Mississippi Bound: January 2009

A Christmas Miracle

James and I have a long running joke about Christmas miracles and it has been going on for so long that I don't even remember what started it. However Mari started walking pretty much all the time now and got her seventh tooth (on the bottom left next to the two middle ones) all on Christmas Eve. Here are a few pictures of Mari getting around by walking. She has had the ability to walk for over a month now, but has seeminly preferred not to use said ability until now!

Christmas Part IV: My Parents House

Fun was had by all and James and I got a much needed and wanted external hard drive. We got to eat a traditional Christmas goose and some of my mom's excellent shrimp cornbread dressing. We got to talk to Gran and Uncle Robert, Aunt AnneMarie, Marianne and Shona on Skype. Mum helped me figure out what was wrong with my setup for Skype and so now I can talk to them from my house as well. It is great to actually see people when you talk to them, especially when it is someone you don't get to see often enough due to geographical distances!

Christmas Part III: Our House

Since Jake was born we have been doing Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve. So Christmas Eve eve James and I stayed up until a little after one a.m. putting together toys only to have Mari wake up at three a.m. and not want to go back to bed. Maybe she really wanted to see what Santa had brought her! A woman at the grocery store asked them if they had been good this year so that Santa would visit them and Jake replied that just he had been nice, that Mari was not nice--so maybe Mari was really worried. At any rate here are the before pictures taken right after Santa Claus left and below is after the kids got downstairs.

Santa brought Jake and Mari a kitchen to share and numerous other toys to play with including fake food, a grocery basket and a cash register to play store with. They both got computers, books and bath toys, Mari got a baby doll and stroller and Jake got cars, trucks a Thomas for his train track that makes noises and lights up, a reindeer that poops jelly beans and an M&M dispenser.

Mari seemed to like her doll and stroller although when she gets tired of pushing she pulls the doll out and tries to get in the stroller herself!

It looks as if James has been given them cooking lessons!

Jake playing with his cars, trucks and train that were in his stocking. You can see evidence of the M&Ms that he also found there all over his face!

Cotton Plant Christmas

Pictures do not do this place justice. This family (with the help of some of their extended families) puts this display of lights and inflatables together every year for people to come look at. The husband is an electrician and it is just amazing. It was bitterly cold but there was so much to see and nice hot chocolate for sale. You can even get your picture taken with Santa of the Grinch. Last year we just drove through it (which is one option) but this year we parked and took the walking tour. We were all fascinated! They have every Christmassy inflatable imaginable including this one that we took a picture of for Papoo. It is the leg lamp from one of his favorite Christmas movies: A Christmas Story.

Christmas Part II: James' parents and siblings

The very next day (The Sunday before Christmas) We drove in the other direction to James' parents house in Water Valley to have Christmas there. We were exhausted when we got home that night (around 9:30-10 PM) and then James had to go to work the next two days. Next year we will know better than to travel two different places in one weekend with small children. Of course, next year they won't be as small as they were this year...

After we ate and opened presents we went to the nursing home to visit James' great aunt Kaye and then to Louise's house to visit her. We didn't get a chance to take a picture with Kaye as Mari was asleep the whole time and Jake was pretending to be a dog the whole time (when we left he howled at the moon--I did not know he could do that part of the act). So anyway, Louise actually requested we take a picture at her house and so James set the camara on timer and obliged her as you can see below.

From left to right Louise (not pictured in the second shot at her request) James, Larry, with Mari, Cheri, John, Ann with Jake, Angela (John's fiance although we have always referred to her as Aunt Angela--Congrats to them) and John standing behind her. Everyone moved around a bit for the next picture and James is in a different place because he was the one that had to push the timer button.

Christmas Part I: The Carr-Hunt Families

As soon as we go there Jake wanted to open presents and he didn't want to eat or wait on John and Cheri to get there!

James' aunt Yvonne lets Mari play with her Christmas tree.

Here Jake and Mari are opening there first of many Christmas presents. Mari is playing with her Baby Alive. She is fascintated by the open shut movement of her eyes!

The Saturday before Christmas we drove to Adamsville, TN to James' Aunt Yvonne (his dad's older sister) and Uncle Don's (Hunt) house. There we had Christmas with James' Carr and Hunt aunts, uncles and cousins. James' parents Ann and Larry were there and James' sister Cheri and brother John, and of course his aunt Yvonne and Uncle Don (as it was their house) and their sons and their families: cousin Kevin and his girlfriend Jen and her daughter Lauren (age 8-pictured above), cousin Kris and his wife Christy and their sons Hadyn (who is four on New Years Day) and Cayson who was born April 9th (also Cheri's birthday) of 2007, James' Uncle Phillip (his dad's younger brother) and Aunt Leslie and their daughter Emily (age 8-who is the only one I did not manage to get a good picture of-although she is in the background of the car pictures in the blog post directly below).

Here Leslie (James' aunt) is holding Mari while Larry (James' dad) makes faces at her.

Mari and Cayson fighting over a green balloon (closely supervised of course).

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.