Sunflowers 2009

Happy Family

Happy First Birthday Little Man! Your Birthday party this year was on your Due Date from last year, Ha! You had a BLAST and ALL your family came! 38 people came to celebrate your first year! You LOVED your smash cake! We of course had way too much food! Lets do it again next year, we can't wait but please slow down, you are growing up way too fast! We love you so much baby boy!

Pictures that did NOT make the Christmas Card this year....

By now all 109 of you should have received your card. The Christmas Card Elves have officially left the building. There will be no more Christmas Cards printed, put together, signed, stamped and mailed unless you ASK and then I will give in and reopen the Christmas Card Factory of 08. So please enjoy just a sampling of the 147 pictures we took of our poor child over a 2 hour period which required changing him in and out of this outfit 3 times because MaMa just KNEW she had at least 1 picture this time........ I don't think any one person can have as many pictures of their child NOT looking at the camera, removing the bow from the package, removing the ornaments from the tree and eating them AND trying to get Curious George (AKA Patron Saint of Sleeping Through The Night, but that is another post).

We should have filmed the event because it included Trey and I singing every song including "Five.......$5........$5....Foot Long" which worked for all of 0.5 seconds and did not result in a picture. It came on the T.V and was a catchy little ballad, so we went with it. If only there was a camera in the T.V. and you pressed the remote to get the shot. Maybe next year they will think of that! If they do I want some sort of kickback because it was MY idea! Maybe I should just head to the patent office now and not post my idea for the entire world wide web to steal and patent themselves because seriously my T.V already has way more features than I would ever be aware of but it really needs just a few more to be worth the price we paid for it....

Anywhoo! By the time we were done we did have our photo and our son smelled of the wonderful winter goodness that is a live Frasier Fur in the living room. Only because he fell backwards and sat in the branches before we could retrieve him. He thought it was hilarious, we nearly had a heart attack and almost sent you a picture of someone else's kid for Christmas because well.....while you would have been madder than a bunch of wet hornets that the cute kid on our card was not Beau, we decided that a HEAD INJURY and $50 copay to the E.R was not worth the Christmas Card. The cards already cost enough, along with the special Christmas Card outfit, postage, picture prices and ink for the printer. Yep, spending another $50 was not in our Christmas Card budget! So lets look at the pictures that did not come with the card.....

ARRRRRR This FAKE Candy cane that I plucked from the tree is tastier than it looks and I am going to eat it. (And stab myself in the mouth with it.....yes my parents should NOT be allowed to have me in their possession. Shout out to Child Services who should arrive on our door step bright and early Monday morning)

Bad lighting because it was Mr. Harlow's brilliant idea to shoot without the flash because......well you know......the Tree looks so much more lovely without the flash and we know you ALL are really watching your mailbox for the picture of our tree with all 2200, yes 2200 lights and not the picture of Beau. In this picture he has officially removed the bow from the box and it is heading to.........his mouth.. Because we are still at that age where we have to make sure everything is NOT a food source so we might as well keep Ole MaMa around for her dairy bar benefits and the ability to mix up a mean bowl of whole grain organic oatmeal flakes with organic pears.. YUM!

This was NaNa Joy's favorite picture but all we could see was the red spot on his forehead from his earlier bonk on the head when his changing table got in the way as he was trying to pull up on his cowboy drapes and eat the cowboys. It also highlights the cuteness that is the bottom of his darling Reindeer shoes which scream.....size 2......made in China. A bit of Trivia: If you open your card up you will notice in the picture we chose we went shoeless since all you see of the shoes is the bottom.....
We also loved this one. Here he is with one hand firmly grasping the Christmas Tree and the other holding tightly to the candy cane ornament he swiped from the branches in order to stick in his mouth. It gives his fingers a break. Notice the Mischievous Twinkle in his eyes....That's My Boy!

And our personal favorite. I think this is some sort of Star Trek sign. Or some gang sign which would be more appropriate since I don't think he has ever watched Star Trek but has been out and about in the streets of our city chilling with the locals. I am glad we live in such a culturally diverse and enriching place because then our child would not have these benefits. From Our House to Yours Merry Christmas! We hope you Enjoy your card and this behind the scenes segment of the making of your card!

***(no child was actually harmed in the making of this card)

Thanksgiving 2008

Beau got to spend his first Thanksgiving with his Pappy & DiDi. We had a HUGE lunch at Uncle Tommy & Aunt Brenda's house. Let me tell you there was FOOD FOR DAYS! I think they invited half the county. There were more family and friends there than ya'll could shake a stick at.............seriously! I should have taken a picture but there were about 50lbs of every casserole you could imagine plus ham, turkey, and more dessert than any one person should be allowed to choose from..............unless you are at some huge casino buffet.... or something. Believe it or not we all could have gone back for thirds and there still probably would have been leftovers. They usually have one of those "all day singing with dinner on the grounds" Thanksgivings and people come all day and again for dinner to eat, shoot guns, ride Polaris, enjoy family and just be together and be thankful. It was a really fun time and Beau had a lot of fun even though he didn't get that Turkey bone to teeth on that Sterling kept promising nor did he get to ride any ATV's or shoot any guns.
Here is Beau prior to heading to the feast with his Pappy.

Beau did get to participate in one time honored tradition and that is the Thanksgiving Table Cloth Of All Thankfulness. Each year those in attendance get to forever etch the things they are most thankful for on fine linen & lace with a selection of variously colored permanent markers. Beau added a hand print. His Uncle Justin has been known to be thankful for a wide variety of things most importantly "not seeing Uncle Myron naked..." Here is Beau's hand print. I guess you can tell he was the picture of stillness as his hand was traced on the Table Cloth O'Thankfulness.

We had a really good time! Shout outs to all those who brought food it was very, very tasty!

Sunday November 23rd

So since we did NOT get to stay and enjoy the lovely reception and visit with all the
family we really lucked out when we got to go to MiMi's house on Sunday for lunch. The Bride and Groom even came! I did not get a chance to get their picture. We should just hire photographers at these events. Here are some photos I did get of Beau with his family.
This is Beau with our cousin Anna and her son Kelso being held by our cousin Jill. Beau and Kelso are going to be lots of fun because they are only a couple months apart. Lord help us now because I think Kelso is as much ALL BOY as Beau!

Here is Beau and his cousin Max who is growing up way too fast and is SO TALL!

Of course here is Beau with his MiMi.

Ahhhhh the good life

So I got a little carried away with that last post. I apparently had grandiose plans to actually get all my posts together and uploaded which obviously did not happen. What did happen was 104 Christmas cards to sign, seal and insert picture into along with stamp and mail. A HUGE Thanks to Mr. Harlow for getting the envelopes printed after I finally succumbed to the digital age and entered my addresses into one neat little file instead of having them all in an address book, and on various scraps of paper and envelopes stuffed into said address book. Right now I am resting with a mild case of Mastitis. Fun Times. I am also lounging around eating bon bons as my house is thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom. The lounging and Bon Bon part is a farce the cleaning part is not. Dad and Joy very generously sent over a cleaning crew since I have been a bit overwhelmed here lately. I can't THANK THEM ENOUGH! Especially since Trey's department will be coming over Saturday night for a Christmas Party. We are also going to try to go on an actual date to celebrate our 8 year Anniversary which was on the 9th. Joy and Megan have graciously offered to watch entertain Beau for a couple hours. So while I am sitting here trying to stay out of the way of the cleaning ladies I will try to get a couple posts updated. In the meantime keep an eye out for your Christmas Card!