Blog Give-away

Emily Gardner is having a blog give-away. It is a free t-shirt that you can choose. All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog. If you add a link from your blog, your name will go in twice.
Check out her stuff--it is cute!

www.bluebirdhill.blogspot.com

Christmas

Glory to God in the Highest! Luke 2:14

These are 4 of Sara Beth's cousins. Baby Alexandra is asleep! Honey made them all matching p.j.s. We spent the 23rd and 24th with the Hensons celebrating Christmas!

Ariana-age 3 (Holly and Franks), Sara Beth (2 1/2), William -3 (Laura and Chases), Wes -19 mo. (Laura and Chases), Leigh 9 mo.

Sara Beth got her first princess costume this year for Christmas. Aunt Laura, Uncle Chase, William, and Wes gave it to her. For those of you who know Aunt Laura well, you know what a challenge it was for her to pick this out and buy it! I think she did a great job! So does SB!!!!

Leigh loves her new rocking chair that Honey and G gave her. She's clapping to show her excitement!

Yea Leigh!!!!! Yes, I am giving my 9 mo. old nilla wafers (speech pathologists orders)! And she loves them--no wonder she is such a big daddy's girl! (Daddy and Austin (the dog) eat nilla wafers nightly before bed!)

You never quite know where Leigh will end up stuck!

The girls with my grandparents (affectionately known as Dub and Doe Doe)!

For the first time this year, we spent Christmas Eve afternoon at our house. What a fun, special, and memorable time. We went to the service at 1st Pres. It was a family friendly service so we took Sara Beth in with us. Then we came home, ate paninis and cheese soup, and made cookies for Santa. We might just have to make this a tradition!
Then we woke up and Santa had come! SB was so funny. For 2 1/2 months all she has wanted for Christmas are pink shoes. Santa got her a pair of pink glittery Wee Squeak shoes. She likes them, but it wasn't the drama that I am sure we will see in a few years. I know she likes them though, because she told the cashier at Wal-Mart all about them today! He also brought her a scooter and helmet...

and a real working camera (maybe her favorite!)

and He brought Leigh a big girl car seat that matches big sisters!

Christmas Day afternoon we went to My May and Bo Bo's to celebrate. I am so sorry that I didn't get a good picture of the cousins on this side. Sara Beth's main gift was a dollhouse that my dad built fully decked with cute furniture that mom picked out. I am sure there will be many posts about this. She also got a cupcake maker. I can't believe that it actually makes a cupcake in 30 seconds!

Leigh's main gift from my parents was a tepee. (again, I am sure it will be in many posts). She also got a raincoat. I think my kids can finally stay dry in the rain. They both have a raincoat and I got my umbrella!!!!! This might be my favorite gift (this is the 3rd year I have asked for one and finally someone took me seriously). It is a little umbrella that fits in my purse, but it opens up really big!! Perfect for a mom with two little ones! Thanks Zeb!

Pre-Christmas Activities

My girls checking out their new baby cousin, Alexandra! Oh, how they love her!

Sara Beth's Christmas party at school--too busy eating to take a picture!

We went to a party where everyone was to bring money for a family that the hosts adopted! Here the girls are posing for a pic with Santa!

We went with Honey, G, and Wes to the Ag Museum. It was soooo cold!!!

I have always loved the giant rocker at the ag museum. Growing up it was at the fair every year.

We went with My May and Bo Bo to Canton! Sara Beth had great fun on all the rides and looking at the lights! We went to Papitos to eat beforehand--delicious!

Here we are at Daddy's work party! The peds department has a family Christmas party every year. Santa makes an appearance and gives the kids a present. Sara Beth got a book and Leigh got a bathtub toy!

Sleeping Beauty

Sara Beth has started turning her overhead light and fan on before she falls asleep. So, before Zeb and I go to bed we go turn it off and cover her up---one of our favorite times of the day! Last night I went in and this is how I found her--both hands under her chin. I covered her up, left the room, got ready for bed....and...decided that I had to have a picture. It had been a good ten minutes, but I decided to try and I got one! How precious is this picture?!?!?

3rd Annual Christmas Craft Party

This is the 7th and final post for the day--surely I am caught up after this!

Yesterday we had a couple of friends over for the annual Christmas Craft party. However, things were so busy I didn't even get a picture of the angels they made!

Rosalyn, Katie, Sara Beth playing after lunch

Forrest (turned around), Knox, Tucker, and Leigh--these four babies were so sweet and seemed to have fun hanging out and being passed from one arm to another!

Rosalyn, Eady, Sara Beth, Andrew, and Katie decorating their cookies

9 months

Our sweet little Leigh is 9 months old today! I can't believe it while at the same time it seems as if she has been here forever! She is the happiest child ever! She loves to laugh and smile and is perfectly content being held! She is already a daddy's girl and cries everytime he leaves the room! She is 18 lbs 9 oz (50%) and 26 1/8 inches (20 %)! It looks like she is going to be tiny! She isn't crawling but she can scoot all over the room! She absolutely loves to stand up and is doing a really good job standing! She has two bottom teeth in the middle and her two vampire teeth on the top! Hopefully the four top middle teeth will be coming soon! She still is having difficulty eating. We have been working with the best speech therapist for 2 months and will be seeing a couple of specialists in the next week or so! Lord willing, we will be able to get this problem solved soon!

Mrs. Beth patiently working with Leigh!

Are you watching me, Daddy?

Can't get any cuter!!!!

I love this video of her laughing!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Yea! It snowed! Yesterday the weatherman said that it was going to snow and I didn't believe him! We never get snow--much less in December!


I kept Sara Beth home from school so she could play! My May couldn't resist so she came over and played in the snow with Sara Beth!


Here is the final product of their work! I'm impressed! They actually made two before they decided it was too cold!
Poor Leigh just had to watch from the window! She didn't seem to care! When she got tired she just took a nap! She actually slept the whole time My May was here!

So...while the front of our house is covered in a beautiful blanket of snow, the back of our house is flooded! One of the main creeks in the area runs behind our house and the rain in the last 36 hours was just too much! Zeb spent a lot of time in the yard on Saturday cleaning up! Now it is littered with debris! I am so glad we didn't go buy plants on Monday like we planned--they would for sure have been washed away! (You must know that typically we can't even really see the creek!)

Pajama Day

Tuesday was pajama day at school. Sara Beth wore a pair that Honey (Sandi) made! All 6 grandchildren have matching pj's! Warner, Sara Beth, Eady, and Mrs. Collins showing off their pj's. Mrs. Collins said when she announced that it was time to go to the gym Sara Beth panicked because she had on her pjs and couldn't go to the gym in them. Sweet Mrs. Collins was able to rationalize with her and explain to her that they all had on her pj's and that it was okay!

Christmas Parade

Last Saturday was the Madison Christmas Parade. Sara Beth really got into it. She enjoyed dancing with the bands, picking up candy, and waiting on Santa. I think her favorite part were the police motorcycles that went in circles!

Sara Beth, Zeb, Sandi, Leigh, and George waiting on the parade to start!

Sarah's Birthday

Sarah is in Sara Beth's class and she turned 3 last week. She had a princess party at the Natural Science Museum so they could go see the dinosaurs! I wasn't exactly sure how Sara Beth would react. I had not taken her to see them because I thought they would scare her. Her friend Warner came running up to her and told her to come see the dinosaurs and off she went running with him--no big deal at all! She enjoyed seeing them and roaring at them. Her favorite song is "We are the dinosaurs" so she went around singing that and marching!

Here is a cute picture of Prince Warner and Princess Sara Beth!How cute is this cake! It was delicious as well! Sarah's mom made it! I might be copying it one day since we have two girls!

Thanksgiving

Psalm 106:1 "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good..."

God is so good and we have so much to thank Him for this year! We were able to spend time with both families on Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful time! We went to the farm for lunch with my family. Here Aunt Sara is trying to talk Sara Beth into riding the tractor! (Noises do and always have scared her!)

It worked! At least for a little while! They didn't get far, but I am proud of her for going a little ways! Leigh on the other hand will do anything as long as she is being held. She had a great time watching Sissy on the tractor. She didn't ride this time, but she rode a few months ago!

After lunch, we head out to the Hensons for a fun afternoon with cousins and dinner! Sara Beth and William were so cute in these cars. They were taking turns saying when to start and stop. And they didn't even have to share cars, because William only wanted in the motorized one and Sara Beth only wanted in the coup! Laura and I decided that this was the easiest afternoon of mothering ever!

Our Latest Target Trip

Those of you who know my girls know that Sara Beth absolutely adores Leigh. Yesterday at Target Sara Beth wanted to ride in the front holding Leigh in her lap. They rode all around the store for about 30 minutes like this! The wind was blowing in this cold air, so the picture is not great.

Family Vacation

The McDaniel family loaded into a rented 15 passenger van and headed to Blue Ridge, Georgia! We had a great time. Here is Sara Beth riding high in the van. Zeb commented at one point that the new Sequoia's must be smaller, then he realized that we were just much bigger! Someone even asked if Dad was in charge of a daycare!

My camera messed up on the trip so most of my pictures are ones that my dad and sister took. The Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad ran behind our cabin and we climbed down and played on the tracks one afternoon! Don't worry the train only runs on the weekends during the winter! This is the last decent (if you can call it that) picture that my camera took!

We went to the Cabbage Patch Factory and saw a "baby" being born. The nurse let us name it and this little girls name is Sara Katherine--after SB and Katie. You can tell by the girls' faces they meant serious business as they were passing her off.

SB is checking out some of the new arrivals!

Mom found this great three story cabin. It was a great size for our family. The main floor was where the kitchen, den, and my parent's room were located, Zeb and I, and our kids had the basement, and Elizabeth's family had the upstairs. These are my two sisters, Sara and Elizabeth.

My Mom with the two girls getting ready for the train to start. You can tell they were giddy with excitement.
I am trying to locate pictures from the Chattanooga Children's Museum as well as a few others. More to come in a later post.