Annual Hollyhand Christmas Party

Crystal and Riley have a Christmas party every year and it's always fun with GREAT food.  Things have changed quite a bit now that all the kiddies have been added to the mix, so this year, Santa came!  I was so excited to get a cute picture of the boys with Santa...but this is what happened instead.

Tucker wouldn't go near him.

Haha...but we did all go in to the playroom to sing along with Santa, and everyone enjoyed that!

We love spending time with Crystal, Riley, Anna Riley, and Ava Kate.  Cameron and Riley have been friends for a long time and it's so neat that now they are grown and their kids (and wives :)) are friends!  And who knows...maybe one day there will be a little love connections between our boys and their girls?!

Jenn is Thin and Thirty!! :)

One of my favoritest friends turned 30 in December.  Jennifer and I have been friends since we were seniors in high school and then we lived together for two years in college.  I LOVE her and her family (especially Coop ;)) and it has been so amazing to share all of the wonderful milestones in our lives (21st birthdays, graduations, weddings, babies, and now 30th birthdays! After some deliberation with Wes and Jenn, Lauren and I planned a little dinner party at Jenn's favorite Mexican restaurant. Afterwards Jenn's sweet mom got us rooms at Ross Bridge, so we hung out there for a little while longer and met up for breakfast the next morning. I had such a wonderful time, I hope Jenn did, too! :)

Christmas Program 2011

Tucker did such a good job in his Christmas program again this year, we were very proud of him!  

Pappaw came, and so did LeLe and Paw and Grandaddy and MiMi (of course I didn't get a picture of everybody).

The first part of the program the four year old class rang the bells...

Tucker was very serious about his blue bell and ringing it when he was supposed to.

Then they performed a manger scene.  Tucker was a shepherd and so were his two buddies, Joe and Dylan.

They were so cute!  We will miss Chapel Hill when Tucker starts "big school" next year.

FIVE. Years. Old.

Tucker turned five December 7. I feel like five is such a big age, I guess because I remember a lot about my fifth year. This year Tucker wanted a spy party. And you know what? There is no birthday kit for spy parties...not the easiest theme, but nothing is easy with Tucker, so why should birthday parties be any different? We had the party at the farm and we had a scavenger hunt/hayride which was fun!

Luckily, I found some really cute "spy" cupcake toppers...

We had some fun party food and drinks, like "Double Agent Stuffed Oreos" and "Truth Serum." 

The scavenger hunt hayride was lots of fun, at least I thought so!

With Karsyn and Morrisa...So proud of his legos he wouldn't even look at the camera!

LOVES dress-up.

 A couple days after his birthday party we went to Pappaw's house to get one last birthday present.

Tucker was so excited to get a "real" four wheeler!  

I know everybody feels like their children are special, and we're no different...we think Tucker is so special and wonderful. Of course, he is not perfect...much like his mother he does not know how to shut his mouth when he needs to. He loves his baby brother, this took a little bit of time, but he loves him now. Tucker loves super heroes, guns, swords, and his four wheeler. He calls the remote "remoke," he says about instead of without (he says lots of other funny things, but of course I can't remember any right now!).  He told us the other night that he wants a game for the iPad where he is a "paleontologist," so he can learn about dinosaurs (didn't know he knew that big word!).  His favorite person is his Pappaw.  His favorite food is chicken nuggets from Chik fil a.  His favorite color right now is blue.  He likes anything on Cartoon "Neck-work."   Tucker loves animals, especially dogs.  It makes me so sad that he is growing up so fast, when I think of all the things that he is "getting too old for" it brings tears to my eyes.  But, I look forward to watching him grow up and seeing the person that he will become, too!

11Months

Super late on the 11 month post. December was such a busy month, I don't remember most of it. Through all of the madness, our baby boy turned 11 months old! We are now planning a Winter ONE-derland first birthday party. I know it's so cliche, but I can't believe he is almost one. This year has flown by.
Talon is still not walking, but does stand on his own. He likes to throw his hands up and smile really big and we all yell, "touchdown!" He has recently started saying, "Tuh" for Tucker.

I love this age...it's so much fun to learn more about his personality and what kind of little boy he will be :)

Our Little Mountain Adventure

We set on Friday morning, November 19, for a weekend in the mountains.  Our first stop was Ruby Falls in Chattanooga.  Considering I am really afraid of enclosed spaces, going 1100 feet underground was not exactly my idea of a good time.  But the waterfall was beautiful and Tucker enjoyed it, so it was worth it.

There were some pretty neat formations down there.  It is so amazing to think of all the things that God created that we don't even know exist!  I mean this place is as far underground as the Empire State Building is tall!

I was so excited to get a family picture!  Even though Talon is never looking at the camera and cave air is not good for my hair.

Look who fell asleep on the way out of the cave... once he saw the waterfall he was over it!

We walked up to the lookout tower after our tour.  We learned that Tucker is afraid of heights. (not sure where he gets that? Ahem...Pappaw?)

Then we went to our cabin in Blue Ridge, GA.  It was way back in the woods and had a beautiful view of the mountains.  Daddy kept a fire going in the fireplace and the boys loved to help.

Another family picture!  This one would be super cute if you know who was looking at the camera.

Talon loved playing outside.

Tucker's toy was a ninja set... not very "mountain-like," but he absolutely loves it, so who cares.

We spotted this gorilla Friday on our way in, so Tucker wanted to stop on our way out and take a picture with him.  It was hilarious because he was so scared to walk up to it... he seriously thought it was going to jump out and get him.

We had such a fun time and didn't even really do anything except shop and eat!  We got to watch a few good late night football games, too.  It was a much needed relaxing weekend!

10 Months

Baby boy is double digits!  And it totally snuck up on me...so pictures were not taken on his "actual" 10 month birthday (horrible, I know).

Somebody started waving bye bye, so cute!

He is crawling around super fast and pulls up and sits down very well.  He has also started holding on to the sofa and walking around it.

He is still IN LOVE with his Daddy.  Consequently, his first word was "da." If he hears Cameron come in the door he takes off as fast as he can.

He also loves to stand in the refrigerator.  If you open the door he will crawl over as quickly as possible and gets really mad when you shut the door.

He eats anything you put in his mouth, but he still has to eat pureed food.  I try to give him small bites of whatever we are eating, but he has choked a couple of times... most recently at McAllisters, which was pretty embarrassing.  He still loves his bottles.  We are trying the sippy cup and hopefully he will get the hang of it soon.

He is starting to fuss some when we leave the room and he hates it when we get in the shower!

He says something kind of like "ball" and "bye."  And of course, "da da da da."