Dabo come and the Cocks go home!!!!

All of you Clemson folks have to watch this video!! It's awesome, and makes me so proud to be a TIGER!! I love me some Dabo Swinney--he has turned the Tigers around, got us a 34-14 win against the Gamecocks, and is taking us to the Gator Bowl! Never mind that he's a hottie and loves to chest bump the players. :) I can't wait to see what he does next year as our new head coach!!

"Dabo come and the Cocks go home..."

My holiday quirks...

Emily, one of my friends from Clemson, tagged me to list six quirky holiday things about me. Let's see if I can do this...

1. For some reason, I'm just not into Christmas this year. In fact, I wouldn't mind skipping it altogether. I don't know why I'm being such a scrooge, but I haven't bought a single gift, ordered a single card, or really made any plans to do so. I didn't even want a tree this year, but Ben put one up in our living room a few days ago. It doesn't have any lights or decorations on it, but it does make the house smell divine! 

2. I have put out a few decorations, which are starting to get me into the Christmas spirit. My Aunt Betty cross-stitches the most beautiful pillows every year and I have them hanging on every single door knob in the house. I love, love, love these pillows, and am always so happy when she sends a new one! Handmade gifts are the best!! 

3. We are a real-tree, colored lights kind of family. Fake trees and white lights just don't do it for me. It took some convincing to get Ben to love colored lights as much as I did---our first couple of Christmases we had a mixture of both. Now he doesn't even try to put white lights on the tree anymore. :) 

4. Going to the Christmas Eve service each year is my very favorite part of the season. I love the scripture, the hymns, the candle light...everything. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is what Christmas is all about, and I look forward to the Christmas Eve service, no matter which church we go to, every year. 

5. The Jessica Simpson Christmas album is one of my favorites. Sooooo cheesy, I know, but I love every single song on it! Her duets with Nick Lachey and her sister make me sing at the top of my lungs. Ben REFUSES to let me listen to it when he's in the car with me. :)

6. One year when I was in grad school, my roommates and I put colored lights lining the tops of our walls all the way around our living room. We used to turn out all of the lights except these and the lights on our tree, and sit around talking while we listened to Christmas music. We ended up loving them so much that they stayed up until we moved 8 months later. After Christmas was over we just looked like we lived in a Mexican restaurant. :)

Thanks for tagging me, Emily! I'm going to tag:

Christie

Courtney

Lauren

Jodie

Casey

Lillian

Wordless Wednesday

A stroll down memory lane...

I was looking at a friend's blog where she has the cutest pictures of her daughter screaming on Santa's lap, and I was reminded of this lovely picture taken two years ago when Grayson was 15 months old. Some of you may remember it because we loved it so much that we used it as our Christmas card picture. :) It's quite obvious that Grayson was a huge fan of Santa Claus! Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see just how happy he was... :)

Sweet boy

I just have to brag on my sweet Grayson for a minute---his behavior has been so wonderful in the past week, and it's been so nice to be around such a happy, kind, helpful little boy! We've had some major behavior problems in the past few months, and we're hoping that he's starting to turn around and behave like the sweet boy we know he is. The "terrible twos" morphed into the "terrible threes" on August 31st, and while it has seemed like there's no end in sight, it now feels like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. He has been helping us around the house, playing nicely with his sister, going to bed without fussing, and throwing far fewer tantrums--it's been GREAT! Knocking on lots of wood right now so I don't jinx things, but I really am proud of what a big boy Grayson has been lately...keep it up, buddy! :)

Christmas card out-takes...

It will probably take me until Christmas to get a decent picture of them for our card!! Last year it was Grayson who either wouldn't sit still or wanted to push his sister out of the way, and this year it's Emma Claire who is not being cooperative. Never mind that my flash wasn't performing consistently, so the lighting is terrible in some of them. I WILL get a good picture...it just might take a thousand tries!!!

Couch potatoes

Grayson and Emma Claire are total couch potatoes--I really think they'd sit there all day and watch television if I let them! I took these on Sunday when they were watching cartoons...doesn't Emma Claire look like a beached whale?? :)

Babies, babies, everywhere!!!

Last week was quite the week for babies to be born! On Monday, 11/24, our first nephew was born to Ben's sister, Anna, and her husband, Jeff. Baby Dylan is just adorable, and I can't wait to meet him! Grayson and I have a yucky cough/cold thing going on, so we skipped out on going to visit so we wouldn't spread our germs. I'm hoping we're better by this weekend so we can make the trip to meet him. Isn't he absolutely gorgeous?? Congratulations, Anna and Jeff---Dylan is such a wonderful blessing and I can't wait to see all of the cousins grow up together! :)

The next day, 11/25, my friend, Jodie, gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, Anne-Murphy, after a crazy 28 hour labor that ended in a c-section. Go check out her blog to see pictures and read all about precious Anne-Murphy! Congratulations, Jodie and Brian--we are so happy for you!!

Finally, the following day, 11/26, one of my best friends, Meg, had a much shorter labor and delivery which resulted in gorgeous baby Sterling! Sterling has the chubbiest cheeks, and I can't wait to kiss all over them! I made a quick visit to the hospital on Thanksgiving to meet Sterling, but stood across the room so I wouldn't spread my cough to her. Meg and Burke, we are thrilled for you and we know that Sterling is the perfect addition to our growing group of little ones! :)

In other baby news, our friends Kat and Ashley's new baby, Ford, has been in the hospital since Friday with a high fever and virus. Please keep Ford and his family in your prayers! 

Cuteness!!!

Emma Claire fell asleep while sitting on the couch today---have you ever seen anything CUTER?? After taking the obligatory pictures of her sleeping while sitting up, I laid her down and made her more comfortable, where she proceeded to take a 45 minute nap. I just can't get enough of her!! :)

Busy, busy!!!

Sorry I've been slacking at keeping up the blog lately! It's been busy around here--what else is new? Here are a few recent pictures of my little monkeys!!