My Favorite Time of the Year!

Yay it is FINALLY time for Christmas Time! I love this time of the year! It is truly my favorite! This is the magical time of year that I got engaged, married, and found out that I was pregnant with our sweet baby boy! Everything about this season just makes me SMILE!

One thing about this time of year that I love is all the traditions! William and I have developed several of our own over the years. One very special tradition is that the day after Thanksgiving we drag out ALL of our Christmas decorations and start decorating during the day! Then that evening we head out for dinner and buy our Christmas tree! This year was no different except that the decorating is going slowly we are ALMOST done! Here are a few pictures of us decorating…

Another tradition we do is send out Christmas Photo Cards! And this year I am super excited because I heard that Shutterfly is doing a special promotion for Bloggers! I have used Shutterfly before! I used them to do Willie’s Birthday invitation and thank you cards! I also used Shutterfly for a photobook I made for Willie's 1st year; came out great! I was planning on using them this year for our Christmas cards because everything that I have ordered from them has came out great! They always have such a great selection! Here are a few of my favorites from their 2010 designs!

I love this one with the initial! It is somewhat traditional and offers using more than picture which is something I am hoping to use this year! They also have this card with a Christmas tree instead of a snowman which I love!

This one is called Simply JOY! I like how it says JOY across the top!

I love this one as well!

I like how this one gives you the option to add a little message by each photo!

Shutterfly is a great source to use for cards of all kind! They offer matte or glossy. And you can sometimes pick your card up at your local Target which is always nice for procrastinators like me! So definitely check out Shutterfly! I will post my finished card soon!

Thanksgiving 2010

Yes I know it is past Thanksgiving but I wanted to share a few cute pictures of my sweet little turkey!

This Thanksgiving was a special one because it was the first one we shared as a family, last year William was away on a Duck hunting trip. Plus this year Willie actually got to eat some TURKEY! YUM! We started with lunch at the Whitehurst Lodge with William’s family and then headed to my parents house for dinner! As you can imagine it was a very FILLING and TIRING day! But I wouldn’t have traded one moment of the day that I got to share with my favorite two boys and LOTS of family! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was a wonderful as ours!

 

Who knew CHILI could be so serious?!?

 

The cool Fall days are FINALLY upon us down in Florida. The heat sneaks back in around mid-day but eventually cools down by dinner time. So I was happy to announce that it was time to START making chili again. You see I can be an odd cookie when it comes to food and I have an issue with eating warm food like soup/chili when it is 100 degrees outside! For some reason it just doesn’t taste as good as it does when it is cooler outside. Oddly enough that rule DOESN’T apply to ICECREAM! I can eat that anytime of day or year!=)

So as I was saying before I started ranting… I decided yesterday to start cooking chili again. My resident chili-aholic aka William was thrilled to hear the news! And I was super excited to have Willie try my chili. As the day we found out that our pals were ALSO in the mood for some chili as well so Willie invited his cousins Madelyn & Michael over to enjoy in the yummyness!

Here is a bowl of our yummy chili!

Willie really liked the chili but I think his favorite part of the meal was all the crackers he got to eat.

The main reason I did this post was in response to a fellow blog that I read they wanted to know “What was your favorite food in a bowl?” Obviously my favorite is Chili; so what is yours?

FUN FALL FESTIVITIES!!!

Every season has parts that I love in it and when it comes to Fall it is the pumpkins ,Gator Football, and a dressing up in costume!  And lately we have been enjoying a lot of ALL of those things! These past two weeks especially!

We as a family have visited two pumpkin patches in the last two weeks each unique in their own way!

The first pumpkin patch was special because we could go out into the field choose our pumpkin and cut off the vine! I can’t even tell you how much FUN that was. Unfortunately Willie was in desperate need for a nap while we were there so he didn’t smile too much for the pictures but we still had a great time!

When we got to the pumpkin patch it had these great little photo opp set up. As you can see from above with Stone Face Jackson we decided to not push photo taking. Next we grabbed a wagon loaded our little man up and headed to find the perfect pumpkin.

As luck would have it we found TWO perfect pumpkins! And my sweet hubby knowing how much I love pumpkins said we could have them both!  I don’t know what Willie loved more playing with the hay or scaring his mama by trying to jump off the wagon!

 

 

 

 

The other pumpkin patch was special because it not only had pumpkins but a corn maze, a petting zoo, a pony ride, a cow train, a hay ride AND this GIANT pillow trampoline thing!

Our first stop in this monstrosity Pumpkin Patch was the petting zoo!

      My poor baby still doesn’t know his animals so he kept “Moooooing” at this goat and wondering why it wouldn’t mooo back.

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

We eventually got the animal he DID know and was quite content with the sound it made back to him when he made his animal sound.

 

 

 

 

After that we headed to the Cow Train. From the smirk on his face he was expecting a little more. I assured him that mama was working on daddy taking him to Disney world.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From his serious face I got while he was on the exciting COW TRAIN you can imagine I still have A LOT of work to do to convince William to take Willie to the Happiest Place on Earth. I was hoping for a little more excitement to be on Willie’s face, but how much excitement can come from being on a COW TRAIN, needless to say I was happy he didn’t request another ride around.

Our next stop was the hay ride, it gave a tour of the grounds and stopped and let everyone off to choose a tiny pumpkin to take home. I had never seen so many little pumpkins before!

 

     

 

 

   My little man chose one from the three that his daddy had grouped together. I was happy to see he took after his daddy on decision making. If he took after me we would still be at the pumpkin patch going through ALL those tiny pumpkins!

 

 

 

At the same little spot was a photo spot I don’t even need to explain how that came out…

 

After that we headed to Willie’s Two Favorites …

    The pony ride where he may not of smiled but chatted up a storm to the pony he was riding.

 

 

 

 

And the giant pillow where he was full of smiles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Friday was a BIG day for my Willie boy’s Fall Festivities! That morning we headed to Gainesville and met up with his friend Cori and her mommy Danielle and headed for the Homecoming Parade! Willie had a great time I can’t wait for our local H.S. homecoming parade I know he will enjoy it just as much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night we had Willie’s 1st Pumpkin Party to attend hosted by his cousin and her best friend! When William pulled out his dinosaur costume Willie was ALL smiles!

 

 

I didn’t realize his costume matched his favorite toy so much! He looked too cute!

 

 

The Pumpkin Party was wonderful they had all sorts of fun activities for the children to do Willie’s favorites were the corn trough and the hay ride!

 

Oh Yes BIG BIG NEWS (if you didn’t see our wordless Wednesday) Willie has started walking this month! Here is a few pics of our little DINO stomping around!

We wrapped up this weekend with a Gator Game! Even though Gator football has been in full swing since September I haven’t been able to tailgate at a home game all season. So Saturday we tailgated with our friends Grace & Matt and Danielle & David. We had a GREAT time despite the fact that the Gators LOST!!!

  Unfortunately this was the only picture I have from that afternoon.

EXTRA! EXTRA! BIG NEWS BELOW!

Check it out…  I am so sorry they are sideways I for some odd reason thought I could rotate them in live writer. =(

He took his first steps to his Aunt Annie back in September a little after his birthday party but other than that has not been interested in walking. Then just about when he was 13 months he just took off and started toddling around. He really is getting good. I will try to post a better video soon.

A new journey…

   So when  I started being a stay at home mom in June I knew that I was starting a new journey in my life, but I tried not to worry knowing that God would provide us with what we needed and would guide me in the right direction. And looking back now he has definitely taken me on an interesting path.

   Since June I have been tutoring. In the beginning it was just for the summer. Then in about July God brought this amazing family into my life. And I started tutoring their son in August of this past year. It has been such a blessing. I have learned so much and I thank God everyday for bringing them into my life. He has answered my prayer to be a stay at home mama for Willie and teach. It has been great!

  The other side path that God has started me on started in July of this year. I have always loved to sew and every now and then I make little things. Well this summer I decided that I wanted to make matching dresses and bows for my twin nieces who will be arriving in November.

This is how they came out…

   

I decided to give them their dresses at their baby shower. After the shower a friend of my family’s came up and told me that I could actually sell my dresses. I of course was like, “Are you serious”. And well from that point on I decided that I would give this selling thing a try. Since then I have sold a few dresses and bows.  Here are a few that I have made.

 

 

      

Here is my niece sporting her dress & bow that I made her for her birthday!

  

I’ve also made Willie a few short talls (jon jons). I don’t remember if I said it on his birthday post but I made that jon jon for him. Here are a few…

             

 

Here are my latest; that I made this week…

      

                                                         

  My nephew really didn’t want to pose for this pic so he decided to make a silly face to speed the photo process along so he could play with the rest of his birthday presents. He really has loved it though. My sister-in-law has had a hard time getting him to take it off so she can wash it. =)

                                                                                                                       

 

 

Please let me know what you guys think. And if you are interested in getting a dress, jon-jon, or some bows just email me @ polkadotstyles@gmail.com (I’ve made dresses as big as a children’s size 12). Oh yeah I got myself a business name.

 

I am so excited for the journey God has planned for me. I am loving EVERY MOMENT that I am blessed to have to spend with Willie, now that I am home with him everyday! I just love waking up and making him breakfast playing with him and watching him grow and change! I love him so much!

A Road Trip With Great Friends = Good Times!

About 2 weeks ago Matthew, Grace, William, & I headed to Alabama to watch the Gators play. We thought the highlight of the trip was going to be the Gator Game, but we soon found out that due to the BEAT DOWN we endured during the game that the laughter and banter back and forth would make the trip way more memorable than just getting beat by Alabama. 

We left for our trip  Thursday night. We decided instead of making the long drive straight to Birmingham we would stop at Grace’s parents house in S. Alabama. It was a good thing too because William got sick. So he spent the majority of Saturday Sleeping. Grace and I hit up this AWESOME fabric store in Andalousia.  I managed to only spend a little, thanks to Grace. She did have to rein me in a little though. =) Here are some pictures of the Farm…

Friday William felt well enough to head to Birmingham. On the way Matt had to make a stop for his F-I-L. Not only did this cool place have tractor stuff it was William’s dream brought to life (he is on a PICKERS kick) so this place was filled with cool old Timey stuff. My little pack rat was drooling!!

  

Even though William was feeling a little better he still wasn’t a hundred percent and trapped in a car with the three of us may NOT have been his first choice to be. =( 

Poor William…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Saturday was Grace & Matt’s 6 year Anniversary we headed out to the Cheesecake Factory once we got settled in our room. William was a good sport and came along even though his tummy still kind of hurt.

Saturday we drug out of bed enjoyed our COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST (things ALWAYS taste better when they are FREE!) Got dressed for the game and headed to Tuscaloosa! Before the game we grabbed some lunch checked out some cool local stored had some yummy ice cream and wandered the beautiful campus while we enjoyed the humidity free weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was time to head to our seats we knew ahead of time that we were way up in the satdium what we weren’t prepared for were the GAZILLION flights of stairs to get to our seats. We DEFINATELY could see EVERYTHING from our seats!

 

(yes I sported a side pony I was feeling a little 80’s)

Look at all the little tiny ants in the background of our pictures!

Despite the fact we lost, we had a good laugh at some of the locals who were trying to back into us because they were intoxicated.

 

Sunday William had planned on taking me to a pumpkin patch we stopped at on the way home from our trip up to Auburn a few years back. It was kind of on the way home. On the way there we stopped and picked some REAL cotton off the side of the road, saw some beautiful southern homes and sweet small towns, and had too much candy got a sugar high and laughed too hard!!

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When we FINALLY got to the pumpkin patch we were PUMPED to get a pumpkin and some yummy boiled peanuts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we FINALLY got home we all rushed to our babies because even though we had a GREAT time we couldn’t wait to see them. And I think Willie missed us as much as we missed him.