Long Overdue Post, Part 2

And it's taken me over a month from our last long overdue entry to write this post; so now I have even more things to catch up on!  Nonetheless, we'll make this a 3-part series of months-late summaries and get caught up...eventually.

DECEMBER 2015 was great fun!  John started teething again, but it took almost an entire month of chewing on everything and drooling like crazy before any more came in... and boy did they come in!  In the last few days of December and first couple of January (a week total), Johnny Boy got FOUR new teeth, bringing his count up to 6.  Buddy Man was a champ, though, and was still just as happy as can be the entire time.  What a good babe.  And he has even more now; but we'll talk about that in Part 3.

The kids and I were able to spend almost 2 full weeks in Collierville with my family for the Christmas holiday.  I flew with the two of them by myself on the way down, and of course, things couldn't be easy.  I rarely update Facebook with a personal, this-is-what's-going-on-with-me post, but I felt the need to after my experience:

"SPRINTING through the Charlotte airport last night from one gate to the next with a wide-eyed baby strapped to my front, a backpack strapped to my back, a Winnie the Pooh backpack sliding down my arm, a wheeled carry-on bumblebee suitcase dragging behind, and a stroller holding a giggling toddler ("wheeeeee!") leading the way isn't necessarily an ideal situation, but it does make one feel kind of like Superwoman when one reaches the gate just in the nick of time, even though Superwoman probably never sweats like that AND gets to wear a fancy cape."

We had a great time while we were there, and we even had some professional pictures done, which is where we got that fancy pic at the top.

We celebrated NYE on NYDay with our best friends here in Franklin, and we had a great time.  I copied Eric and Lauren's "balloon drop" celebration from their last year's NYE party, and the kids loved it, though you wouldn't think Susannah did based on her face (see below).

So here's the month of December in pictures!  (Well, the month of December + January 1...)

This girl is AMAZING on an airplane.  She is so well behaved and (surprisingly) makes friends with everyone!

We went to see Hudson's Christmas program, and this is just the cutest picture.

My peeps

This boy is Eric Ware's kid: cuddling with his toy guitar.

Making gingerbread houses at Aunt Lauren and Uncle E's house!

Susannah and Uncle E bonded over the glow-in-the-dark drumsticks.

The beginning of the Polar Express Experience, brought to you by Lauren Ware.  A magical night!

Going hard.

The boy snuggled with me like this for almost 20 minutes.  My babes NEVER snuggle!  It was glorious!

Watching The Polar Express in their very own train cars with melted snow and popcorn.

John and Hendricks -- Matching cousins!

Uncle Bear's cookie baking/decorating contest!

Focused in.

Family pic with our sparklers on Christmas Night.

A rare group, but a good group.  I love my siblings SO MUCH!

Long Overdue Post, Part 1

Man, have I been slacking on updating the blog!  We've had milestones come and go, trips to see family, and lots of funny stories; and it's just been the toughest finding time to write some of this stuff down with pictures to entertain, as well!  Nonetheless, I'm getting down to business tonight and recalling the things I can for your reading pleasure.

We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Harrisonburg with Pete's family again this year, which was a blast.  Rip, Carissa, Sydnie, and Maddie all were able to come up from TX again, and (as you can imagine) Susannah played hard-to-get the ENTIRE time and John was their best friend immediately.  Those two babes are so different it's hilarious.  The Gilberts came a few days after we arrived, and Susannah immediately blossomed into a beautiful, hyper little girl, but kept her smiles and giggles strictly on reserve for girlie time.  Shy little stoic girl.

John turned 6 months old while we were there and started solid foods; he was initially not a fan.  His first taste was oatmeal, and he did not like it one bit.  Once we tried some avocados, though, he began to mostly tolerate food, which is still about where we are now.  He still dislikes oatmeal and tolerates fruits and vegetables.

John also got his first two teeth, bottom middles, in early November.  I'll save the current tooth-count for Part 2 of my Long Overdue Post, but Boy has been teething like a champ.  He drools like crazy and chews on EVERYTHING like crazy and his naps are cut short 95% of the time because of discomfort, but he is still hands-down the happiest baby you've ever seen.  He smiles most of the day and is generally pleased with life.  I hope that sweet spirit sticks around because I've heard that redheads can be pretty fiery!

And now Part One's pictures:

We totally decorated before Thanksgiving.

So many caption options here...

Cooking with Figgy

His first bite.  Such a cute reaction of disgust!

It was COLD the first few days, and this girl loved it!

One of my favorite moments ever.  After reading this book to Susannah before her nap, she asked to keep looking at it.  I said yes and left the room.  I went back to check on her about 10 minutes later, and Sweet Girl had fallen asleep reading.  Warms this English Major's heart!

Sydnie and Rip!  I hate I didn't get a picture of Maddie and Carissa, too!

At an overlook in Massanutten 

Might be the cutest picture of them EVER

My happy boy!

Basically how Susannah is all the time with Charis and her sisters: she watches and laughs and watches and laughs!

Thanksgiving family pic

Possibly the best picture you've ever seen.  "Don't look now, but Dad totally needs to XYZ!"

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, Christmas dresses for the next 5 weeks!

Part Two will cover December's events!

Birthdays Galore!

The last couple weeks have been FILLED with birthdays!  We got to celebrate Pops's 70th and Uncle Mike's 35th birthdays (strangely enough, they are on the same day) with them, which was tons of crazy kid fun.  We put together a fun little video for Pops since this was such a milestone, and I've put it down there with the pics for you to enjoy.  What a legacy that man has!

Aunt Sarah brought all kinds of fun stuff for the kids!

Pops's favorite chocolate cake!

Figgy and her big girls

John getting some Aunt Sarah time

Playing in the tent

Mike with his favorite chocolate cake

Pops's Video:

Then, Susannah's BFF Asher had his 2-year birthday (1 week before Susannah's to the day), and Sus got on her first bounce house ever at his party.  But that was child's play to the girl who jumps with Daddy on a 12-foot trampoline on the regular.

The look of determination.

THEN, our Susannah Girl herself had her 2-year birthday party this past Saturday!  We were so excited to have Figgy, Pops, Dizzy, and PopPop all in town for the festivities, and some of Susannah's local favorites were even able to come.  We had a great time playing and eating and opening sweet presents.  And now our sweet baby girl is 2. (Well, we've been pretending she's already 2 since Saturday so that she doesn't expect a reenactment tomorrow.)  I'm trying to avoid saying all the things that every parent says with each birthday, but gracious, how has it been 2 years?  Susannah brings SO much joy to our life, and we adore her more with each day and milestone!

Sweet, stoic babe! 

That finger is about to dive right in.

BIG smiles for her Elmo card!

Opening presents might be one of her favorite activities now, second only to eating birthday cake (that her Daddy has let her have for breakfast the past couple days, too...)

Family pic and hilarious expressions!

And to cap off the birthday weekend, we had John dedicated at church on Sunday.  And I just need to go ahead and post a picture from that right now before I say anything else:

One of the ladies from church said she couldn't help but pull out her camera and try to capture this sweet moment of Susannah and John holding hands during his dedication.  Sus reached out to hold his hand first for a little while, and then when she dropped his hand, he reached back over toward to to hold hands again!  I really almost cried watching that sweet interaction.  I know it won't always be like that between those two, so I'm glad someone grabbed that moment with a camera! (Even if Susannah does look ticked...but that's not exactly abnormal.)

More funny expressions

The fam after John's dedication

And last but not least, we'll share some Halloween pics.  This costume might have been my greatest idea ever:

No captions necessary.

Denver and More!

Yep, that's about right.

I just uploaded the 229 pictures I've taken since the last time I posted. TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE.  And y'all, that's just on my fancy camera.  That's not including the 50ish from my phone.  I'd say I need to chill, but I just can't NOT attempt to capture every moment of these days with our babies!

Since my last post, we made a family trip out to Denver to see Aunt KK and Uncle Bear, had some great weather at home, and even hosted a pretty huge-for-the-country Ackertoberfest (our hopefully-annual shindig).  So here are some pics!

Susannah or Daddy?

The men with Dizzy before they headed off to catch and feast on trout in the mountains.

We brought Dad along with us to secretly celebrate their anniversary!

Brunch before heading to...

...Tiny Town!  This place is a toddle paradise.

On the train at Tiny Town.

Susannah got to have her way with an ice cream cone for the first time ever.

These two... Susannah is 100% obsessed with Aunt KK!

Of course Baby Girl closed her eyes for the only group pic we took amongst the Aspens!

Once the men were back, we left the kids with them and promptly went to happy hour, toasting our amazing time in Denver.

Silly faces on the big girl bed

Reading with Daddy

Daddy -- er, Susannah -- got a trampoline!

Yes, it's so obviously Susannah's, right?

Matching my girl with our boots
 

We had our pastor's little girl with us for a few days while they welcomed their new baby into the world.

And her visit led to the most hilarious picture I have ever taken EVER...

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LOOK AT HER FACE.

You're welcome!