My Baby Turned 10!

Yesterday my baby, my Bailey, turned 10 years old. She is double digits. It made me think back to what I still see sometimes in my head when I look at her. Sometimes when she smiles at me, this is what I see:
And yet this is what she has become. Don't get me wrong, I am immensley proud of her. Bailey is smart (almost too much so), sweet, kind, and never misses the chance to tell the people that she loves that she cares about them. She is joyous and jubilent and very open with her emotions. If she is sad, you will want to cry with her (and I have many times) and if she is happy, you can't help but to smile when she grins at you with that full face grin that spreads across her face. It is my joy and my honor to be her mother.

Next week we will have her birthday party and celebrate for her with her friends but yesterday was just for her family where we got to have her precious attention for one evening. Happy Birthday my baby...both the one I see now and the one I remember in my head. We love you and are proud of who you have become and we look forward to watching to see where life will take you but know that it can never take you far from our hearts.

Happy Birthday Jeremy & Abbie

Happy Birthday Jeremy and Abbie. We wanted to sing happy birthday for you like you did for Kelly on his but we killed Kelly's computer that is set up to dowload the video from our camera so guess you'll just have to settle for this (sorry):
Happy Birthday to you (cha cha cha)
Happy Birthday to you (cha cha cha)
Happy Birthday Jeremay and Abigail
Happy Birthday to you (cha cha cha)
Really we hope your birthdays are great. We miss you and are sad we can't be with you for your special day. We love you and wish you the best! Happy Day!

Christmas With The Grandparents

With the weather as bad as it was and all the flights getting canceled, we weren't sure if we'd make it home to be with the kids on Christmas but someone was watching out for us and we finally made it home late Christmas Eve/Early Christmas morning so that we were there when the kids woke up. It was the only thing I wanted for Christmas and it was just as good as I hoped it would be.
We had planned to go small this year for gifts...guess my parents didn't get that memo! It looked like Toys R Us after the kids had opened their presents. Bailey's favorites were here kareoke machine, her spa making kit, and her Nintendo DS (thanks Grandparents). I think she still looks cute in her footie jammies...even if she is almost 10!
Here's Grandma Julee opening her presents. A new pair of slippers...just what she wanted.

Vaughn woke up and wasn't sure what to think of the whole thing. Mom and Dad were suddenly there, he got to eat candy out of the sock hanging on the fireplace (see the remnants on his face) and then we threw a bunch of boxes wrapped in paper at him. He got the hang of it though and started tearing into the packages as soon as I could get them in front of him. He got a little over-stimulated though and by the end of the day was actually thankful to be home and go to bed in his own crib that he's missed. He's sure gonna miss that thing when we move him up to a toddler bed...he really loves his bed.

Grandma Dee sure was a good sport and tried out one of Bailey's concoctions from her spa kit. Apparently it's sure to give you a good complexion...or be a healthy breakfast...hmmm, maybe she wasn't supposed to put in on her face but in it instead? Bailey, are you sure you got that right?

All in all, it was a great Christmas that was extra-special because we had so much family around. We sure missed Jeremy and Dahlia and their little ones and we will have to catch up with Barbara, Sean, Melissa, and Tayllor, but still a wonderful Christmas. Love to all and hope your holiday was as nice as ours.