Thank you God for . . .

My daughter is a born shopper. She loves to go to the stores, and the mall is one of her favorite places. On Thanksgiving Day, she really wanted to get out of the house and go to the "store." We had to explain to her that it was a holiday and that all of the stores were closed. She was heartbroken. Friday night, I told her that Nini and I were going to take her to a special store Saturday morning. She was elated. Saturday morning came, and I cooked bacon, eggs, and biscuits for everyone. Shea said the blessing for breakfast, and in addition to her normal recitation, she said, "Thank you God to the stores are open today. Amen."

It's Been a While . . .

It's been such a long time since I've updated, and so much has happened since January. Here's the highlights:

March - Jon was laid off.
April - We realized there was no opportunities for Jon in Memphis, and he pursued employment everywhere.
May - Jon began working for VeriStor, a company based in Duluth, GA. That means we have to move!
June - August - We house hunted and finally found a house we were happy with.
September - Jon moved to Georgia with all of our stuff, and I stayed in Memphis with my parents to work.
October - The kids and I made the big move to Buford, GA.

We're still settling in to our new house, but I'm loving all the space. Here's a picture of the house. I need to take some pictures of the inside with stuff in it, but I'm still not settled in enough for that. :) I'll be taking the Georgia Bar Exam in February, and I'm searching for a job here.

Lawyer Funny

I found a blog that is cracking me up! It's a blog with lawyer-related cartoons called Courtoons.

I put up some samples on here. FYI, these are particularly funny because I'm the bluebooking expert around my office. It's a pretty useless skill, but I do know how to cite things correctly. I even know which commas and periods are supposed to be italicized and which ones are supposed to be in normal type. I know when to use an en dash and when to use and em dash. I am a nerd, and I'm okay with that.

New Year's Day

I love family traditions. It's hardwired into my personality. One of my favorite family traditions is our New Year's Day meal. This tradition stems from my Dad's side of the family. Although my Dad has spent most of his life in the south, he is originally from Pennsylvania. While the Shea's are Irish, my dad's family also has German heritage. It is from that German contingent (aka Pennsylvania Dutch), that we get our traditional New Year's meal. Pennsylvania Dutch/German heritage dictates that pork and sauerkraut be included in the New Year's Day dinner. We also eat mashed potatoes, dumplings, warm spiced applesauce, and some token black-eyed peas with our meal. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I became curious as to why that's the traditional meal and what the food symbolizes. Pork is the traditional meat because the New Year is a time to look forward and a hog can not look back. According to my sources, a German/Pennsylvania Dutchman would not eat chicken on New Year's Day because it scratches backwards. Sauerkraut is eaten because it represents wealth. I'm not all into the superstition, but I do love the meal!

This year, my Aunt Jami and Uncle David joined us for the meal. Jon missed out on it because he was at home cleaning the house for his Rose Bowl Party, but he got to enjoy some leftovers. We had a great time eating and visiting. Shea even likes the meal! I really dislike sauerkraut by itself, but a bite of it mixed with pork, mashed potatoes, and a dumpling is heavenly!

Christmas in Huntsville - Part II

We spent some of our time in Huntsville at Michael's house. His family had a bad cold while we were there, so they stayed away from Grandmama and Grandpapa because they didn't want to get them sick. We're sick all the time anyway, so we just went over to their house so the girls could play together.

Bess, Shea, and EmmaSweet Bess!

Sweet Nash!
Uncle John with Nash

Shea's about to open her present from the Shea's.

Emma is so sweet to Nash, and he loves her too!

Time to relax on the couch.

Emma is driving Shea around in the new Jeep.
It has a real radio that works. How cool is that?

Pretty girls!

Emma taught Shea how to climb a tree.
Emma and Bess got the climbing gene from their Daddy!
It didn't come as naturally for Shea.

Christmas in Huntsville - Part I

It's just not Christmas unless I make it to Alabama. When I was very little, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Grandmama and Grandpapa's house. I remember one year when Michael and I stayed up looking out the window to see if we could spot Rudolph's red nose in the sky. Another Christmas, our car was broken down, and Mr. Stewart helped Daddy repair it on Christmas Eve. I think it was 1987, and it was actually snowing that year. I guess it was about dinner time when it was finally working again, and Mr. Stewart, whose family was already in Huntsville, followed us (or we followed him) all the way from Memphis to Huntsville to make sure we didn't break down. That was also the year that I received a diary for Christmas. I wrote in it something like, "Ham, ham, ham. All we eat is ham. Ham for breakfast, ham for lunch, and ham for dinner. I'm sick of ham." Can you tell that we had country ham for breakfast, ham for Christmas dinner, and leftover ham for other meals? My mother, of course, read my diary and told everyone what I wrote in it. They were all tickled about it, but I was not. I never wrote anything else in that diary.

I remember being upset the first year my parents decided that we were going to celebrate Christmas in Memphis, and then go to Huntsville. They were tired of lugging all the Christmas loot to Alabama and Georgia, but I didn't think it was Christmas without being with all our extended family. We adjusted, and all the family started getting together the day after Christmas. I'm the oldest grandchild, and my brother, the second oldest grandchild, now lives in Huntsville with his family. My youngest brother and my cousins are either recent grads or still in school. As we all get older, I know that we'll have to end the crazy Christmas festivities, but I'm still enjoying celebrating Christmas with my family in Alabama.

Peyton, Joel, and Aunt Michelle

Uncle John with Nash

Ray, Grandmama, Grandpapa, and Shea w/ her new USC bear

from Uncle John. She insists he's Winnie the Pooh.

Present time! We don't exchange many gifts anymore, but the kids still get gifts.

Claire, Aunt Jami, and Shea

Grandmama reading to Shea.

Uncle David has taken over Grandpapa's breakfast cooking duties.

We still have country ham for breakfast along with eggs, grits, bacon, and biscuits.

Christmas Afternoon

We went over to my parents' house for lunch on Christmas Day. We feasted on ham, sweet potato casserole, asperagus casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, rolls, and some jello concoction. As usual, Momma cooked way too much food, but boy was it good! :) I think that my favorite part of holidays is sharing meals with my family. We have a great time eating together and talking. We even enjoy and occasional discussion. :) I do really love my family! Michael and his family didn't get to come to Memphis for Christmas because Sara was due Jan. 10 (I think), and they weren't going to risk travelling at that point in her pregnancy. We missed them, but we still had a great time with the rest of my family.

Papa with Nash

After eating lunch, we finally got around to opening gifts. Nini had to help Shea open some of the toys. See that princess couch in the background? Shea insisted on bringing it to Nini and Papa's house, and we decided to let her b/c it was Christmas day. She has LoVeD sitting and laying on that tacky couch. :)

Here's me opening up some presents from my parents. I'm very excited about the new dishes!

Patrick is sporting his new toboggan from Santa Claus.

Papa had a good time throwing wadded up wrapping paper at Shea and Nini. Who needs presents when you can have so much fun with wrapping paper.

I'm reading Shea one of the books Uncle Patrick bought for her.

Nash and Nini

Uncle Patrick with Nash

Sweet big sister!

I love these two soooo much!

Christmas Morning

I think that Christmas morning is more fun for me as an adult watching my children open their presents. Shea was a lot of fun this year, and had a great time opening gifts. Her big gift was her Bitty Baby doll and accessories for it. She also got some practical items disguised as gifts such as pajamas, clothes, blankets, etc. We didn't have anywhere for her to sleep when we had company, and now her princess sofa that folds into a bed will be great for that. Nash got a push walker, basketball hoop, and some teething toys. Jon got his big Christmas gift back in November, but I made sure he had some little things under the tree. I got him some Starbuck's peppermint mocha frappaccinos, socks, undershirts, and a Homer Simpson ornament.




Shea enjoyed reading to her doll, and Nash loved his push walker.

Jon surprised me with a new camera! I LOVE to take pictures,

and I'm really going to enjoy learning how to use my camera!

Shea named her baby doll Katie, and she had a great time feeding her. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for Katie's high chair!
This little girls loves to change diapers. If only she could do the real thing! :)

Now, Shea can sing along to Rock Band with her own microphone!
Jon was very excited about his Christmas ornament.
Nash-ee-boo playing with his new rattle.

My mom always made breakfast cake for us on Christmas morning. We actually make it the night before, let the dough rise overnight, and stick it in the oven on Christmas morning. I couldn't find my recipe this year, so I was calling Mom about 11pm or midnight Christmas Eve to get it. No worries, I knew that she was still up wrapping presents too. I apparently called about 30 minutes after my brother had called for the same recipe.

Shea insisted on putting on her Ariel pajamas and princess house shoes that she got for Christmas.

Nash enjoyed chewing on his new toys.

Jon was excited about the USC polo his parents sent for him.

Christmas Eve

Since Jon and I have been married, my family had been spending Christmas Eve at our house. Jon grew up eating enchiladas on Christmas day, and I grew up eating ham. We normally eat Christmas dinner at my parents house, so we've taken Jon's enchilada tradition and moved it to Christmas Eve. This year, my parents and Patrick came over to spend the evening with us. We had a great time celebrating.

Jon tried to get out of "Santa" duty by falling asleep with Nash. Hehe.

I begin shopping for Christmas 364 days before the big day. I had about 85% of my Christmas shopping for the kids finished by Thanksgiving, which is great. I buy things when they're on sale or clearance, and save them all year long. It's lots of fun and saves me lots of money. I, however, wrap pretty much nothing before Christmas Eve, and I wrap almost EVERYTHING individually (socks, undershirts, etc.). We had a pretty late night, but we had a great time putting things together and getting it all ready for the morning.

Advent Conspiracy

Our church participated in Advent Conspiracy this year. The idea was to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all during the holiday season.

We regularly read the story of Jesus' birth to Shea from The Big Picture Story Bible and talked with her about it regularly during the month of December. We also explained that Christmas was when we celebrated Jesus' birthday. I don't think that she really had any idea of what was going on, but she'll hopefully catch on someday. I think that next year, we'll try reading Luke 2 to her every night before bed. I tried this year, but I had a hard time keeping her interested. On the other hand, she loved the story in her "Bible book."

As part of the advent conspiracy, we were challenged to spend less. I'm normally quite a bargain hunter. Like I said in my previous post, I shop all year long for Christmas. I enjoy showing my love with gifts. These gifts don't need to be expensive, but thoughtful. For example, I love surpising Jon with a box of Hot Tamales from time to time. That's an inexpensive gift, but also a thoughtful way to show my love. When I'm shopping for Christmas, I don't try to show my love by how much I spend, but I enjoy purchasing something that I know my loved one will really enjoy. Jon loves the Simpson's and isn't crazy about the ornaments that I like on our tree, so I got him a Homer Simpson Christmas ornament. Jon loved the maple candy we had when we visited Vermont for his cousin's wedding, so I found some at Fresh Market and stuffed it in his stocking. He also is HUGE Star Wars fan (our dog is named after Princess Leia), so when I saw a Star Wars bobble head on clearance at TJ Maxx, I thought of him and got it. Those are some inexpensive gifts that I hope were thoughtful and showed my husband how much I think of him. He seemed to be genuinely excited about receiving them, and I was able to express my love and appreciation for him with gifts.

My problem this year was that I kept finding bargains for things that I knew my children would enjoy. Even with thoughtful, inexpensive gifts, there has to be a stopping point, and I did eventually stop. I was so sad about saying no to the keyboard w/ microphone that I saw at Target and the Disney princess dolls that were on sale for $5.99 at the Disney store, but I did it. Shea didn't miss those things at all, and she was more than happy with what she did receive. I have a lot more to learn about cutting back, but I am learning.

December Pictures

We got our tree on an incredibly cold night the week after Thanksgiving.

Ten days after we put the tree up, it finally had all the lights and ornaments up on it.

Nash puts absolutely EVERYTHING in his mouth. Despite our best efforts, he pooped pine needles many times during the month of December.

Say CHEEEEEESE!

Jon with his baby boy!


They really love each other!

Shea's Christmas Program

Shea's preschool does a Christmas program every year. It lasts about five minutes and provides loads of entertainment. Shea was the letter "J" this year, and she was supposed to say, "J is for Jesus, the holiest one." I think that she mumbled something close to that when it was her turn. :) Here's some pictures from the program:

Small Group Christmas Celebration

We had a grown-up Christmas party with our small group and another small group in our church, which was super nice to do. We also decided that we wanted to do something "Christmassy" with the kids, so we had another party. :) We ate good food, the kids did Christmas crafts, and we sang some Christmas carols. It was a lot of fun.


Left: Ella, Shea and Lauren making Christmas ornaments.
Right: Heather helping Isaiah with his ornament.

Ella, Shea, Lauren, and Joanna

Quinn playing with Ella's beads. Good future blackmail material. :)

One big mess!

Getting even bigger!

This picture just makes me laugh. Angie and Bryan, y'all are awesome!

Cousins

Shea adores her cousins, Emma and Bess. They have a ball together. Here's some more pics from their last visit.

The three princesses. That's pretty much what they wear most of the time they're together.

Nini reading to the girls. Notice, Shea and Bess are now fairies instead of princesses.

Shea and Bess.


Emma, Bess, and Shea

Shea and Emma.

Nash: 8 months

Nash is eight months old now! He's got one tooth, and he's still eating about 1 jar of baby food each day. He's still a champion nurser, and I have yet to get a full night's sleep since he was born. He's pulling up and army-crawling to get around. He squeals with delight, and we're just having more and more fun with him as he's getting older.

Shea and Her Baby Dolls

Shea loves playing "mommy" to her baby dolls. She reads to them and takes care of them. We cannot keep blankets out because they inevitably become homemade doll beds. She makes pallets for her dolls all over the place and tucks them in "bed." She'll then whisper to us, "Shhhh, baby sleeping." She's also been known to "nurse" her dolls (she did this with a doll in the church nursery a few weeks ago), and she even disciplines them. It's so cute to watch her as she plays and imagines.

Shea Family Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Day was the first in a long time in which all of my immediate family celebrated together. It was also the first Thanksgivingthat Jon and I have spent in Memphis during our 6.5 years of marriage. We had a fabulous time hanging out with my family.

Emma and Bess came over on Tuesday to play with Shea.

Papa with Nash after dinner Wednesday night.

Some Rock Band on Wednesday night.

Papa reading to his granddaughters while Sara sings. :)

With my blessing, Jon played football Thursday morning while I cooked and watched the kids. (I would've played too if I hadn't broken my toe.) After an eventful morning, this is what Jon, Shea, Nash, and Leia did during the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day.

My family has some obsession with Rock Band.

They all love it. It's complete chaos when we get it out.

Nash wants them to stop playing the music at "Nini volume." He was trying to sleep.

Uncle Patrick came to say goodbye to the girls, and this is what happened. :)

Me with my baby brother.

After all the fun with her cousins Thanksgiving weekend, here's Shea on the way home from Nini and Papa's house on Sunday afternoon.

How do you want to spend your holiday weekend?

Today, I received an email that made me laugh out loud at my desk. Here's the first two sentences:

Do you want to stay at home during the holiday weekend and still be productive?
Try signing up for Online CLE and get that end of the year CLE credit out of the
way. . . .

What normal person is concerned about being productive during a holiday weekend? I understand that if you're a student and have exams to prepare for or projects due, then you need to be productive. However, if you're a normal non-student, then you probably need an actual holiday, an escape from work. At the end of Thanksgiving Day, who feels guilty about being "unproductive"? Perhaps some workaholic attorneys do, but not me. I am not at all concerned about being productive this holiday weekend. The only things that I really need to accomplish are spending time with my family and getting some rest.

By the way, in case you were wondering what CLE stood for, it's "continuing legal education." I have to have 15 hours of CLE every year to keep my license to practice law.

Nash: 7 months

Nash is seven months old now. He's sitting up, rolling around, and attempting to crawl. He really just scoots around on his belly, but I expect that he'll be crawling soon. He's cutting his first tooth. He's weighing in at 22 lbs, 12 oz. To those of you who think he's overfed (you know who you are, hehe), Nash is still primarily breastfed, but he is getting some baby food. He only eats about 6 or 7 bites of solids each day, so that's about 1/2 a jar of food each day. He normally doesn't eat any more than that. He's just a healthy size. :)

He really is a joy. He's gotten very expressive, and we can really tell when he's happy and excited. He recognizes people now, and he gets excited to see people he knows. He is crazy about his big sister. Shea still "reads" to him almost daily, and she's always trying to hug and hold him. It melts my heart to watch them interact.

Like Father, Like Son

No words are needed here.

Trick-or-Treat

Shea dressed up as Belle for Halloween. She was so tickled at how "princessy" she looked. Unfortunately, Nash had a fever that night, so he didn't get to dress up in his cute Tigger costume. My sweet parents watched him for us while we took Shea trick-or-treating.

We went to the Goforth's neighborhood so that Shea could enjoy trick-or-treating with some friends. Below is Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Belle, and Spider Man.

Above: Ella, Luke, and Shea are ready to go!

Below: Shea, Reese, and Ella in the wagon. Shea insisted on riding in the wagon most of the time.

Sugar High! Here's the kiddos digging into their goodies!

Zoo Boo

We went to Zoo Boo with my mom and our good friends, Steve, Annah Mary Summy, and Amelia. We had a good time. I think that Shea will enjoy it a little more when she's older. There's a costume contest and trick-or-treating tables set up. She loved getting candy and wanted to eat it all before we left. The highlight of the evening, however, was the dancing. In one pavilion, there was a DJ and an area to dance. She boogied with her Daddy to some classic dance songs. It was great!

Nash was out by the end of the evening.

Halloween Funny

I haven't made any political statements yet on my blog this election season. This is a light-hearted one. It made me laugh. I hope it does the same for you. :)

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend, our family went with some friends to Cedar Hill Farms. I had no idea what an elaborate set up it was. Shea loved the petting zoo, the ponies, the hayride out to the Pumpkin Patch, and everything else that was there. We had a terrific time, and we came home with some pumpkins that we'll be carving sometime soon. I do believe that we'll be making this a family tradition. Here's some pictures of our time there.

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

From Pumpkin Patch

Nash - Six Months

Nash is six months old now. He's pretty sturdy sitting up these days, and he LOVES his sister. Shea is crazy about him too. She's a great big sister. Nash lights up at people he recognizes when they enter the room, and he's rolling and scooting all over the place.

Oh, and by the way, he's HUGE! He's 22 pounds, and he's 29 inches long. He's in the 97th percentile in height and weight, and he's wearing size 12 month clothes. Shea lasted 11 months in her infant car seat, but Nash has already outgrown it. Yikes!

I'm happy to say that I'm still breastfeeding him. No formula for this little guy. He's not doing well with bottles at daycare (normally takes 1 to 3 oz. of each of his 3 bottles), but as you can see, he's not starving. That's because he's making up for it at night. He is still waking up at least twice during the night to eat. We started him on some solids. He doesn't eat much of them yet, but that's fine because I still want breastmilk to be his primary source of nutrition. We're just getting him used to some new textures and flavors and using solids as complementary feeding.