MLK Weekend

Mom and Maddy always come visit for MLK weekend since they have an extra day off school. This year we were so excited that Cal came too! We had a fun time together- ate at Joe T Garcia's and walked around Sundance Square, went to Estate/Garage sales and "toured" some interesting old houses, ate mexican, went to the oulet mall, out breakfast out, played at the park, and much more. Brieleigh, Uncle Cal, and Aunt Maddy had many fun times in our oven box. They colored in it and rolled around in it.

Brieleigh loved tackling Uncle Cal!

They also taught her how to say "Hotty Toddy" which she now LOVES to say. She wants to teach her friends too, but I told her their parents might not appreciate it. :)

Christmas in the Pines

Ok, so let me post these pictures finally that I have had downloaded on her for awhile so we can move on to February!

Here are our three Christmases:

Texas-

We had our little Christmas at home on Christmas Eve morning before heading to the grandparents. We always want our  kids to remember having Christmas together at home.

David and Brieleigh Christmas morning

Brieleigh and Jamey opening stockings

Mississippi, Crawford Christmas-

I did not do a great job of taking pictures, but I got a few random memories caught on camera.



Crawford Christmas- right after a wonderful Christmas worship service. It was very neat having Christmas on a Sunday this year. It seemed so appropriate.



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My dad's sister and some of her family came to visit all of us the day after Christmas. It was so good to see them all.
Top left: Peter, Cal, Katie, Aunt Jeanette, Beth (Mom), Brieleigh, David, Tess, Mark, Kolleen
Bottome left: David B., Madeline, Uncle Pope, Jamey

Taking silly pictures on Millie's new Ipad

Maddy LOVES her some Hello Kitty. Brieleigh now always spots Hello Kitty everywhere we go. :)

Uncle Cal with his new camel hair blazer, cowboy hat, and cowboy boots.

Brieleigh and Peter loved playing in this big box more than opening presents.

At Mary Lou's Biscuit Bar- yum! Good country breakfast with some sweet friends- Sandy, Liz, and Mrs. Lisa. Brieleigh and Jeannie played together for a while the night before, but sadly I had no camera.

Mississippi, Willers Chrismas-

Brieleigh with her new headlamp. She loved having it on our recent camping trip. When we were opening presents Brieleigh carried it around the whole time. Everyone asked if she would be just as content with the light off, but she was too smart for that and made sure she had the light on the whole time.

Uncle Nathaniel and Brieleigh

Brieleigh and her cousin Tatjana playing together "Christmas" morning

Brieleigh loved tackling Aunt Annie

Brieleigh always loves the animals. Treebeard, the goat, kept trying to jump on her. Brieleigh told him, "Be sweet to me, Treebeard!"

Brieleigh chasing chickens in the woods.

Waving to Felix, the dog

Jamey shooting skeet with the shotgun. We had a mini tournament- David, Daniel, Ethan, Nathaniel, Anna, and I- so me and the 5 Willers kids. I am proud to say that I tied Ethan and Nathaniel for first place. I think we only shot 4 of 12 though, so nothing too amazing. David always tells me it is beginner's luck. :)

David shooting



Nathaniel, the youngest Willers boy, got his Eagle Scout Award while we were there. Now all four boys are Eagles... Nathaniel, Ethan, David, and Daniel (tallest to shortest, youngest to oldest, most hair to least hair :)



Brieleigh loves her Uncle Nathaniel. She told our friends recently, "I love my uncles!"

We were finally able to let Brieleigh walk around Mississippi State's campus for her first time for a few minutes. After taking her to the basketball game as well she is now a true bulldog fan. "It's Go Bulldogs, Mommy!"

Brieleigh and Bully

Watching her first Mississippi State sporting event in person. We got there and she asked, "Where are the Go Rangers??"

Remembering our first unofficial date at a MSU basketball game... David called me last minute one Sunday afternoon asking me to go with him. I said I really had to take a nap (because that is what I told the guy who called right before him and I was really tired). I hung up, knocked some sense into my head since I really liked David, immediately called back and told him of course I want to go!

Our crew

We went to the refuge to see the benches Nathaniel built for his Eagle Project and to enjoy some wildlife and peacefulness.

Brieleigh loved playing jacks with Pops.

Christmas Season

Here are some very late pictures from Christmas festivities back in December for Brieleigh's third Christmas (third- really?). We had a fun time together creating more traditions and memories.

You probably will not see this in the picture version, but we really tried to put the focus on Jesus for Brieleigh and did not mention Santa Claus to her really at all. Everyone has a different way of approaching this, and that is totally fine. There is no one right way to teach your child the reason we celebrate Christmas every year. We just decided as parents that we wanted to focus and spend our efforts on Jesus's incarnation (God becoming a man and entering this world as a baby to save us out of our sins) from a tiny age rather than spending effort on trying to uphold the Santa Claus myth (though fun to do as well). We told Brieleigh about the real Saint Nicholas when she would ask about our ornaments with big white beards or see them in every store we passed. I am actually suprised she never mentioned "Santa Claus" by name especially since everyone who we ment on the street wanted to know what Santa Claus was bringing her for Christmas. I pray that her little heart was open to all the things we tried to teach her this season, and that we would not just focus on it for a season but every day all through life.

One cute story was when I put some of my Grandmother's Santa Claus/Saint Nick looking figurines that I inherited out. They were pretty high on a shelf, and Brieleigh noticed them since they were not usually there. "What are those, Mommy?... Baby Jesuses??" :)

Attempted photo shoot

Enthusiastically watching the Richardson Christmas Parade- a very strange little parade.



Kissing the goat at the Christmas tree farm



On a hayride to find our tree (which took us a good 2 hours- the drought was not too nice to the trees)

Helping Daddy cut down our perfect tree

Making sugar cookies to eat while we decorated the tree

Brieleigh was very into hanging ornaments this year. She always would ask, "Where does this one go?"

At the Richardson Christmas Village- they have a "village" of little houses you can go in and do a Christmas activity. Brieleigh talks about the "little houses" every time we pass the city hall.

She was very brave and hugged all the dressed up people we saw.

Petting goats and a rabbit... can you tell she loves animals??

In a sleigh with Berkley Swindle (on our second trip)

Brieleigh's Party- Two Years Old

We had a small little party for Brieleigh with a couple of her friends. She LOVES watching birds, and some of her favorite books are our bird identification books. So we had a bird watching party for her. We had a group of birds fly in during the party just in time for the kids to watch them. Brieleigh was so ecstatic to show them to her friends!

David did an awesome job with the bird cake. He made every bit of it from scratch, cut it out, and decorated it himself. I can take very little credit. I was so impressed, I told him it should be on Cake Boss on Food Network. It tasted great too!

Brieleigh going crazy when the birds flew in.

Brieleigh and her party friends: Berkley and Lewis, watching the birds.

Opening her presents