Monday, February 22, 2010

Shower for Grayson Levi

First off, let me just say that I absolutely LOVE the ladies I work with. I truly feel blessed to be in their "space" on a daily basis. Natalie, one of my dear friends from work, came to Sevier Heights last August and it's been so fun getting to know her--we have SO much in common & always have a great time working together. Anyways, last Friday we were honored to have a baby shower for her. And this wasn't just ANY baby shower, this was a shower for a special little miracle who was given to Adam & Natalie through adoption. If you were to hear their adoption story, you would definitely be WOWED @ what an amazing God-story it is, which made it so cool to see Natalie with her precious gift from the Lord. And of course, it was a blast showering little Grayson Levi with presents too. He is such a cutie!!! I am just amazed at the process of adoption and think it is one of the most wonderful things EVER. Thank you God for blessing Adam & Natalie with this baby boy and for giving Grayson such wonderful parents who will raise him to love You. What a GIFT!

Sweet, sleeping baby Grayson!

Grayson's mommy opening his gifts!

Natalie, me & Sarah with Grayson



Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Snow Day

Recently, we had a snow day here in Knoxville. We don't typically have snow days, but when we do, I don't take a single moment for granted. :) I so loooooooooooove being cooped up in the house watching it snow, sipping on hot choc, watching movies, etc--but I must admit that after being in the house for two days straight, I got a major case of cabin fever! Anyone else felt like that lately? ;) Anyways, this particular snow day just happened to be Jesse's 1st. I wasn't sure how he would like the snow, but he absoultely LOVED it. He even cried when it was time for us to go inside. Here are a few pics of our fun in the snow & then a few from inside our warm, cozy house!

My 1st taste of snow












Trying to figure out what all of this white stuff is all about. :)

Happy 2010!

It's official--it's been way too long since my last post. Part of my lack of blogging has been that we have been extremely busy, but the other part has been just plain laziness. I knew re-capping Christmas, Jesse's b-day, January, etc would take quite some time, so I have just put it off instead. :) However, my dad has been on me for some time for some new updates...so, here ya go, Daddy-O!!

First update: Christmas. Oh, we had such a wonderful Christmas this year. I never knew how much fun Christmas would be once you have a child, but it was! Joshua and I could hardly contain our excitment trying to get things ready on Christmas Eve...we loved every minute of it. Here's an extremely quick recap of our day!! We spent Christmas Eve @ Joshua's grandmother's house (aka: Mama Dee). We always enjoy being with the family, but she lives in an itty bitty house so with all of those people (including 8 kids) crammed into her house, we are usually ready to leave when it's time. ;) Christmas Day, we woke up and did our own Christmas, which was a BLAST, and then headed to Joshua's mom & dad's house (Pappy & Mammy) for a wonderful breakfast & then more presents. It was sooooo funny watching Jesse open his presents. He honestly had no clue what to play with first...he would go from one present to another. It made my heart smile to see him having so much fun and all I could think about is how blessed we are to have him here with us. After Christmas with Mammy, Pappy, Phillip, Mandy & the kids, we headed home for afternoon naps (for Jesse anyways). Joshua and I spent the afternoon setting up our Christmas gifts & then we attempted to clean up the mess....and "attempted" is the perfect word. There was stuff EVERYWHERE! We spent Christmas night @ Joshua's other grandmother's house (Memaw)--we had an INCREDIBLE meal, as we always do over there, and finished opening our gifts about 9:00 PM that night. Yep, with a family of 30, it takes quite some time to open presents! We always have the best time and although I missed being with my side of the family, it was a wonderful 1st Christmas celebrating as a family of three! :)


The kids with Mama Dee


Opening our Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve!


Jesse got his very own letter from Santa!


Christmas Morning @ Home










Christmas Morning & Mammy & Pappy's House







Christmas Night @ Memaw's House

Memaw got Jesse his very own chair!!





January was a great & busy month! And I mean BUSY. The first part of January was really special for us because that's when we celebrated Jesse boy's 1st b-day. I HATED that we had to wait that long to celebrate, but things are always so crazy for people right before Christmas and I wanted to be sure everyone was able to relax & enjoy themselves @ his party and not be worried about what they should be doing instead. Jesse didn't miss a thing--actually instead of having one b-day party--he actually had THREE! The first was on his actual b-day and we celebrated with Mammy & Pappy with a cookie cake and a gift or two, the second was when G-pa & G-Pam came in from Ohio and we celebrated with them with cupcakes & more presents and the the third one was his big party--cowboy style! I still can't believe my baby boy is one. He has truly brought more joy into our lives than we could have ever imagined. He is just amazing and I thank God everyday that I am privileged enough to be his mommy.



Jesse's B-day--December 23rd



Birthday Celebration #2



1st time riding in his big boy car seat!




Birthday #3--Cowboy Style!










Happy B-day to my precious boy!

So, there's a little bit of an update on our 2010 so far...more to follow very soon. :)