It's beginning to look (and feel!!!) a lot like Christmas!

It's obviously looked like Christmas in our house for the month of December, but since it was 85 degrees yesterday, it hasn't really felt like it. I was concerned that decorating may take a while this year with a busy toddler, but I was able to get it done during naps. Yes, she's been napping for longer than 30 minutes! In fact, today was 2.5 hours!!!! I feel like a new woman!

Christmas has been such a fun time with Harper. She loves her nativity scene and kisses baby Jesus all of the time! And any time she sees a nativity scene from the car, she quickly points out Mary, Joseph, and Jesus! I love her precious innocence!

It's always going to be important to us to make sure she knows the real reason for Christmas. But I also think that Christmas traditions are fun! So we did go see Santa, and that didn't go over very well! I ended up in the picture with her, and she looks ticked!

Here is how our house looks during Christmas! I just love it... just wish it was socially acceptable to keep it up longer than a month!

Our tree... Harper loves looking at all of the ornaments.

We implemented a "one finger" rule, and she can touch anything on the tree with one finger. It has worked extremely well! I think if she knew it was off limits, she would want to touch it more. So instead, she hardly pays any attention to it!

Our stockings hang in the kitchen since we don't have a mantle

I added this sign to the baker's rack

The Willow Tree nativity scene... it's my favorite part of the house!

And lastly, I put up the snow village in the bookcases and on top of the T.V.

This is something I love doing! It really doesn't take a long time,

and it's so fun to look at! Most of the houses have a special meaning too.

With an extremely heavy heart, we are heading to celebrate Christmas in Little Rock. One of my dearest family friends was killed in a plane crash this afternoon, along with his wife, and I am beyond devastated. He was 2 years younger than me, and our families did everything together! He lived his life to the fullest, and I'm thankful for the example he set for those around him. I am really ready to be with my family, along with his. Although I know it will be so hard to see his sister and parents, it is where I want to be right now. And on days like today, I am simply longing for Jesus' return!

More than just a haircut...

Well, it's been a week and a half since I cut off all of my hair! And in the end, this was so much more than a haircut for me. Not to get too deep, but I am an extreme creature of habit. I eat the same cereal every morning. We have our date night at the same place each week, always ordering the same thing. Harper and I check out from the same lady at Target, every Monday morning. I've had the same hair style most of my life. I think you get the idea. I've never thought of my hair as an idol, but the more I thought about it, it's something I decided I struggled with. I was pretty much obsessed with it looking the same every day. I didn't dare go out in public without it washed because it would look greasy! Clearly, I needed to move on and get over this! I obviously didn't realize any of this until my hair guy mentioned how he thought a pixie cut would look good on me (at my last appointment). My instant response was "NO!", but after talking to my family members and best friend (who is an amazing hair stylist), I decided to go through with it. This was a 2 month decision process for me, and I am still so excited that I did it! Not only is my getting ready process simple, it's just really fun! And you know this was something I needed to do when the people closest to me responded with "I'm proud of you!".

Annalise came to town!

What a fun treat we had this weekend...getting a visit from Annalise! She was only here for a little more than 24 hours, so we had to pack a lot in during a short amount of time! After getting her from the airport, we went to the Gaylord Texan to see their ICE exhibit. This year's theme was A Charlie Brown Christmas, so obviously I was really excited about it! The exhibit is amazing, knowing that everything is made out of ice! Harper, of course, loved every second of it, as she is a huge ice fan! Annalise did enjoy it, but I think she was glad when it was over because she was so cold. You do wear a special parka because they keep the rooms at 9 degrees, but the hood of her jacket wouldn't stay on her head!

Harper had an absolute blast playing with Annalise. She woke up this morning asking for her! So sweet! Anytime Annalise would sing a song, Harper "sang" along too... even though she usually didn't know the words or the tune! We had a great weekend with her and hope that she can come back to visit soon!

Annalise wanted their picture in front of the tree

They were so patient as we waited in the very long line!

Showing her teeth again! I love it!!!

Harper in her Parka...

I could've taken 100 pictures of her in that huge jacket!

She really loved it!

Getting excited to see all of the ice!

Taking it all in...

Sally and Charlie Brown

I love Linus!

It really is amazing to see how intricate each statue is!

My favorite part of the movie!!!

At the end of the exhibit is always an Angel

And the Nativity.... so beautiful!

Harper kept yelling "Hi baby Jesus!"

Annalise is such a good reader!

Harper loved listening to her!

This was right before Harper fell off the back...

but it was really fun while it lasted!

A night in Frisco

A few weekends ago, we went up to Frisco for the evening. I had heard about how neat their Square was, so we decided to go see it for ourselves. Well... I'm sure the lights flashing to the music would've been neat to see, but they were late in starting that, so we saw it happen as we were leaving. However, Harper had a great time observing all that was happening around her! Even though we didn't get to see the thing we came for, we still had a great time!

She had the best view!

Watching Santa come in on the fire truck

She watched the ice skaters for quite a while!

They were precious!!!

She is also a big fan of choirs right now!

She clapped at the end of every song!

They did turn the lights on right before we left,

but they apparently flash in rhythm with music...

It seems they were a little behind schedule!

Harper, lately.

There are a few things that Harper has started doing, and I want to make sure I never forget them! Not only is she becoming funnier each day, I love seeing all that she is learning!

-She chooses to read over almost any other activity!

-Thanks to her books that count different things, she can count to 10

-She sings her ABC's pretty clearly

-Whenever she yawns, she says, "Oh man, I tired".... which is something she got from me!

-She loves music! So she is especially fond of all of the children's choirs that are at the mall during the Christmas season!

-She "blows" her nose and it's hilarious!

-She did not like Santa at all.... Although, if you ask her, she will tell you that "Santa sweet"

-If she doesn't like the food option I've given her, she promptly says, "No want!"

That's what I can think of at this moment! I have a lot of pictures to post, so hopefully I can get around to that tomorrow!

Fun with paint

At school yesterday, Harper's teacher called for me

to come see what Harper did during craft time.

This is what I saw...

This girl makes me laugh!!!

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Two holidays in One!

We had such a great time with Corby's family over Thanksgiving. His brother Jeff, his wife Kacy, and their boys Lake and Maddox drove in from Atlanta, and his parents came from Houston. I was a little nervous about cooking the meal, but it ended up being great. Harper had a great time with her cousins and was completely worn out each day. She went from napping 30 minutes to 2 hours while they were here... and she's quickly gone back to her 30 minute naps since they left! I wish they lived here so they could wear her out everyday!

Not only did we have Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Christmas together. We ordered fajitas and opened gifts together on Saturday night. We decided that since they all drove, it made more sense to do gifts now, rather than spend the money to ship them later. It was also more fun to be able to see everyone open their gifts in person. Harper got some really fun toys from everyone! Even though Corby and I were pretty exhausted by the end of the weekend, we are so thankful everyone got to come to our house this year. It was our first holiday to not travel somewhere... which if you have a child, you know what a big deal that is! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Half are from my sister-in-law, and half are from my camera... yes, she is extremely talented!

Harper had so much fun playing with everyone in the front yard

Having fun in the bath with Maddox!

She was extra excited because her Hogs beat LSU!!!

Such a sweet face!

I love this one... wish I hadn't been in the kitchen cooking!

I love her so much!

Bribery was key for this picture to happen...

the suckers did the trick!

This is what Harper did when we told her to hug Maddox!

Lake and Maddox opening their gifts

Harper loved pulling on the wrapping paper!

This is such a fun toy!

As you color, it plays music and it goes fast and slow,

depending on how quickly you are drawing!

The sit and spin that Maddox got was quite a hit with everyone!