One Last Look

January:  We celebrate Sarah's first birthday with a Princess Belle party.  There were costume changes, photo montage, and lots of performance by Sarah.  She reaches out and hugs a new baby doll to the delight of her devoted subjects.

February:  We have the kids' pictures made and enjoy a pancake Valentine's Day.

March:  As a devotee of The Pioneer Woman, we make the trip to Atlanta for me to attend her book signing.  It is great fun.  I am slowly becoming an author-groupie.  I really, really want to attend signings for Mary Kay Andrews (Southern chick-lit) and Jon Acuff (Christian author/blogger).

April: Lots of Easter fun with egg hunts, coloring eggs, and pretty Spring clothes.

May: Jeremiah has his preschool program and turns 3.  We take his to the Go Fish! attraction in town and he talks about fish for the rest of the summer.

June:  We play in the sandbox and inflatable pool a lot.  We also go to the "Fried Green Tomato" movie festival and check out the small town of Juliette, where it was filmed.  We swim at Lake Tobesofkee a few times.

July:  Our summer bible study is in full swing.  We attend our town's Fourth of July concert.  Hardcore potty training ramps up.

August:  The kids start back at Sonshine Preschool.  Sarah starts Parent's Morning Out and Jay attends 3 mornings in his class.  I have Tuesday mornings to myself.  Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

September:  Activities!!!  MOPS resumes, as does Ladies' Bible Study.  We are on-the-go this fall. I begin practicing with our Christmas choir.  We join my parents on a vacation to Hilton Head-- it is perfect in the off season.

October:  We hit the fair and ride the Agri-Lift!  Sarah and Jay meet their little cousin, Eli and we have a successful outing Trick-or-Treating.

November:  I host the Thanksgiving meal and live to tell of it.  We have a mini-Christmas with Aunt Natalie and Uncle James and buy our first live tree.

December:  I sing in the Christmas program.  It is a big commitment of time, but such a personal blessing.  Singing just fills my heart and makes me plain, ol' happy.  We enjoy Alex's swanky (for us) company party (and grandparent-provided childcare!) and then the no-holds-barred, Oprah-would-be-proud, family Christmas in North Georgia.  I don't even take pictures, because a new-to-the-fold photographer captures it perfectly.  I manage to pull off a clean and decorated house for our MOPS party. Alex and I are able to attend a Christmas Eve service in my parents' town. We spend Christmas Day with my parents and the spoiling continues.  Sarah chews on her new baby carriage.  Jeremiah holds onto his Dinosaur Train car for dear life.  It is a good Christmas.

It was a good year.  God demonstrated his faithfulness in the seen and unseen.  I am trusting Him for big things in 2012, things that only He can do! 

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Here's our Christmas card.  Merry Christmas, blog friends!

Pretty cards and greetings are beginning to arrive, and I am inspired to reflect on this past year.  Here is, in a nutshell, ours…

Alex spends most of his day at IDMI, a computer software company that works with insurance companies.  He writes code, plays aggressive ping pong with co-workers (as in they had to come in and patch the walls one Saturday), and chats about Georgia football with almost everyone there.  We are both extremely thankful for this company.  It is run with integrity, by a boss who listens and treats his employees with respect.  It is a big reason we enjoy Middle Georgia so much.  Daddy’s arrival always brightens our day, and he is a great hide-and-seeker as well as child thrower, bouncer, wrestler, and swinger.  Our date nights are usually a Netflix movie and a cup of coffee, but we try to laugh and joke often.  Children provide lots of material!

Jeremiah is now 3 and a half.  He loves to have a matchbox car in his hand, and is obsessed with letters and spelling.  He spends 3 mornings a week at our church preschool, and has a wonderful teacher.  He is in big boy underwear, and growing so tall!  I always kid that he looks like a college freshman with his new buzz cut.  Jeremiah loves the cartoon Dinosaur Train, playing flashcards on Mom’s phone, bubble baths, swinging, taking walks, and any song with hand motions.  He is all boy, and he’s ours.  Jeremiah is very affectionate, and hates to be outside of our favor.  He wears us out, and he is worth it!

Sarah turns 2 this January.  She is all sass and goes through a gamut of emotions at a moment’s notice!  She is picking up vocabulary and loves to ask “What’s that?” as she shrugs her shoulders.  She flashes her toothy grin frequently and uses those big teeth to chomp happily away on her crib when she ready to get up.   She always greets us with a high-stepping run as if we have been apart for a long time.  Sarah loves Toy Story, and shouts “Buzz!” anytime she sees something related to the movie.  She prefers to carry about 12 baby dolls at any one time, and dumping things in and out of containers is a great thrill.  She has also begun to say “no” at everything, as in “Would you like candy?” “No….”  Sarah is a beautiful, rambunctious little girl who knows just when to melt your heart.

As for me, I just try to keep up!   I am involved with Ladies’ Bible Study and Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), both of which are a great encouragement and sometimes, a plain escape from kids into the world of adults!  I still tutor a bit, and get to exercise a different part of my brain.  Some highlights for me this year were hosting a summer bible study at my house and having about 20 kids upstairs while their moms and I studied and socialized.  I have wanted to do something like this for a long time, and finally did it!  Along with my sister, I committed to posting and learning bible verses throughout the year, and we are taking a trip in January to a Beth Moore conference for those who completed this task.  I have some serious review to do, but I can’t wait! 

Since a Christmas greeting focuses on what is good, I’ve left out our day-to-day challenges, mostly tantrums, frustrations, and trying to be patient, consistent, and loving.  I mention this because each day, and each year, brings its own set of challenges.  Especially at Christmas, I want to thank God for the highs and lows, because he came to bring life to the full--not a life free from pain or problems, but a life that takes those things and makes them for the good!  We thank God for the blessing of our children, our families, good health, and His abundant provision, day in and out.  Merry Christmas!

Love, Alex, Melissa, Jeremiah, and Sarah

This Ain't No Disco...

Ain't no country club either...  This our tree. We have our first live tree this year!  Two things I did not anticipate:  a) it is much fuller than an artificial tree and b) it takes a lot of lights. 

We always had a live tree as kids and Mom always fought for colored lights and we usually overrode her vote.  She was right.  Colored lights are so festive.  We are all about the flash, not the class, here.  My favorite ornaments are on the top fourth of the tree, and all the plastic balls and candy canes are on the bottom (the sacrificial lambs).  Sarah has already chomped down a Styrofoam package ornament, a ornament hanger (not the sharp hook part) and pulled tinsel out of a homemade ornament. 

Maybe one day I'll have a collection of glass ornaments and a themed tree in each room, but for now, I'm pretty pleased with ours.

What's your favorite tree trimming tradition?  Mine is listening to the Beach Boys and Amy Grant Christmas albums while decorating the tree.  We always spun those on my Dad's old, massive stereo/record player/tape deck system. Now it's streaming Pandora.  I'm not sure if the improved technology has the same warm aesthetics as that old behemoth.

May all your days be merry and bright!