Christmas in TEXAS!!!

Warning:  written by an excited parent who had too much fun watching her baby experience Christmas!!!!

Joey and I have decided that this was definitely our FAVORITE CHRISTMAS!!!  Last year Avery was only 3 1/2 months old so she didn't have a clue what was going on, but this year was quite different.  She couldn't get enough chocolate, was completely amazed by all the pretty lights, loved Santa, was excited to tear into her presents and kept repeating ba-by, ba-by as we showed her the nativity.

Joey and I come from families with a few different traditions, so we have learned to compromise.  A few examples are that Joey grew up always having a real Christmas tree and we always had a fake one, but my mom would always coordinate it with a theme.  So, we got a real Christmas tree and decorated it with red, white and silver.  We would always open our gifts from each other on Christmas Eve and Santa would bring gifts on Christmas day.  Joey's family waited and opened everything on Christmas day, so we have decided to open one on Christmas Eve and save the rest for Christmas Day.

 

Avery must have been a good girl this year!

It was so fun to see the "magic of Christmas" in her eyes! She darted toward her pile as soon as she saw it...

               My little Princess in her Princess chair :)
          Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Day!!! We sure love them!!
Ripping into more presents......
                     Yeah this dress will be pretty on me!

                                    Daddy and Avery
    She opened up her Fairy Princess ride-on and didn't even finish opening it before trying to ride on it! 
                        Renee and Avery Christmas Morning! 


                          Me and my honey and Min-Su

                   It was the day we were leaving and I realized I didn't have any pictures of us altogether and Avery was sick, dad was at work but I got one anyways :) We loved our time with family and miss them already!
                      Rose you were definitely missed!

A lil bit of December...

I just had to take this sweet picture!  All worn out but finished with finals; time for a siesta!!
We didn't have time to make ginger bread so we made graham cracker houses instead.  This graham cracker car was made by Joey's brother Jason.  I thought it looked pretty good!
We decided to have a contest, boys vs girls.  The girls graham cracker house maybe stood for a whole 2 minutes... but the guys built a pretty sturdy mansion!

We spent Christmas in TX this year so we went over to Marietta the weekend before we left and Avery was in for a treat.  The uncles like taking her with them to shop because she is what they call a "chick magnet."  I didn't think this time would be any different and agreed to let them take her with them to the mall and Joey and I would meet them there a lil later because I wanted to get her picture with Santa.  When we met up with them my lil Avery had been transformed!!!  She had her ears pierced and in a whole new outfit!!  It was adorable :)  They are too good to her and she loves them!
Uncle Karl and Avery in her new GA Bulldogs Stafford Jersey, new cap, & her cute lil ears pierced!
We stood in line for almost 2 hours to see Santa so I was trying to remain optimistic with her.  She was getting restless... but that was to be expected
Avery and Uncle Jason!  They just had too much fun!
Mommy and Daddy helping Avery on Santa's lap!  We thought she might be scared but she kept looking back at him timidly as she was sitting on his lap.  Once he smiled at her, she kept staring at him and saying, "Whoa, Whoa!"

She told him she wanted a puppy!  Maybe I'm crazy but it was worth the wait; we also got to witness a proposal while standing in line too!

It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Our decorated Christmas tree with our stockings!!!
We had mixed emotions about putting a tree up within her reach, but decided to go ahead and do it.  It was so fun; she loved helping decorate.  She would string the beads around her neck and run around the apartment.  I put all the ornaments that I didn't mind her taking off the tree at the bottom and the breakable ornaments at the top.  When we finished decorating it the first night she just stood in front of it staring and saying "Whoa, Whoa!!!"


Once Avery got a hold of the Candy Canes thats all she wanted!!

Daddy putting the lights on the tree!
Getting everything ready to decorate the Christmas tree!  

Aubrey

Avery absolutely loves it when she has other kids to play with because she is so often just here with mommy daddy and her toys.  Lately, with the semester ending I have had more time to go over to my friend, Kristen's, or have her come over and we'll let our girls play together!  Avery loves this!!!  I'll tell her we're going to see Aubrey and she'll start saying, "Aubee, Aubee"  and get super excited!  It's so cute; she's tries so hard to repeat everything we say.....

FALL

Before Joey and I moved to Georgia I told him I wanted to move where it was really green with lots of trees. (like East Texas) Little did I know that not only was I going to get green, lush summers but the trees in the fall here in GA are absolutely breathtaking. A couple of weekends ago a lot of us made a trip up into the North Georgia Mountains after church to enjoy the scenary. We cooked out and the kids played in the leaves. We had a really great time and some worn out kiddos! For those who couldn't make it (was kind of a last minute trip) -- you were missed!
I fit right in with all the beautiful dark skinned dark hair Grahams right?!? :)
Jeni is going to be SUPER MOM one day!!! Although she is the youngest of the 10 kids, she is so good with the grandkids:)

We're so lucky Joey's dad is a photographer; we get some really great pictures!!!
I LOVE IT WHEN SHE'S HAPPY!!!

Interesting...

Most of you who know Joey and I know that we are far from being a fan of Obama, but this week he was interviewed by 60 minutes and at the conclusion of the interview they asked him what he thought about the BCS system in college football. Here is an excerpt from that interview...

Kroft: "I have one last question: As president of the United States, what can you do, or what do you plan to do about getting a college football playoff for the national championship?"

Obama: "I think any sensible person would say that, if you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear, decisive winner, that we should be creating a playoff system. Eight teams, that would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would -- it would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

First of all, Obama is right on the money with his emphasis on "any sensible person." Second, this isn't unfamiliar territory for a U.S. president.

Realistically, we know he can't really interfere at this level but we like him a little better now!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

My pretty little blue-eyed kitty-cat!

Halloween came so fast this year! I had ideas for a costume for Avery but with school and everything I hadn't taken the time to get anything together. It was Monday night before the Halloween trunk or treat at the church and we still had no costume. We frantically spent family home evening searching all over Athens for a costume! The pickens were slim... either it was the wrong size or not cute enough! It was drawing closer to closing time at most stores and Joey suggests we just go into Claire's and see if they have anything we could add to something we already had at the house. BINGO! We found a black cat set that included the ears, tail, and paw gloves. The best part is they were half off! We added it to a black sweat set and she was adorable! I'm partial but the she was "CUTEST BLACK CAT EVER!" She had a blast going around and collecting candy from all the trunks! We had a lot of people in our ward create some pretty amazing trunks and she had a blast! I don't know if she had more fun or if Joey and I did watching her!