Monday, December 29, 2008

She laughs!

Here is a short video of Momma tickling Skylar and making her laugh.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Skylar's first Christmas


Skylar and Momma baked cookies for Santa Claus last night and left them on the book shelf right next to the Christmas tree before she went to bed. When we got up this morning there were some cookies missing and we found two under the tree. Now my guess is that when Santa was bending down to put Skylar's presents under the tree that he brushed his big fat butt against the plate of cookies not realizing that he was knocking some off onto the floor.


Skylar had a wonderful first Christmas today. After Momma and Daddy got her up and fed we put on this beautiful Christmas dress that Aunt Jeannie sent all the way from Florida. She looked absolutely adorable posing here with her daddy. Since she hates wearing hats we took it off after this picture and opted for a headband instead.


Since we had no breakfast fixings in the house we decided to go on a hunt and see if there were any restaurants open today. We thought maybe IHOP would be open but when we got there the parking lot was empty so we went and had an early lunch at Star Diner. The food is always delicious but a little overpriced.


This is the pretty tree that Skylar awoke to this morning. Yes, we know our tree is leaning a bit. The biggest present under the tree was for daddy.


Here is Skylar and Momma with one of her toys that Santa brought. It's a tumbling ducky thing that she will have to roll and chase across the floor.


Jordan made himself comfortable in Skylar's boppy pillow while I was holding her and opening presents.


We chased Jordan out of her boppy and stuck her under the Christmas tree so she could smile at, talk to and flirt with the lights and ornaments.


Our little angel peanut was a VERY good girl this year so she made out like a bandit in the toy area. She also got some clothes from Gymboree from our friends Kayo & Kenny in California, an outfit from her Nani Wanda in Tennessee, a princess devotional Bible from her Great Grams, socks from her Nina, a teddy bear from Harumi & Chris in Japan, a "going to grandma's house" bag, 2008 coins and a couple of ornaments from Grammy and Peepaw, diapers and baby wash & lotion from our neighbors, the Gilmores, a play gym from our neighbor, Steven and a $20 gift card from her Aunt Alacia and Uncle James.


This was by far Skylar's best present ever. Santa brought her a Fisher-Price Galloping Fun Jumperoo that gallops and plays music as she moves. She did a lot of smiling while she was in it. It will be even better when her legs get a little bit longer and she can really push herself up and down.


She got so tired out from all the present opening that she fell asleep in her swing.


After Skylar woke up from her nap we took this picture in front of our tree and walked over to Kay and Jim's house to visit with them, Tina and the boys.


When we got there we were surprised to see that Tucker had completely taken over Jim's chair. He was so relaxed. The chair actually spins and I periodically spun him around in the chair and he loved it.


Joey's favorite gift this year besides his Nintendo DS games is all the Bakugan stuff he got. I think Tina said he had the arena at home. Boys toys are crazy.


Tina was laying on the floor with Skylar and Tucker got insanely jealous and laid down behind her and nuzzled his face up near hers saying, "hey...look at me!"


Joshie was being a real sweetheart and shared his new big green blanket with Skylar. It was SO soft!


After we got back from the Gilmores we all got into our PJs and Robert played my new Wii game for a while. We couldn't have asked for a better first Christmas with our little one.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Skylar's first Christmas at Great Gram's house

This afternoon we went up to Dahlonega to spend Christmas Eve with my family. Robert's parents are down in Florida spending the holiday with his brother and sister and their families. We had such a nice time. There was no set time to arrive....family members just showed up whenever. There was tons of finger-foods, appetizers and yummy desserts to nibble on. We exchanged presents and hung out for awhile chit-chatting. Skylar was a perfect angel today...totally loving being passed around and loved on by everyone. She got to spend quite a bit of time with her Grandma Bobbie which was extremely important as her Grandma hasn't been well. Skylar also got to spend time with her Nina. That is our name for Amanda. We wanted to stay longer but we had three puppies at home that needed to be let outside to pee. When we finally got home we realized that Sweetie Pie had been locked up in Skylar's room all day....no food, water or litter box. You would think she would learn her lesson and not go in there for a while but sure enough she's in there now. After we came home we made cookies for Santa and read "The Gift of the Magi" and Skylar went off to bed. She's got a very BIG DAY tomorrow!
Skylar & Momma looking pretty with Aunt Karen.
Skylar and her Nina...their first Christmas together.
Cousin Chelsea feeding Skylar as little Ezra looks on.
Randy, Kayla and Teddy.
Look! Great Grams has reindeer on her feet!
Skylar, Elijah, Vondre & Ezra posing for a picture. Momma's little Christmas bunny was pitching a fit.
Skylar asleep in her Grandma's arms. They spent a lot of quality time together.
Ally and Josh. Oh gosh....I hope that's his name. I forget. Nice guy though!
Toni, Elijah and Chelsea getting ready to open presents.
Skylar & her favorite Aunt Karen.
Great Grams and Skylar Belle.
You see this butterfly right here? I got's this in honor of my Mimi!
Momma and her greatest Christmas gift EVER!
A few quiet moments with Grandma...

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Daddy and his boys

Everytime Robert sits down in his chair to do anything...watch tv, sleep or work on the laptop he is surrounded by his boys. All four of them! This picture is a classic example of how the boys love their daddy. We were watching House (best show ever!) and Robert decided to play a game on the laptop. Well, along comes Jordan hopping up into his lap. Naturally Bailey quickly followed because for goodness sake he can't be left out of anything. After that Baby sat at his feet whining to get up too. After all three of the dogs were settled into the chair with him, Smokie decided that there just had to be a little bit more room for him too. He crawled up into the chair and got his big lard butt in the way and chased poor Jordan off the chair which is why he's missing from the picture. Since Smokie Joe is so massive and needs a lot of laying down space he had nowhere else to rest his big rump but right in the middle of the laptop. It was definitely a Kodak moment.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Been making goodies

This year I made chocolate chip cookies, dipped them in chocolate and threw crushed candy canes on them.
My homemade chocolate covered cherries and peanut butter buckeyes. They are always a favorite.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

It's finally over!!

As usual I was the first one up this morning. I really didn't mind though because Skylar went to sleep around 8:30 last night (shocker, I know!) which allowed me to get the sleep I needed to get through the day today. After I had my shower and had gotten dressed I got the baby up and fed her and changed her diaper. I actually put her to sleep last night fully dressed and ready to go to court this morning so it really didn't take long for us to get ready. Our hearing wasn't scheduled until 9:00am but we pulled out of the driveway at 6:50am just in case we hit a bunch of traffic on 400 or I-85. We made it to downtown Atlanta around 7:45am and decided to kill time we'd go eat at Waffle House since we saw a sign for it inside the Underground Atlanta parking garage. We started walking around Underground ATL looking for the Waffle House but had no luck in finding it. Then a homeless guy came up to us and asked us if we needed help. He did better than give us directions to the Waffle House....he actually escorted us there. It was around the corner, down a block and then around another corner. We never would have found it on our own. This guy was very nice....I wish I could remember his name! Anyway, he waited for me outside and I went in and got change and came out and gave him a $10 bill and thanked him for getting us there. His eyes welled up with tears and he wrapped his arms around me in a big long hug....not wanting to let go. He asked me if I would pray for him and I promised I would. I asked him to please try and find a warm place to spend Christmas. I really hope he does.
We met up with Judy outside the courthouse, went through security and then went upstairs to the 8th floor to the judge's chambers. We went in, met the judge and got sworn in. He looked over the final page of our home study, looked up at Skylar and said, "Skylar.....you're in." And with that my precious little one officially became our daughter. Judy took a picture of us with the judge and then after our first congratulations of the morning we went downstairs with Judy to file the papers. She gave us our certificate of adoption and told us to go over to the Vital Records office and get her new birth certificate. Well, we did and after we got there I realized that Judy had listed Robert's date of birth as our wedding date and not his actual birthdate. We showed them Robert's drivers license to have the date corrected but they need to see his birth certificate since he was not born in this state so he'll have to take care of that tomorrow. If only our attorney had asked us to look over the form before she had it notarized.
We got home and I finished making my peanut butter buckeyes and chocolate covered cherries. I've got about eight dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies I'm giving away too. I think I will make peppermint bark again and rice crispy treats to take to work. Well, I better go hunt down Robert's birth certificate and get dinner started. What a great day today was......

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Our new baby!


Bailey got a haircut and he doesn't even look the same anymore. It's almost like we have a whole new dog.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Founders Day Parade

This morning Robert and I took Skylar to see her first parade. We bundled her up, put her in the stroller and walked out to the front of the subdivision and set up a couple of chairs and got out a blanket and prepared to watch the Johns Creek 2nd Annual Founders Day Parade. Our neighbor Marissa from down in the culdesac set up her chair next to ours and a little while later Tina came out with Joey, Josh, Jack and Moriah and hung out with us. It was freezing out there at a very nice 30 degrees! Here are some pictures of us at the parade.


Santa Clause took time out of his busy schedule to appear.

The guys from Medieval Times came out and rode in the parade.

Daddy and his bundled bunny.

Josh and Moriah waiting for the parade to start.

Momma and her peanut baby. Oh look! It's the Oscar Meyer Weiner car!

The Mayor of Johns Creek. The dude driving...not the horse.

Moriah, Josh, Jack & Joey. Watching the parade and waiting for them to start throwing candy.

Me and my Herbie.

Robert and our neighbor, Tina.

Skylar's daddy - waiting to see Santa in the parade.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Snow Flurries!!!

Yesterday we actually got snow flurries throughout the day. Having it snow so early in December gives me hope that there's always the possibilty of us having a semi-sort of "White Christmas" and that would be totally cool if I could tell my daughter the story of how we had snow for her first Christmas. It would be nice if we got snow like we did last January. I posted a couple of videos from that time on our family video page.....link to the left of this page~~~>