Well, I got it.

The picture, that is. Of all four children and their grandparents!

Thank you, Papa and Gigi, for coming to spend Thanksgiving with our party of six.

We loved having you here.

See you in just three weeks for Christmastime in New Orleans!

How richly God has decked thee!

As I was trying to choose a title for this blog post, one I have not used before, I looked up the lyrics to the carol, "O Christmas Tree, " and I learned something new. This song's composer and writer are both unknown, and because it was originally written in German, there are several English translations. I loved the lyrics to the last verse:

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
Thou bidst us true and faithful be,
And trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee! !"

We loaded up our party of six plus Papa and Gigi, braved the cold front in our southern town to find a tree of our own.

As a little girl growing up, we always had a live tree, and my sweet husband has allowed me to keep this tradition.

Even little Miss Story complied to be awakened from her bed to join us in the search for the perfect tree. I love her little pink nose, telling of the cool night air.

My little buddy sticking close on our journey to find the one.

That is until she discovered her older siblings in a game of chase and quickly joined in on the fun.

It didn't take long at all. Daddy and the oldest three posing next to our tree. How beautiful is Summer's smile here?

Carter and Summer bundled up tight.

My love. Isn't he handsome? Such a good sport to humor me on the hunt for the perfect live tree.

Me with the three oldest. Story was warm inside with Papa and Gigi.

Picking out an ornament to go on our tree, which will be decorated sometime on Saturday in the midst of football games and chili.

Papa and Gigi once again being good sports on yet another adventure with our party of six.

Finally, loaded up and ready to go home.

Lots to celebrate.

And even more to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving was extra special this year, for so many reasons. This year marked Story's very first Thanksgiving. Papa and Gigi were here all the way from Arkansas to celebrate with us. David and Gigi's birthdays fell on Thanksgiving Day this year. And David and I cooked our very first entire Thanksgiving meal all by ourselves.

Sadly, I did not manage to get a picture of the table set with all the food, but check out our menu: fried turkey, oyster dressing (from scratch), mashed potatoes, pistachio pudding, corn, green beans, sweet potato souffle, rolls, seven layer salad, cranberries, sweet potato pie(made especially for me by my love, from scratch. This is my all-time favorite dessert my grandmother makes each year at Thanksgiving. I think he loves me. I think I'll keep him!), and chocolate pecan pie (from Cracker Barrel - the only addition we didn't make).

Look at this sweet face on her first Thanksgiving Day. Happy Thanksgiving, Story. When we list the things we are thankful for, we certainly offer thanks for you!

Gigi opening her birthday presents from our family.

Summer helping Daddy open his birthday presents.

Carter, Summer, and Tilly helping Daddy and Gigi to open their presents. Side note, I am enjoying myself much more than this picture reveals, ha! Perhaps, I am whipped from all the cooking and clean up. For those of you who know me well, I'm not used to spending so much time in the kitchen, ha!

Tilly! What a funny, funny girl she is. I love this profile picture of her sweet curls. Her little personality is definitely blossoming. We are so thankful for this lively little one.

Sadly, I did not manage to get a picture of our family or all of the children with their grandparents. Thankfully, I still have one more day to make that happen!

HaPpY BirThDaY

He's the glue that holds our party of six together, the life of our party of six, the cherry on top of our sundae, the sir in our mix a lot, the fantasy to our football, the killer of all roaches and things that crawl, the stars in the night sky, the exclamation mark on our sentences, the one who takes better care of us than anybody, the one who kisses all our tears away, the fiddle to our country music, the hallelujah to our chorus, the sweet of our tea, the boom of our boom boom pow, the icing on our cake, the one who makes us laugh harder and louder, the one we couldn't do without, the one who prays for us and teaches us about God's Word. We call him daddy, babe, David, honey, and soon to be doctor.

Happy birthday, we love you!

We also want to wish this special lady a happy birthday, too! We love you, Gigi, and are so thankful for you. Thanks for being with us on your special day and allowing us to celebrate with you!

Wordless Wednesday.

Sleeping beauty.

From our last post, you know that we have some very special guests in town. So, David and I found ourselves with only one little person to care for much of the weekend. Saturday morning we commented how strange it was to have just one sweet baby with us. It was so quiet and peaceful and lonely, ha. This weekend is a busy time for our family and our church, so we found ourselves bustling around getting ready for the events. I went into Story and Tilly's room to wake our littlest one, as it was time to head out, and this is what I found.

What is it about sweet babies when they are sleeping?

Those sweet cheeks and that cute baby mouth.

A sleeping beauty, for sure.

The wait is over.

This was the view from our couch last night as the these little people excitedly waited on the arrival of Papa and Gigi. Thankfully, the wait is over because they are HERE, and we couldn't be more excited!

Our ballerina girl.

This past week, all parents were invited to observe our little ballerinas strutting their stuff on the dance floor. It was too cute for words, so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Summer is taking ballet for the first time this year, and I don't know if she has ever loved anything more!

I love how in all of these pictures she is looking over at me and smiling. She was so proud to have me watch her class, melted this mommy's heart.

The ballerinas did a Thanksgiving dance to the song, "Give Thanks."

Look at that form. I think she may have found her niche at age 3, ha!

Summer, Mommy and Daddy are so thankful you have been able to take ballet this year. It warms our hearts to see you enjoy something you are doing so very much. We hope that you will continue to dance joyfully! We love you, sweet ballerina!

Happy birthday, Zoie!

Happy birthday, to you!

Happy birthday, to you!

Happy birthday, dear Zoie!

Happy birthday, to you!

Zoie, we hope that your birthday has been so special. We can't believe you are FIVE! It seems like just yesterday your mommy and daddy called to say you were on the way. This morning on our way to school, Carter prayed thanking God for you and praying that you would have a great birthday.

We love you and hope to see you soon!

Wordless Wednesday.

End of the season.

No, not college football, not yet anyway, but it is the end of Team Italy as we know it. For this year anyway. This past Saturday, Carter had his last soccer game of the season. I seriously doubt that Carter will be an all-state soccer player in high school or go somewhere to play Division I. You never know though! What I do know is that he made some new friends, enjoyed running and being outside, learned some new skills, and was introduced to that important thing we call teamwork. Mission accomplished. We opted not to take the whole family to the final game of the season, as we learned from experience this created a hot mess. David took Carter, just the boys as we say, and managed to take a few pictures and referee at the same time. I told you he's a rock star.

Coach Don giving the children a pep talk. I love how Carter is looking at him, hanging on every word!

And he's off! Look at that runner's form.

Chasing after the ball with such determination.

Carter accepting his gift and trophy from Coach Don. What a special memory!

I love this picture of all their little hands together. Teamwork. Such a great thing.

Go dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

This is one of my favorite pictures, ever. I was attending this game as a student and sitting just to the left of the hedges in our designated section, so I had a great view. Uga V was a rock star. Well, this weekend is the good ole Georgia/Auburn game in Auburn, which bodes well for us, maybe? While I was in college and in the few years after, any time we played Auburn at Auburn, we won. And anytime, they came to Sanford Stadium they won. So, here's to a whole lotta hope that the dawgs can pull out a big W. Wishful thinking, probably. Nothing but love for the dawgs, definitely!

Made me so proud.

Let me tell you about a special season of my life. During the 2004-2005 school year, I was teaching fourth grade at a private Christian school in New Orleans, Faith Christian Academy. Sadly, this school is no longer around, as it was flooded and never reopened after Katrina. I had 22 students that year; they were such a sweet group! I have found in my teaching experience, that my love for college football has always helped me to build a relationship with the fellas in my class each year. This particular year at FCA was no different. There were several boys in my class who loved the game. One particular fella, I remember quite well, Jared. He LOVED football, still does. Sadly, he has made a bad decision to cheer for the wrong team, those yucky gators. Jared's family is originally from Florida, and they moved to New Orleans for seminary too. Another thing I remember about Jared was that he always complained about his stomach hurting. This was only my second year teaching, and you just never really know with children. Boy was I glad I listened to my instincts! One particular day, he was complaining, so I sent him to the office to call his mom. Turns out he had to have an emergency appendectomy! Whew, glad I had him call! Anyway, thanks to facebook, I have been able to keep in touch with Jared. (I'm thankful he doesn't think he's too cool to keep in touch with his old teacher, especially since he's now in high school!) I digress; he posted this video on my wall last night, and I just had to share. Click here to read the full article. He's the one playing QB. Way to go, Jared. You sure know how to make this Georgia girl proud!

Happy 1/2 birthday, Story!

Happy 1/2 birthday, Story!

This has been a super busy month for you. We began our month by visiting the pumpkin patch and came home with 4 little pumpkins and 2 big pumpkins.

Then, we added another state to your list visited, Louisiana. You have now traveled to 8 states: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Here are a few pictures from our trip. Mommy and Story beside the Mighty Mississippi, better known as muddy water in NOLA.

Your first trolley ride; you loved it!

Your first taste of a New Orleans sno-ball; you loved it!

The day after we returned from New Orleans, our church had a trunk or treat. You celebrated your first Halloween in style, thanks to Papa and Gigi.

Story, you are such a happy and content baby. I think I say that every month, but it's true! You love to laugh and smile. You rarely get fired up unless you are really tired or hungry.

Here's what you are up to at SIX months:

• You weigh 16 lbs, 15 oz - 75%, and you are 27 inches long - 90%.
• At 6 months, Carter weighed 18 lbs, 4 oz, 28 1/2 in, all 97%.
• At 6 months, Summer weighed about 19 lbs, 28 in. (for some reason I don't have her exact measurements; this was pre-blog!)
• At 6 months, Tilly weighed 15 pounds 6 ounces (45 %) and is 27 inches tall (90 %).
• You wear size 3 diapers.
• You wear size 9-12 month clothes.

• You still just have two teeth on the bottom.
• I think your dimple gets bigger and better every single day!
• Your hair seems lighter than your sister's, but definitely not blonde.
• Your eyes are as blue as ever, somewhat darker than Carter's.

• You love to play in the exersaucer.
• You still love the swing.
• You love to roll around on the floor.
• You can sit up for a few seconds, but then you topple over.
• Miss Jeanne reports that you are starting to get up on all fours, WHAT! Please, slow down and don't grow so fast! You want so badly to keep up with your siblings and your friend, Eli, that we figure it won't be long until you are on the move.

• You love to do the "superman." Jillian would be so proud!
• You are finally out of our room and sharing a room with Tilly.
• You LOVE your crib.
• You take two great naps, the longer one being in the afternoon.
• You sleep from 6pm-8am, with a bottle sometime around 9pm.
• You sleep with your lovey, a bunny blanket from Mama, a baby elephant, and a little monkey.

• You LOVE rice cereal, more than I remember the others liking it.
• You are eating rice cereal in the mornings and a vegetable at night for supper.
• We have played with your eating schedule a lot this month, as we have introduced solids. You love to eat, and we were afraid you were not getting enough formula.
• Now, we have you on a 4 hour bottle schedule: 8, 12, 4, 8, 5-8 ounces per feeding. With cereal around 9:00 AM, and a vegetable around 6:00 PM.

• Thankfully, you have been very healthy and have only been to the doctor for well check-ups. You have had a little bit of a runny nose, but nothing serious. We are grateful for your good health!

• Your brother and sisters ADORE you.
• Lately, Tilly has really take up with you. I think she loves sharing a room with you. She asks for you during her nap when you are still at Miss Jeanne's.
• She calls you her baby and asks to hold you all the time.

• You love to see yourself in the mirror. You smile so big when we walk past one.
• You love your daddy. When I am holding you and he is in the room, you only have eyes for him!
• You are so ticklish, and we love to tickle you and make you laugh.
• You L.O.V.E. your brother and sisters. They love to talk to you and make you laugh.
• You love to grab our faces with both of your hands, and it just melts my heart.

Here's our monthly picture of the four of you. Wow, we sure a blessed with four awesome little people in our life. Story, our family would not be the same without you in it. In fact, it's hard to remember our life before you. Thank you for your sweet smile and content spirit.

We love you to the moon and back!