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.  

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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...

A Belated Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year. I'd even venture to say that this year was THE BEST Christmas ever!  I'll hopefully be getting around to sharing what a wonderful holiday we had very soon. But in the meantime, here is a little Christmas cheer to get started. 

Celebration of the Nativity 2012

Each year, Lilah's school puts on a program called Celebration of the Nativity.  This year, Lilah's class rocked out to Jingle Bell rock. The kids did AWESOME! And, Lilah was my little shining star. I was so proud of her for doing so well. I was wondering how she was going to do on stage in front of a ton of people. She did great!! The pictures are not the best--the lighting in the sanctuary is not great and this is about as far as camera lens zooms in. Oh, well. We'll definitely be getting a copy of the professional video.

It's amazing how much of a difference a year makes.  Here is Lilah last year with the Tiny Tulip class: http://www.jepandvaleriedubose.blogspot.com/2011/12/celebration-of-nativity.html

Team Jolly Joints

Last weekend we joined Team Jolly Joints in the Jingle Bell 5K Run for Arthritis. Our family participated in honor of my mom who has rheumatoid arthritis. Lilah was decked out representing her Grammy!

Below is a little pre-race photo of the girls in their tutus.

We had a great time! Jep ran while Lilah and I strolled very briskly--I'm no runner. :)   Lilah made it a little after the 1 mile mark and then got very antsy. She wanted out of the stroller. Thankfully, the course looped around so we ended up seeing Jep and he took over Lilah duty.

Later that day we just relaxed. Lilah watched Lady and the Tramp for the first time. This was my all-time favorite movie when I was little. To this day, I still love it. When Lilah got bored with it, I found myself watching it all by myself. :)

Then, my little elf helped me with Christmas cards.

Sweet babycakes!

Goodbye Buttercups, Hello Poppies

 Last week Lilah graduated from the Bouncing Buttercups (Infant 2) class to the Peppy Poppies (Toddler 1).  I'm so happy for my big girl but it was a little bit of a difficult transition for this mama. I think it was a little harder moving up classes this go around because Lilah is so much more aware. She was so used to her routine in the Buttercups class so I was worried how she'd do in her new class. It also meant leaving her fabulous teachers Ms. Gwen and Ms. April.



Lilah with Ms. Gwen



Lilah has been with Ms. April since Day 1 at the Center.



The transition to Lilah's new class has gone well. I heard reports that the first morning was a little rough--she missed Ms. April. :)  But, since then, she is doing great! Lilah has two new wonderful teachers--Ms. Mahogany and Ms. Darcy.  Ms. Mahogany has sent me a couple of pictures of Lilah in her new classroom. Love it! Looks like she's getting along just fine.

Lilah Lou Who