Christmas at Pop Daddy and Grommie's

Christmas at Pop Daddy and Grommie's is always chaos! The most fun chaos ever! Pop Daddy + Grom = 4 kids + 4 husbands = 7 grandchildren (#8 will be here NEXT THURSDAY!!) add in Grandmother Goff and our nanny/housekeeper/second mom Lizzy and you've got a FULL HOUSE! We are so blessed! Yet another million or so pictures were taken here but I'll just give you a couple of highlights.

My sweet Boppy made this cradle for me when I was 2 and my mom wrapped it up for Bes. Yes, I cried when I opened it! Bes immediately climbed on in and from what I heard that is exactly what I did too! This is our second Christmas without Boppy and I wonder does it ever get any easier?? Oh what I would give for Boppy to see Bes!

I told you this girl loves her a book! She climbed on top of the biggest present (which happened to be my sewing machine!!) and looked at books for most of the night!

Priceless!

I got Bes's "one year" handprint made and they called me right before Christmas and told me it was ready! It turned out better than I ever could have imagined! Priceless!!

www.brokenvesselpottery.com

Christmas morning at Bes's house!

Christmas morning was so much fun! Though Bes didn't really know what was going on, she knew something was up! She got SO much stuff from family that Brad and I got off easy! As you can see, she got a Little Tikes "swingset", her very own chair, and a Leap Frog activity table... and other little knick knacks. She didn't know where to go first! It only took her a few minutes to figure out the slide and now she can get up and down it no problem! She is such a thrill seeker! No matter which way she sits that's the way she is going down! She prefers standing in her chair other than sitting in it but we are working on that. :) We just had a great time and Bes's gift to us Christmas morning?? She slept until 9:30!!

Bes is totally into books these days! We "read" all day! She's either flipping the pages or bringing us one to read to her. Of course I took tons of pictures Christmas morning but this is my favorite! She was so excited!

Christmas at Mama'ts

Christmas at Mama't and Boppy's has always been a favorite of mine! Some of the best memories I have as a kid come from Christmas at Bop and T's. This is our 2nd Christmas without sweet Boppy and oh, how I miss him! I would give anything if he could have seen the time Bes had! I wish I could have gotten every second on video. I truly think it was the most fun she has ever had! Boppy always cooked fish for us and so the tradition continues. I look forward to yummy fish fillets and the best french fries ever all year! You are probably thinking french fries are french fries, right? but not these! Mm, mm...they are some kind of good!

The Shumpert girls.

The Shumpert boys.

Fun city!

Brantley said, "No, no Bes! That's my present!"

The sisters gave the kids a spend the night party at the Baymont Inn (indoor swimming pool!) including a pizza party and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese the next morning! My sister wrote the cutest poems that they opened as clues.

Brantley opened the trip to the "pool"! Bless her heart... I don't think she understood what was going on but she was so excited about these goggles!

Tanner got Ralph!! She was SO shocked! She has been wanting a house dog for a long time and Staci just couldn't make herself go through the puppy stage of having a dog... she found Ralph at the animal shelter... he's around a year old and completely potty trained! Sad thing is he was someone's sweet pet but they did all they could and couldn't find the owner so now he's got a new mommy! Welcome to the family Ralph!

Got to get in the bed! Santa Clause is coming to town! :) Merry Christmas!

Christmas at DeeDee's

The Sumrall's kicked off the Christmas holiday by heading to Collierville this past weekend for Christmas at DeeDee's! As always, Dee goes above and beyond and spoils us ALL! Christmas is so much more fun now that I see everything through Bes's eyes. She had such a good time. I thought she would be all about the wrapping paper this year but she bypassed the wrapping paper and went straight for the tissue paper... which was great since it of course went right to her mouth! It dissolves rather quickly... I wonder if tissue paper has any nutrient value to it. :)

The grandkids!

Love those dimples!

Oh, Aunt Heather! I love it!

Giving Ella some "love"...

'Tis the Season!

Thought I would share my most favorite Christmas decorations!

LOVE my Nativity!

And Bes has one too!

A dear friend got me this last year when Bes was born and I just LOVE it! Every time I glance at it it brings back the exact feeling of completeness I felt when we brought our precious little one home!

Saved the best for last... I can not even tell you how happy my banister makes me! I am reminded all day how many wonderful friends God has blessed me with!

Runny Nose + Nasty Cough = 1 Unhappy Bes

Today was more of the same... She's STILL not feeling well. "Dr. Daddy" and Papaw got her all fixed up today though... just in time for ME to get it! Ugh!!

My sick baby...

Oh how I hate having a sick baby! She still has a fever, the worst runny nose and the most awful cough! She is miserable! We just have to get her all better... Christmas at DeeDee's is this weekend! Brad was letting her play with the Motrin last night and now it's MIA so Brad and I were busy searching the house for it and when we finally just gave up we found Bes conked out on the floor. God love it! Pray she gets to feeling better! :)

My husband...

... cracks me up. Allow me to explain. It is impossible to surprise Brad. Impossible! He figures everything out and I don't know how! Of course when he does figure it out I can't keep a straight face so he immediately knows! You couldn't pull one over on him if you tried but if you did... he wouldn't be happy. His 30th birthday is Jan. 5 and he's already told me that I was NOT to have him a surprise party. Anyway, I did manage to get him a couple of little surprises this year. Last night I was emailing his stepmother about his surprises and he walked by... Of course I covered it up and wouldn't let him see... And do you know what he did?!? He got out his binoculars and from across the room (behind my back) read my email!! I looked over my shoulder and there he was with his stinkin' binoculars! I must say though I haven't laughed like that in quite some time. Oh me.

Bes her heart!

Our day started out REALLY early this morning! We had to be at the hospital at 6 am for Bes to get tubes in her ears. She was all smiles before the procedure... but afterwards was a different story! Brad said they learned in school that anesthesia can make little ones red as a beet, mad as a hatter, and dry as a bone... well, she got one out of the three... when they brought her back to me she was MAD! It took an hour or so for her to calm down and by that time we were already home so she went right to sleep. She woke up feeling great then she went down for nap #2 and woke up with a fever and a cough! UGH! Brad seems to think it's totally coincidental that this all happened after her little surgery and that it's totally unrelated but I was hoping for a reprieve from all her sicknesses! I am so bummed because we missed out on our church's Trunk n Treat at Halloween because of an ear infection and it's looking like we will miss the Christmas party tomorrow too!

The cutest little patient ever!

Her gown was a little big. :)

Getting some Daddy lovin' after it was all over.

Merry Christmas to me!!

Oh, I am SO excited! Brad gave me my Christmas present early so that I can use it to capture all the priceless memories we are going to make this year! Now I just need to figure out how to operate it... :)

The CUTEST cookies ever!!

Several people have asked about Bes's adorable birthday cookies... aren't they precious!?! Almost too cute to eat! I get carried away checking blogs sometimes and one thing led to another and I found The Cookie Mama blog! Was I excited!?! I am a TOTAL cookie girl and I found her site just in time for Bes's big day! We've had Shannon's fabulous cookies for Bes's birthday... then for Jack's fireman birthday... and April told me she ordered some for our Christmas party at church! Yeah! The Cookie Mama ROCKS! :) Shannon, you're the best! Thanks for sharing your amazing talent with all of us!

Bessie's bug!

Bes's Pop Daddy and Grommie (my parents) got her this little car for her birthday and it's all she has on her mind! It's like a built in babysitter! She plays in it ALL DAY LONG! She cracks me up! Bes had the best birthday and got TONS of fabulous gifts! To all my family and friends... Thank you so much for making Bes's birthday so special!

She woke up from her nap and Pop Daddy had her car all put together just waiting for her!

One happy little girl!

She gets in and out of this thing a gazillion times and one time she went and got her "cell phone" AKA the tv remote... she's been watching her mama... chattin' and drivin'.

Even the box was fun!

Makes me smile...

Is this not the cutest face ever!?!