Our Little Picasso

Lillian loves to paint and color. Whenever we leave the house I always make sure that I have crayons in Lillian's bag. This morning I guess Lillian really need to express her creativity because she got all of her paint out and put them on the kitchen table. Then she went and got her paper and laid it on the table. Last, but not least she got her paint brushes- an artist can't paint without her brushes. Then after getting everything laid out all by herself, she climb up in the chair and sat there pointing to her little plate for me to poor the paint out. It was too cute! Too cute to ignore...I did not exactly want to break out the paint at 8:00 in the morning, but after she did all of that how could I refuse. She painted for TWO hours; literally! Such a little artist.

Merry Christmas

This has by far been our most relaxing Christmas since Shaun and I have been married. Usually we spend the day running around all over Birmingham seeing as much family as we can squeeze in there. But this year everything seemed to work out so nicely and Shaun and I made fewer stops than we usually do. We attended our church's Christmas Eve service and were so excited to have Shaun's parents Steve and Tina join us. My younger brother Mark even joined us, so it was nice to have them there with us. Our Christmas morning started out with a little Christmas miracle-Lillian even slept until 7:00 am this morning! She usually is wide awake between 5:30 and 6:00. Shaun and I considered it her little gift to us.

We enjoyed a yummy Christmas breakfast at Alli and Korey's house and then headed over to Shaun's parents house for lunch. I think Shaun and I can both say that we may have eaten a little to much today. It was a lot of fun all being together and opening gifts, but Ryan, Julia and Wyatt were greatly missed. We were all excited when Ryan called with the good news that Wyatt was doing well today, and that hopefully he will be coming home on Tuesday!! Sweet Lillian had so much fun today, and was so excited about all of the toys she got. She felt like she needed to play with everyone of them before going to bed tonight. I hope everyone had as wonderful Christmas as we have had this year!

taking a nap with Mark before Christmas Eve services.

opening up some presents Christmas morning.

Lillian LOVED Eli's rocking horse

Meredith, Travis and Lillian at Christmas lunch!

relaxing with Uncle Travis

playing with her new kitchen!

She LOVES her Aqua Doodle...thanks Ryan and Julia!!

she wanted to get in her baby's pack-n-play...

it was so funny!

Lillian was so wound up that we could barely get her to bed tonight.

And last but not least- HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!! We love you!

Dear Santa, Please Give Me A Dog Bed!

Shaun and I are trying to be better pet owners, so we got Moxie a new bed for Christmas. A step in the right direction I thought. But neither Shaun nor I thought that Moxie would have to fight Lillian for it. Poor Moxie was so excited when we walked in with her new bed, and the second we laid it down Lillian dove onto it.



hope Moxie doesn't mind sharing.

Maybe we should return the toys we got her for Christmas and just give her a dog bed.

Last Minute Shopping

Today Alli and I took the kids and braved the crowds to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. We pretty much got everything that we needed, but I will still be picking up a couple items in the morning. Lillian and Eli were tolerating the shopping madness pretty well and we decided to stop and get lunch before making our last stop. Of course Lillian ate like a little piggy, but you could tell that the kids were starting to fade by that time. Our last stop was Hobby Lobby, and we pretty much made it through there with out too much trouble. Lillian did try to crawl in between the shopping carts where I almost couldn't reach her. And she when I told her it was time to go she walked behind an empty cashiers station looked back at me, waived and said, "bye". She says it with such a southern draw that you can't help but laugh. She is such a silly girl these days. Thankfully Alli and I got everything taken care of and got the kids home in time for naps. I felt like super mom!

Welcome Wyatt

After a long day of waiting we finally got to meet our sweet new nephew Wyatt Bradley Hays. He was born at 7:23 pm weighing 7.2 pounds and was 22.5 inches long!! I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful he is. Mom, Dad and baby are all doing great- just a little tired as you can imagine. We only got to see Wyatt for a second before we had to go, but I cannot wait to get my hands on him tomorrow when we visit!

the proud Mommy and Daddy

I Want To Hold Your Hand

When Shaun says the blessing at dinner he has always held Lillian's little hand while he prayed. Lillian loves that he does this and will reach for his hand the second we all sit down to eat. But last night she decided that she didn't want to let go. She held Shaun's hand the entire time we ate dinner. I know that it did not exactly make eating tacos an easy task, bust Shaun thought it was so sweet that I don't think he cared too much.

God's Grace

With Christmas just around the corner I cannot help but to feel overwhelmed by God's grace and love. I cannot say that this past year has turned out exactly like Shaun and I expected it to, but I can say that God has put us right where we needed to be. Shaun is always quick to remind me not to confuse God's plan with our own. And that it is our job to remain patient and faithful as we wait for it to unfold. Remaining faithful is the easy part, it is the patient part that will get to you every time.

Over the past 13 months Shaun and I have really been able to see God's hand in our lives-guiding us, comforting us, pushing us in a different direction. He has led Shaun to new job, and we know that it is a place that Shaun can grow professionally and best serve Christ. God has been so good to guard both mine and Shaun's hearts as we have desperately tried to have another baby. He has seen us through some of our darkest moments as husband and wife, and brought us to a place of peace that I didn't know could exists. We are so humbled by His love.

As 2009 comes to end I can't say that I am sad to see it go- Shaun and I joke that 2010 is going to be "our year". But I am so grateful for the trials that God has seen us through over the past 13 months. They have forced Shaun and I to dig deeper into each other, and deeper in to our relationship with Christ. How grateful I am to be able to celebrate His birth this Christmas, and to teach my daughter just what this holiday means.

"The steadfast of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning..." Lamentations 3:22-23

Piggy Tails!!

This past weekend I tried my hand at yet another "girl mom" thing and put Lillian's hair in pig tails! This was no easy task considering that Lillian's hair is very curly, and I practically had to poor a cup of water on her head to get her hair straight enough to even put it in pig tails. But it was worth it because she looked SO stinking CUTE! Shaun and I could not stop taking pictures; you would have thought that she had just taken her first steps or something. But I couldn't help it; didn't I mention how cute she looked? Just see for yourself!

Always Climbing

Lillian climbs on everything these days. The kitchen table, the coffee tables, the computer table, her blocks, anything that she can get up on she climbs. She just seems to think that the world is her jungle gym, and I guess in a lot of ways it is. Shaun and I encourage her to explore and test her physical limitations. I am sure that she will be climbing trees before we know it.

Lillian's Baby

I still can't get over how much Lillian is into her baby doll right now. She walks around with her almost all day, giving her kisses and patting her back. She will try to feed her baby, blow its nose, and gets very irritated when it will not take a drink from her sippy cup. Oh, and perhaps the cutest thing she dose is wave good-bye with the baby. My Grandfather came over for a visit the other day and when he left Lillian waved to him as he was walking out the door. Then she grabbed her baby's hand and made her baby wave to him also. It was so cute!!

My Hubby Should Be On The Honor Roll

Shaun just started his new job this past Monday and finished with his finals this week, so he has really been under a lot of stress. But turns out that all those weekends he spent held up in the library, and all those nights he sat studying at our kitchen table for hours have paid off. Shaun got "A"s in both of his classes!!! We are now two semesters down and only have three more to go. I am so proud of Shaun. I hope he knows how grateful that Lillian and I are to have him, and for all that he does for our family.

Shaun, I love you and respect you more than you will ever know. Congratulations on your two A's and for maintaining your 4.0 GPA! I know that you have worked incredibly hard and am so proud of you.

Lillian Sings

Just Another Day With Lillian

One of my favorite things about being a stay at home mommy is getting to see all of those little moments that I might otherwise miss. Like today, out of nowhere Lillian was all about wearing something on her head. First it was Shaun's hat, and then later she wanted to wear just the hood of her jacket on her head. By the end of day she was over it, and I couldn't even get her to do it for Shaun when he got home. She is so funny these days. Tonight she got a pair of my panties and tried to put them on Moxie. Poor Moxie, she would run away and Lillian would chase her down the hall way and then try again. This afternoon she got her baby doll and insisted that we put a diaper on her. After we diapered her baby Lillian thought she needed a nap so we had to put her in the crib. After I put the baby in Lillian's crib Lillian looked at me and said, "Shhh". Just a few moments that I am happy I didn't have to miss.

check out this crazy hair!

of course this is what happens if you take your eyes of Lillian for even a second.