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