A Merry Christmas Indeed. . .

Our Christmas was awesome.  Very merry.  Very blessed.  I hope yours was too.

I have lots of pictures to catch you up on.  First of all, Chase Parker "performed" (boy do I use that word lightly) in his first Christmas program.  He was adorable even though he didn't sing a note, no, not one.  He was, however, the best behaved out of his class I think!  He stood there very still, facing forward, no tears, no running off the stage in hysterics, no bothering friends.

You can see it got a little hairy here. . .my son is in awe of his girlfriend beside him, while others around them are showing off hilarious facial expressions!

The kids were ADORABLE. . . and here he is walking back to his classroom with his teacher Miss Murphy.  He adores her. . .

 We picked up Zachary from school early so he could see his brother in his first play.  He loved it!  It was so fun to see them together.  Zach is an awesome big brother!  I love this shot of him here. . .

And, a friend was nice enough to snap a quick family shot. . .I love my men!!

The grandparents were proud as peacocks. . . .

It was an enjoyable day. . .

And, later that week Zach and I had fun baking our Happy Birthday Jesus cake for Christmas Day dessert.  And, there was fun at FunStation Jr. with Daddy.  He has had the whole week off so we have enjoyed having fun with him.

All the fun has a certain little one and big furry thing pooped out!

AND. . . CHASE PARKER got out of his crip and into a big boy bed now!  Yippee!!  He has done great with the transition. . . SO much easier than Zachary did at his age.  :)  He loves it!

 Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Granddaddy Birdwell's house. . . fun times!

And then Christmas morning arrived. . . it was a grand time.  The boys make Christmas so enjoyable at their age. . .

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at my mom and dad's home.  Mom prepared a DELICIOUS turkey and all the trimmings for us to enjoy.  A funny story. . . she cooked the turkey through the night (thankfully!) and had all the trimmings prepared to cook the next morning.  Unfortunately she discovered that something was wrong with her oven.  The kids had to divide the food up and take it to their respective homes to cook it.  LOL!!  Thank goodness we all live very close to each other.  All was on time and all was delicious!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Lisa sent the boys marshmellow machine guns.  Gotta love them.  So, Papa and Grammy's squirrels in their yard will be enjoying marshmellows for months to come.  :)

The boys loved their trains and legos that they rec'd. . . Zach is REALLY into legos now.  He loves them and is so good at them.  I love it because he is getting so much better at using his left arm now after breaking it recently.  :)  YAY!  

 We are ready for the new year to begin.  2013 should bring exciting things for the Birdwell family.  Happy New Year to you all!!

OH SO LONG OVERDUE! Here's a MEGA update!

Wow, I did not write one single blog entry the entire month of November.  Unheard of.  I am such a slacker mom!  Well, not really a slacker mom. . . just extremely busy.  At least I'm updating the blog. . . NOW.

Ok. . . here goes. . . first up. . . ZACH'S FIRST FIELD TRIP:

His class went to the Tallahassee Junior Museum (technically not called that anymore but I can never remember its new name) recently and he had a blast.  Unfortunately it was scheduled on the very same day that Chase Parker had his very first Thanksgiving Feast at his preschool.  Paul and I were torn but we felt like we had to attend Chase's first feast.  I enlisted the help of my brother to be a chaperone on the field trip in my place.  Zachary was so happy that Uncle David was going!

He got to ride a school bus for the very first time. . . he was buzzing like a bee when he got home.  He loved telling us all about it.  They had a great time.  And, I think my brother actually got brownie points with Mrs. Bist too.

Now, before you look further. . . let me explain. . . Paul and I had fun "decorating" Zach's lunch bag.  I thought it would be fun to do and Paul thought it would be fun to rag David a little bit.  (Paul is the wonderful artist of the old man)  My brother didn't find it so humorous.  I was not surprised to get a heavily sarcastic text from him that said, "Love the lunch bag.  Please continue this on through high school!"

Ok. . .now to other news. . . oh. . . my car!

Well, after seven years of being one of the least recognized vehicles on the Tally roads, I am now plain ol average.  Paul and I decided to sell the Rover and do what I swore I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER do. . . get a MINI VAN!  I still can't believe it.  However, after Zach broke his arm and I had to fight to maneuver to get him in and out of the high Rover, I couldn't take it anymore.  I've LOVED my Rover and it was still completely immaculate even after two kids and seven years.  It was paid for with LOW mileage.  I still can't believe I now drive a mini van.  But, I LOVE IT!  Love the room, love the kids having their own space, love the much better gas mileage!  LOVE THE CREATURE COMFORTS!  

 

And no, PLEASE don't think I am favoring Zach over Chase because my license plate says ZAC MOM.  It is "Z"ach "A"nd "C"hase MOM!

Ok. . . what else do we have to catch up on?  Zach's Broken Arm!

He's doing SO much better.  He had to wear his cast for only THREE WEEKS!  The doctor was amazed at how quickly he healed.  He did have to have a second surgery (general anesthesia again, not good for a mommy's heart) to have the three pins removed.  He did GREAT!  After the surgery he wore a splint for a couple of days but then was free to have everything off as long as we handled it with care.  His friends at school were so concerned about him - they carried his backpack for him, helped him cut out school projects, etc.  Everyone has showered him with love!  

He is using it more and more but still has nerve damage.  The doc says it will take a couple of months for all of that to really heal.  He still can't hold anything in his hand but his feeling and full range should come back completely according to his surgeon. . . just will take more time.  Thank you for all of your prayers!!

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast with Chase Parker like I mentioned earlier. . . his preschool always does SUCH a great job with things like this.  We always enjoyed Zachary's little plays, etc. and now are so excited to see Chase Parker.  He's growing up so fast.  He loved having Thanksgiving lunch with his mommy and daddy!

And, our real Thanksgiving holiday was awesome too.  We had dinner at Mom and Dad Birdwell's house and then visited my family afterwards.  It was a blessed day for sure.  My brother and his family were able to come down for a visit too.  I love having my brother home!  I don't get to see him nearly enough.  The boys love Uncle Steve and family so much too.  He even gave them a bath and got them ready for bed one night while he was visiting. . . awesome UNCLE!!  

My photography business has been booming!  I am loving every second of it.  After having such busy weeks though I am taking a much needed break to enjoy the Christmas holiday with my family.  I have had so much fun so far though.  It's hard to believe I have only been in business since the end of August.  It feels like much longer.  Hopefully 2013 will bring great things. . . I am so excited!

I will leave you with a few random recent pictures. . . happy holidays everyone!  Look for our family Christmas card arriving in your mailbox soon.

And, sweet Bella Kate. . . still spoiled rotten.  In fact, I was talking with a friend recently and I will quote her: "that dog fell into a sugar bowl. . . she got lucky!"