Happy Thanksgiving

In Psalms 107:1 it says, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is GOOD..." and I am in awe of his goodness on this Thanksgiving Day, 2009. How blessed Shelby & I feel to have this precious baby girl in our life! We love you Georgia Claire and are SO incredibly thankful that God has brought you to us. It has been a great 5+ months...who would have known this time last year that we would already have a 5 month old?!

We went to Keller on Tuesday night to spend Thanksgiving with Shelby's family. Before we left town I fed Georgia, gave her a bath, and put her in her footed pj's and she was asleep before we got out of the city limits. She slept the whole way (almost 3 hours) and woke up ready to play when we arrived. She played, had another bottle and was asleep in her pack-n-play by 10:00! She slept the entire night and woke up around 8:00. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it but she is a WONDERFUL sleeper! Julia told me that she slept a lot while she was pregnant with Georgia...maybe that's why?! Whatever the reason, I am NOT complaining! She slept all night last night, too! Such a blessing in itself to have a baby that is a good sleeper!

We had a terrific lunch today of Greenberg turkey and too many sides to list! It was DEE-lish! Here are some sweet pictures we got today. After being passed around, Georgia was more than happy to sit in her bouncy seat while we ate and ate and ate!

With her daddy...
With her momma...
With Gran Barry & Mimi...
With Aunt Heather...

With two of her great-grandmothers (Ramona & Christine...Shelby's mom's mom and his dad's mom)...

Paula's sister Melody was also in town and I thought I got a picture of Georgia and her, but I guess I didn't, not on my camera anyway.

Georgia LOVES the computer, tv, blackberry, iPhone, or anything else with a screen! Here she is with Shelby catching up on our blog...

Aunt Heather downloaded an app called "Peekaboo Barn" (I think!) on her iPhone and Georgia enjoyed touching the screen and watching all of the animals come out! It was SO CUTE! In fact, Georgia liked it so much she played it until she passed out last night in Heather's arms...

Playing with Mimi...

I LOVE this picture of Georgia and Heather. Georgia LOVES the windows and so Heather just sat down and they looked out in the backyard for awhile...so sweet.

I have to brag on Georgia's creative Aunt Heather, Shelby's younger sister. She is taking art classes at TCC and is EXTREMELY TALENTED! It has come really easy to her which is CRAZY when you see how good she is! She's only been painting since January of THIS YEAR people! 2009 has already been a great year for her and we are all so excited about her VERY bright future in art. She has been painting Fisher Price "Little People" in different scenes and has completed 4 paintings to date. I can't wait to see what's next! =) This past weekend she was awarded "Best in Show" for "Cornered"...see below. Way to go, Heather! I am in awe of your creativity...

"Cornered"

"Battle Scars"

I didn't take any pictures when we went to see the paintings so I stole these from her facebook! Sorry they are so small! I don't know WHY I didn't take pictures?! I think I was so amazed that I completely forgot!

And here are her first two paintings,

"The Space Between"

and "Away From the Crowd"

And to end our Thanksgiving day, we came home, unpacked the car and headed out to Grandma's & Paw Paw's where we enjoyed a small plate of chicken and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and homemade rolls AND Georgia's first fire built by Paw Paw...thanks Mom and Dad! Georgia could not take her eyes off the fire!

I have to say that my sweet DAD is another someone that I am VERY THANKFUL for today (and every day). We are SO thankful that he has new valves and essentially, a new heart! He looked at me tonight and said, "Becky, I feel SO GOOD!" PRAISE GOD! Thank you, Lord!

First Hayride!

My mom's side of the family came to town to celebrate Thanksgiving early. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Andy's and Kathy's followed by playing and a hayride at the farm. Some of my cousins wanted to go ahead and get their Christmas tree so we all went out and enjoyed the time together. Georgia enjoyed her first hayride with her momma and daddy, paw paw, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles, and great granny! We missed PaPaw especially--this was our first Thanksgiving without him. But, we decided he would have been very proud of the food that we had...SO MUCH FOOD! He was a cook in the army and always LOVED to cook "for an army"!

Paw Paw with his VERY HAPPY helper, sweet Caroline!

Little snow bunny (too bad we didn't have any snow!)...

Starting to fade...something about the lull of a John Deere "Poppin' Johnny"...

The best family pic we could get...

Starting to get mad...she's tired!

Mary Katherine fell asleep in Paw Paw's arms...you can see her limp arm in the picture below!

Caroline was helping Paw Paw drive, too, but you as you can see that didn't last long either!

And Georgia is now out, too!

Georgia's first hayride (of many more to come, I'm sure) was a great success! =)

Johnny Jump-Up!

Went bought a "Johnny Jump-Up" at Target Friday night and Georgia is learning what her little legs will do! She's still a little small but is learning and I think she will really enjoy it when she gets a little bit bigger. Shelby & I just love watching her attempt something for the first time! SO cute! We just sat in the floor and watched her...my how times have changed! Our "crazy" Friday night included dinner at Olive Garden and a trip to Target for a couple of toys, the new John Mayer CD "Battle Studies" (which is great, by the way), and home by 8:30 to play before time for Georgia to go to bed!

First Christmas Card Experience WITH a Baby!

These pictures were too funny NOT to share! We went out to the farm last Saturday to work, but before we did that, Mom & Dad helped us with our pictures for our Christmas card! I just got them in the mail and I'm working on getting them ready so I can send them out after Thanksgiving. I've always heard that kids don't like to cooperate for Christmas card pictures, and now Shelby & I are living that first hand! =) I had the idea of cutting out the word JOY from different colored paper and we would all hold a letter. J-O-Y because that pretty much sums up our life since Georgia has been here! What I failed to remember though is that EVERYTHING Georgia holds in her hand goes straight to her mouth! So, that made for an interesting photo experience! In fact, after 20 or more pictures, we decided to make a card with four different shots...most of which are "outtakes"! My thinking was that it would be a great way to remember our first experience of Christmas card pictures with Georgia and that all of our friends who have ever tried to get the "perfect pose" with a child or children could totally relate! I hope you enjoy!

Georgia is licking the "O" in this shot, I think.

Shelby was obviously not ready and I think I'm falling off the bench...and Georgia is concentrating!
Something looks really good on Shelby's shirt to Georgia and I am laughing at my mom because she is pretty much camera illiterate! Love you, Mom!
None of us were ready here. I think this was another one that Mom took on accident.
Mom was "melting" at this point, and so was I! We get to laughing at each other and can't stop...she was cracking me up! I think Shelby doesn't know what to think and Georgia is now taking a bite out of the "O"! Whoa! Georgia is falling...AND her feet are through the "O"!

Georgia had had ENOUGH of the picture taking at this point!

Oh Georgia Claire, thank you for making us laugh and for making our first Christmas card with you one to remember! We love you!

Five Months Ago Today...

Five months ago today our baby girl was born and our world was forever changed. The JOY that Shelby and I have had these last 5 months has been overwhelming at times. Her birthmom gave us a HUGE gift when she chose us to be Georgia's parents. We feel so unworthy and yet we are SO grateful! We still look at Georgia and say, "I can't believe she's ours!" It seems like just yesterday that she was born and already she's five months old! People always told me that children grow up too fast...now I know what they meant first hand.

Here are some pictures I've taken of her today. This first one is what I see every morning...nothing like a happy, smiling baby with legs straight up in the air to get you going in the morning!

Georgia & I went to lunch with Grandma & Paw Paw today...of course she had to wear her onesie with a cupcake on it to celebrate her 5 month birthday!
Look at those legs!!!
She's getting close to cutting her two bottom teeth...this is the facial expression we see a lot...drooling and rubbing her gums together!
I love you, Georgia Claire! Your daddy & I could not be happier! Thanks for a fun 5 months!
Shelby & I were talking last night and I said, "Can you imagine loving another child as much as we love her?!" and he said, "NO!" I know we will when that time comes though. We are excited about what God has in store for our little family!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today is my Mom's birthday and I am giving thanks for the wonderful mother, wife, and grandma that she is to our family. She is the virtuous woman that Proverbs 31 talks about...we are SO blessed! We got to celebrate last night at their house (minus Angie, Joe, Gabe, & Will) with supper and some good 'ol family time. We brought the food, Andy grilled, and Shelby, Andy & Dad put her Christmas lights up. That's all she ever wants on her birthday! So, we left their house last night after dark with Christmas lights glowing! I love this time of year! This was the only picture I got last night...Mom & Dad (& Kathy) with 2/3 of their grandkids...just before blowing out the candles!

Here are some pictures I've taken over the last 5 months of Georgia and Grandma...


I love you, Mom! Thank you for being a SHINING example of what a Godly mother looks like! I hope that I can be the kind of mom to Georgia that you have been to me!

First Work Day at the Farm

For those of you reading this that don't know, my parents grow Virginia Pine Christmas trees and peaches. My family does not own the farm, but it is more of a "share-cropping" type deal with the owner. We started in the early 80's with blueberries. That business grew to Christmas trees and peaches, too! Some of my greatest childhood memories are of the times spent at the farm. Don't get me wrong, there were times when my sisters and I didn't want to go out there to work, but looking back, I am SO glad that we did. My parents instilled a work ethic in all of us that we still have to this day. We work hard at the farm but we get to play at times, too! As my Dad always said growing up (and still does today), "It builds character"!

We are getting ready for opening day of Christmas tree season...less than two weeks away now! We open the day after Thanksgiving and we have families every year that come out, ride the hayride, eat peanuts around a fire, have a snack, and choose & cut their Christmas tree. It is a family tradition for a lot of folks! It is so much fun to see how the families grow and change every year. It is almost like a reunion of sorts for us each year. Shelby & I helped Mom & Dad tag the trees (with size & price) the last couple of days. Georgia was a trooper! I didn't get any pictures of us working, but we DID get pictures of Georgia! She played and then fell asleep in the shade of a huge tree in her jogging stroller...such a great baby! =)

Random Pictures

Here are just some cute pictures I had that I wanted to share.

Hanging out with sweet Caroline...look at Georgia's face! Ha!

Hanging out with Aunt Kathy on her second "tractor night" at Mom's and Dad's. She had a yellow bow in her hair but lost it before this picture. The blue jeans and John Deere t-shirt makes her look like a little boy! =) Still cute though!

One of Caroline's favorite things to do is make a "city" with the Fisher Price Little People from our childhood. She figured out she could put them on her fingers and was so proud!
Hanging out with Momma at the farm before our Christmas card pictures...waiting on Paw Paw to quit plowing so he could take our picture. Who knew it would be so hard to take a good picture with our happy baby girl?! I think we've decided to do several on the card...one good one and the others as our "out-takes". They are too funny not to share!