Riding around in Granddaddy's car.

Mari is smart not to trust her mirrors when she reverses.

James' aunt Yvonne found this car that James' dad Larry had when he was a boy and had it refinished. Jake and Mari enjoyed playing on it as do her grandkids. I think Mari enjoyed it more than Jake much to their surprise.

Pigtails!

Mari's hair has been growing like crazy and she LOVES to have it brushed. Here she is attempting to brush it herself with my hairbrush. Below I put in pigtails as it is just long enough. I didn't use bands on it yet as I was afraid she would pull them out.

Isn't she adorable!

Catherine (nee Dement) and Lucas Honan come to visit!

Catherine is a friend of mine from high school and college. She and her husband Shane (who is in the military) live in Kansas (although they are moving to Virginia soon). They were in town visiting his family and they came over for lunch. There son Lucas was born in November 2006 so he is one year older than Mari and one year younger than Jake. The last time we saw them was June of 2007 when Mari was just a big bump and Jake was Lucas's age, so this visit was quite different. I think Mari played with Lucas better than Jake and he seemed to enjoy feeding her his goldfish crackers!

A Christmas Project

I saw this baby stroller and the little girl reminded me of Mari so I got it for one of her presents.
I had been looking for a dark haired, blue eyed baby doll and could not find one, but the baby that goes with the walker only had two little strands of blond hair as you can see below.

Mari obviously does not look like this doll...

...so I made some modifications!

Jake's first Christmas Performance

The Cherub Choir (ages 3-6) sang three songs in the youth choir Joy Gift program at church. Jake is in a red sweater, third from left on the front row (directly to the right of the small boy who is sitting on the steps). He did really well. I can't believe he is old enough to be singing in a childrens program!

Mari watched the performance with James, my parents, his parents and myself from the balcony.

The nativity according to the gospel of Mari

Most bible scholars agree that most nativity scenes or creches are greatly inaccurate. While we may not know if Jesus was born in a cave or a stable, if animals were present or out grazing, how long it took the wise men to show up and how many wise men there were, I am 99.9% positive that there were no giant rubber duckies present. Also I am fairly certain Jesus mother Mari did not get squished ala Wizard of Oz style, but our Mari has her own interpretation of events. It was funny hearing Jake tell her that wasn't were things went as I can clearly remember (and I believe there are picture in the blog archives) of him doing the same thing!

The secret life of (Fisher Price little people) angels

Once a year this angel sits ontop of our Nativity scene (I decided to use a toy nativity scene until the kids are older this way they can play with it). The rest of the time this angel doubles as "Nana". She is married to a Papoo little person and takes care of the little people babies. She even drives a "Nana car" which is what Jakes calls the yellow one (and has since he started talking). Below she can be seen at her day job "playing with Jake and Mari". This is actually our second "Nana Angel" as Jake insisted on taking Nana and Papoo to Scotland and a little boy on the plane ride home took Nana home with him. By the time we figured it out, it was too late and Jake was heart broken. Luckily there is Ebay and I was able to order a brand new unopened Nana Angel online.

Jake and Mari with their Mama and Daddy.
Nana shows up at our house.

Nana playing with Jake and Mari!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The making of the 2008 Christmas Card!

Christmas cards are on their way

I have started mailing out our Christmas cards with a little help from Jake. As you can see above he is carefully placing Christmas stickers on the envelopes. I will not post the Christmas card picture nor the outakes here until after all of the ones I have posted have a chance to be delivered, but look for them later this month.

Parades and Fulton Midway Marina Christmas Open House

Mari and I in front of our church watching the Christmas Parade and occasionally running inside to get hot chocolate to keep warm!
Mari, Jake and James watching the Annual Reed's Department Store Christmas Parade in Tupelo. It was the first event that we took Jake to after bringing him home from the hospital (my mom joked that they were throwing a parade just for him) and last year it was the first even we took Mari to after bringing her home from the hospital. It has become a tradition and so this was Jake's fourth Reed's Christmas Parade and Mari's second.

James and Mari join my parents and Jake on board the train from the parking area to the marina.

Jake and Mari get presents from Mr and Mrs Claus at the Midway Marina.

A cold Mari!

Sunset over the Tombigbee Waterway from the end of the dock at the Midway Marina in Fulton (the town where my parents live).

Above are some of the boats decorated for the open house.

Mari is sick!

Mari has strep throat and sinus congestion. I will blog about our fun trip to the doctor later. I am working on updating my blog but right now it is difficult to even take a shower as she wants/needs held constantly.