Christmas 2008

Chris, Alex and I celebrated our Christmas together at our house the Tuesday before we left to MS. Reading the Christmas story to Alex from the Bible was sweet as she likes to say "baby" and "Jesus." We traveled to MS on Christmas Eve to my mom's house for a few days, then to Mimi and Grandaddy's house. We had a great time and enjoyed not having to rush back as Chris was "off." Lots of pics follow, but know that I sorted through 100+ pics before posting. :)

Alex opening a gift from us at our house the day before we left to MS.

Alex and cousin Amber playing in pack n play

Grandmother went all out for Alex and Amber for Christmas. She had tons of gifts laid out for them including these tricyles.
Coloring together...however, we had to take all crayons away from Alex as she kept biting the tips off.
Cousins playing hard together, laughing, and pushing each other around
We spent some time walking the land at my mom's where the orchard grows and where she and my stepdad farmed during his retirement before he passed away. Mom hopes to move back to my hometown, Vicksburg, MS next summer so we wanted to enjoy one of our last walks in this quiet, peaceful country.
During our walk, Alex often wanted to take a break. She would just sit down and say "sitting" or "I sitting." She loved to play with the grass, feel the wind, smell flowers, look around, etc... It was a precious sight.
Chris's traditional night time reading with the girls
3 generations of girls
Grandmother with Alex and Amber. Got to give a shout out to my mom...she cooked an incredible, yummy spread of food for us all. She prepared it all for several days before we arrived and cooked it all while we were there. It was delicious, well appreciated and getting another taste as we froze some and brought home with us. :)Aunt Robin and Uncle Steven
Us at Grandmother's

Amidst the mountains of gifts for Alex from Mimi and Grandaddy, she loved riding the fire truck
Hunter being silly with a bow on his nose
Chris is practicing having an infant again with Anna Cate
Alex sporting her new tutu from Aunt Tammy. She loves wearing it! Yes, that is a bruise under Alex's right eye. She fell down trying to get out of her red wagon and face planted the floor the day before we left. :(
Visiting our special friends Kim, Fleetwood and their 2.5 mo old Logan Gail. It was so good to see them as this is our first reunion since they moved back from New Zealand.
Alex checking out and rocking Logan
Mimi, Anna Cate and Alex (in her Mississippi State Univ t-shirt - Chris loves that!)
Mimi reading to a sleepy Alex before bedtime the last night while Chris and I went out to dinner with some people.
Alex looks like she is getting caught doing something. ha!
Grandaddy, Alex, Mimi and cousin, Anna Cate
Us at Mimi and Grandaddy's house. Mimi got the book Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin for Christmas. I started reading it and devoured it in the few days we were there. I couldn't put it down. It was quite interesting as they had twins before getting pregnant with sextuplets. After reading it, I watched an episode of their show on TLC. Her life with 8 children under 4 yrs old makes my worst day with one seem simple! The book (and show) made me count my blessings as well.
As we took our time traveling home the last day, we were able to stop in Vicksburg to visit my Papaw and his wife, Mary. Alex started to scramble down to go pet his cat as soon as I got the camera out.