In The Spirit

Now that we've gotten Thanksgiving under our belt, we've moved full speed ahead into getting ready for Christmas!

We went today to pick out a Christmas tree....

Cate missed out on the fun....here's what she was doing the whole time...

We spent Thanksgiving with my Dad in Dothan, and on the way home Friday we stopped to let the girls see Grandmommy and their cousin Keaton in Montgomery. We went ice skating, rode the Christmas train, and even stopped to chat with Santa! Towns loved the big guy this year...Cate, not so much!

Bethany's an old pro at skating, but it was Towns' first time to try out the ice. She did great! I held her hand the first few times around the rink, and after she got the hang of it she was on her own and loving it!

B skated for a short while...until her check card started burning a hole in her wallet!


Let the count down begin...we l-o-v-e this time of year at the McClendon household!

Birthday Mania!

I must admit that I had the patience of a 3 year old waiting for Bethany to get home from what seemed like a 12 hours school day! She had these treats waiting for her...

...and we couldn't wait to continue the birthday celebration!

She had cards from my parents and brother & sister to open (love that they're ages 9 and 4 and they sent a 'happy birthday niece' card...too funny!), and shortly after she opened her gifts these pretty flowers were delivered to the house from her aunt and cousins...

And these sweet ones from my grandmother...

Let it be known that B holds the world record for tearing through paper at mock speed to get to the goods in side the box! The girl is a maniac when it comes to opening presents! And I love how it looks like this when she gets done (i.e. like a tornado has blown through)...








Here, she's opening the gift Towns picked out and wrapped all by herself...yellow Hannah Montana lip gloss and bubbles! Of course, B acted like it was the best present she'd ever gotten...so sweet!



Sporting the new North Face from Grandmommy & Pop...



She got the present from J and me a month early....a new Nikon camera (her argument was that she didn't want to 'miss out on her teenage years' by having to wait until her actual birthday to get it...she's never hugged me as tight as when I told her that me sweet talking J on her behalf worked and he caved)! This is her back in October pretending that it's her birthday and that she's surprised...





Isn't she a great actress? I've always said that it's her calling!

After all the present-opening, we took her to Bridge Street, her favorite place to shop around...

A picture of the girls...we gave it our best shot!

(Chi O's...can you see the cute smocked owls on Towns' dress??)

After freezing our fannies off at Bridge Street, she picked Ruby Tuesday's for her birthday dinner...if you know her, you know that that's at total shock! HA!

All in all I think her day was pretty fabulous! The reason I know this is because on the way home from dinner she looked at J and me and {made my heart melt when she} said 'thanks Daddy and Tara...this has been the best birthday ever'! I mean, can she be any sweeter?!
Now do you see why I love her to pieces?

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Thirteen candles...

For this little lady...

because today is her BIRTHDAY and she's a TEENAGER!

At exactly 7:47 on the dot this morning we took this picture...

Since she was, at that very minute, officially the big 1-3!

Happy birthday to the most....

beautiful,
amazing,
talented,
sweet,
caring,
thoughtful,

(as in Tuesday night after dancing I stopped at the gas station to get gas - she went in to get a drink with her new check card (!!) - I got back in the car to find my favorite drink sitting in my seat waiting for me - awww)
wonderful,
compassionate,
incredible,
(I could keep going until next week)

...girl I know!

She woke up to this this morning...













Because with someone as precious as this...



...it calls for a celebration in the most major kind of way!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BET-BET!

We love you so, so, so very much!!!

Belated Baby Dedication

Cate's very belated baby dedication was today at church, and with her recovering from being so sick it probably wasn't the best idea to go through with it, but we'd waited long enough! The girl is almost 14 months old (and was by far the oldest baby who was dedicated today)! At least she's tiny, so she didn't look too much older than the rest of the babies beside her!

It was a very special day, and such a sweet service. How incredible it is to stand in front of our congregation and make our promise to raise Cate in the light of His word. And to see every person in the sanctuary stand on our behalf and make their promise to help guide her as well. It brought tears to my eyes to say the least. There's no greater joy in the world than being a parent! What a blessing it is to have been given the job of raising such a beautiful, sweet baby girl!

The Patient {With No Patience}

Oh, how I wish Cate Bug could stay far, far away from hospitals!! The poor baby has had her fair share of them in the last few months, and Thursday night was no exception! We spent all of Thursday night in the emergency room thanks to pneumonia, a fever of 104, and her inability to keep anything down. She was pretty much lifeless until they gave her loads of fluids through an IV. Around 4 a.m. she was admitted and that's where we were until Saturday morning. Bless her heart, she was a trooper the entire time. We made the best of it, and after tons of antibiotics and fluids she's somewhat back to normal. She's never been one who's easy to confine, so you can imagine how much fun it was trying to entertain her in that little hospital room!

She still gave good lovin' even though she was sick...

Towns had a field day playing doctor to her! Decatur General, I owe you for the box of rubber gloves Dr. McClendon went through in one day. Just put it on my bill...



Cate couldn't stand that her IV kept her from straying too far...



One sick, sick baby...



As I was trying to get packed up to go home Saturday I put the flowers that her YaYa, Pappy, Anna Grace & Max gave her down in the floor to entertain her...she was quite a fan...the girl loves a balloon!



We're so glad to be home again! And so, so, so very happy that Bugaboo is on the mend!

Busy, Busy!

Things have been a whirlwind in the McClendon household for the past week...

The cute chick on the left just came to live with us and finish out the school year (I don't think I could possibly convey how ecstatic I am about it - she's only been here for a week and it's been nothing short of a blast the entire time! She's hit an all time record with 8 blog posts in one week about it!)....and the sweet baby girl on the right has been sick all week and we found out today that she's got pneumonia. She's so very pitiful and if she's not better by tomorrow morning (after 2 prescription antibiotics and a hefty shot in the leg of some today) we'll be headed to the hospital. I hope and pray she wakes up a new woman tomorrow!

And this girl here...well, as you can tell by the picture she's got her purse on standby at all times because she's always just along for the ride! We're all on cloud 9 about our Bet-ny coming to live with us, but Towns is absolutely beside herself. I do believe she thinks we're on an extended vacation!

Sweetness

My favorite people in the world...



All in one picture before church Sunday morning...all looking at the camera...most of them smiling at it! Doesn't get much better than that in my book! Wish I could Photoshop myself in that little space to the right and call our Christmas card picture a done deal....