Playdate with Lily and First Haircut

Lily really didn't want to share her baby....we don't leave home without Stephanie's now :)

Shopping Girls

Lily's precious dirty feet....she had been playing out back in the dirt.

The first cut.....she was watching Baby Einstein and didn't move at all!

Lovin on her Mommy

Two peas in a pod! Watching cartoons together.



then their Daddys let them play on the stairs! Wow!

A few pics with the new camera

Climbing on and off the fireplace!!

Watching the cowboys at Uncle Mikie and Auntie Kimmi's house.
Watching Gampa as he worked out back.
Cuttie toes!

Random Cell Phone Pics

Waiting for our Daddy to come home
Shopping with Mommy.....we love our sling!
Shopping with Gampa and Gamma....doing the Air Plane (her favorite!)
The perfect end to a busy day! Hot bath, candles and a hot cup of tea with fresh honey :)

I love winter!

Merrill Koehler Christmas

This started Christmas Eve and ended Christmas Night....24 hours of family, food and fun! Thanks to all for making this a super special first Christmas.

Memaw, missed you! Hope you enjoy your gift and that you are feeling better!!

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Christmas at the Brooks'

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Pictures Part I

Here are the pictures taken BEFORE Christmas. When cleaning out my camera chip I realized there were quite a few pictures taken that never made the blog.....Here they are. They include lazy days at home, the Live Nativity (not many pics), a trip to Aunt Val's and Wii night with the fam. I'm working on a Christmas with the Brooks Family post and a Christmas with the Merrill and Koehler Families post....stay tuned :)

Such a little climber!!

Playing in the Ball Pit at Joels (no she doesn't need one!)

and our favorite....the cabinets at Gamma and Gampa's house :)
The cabinets under the TV are full of all Stephie Jo's toys.....so much fun! Half the time she would rather empty the cabinets and climb inside instead of playing with her toys, haha!

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Ahhh, Christmas!

I'm still working on editing the MILLION pictures we took between Christmas Eve and Christmas day! Man did we have a wonderful time! We spent Christmas Eve morning with Jim and Bonnie. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed a wonderful pancake breakfast (mmmm, pancakes!) Then we headed home to get Stephanie down for a nap before heading to church. Stephanie took a SUPER LONG nap so we didn't make it to church (this is why we have made the Live Nativity a tradition, pictures to come). I FINALLY woke Stephanie up at 5 (man, this kid can sleep!) We got ready and headed over to Mom and Dads to meet up with the Koehlers to exchange gifts and have dinner. They all came over and did a special Christmas for Josh so he didn't miss anything....I love my family! Kati and Wade were able to drive in so it was the FIRST CHRISTMAS with the WHOLE FAMILY! No husbands working, none in Iraq....it was wonderful! Stephanie and I went home and Josh went to work that night. We did stockings and Santa gifts the next day when he got home. Stephanie and I had Christmas morning breakfast at my parents house....yummy sour cream pancakes and Christmas Breakfast Casserole. Then we went home to wake Josh up for work and Stephanie took a nap. Christmas Evening was spent at the Koehlers....a good time was had by all! It was so much fun to watch Stephanie open her gifts and play in all the boxes and paper.....Christmas REALLY is all about the kids! Josh and I didn't have much to open since we wanted gift cards to get a new camera.....it SO didn't matter that I didn't have gifts to open at all. It was more fun to watch Stephanie enjoy it all!

So Josh and I did get our camera today. I put it all together and it's charging.....I CAN'T wait to learn how to use it! I'm kinda camera retarded. I don't know much and have never cared to know much....until I compared the pics my Kodak Easy Share took vs my cousin Michelle's camera. I was set on getting a new camera! Her pictures were amazing! and could be blown up to 8x10 and more......and STILL looked amazing (mine got all fuzzy and splotchy). So I used Michelle's knowledge and got a camera like hers :) My pictures won't be as good (she has such a good eye!) but I'm hoping for much better quality pics of our little family. I've been using moms for the past 8 months....am glad not to have that worry any more (that it's not my camera, what if it breaks!)

Hmmmmm, Christmas was the best I've had in years! I want to keep the tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve so Christmas Day can be special, low key and focused more on the reason for the season......know I won't get that every year but it was nice this year to be able to focus more on the actual day, and not the presents.

So now it's almost 2009......news year resolutions, well I have about 3 big ones. You'll have to wait for another posting for those :) Any guesses?