Our Newest Little Love!

Our Nephew, John "Gavin" Dalgety, was born Sunday evening.  As you can tell, he is most adorable!  We are in love, for sure!

Christmas Wrap Up!

Christmas Card Photo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Our Blogging Family to Yours!

(This picture took great effort to get...enjoy one of the few good shots of all of us.)

Christmas Eve, we went to the service at Grace which was great.  We had to sit on the floor in the foyer because there was such a big crowd.  That's one of those good problems, right?  Then, we met up with my family at Olive Garden.  It was quick (due to a fussy infant) but a good time.

After Olive Garden, we set out cookies and Maggie's paci for Santa.  Maggie sent her paci via Santa to her cousin, Gavin, who was expected to be born any day. Surprisingly, Maggie did very well without her paci...yay!

Then, Santa and his helper went to work!

We were all up early ready to have some fun!  We had Mimi, Papa, Aunt Tay, Nana, and Pal over to have breakfast and enjoy watching Maggie and Kerri Grace open up Santa gifts.

After that, we headed to Grandma Oliver (AKA "Mama O")'s house in Abbeville.  It was so good to see everyone again.  We missed Bradley due to him working.  Hopefully his schedule will be better next year.

We ended the Christmas day with a picnic in our bonus room (pay no attention to the mess in the background).

Joy to the World!!

Happy Birthday to Our Savior!!

Boy, did we celebrate His birthday!  December was full of events and family.  I don't think I can really describe each party and event (without boring you) so I will try to condense.  We started Sunday, December 13th at Matt's grandparents, and we partied hard all the way until Christmas Day ( I'll post Christmas Eve and Christmas Day soon)!  Definitely, one of the best parts for Maggie was Daddy being off more to play!  Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully the captions will give you enough info. about where we were and who we were with. Enjoy! 

Merry Christmas!

A Few Things That Make Me Jolly This Season:

Thing #1:

My baby girl rolling over all the time (while sporting her adorable hand-me-down Christmas apparel)!

Thing #2:

Making Christmas cookies with my Christmas cutie!

(She gave these to Mrs. Bebra (Debra) and Mrs. Penny, her school teachers.)

Thing #3:

Excitedly running out to the mailbox to see what Christmas cards await us! 

Maggie's First Dance Performance!

Maggie's 2-year-old "dance" class (actually called Creative Movement, which is more accurate) just had their first ever performance. We all wondered how Maggie would respond when the curtains opened to a packed auditorium and the bright lights of the Big-Time hit her. Our questions were answered about 0.5 seconds after the curtain opened and Maggie proceeded to bust out with her own dance interpretation of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We now officially have a performer on our hands, and afterwards she kept asking if she could do it again.

Maggie all Reindeer-ed up and ready to go.

That's my girl!

Forward-leaning hands on knees position. Very advanced skill for her age.

Why didn't everybody else want to step up to the front of the stage like me?

Bringing it home for the big finish!

Proud mommy and daddy with our dancing princess!

And if you want the full viewing experience, pause the playlist at the bottom of this page and click on the video below (guaranteed to brighten your day/week/month/year):

Lessons Learned....Maybe

Maggie, Kerri Grace, and I were about to head out the door.  Kerri Grace was in her carrier, and Maggie was ,once again, squishing her with a loving hug.

Mommy:  Maggie, Mommy has told you not hug on Kerri Grace when she is in her carseat.
Maggie: (Nodding) ...in her carseat, in her swing, on her toy mat
Mommy: Point taken, baby.

**Note to self:  My overly cautious personality is getting in the way of my girls enjoying one another!  Hmmmm...may need to work on that.**

Christmas Party...Small Group Style!

The festivities have officially begun!  Tonight, we had our small group Christmas party over at the Yoders.  They did it up right!  We had all kinds of good food, a fun round of white elephant gift card/ candy bar exchange, excited little toddlers running around, and three new little small group members celebrating their very first Christmas.  It really doesn't get any better than that!  Merry Christmas!

Gobble Gobble!

I have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Here are just a few:

A loving husband

Matt's back is feeling so much better (Maggie is so happy to have her playmate back)!

Beautiful Baby Girls!

Tables that can seat all of the family and food for a great time of fellowship!

Grandparents / Great-Grandparents

Awesome Sister-in-laws

Hugs and Kisses from and for the ones we love

Fun Engagements!

What a great Holiday!  We spent Thanksgiving Day with Matt's family and it was wonderful.  We ate way too much delicious food and spent the rest of the day visiting and being thankful.  Then, on Friday, Brian and Kerri got engaged!  Brian definitely did it up right!  I won't give all of the details because I am sure they want to tell the story themselves.  But, last Friday, there was literally love in the air. =)

"Happy Dirfday to You"

"Happy Dirfday to You, Happy Dirfday Dear Mimi, Happy Dirfday to You!"

That is about the only thing that came out of Maggie's lips yesterday.  She loves birthday parties and she loves her Mimi, that's for sure.  We all do!  Last night, we had a great time celebrating the life of our Mom and Mimi....she is so special to all of us!  We Love You, Mom!

Papa, Kerri Grace, Maggie, and Mimi

The Birthday Girl and Her Children (minus Kerri Grace who was already snoozin')

Update

We have been busy trying to somehow get Matt feeling better.  Both sets of grandparents have helped out so much by keeping Maggie and Kerri Grace, and trying to help out with some of the "labors" of everyday living with two little munchkins.  We are so blessed to have them nearby for so many reasons.  This morning, Matt was working on getting his MRI lined up.  So, hopefully he will be on the mend soon.  We appreciate all of your prayers!

In other household news, here are some of the absolute joys of my days and the only people that can take Matt's mind off of his misery!

Happy, happy baby!

What a "cheese!"

Peek-a-boo...still wearing my handy dandy helmet!

I mean really...does it get any better?

Matt's Back

As some of you know, Matt has been in a good bit (sometimes extremely intense) pain for over a month now.  He has been to the doctor and the physical therapist.  Now, we are thinking that what we once thought was a muscle issue is more likely a more serious disc injury.  If you don't mind, say a quick prayer for him.  He doesn't complain AT ALL which is one of the things I love about him.  However, last Saturday he let the pain get the best of him and he actually passed out.  So, needless to say, we have got to get the problem fixed somehow.  He will be going back to PT next Wed. and if he is not any better, they are going to order an MRI.  Pray that he will be healed and that this "problem" will not be something he has to deal with forever (which is something that is likely at this point.) Thanks so much, friends!

Weekend of Celebrating!

Baby Gavin will be here before we know it!  I can't wait!  He will make me an aunt which is a role that I am ready to embrace whole-heartedly!  He will also be Maggie and Kerri Grace's first cousin!  Whoo hoo! I think that Maggie is excited.  For right now, she just wants to see Gavin.  In fact, she attempted to lift up Kim's shirt several times in order to "find him."  So funny!

Thank you, Kimberly and Mark!  We are so very excited to meet this special little guy!

Here are a few pictures from the shower we gave Kim (and Gavin) this afternoon:

Kimberly and Kerri diggin' for the goodies!

Kim with a couple of her friends.

Kerri Grace with her Nana Sue

"Mama T" reading to Maggie.

This was a cute shot of my little Sweet Cheeks spending some quality time with her Aunt Kim and Gavin Saturday night.