Happy New Year!

Ringing in the New Year
One of my best friends, Baylee

Michelle, Me, Laura, Elyse, and Baylee

Bucky and I had a great New Year's with some of our friends. I have the best Bunco group. It is made of Phi Mu's, work friends, and some that have joined along the way. These people mean so much to Bucky and me. We always have fun together. I was kind of excited because we NEVER do anything for New Year's Eve. We went to Arricia at the Auburn Conference Center. They had delicious appetizers and a 5 course meal. We had so much fun. None of us made it until midnight though.

I had called to check on Claire around 9:00 and my Mom said she went to bed with no problems. We got home around 11:30 and I went to check on her like I always do. My Mom was rocking her and said she had been up for about an hour. Poor Mom and Claire! I don't know if her teeth woke her up or if she got stuck in her crib. She was awake so I got her back to sleep after about 30 minutes. I was getting ready for bed and the power went out. It is pitch black. Our monitors didn't work and I was afraid Claire would get cold, so I went and got her. Of course, she was confused and it took her a little while to go back to sleep in our bed. She slept pretty good until about 4:30am. I think when she woke up and couldn't see anything, she got upset. Bucky turned the flashlight on and that calmed her down but she didn't go back to sleep. So, we all got up and went to the den. We lit some candles and sat by the fire. As soon as I had gotten her back to sleep, the power came on. Thank goodness! I put her back in her crib and Bucky and I went back to bed. We got up a few hours later. My sweet Mom played with Claire all morning while I tried to get moving. She went to sleep around 10 and has been asleep for almost 3 hours. Bless her! She is going to be off her schedule today.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. We are excited to see what 2009 brings for the Street family!

Bucky's Deer

I know some of you will appreciate this, so I wanted to brag on Bucky's deer a little bit. My parents and I came home yesterday afternoon around 5:00 to a very excited Bucky. He was out of breath and could barely talk. When he got home from work, he decided to go sit in a tree stand about 50 yards from our barn. He wasn't even out there 20 minutes and shot this HUGE buck. Now, I don't get too excited over stuff like this. I went down to the barn to take the camera and saw the deer. It was the biggest deer I have ever seen. It was as big as Bucky. He is an 8 point which is pretty impressive. Thankfully, my Dad was here to help Bucky get him up to the house. I think it was a great way for Bucky to start 2009.

Tagged

Julie Malone tagged me to look in the fourth folder of where my pictures are stored and get the fourth picture, explain it and then tag four more people to do the same. This is a picture from our trip to Tallahassee, FL at the end of October. Claire is dressed up in her Halloween costume with our best friends children, Larson and Smith Harkins.

Now I tag:

~Mindy Basquin

~Laura Anglea

~Emily Peden

~Tracie Wilson

Happy Holidays!

8 Months Old 12-21-08

Christmas Eve


Caroline decided to sit on Claire since it was her chair!

Gran, Caroline, and Claire

Matt, Caroline, Claire, and Daniel

Christmas Morning

Claire's older cousins, Caroline (1) and Kate (2)

Daniel (4)

Will (4)

Opening presents with my family Christmas Day

My Dad (PePaw)

My Mom (Gran)

Let me start out with saying what a wonderful Christmas we had thanks to our great family. My preacher talked last Sunday about the use of the word 'wonder'. I can honestly say that he would agree in my use of it to describe our family gathering. I am blessed to have the best husband in the world. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 12-20. He is a true rock in my life. I know I take him for granted, but the truth is I couldn't make it one day without him. He loves me and Claire more than I could ever imagine. He is a WONDERful father who I thank God for everyday. Not only do I have a great family to share my day-to-day life with, but I also have the best parents, brother, and sister and all their families to be thankful for.

That being said, it has been a while since I blogged so I will summarize what we have been doing the past 2 weeks. As I said, Bucky and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. My in-laws came down Friday (12-19) after work to keep Claire. We ate pizza and hung out at the house. Saturday morning, Bucky and his dad went hunting. I went to Wal-Mart (in the rain) to get some groceries for baking. When we all got home and got ready, Bucky and I left do some shopping. My sweet husband went with me to pick out my gift. We went to several local jewelry stores before we found what we were looking for. He got me a gorgeous pair of diamond hoops. They are so pretty and I know I will wear them everyday. We also did some Christmas shopping at Academy. We went to eat and stayed the night at the Robert Trent Jones in Opelika. This was a BIG deal for me because I have not left Claire over night since she has been born. She did pretty well for the Streets and Bucky and I got some much needed rest. We got up and ate breakfast. We were pretty ready to come home to see Claire. We all went to church. We spent the afternoon baking and wrapping our last minute gifts. We also celebrated Claire's 8 month birthday (not really). Every time her month marker comes around, I always think back to the day I went into labor. The time has gone SO fast and I am amazed at how much she has grown and developed.

I had to work Monday, which wasn't too bad. Tuesday I took Claire in because she hasn't been eating that well. I thought it might have to do with pressure in her ears because of the positions she nurses. She has never had any problems with her ears (or any illness), but I wanted to make sure before we went out of town. Everything was clear and they told me it is probably due to her teething. She has 2 teeth coming through on the bottom. Claire and I packed some when we got home. Then we went to Burger King with the Harkins, came home and napped, and went to Good Ol' Boys for dinner. Larson and Smith Harkins came over and exchanged gifts with Claire. They are so sweet to her. Claire gave Larson the biggest hug. So cute!

Wednesday, we packed up and went to Bham pretty early. We got to my parents house and ate lunch. We hung out and got ready for church at 3:00. We took Claire into the service because it was a children's service. She actually did great considering she had only had a 30 minute afternoon nap. We went over to my brother's house after church. We played with the kids and ate dinner.

Thursday, we got up and opened Claire's few little gifts from Santa. We decided not to get her much because both her grandmothers got her EVERYTHING she needed. Instead, we bought her the PACT plan so we don't have to worry about college tuition anymore. I went back to sleep with Claire which was a nice Christmas gift. We got ready and the Street's came over to see Claire. We snacked and waited on everyone to get there. My sister and her family came from Panama City. My brother and his family came over and we ate a late lunch. We opened gifts from each other and all the kids enjoyed playing together.

Friday, my aunt & uncle from Mississippi came over. The men (except Bucky) played golf and we all stayed at the house and let the kids play. Bucky and I ended up leaving about 3:00 to come home. Claire has so much fun with her cousins, but she was tired. We have been unpacking and getting settled. I hope to get some of the Christmas stuff down tomorrow. I am NOT excited about that. It is so much more fun to put it up. Hopefully Claire will cooperate and not make me hold her all day, like she did today. We'll see!

Pictures

Here are some pictures we had made at our house. I think they turned out great. You may notice a few of them from our Christmas card. There are also some of Claire with me nieces and nephews at Olan Mills. Despite our long wait, I think the kids look adorable.

Running Around like a Crazy Person

At the CVS Christmas Party

Opening Santa gifts from the Streets

Colton Elkins

Callan Elkins

Opening gifts from Bucky's cousins

Last week was pretty normal. I worked Monday and Tuesday. Claire and I went Christmas shopping on Wednesday. Wednesday night we were hoping to go Santa shopping but Bucky had to work late. I took advantage of the babysitter and went to eat with my mom's group. Thursday we went to Baby Gym, the hospital, and to Wal-Mart. I had to work Friday until 10pm.

Saturday, we got up and left for Birmingham at 7:30am. We went straight to Olan Mills to have a picture made with all 5 of my parent's grandchildren. Our appointment was at 10:00 which was supposed to be the first appointment of the day. Unfortunately, when we got there they were already behind. They had started making pictures at 9:00 because of the holidays. We had to wait over an hour. By then, all of the kids were tired. I think that we did get a cute picture for my mom. I am sure it would have been much better at 10! Bucky and I then left my family to go meet his family for lunch at Michael's at 11:30. We ate with his mom, dad, sister, aunt, cousins, and their kids. We went back over to the Street's to open presents. Claire had a big time playing with her new toys. She is the sweetest baby. She was so patient at Olan Mills and at lunch. She just goes with the flow. She didn't fuss one time. After most of the family left, I got Claire to go down for her nap. Then, I headed over to my parents house to go to the Rockettes with them at 4:30. It was awesome! We saw them last year in New York. Of course, it wasn't quite the same, but still a very good performance. I went back over to the Street's to open gifts with Bucky's parents, Mindy, and Jake. Claire racked up again. She loved playing with everything, but especially all the wrapping. Finally, after a long, busy day, we headed back to Auburn around 8:00.

Sunday, I had to work. Bucky got up and went hunting early. Claire and I got the house ready for the CVS Christmas party. Ashley came and kept Claire while I was at work. Bucky came home and cut up some trees that blew down during the rain last week. I got off at 6:00 and came home to do some last minute things before the CVS party at 7:00. We had a nice time eating Olive Garden and playing Dirty Santa. I ended up with a Joel Osmand book about Becoming a Better You. I am definately need that! I am lucky to work with such a great group of people. I have 2 great partners and tons of wonderful people that make my job a lot easier. It was fun to celebrate the holiday together.

Claire and I had a laid back Monday. She got in bed with me around 6:00 and I thought she was going to be wide awake. But, she slept with me until 8! That was wonderful. We played with some of her new toys. She took and nap and I got ready. We went to Kohl's and Target to get some more Christmas gifts. We came home and played and napped until Daddy got home. She is really starting to squirm around. She dances, claps, and talks a lot. I can really feel her tooth coming through on the bottom. It doesn't seem to bother her other than a runny nose and drool.

Hope everyone has a great week!