~James Family Christmas~

We did Christmas a little different with Patrick's family this year and it turned out quite nice. Sherri and Aaron (my brother in law and sister in law) planned everything for us and the kids really had a blast. We rented cabins and tried to focus on an "Old fashion family" that focuses on family time rather than gifts. We started Friday night with a bonfire roasting hot dogs and making smores! I actually brought all the stuff for the smores and it was my idea and I did not eat the first one. This means that as soon as it warms up enough I am having a camp out in the back yard with the kiddo's! Uncle Chris and Aunt Jeani showed up Friday night with Chrismtas pajamas for everyone which was such a sweet suprise. There was a late night game of something going on around the table but I missed out because my babies would only go to sleep in a strange place if mommy is laying with them. And also because I am extremely stingy with my sleep :). Ha ha. I joked and told my mother in law that at one point I thought someone was going to kill somebody, they would be very quite and then very hostile!!! LOL The kids were so much fun to watch opening gifts and we came home with lots of new loot(and Christmas really had not even come yet).

 

~James Family Portraits~

I am sharing some of our portraits we had made for our Christmas cards!!! We were very pleased with them and had a fabulous time at the shoot!!! Cash is at the age of FULL personality!!! Enjoy!

And so Christmas begins.....

Wow!! What a fantastic Christmas this year.  As the kids get older it gets more and more fun, I must admit I had as much fun watching them in all their excitement as they did.  I am going to break Christmas down into a few blogs since there is so much to write about and so many pictures to share.  I am going to start with our "Birthday Supper" for mama and daddy at Stogner's on Decenber 11th.  I love Stogner's and always compare any catfish house I to them.  It is the fish house I "grew up in".  I have so many memories of being there with family, especially Pappy who once would not talk to me and Jason for a while because we ordered chicken at the fish house! ha! Who'd a thought that would upset him so but he just could not understand it.  Now that I am grown and have a deep love for fried catfish, I completely understand! :)  I was very excited that everyone in the immediate family made it to grub out.  Alese was the only one missing so I will have to plan it better next time.  They put us in the back room and I can only assume that when they saw all the wild kids with us, they thought that may be the only safe place, they were right.  My only complaint was that it was so loud in that back room that you could barely talk to each other but we had fun just the same watching the kids compete to see who could be the loudest.  I am happy to report that me nor Jason ordered chicken this time, Pappy would be proud.  I am going to include so picutres to share with you all.  Peace, Love and Fried Fish!

John, Madi, Arden and Gigi

Papa and his shadow Cash

A moment of silence that didn't last long!

Ella is telling Arden a secret

The Ard's

SNOW DAY

Yep, big shocker but we actually had snow for the second December in a row in South Mississippi.  It was less of a shock that it came just days after having 70 degree weather and preceeded what seemed to be ENDLESS rain.  Thankfully we all know what the Lord promised Noah so we knew at some point it would end!!  I did not get Arden out in the snow because she had a runny nose and because she can't walk yet but Cash and Alese had a good time.  We built a small snowman on the deck complete with a carrot nose, skittles for his eyes and mouth.  He even had a do-rag and a "scarf" but before he could get a name or even begin to melt for that matter, Cash had decapitated him!!! Poor snowman, nothing is safe around Cash, not even the snow! :)  It was so much fun making memories with them.  Daddy was in the deer woods missing it all and freezing to death I am sure.

The Princess Turns 1!! Where did the time go?

Wow!! It hardly seems like it has been a year since my little princess was born.  What a year of wonderful blessings she has been!!  I thought when I was pregnant with her that it would be easier if I just had another boy, after all Cash was not even 2 and all of his clothes were so close at hand.  My brothers surely have enough girls and Cash did not need to be the only boy at Papa and Gigi's house.  I had it all figured out until I heard Dr. Missy say "it's a she baby" just as Patrick was saying "it's a little girl".  Hmmmm....I had not planned on a little girl but I sure was glad to get my hands on her.  She has deepend my love more than I thought possible and on November 14th we celebrated her 1st birthday!! 

She was all dolled up in her petticoat that I bought just for the big occassion and she was beautiful in it.  We had a family party with a few close friends over.  There was not really a "theme", just a big cupcake cake and lots of pink!!  Arden's Gigi made her first cake that she thoroughly enjoyed :).  Thank you Gigi for making Arden's cake even though you work all the time!! Everyone had  a great time and just as little Princess was finishing her cake up, she let me  know real quick that it was nap time for her. 

Just some funnies.....

Part of my reason for blogging was to keep up with all the humor that rapidly rolls out of Cash's mouth so I typically just jot them down until I can get them on here.  There are quite a few and I will start with the most recent, these have all been said with in the last two weeks.  Actually last night when he and Arden were taking a bath Cash said "I got a pecker and did baby's pecker fall off?" HAHAHAHAHA You uptight people know that is funny so just laugh!!  Yesterday while we were watching Dora, the "grumpy old troll" came out and Dora said "look it's the grumpy old troll" and Cash said "hey look there's my daddy!!!"  I never want to forget that one!! That still has me laughing. 

Cash came in from the yard last week to tell me that Mr. Mike (the yard man) "has a scar on him's eye just like my lip, bless his heart!" Ha.  I am sure he heard that one from mommy.  This will be a post that I just add to.  Maybe one day I can actually sit down and "decorate" this thing! Ha!! Love to all!

Rocking Out.....

I have some catching up to do and I won't do it all tonight but I do have some pictures to share of Cash's first concert experience. Jason Aldean, who is a favorite among me and the chilluns came to Hattiesburg about a month ago and I promised Alese if she made the honor roll that she could go with me and Cash. Yah for her, she kept up her end of the deal and I was very proud of her!! Now I already knew that Alese and I would be screaming, dancing, singing the whole time but I was not sure how Cash would react. He LOVES music as much as I do but a concert is an entire other situation then jamming out in his carseat. He was very guarded, actually would not let me put him down for a long time, he wanted me to walk him around on my shoulders, let him take it all in. He wanted to buy his first concert shirt, which of course we did. As JA would sing and play the guitar Cash would just stare, very mundane looking and would barely even blink. It was as if he was in awe of what was happening. He finally after saying nothing for the longest time looked at me and said "I gone do that when I get big"!!! WOO HOO, he already has the name for it!!! Alese and her little friend Madison had a great time and a very big thanks to my sweet friend Joy for going with us and for holding Cash some for me, you'd have thought the kid could not walk that night. Lots of memories made!! The next night Cash took his t-ball stand, stuck a bat out the top, strapped on his guitar and put on his cowboy hat and had a concert for us! It was very entertaining!!!