Pigtails for a big girl!

Olivia is attempting to mimic the way Rush stands with his leg crossed over the other one. It's scary to think about all the little things you do that they pick up on!!!

We decided today to try out pigtails for the first time! What a big girl she is!!! Olivia LOVED the new hairstyle! She would run to the mirror every few minutes and look at herself and when she would walk by the oven she would stop to see her reflection to check out her new piggies again! Too cute!! My baby girl is growing up entirely too fast!

Happy New Year's!

Gigi was sweet enough to come play with Olivia for Rush and I to have a date night on New Year's Eve. It was much needed time spent together! We enjoyed a yummy dinner and a movie! I so cherish the times when it's just the two of us since they come few and far between these days! However, we spent much of our time at dinner discussing the fact that we can't fathom life without Olivia!
I am so excited to see what God has in store for us this year! I pray that we seek His will and not ours each day and can look back at the end of 2009 and see the evidence of His hand in our lives each day, each week, each month. I pray for God's richest blessings on you and your families as well! Happy New Year!

Surprise Visit!

We headed to Meridian, MS on Friday for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. When we arrived on Friday we were SHOCKED to see that our cousins, and dear friends, were home from Africa for the holidays! What a pleasant surprise and amazing Christmas gift to us all to get to enjoy their company if even for just a few hours! What was even better was to get to sit and talk about her sweet baby boy that is due in June! Wow, I'm still shocked that I got to see them this Christmas! We are on the countdown to have you home next year with sweet baby Noah!!!!

It was also fun to get to spend some time with Pappaw and see a few relatives we haven't seen in awhile! One of the funnest things about Christmas is to get to spend time with family!

Christmas in Tuscaloosa with the Shipps...

We headed to Tuscaloosa for lunch after opening presents with the Letsons! It is always good to see Mama Joyce and Papa Jack and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. The time we all get to spend together is just not enough!! It just so happens that Mama Joyce's birthday is also on Christmas day so we had lots of birthdays to celebrate! Olivia was showered again with more Christmas presents! She loved tearing the wrapping paper! She got so many fun, new books to add to her library collection, a precious Madame Alexander doll, a few stuffed animals, and Snow White! Boy, we are going to have to get a bigger storage unit to make room for all her new toys!! She was one blessed little girl this Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus AND Granddaddy Bob!

Christmas morning we headed over to Granddaddy Bob's and Sayjay's house! We had so much fun opening presents and spending time with family! Rush and I were so excited to unwrap a Wii and WiiFit!! We are still having so much fun with that present! Of course, Olivia is absolutely still enjoying her new kitchen too! Rush had to put it together when we got home Christmas night so I will post pics of Olivia enjoying her new kitchen soon!

We had so many reasons to celebrate on Christmas day! First of all, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! What a great reminder of God's love for us that He would send His son to ultimately die for our sins. The ultimate picture of love. It's so humbling to think about!

Also, it meant so much to us that we could celebrate another year of Granddaddy Bob's life! This year we were not only celebrating another year of his life, but also the amazing man, father, husband, granddad, and father in law he is. I have been amazed watching his strength, courage, and faith over this past year as he has been battling cancer. Not once have I seen or heard anything negative from him about all that he has been through this year. It is so evident that his strength and courage to face each day with the positive attitude and fight to overcome this disease can only be from God alone. Whether you know it or not, Granddaddy Bob, you are living your faith out every day and while doing so you are touching so many lives. So, on this day, there is so much more to celebrate than a birthday...

Christmas morning....

Sadly enough we only took 2 pictures Christmas morning! We have lots of video, but I suppose we got caught up in the moment and let the picture taking slide! Oh well...I will do better next year!

Unfortunately, when Olivia awoke on Christmas morning she wasn't in the best of moods! Apparently, she didn't get all her beauty sleep! She cried for the first 20 minutes and we got every second on video for her to look back on one day! Although she can be a drama queen I will have to say she did come down with a cold Christmas night. So, I suppose she had a reason to wake up grumpy! Once she settled down she had so much fun sitting at her new table and chairs that Santa brought playing with all her new puzzles! She wasn't quite sure what the pretend food was for yet since it wouldn't be until later in the day that Sayjay and Granddaddy Bob would give her a new kitchen!

Christmas Eve

We had Christmas at my parents house on Christmas Eve! After a yuuuummy meal we had fun watching Olivia open her presents. She was totally overwhelmed and wanted to enjoy each gift before she opened the next so we decided to dive into ours as well. It ended up taking her hours to finish opening all her presents from Gigi and Snoopy. She loved strolling her new baby around in her new stroller the rest of the afternoon, but I think out of everything she got that day her fav was the magnadoodle! Who would have thought??

What a great day we had together! The only thing that was missing was Uncle Michael! We sure thought about him all day though!