Last Belly Pictures

The last 2 sets of belly pictures before we became a family of 4!

37 weeks


My due date

Christmas 2011

A few pictures from Christmas day.
Marlie with her gifts from Santa. We've still been able to keep it to a minimum!


Our homemade Advent calendar


M's cousin helped her blow out the candle on Jesus' birthday cookie cake

Happy 31st Birthday Bryan!

I don't have a lot of time these days where I have 2 hands free for typing so this will probably have to be shorter than I would like it to be. Bryan spent his 30th birthday in Afghanistan last year so I had hoped to have a fun birthday celebration for him this year. However, being parents of 2 now (one of which is a 4 week old) really doesn't make that very feasible.
I have always been thankful to be married to Bryan, but lately he has pretty much been super husband & dad. He helps as much as he can with Emma during the night and then gets up with Marlie in the morning. He gets her ready and to school on his own. He cooks and cleans, does the grocery shopping and almost all of the day to day chores of our house and family. Bryan does all this in addition to attending his classes and doing a lot of homework! His hard work has allowed me to get some rest and focus all my energy on taking care of Emma and being able to enjoy time with Marlie too.
I am so blessed to be married to a man who works so hard to take care of his family in so many ways.
Bryan - thank you for everything you do for me and our girls. We wish you a very happy 31st birthday and look forward to celebrating many more with you!

My 31st Birthday

Since my birthday is just a few days before Christmas, I've always enjoyed going to see Christmas lights for my birthday. It is even more fun when you have a 4 year old to share the experience with! This year, the 3 of us went down to Callaway Gardens to take advantage of a special military package to see their Fantasy in Lights. We drove down on the afternoon of the 20th and took the trolley through the lights that night. In an effort to enjoy the lights, I didn't take any pictures!
The next day we visited more of the attractions at Callaway Gardens. We went to the Butterfly Center, Horticultural Center and saw a Birds of Prey show.
Bryan & Marlie gave me a new camera lens that I had been wanting, so I played with and tried to figure it out at the horticultural center.











On the way home that evening, we met my parents, brother and sister at the Blue Willow Inn for dinner. Even though we had a fun two days, celebrating with my whole family was by far the best part of my birthday.

Christmas Program

Marlie participated in her first Christmas program in December. It was held at the church where Marlie attends school and she was a dove in the program. She loves to perform for people so this was right up her alley. It was such a blessing to us adults to be reminded by these sweet children what Christmas is all about.
The 2 Pre-K classes





Most of them are cut out of the picture, but the 2 year olds, 3 year olds and Pre-K students all combined for the grand finale!

More Hats!

My hat knitting kick has continued and these are a few more of the hats I made before Christmas.
This started out as a hat for a friend's baby boy, but it ended up a little too big.


This was for the baby's big sister. Marlie had fun choosing the sparkly purple yarn. ;)


I made Marlie her own Santa hat, and she was excited about it!

O Christmas Tree

When Bryan is deployed, I have a trusty artificial tree that I use for Christmas. However, when he is home, we love to go out and find our own fresh tree. This year we went to Jack's Creek Christmas Tree Farm and had a great experience. After selecting our tree, Bryan cut it down and we enjoyed the rest of the farm - a petting zoo, meeting Santa and sitting on his sleigh, drinking some hot chocolate and eating boiled peanuts!
The best thing about Jack's Creek is how supportive they are of the military, especially considering there is no type of base or post nearby. We will definitely be returning there next year to get our Christmas tree.




I don't think I ever took a picture of the tree in all it's glory, but here are Marlie & I with it for my 33 week picture.