The Year in Review - 2010

I reviewed 2009, so I decided I would do that again this year.  Here are some of our 2010 highlights:

January

• Will is 10 months old
• Will starts walking!

February

• A snow day
• Will's first haircut!
• Will had his picture taken

March

• Will turn ONE, and we celebrate more than once
• Richard and Julie get married and Will attends his first wedding

April

• We celebrate Easter in Wedowee
• Clay and I participate in Birmingham's Diamond Dash
• Will goes to his first A-Day game

May

• Will eats his first kid's meal
• We go on a family vacation with Grandmother, Pop, & John and Pawpaw & CC
• Will goes on his first boat ride
  
  
  

June

• Will eats a blue crayon
• Will goes to VBS
• Clay and I celebrate our 5th year of marriage

July

• We enjoy the summer by swimming and going to the lake as much as possible
• Will thinks he is a baby again

August

• Will gets some baseball training from Uncle John and Daddy
• Mommy and Will have their first bite of yellow watermelon
• Will makes licking the porch look cute!

September

• We welcome home a hero
• Will paints
• We spend a lot of time around football fields

October

• Football and race cars occupy our time
• Will goes to his first fair
• Will ends the month as a puppy dog

November

• More Auburn Football and Will meets Aubie Claus
• Will learns the importance of giving
• We celebrate Thanksgiving with family
• Will counts to five!!!

December

• Clay and I travel to the SEC Championship and learn we are going to Glendale!
• We celebrate Christmas with family and friends

 

2010 was a wonderful year.  Clay and I have tried to make the most of every single moment.  We have experienced some many good things and a few bad. Our marriage is stronger than ever and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us as a couple.  Of course, our greatest moments have involved watching Will grow. He went from baby to toddler this year. He is growing up so fast!  We love to watch him learn new things and love to hear him say new words.  He is such a bright little boy. This year also brought an independent spirit and a few tantrums, but Clay and I find try to find the laughable moments during those times too.  Our life is so full and blessed.  Here's to 2011!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas in Roanoke

On the 26th, we traveled to Roanoke to have Christmas with Clay's Grandma and to spend the night with his Aunt and Uncle.  It snowed all the day before so we thought we might have to cancel due to the weather but after watching the news and finding out the roads were okay, we headed down that afternoon.  It was so pretty riding by Mt. Cheaha.

Once we arrived in Roanoke, it took about 4 seconds for Will to start destroying Clay's Aunt and Uncle's house. Thankfully they don't mind.  Clay said he wanted to eat steaks so that is what we ate because Aunt Shawn gets Clay whatever he wants.  It cracks me up. The steaks were really good and the baked potatoes were yummy. It was a great time sitting around and hanging out with all of the family!

Aunt Shawn and Uncle Greg got Will an Auburn wind suit and it is too cute.

The rest of the night and the next morning was spent talking and letting the kids play.  Braydin is getting so big. He would sit up and watch Will play and Will would share toys with him.

Will got into his cousin Hallee's hair case and decided he need to accessorize his PJs with a purple head band.

I am so thankful that Aunt Shawn invited us down.  If you know Clay, you know that he has some strained family relationships, and I am so thankful that despite all of that drama that his Grandma and Aunt and Uncle still set aside time to spend with us.  They are always so welcoming and I love getting to spend time with them and Clay's cousins.  They are the people that you would chose to be your family even if you weren't related.  Good people and we love them!!

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning was so fun this year!  Will woke up in the best mood and was really excited about opening presents.

We started the morning off with breakfast. Mom, Dad, John, my Pawpaw, and Shirley came and joined us. We have done this for the past two years, and I think it is one of my favorite things!  We have breakfast casserole, cheese grits, my Pawpaw's biscuits (love them!), scrambled eggs, and Christmas coffee. Will ate a breakfast bar as usual.

After we were full, we opened presents.  It was really a blur because Will was ripping into paper and throwing it all over the place. He wanted to open all his gifts and everyone else's too.

Will got everything he could ever want in life.  There were toys everywhere.

We watched Will play with his toys for a while, then my Pawpaw and Shirley had to leave to go eat lunch at my aunt's house. Mom and Dad left shortly after because Dad needed to go home and rest. I don't think I mentioned this on the blog before, but my dad had back surgery on the 17th so he is still in the recovery phase.

A bit later, Will's Pawpaw and Bom-Bom came over to exchange gifts. Clay and I already knew what our gift was--a trip to the National Championship Game.  Will got a swing set and he absolutely loves it! 

After Pawpaw and Bom-Bom left, we all took a much needed nap!!!  Then we headed over to Mom and Dad's to eat some chili and watch Toy Story 3.

The best thing about the entire day was it SNOWED!!!  It was a White Christmas in Alabama.  It was a first for me, Clay and Will!  It was really beautiful.

It was such a wonderful day and I am so glad that God has blessed us with a great family!

Merry Christmas

Hark! the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King,

 

 peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconcile.

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

 

with the angelic host proclaim,

Christ is born in Bethlehem

Hark! the herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King.

 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:11-14)



Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has been a busy day for us.

Pawpaw came over first thing this morning so he and Clay could get started on Will's Christmas present.

The beginning of Will's swing set.

It took them almost 6 hours to complete it.  Will saw it completed but won't get to play on it until tomorrow. I know he is going to love it!

While the guys worked on that, Will and I got a visit from Nanny Toot (Mary Kay). She came over to bring Will a gift. He ripped the paper over as fast as he could. It was so funny. Nanny Toot got him a cute outfit! 

After Nanny Toot left, Will headed over to Grandmother and Pop's to spend the rest of the morning so I could work. I worked a little last night after Will went to bed, so I only had to work a couple of hours this morning to finish up some things.

I went and got Will a little after lunch and we came home and took a nap.  It was fantastic. I really needed the rest.

Tonight, we headed back over to Grandmother and Pop's to celebrate Pop's birthday.  We always have a family dinner together on Christmas Eve to celebrate my dad. It's always fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP!!

After we ate cake, Will listened to some music with John.



Will copies everything John does and it is so sweet. I love my brother and he is such a good role model for Will.

Then my parents let Will open a Christmas present. There is one present that has been under the tree for a while and my mom told Will a couple of weeks ago that it was for him. He goes and points to that present every time we are over there, so he finally got to open it tonight. When dad told him he could open a present, he went right to that gift! He is so funny!  Of course he tore into the paper and said "WOW" when he saw it was a truck.

Pop and John helped Will set it up.

We ended the night at Grandmother and Pop's by baking some cookies. Will helped put the cookies on the cookie sheet and then waited patiently until they were finished.  He shared his cookies with everyone!

Once we got home, we got our pjs on and Clay read Luke 2 to us. Such a sweet moment for our little family!

Will is in bed now and Clay and I are finishing up a few last minute things so we will be ready for Christmas tomorrow.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23

Our Christmas Decorations

Not too much has changed from last year's decorations, but I wanted to post this year's decorations anyway.

Living Room:

Live tree with blue and white lights and ornaments.

We don't have a fireplace so I hang our stockings on this little entry table.

The Nativity.  I am hoping to add more pieces to this each year.

I displayed the Christmas cards with pictures around this mirror.

The other cards I hung from ribbon below the tv.

I thought I would include this picture. The quality is bad because it is a picture of a picture.  This is Will with Santa at his daycare party. This is the only Santa picture we did this year. It is hanging on the mirror with the photo Christmas cards.

Kitchen: 

Small tree with red, green, and white ornaments.

Table set with my Fiestaware and reindeer place settings.

Will's Room:

Will's tree with colored lights and ornaments. Also, there are many Clay's childhood ornaments on this tree.

Office/Auburn Room: 

Auburn tree with blue and orange lights and Auburn ornaments. I will probably leave this tree up until we get back from the National Championship game.

I really love all my decorations. I will be sad to see them go at the end of the season.