Christmas at Papa and Mimi's

We spent Christmas Eve with Adam's family. His mom made the most awesome meal. It was delicious. We ate on china. It was fancy! All the great grandparents got to come, so that was a big blessing.

Here are some pics from the evening...




Adam, Rachel, and Great Papa Charles...




Rachel and Great Papa Charles...I think Great Papa Charles is Rachel's biggest fan! He just lights up when he sees her. She brings him so much joy!

Uncle Nate with his new diaper bag for Baby McD who is on the way...

Uncle Nate and Aunt Lalo with the cute duckie night gowns Rachel gave to her cousin-to-be...

Christmas at Nana's

We spent the Sunday before Christmas at Nana's. We ate BBQ ribs that were to die for and had lots of "snacks" as usual.

Here are some pics of the kids before they changed out of their church clothes...they were all adorable, as usual:o)

Donnie, Cade and Laura opening presents...

Cade with his cool new hat...

Christmas at Pa's

Since we had 3 little ones to work around, we decided to spread Christmas out this year . Instead of a 3 or 4 day frenzy around Christmas, we started two weeks early. We had Christmas at Pa's two weeks before Christmas. We really enjoyed spreading out the celebrations so the kids had fun at each one and weren't just completely exhausted from several days with no naps or regular schedules. Here are a few pics from Christmas at Pa's.

Laura in her cute Santa dress...

Me and Rachel with her cool duffle bag with her name on it from Aunt Christy...



Christy and Laura...



Pa and the girls...

Cade playing with his new presents...

9 Months Old

It's been several weeks since I last posted any updates. We have been crazy busy with all the holidays and running here and there...plus some relaxing every now and then. Since the last update, Rachel has had her first haircut and started standing on her own (holding on to something). I'll put Christmas pics in a separate post.

Out little movie star...showing off the glasses our team won at the Upper Room Christmas Party balloon reindeer contest:o)



Adam and Rachel heading the church the Sunday before Christmas...



We even had a visit from Miss Jennifer and her mom Tanya when Jen flew into Nashville for the holidays! Rachel especially liked Mrs. S's pin on her sweater.

Rachel's curls before her first haircut...

...and the haircut...

Miss Leah, Adam, and Rachel after the haircut. Rachel did great!

Hanging out at home one day before Christmas...

Our visit to the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas lights...

Me and Rachel by the poinsettia tree...

Bathtime fun...

Rachel's first time to stand up on her own. She was SOOOO excited!!!!

8 1/4 Months

Rachel is growing up on us and is now crawling all over the place. She has tried to befriend Nimbus (if you call "chasing" him all over the house befriending) and here's a cordial pic of them...but Nimbus was not so cordial when he "attacked" Rachel last week. He got her with each paw on the sides of her face and then bit her on the head! Poor girl! The worst part is that Adam and I were both within 3 feet of both of them (as we never leave her unattended with Nimbus for this reason). Nimbus was just walking by and Rachel must have grabbed at him or something as we were talking. It only took a split second for this to happen and of course we heard screaming. All in all, it could have been much worse since Nimbus has really sharp claws. I almost think he was trying to "play" with her in his own way. Her scratches were not bad considering and were almost gone the next day. Needless to say, we're much more cautious now. I hope they can be friends one day soon:o)



Good thing we had our gate at the top of the stairs completely shut. I went downstairs to check on some laundry. Little did I know I had a follower who was very curious as to where I was going. I heard a thump, but no crying. She had simply crawled down onto the step before the baby gate and was sitting there smiling when I ran up to check on her.



Cute pic...

Christmas Parties

This past weekend was filled with fun Christmas parties! Adam's work Christmas party was at the Opryland Hotel on Saturday night and the Upper Room Christmas party was Sunday night. Nana came up to watch Rachel so we could go to the party on Saturday night. Adam's company generously pays for everyone to stay overnight each year at whichever hotel the party is at. We enjoyed getting away although we were missing Rachel by the time we got home. It was the longest we'd been away from her (about 24 hours!) I think the "silent night" was our favorite part. Rachel is still having some issues with sleeping through the night. We're working on it, but I start most days completely exhausted. It was nice to sleep in until almost 9AM on Sunday morning after a full night's rest. We had to miss church and Sunday School, but it was a much needed time of rest and togetherness for us.

Here we are after the Christmas party...

Us and Big Al at the Upper Room Christmas party...and yes, I have on the same sweater, but I washed it in between. I needed something festive to wear so I bought this sweater at JCP on Friday night to have for both parties:o)

Decorating Aunt Bren's Tree

To end up our Thanksgiving holiday, we always go to Aunt Bren's house and decorate her Christmas tree. This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. Aunt Bren doesn't have any kids, but in reality, we're all just like her kids. She'd do anything for us...always has and always will I'm sure:o) She makes her signature spaghetti and then we're off to start the decorating...

Someone (who shall remain nameless) thought it would be a great idea to get a picture of all the great grandkids to give to Great Pa for Christmas...what were they thinking! We had an 8 month old, a 14 month old, a 2 year old, and a 5 1/2 year old...do you think they all looked at the camera and smiled all at the same time?!?!? Of course not! Maybe Dana got one good pic amid all the chaos! This is the best one we got and it's not so great!


Laura laying on Duke...she was really sleepy...



Nana and the girls...

A McD family pic...

Nana and all the kiddos...

...and then, the chaos began...glad we got one good pic before they all started going their own ways:o)

Rachel was all pooped out after the weekend of festivities. Here she is sleeping on Adam at Nana's. We went back to her house to watch Cade & Laura after decorating the tree at Bren's. Mom had Christmas play practice at church and Donnie & Christy were in Chicago. We didn't figure she'd get much Christmas play practiced with those two running around...so we volunteered to watch them. Wow! Watching three kids under the age of 2 1/2 is a hard day's work!...but we loved every minute of it!

Cade showing Rachel the ropes of drivin'...

Rachel asleep in the car when we got home. Finally, one holiday down, one more plus New Year's to go!