Christmas Eve......

We had a great time at the Christmas Eve service at Peachtree Pres..........Aubrey loved seeing the animals outside!!

Eliana was an angel........loved it all!

Thank you Hillary for the beautiful dresses for the girls! Soooo much fun matching two little girls in proper southern smocked Christmas dresses!

Our Christmas Eve continued on that evening at The Miller household with the Miller's, Young's, Haile's and Katz's all gathered to celebrate together! Aubrey, Ellery, Eliana, TJ and Grant were spoiled with awesome gifts and the adults all shared some yummy food and drink. Most memorable though was when Tim brought out his guitar and we all started singing favorite Christmas tunes! The kids loved the songs, and it definitely set the mood for an awesome Christmas Eve. We enjoyed being in the company of some very wonderful friends and sharing such a special night. It was our 3rd Christmas with our neighbors/friends and we hope to continue the tradition of sharing a special Christmas together for many years to come.

Too cute not to post.

8 months old now and she found the tupperware cabinet! Aubrey had the grand idea to make Ella a tupperware hat.......

She's not crawling yet, technically, but she's definitely scooting around on her belly!

Too much fun this precious baby girl.

Santa Claus!

For the third year in a row we headed to Phipps Plaza to visit with Santa Claus!

Aubrey wrote her list out this year all by herself which included a "live cub, kirsten doll, zebra, horse and horse". She made sure to explain each item to Santa in detail but ended up leaving Santa thinking she wanted a real cub, real zebra and 2 real horses!! So he told her he wasn't sure if he could bring her real animals but he would look for some pretend ones for her. She assured him that "even though they are stuffed animals they are real to me!" It was too precious.

Eliana loved Santa! Her first encounter with the jolly old man .... She looked right up at him with her big blue eyes and smiled and then reached right up to grab a big chunk of his beard. Poor Santa. He was a good sport about it (since it was a real beard) and just loved the girls and reminded them to say their prayers and brush their teeth.

This is one of my favorite events of our holidays......I love seeing the awe in the girls eyes and knowing how "magical" it all feels to them. I certainly haven't forgotten what it felt like when I was a little girl and how much I always loved Christmas.

Holiday season here we come!!

Aubrey explaining her list and Eliana in wonder..........

Thankful.

This year I have so, so much to be thankful for.
I am blown away everyday when I look around and see all that I have been blessed with. I am sure I don't deserve it, but I know that I love and appreciate all of it.
I am thankful for my husband who loves me, my beautiful, precious girls, my beautiful home, our families-parents, sisters, brothers, nephews, nieces-they are all so special, our extended family, my amazing friends, my health and just all the everyday moments I get to be a part of. I have learned and been reminded this year again and again that it's the little things in life that matter the most. The everyday stuff.
Thank you God for another Thanksgiving!! I am so glad we have a day set aside to stop and give thanks and remind ourselves what truly matters.
So today I am pausing to share my thankfulness.....and my love for my family and friends.

Thanksgiving.......

Aubrey and Sarah

This year for Thanksgiving Day we headed over to our dear friends, The Foster's house to share some lunch and good times! David and Janice Foster are good friends of my parents and I have known them since I was 11 years old. They are such wonderful, caring and gracious people!!

Chris and Sarah Foster are some of our best friends that we love sooo much. They love our girls so much and we love any chance we have to be with them! Their son Davis is about the cutest thing you have ever seen! He is just like his daddy but with his mom's beautiful brown eyes. We're hoping to arrange a marriage between him and Eliana!! :)

We are so thankful for such wonderful friends to share special times with!!

Thank you to the Foster's for sharing your home with

us and for a wonderful day!

Eliana loving her toys!

Davis......soooo sweet!!

Afternoon at the Zoo....

We have enjoyed some quality family time this year during our "Staycation"........Jon is off work and home and so am I and we have just been hanging out at home together as a family and having so much fun!

Yesterday we took a little afternoon trip to the zoo and had a blast. The weather was gorgeous so all the animals were out and it seemed everyone in Atlanta was gone b/c the zoo was nearly empty! No complaints here! We had a great time and especially looooved seeing the pandas!!! Not so excited about the new reptile exhibit and all the snakes Aubrey and Jon made me look at......

Dothan Thanksgiving

Aubrey and her cousins...Jaci, Sophie and Abby-Leigh

Every year the weekend before Thanksgiving we head down to Dothan, AL (my birthplace!) to spend time with our family there. This is the "Jones Family" which is my mom's side and there are quite a few of us!!! I think there were at least 40 of us there, eating, watching football, watching the kids play, and just enjoying each other's company!
We went later that night over to my cousin Jinnifer's house where they have 6 acres and Aubrey ran and played and ran and played for hours! It was so nice to have so much room to run around!! We made a big bonfire and a low country boil and had such a great time.
Eliana enjoyed being passed around from arm to arm the entire time! Everyone wanted to hold her and she was more than happy to oblige. She is such a cuddle bug.
We love spending time with our families.......this was a great weekend and a great start to the holiday season ahead of us!!

My First Tooth!!!

So finally at 7 1/2 months Miss Eliana has gotten her first tooth. Can you see it??? Bottom right, pearly white.
Her precious smile is even cuter now!!!
Our little "Ella Grace" is still the happiest baby on the block.........sitting up all by herself now and playing with her toys, trying her best to crawl and loving her new teething cookies! She squeals nonstop, especially when her big sister enters the room.
We love every moment of her........
:)

Blue Ridge 2009

The first weekend in Nov. we took our annual trip to Blue Ridge with our friends the Young's the the Miller's!! This was our third year in a row and we had a blast. This year we were on the Toccoa River and the setting was just beautiful. The leaves were gorgeous, the weather was perfect and we all had a nice, lazy weekend up in the mountains. We visited Mercier Orchards of course and got some yummy apples and jams and various other goodies and came home and ate, watched football, and ate some more while the kids played, and played and played. The kids made smores which was by far their favorite part, with the nighttime jacuzzi extravaganza coming in at a close second. Eliana enjoyed her first trip to the mountains! The first night she was a little scared I think, not being in her own bed, but she enjoyed the fresh air and loooves watching the big kids play! She squeals everytime they do anything in her direction.
We love our yearly mountain trip and love the friends we have to share it with!!

October Fun!

October has been a crazy, but wonderful month!!

It started with a wonderful girls weekend with a bunch of my high school girlfriends..........they all came to my house and we shared a great weekend with good food, good talks and some shopping! It was so great to be with them. Even though it has been a long time since we have seen each other, it seems like we just pick up right where we leave off everytime. It was a special weekend and I look forward to doing it again next year!!! Thanks Katie, Leigh Ann, Twila, Amy, Kristin and Christi for an unforgettable weekend!

(missing Leigh Ann!! :)

The next weekend we celebrated a birthday........Kate's! We headed down to Decatur to eat some mexican with the Hinkel's and had a great night.......Kate and I have been friends since we were 11 years old and I am thankful for every year that we celebrate another birthday together!!! We love Kate, Trent and Jake and are so happy to have them in our lives!!

Our next adventure was a trip to my parents house in Lousiana.........Aubrey was dying to go to her Nana and Papa's!! And we had to get down there to watch our Football Rockstar nephew play some ball!!! Austin was amazing, they won their game and it was so cool to watch him throw down and tackle these boys that were twice his size with no fear!! He is fast and just awesome. Look out NFL!!!

We had a great time with the family and the girls just loved their time with their grandparents and Aunt Emmy. We love our family!!

So October went out with a big bang.........Halloween! Of course it was a week long affair.........dress up day at ballet, fall party/dress up day at preschool, birthday party the day of halloween for a good friend of Aubrey's and then the big trick or treat night!! Except it decided to rain and drop about 10 degrees here in Atlanta just in time for trick or treating so we settled for a garage "haunted house-eat all the candy-stay warm and dry" kind of evening!!! We celebrated with our wonderful neighbors and had a blast in spite of the awful weather. The kids didn't seem to mind, especially when they realized they could keep the candy meant for the trick or treaters all to themselves!!!

We are thankful for a wonderful month, wonderful friends and a beautiful start to a Happy Fall!!!

We are looking forward to the holidays and more special times with our families and friends.