MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! If I wait one more day to put this outfit on Ford, he will be too big! He had his 9 month check-up this week and is just shy of 20 lbs. (double his birth weight!) and 30 inches long I think. Four big teeth on top, two on bottom, and commando-crawling everywhere! It will be a fun visit at Nina and Big Jim's this time since he is mobile...

And here is Charlotte...just can't resist the camera not being on her :) More pictures of tomorrow to come!

We celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday! I love my husband who loves me so well and the gift from God that blesses me more as each year passes.

As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman:
Though she bends him, she obeys him;
Though she draws him, yet she follows;
Useless each without the other.

- Henry Wadworth Longfellow

Charlotte and I spent Saturday afternoon making "Cinnamon Bundt Cake" loaves for our friends and neighbors. My mom used to make this for special occasions and it makes the house smell heavenly! My cousin Katie brought a cake to Amy and I Monday when I was up in Virginia visiting and it inspired me to make some for Christmas gifts. Charlotte is wearing my apron I wore as a child, too.

Oh, and there is the beautiful cypress from below in our dining room all lit up :)

Sy has been wanting to get rid of this cypress tree to make more room for his compost/garden/etc. and we thought we'd see if it would make a good Christmas tree. It looks great in our dining room and I'll post a picture once we've finished the lights and ornaments this afternoon. It is pretty funny that we cut down our own tree...from our backyard :)

Timber!!!!!!!!!!!!!

James "helped" Sy trim the tree up using his whiffle ball bat. He will look for any excuse to hit things with the bat!

We enjoyed some time in the backyard on Thursday playing in the leaves and swinging! It was a gorgeous day and we always love having Sy around on Thursdays, his day off.

Charlotte worked hard sweeping leaves into piles on the porch...which James promptly rode his Diego bike through!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had Sy's parents here and got a quick visit today with his sister Jennifer and our nephew Caid. Can't wait for Christmas!

So, we cut James's hair...
He'd had a haircut at Easter for the FIRST time, but that was just a trim. Here is James "helping" Mama Coley blow out her 90th b.d. candles last weekend, with all the curls.




Now here is James last night after "the shearing"...
He did NOT like the clippers and we had to do a little, turn it off, give him a bite of ice cream, and then pin him down to do a little more!

And here is James today much happier and looking so grown up! We will probably let it grow out more again just because I decided I'm not quite ready for him to be a big boy. And, yes, we saved some of the curls :)

We moved into our home 2 years ago today and even though we are in the deep South, we didn't realize that when the seasons changed from summer to winter, it would be cold! It is a damp kind of cold here and in an old home (built in 1925) the floors are cold and the windows and doors "breathe" easily. Our first winter here, we spent our whole first year's natural gas allowance in 2 months....so I went out and bought a couple space heaters and we lived in the back of the house. After we had our chimney inspected, they said the masonry was so deteriorated that we would have to line the whole thing, etc. = VERY expensive and still inefficient as far as a source of heating the house.

Last year, we had insulation blown in the attic and using the space heaters and sometimes the central heat, we made it through. This year, after some saving and lots of research done by Sy (I wish I had a picture of him in front of the computer wearing his hat, gloves, and his sweater & fleece jacket looking at wood burning stoves!) we had a wood-burning stove put in.

This "Freedom" Stove by Lopi is about 500 lbs. and took two men, one big dolly, a huge dowel rod, and 4 hours to install.
What a difference warmth makes :)

"James the Builder"
He finally warmed up to the idea of being "Bob the Builder" after much coaxing, although he insisted on wearing the helmet backwards...we'll take what we can get! Thank you to Aunt Lorraine for the tool belt--it is one of the only boyish dress-ups we have and has become a favorite.

Just checking to make sure we have the right tools...

Walking down to church. I love this street.

Celebrating with our friends. It's hard to get James smiling like this on camera lately. The Superman is our little friend, Levi, who is one of James's favorite buddies.

Tigger!

"Purple Swan Princess Fairy"

James was NOT interested in dressing up!

Charlotte trying out her wings :)

James's Friends: His favorites are the "Hippas" (hippos), the "Pandees" (pandas), and the "Ly-as" (lions), but he loves to get them all out and put them in order by animal pair, and then line them up, or put them in the tractor. It is funny how orderly he is. He puts the books on the bookshelf meticulously, while Charlotte still flings them on in stacks just to hurry up and get it done. They are a good pair--Charlotte gets everything out and James puts it all away!

James still loves his brother!

Mr. Smiley! Ford is sitting up well on his own now and has gotten his third tooth. In the picture you can see the top two--the second one is about to break through. I hope he'll be even more smiley after this round of teething is complete! He is loving solid food and being at the table with us for meals. Charlotte and James keep him thoroughly entertained :)

We went about an hour towards Selma/Clanton yesterday to a pumpkin patch with our friends. It was a beautiful overcast and actually cool day! It still doesn't feel like fall here...that's how the seasons change in Southern Alabama. One night it is winter, then it's summer, then a few months later it suddenly changes back into winter. We miss the Shenandoah this time of year. But we had a great time on the hay ride through their peach orchard, a sunflower maze, and they even had some bison. We picked our pumpkin right off the vine and rode back for a snack before heading home.

The winning pumpkin!