It Was a Wonderful Christmas!

We had Christmas at Rick and Pam's on Christmas Eve this year.  It was so nice to spread our Christmases with our families out a bit, so it didn't feel so overwhelming all at once.  We listened as Rick read the Christmas story from one of the girls' books and then opened presents.  Ansley wanted Pappaw to read faster and Brynn wanted to play with his hair.  It was pretty humorous! 

Ansley was such a great help passing out all the presents this year.  However, she had a hard time waiting to open them all.  She wanted to open them for everyone!  After mounds of Christmas paper was shed, we had delicious steaks and bacon wrapped asparagus.  My favorite was the shrimp...none of us could stay out of it.  It was oh so good!  After our meal we lounged around and played with our new IPAD's!!! Yay!  We were absolutely shocked to get these.  Ansley and Brynn took naps and then we headed to our Christmas Eve service.  It was such a wonderful day!

Reading the story of Christ's birth

Then on to the presents! This was quite a big load for such a little girl!

This was her stack of presents.  Whoa. 

Starting to unwrap the first one.... 

A Bitty Baby wrap from Uncle Kyle!  She loved it! 

Showing off her baby carrier and yes, my child has on a watermelon skirt.  It's kinda funny how it all went down.  She is ALL about tutus these days and INSISTED upon wearing a pink tutu in her closet, but I told her it didn't match the red shirt she had on.  I explained that we didn't have a red tutu to put on and THAT'S when the little turkey pulled out her watermelon tutu. "Mommy, dis is wed (red)". Well, it sure is :/....now how can you argue with that?!  Jason's comment to me..."So you rewarded her for getting her colors right? I'm confused." 

So there you have it...she's wearing her red and green watermelon tutu on Christmas and looking as cute as ever.  Nice.

Christmas morning we celebrated with just the 3 of us (well technically 4 of us ;) ). We listened to the Christmas story with our Word of Promise audio bible and then reiterated with Ansley what ALL of the celebration with presents was really about.  She received 3 presents from us and because we only do 3, I really tried to pick things she really might want.  She got a Belle doll and matching dress (she just recently saw Beauty and the Beast at the Fox with Pamaw and Pappaw), a Bitty Baby changing table (she somehow immediately knew what it was), and a Disney princess tote with a blow dryer, hair brush, curling iron, and straightener in it (she loves to blow dry and brush my hair!).  Santa also visited our house and filled her stocking with new pj's and some DVDs.  She was in love with it all!  Then she realized there was one more gift to open from the Mayhew clan.  When she opened it her eyes LIT up!  It was a baby kitten in a carrier with all kinds of supplies to care for the sick little thing.  Like I told my friend Heather, she mothered that little kitty to death!  It's really unfortunate that Ansley will never have an indoor animal, especially a cat (I'm deathly allergic).  She would be the best help when caring for it.  Heather must have known that Ansley would never have the joy of having a REAL kitten! Ha!  

 Ansley with her new Belle and fancy matching dress on!

Love these 2! 

Ansley and I 

So excited about what Santa brought her! 

Ansley loving on her kitty 

So precious!!!! 

It was an overwhelmingly GREAT Christmas. One we will always cherish. Ansley was sooo fun to watch as she learned about the story of Jesus, sang her beautiful Christmas songs, and also as she tore open each and every present with sheer excitement. She is such a joy and we can't wait until next Christmas when our newest addition will be here to join in on all the fun! So thankful to the Lord for our many blessings!

Christmas at the Cabin

We had Christmas a little early this year at the cabin.  Jason made us his famous yummy steaks, we had lots of sides including broccoli and rice-yay, and a birthday cake for my dad for dessert.  It was a great evening.  Ansley and Jansen had so much fun running around the cabin playing as usual and then got really excited when it was time for presents!  They got WAY too much from Mimi and BB (we left most of it at the cabin)!

Ansley and Jansen playing around the tree.  Last year I have a picture of both of them in the bucket.  This year, Jansen couldn't quite squeeze in with Ansley. 

Isn't she sweet?! 

Jason explaining to Ansley why we celebrate Christmas and quizzing her on what gifts were brought to baby Jesus.  She is saying "Fransincense" :) on this picture. Her favorite one to say is "Myrrh"

Counting his 3 gifts 

She was adamant about opening this gift first. 

After that first tear, she RIPPED away.  Arms were flying! 

She loved it! 

Jansen was up next and this year was the year of the trains for him.  It was hard to pry him away from them!   

My brother in his camo hat I got him.  We were laughing at his tiny bean head....the hat swallowed him! 

After all the presents had been opened, Ansley and Jansen decided to steal one of BB's gifts.  These flashlights would be on my "dad's favorite and must-have list" for sure.  He gave all of his employees one and it was obviously on Jansen and Ansley's list of favorite toys!  They played forever with them. 

It was a fun evening, I can't wait for more Christmas/family festivities!

Ready, Ready, Ready, Ready....Ready to Run!!!

My friend Heather and I still needed to take the kids to see Santa this year, so we planned a night we could take them together.  I knew how Santa had gone the year before and thought having the Mayhew's there would help her with her Santa anxieties.  Things started off so well.  The Mayhew kiddos were so excited to sit on Santa's lap and sat ever so still as we all took pictures.  They told Santa their wish list and cheesed it up for the camera.

Then there was this sweet, little thing that just wasn't so sure....

It took some pep talks from her little buddies and a hand or two toward the gate... 

She was past the gate! 

And almost to his lap!  She had one simple question for Santa that she talked about all the way to the mall.  "Where's your reindeer Santa?" (He lured her over by telling her he'd show her where the reindeer were)

When she found out they were on the roof, she was ready to hit the road!

This picture of the kiddos is my favorite as they try to convince her to stay. 

Santa was persistent and Jason was too, so we tried one more time.  Nope!  Not going to happen! 

Santa was determined and nice.  He snuck up behind us while we were getting a family picture and Ansley didn't even know the difference.  That sweet Santa wanted us to have one so bad with her smiling!  We got a good one...yay! 

She was all smiles once Santa stayed clear.  Before we headed home, Heather gave Ansley a big smooch and left a pretty LASTING impression...thanks Memaw! Ha! 

There's always next year, Santa!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!

My friend Ashley decided several months back to host a kids Christmas party this year.  She has been putting this together for quite some time and Tuesday was the big day.  Unfortunately on Monday, she became really sick with fever and couldn't host like she had planned.  We were all so bummed!  She'd worked so hard on everything (I had no idea until I saw the details first hand).  Thankfully, Kristal hosted at her home and the party continued as planned.  The kids LOVED it!  Ashley had so many fun activities for the kids and lots of treats, including a birthday cake for Jesus! 

We all started off making the gingerbread houses that she had put together using some milk cartons Whitney had gotten from school.  The kiddos loved this because it involved LOTS of candy (gumdrops, candy canes, M&M's, marshmallows, and pretzels).  There was plenty of finger-licking and candy sneaking that's for sure!  After the little houses were made we moved onto the Christmas tree canvases.  We each CAREFULLY painted our kiddos hands or feet and placed them on the canvas.  I needed lots of help with this one...Ansley's hand consistently looked like a blob, so at one point I resorted to washing my canvas off!  Thanks to Kristal and others I was able to get a somewhat decent looking Christmas tree made out of Ansley's precious little hands.  After doing the canvases we ate some more and lit the candles on the birthday cake for Jesus.  We sang Happy Birthday and Maksim and Ansley blew the candles out.  It was so sweet and an awesome end to a great day!  We enjoyed it so much!

This was the first item Ansley found when she walked in.  She was not interested in anything else for a little bit.  I loved Isaac scratching his little belly in this one...I just couldn't crop it!  

Some of the gang starting their gingerbread houses (Emily & Wyatt, Heather & Maks, Kristal & Isaac, Sonya & Ellie, and Courtney's MIL too! Somehow I missed Courtney and Wylie?!)

Kristal, Isaac, Ellie, and Sonya 

Ansley STILL on the truck, happy as can be. 

Finally, we started our house.  She was so intently placing those M&M's! 

Making her masterpiece one candy at a time 

Brynn got in on some of the candy action too! 

Here's where she realized that she could EAT the candy. 

Then came some sneaking of the gumdrops 

So proud of her house! 

Next up...more grazing of the candy and of course some baby Brynn time. 

Frankie and Erin

Sweet Ellie

The precious cake 

Ansley singing loudly! 

Ansley and Maks blowing the candles out 

What a fun afternoon.  I asked Ansley that evening what her favorite part of the day was and she said "Issix's house".  I'm pretty sure she loved it.

Just When I Thought Things Couldn't Get ANY Better.....

Well, we have some really exciting news!!!  Something we weren't sure would ever happen to us again.  Something we've been praying diligently for for over 2 years. 


Our family of 3 will soon be a family of 4!  Woo hoo!!!!  We are BEYOND thrilled and can't wait for this next chapter to start! God is so good!!!  I'm 16 weeks at the moment, so Ansley and the new baby will be almost 3 years apart (God willing).  I'm so thankful for this because we'll have been able to soak up 3 years of just us and Ansley....precious years I will always treasure.  I know Ansley will be the BEST big sister possible.  She is obsessed with all things baby, so I think once we get past the fact that she won't be getting all of our undivided attention...she will be a great little helper!  We CAN NOT WAIT!

Here we are at the Dr.'s office after the first ultrasound.  There's a little peanut in there! We were considered 6 weeks and 3 days at this point according to the scan.  Dr. Carns wanted to do one to make sure there was a baby and thankfully we saw a heartbeat.  Praise God!  Of course, the tears were streaming when we first saw that little heart thumping.  What an amazing miracle life is!    

My mom and dad were along to see the baby and help wrangle Ansley.  She was full of excitement!  

This picture cracks me up....she was telling me what her shirt said

"BIG SISSER"

        We are overjoyed and praying continuously for the health of this baby!  It's one of Ansley's favorite prayer requests...."and da baby in mommy's bewy".  It can't get any sweeter than that.  I know Jesus is enjoying her many prayers for this baby :)