Petting Zoo

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the warmer weather by taking Lilah to Oak Mountain State Park for a picnic and a visit to the petting zoo.

Our little girl is an animal lover so we thought this would be right up her alley. 

 We got to see sheep, donkeys, ponies, peacocks, goats, and pigs. 

Jep also made a new animal friend while there...

a goose, he affectionately named, Tommy. 

This goose followed Jep around the entire time like a little shadow.

I'm not exaggerating how much this goose liked Jep. You'll see that he made it into almost every one of the pictures I took.

We had a great visit with the animals. As you can imagine, parting ways was very difficult for both Jep and Tommy. They grew quite attached to one another after just a short hour.  As we left, poor Tommy tried climbing the fence with his little webbed feet to come home with Jep.  It was at that point when Jep looked at me and said...I think it may be time for us to get a dog. 

Christmas in Indy!

A few days after Christmas we loaded up the car to make the 8 hour trip up to Carmel for our final round of Christmas gatherings.  



Lounging while we finished packing up the car



Lilah was an awesome passenger! She slept for about the first 2 hours of the trip and was awake (and happy!) for the remainder of our travel time. We only made one stop somewhere in Kentucky.  I was so proud of our her for being so easy going.

The evening we arrived it started snowing. It was gorgeous and the timing couldn't have been any more perfect. We didn't run into any snow on the drive up. It had actually held off until we arrived safely at my parents' house. 

 Before we bundled up to go check out the winter wonderland, Lilah enjoyed hiding in the mountain of presents and watching the snow fall.



My Snow Bunny!



 The next morning we opened presents and then went outside to do a little sledding.

 

Lilah was not too thrilled with being pulled on the sled.  She preferred to be held by Papa.

After all of the fun outside, we went inside where there was a nice fire waiting fo us.

During our visit, Grammy and Grandpa babysat so Jep and I could go out of a nice dinner. We had the best dinner at Diivy and were shocked when we learned that my parents secretly picked up our bill. Thanks mom and dad!! You're the best!!

Christmas #2

Continuing on with the series of Christmas posts....

This was the first year that we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a family of three in our own home. Now that Lilah is starting to really understand what is going on, we decided to stay at home to begin establishing our own family traditions. 

We got back to Birmingham from Elba the day before Christmas Eve.  Lilah helped me bake cookies on Christmas Eve morning and I have to admit that she wasn't the greatest helper. :) All she wanted to do was eat the frosting and sprinkles. She did last long enough to help frost and sprinkle a couple of cookies. 

Later that afternoon we all got dressed up for church. 

While I got everything packed up, Lilah and Papa went for a quick stroll around the neighborhood in the little, red wagon. 

 Then, we had to quickly snap a couple of pictures. 

When we got home from church we were surprised to find this cute little Tiger marionette. Santa must have come early thinking we were already asleep and we ended up scaring him away. ;)  (This always seemed to happen every year when I was a kid, too!)  

Lilah was obviously on the "nice" list after seeing all of the presents under the tree!!

Lilah woke up at around 6:00am as usual on Christmas morning. At first, she wasn't too concerned with all of the presents under the tree. All she really wanted was her yogurt. She's a creature of habit!  As soon as she was finishing up her yogurt, Papa woke up and we got ready for a marathon of present opening.  

Lilah was really into opening her presents this year. She had a great time ripping off the paper and was so excited to see all of the things that Santa had left. It took us a couple hours to get through all of the gifts because she wanted to immediately play with whatever she opened. 

She is one spoiled girl! Some of the things she received this year were:

*Kitchen complete with 150 piece food set and dishes

*Shopping cart

*Duplo legos

*Sandbox 

*Guitar

*Books

*Puzzles

*Clothes

Here is some of the aftermath of a day full of playing hard. 

So much fun!!! 

Up next...a trip up north to Indy! 

Christmas 2012 #1

This post will kick off a series of our Christmas festivities.  

The weekend before Christmas we headed southbound to Elba to celebrate with Jep's side of the family. As always, it was a jam packed weekend. We arrived on Friday evening and started the weekend by opening a ton of presents at Nana and Mar's house.  

Lilah had the best time hanging out with old Clyde. If this guy wasn't so huge already (he's not even a year old), he probably would have ended up in the backseat of Jep's truck on the way back to Birmingham with us. What a sweet, sweet boy and Lilah adores him! All she wanted to do was be outside with this big guy.

And, what would a trip to Elba be without some Gator rides. Lilah actually took 4 rides in one day. 

Saturday morning we continued our Christmas tradition by heading over to Papa Jim and Mama Jackie's house for breakfast and more presents.  Lilah and cousin Ollie on Saturday morning. Cuties!

Oh, Lilah and her dogs. This girl sure has a big love of pups. She was really obsessed with Katie. I think she loved the fact that Katie was just her size. 

After Papa Jim's, it was time for Granny's for even more presents.  

. 

At the end of the day, it was time to relax by the fire to enjoy some adult beverages and raw oysters. YUM! 

Jep and his brothers even got crazy enough to continue their yearly ritual of jumping in the pool. Sadly, I have no pictures. However, there is video evidence of the event but due to explicit language contained in the video, I will not be posting on the blog. 

The weekend concluded with a stop in Opp to visit Granny and Paw Paw. As always, Granny had an elaborate spread of delicious food and a packed house. 

A few of the great grand kids in Granny and Paw Paw's tree

What a busy, busy Christmas weekend in south Alabama!! 

Stay tuned for a recap of Christmas in Birmingham...