Variety is the Spice of Life!

The delay in blog postings here has been primarily due to my (Cathy) dental issues. For anyone who has known me long at all knows that I have experienced almost every possible dental procedure possible except dentures and I'm getting closer and closer to that :) (hopefully not!) Long story short, I went through 3 oral surgeries in a 2 week period with the hopes of having a dental implant put in and then in 6 months get a crown and have a tooth to chew on in my back upper gums! Not so much. The implant got infected then procedure #2 was to remove the implant. Procedure #3 was to repair the lining of my sinus cavity that tore after the implant was removed and allowed air to flow from my sinus cavity to my oral cavity (very weird feeling!) No, my periodonist was not using Paper Clips! So have no idea how many stitches have been in/out of my mouth but none are there now and I think infection is over and no more antibiotics. The hope is to revisit this implant idea in 3 months. We'll see! ' In the meantime, life with a husband and toddler move on! So thankful for them to provide support and comic relief! In the middle of all that Jeff and I celebrated birthdays and now are 39 and 37 respectively. I asked my soon to be 41 year old friend if THIS was middle age and she broke it to me gently that it was. WOW! I'm here! Feels great and I'm good with it! Thanks mom and Jim for the great barbeque dinner to celebrate and thanks to all for the calls and cards and emails. Fun to be remembered! We also made a trip to Baton Rouge to visit Granddad, Grandmommy and Uncle Bobby. Note the photos below for highlights of that trip. Having a toddler is a great excuse to get out and do things you would otherwise not do. You'll see we enjoyed a trip to the zoo, visited Uncle Bobby and his dog, McGyver and toured the swampland. It's just fun to watch Claire explore and learn everyday!

Below are some "random" photos of days in the life of Claire. She just turned 18 months and weighs 22# and is 31" tall. Doing great! Learning to eat with a kid fork and drink from a straw and learning new words all the time. Lately her words are bear, key, truck, car, play, outside, bubbles, paint, cah (for color)...I love being able to communicate more and more! She loves blocks, music, coloring and stickers, reading and picking out objects from a page...She continues to do well in Toddler 1 at Cathedral day care and enjoys Kindermusik class. We marvel at God's goodness in the good times and challenges. We pray for enough challenges to keep us humble and seeking the Lord and enough good times to keep us encouraged to keep walking! Our prayer for you too!

The Arts, Sciences, Sports and Politics

We have had quite a variety in our household lately. Claire has grown to enjoy finger painting. We tried it awhile back and the texture was a bit "icky" so we tried again and she jumped right in! Then we enjoyed some time at McWane Center. Jeff and I decided it was time for a family day off and it was really fun! Then we moved into the LSU/Alabama game which did not turn out like we'd hoped but you win some and lose some. Finally, I got to meet Mayor Gary Ivey (Hoover) at our Garden Club Meeting. The Mayor always comes in January each year. Good to get a "State of the City" and hear what is coming up. Variety is the spice of life so here's a snapshot of 4-5 days in our lives. THE ARTS

The SCIENCES

SPORTS

POLITICS

Tale of Three Christmases

What a Christmas! We have much to be thankful for! It was a joy-filled Christmas especially with Claire in the house. We probably could have written our own 12 days of Christmas song and it would have ended with "3 different houses, 2 road trips, and one baby in a manger!" I'll let the slideshows below tell the stories. THanks to Robert and Andrea for hosting Christmas with my immediate family. Those cousins are going to have a blast together! Thanks to Uncle DD for hosting my extended family in his home...20+ people from 4 state converge to catch up with no gifts and no fancy food! LOVED IT! We ended our tour right back at home sweet home with the Carver Family arriving on Friday 23rd and staying with us through Tuesday. Now that was great! Enjoyed cooking with no rush...Jeff and I got to go to our church's CHristmas Eve Service, which we have never gotten to do; We paced ourselves on Christmas morning as we gathered Claire into bed with us after she woke up and read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and prayed thanking God for his Gift in Baby Jesus before all other gifts were exchanged. We paced ourselves through the day enjoying each other and each other's gifts and good food. I'm thankful for low key in-laws who have strong stomachs since it was my first time to host the Christmas meal. (Also, thankful for Honey Baked Ham!) I guess the funny was on me...in my attempt to get Claire stickers for her drawing pad, I also picked up Glitter tatoos! I should put on her hip and send her to day care and see what kind of reaction I get after those diaper changes :)) It was a great time and it's hard to put it all into words but enjoy the photos and wishing everyone a great 2012! Christmas in Memphis

Christmas in Brandon

Christmas in Hoover

Daily Fun at the Carver House

McWane Center

Claire took her first trip to McWane Center. We took her to see if she would be old enough to enjoy it and as you can see by the photos, she had a great time. So much to do, see, and experience. We had a great time just watching her face and watching her jump right in to new experiences. Claire might check her stocking for a membership this Christmas!

Meet Some of the Coolest People

This group of folks is so special to us. They (minus a few who could not come to the Christmas Party) make up the Hinton Sunday School Class at our church. This class has been going for 2.5 years now and has grown a lot together. This class is encouraging and challenges each other to grow in our faith. We have seen lots of babies come into the world and are watching 2 of our teachers prepare for graduation from seminary and embark on a life of formal ministry. Thanks to Val and Beau for hosting this year's Christmas Party and to all who helped put together the fun game of questions in which we learned all kinds of little known facts about each other. It's so great to be a part of a growing body of believers, that has fun and is serious about their faith. Merry Christmas everyone!

November Highlights

Just a few fun photos from November. First of all, you'll see the Birthday Club met again. Time to celebrate Alisa and Heather. We were all there and had such fun catching up. So glad we have kept this up for years! Claire has started wanting to be a big helper in the kitchen. She willingly wanted to help me sweep! We are starting to show her how to help with the dishes! (That is not child abuse!) "Train up a child in the way they should go..(loose interpretation)" You'll see a few photos of her in her Red Christmas Pajamas (Thanks Heather!) showing you that she knows to throw her own diaper away and she asks for help using sign language to access my pots and pans or Tupperware! Just this morning Jeff brought her down while I was riding my stationary bike for the last few minutes and she wanted to participate. During and interview at our wedding, my dad described me as a "participator" and Jeff's parents described him as "one who always wanted to be involved". Claire is truly living out her DNA! She will be 16 months old tomorrow and amazing us everyday! We are excited about this Christmas for sure! Some say, "You only get one 'First Christmas'". I say, "You can have lots of firsts at Christmas!" This Christmas will be our "First Christmas with a toddler". What will this be the "first" for you?