Baby's 1st Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday's from our family to yours!

I hope everyone had a magical holiday celebrating Our Lord & Savior, we certainly did!

We spent this special time with both sides of the family.

Christmas Eve we went to the Candlelight Service at the First United Methodist Church.

Now I've been to Christmas Eve services before, but I've never seen anything like this. 

I loved it. The music and the readings made me feel even more joy for the glorious season.

I was moved. Don't laugh. I really was. 

I'm thinking this will be our Christmas Eve tradition. No matter where we live.

Christmas morning, goodness it was exciting. Watching Caroline take it all in was the best. 

Santa came to visit Caroline at her Sassy & G's house. She was in awe. 

I really don't think she knew where to go first. Her head was flipping back and forth as she scanned the room looking at all her new things. 

Let's not fib- her favorite thing was the wrapping paper. And anything that wasn't hers.

And of course, Christmas morning isn't complete with out a breakfast casserole.

Late Christmas morning we were in Niceville. (we're all about seeing everyone on the Holiday's)

We had Christmas morning all over again, and Santa even stopped in at Nonnie's house. :)

Again, Caroline crawled around from toy to toy checking everything out.

This child is so spoiled, it's unreal. 

Same as earlier in the day- the boxes and wrapping paper were probably her favorite.

Then we had a Christmas dinner, family and friends came over to join in on the amazing meal my mom cooked. 

This woman should seriously be a chef. I've considered hiring her to cook for my family personally. 

Yeah, she's that good. 

And of course, the following Saturday we had Turner Christmas! More "Food & Family." Turner Holiday's are always fun. Nana's house is filled to the max with aunts, uncles and cousins - and now the next generations :)

We had such a great Christmas. Another successful 1st for Caroline. The best part about it was being surrounded by everyone we love. 

It was a Christmas to remember. Happy Birthday, Jesus <3

11 Months Old!!

Caroline is 11 months old!

I cannot believe we are here. 

This is the last month we will be able to call this little one an infant.

And then.. she's a.. sniff sniff.. toddler. :(

These months went by so fast. 

I always find myself looking back at her pictures..all the way back to the day she was born. 

It amazes me to see the transformation she has made.

She was a dark haired, light eyed little beauty when she was born.

Now she is a light haired, color changing eyes cutie.

I wouldn't change anything about these months. 

To watch her grow has been the biggest blessing of all.

I love being able to teach her things and then watch her get the hang of it.

It's like something just clicks and then boom- she's doing it all the time!

I've said it once (or twice) and I'll say it again,

this girl is so freakin' smart. 

And on another note- did you notice the prop in the picture above? Joseph's glasses.

Yeah. She wouldn't sit still for the picture. Girlfriend does not like laying on her back.

So we improvised.  

Fun Facts About Caroline:

• weighs 22 pounds
• is 29 inches long
• says Mama and Hey
• waves hello & bye-bye
• loves yogurt melts
• can climb up and down steps
• loves meeting new people
• beats on everything like it's a drum
• crawls to meet mommy and daddy whenever they come home
• can stand up on her own without touching anything
• claps at the right parts during "If You're Happy & You Know It"
• has now been to seven different states: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina

Santa!

We met Santa today!

It was such a great experience.

Joseph and I had a whole lot of fun waiting in line in Pensacola for just about 2 hours.
Caroline played with us, some other kids and looked around the whole time. We did quite a bit of people watching at this prime location. She was just as happy as could be!

We thought she might be getting tired towards the end of our wait. Like she was ready for a nap. Naturally, we began to start thinking that this situation could head south real quick.

We weren't sure how she would react to Santa anyway. I mean we have an almost 11 month old baby meeting this giant bearded man in red. It could get crazy. 

Like everything else though, she amazed us.

She loved him. She sat down as happy as could be on his lap and just looked at him. She checked him out up and down and then even played with his beard. When she felt comfortable enough, she looked at the camera and gave us a big smile. #moneyshot

She was the cutest, most well behaved child in that line. Success!

We love Santa Claus!