Christmas Celebration #1

at Nana and Papaw's house! She was lucky everyone let her open their presents since she wasn't so fortunate at the following night's celebration with her cousins.








This was the second of about 15 different types of lip gloss/chapstick that she got over the days of the first 3 Christmas celebrations. At first, she was so precise about how to apply it!
It was a great night!

She's her Daddy's girl.

She even LOVES to eat deer meat!

Snuggle Bug

This family has some moves...

Click here to see!

A Few from Aunt Brooke's Camera

Here is proof that a 2 year old shouldn't have a marker unsupervised.


Jocelyn loved having breakfast for dinner at Aunt Brooke's. We don't do that too often at our house since Daddy isn't the biggest fan of eggs.


Who needs siblings when you have cousins and your cousins' cousins?! This was chili night one day back in October. The kids had to eat in the craft room.
Can you tell we like it when Brooke invites us over for dinner?

Be Very Afraid Gingerbread Man!

Trip to Santa Claus, IN

First, we drove to Jasper to play with Jocelyn's little buddy, Colin. They play so well together. He even gave her a present, a super cute pink polka dot frame with her name on it!




Next, we all went to Santa Claus, IN to mail a letter to Santa.


They have a little museum and a nice Christmas store there so we took lots of pictures to remember...





See her little head peeking out by his knee? That was a BIG santa!


Lastly, the kids got to meet the most realistic santa I've ever met! Jocelyn wasn't comfortable enough to smile, but she did tell me later that she liked how his belly shook when he proclaimed, "Ho Ho Ho". It really did!

The Tree is Up!

Oh boy, are we in the Christmas spirit around here! We are recording Christmas shows, Jocelyn has already learned the words to Jingle Bells, and she wakes up every morning and runs out to the tree and exclaims, "Happy Christmas lights!"

I am extremely impressed with how Jocelyn handled the ornaments and placed them on the tree without any instructions. And I'm even more impressed with how she leaves them alone now that we are down decorating. She even knows that there are presents under the tree for her and doesn't ask to open them.

She says she wants a baby and a backpack for Christmas and she already knows that Mimi is getting her the baby she wants and Aunt Brooke has the backpack covered. I guess we underestimated what she understands when listening to us discuss these things!


I love that our ornaments are more fun than fancy. And I love the older ones that my Dad handed down to me...the Purdue one always gets a front spot. Jocelyn has 4 or 5 "Babies 1st Christmas" ones, and I have a few handmade ones from my previous students that I will always cherish.

It's special to me that I have the nativity set that both myself and my Dad decades before me used to lay in front of on our bellys and look at as a children. And now look who is doing the same thing...

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!"

Go Colts!

In honor of your victory today making us 11-0, here's a little cheer for you...
(in her cute pink Colt's gear from Aunt Carly)

Thanksgiving in Vincennes

Saturday night we were invited to an early Thanksgiving meal with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sharon. The food was great and the kids had such a fun time that Jocelyn was crying and very upset when it was time to leave.

The difference a year makes

I came across this picture last night...



And remembered I took one this year with the same ears...


When she was a baby we always wondered what she would look like with hair. I love watching her grow up and looking back at when she was a pretty little bald thing. It makes me feel less guilty about averaging 100 pictures a month. :)

Maybe I'll hold on to the ears for a picture next fall!

She does her own makeup...

She'd love to do yours too...

Any takers?

Little Sneak

Levon and I were stacking firewood in the garage while Jocelyn was climbing in and out of the stroller. I should have known that she was up to something when things got so quiet. I assumed she was laying back in the stroller out of our sight to pretend like she was sleeping like she often does. But I should know better. When she's THAT quiet, she's up to something...




Oooooh yeah, I forgot about the sunscreen in the cup holder of the stroller.

Jogging Stroller Retired...

for the winter anyways... This was our last walk/run together in mid October and the poor baby told me she was "toooold" and her little fingers were frozen. Reagan would cry and throw herself against the fence the whole time Reo was having his turn so I had to start taking them both AND the stroller. I'm a very brave woman. You should see the looks I get from the neighbors as I try to juggle 2 dogs who are well over 100 pounds with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other. Let's just say I had my hands full and was doing more walking than running.

I was able to run by myself a couple weeks ago and am hooked. It's amazing how much more enjoyable it is and how much further I can go without walking when I can swing both of my arms!! I'm running my first 5K race next Saturday (only 3.1 miles) and I'm just thrilled I can run that all the way through. Baby steps.

A Girl's Best Friend