Birthday Party Planning

Now that the Christmas rush is over, I'm going to start thinking about Alexee's 2nd birthday (Feb. 2). I had SO much fun planning her 1st birthday bash last year! I found cute (and very inexpensive) invitations at a warehouse sale I went to back in October. They are pink and yellow and have a little fairy wearing a tutu on one side. I was thinking of ordering Alexee a tutu and having a onesie monogrammed with a two or a cupcake or something. I found this one when searching tonight...I think it's very sweet, and I would LOVE to see her in it! The shirt and bloomers below don't match, but I like the idea. Do you have any tutu advice/sources/etc.?

After-Christmas sales & snowmen

I made a quick shopping trip to a couple of my favorite kids' clothing stores today to look for after-Christmas sale items. I did this last year and was pleasantly surprised when I found the clothes in the back of the closet this season. For 2009, I shopped for three coordinating pieces!

I liked these blue snowflake clothes because 1) They can wear them in January, too, because they don't look like Christmas only and 2) I think they'll look so handsome/pretty with R & A's blue eyes and blond hair (I wonder if C will have the same coloring?? I'm sure he'll look cute regardless! I'm thinking he might have Lane's dark hair?) :)
I also found this little SOFT fall out fit for Crosby and a candy-cane jumper for Alexee:
Hopefully L's Mom won't check the blog before we deliver this gift this evening. I painted her a snowman and decided to use "Let it Snow" so she could hang in through January.
And finally, here's my 26 week picture. I kind-of look like a snowman myself! Rhett told me on Christmas Eve that I looked like I was wearing a Santa suit. :) I noticed on the counter on the side of our blog that I have less than 100 days to go now--yeah!

Christmas album

Click here to see our "Christmas at Home" Album.

(I'll do a separate album of Christmas with Grandparents soon!)

Holiday summary

(I will be wearing solid black for the remainder of this pregnancy. I look like a billboard in this photo. It's cute of everyone else though!)

We had a great Christmas! I'll post pictures when I get back home (we're at my parents' now). Rhett woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning, ready to hurry downstairs to check out what Santa brought. I was able to convince him to wait just a little longer because Alexee was still asleep. We woke her up at 7:00 and went downstairs for the exciting morning R had been anticipating for a month! The kids loved looking in their stockings, and Alexee pretty much lost interest in opening gifts as soon as she saw all the lollipops and other candies in her stocking. Rhett opened gifts for her, too. R was really excited about his Big Wheel toy...when he saw it, he came over and whispered, "Lawson has one of those!" He liked the flag for the back of it. He also got a remote control Jeep, two board games, a floor puzzle, clothes, etc. Lane looked in several stores and finally found him a pair of Razorback basketball shorts (we didn't think they'd be hard to find--there's more Hogs stuff than you could ever want around here!). L also got Alexee a pink Razorback shirt and Crosby a red and black Razorback onesie. Lane's brother and sister-in-law loaned us a kitchen set that belonged to Katie when she was younger. We picked it up from their storage shed last weekend and Lane cleaned it all up and I ran all the pretend food through the dishwasher...it looks as good as new! The kids will have a great time with it, I'm sure (thank you, Lance & Jennifer!). After a big holiday breakfast of ham, bacon, pancakes, coffee cake and cinnamon apples (thank you, Mom & Dad for the Honeybaked Ham holiday gift box!), we packed up for the trip to my parents' house.

We got here around 6:00 last night and enjoyed visiting with my Dad's side of the family--they always meet here on Christmas night. Rhett had fun playing with his cousins, and after everyone left, Mo & Granddad and Rhett & Jaiden had a slumber party in the living room with inflatable beds and piles and piles of blankets! Dad said that R sat straight up at 6 a.m. this morning and said, "I can't wait another minute for morning" and hopped up and turned the lights on! We had another big breakfast today then opened gifts here and my Grandparents came over to visit for a while.

Rhett and Jaiden loved all their gifts, but the new roller skates probably win first prize! They've skated all day long, and Rhett has only had two tear-producing falls. I was thankful that we made it through the day with no broken bones! It wasn't quiet around here today, that's for sure. At one point this evening R & J were flying through the house on skates while Alexee & Jeryn somehow locked themselves into the guest bathroom. When my sister realized it, she quickly grabbed a knife and picked the lock in a matter of seconds, and we found Jeryn brushing his teeth with Rhett's toothbrush...with toilet water. Alexee was standing beside him watching with his calf-roping rope around her shoulders...very safe. We've decided that if the kids are quiet for more than 3 seconds, someone really needs to check on them because they're probably up to no good! They seem to get into more things when they're together!

I hope you've had a wonderful time with your families as well! We plan to go see L's family in a few days, so the celebrating will continue there. Check back for holiday photos.

Twas the night before Christmas

We've had a fun Christmas Eve. We took the kids to The Purple Cow for lunch today where they enjoyed sharing an eggnog milkshake for dessert. Rhett & I made cookies for Santa this afternoon during Alexee's nap, and Rhett watched several Christmas cartoons. Tonight I gave them early baths, put them in their Christmas PJs, they ate dinner and then we went out for a drive to look at Christmas lights. Lane also dropped me off at the front door of Kroger to grab a few last-minute items. It was 5:42 when I hopped out of the car, and they were announcing when I got inside that they would be locking the doors at 6:00. I didn't need many things, but what I did need seemed to be spread out all over the store, so I made a very speedy trip down the aisles with my cart. Rhett was actually anxious to get home and get to bed for once because he was so excited about it being Christmas Eve! He wanted to put S's cookies out for him, and he also moved the fireplace screen and opened the fireplace door for S. He asked Lane to write a note to leave by the fireplace that said, "Please look in the kitchen for your cookies." I'd told him we'd have to leave the cookies up on the cabinet so that Bogart wouldn't eat them! Right before bed, Lane showed the kids the Santa Tracker on Google Earth then we all sat on R's bed and read a few of their Christmas books. I've loved seeing the excitement on their faces today. I hope they have a really fun day tomorrow. We're so blessed!

Before going out for our Christmas light drive:
She's changed so much since last Christmas!
His expression here sums up his excitement level today!
I just love looking at her in this sweet little Christmas gown. I told Lane that she looked like a Christmas doll!
One of the scenes we saw in someone's yard:
Rhett carefully placing the cookies on the plate for Santa:
He said he'd better open the fireplace doors--Alexee and Bogart watched:
Finding Arkansas on the Santa Tracker:
Two precious kids--I'm so grateful for my family!
Rhett arranged this nativity scene on his nightstand. I thought it was cute that, in addition to the characters that came with the set, he included his moose and bear figurines. He appropriately pointed them all toward the Baby Jesus. I pray that He will remain the focus of our celebration.
Reading "The Birth of a Savior":

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

25 Weeks

I'm a few days behind in posting my weekly pregnancy picture. I don't think I'll post these much longer...I'll just file them away in case I ever want to look back! This was made Sunday at 25 weeks. We were on our way to take dinner to some friends from our Bible study who had a baby last week. I didn't get to snap a picture of baby Avery Reese because she was fussy and just about to eat, but she is so sweet! We're excited for our friends Brad & Leslie--they're going to be such great parents!We were somewhat productive yesterday. I boxed up R's last-season clothes to make room for Crosby's infant clothes (they will share a closet in R's room because the room we're using for a nursery actually doesn't have a closet for some strange reason).
Lane also did a little bit of furniture rearranging to start clearing out the soon-to-be-nursery (currently the office). He moved the love seat from the office into the playroom. I'm going to look for a slip-cover for it to make it look more "play-roomish" and also to protect it from markers, juice, crushed up animal crackers, etc. It's a bit crowded with the Christmas tree, but will be better once we take that down in a few days.
Starting to make preparations was fun, but a bit of a reality check! It made me a little nervous because three months doesn't seem long enough to get everything ready. But then again, three months seems to allow waaaaaaay too much time for me to get bigger--I already feel huge and the thought of having about 100 more days to add to that size makes me kind-of panic!

Christmas Card Photo

Merry Christmas
From The Garner Family

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Here's a little glimpse of how the photo shoot actually went that day. It was really cold, and someone didn't want to cooperate. Here are a few that I snapped leading up to the actual card photo above:

Birthday Celebration

We spent the day in Hot Springs celebrating Bobba's 70th Birthday. Bob's sister & brother-in-law hosted a family birthday lunch at their home, and Lane's Mom made a delicious spaghetti meal. Rhett had a lot of fun playing hide-and-seek in the basement with his cousins, Luke & Katie, and Aunt Shelby took Alexee on a walk outside where they saw birds and a lion (mailbox statue).

Lane, his Dad & the kids before the party:
Grammy & the grandkids sitting at the table:
Katie, Bobba, Luke & Rhett looking at the photo book that Jennifer put together for a gift:
Uncle Pod lighting the candles on the Italian Cream Cake (R & A are excited about cake!):
Rhett helps with the singing and the candles:
Our family
Alexee discovered some cute little frog ornaments inside one of Shelby's house plants.
Shelby has her house decorated so pretty for Christmas. This is her collection of tree toppers--I think these are so pretty!
They live on the lake, so her tree is decorated in a fish theme. I don't know how/where she found that many pretty fish ornaments?! But it's really cute!
This Christmas tree art piece is neat...I think Shelby made it out of family jewelry, so it's both decorative and sentimental. The jewelry is placed on a dark, velvet background that makes it really stand out. So if you have a box of old jewelry somewhere that you don't use, this would be a neat project!

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P.S. Other news today: Alexee went to the bathroom in the toilet tonight for the first time--Rhett and I witnessed it and we were so excited! We cheered and clapped for her, and she seemed totally shocked! Hopefully this is the beginning of quick and painless potty-training phase! She will be two in February. It would sure be nice for that to happen before we start buying infant diapers in April!

More Christmas Parties!

Lane had his final test of the semester yesterday! Now he has a two week break from school--we're so glad! One of his friends from class (and his wife) hosted a Christmas drop-in at their home last night. They're a super sweet couple. It was really nice to get to meet a lot of the people that L hangs out with on a daily basis. What wasn't nice is how old I felt after being there...I kept forgetting that I'm nearly a decade older than most of these med students!! I was talking to one really sweet girl, the wife of another of L's friends, and she told me where she went to college. I started saying, "Oh, do you know this person?", then I caught myself and realized she would have been in about the 4th grade when my friends were at her college--ha! Oh well. At least I'm not quite as old as Lane. :)

Then this morning was Rhett's MDO Christmas party. We ordered cupcakes from Blue Cake Company...I was tired of cooking! They looked very festive. (Mary Katherine--sorry to disappoint you...I know this is not very creative or cute!)
Alexee loves hanging out in her big brother's class. She was so sweet. She sat at a table by herself and ate almost an entire cupcake (I took a few extras so she could have one) and drank juice. The teacher asked her if she'd like some pretzels, and she said, "yes, please". She did draw all over the table with a marker, but nothing we couldn't fix with a few sprays of 409.
Rhett showing me some of the classroom toys.
I tried to get them both to look, but A was busy with her artwork.
The class sat in a circle and sang "Happy Birthday, Jesus" before eating their treats.
Rhett and his wonderful teacher, Ms. Susan.
He had a whole stack of cute Christmas crafts that they'd made this month.
I loved this one--Baby Jesus (a wooden clothes pin) wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger full of hay.
After the party, we ran several errands--photographer, library to return movies, post office to mail Caroline's bow holder, car wash because the icy weather this week left my car a muddy mess, then we picked Lane up at his office and went to Dixie Cafe for lunch. There Rhett asked me if I wanted a yellow thing (Splenda) for my water, and I told him no thanks. He asked why not and I said that I liked it in tea, but not in water. He said, "Well, maybe you'll like it one day when you're a little tougher." :)