OLDIE BUT GOODIE...

I was going through my pictures for a project and came across these silly photos that I took of Boo back in July.  I can tell by her pink cheeks...that she had been crazy and running around that afternoon :o)   Typical silly Bailey.  Can't help but love her!

SILLY AND QUIET...

Christmas day our two little miracles were full with lots of cute and silly energy.  After a morning of opening gifts and playing, they sat down quietly to watch the Walt Disney World parade (Brandon went down for a nap, a few minutes into the recording :).

This makes me wish we had more...they can have so much
fun together!

Okay...this REALLY makes me want more.
Don't you just want to squeeze him?!

Love, love, LOVE this silly girl.

Yep...both my children glue-on when watching tv :0)

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

Opening gifts was a ton of fun around our house.  Both of the children were very blessed!  Our morning started about 7:30a, Bailey got up and opened her gift from Santa (Bucky...the ship from Jake & The Neverland Pirates, a Disney show) and then she played with Brandon's Santa gift (Fisher Price stand up toy) until he woke up and finished his bottle.  We took turns opening stockings and gifts, ate some breakfast and settled in for the Disney Christmas Parade on tv. Lunch was easy, left over pizza, and dinner was pretty simple too...roast, mashed potatoes, rolls and green bean casserole.  At dinner, Brandon said his first two-word sentence, "hi baby" (he was looking at the baby Jesus on our table).  Such a big boy!!  We ended the night with some birthday cake and singing "happy birthday" to baby Jesus.

It was a pretty great day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!...

"For unto is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord"  Luke 2:11

Last week, we got to stop by a local church that holds a living nativity each year (this was their 57th!).  We've done this the past couple of years of now.  It was really cold this particular night, but it made the experience all that more real.  I don't imagine that it was close to freezing temps when Christ was born...but it could have been cold and I'm sure that the barn was pretty darn dark and most definitely not sanitary.  Have you ever wondered if Mary was scared?  I mean, did she feel labor pains?  Did Joseph know what to do or was he just there and did the best he could?  Did Jesus pink right up after he was born?  Did he cry?  The bible doesn't document these things, so we just don't know.  I've known since a little girl that Jesus was born in a stable, that there were animals around and there was no room in the inn.  Shepards and wise men came to visit and baby Jesus must have been okay...because the story goes on.  But after giving birth to two babies, I have a entirely new perspective.  It was dark, it was dirty, they were alone and even though they knew that this birth was supernatural...that it was God-sent, God himself. I bet they were scared. Scared by the experience that they were going to go through that night and overwhelmed by the experience of raising this baby a savior.  Just something I was reflecting on tonight...

In a job interview several years back, I was asked (what I thought was) a very interested question. If I could sit down with any three people (living or dead) who would it be?  Two of my answers would be the same today:  Jesus and my great-grandparents (I was hoping I could get a two-for-one there :0)...but the third I would change.  Last time around I mentioned a president but no, now I would have to say Mary. I would really like a chance to sit down and talk with Mary.  To hear the first-hand story of the birth of Christ.  To hear about her time with the son of God.  I'm guessing that would be one pretty great cup of coffee :0)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Cold but awesome!

Brandon had to stay in the car (much too cold outside)
 but...he didn't seem to mind :0)

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM...

At Bailey's school, kindergartners are the big kids on the block.  Then again, her school only goes through kindergarten :O).  As the "big kids", her class got to put on the costumes for the nativity/play and each child got to memorize a line or two.  Boo was Mary...we were super proud :O)   Poor baby was a little under the weather, but she was a trooper and did a great job.  I've included the full nativity below (lines are at the end) and one "song" out of three.  Enjoy!

13 MONTHS...

Our little man continues to grow, Praise God!  He is such a HUGE blessing and he's getting to be such a big boy!  Brandon now holds his own cup, walks with his scooter/push toy, will walk while holding just one of my hands and eats just about everything you put in front of him (and even those things that you don't put in front of him, but he grabs :0)  He loves, loves, loves his sissy and is super eager to do everything that she does.  He is wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 5 diapers and size 3.5W shoes.   He thinks almost any object can be a phone and he'll pick it up, hold it to his ear and say "hi".  He waves to people when we're out and he'll tell them both "hi" and "bye". He races to put as many cheerios in his mouth that he can (he'll take an entire fist full!) and he loves cheese.  Oh... his newest "trick" is Brandon has discovered that he can yell, at the top of his lungs.  So he'll sit there, yell and then crack up.  It's pretty cute, unless you're on the phone or in the car :0)

Happy lucky 13 little man!

PJ PARTY...

Last week, Boo got to wear her PJ's to school.  They had a Christmas PJ party.  The kids wore their PJ's and were allowed to bring a stuffed animal, blanket and pillow.  They ate popcorn and watched Christmas movies (a little learning was including...but mostly it was an "all fun" day :).

I got really lucky last year (or maybe it was even the year before that) and picked up these super cute Christmas pajamas at Gymboree on clearance.  They were super cheap which is why I'm thinking it may have been 2 years ago....I'm known to buy things really big, IF they are super cheap :)

Bailey had a lot of fun.  She took her stuffed reindeer (she wanted to bring her bear...but mama said "no way"...goodness, if we had lost that thing!) and a super fluffy blanket.  Such a neat day for her! :)

HOLD THEM A LITTLE TIGHTER...

Something as simple as looking at lights and visiting a small petting zoo had even more meaning last night.  Putting my babies to bed and hearing them wake up this morning...it has more meaning.  I held them even tighter last night, held them a little tighter this morning...I'll just keep holding them tighter.

WINTER?...

We had some pretty chilly temps yesterday and I think those are suppose to continue for a little while but, before then, man...did we have some pretty great weather!  Sunny and 68-70 degrees! LOVED it!  My mom teases me that that's not winter.  She prefers heavy jackets and snow.  But for me...I'll take sunny and 68 all winter long!

FAVORITE PERSON...

This picture warms my heart.  I can see joy on both of their faces.  My beautiful girl and my beautiful mother. How I got to be so blessed, I will never know.

When asked the other day, who her favorite person was....Boo thought for a moment.  We were pretty sure she'd say Evan or Reese (her two closest girlfriends) but her moment of thinking was just that...a moment and she came back with her response:

Yia Yia.

HAVE MOUTH....

Will carry :0)





DISNEY 2012!!!

Sorry, busy week or I would have posted this sooner!  This year's trip was awesome!  Disney itself was not without it's hiccups (and yes, they will be getting a letter from me), but the family time was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  We took close to 700 pictures, so we took just a few and made the video below.

This year we had an extra long stay, 9 nights.  Mom and dad were able to join us for most of them and my brother Jeff and sister-n-law Rachel stopped in for a day on their way back from a cruise.  The only ones missing were Joshua and Stacy (brother and sister-n-law) and they were missed terribly.

For the most part, the weather was not bad.  We had a couple of pretty days and the others were mild and cloudy but "no rain" as YiaYia pointed out.  We were thankful for that!  The only bummer is we didn't get to take Boo swimming (each time she saw the sun peek out, she'd say "it's warm" in hopes that we'd rush to the pool...poor baby) but all-in-all, nothing to complain about.

We stayed at the campground which I really enjoyed.  Yes, the showers weren't always hot and the trailer we rented was more cramped than if we had rented a condo or a house but...I loved it none the less.  Brandon woke up early each morning, which would had frustrated me if we were at home, but instead I loved it because it gave me a chance to do one of my favorites things...walk around a campground at the crack of dawn.  I love early mornings period.  I don't like getting out of bed, but once I'm up, I relish them.  There's something about a new day...it's kind-of like a brand new baby, nothing has been screwed up yet.   Early mornings at a campground are especially nice because often times someone is cooking bacon and brewing coffee which combined has to be just about one of the best smells God ever created.  Honestly, if I ever get the family ranch that I want....we will eat a HUGE breakfast everyday.  Nothing better!   Well, okay...hot/fresh brownies or cookies and super cold milk at night run a close second :0)  Needless to say, we ate a lot on this trip...it was pretty great :)

Both Bailey and Brandon had a GREAT time on the trip.  Boo of course knows YiaYia and Popo so that was easy.  Brandon on the other hand only "knew" them from Skype (the flat people is what my parents call themselves) but, oh my gosh did he love them.  The only tough part was when everyone had to go home.  Don't really know how else to put it...it sucked.  It was very tough to say goodbye.

I mentioned in my previous post that Brandon LOVED the characters.  I can't say this enough.  He was a crack-up!  He would get soooo excited to see them.  He'd have this HUGE grin and his little chubby arms would flap up and down and he'd bounce in the seat or my lap.  He soaked more than a few noses with his kisses.  It was very, very cute. 

The drive wasn't bad.  On the way down, we stopped in Gainesville (Go Gators!) for the night.  That made the drive down pretty easy and on the way back, we left at dinner time (ate in the car) and stopped around 8:30pm to put the kids in their pjs; they were both out in 10 minutes so the remaining 5.5 hour drive was pretty easy (especially since Tom drove most of it :).

We've been blessed to make this trip every year since 2007...I'm hopeful that we'll be able to continue because with family and these memories....this really is the good life.

 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Our little man is 1 year old!  Hard to believe...but Brandon Elijah turned one last week, November the 19th.  We've been at Disney for the past 10 days, which is the reason for no posts.  I'll post tomorrow about our trip :)

 

Brandon experienced his first cupcake and his first haircut on his birthday.  Both were a huge success (except for the hats, he didn't like those....really hated the "first hair cut" Mickey ears as you'll see below :).  His birthday lunch was at the Crystal Palace where the characters from Winnie the Pooh visit you.  He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the characters.  All of the them that we ran into...he LOVED them all.  It was incredibly cute.  Most babies his age cry at the characters, so I think even the cast members were made happy by his response to them.  All he wanted to do was to grab them and give them kisses :)

 

Our little man is not walking, but he started pulling himself up about a week after he turned 11 months.  He now pulls himself up on anything...the fireplace, the dishwasher, mama, his sister...anything :)  At first he would get upset when he fell back on his bum, but now he's pretty use to it :)  If I hold his fingers and encourage him, he'll will take a step or two;  he also has a couple of push toys that he'll take a step or two with.

 

His sister said more words then he does at this age, but he does this super, super cute baby talk that she did not do.  The words he does say are:  mama, dada, yia-yia, bye-bye, hi, that, na-na (for banana), ni-ni (for night-night) and ba-ba (for his bottle).

 

So far, Brandon has shown himself to be a better sleeper (naps) than Boo and boy do I pray that this continues!  He is happy, energetic and a huge crack-up.  I can't even remember life before him...every once in a while I look at a picture and when I realize that it was taken before I was even pregnant with him, somehow the picture doesn't even seem real.  Is as if life didn't even exist before him.  Our family truly was not complete without him.

 

Happy Birthday little man!  We love you!!!

 

GOOD MORNING...

Just a typical morning wake-up, except usually he has his bink in his mouth but...he must have already chucked that over the side of the crib :0)   He's usually awake several minutes before I go and get him (I can see him on the video monitor).  Most mornings he sits in there and talks to himself before I go get him, some morning he'll talk and then start "bouncing".   :0) 

The small cloth you see in his hand, is actually what we call his blanket.  He sleeps with it every time he's in his crib; he'll put it both in his mouth and over his eyes (both my babies will cover their face/eyes to sleep).  It's so small because I gave it to him when he was about 8 weeks old and I was afraid that a full size blanket would be a hazard; guess it's time to "upgrade" to something larger.  Then again, I guess he could always carry this one around in his pocket :0)



HALLOWEEN...

The Siver family, is having some computer issues!  Main, what a pain those are....technology really is such a blessing and a curse!

Here are a few pics from Halloween.  Bailey was a cat this year.  Actually, we got very lucky with this costume as Boo wore it when she was 3 (only it was a dress then :0).  I was thrilled when she said she wanted to be a cat this year but I'm guessing that next year we'll actually have to break down and buy the girl a costume.  Then again, who knows...in my family we were really good at using Dad's work clothes and being a hobo :0)

This was the first year that Bailey actually went trick-or-treating.  We had been to the mall before, and last year I guess we did a little at Walt Disney World however, this was the first year she actually went around a neighborhood and went door-to-door.  We went with her friend Reese, in their neighborhood.  It was a GREAT time!  They live in a very nice, family friendly neighborhood and I wish I would have taken pictures of the streets, because you would have been able to see the nice/cute homes with the small well manicured lawns and well behaved kids and families (tons of them) walking the neighborhood....VERY Norman Rockwell.  It was awesome.  Brandon didn't dress up this year, it was a little chilly so I bundled him up and he snuggled in as I wore him around the neighborhood; he had a great time watching the kids.  Next year he's going to be Mickey Mouse :0)

Below, first two pictures are of Boo at school and the last one is with Reese before we started trick-or-treating (I took Bailey's coat off for the picture).

MORE FARM FUN...

Someday, we will have horses.  It's always been a dream of mine and I hope that at least one of my children will share that passion.  Bailey expresses an interest, often, in getting a pony...but then again, what little girl doesn't? :0)   My prayer is that when she hits 11 or 12, we will be in the position to "add to our family".  I would love nothing more, than to take early morning rides with my girl...or my little guy if Brandon ends up being the one bitten by the horse-bug.

Tom tells me that Brandon "will love sports"...because he loves sports.  Well, if that's the case...then one of my children "will love horses".  He can stay inside and eat chips and yell at the TV.  I'll take the kids out, ride and explore. 

He may beg to differ but, I think I'd be getting the better end of the deal :0)

FUN ON THE FARM...

Today we had a lot of fun doing a great activity...we visited a small farm in Oxford, Georgia.  They had some animals, a corn maze, a HUGE slide, hay ride and a bouncy house.  The weather was great, sunny and about 70 with a nice breeze.  Boo loved the big slide and I think would have ran through the corn maze two or three more times if we would have let her.  She got a kick out of the hay ride and enjoyed visiting the animals.  Brandon was pretty content "riding" on mommy, but he did want to get down a couple of times to run after sissy.  We're in trouble once this little man starts walking!  I'm not sure he'll do that much "walking" :0)

We ended up taking a ton of pictures so...I'll post some tonight and then some more tomorrow.

Happy Fall Y'all!