Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I absolutely LOVE shutterfly! I have used their website numerous times. I have made photo calendars as gifts and printed many pictures from the website. One of the best things I have done is use the website to make Father's Day cards. I used photos of Mary Lee to make cards for Griffin, Steve, and my dad. They loved them and some even got a little teary eyed! This year, I plan to use Shutterfly to make my Christmas cards. We are going to the mountains soon, and I plan to take pictures of Mary Lee for our Chrismtas cards. I will then choose one of Shutterflys wonderful Christmas card designs to make our Chrismtas cards for this year. They have so many great choices with different colors, sizes, styles, and wording. There literally is a card out there for everyone! I'm not sure what card I am going to choose. I like this design because it is simple, but I haven't fully decided on the exact card I will use. Click here to see all of their photo Christmas cards. Click here to see all holiday cards. Just for fun, click here to see the calendars that I will definitely be making again!

Attention: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly...sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

The Gerogia Aquarium

Last weekend, we took Mary Lee to Atlanta to spend the night and visit the Georgia Aquarium. Griffin had just finished Step 2 of the boards and started a new rotation on Monday, so we decided to get away for a night! We had so much fun! I told Griffin that even though we just went to eat, went to the aquarium, and watched the Auburn game in the hotel, I felt like we spent so much QUALITY time together as a family. Usually if we are at home, I feel like one of us always should be getting stuff done while the other one is playing with Mary Lee. There was no laundry or cleaning to be done in a hotel room, so our full attention was on Mary Lee the whole time...what a blessing! The little stinker even managed to sleep in the bed with Mommy and Daddy! That was a treat for us all since we don't let her do that at home...Don't want to form bad habits! Enjoy some pics from our short little getaway...

Happy Halloween!

While we are not big fans of Halloween and all things dark and scary, we are big fans of dressing our cute girl up for some fun pictures!

Headed to church in my cute fall dress!

Mary Lee and Daddy headed to the Fall Festival

Cute little bee looking a little unsure about this whole dressing up thing!

Mary Lee with her best friend Olivia! I say best friend realizing that they rarely notice each other when we all hang out!

Isn't she adorable?!?!

Sweet girl!

We saw Maddox at the Fall Festival. Mary Lee was on edge at this point, but at first, she kind of liked Maddox in his cute costume.

Now she is thinking that she is not so sure about this little guy.

And now she knows she is not sure about him. Poor Maddox was so sweet and just slowly backed away from Mary Lee. I think he could tell she was a little edgy tonight! Thank you Maddox for still being sweet to Mary Lee!

Ending the night cheering on the Saints!

It's Party Time!!

Mary Lee had a GREAT first birthday party! We celebrated with lots of family and friends! Happy 1st Birthday Mary Lee! We LOVE you!

The birthday girl in her party dress!

The food table

The dessert table...Yummy!

Smash Cake

Presents!

1st Birthday (Actual Day - Not Party)

Reality has hit...Mary Lee is ONE! I know people say all the time to enjoy them while they are little because time flies and before you know it they are in high school, college, and married with children. I always brushed that statement off until I had my own daughter. This last year truly has seemed to fly by. Griffin and I have truly tried to take in every single moment with Mary Lee, and those first days, weeks, and months are ones that I will cherish forever. Now, don't get me wrong, I am glad to be past sleepless nights, endless fussing, stomach issues, and bottles. That's right, Mary Lee EASILY came off of the bottle! Her last bottle was 6 days after her first birthday, and she has never looked back. Griffin and I were scared that she wouldn't do well because the girl always LOVED her bottle. However, like she always seems to do, she rose to the occasion and has done GREAT without a bottle! Mary Lee's birthday was on a Wednesday. We started off waking her with a lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday," followed by a cinnamon roll with a candle! I went to work while Griffin stayed home with her since he was not on a tough rotation then. He brought her to eat lunch with me, took her to the park and pet store, and played with her all day...what a GREAT daddy! That night, we had our parents over to eat dinner and cupcakes. All in all, Mary Lee had a GREAT day!

Things to remember about sweet Mary Lee at 1 year old:

• You are still a crawling machine. I think you think you are a pro crawler so there is no need to walk.
• You walk great...if you are holding Mommy or Daddy's hand.
• You walk holding on to walls, tables, chairs, or anything else you can reach.
• You are very curious and really study new things, places, and people.
• You are extremely sensitive. You get your feelings hurt very easily. You cry when someone else cries, at loud noises, when someone touches you wrong, when someone tries to take you from Mommy, etc...We get the point...You are just plain sensitive!
• You are an awesome eater. You make Mommy proud because you are a very clean and neat eater...only picking up your food with 2 fingers, opening your mouth wide, and perfectly placing the food in your mouth! That's my non-messy girl!
• We are not sure where you get it from, but you LOVE to dance (bounce and rock) any time you hear music.
• You love to watch Dora!
• You LOVE to talk LOUDLY!
• You have the most precious smile and laugh.
• You like to repeat Mommy and Daddy. You are now saying hey, bye, jee (Jesus), mama, dada, baby, uh oh, pu (puppy).
• You can wave and blow kisses. You also started moving your fingers over your bottom lip to make a funny sound.
• When you hear a dog bark, you say "wooo wooo wooo wooo wooo," which is your barking noise.
• Your night time routine consists of snack with milk, brushing teeth, reading a Bible story, prayers, singing, and rocking...the sweetest time of the day!

Right when I woke up on my birthday, Mommy and Daddy let me play in the present they got me. They quickly realized I needed more balls for this thing!

That's better!

What a cutie!! My Mommy's best friend Amy (aka my godmother) made me this adorable shirt on very short notice!

Playing with some new toys!

Enjoying my very own cupcake!

Sweet birthday girl being sung to!

11 Months Old

The countdown is on...less than a month until our "baby" girl is ONE! I have mixed emotions about Mary Lee turning one. I am sad because my little girl is growing up too quickly. However, I am overwhelmed with joy to see this baby girl that we prayed so long for grow into a beautiful little girl and eventually a talented young woman. I am humbled to know that God chose me to be the mommy of this precious miracle, and I am thrilled beyond belief to watch God's blessings in her life come to fruition. I never knew one little girl could bring one proud momma so much happiness! I love you sweet angel Mary Lee!

Things to remember about Mary Lee at 11 months old:

• The way you pull up on EVERYTHING
• All the new sounds/words you are saying - MaMa (Yea, finally!), DaDa, Paise Ba (Praise Baby), bah (bear), pu (puppy), bye bye
• The way you LOVE to feed Mommy and Daddy
• How much you love your fruit...especially mandarin oranges
• How cute you are when you wave the wrong way
• They way you like to get a book, toy, or coaster and put it under your hand to make you slide across the floor faster
• They way you love to walk holding somebody's hands but will not do it unless you have BOTH hands
• The way you love to push lion (push toy) and walk behind him

Modeling with her lion push toy

"I'm ready for my bath Mommy!"

"Thank goodness Mommy and Daddy finally turned my car seat around! I can see the world around me now! Here I am getting ready for my first ride"

"What's the big deal Mommy? I'm just sittin in my car seat!"

"Yep, I can still sleep facing forward!"

"Mommy, I know I'm cute and all, but please stop taking my picture!"

Fantasy Football Draft

It's that time of year again. The time where grown men act like little boys. I never have quite understood the joy Fantasy Football brings my husband and his friends, nonetheless, it brings them great joy. A couple of weeks ago, several of Griffin's high school friends gathered at our house to draft their 2010-2011 Fantasy Football teams. Keep in mind, this can all be done on the computer, but gathering together once a year for the big draft is important to these guys. I made lots of yummy snacks and everyone enjoyed the day.

While I tried to stay out of the way during the draft, Mary Lee was the center of attention! She was even consulted many times for advice on which players to draft!

Schlitz and Lyle focused on the draft

Woo drafted at the desk by himself. He also is wishing I would stop taking pictures!

Dag even joined in from Texas via I Chat

Sparks and Walls "trying" to look candid

Although I might not completely understand the hype over Fantasy Football, I do understand that getting together once a year to draft is a much anticipated event for my husband and that is enough to make me enjoy the day and smile!

Just a little football plug that definitely makes me smile...GO SAINTS!!!

McWane Center Fun Day

This weekend, we decided to take Mary Lee to the McWane Center. We weren't sure if there would be much for her to enjoy, but she LOVED it! We were there for almost 3 hours, and she never fussed one time. There were lots of things for her to look at, feel, and do! Mommy and Daddy had fun as well!

Welcome to the McWane Center

Playing on the soft stuff

Looking at myself in a cool mirror

Playing in the water

Crawling through the tunnel

Our little astronaut

Weather Girl

Playing with the water and the balls that stay in the water stream

Loving the fish

Snacking as I ride

What a GREAT day!