Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year Everyone! Many blessings in 2010!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Monday, December 28, 2009

It was such a blessing to get to spend the days surrounding Christmas at a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l house right on the gulf. To make it better I was there with with my family... my WHOLE family (minus one cousin). Anna Kate loved having Mommy, Daddy, Granna, Granddaddy, Uncle Brian, both sets of great-grandparents, Auntie Pam, Great Uncle Hank, and cousin Kevin there. She was certainly not starved for attention!

Our view from the back deck. I could get used to looking at this everyday! I already miss it.
Our home for a few days.
Our bedroom. It was just one of six and they each came with their own bathroom! This house was just perfect!

About 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, I was stricken with a terrible stomach virus. Unfortunately about four hours later it hit Chris as well. Needless to say, we both missed out on the Christmas Eve festivities with the family that night. It was so hard especially to be away from little Anna Kate on such a special night. I was SO thankful though to have so many people there to continue to make it special for her in our absence. I had to rely on my mom for a couple pictures from that night. Getting ready to go to bed so Santa could come!
Luckily, Chris and I were able to join the world again on Christmas morning and see our bright eyed little sweetie enjoy all the fun!
Bed-head and all, I love the Christmas morning grins when she saw all her gifts!A Christmas morning tradition... cinnamon rolls! Yum!The one thing she said she wanted Santa to bring her... a "big Lilly." She loves babies!A George game! One of her favorites!
Watching their great granddaughter open presents. Another favorite! A new stroller from GrandMaMa and Auntie Pam!What a view.
Pam and Punkin on a Christmas morning walk.
Brian and Kevin. We missed you Jay!

Mommy and Anna Kate on Christmas morning.
Daddy and AK.
Love this one.
Showing Great-Grandma her favorite ornament.
Bella was quite relaxed. :)
My Granddaddy is one heck of a seafood cook! It is always a special treat for him to cook for us, and what better way to enjoy Christmas lunch than a fish fry?
Yum. Wish I had some more of this!
Dinner table!
The gang's all here! Not the most in focus picture, but I forgot my remote and we had to use the self timer.
One of my favorites. Christmas evening.

The guys could not leave without a fishing trip! Even on a cold afternoon, they caught two sharks, a mullet, and a catfish! Not too shabby.
A true fisherman making fun of his own "fish stories."
Great-Granddaddy and Anna Kate watching the waves.
The Browns.

Relaxing on the deck.
The deck was enormous! AK loved playing with all her new toys out there! I love the fact that is was glass "railing." The unobstructed views were beautiful.
A little help from GrandMaMa.
Lovin' on Bella.
Going to feed the seagulls with GrandPaPa.

Shhhh. Don't tell. :) No, dogs are not allowed on the beach. We had to let Bella play a little frisbee out there though! She LOVED it! I have never seen her have so much fun! We were all lucky though. We had all three of the dogs with us out there for a little while almost every day and never got caught. Our neighbors were not so lucky... the beach seriff caught them a wrote them a hefty ticket. Oops.

Anna Kate and Granna.
Pam and Punkin.
Looking for seashells.
Although our trip had it's share of setbacks... two failed transmissions (my parents on the way there and my aunt and uncles' on the way home) and three people with a virus (my mom caught it too), it was all around a wonderful time. Precious memories with family.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas fun started last Friday with a cookie making fun day at the Hampton's house! Anna Kate and Reed had tons of fun putting decorations on the cookie dough, although I think they had the most fun EATING the sprinkles. :)
Showing off her creations. :)A hug for her buddy.
Uncle Brian was horse sitting at his girlfriend's house last week, so on Saturday we got to tag along! AK had a blast "helping" feed the horses!

Since we will be in FL for Christmas this year, we celebrated with Chris' side of the family early this year. On Sunday we had a wonderful brunch at YaYa and Granddad's house and got to open gifts and spend time with the family. The kiddo's had a blast!
Liam checking out his new plane!
Cheesing for the camera!
Addie playing her new (fake) Wii game. :)
AK and Liam have a love/fight relationship. Check out this fight over Cheerios. I caught the O's in mid-air!
The hit gift from YaYa was pillow pets! They all loved them!
On Monday night, to let Anna Kate have a Christmas celebration at her house, we had my family over for a Happy Birthday Jesus party. We let AK open her stocking early and two gifts!
One of her favorite things in her stocking... CHAP STICK! She quickly became obsessed.

We put Uncle Brian and Kaysie to work putting up AK's new tent.
She was so excited about singing happy birthday to baby Jesus!
Then she had to have just one little taste. :)
Don't they look cute?
Peek-a-boo Anna Kate and Granna!