thanksgiving

we had so much to be thankful for this thanksgiving.
we had our sweet girl here to celebrate with us
AND
JP was home - for the 1st time in 3 years:)


becca had a lot of fun playing with her cousins.



we got to celebrate with my mom & brother...





and with all of jp's family!



on saturday, we went to lancaster to celebrate with the rest of my family.
becca got to meet my cousins for the first time.
kerri & dave made the trip home all the way from england.
it was great to see them - especially since they're expecting their own little girl in april:)

becca especially loved dave:)




here she is playing with uncle jimmy!

it was great to have everyone together for the holidays.

here is grandma with her grandkids and great-granddaughter:)

actually, both of her great-granddaughters:)

and thanksgiving break isn't complete without the carolina/clemson game.
this little girl was all ready to cheer on her gamecocks:)

while they might not cheer for the same team...

their love for each other is undeniable:)

and now that's it's officially christmas season, we decided to put up our christmas tree sunday afternoon.

here is sweet becca watching from the laundry basket.

she really didn't mind....

in fact, she can't wait for christmas to get here!

Happy Thanksgiving

from our family

to yours!

the stockings were hung

by the chimney with care!

Here's another great deal I just had to share.
For anyone who is need of stockings, Pottery Barn has their traditional red and white stockings on sale for $15 with FREE monogramming and FREE shipping until Monday, November 29th.

The smaller stockings are $9 for anyone who's curious.



You absolutely cannot beat this deal.
I just ordered our new stockings and can't wait to get them in.
I'll be sure to post pictures of all THREE stockings:)

What mom loves a great deal?
Actually, what mom loves getting stuff for free?
I'm sure every mom, so here's a great deal from Hallmark.
When you spend $10 in a Hallmark store between now and December 24th, you can get $10 off. Yes you read that correctly.
By going here, you can spend about a minute filling out a little information, and then you can print your $10 off coupon.
How easy is that?

A big thanks to Confessions of a Couponaholic for sharing this great deal!

shutterfly

I don't know anyone who's not familiar with this site.
I've been using them for years to store, share, & order my photos.


But are you aware of all that can be done at their website?
Other than the basic photo uploading & ordering, you can also make photo books, create personalized stationary, make custom calendars, and create your own mugs, ornaments, mouse pads, and wall decals, just to name a few.

One of my FAVORITE things on the Shutterfly website are their Christmas cards.
There are so many to choose from, and their selection is unbeatable!

Here are a few that I absolutely love:)

If you'd like to check out all of their photo Christmas cards, just go here.

And for all you bloggers out there, go here to find out how you can receive 50 free Christmas cards!

Oh, how I love the sound of 'free' and 'Christmas cards' in the same sentence:)

Ahhhh! It's the simple things.

7 months

These monthly posts seem to be happening too fast!
I cannot believe Becca is already 7 months old.
Well, actually she was 7 months old last Saturday, but due to my immense need to snuggle with her at night, I'm just now getting around to posting her new pictures.

She's growing and changing so much.

Look! She's taller than her bear:(


Taking pictures is definitely more challenging - we like to grab everything and put it in our mouth.


After 20 (literally) picture attempts, we decided to move the bear and just take her picture!

I love this smile - she's looking at her daddy!



And here she is eating one of the blocks.
Check out those eyelashes!
Amazing:)




So, what has Becca been up to?

* she is eating 3 meals a day - we (really JP mostly) makes all of her baby food. This saves us a ton of money!

* she still only drinks breast milk - she's taking about 5 oz at each feeding

* she rolls everywhere!

* everything she can touch goes in her mouth

* she still only has 2 teeth

* she is wearing a size 3 diaper

* she is wearing 6-9 months clothes

* she is still the happiest baby in the world

* she smiles ALL of the time

* she can totally sit up, unsupported

* she wishes she could walk - she loves for you to hold her in the standing position

* she is reaching for us now when she wants us to hold her

* she loves Mrs. Nat and all of her friends at 'school'

* she's getting a little more attached to JP and me - sometimes if other people hold her while we're in the room, she cries for us. As much as I love that she loves me that much, we're going to try our best to break her of that now. I don't want her to ALWAYS need one of us (even though she's never leaving home OR getting married!)

Another one of her new tricks:

'Sitting up' in her bouncy seat.

She sits here every morning and watches Sesame Street while we finish getting ready.

I almost went into heart failure when I saw this because all I could imagine was her leaning forward a little more and this seat tipping over, off the coffee table.

But then I calmed down and realized the base is a lot wider than the seat, so she's not going anywhere.

She got her 1st Gamecock sticker to wear for the Florida game - Nat gave them to all the kids last Friday:)

I'm pretty sure that's why they played so well.

How can you not win with this sweet girl cheering you on?

Even though we've had her with us for 7 months, there are still days I can't believe we were given this amazing gift.

I am thankful that God trusts us enough to give us one of his angels.

I never take her for granted, I hug her and kiss her a million times a day, and I love on her as much as I can because I know that soon we'll be dropping her off for her 1st day of school, or watching her walk across the stage at her graduation, or

watching her walk down the aisle on her wedding day.
Well, we can omit that last part since it's already been established that she's never leaving home:)

All jokes aside, I now truly understand the people who told me how fast time passes once you have kids.
I wish I had a pause button some days just so I could have one extra minute of her at that exact moment.
But as much as I want for this, it can never be, so I'll just continue enjoying watching her change and grow.
And I'll be sure to share the pictures so you can join in this fabulous journey with us.

Bubblegum Boutique

Ok, for all of you Mommies (or Grandmas) out there, I found a GREAT deal on hair bows.

Hair bows, as many of you know, can be quite pricey!

But if you have a little girl, they are a must.

So what do you do?

Well, here's your solution!

On Facebook, search for Bubblegum Boutique and 'Like' them.

This is their profile picture!

Then if you go to their page, you will see where she posted that you can order 10 'Basic Minis' for $10 OR 10 'Basic Mediums' for $15.

The minis are 2.5" and the mediums are 3.5", both with alligator clips.

How cute (and cheap) are these?

You get to choose your colors from 5 - you heard me - 5 different color charts.

She has solid color and polka dots to choose from.

To order, you simply email her at bubblegumboutique09@gmail.com

That's it!

And for those of you who don't have a little girl, these make great Christmas presents!

(If you don't have a Facebook account, I'm sure you can just email her.)

Ahhh, I'm so in love.

Now I just have the daunting task of deciding which ten colors to order.

Jesus loves me

This sweet girl started Sunday school a couple of weeks ago!


It's hard to believe she's already going to her class.
To be honest, it all makes me a little sad - only because I'd like to keep her my baby forever!


She absolutely LOVED sitting at the table with her friend Ethan:)



Here she is with her Wednesday night teacher, Mrs. Nancy!

One of the things I so desperately want for Becca is for her to know Jesus. I want to foster this aspect of her life any way that I can. I want her to have a deep relationship with Him and know the promises she has in Him.

I so look forward to the Godly, young girl I know she is going to be.

if you're happy and you know it...

Just in case you need a smile...

here are some pictures from the past few days!


Becca was all smiles after church on Sunday.
She looked so sweet in her dress from her GG.

And this, well, there just aren't words for it!

Look at these faces:)

After her bath last night, she had some play time on the floor.

She's figured out that Jack will lay with her if she gives him her toys!

Smart girl:)

She's such a happy baby!

Have I mentioned how blessed we are?

SWEET girl

We've been trying lots of new foods with Becca.
Mostly fruits & veggies.

But Saturday, we let Becca try something new.
She had her 1st cupcake - well, a couple of licks of a cupcake.

Did she enjoy it, you ask?
See for yourself:)

She LOVED it!

And what happened when Daddy took it away?

That she did not like!

But this picture does give you a peek at her two new teeth:)

And here's a close up!

boo at the zoo

I love being a Mommy for so many reasons -

one of those reasons being that I get to do really fun stuff like Boo at the Zoo!

So the weekend before Halloween, we got the babies dressed in their costumes and off we went!

I don't think they quite knew what to think.

They love each other so much:)

Daddy enjoyed the candy Becca got for him.

We tried for a quick photo - but it was not happening.

Then we tried for a photo with the Boo at the Zoo sign...

take 1...

take 2...

take 7...

o well - we tried.



The babies had so much fun looking at all of the lights.

Have I mentioned that they love each other?

A quick trip into the reptile room (or whatever you call it) gave us a chance to warm up.

Why Lala, what white teeth you have!

By the end of the night, we had some very tired babies!

We had so much fun and we can't wait to go back next year.