and Grayson
We even went to Columbia to visit with Lara and Leslie and their new babies. It was so great to catch up!

Look what he can do!!

This is Grayson's newest trick. Chad and I awoke one morning to find Grayson sitting straight up in his bed. He was totally content just sitting there and playing with his little crib toys.
Since that day, he has not stopped! I lay him down for naps and he just pops right up--as if he's ready to play. I have had to remove all the toys from his crib because he will sit in his bed for 2 hours and play rather than napping. He is a mess!! Of course we had to lower the crib mattress and now he has access to the rails. So his next mission is to pull up and stand with the help of the rails. He's getting really close!
Here he is snacking on a cracker before supper. My baby is eating crackers!! I just think that makes him look so big!!

We ended up having a very rainy Halloween night. However, we made the most of it and went to have dinner with some friends from church. After dinner, we walked around the neighborhood for about 2 hours for the kids to trick or treat. Grayson slept the whole time in his stroller. He was dressed in his giraffe outfit but I didn't get any pictures because my camera died and it was pretty much raining the whole time--so they wouldn't have been that great anyway. Despite the rain it was a much needed night out and we really enjoyed the fellowship.

The past week

Our church had a little festival last Sunday and Grayson won the costume contest for the cutest!! I have to admit, he made a precious giraffe--and he stayed in his costume the whole night!


Cheering on the tigers!! In the middle of the game, we had to rush Chad to the Urgent Care to get stitches in his hand. But don't worry, when we got home, there were still 15 minutes left in the game--so we got to see the end to an amazing game!! Go tigers!!
The weather has been crazy!! We had a cold spell and pulled out all the hats and mittens (which were too little!!)-- and now we're having beautiful, warm, fall weather. I wish it would stay like this for a while!!
Grayson now loves to stand (with help) and he's getting really good at crawling backwards!! He also loves to talk now. He's saying "dadadadada" alot and it is sooo cute!!