Behind the Scenes - Christmas Card Outtakes

We thought you might like to see some of the pictures that did not make the cut this year for our Christmas card.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Dean Eats Cereal

Dean had his 6th month check up yesterday and has now graduated to rice cereal twice a day. I guess he liked it alright. Just like all children, his tongue is more of a hindrance than a help but I am confident he will figure it out in no time.

Here are a few shots of his first meal:

Mmm, what's this?

I believe I'll have another.

I'm getting serious now.

Now that wore me out!

The Scary Mariachi Band

On Anna Grace's real birthday (November 29th) we went to eat Mexican food and have the Mariachi band sing Happy "Burfday" to Courtney and Anna Grace. We tried to capture the moment for you.

They made me wear this

You might not can tell here but Anna Grace is screaming her head off. Mariachi bands are very scary apparently.

One can never have too many spoons.

Mr. Chris will save me from all of this madness.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving on Lake Martin with the family. Here are a few photos:

Getting ready to take the family Christmas card picture.

Playing with Uncle Gilder.

Playing peek-a-boo with Aunt Colley and Uncle Gilder.

Boo!

An Auburn cheerleader at heart.

Dean's Baptism

November 11th was Dean's baptism at the church. It was a special day for our family. In the event that you are unsure of what infant baptism is about, I thought I would offer a brief explanation. In the Old Testament days adults were circumcised as a sign of their faith but when they had children their infants were circumcised at birth before they professed faith. Since Christ, baptism has replaced circumcision. Therefore we came before the congregation of believers to 1. acknowledge Dean's need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit; 2. claim God's covenant promises on Dean's behalf and look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, as we do our own; and 3. dedicate Dean to God and promise, relying on God's grace, that we will set before him a Godly example, pray with and for him, teach him the doctrines of Truth and strive by the means of God's appointment to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Simply stated we publicly claimed the promise that God will be a God to us and to our household.

In case you missed it or want to read Neal's blessing here it is:
Dean, your mother and I love you very much. Our prayer for you comes from 1^st Kings 2:2-3 and Deuteronomy 28:1-7. “Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes, His commandments, His rules, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be…the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”

Sorry we don't have any still shots of the actual baptism or Neal reading his blessing/prayer to Dean. We do have good video that Heath was kind enough to take for us (and Heath it did turn out fine - Slade is not really an issue). Now on to the pictures:

Paster Reeder and our family after the service

A proud Honey and Juju

Dean munching on his hand

The crew playing before lunch

Dean's After Lunch Photo Shoot:

We're All Set on Drums, Thank You!

Last weekend was Anna Grace's 2nd birthday party (I know we were a few weeks early - 11/29 is the real day) and it has taken me this whole week to re-coop from the eventful weekend.

She had a blast playing with her cousins. The main activities for the party were playing out front in the leaves, eating cake cone cupcakes and then playing with all of her presents. It is so easy to entertain 2 year olds.

Here are some pictures of the progression of her big day:

Around the Table

Ready to eat

Singing Happy Birthday

Its time for cupcakes

Blowing out the candles.

Eating

Still eating

Almost finished

Opening Presents

New dress up shoes

A drum

A giant coloring book

A new puzzle

Playing Outside

Dean likes the leaves

Laurie, Slade and Anna Grace playing

Resting in the leaves

Playing with Ottie

Ottie and his girls talking


The Day Comes to an End

Drumming in the tub

the lake for a weekend...what an adventure!

I know it was just yesterday that I updated everyone on Halloween but things have picked up around here so I have to catch up. This past weekend we went to the lake for the first time. We were trying to go about a month ago but ended up sick so we all stayed home.

The children and I picked up Neal at work on Friday at 5:00 and headed down 280. With the traffic as bad as it was we only made it to Chelsea before we stopped to eat dinner at KFC. Little did we know, Anna Grace is a HUGE fan and tried to eat us out of house and home - their kid's meal wasn't big enough for her! After eating we packed back in the van and didn't stop until we got to the lake house - Dean cried the whole way mind you.

Neal and I were thankful that everyone was still out to eat because I am not sure anyone was quite prepared for Anna Grace's display upon entering the house. It's a big house with nothing on the walls or windows and some rooms still without furniture therefore it echoes. Once she figured that out we were in for 30 minutes of squealing, running, and her yelling "ba" (Something that she does anywhere it might echo - I think Neal taught her.) throughout the upstairs and down. We finally settled her down for the night and she went to bed about 15 minutes before the rest of the family arrived. This whole time Dean was just thankful to be out of the car. He slept in his pack n play in our closet all weekend.

Our little drummer Anna Grace.

Saturday was quite eventful. We showed Anna Grace Neal's band in a box toy from when he was little. She LOVES to drum. She made music all over the house and yard. Saturday afternoon she decided to wonder off on her own. That gave everyone quite a scare. I found her playing in the rocks at the foot of the Seller's driveway a little way down the road. After that experience the child could not walk in the other room without us checking on her. Dean's big event for Saturday was to sleep. I finally went and woke him up at 4:15 - he went down for his nap at noon. It must be cozy in our closet.

Saturday night we made sure we watched the Alabama/LSU game. That was exciting; even the children got to stay up late to celebrate LSU's victory.

Dean doing his best to cheer LSU on to victory.

Sunday we came home and life went back to normal around here. As much fun as we all had at the lake I think we were all glad to be back at home sweet home.

Tune in next week for more updates - Anna Grace's 2nd birthday party is Saturday and Dean's baptism and brunch is Sunday!

much love,
cgh

The Coach's Biggest Fan

Well another Halloween has come and gone. This year we trick or treated at all three of our neighbors' houses. Anna Grace was not sure what they were giving her and did not really care. Her main focus was being outside at dusk; she was living it up outside.

As you can see Anna Grace was not sure exactly what she wanted to be. She liked her ballerina outfit but was not sure about letting Dean have the shaker for the evening. Therefore we told everyone that she was his biggest fan. Truth be told though he is probably her biggest fan.

The hardest part by far was getting a decent picture of them. Getting a picture before hand was not really an option so we tried afterward. Neal and I decided that all the candy in the world might not be worth the headache that the picture caused. Most of the pictures either have Dean crying or Anna Grace running off. Neal said that he will be selling the pictures for $50 a copy to the family.