Away in a Manger

Ok, everybody rock your babies!!!  When you hear this phrase in our house lately, you know that is your signal to get ready to sing.  Raleigh LOVES to sing, especially Christmas songs.  Here is a video of her singing Away in a Manger.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!

Baby Jesus and Mary

For the Christmas play at our church, Thad was baby Jesus.  I was a little nervous about him playing that role, because kids are sooo unpredictable and I didn't want him to be known as "the fit throwing" baby Jesus.  It was a SUPER BUSY weekend.  I think I filled up my car twice just going back and forth...crazy!!  Thad did an awesome job!  He only cried one time...he grabbed Mary's hair and then got his hand stuck to her hair, but other than that, many people didn't even know that he was a real baby.  Clint was also one of the main characters and did a fabulous job...Raleigh kept calling him Cowboy dad.

 Raleigh and her "cowboy daddy" after one of the shows.  It was so hard for me to look at Clint with eyeliner on! Ha!

This is what Thad looked like after most of the shows...tired.  I feel terrible about not getting a picture with him and his "parents," but I was so focused on making sure he was happy that I totally forgot.

Big Sister  was not happy that she was not asked to be in the play with all of the High School girls.  Honestly, she was down right offended...so dramatic!!  The whole week before the play and the weekend of the play Raleigh made it her goal to be in the play just like her dad and brother.  She would wake up everyday with a new plan of how to be in the play.  Our conversations in the morning would go a little bit like this, "Mom guess what?"  "I am so excited about getting to be a Shepard today in the play!!!"  "Isn't that wonderful?!"  Oh, that sweet little girl of mine.  We would get to the play and she would find out she had to go to the nursery again...and again was highly offended.  Her time finally came when she got her chance to shine.  The last day before Christmas break at her CLC class, they did a little presentation and Raleigh got to be Mary.  She did fantastic!!  Thad was also baby Jesus again at the nativity scene at CLC for all of the parents as they came in.  He did amazing (he was a pro at it by then)!  It has been so fun to have Mary and baby Jesus at our house this Christmas!!

 Here is Thad as  baby Jesus...pretty precious if you ask me!!  I felt bad for Mary and Joseph, parents kept asking them personal questions about baby Jesus...sorry guys.

Here is our precious little Mary.  Somehow baby Jesus was replaced by Raleigh's pig, I have to believe that Mary had a little bit to do with that. Ha!

Here is the first part of their program.

Here is the second part of the program.

Thaddaeus "the warrior" Ivy

This is the nickname that all the junior high boys have given Thad.  I think they honestly believe the things that Clint tells them about Thad (chewing on barbwire, killing buffalos, etc).  Thad is the sweetest baby and doesn't do any of those things...yet!!!  Our little warrior had his two month check up last week and did very well.  I don't remember his exact stats, but he weighed a little over 12 lbs (75%) and was a little over 24 inches (off the charts tall, OVER 100%).  We hope that he continues to grow tall in stature, but still keeps the sweet spirit that he has about him.  He is also extremely laid back and loves his sister...although he has learned to keep an eye on her at all times. Ha!

Marathon Man

If you know Clint, you know that he has never really been a runner.  He would actually describe his running form like a baby giraffe (very unstable and legs everywhere).  He played basketball and baseball growing up, so running to him was a form of punishment.  If you know me, you know that my family has always been runners from early on.  When we got married this is something that we found we could do together recreationally without fighting too much.  So we would run several miles a couple times a week together (we were still young and it didn't take much to keep our bodies in shape).  After I had Raleigh and gained enough weight to have 6 children, we decided to train for a half marathon.  It was tough, but we did it and thought we would continue running like this for a long time.  Until someone got a crazy idea in his head...Clint decided he was going to run a marathon!  Unfortunately, I was pregnant with Thad, so I had to skip training with him...honestly, I was SO glad that I had an excuse :)  All of his hard work paid off when he completed his first marathon in Dallas the first weekend in December.  We were so proud of him!!  The weather was terrible and he ended up running with a fractured foot, but he finished well and is even talking about running another one.

Here he is getting ready to start...sporting a beautiful trash bag trying to keep dry because of the rain 

My dad and I had so much fun going and finding Clint at different mile markers.  This was Clint at about mile 9.  I wasn't ready to take a picture...he is the guy in the red hoodie at the top of the picture. 

Here he is a little bit later...he is now in the maroon hoodie. He kept changing clothes that we would give him in an attempt to stay dry.  PS- the people ringing the cowbells were a little bit over the top in their enthusiasm, sorry if it is annoying.

Here he is freezing in his finisher shirt!! 

So proud of our Marathon Man!!

Giving Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated at our house.  It was pretty low key, but really wonderful to have Raleigh an Thad's cousins and grandparents all together.  We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas combo!!  We are pretty sad that we won't see Grammy and Pappy until sometime this summer, but we had some great time with them while they were here. 

Our little Indian ready to welcome her family!

A view of the kids table

 We also had our very own special Thanksgiving parade (Thanks Kar for being a good sport).

I am going to wear a white dress and get married

 
This statement has been heard a lot around our house the past few months, "I am going to wear a white dress and get married to daddy at NaNa's wedding!"  Raleigh has been prepping for her big job of being a flower girl at my sister's wedding.  She is still a little fuzzy about why she didn't married to daddy, and is still making plans to do that soon, but did a great job as a flower girl.  We made the trip down to Houston (our first long trip with Thad) and spent the weekend preparing for the wedding, having a wedding, and recovering from the wedding.  It was wonderful!  Natalie (NaNa's real name) was beautiful and so was the wedding.  We had a great weekend.  Clint flew back early to be at church on time and I made the adventure back to Dallas with the kids a few days later after we got a little bit more sleep.  Raleigh is still talking about getting married to her daddy...let's hope it stays that way for a while!

Our attempt to get a family picture at the rehearsal

My parents and all of the grandkids

One cute flower girl!!

Daddy and his princess

Raleigh and mommy

Daddy and Raleigh watching all of the people arrive

My sweet husband and me

Our handsome little Thaddaeus

A Sneak Peak..

Snowflakes Ribbon Christmas Card

Browse our collection of Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Day in PJ's

A couple of weeks ago Raleigh had pajama day at school.  She was very excited that she got to wear pajamas to school, but she told me that she needed to get new pajamas to show her buddies (I had a Carter's gift card, so she didn't have to do much convincing).  She had a great day and was, "super cozy all day long," according to her.  She has also started coming home and telling us things that she is thankful for.  I am thankful for our CLC program where she learns so much about the Lord and has such a great time.  I got a few pictures of her with brother before we got out the door.  She was convinced that Thad was in pajamas just like her because he can't wait to be like his big sister.  Silly girl!  She also informed me that he was a lion (he had a lion on his clothes) and that I shouldn't get to close to him or he would roar at me!!  The things that little imagination comes up with!

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween Raleigh chose to be....a sparkly butterfly!!  It was close choice between the butterfly and a chicken, but sparkles tend to trump feathers quite often at our house. Ha!  Of course she had to test out the costume in the store.  Meaning, she flapped her wings and hopped all over the store.  Many people stopped and watched and even laughed (hopefully it was in amusement of her great moves and not shock).  She was so excited to say "Trick or Treat" to all of the animals on Noah's Ark at school.  Thad was a pumpkin, and spent the whole day avoiding the camera...he was not nearly as excited as his big sister was.

 

Look at the air that cute butterfly is getting!!

 Check out those sparkly butterfly wings

 Precious in  Pink!!

Carving a Pumpkin

Even though things are a little bit crazy around here these days and sometimes just making it through the day without any broken bones and too many trips to time out is a miracle, we still try to have a couple times a week that we do a special activity with Raleigh.  We had been meaning to carve a pumpkin for a couple of weeks and finally had the chance to make it happen!  Raleigh was very excited about "doing her craft," but once we got the pumpkin open and she could see what was inside her excitement faded to being grossed out.  She then became the project manager.  She was very concerned with what the face of her pumpkin looked like, but didn't want to help until we started carving (Raleigh with a knife should make anyone nervous!)  We had an awesome time carving her "girl pumpkin." I can't wait for next year when little man can carve one too (I have a feeling he will be a little bit more hands on than our project manager).

 Raleigh is ready to carve her beautiful pumpkin

Thad is pretty excited as well...just look at him!!

 Raleigh quickly became the "project manager" and began looking for Christmas presents that she wanted while someone else did all the "yucky" work.

 Thad fell asleep being bossy as well. Ha!

The end result is our beautiful "girl pumpkin" just like the project manager wanted!!

Thaddaeus David Ivy is here!!

On October 3rd at 8:16 am, our sweet Thaddaeus David Ivy made his grand entrance into this world!!!  His debut was much less dramatic than his sister (which tends to also associate with his personality), but we think he is perfect and precious!!  It was a wonderful day and we have tons of pictures from all of our new memories.  Here are our top 10 favorite pictures from his first day of life..

Thaddaeus David Ivy 

7 pounds 7 ounces, 19 inches long

 Love at first sight with our little man!!

 The two men of the family finally getting to meet.

 Me and Ra....well, just being us!

 Big Sister meeting her brother.

 Big Sister already feeling the need to "help" Mimi.

 Pop and Thad.

 The two David's and Clint.

 Thad and his mom...do I look a little bit sleepy or what?!?

Sweet boy...this is still his favorite way to sleep.

The story behind the name

  

When we told many people what we were naming baby Ivy #2, we got lots of feedback.  Most of the feedback was not in the positive direction.  Most everyone said, "I don't know if I like it or not."  At first my feelings were really hurt, but then I quickly got over it.  We knew why we wanted to give our future son his name and it had meaning to us just like his sweet sister that came before him.  So here is the story behind the name.  First of all, we like to pass down a middle name that is named after someone from our family.  Raleigh Lorea was named after her great grandmother.  We hope that she carries on some of the character that my grandmother has as a person, as well as the name.  Thaddaeus' middle name is David, after Clint's father.  If I could use only one word to describe his dad it would be...unwavering.  He is a man who is unwavering in his faith, unwavering in his love for his family, and unwavering in his work ethic.  We pray that Thad gets some of his unwavering personality.  As for his first name...Thaddaeus.  Several years ago we moved to a new job in the Woodlands.  We were very excited to join a team with the Taylor family.  One of our first experiences with Mike was the weekend that his oldest son was graduating from high school.  Mike shared a sweet story about his son and how when he was an infant Mike prayed that his son would love the Lord with everything that he had or that God would take him at a young age because he couldn't stand the heartache of seeing his son not love the Lord.  Wow!  Some people would think that is a little bit extreme, but you should meet his son.  Thaddaeus Taylor is amazing!!  He is truly a young man who is changing the world for the Lord.  He was an intern for Clint a little bit later and we have been blessed by the Taylor family in so many different ways.  So Thaddaeus David Ivy, you have many people who have influenced your name and I hope that you will carry on and inherit some of their character.

A case of cabin fever

Since we have been stuck indoors for a couple of weeks, some of us are beginning to get a case of "cabin fever."  The worst case has been caught by our little princess Raleigh.  For example, her main source of transportation is her bouncy ball.  She goes everywhere on it.  Who needs to walk when you have a bouncy ball??  The other night she was experiencing a case of cabin fever.  When this happens I get concerned for baby Thad the most (because with her cabin fever comes a healthy dose of clumsiness).  I kept asking her to stay away from her brother, but she quickly took it as "wave to your brother."  We got a super quick video of the cabin fever...if you have any medicine to fix this illness, please let us know!

Baby Ivy #2

I feel terrible for not capturing every detail of this last pregnancy, but being pregnant with a 2 year old doesn't yield itself for lots of extra downtime.  If you know me, you know that I am not the most pleasant pregnant lady.  For some people, their skin has a beautiful glow and they feel wonderful the entire time.  I am so sad to say that I am not one of those lucky people.  Pregnancy for me usually means throwing up in lots of random places, breaking out in acne, and gaining weight like a champ.  So when I found out that we were expecting baby Ivy #2, I was very excited and a little bit shocked, but most of all, I was really dreading being pregnant again.  This time around was very similar to being pregnant with Raleigh, but it also had a few perks.  For one, I wasn't as sick and I was able to still run in the mornings (which was a feat that was impossible with baby #1).  I also gained a lot less weight this time around...I think I grasped the concept of eating for two a little bit better this time.  I still threw up in lots of interesting places again this time...I even threw up on a cop this time (believe me I warned him before it happened).  All that fun that I tend to have during my pregnancies has resulted in two wonderful gifts....Raleigh and Thaddaeus.  Now that they are both here, all of that "fun" was totally worth it.

This is the best pregnancy picture that I have with baby Thad...seriously, I didn't take any pictures during my pregnancy at all.

The Zoo

In an effort to make our soon to be big sister feel special...we asked her what was something special that she wanted to do for her Big Sister day.  Her response...she wanted to go to the zoo!! She wanted to see the little mice that go, "squeak squeak" and the pigs.  So funny! We first had to go to baby Thad's doctor appointment and then we were off to the zoo!  We had such an amazing time with our sweet little princess.  She named a crocodile Mr. Turtle, fed the giraffes, and loved the otters.  Thankfully, we also avoided adding any extra babies to the zoo that day (Thad decided to wait through the weekend to make his first appearance).

 Raleigh and Daddy feeding a Giraffe...look how close they are!!

 Mommy and Raleigh checking out the elephants.

 So precious!!!

 We were seriously this close to these guys...so fun, but a little bit scary for Raleigh.

 So silly!!

 Raleigh is doing her best interpretation of the turtle swimming in the background.  This somehow became her new dance for the day.

 

 Checking out the big birds that are, "just like Gran Gran's" according to Raleigh.

 I'm not really sure how to explain this one?!?

Always safe with Daddy.