Reindeer Rhodes

Our little Reindeer Rhodes would rather play with his blinking ears than wear them. Thank you Duchess and Duke for these fun ears. They have spent a few seconds on top of his head but lots of time being played with.

He has loved dragging his little red rocker around, climbing in it, turning it upside down, and actually rocking in it.

Hanging out in his chair having a snack.

Christmas Cookies

Our little man was such a big helper when it came to decorating Christmas cookies. We went with a simple decorating theme this year to make it easier on everyone. Daddy used the red sprinkles and Rhodes used the green ones. This sweet little boy had such a great time spending time with Mommy and Daddy.

He also volunteered to be our taste tester.

He also shared part of his cookie with Daddy.

Christmas in TN

We spent a wonderful weekend in Ripley celebrating Christmas. It is always fun getting together with the whole family, eating lots of yummy food, chasing Rhodes around, keeping him off of the stairs, watching football, and just enjoying the time to relax and visit. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful families.

This is Rhodes' 2nd Christmas but really the first to open presents and really have the opportunity to "experience" Christmas. It took him a minute to figure out what to do but then quickly started pulling tissue paper out of bags.

showing Daddy one of his new toys
excited about opening all of his presents

His BIG gift from Kat and Pops...... a remote controlled airplane to ride. There are no pictures of him on the plane because he freaked out and climbed off every time we put him on it. Drew had tons of fun playing with it and driving it around the kitchen.

Drew, Tucker, and Jessi

No holiday is complete without eating, especially for this little guy. I don't think there was very much time the entire weekend that he didn't have something in his mouth.

Drew, Nana, and Rhodes

Uncle Tucker, Aunt Jessi, and Rhodes

Uncle Tyler and Rhodes........such a precious picture of the two of them.

Playing

Uncle Tucker gave Rhodes the best gift ever.....a tv remote control. Sunday morning before church that is all he wanted to play with. The simplest and cheapest things bring him such great joy. The remote even lights up when the buttons are pushed which adds extra fun!

Thanks to GiGi, Rhodes is ready for the National Championship game!

Pictures with Santa

Our visit with Santa was rather short but tear free. We had been warned by people, including Santa, that he might freak out. He stared at Santa for a minute, looked back at us and wanted down. We were happy he didn't start screaming and thankful the place let us take our own pictures instead of paying their ridiculous prices.

Just a few pictures

Lots of fun is taking place around our house. Rhodes has a new Santa hat that is more fun to play with than to wear.

Our little Santa baby!

Playing with his toys while holding the Santa hat.
Dressed up for church.
Walking around the house with a moose attached to his leg.

Christmas Decorations

We began the Christmas decorating process when we got home on Sunday night. It was very quickly evident that we have a little helper in our house. Last year all he wanted to do was lay in the floor and look at lights, this year he wants to be hands-on and help with everything.Rhodes found a roll of ribbon and decided to decorate Rebel with it. He was so proud of his dog decorating and Rebel was such a good sport about it.

wrapping himself up in ribbon
This roll of ribbon kept him entertained long enough to get all of the ornaments on the tree.

The tree is finally finished. Instead of it being a Christmas tree Rhodes is learning that it is a "no no" tree. Every time he gets close to it he hears the words "no no" No ornaments broken yet...we are only on day 3.

So many things to be thankful for......

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to get together with family, eat lots of food, and give thanks to God for all of his wonderful blessings. We are very thankful for the blessing of Rhodes, he brings such great joy to our lives. It is an honor that God would give us such a precious little boy to raise, he definitely is a treasure!

so thankful for his happy spirit and all the loud noises and giggles that come with it.
thankful for wonderful grandparents that love this little boy so much.
Kat and Rhodes sharing a brief moment together, he doesn't like to be held for very long.
Uncle Tyler and Rhodes hanging out together.

thankful for such a yummy Thanksgiving feast. He ate ham, rice, mashed potatoes, and bread. Aunt Bonnie supplied the Christmas bib which will also be worn the entire month of December.

More Weekend Pics

More pictures from this past weekend with Rhodes and Kenadie
playing with their feet, this is before Kenadie tried to steal Rhodes' snacks
trying out Grandmoma's new rocking chair

Rhodes and his PaPa
Duchess..aka..Aunt Jan with Rhodes and Kenadie

Surprise 80th

This past weekend was spent celebrating Grandmoma's 80th birthday. The party had been planned since June and surprisingly the secret was kept and Grandmoma was very surprised to see friends and family from near and far. The party took place at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Anna, TX which is our family's "home" church. I remember running around that church at family reunions as a little girl, what fun memories. Music has been a very integral part of my grandmother's life so the party began with an old fashion Hymn sing. After the music it was time to eat and fellowship. The cookies, cake, and finger foods were all so very yummy! It was a fun day celebrating a special lady!

Grandmoma with her daughters and granddaughters
Grandmoma with her granddaughters and great-grands
Cathy and I were so lucky to get to spend the day with both of our grandmothers. Mimi and Grandmoma.

It was so sweet of Anna and Eula to fly in from South Carolina for the party.