New Cousin!! James Redding Belk

Welcome to our new cousin, James Redding! He was born in Jackson yesterday, and he is healthy and beautiful! Here are some pictures of the excited big sister, Violet, and the cousins, Quinn and Tyndale. One of my very best friends in the world, Dr. Mary Adams Woodring delivered James Redding, and she and Betsy and Nic together made a great team! Welcome to the world, James...we can't wait to grow up with you!

snow!

We awoke to a surprise this morning....two inches of snow on the ground! Quinn slept in, and I finally woke her up at 8:30 because I couldn't stand it anymore! She was so excited, and we quickly got dressed in warm clothes and went outside to play. We played until her little fingers felt like icicles, then we came in and she got in a warm bath. It continued to snow all morning, and we had about 5 inches by the time it stopped snowing.

The Nutcracker

Kristy, Hadley, Quinn and I went to see the Nutcracker this weekend. The girls loved it! The costumes were darling, and Quinn didn't take her eyes off the stage for the entire first act! They were both so excited to see all the characters and the dancing. Quinn's favorite character was Clara...we even got to meet her! During the intermission, we had cookies, and the first picture was after the sugar rush hit.

making ornaments

Quinn painted some ornaments this weekend for our collection. She chose a reindeer to paint herself, and Mrs. Anna painted her hand to put on a large ball ornament. They were darling!

first real SMILE!

Here it is.....

Tyndale's first real smile! Of course he was smiling at something goofy Brad was doing...the first of many smiles at goofy daddy (before the eye-rolling and "daaaaaad" starts).

Welcome Clydesdales!

The Budweiser Clydesdales are in town for the Christmas parade tonight, and we went to see them yesterday. They have QUITE the set-up, awnings with their names, a souped-up 18 wheeler (actually 3) that they travel in, and food for days! A sign near the stables said they eat around 40 pounds of hay and 30 gallons of water PER DAY! And that is pretty much what they did the whole time we were there...eat. We have visited them many times at their home at Grant's Farm in St. Louis, we were so excited that they were coming to visit Brookhaven!

Milk and Cookies with Santa

Tonight was our third annual Milk and Cookies with Santa. We had such a great time! Quinn got to talk with Santa and tell him her Christmas list: a lion cub, a parrot "that squawks," and a baby doll. She also wrote a list and put it in a big mailbox, just in case he forgot. Then we made some reindeer food and won a stuffed animal seal in the toy walk. She had tons of fun playing in the "snow" with Sara Rodgers and Olivia. And of course there was the milk and cookies!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Gimmie and Big Daddy's house! The food was delicious, and Quinn and Violet were very entertaining, putting on a puppet show and dancing. We feel so blessed in many ways, and we try to remember to be thankful EVERY day, but this holiday is still a very special time for us to give thanks.

around the house

We have spent a lot of time at our house lately, needless to say! So here are some pictures of what we have been up to: book reading, heart checking, Quinn holding Tyndale, etc. As you can see, Tyndale is growing and changing every day...he is already so big!

Thanksgiving Party

Here are some pictures from Quinn's Thanksgiving party at school. They read a story and played pin-the-tail on the turkey. Lucy's mom made some really darling turkey cupcakes, and that was Quinn's favorite part. (My favorite part was the two-hour sugar rush that it provided...ugh!)

Funny

Last night Quinn made Brad and I laugh so hard while she was saying her prayers. She started with the usual, and then made a political declaration. "Thank you for all our blessings, thank you for watering the plants with rain today, and thank you for America being Umbama." Haha!

visitors

Tyndale has had many visitors already! He has been so happy to meet everyone, even though he has slept through most of it. :) I know there are more people that would like to meet him, but everyone is being so cautious because of the time of the year and all the sicknesses going around. The nurse at the hospital scared us to death about RSV, so we are glad that everyone is being so careful! (Now if only we can install the disinfect-o-matic so that Quinn can go through it every day after school...)

Sunday snooze

I loved how Tyndale was sleeping so soundly in this picture...and the words

on his sleeper say "off to dreamland." Quite appropriate! And here is the best big sister ever!

Sweet Baby Boy

Happy Halloween!

Wonder Woman scored tons of candy this Halloween! Our littlest pumpkin stayed in with Daddy, Uncle Nic, and Big Daddy while the girls went out on the town. We had tons of fun, and Violet made us laugh because she wanted to go inside every house that we visited!