Our Kinda Weird but REALLY Great Weekend

I had two goals going into this weekend. Number 1, celebrate the birth and life of this sweet child:

And Number 2, to watch my Gamecocks win the SEC Championship. You are already well aware of how the second goal of mine went so we won’t focus on that one, K? 😉 I still love my Gamecocks!!!

But the Birthday Party for Sweet Tess? That was Wonderful. I am so in love with this kid. I really love every age and stage of childhood. There’s nothing like a sweet, teeny newborn or an 8 month old who is learning to interact with her people. I love the independence of Mak and CB at 6 and 4…but for real…there is nothing like a 2 year old. Two year olds are absolutely hilarious. Actually, I think my love of this stage starts at 18 months and goes to age 3. They are learning so much so fast and are so doggone cute doing it. And I am a very blessed aunt who gets to watch two sweet little girls as they are going through my favorite stage right now. I could eat ’em up.

My hope was that all four of us would trek on over to the sweet girl’s party on Saturday morning. This was our first weekend with no official Christmas sessions in a looooooong time. I say official because Collin still did some photographing for family…but you know what I mean. Well, Saturday morning as we were walking out the door, Mak started complaining that his tummy hurt. And he looked pretty awful. So he and Collin stayed home while CB and I went to watch Tess blow out her birthday candles. It was such a sweet party for an amazingly sweet little girl!

And then, as the party was ending, Mak and Collin showed up! YAY!! Turns out my boy needed just a little bit of rest. No tummy bug. =)

I love the stage this little sugarlump is in, too. Gracious, I am blessed with some precious nieces and nephews!!!!

After the big party we went to my parents’ house to watch the Gamecocks…well…ummm…do what they did. And that’s all we’ll say about that. Still love ’em, though. We came home, got babes in bed and Collin and I snuggled on the couch in front of the fire with no distractions, totally and completely wrapped up in one another and the glow from the Christmas tree. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Dude, it’s Christmas time and my husband is a photographer. In reality, we were on the couch in front of the fire for the next few hours. But he was designing card after card after card while I watched HGTV. We haven’t seen our bed before midnight in almost two months. I love my hard workin’ man and he sure is working hard these days. We both say all the time, it’s a good thing we love what we do. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, when we will be able to snuggle in front of the fire. And, really, I do love watching him design all of those Christmas cards and seeing the cutest kids in the PeeDee pop up on his computer beside me. It’s a busy, busy time. But neither of us would trade it for anything. We really do love this career.

Fast forward to 3:08 AM. Collin and I had just gotten to bed about two hours earlier. I hear and IRATE Clara Beth screaming “Mommy, Come Here!” from her room. I stumbled sleepily to her room and she said “Look. I frew up.” Baby Girl was MAD. Her sleep had been interrupted in a very unpleasant way and she was ticked. I got CB cleaned up, Collin got the bed cleaned up and she slept with us for the next few hours. It’s so hard to sleep with a sick kid. You’re doing that whole “I want to comfort you but please don’t breathe in my face because Momma CANNOT get sick” thing. The next morning when we woke up she was fine. Church was a no-go, though, because of the earlier frow-up. I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of nice to have a lazy day where we had nothing to do and nowhere to be.

We did a little pattern blocks…

And then The Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree is going so well this year. We are doing it in the morning instead of the evening and I can’t tell you how much better it is because of that change. My kids are way too sleepy and grumpy to do anything at night.