Gabe's Christening

The annointing if the oil. Mabry got to be David's helper.

David and Gabe after the rites. In his dress, we could imagine him as a girl (Gabe, not David).

Matt (one of the godfathers) and Guy. Thanks to Matt, we have photos. Our camera seemed to stay in the diaper bag.

The cake my mother brought all the way from Birmingham. Hopefully, we will have more pictures when Papa gets home to add.

This past week

The littlest Ohio State fan with the biggest Ohio State fan, who is momentarily fighting a cold, in Mississippi.

Newest sister and brother picture.

Smiling a little

Wondering why he is always having his picture taken.

This past week has been rather busy for our family. Guy had to administer his semester exams. Mabry had her last week of school until January. Mabry's last week included a party where all the kids exchange presents in a white elephant fashion. Tuesday, Mabry's Daisy Scout troop went caroling around the Holly Springs square. They were so adorable and out of tune!! When they got back to the office, they inhaled the snacks and collapsed from exhaustion on the floor. On Friday, I had to run to Oxford to take care of some errands. Mabry opted to go visit her favorite sitter, Ms. Karita, who also had a Christmas party with the kids. Gabe will start seeing Ms. Karita every day beginning January 7th when I have to unfortunately return to work. Yesterday, I decided to channel my mother again. I made a batch of peanut brittle and a few dozen chocolate truffles. Today, I have already made another batch of peanut brittle and a loaf of banana bread. I plan to also bake some chocolate chip cookies and another batch of sugar cookies. Thank goodness that these goodies will not be in the house for long since they are definitely not good for my diet!!

Bouncing Baby Boy Dance

Need I say anything else?

Christmas Cookies

Guy is already trying to teach Gabe how to play X-box. Gabe seems disinterested, don't you think?

Today, I decided to channel my mother or Cynthia. I actually made sugar cookies from scratch. Not the fake and bake or mix from the box kind, but the kind you actually have to have ingredients for (not just oil, water, egg). I also made homemade icing. Mabry and I had a fun time making the cookies and decorating them.

They turned out pretty well, don't you think? The only thing I didn't make from scratch was the sugar crystals on top of the icing. these cookies were such work though, I think we will go back to the fake and bake. I do think I'll make my own icing again though. Too easy!!

One Month Old!! and Getting Ready for Christmas!

The stockings are hung. My mother makes all members of the family a stocking. You are not an official member until you receive your stocking. Luckily, Gabe's was done a couple of months ago.

Our beautiful Christmas tree has finally been decorated!! We should only have a few more presents to put under the tree since Santa actually comes to our house and leaves most of the presents unwrapped. Luckily, Santa thinks that since Jesus only got three presents on his birthday, all children only get three presents from him. Great thinking, Santa!!

My mother is the craftiest woman on the planet. She made us an entire set of ornaments that are hand sewn and beaded!! Aren't they cute?! In addition, my mother also gets everyone in the family an ornament that has some type of signifigance for them. Here they are:

Guy's yearly Star Wars ornament. The obsession never dies. Besides having gotten Mabry so into Star Wars that she can recite any line and if you show her approximately three seconds of any of the movies, she can tell you which of the six movies it is from, Guy has now gotten Gabe to focus on Star Wars movies as well. Did you know that it is possible to find a Star Wars movie playing at any hour of the day?

Mabry's yearly ornament is Tinker Bell. She is extremely into Tink this year.

My ornament from my mother is a tree that is quilted with phrases associated with family.

Gabe's is a Winnie the Pooh and Piglet looking into a cradle. Adorable!!

Today, Gabe is officially one month old!! He has survived being Guy and my child and being a little brother to Mabry. Isn't that amazing. No major trips to the hospital yet! We might be an okay family. No pictures of the little one though. Today, we accomplished several things. We drove to Olive Branch to go to the bank (yes, that is the closest branch to where we live 26 miles!!). We went to the Wal Mart there to do our grocery shopping. Shopping at the Holly Springs Wal Mart is hell since they never have anything and you run into all of your present and former students and their parents and have to have impromptu parent conferences, but I have never experienced anything like the Olive Branch Wal Mart. For one thing, there were more people in that Wal Mart than at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. No one observes the proper shopping etiquitte of pushing their buggy to the right--no, they have to drive it up the middle of the aisle. Also, who the hell stocks the shelves of a grocery store between the hours of ten and three on a Saturday, especially a Saturday before Christmas!! That's why they are open 24 hours--stock at night!!!! Anyway, enough ranting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Smiles and Angels

Peace on Earth. Mabry's Christmas card. I wish I could mass produce them for all of you.

Gabe's first interaction with Ree. Can you believe she purred?

Playing on my mat.

A little smile. Also, Mabry earned the center of the daisy on her Daisy Girl Scout uniform yesterday for knowing the Girl Scout promise!!! Goodjob, Mabry!!

Milestones

We are starting to hit some new milestones. For the past couple of days, Gabe has been cooing at us when he is really happy and spotaneously smiling (and not because he is gassy!). It would be nice if he would start to smile at us in reaction so we can get a picture, but I am sure it won't be long now. Check out how huge Mabry's feet are compared to Gabe's!