In the middle of all this, Jesus had a birthday...

Happy birthday to Jesus! There is no limit of presents under a tree that would be the equivalent to the gift God has given us.. Eternal life! Getcha some... It's been a blessed holiday season for us... time with family, good food, moments with our kiddos, a multitude of gifts... did I already mention the great food ? oh and my glorious anxiety issues ofcourse.. they only ruined about half of what I tried to do this holiday season :) This was my favorite Christmas for one reason only... it was Kellen's very first Christmas! He was adorable on every level. Now next year he will be romping around everywhere walking, so the tree might actually be a danger zone but this year he didnt bother any of them at all. Just sets in front of them and looks with me and claps his hands in approval.. ha.. if I say 'wheres the Christmas tree?' he will turn and look right at it and point. precious! Though he has been sick for the past few days he has been happy and joyful through it all. Jaxson got to spend the holiday with us this year also, so that was an added treat.. Jon said several times to me on various occassions, 'we are now the parents and no longer the kids waiting for Santa.' It was a fun realization for both of us that we have changed roles in the Santa saga and we're responsible for making sure all the 'kid fun' of Christmas is awesome for them, just like our parents made it for us.. pressure cooker! :) It was sweet watching him get everything ready for the boys, him and Jaxson set out 2 cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, and then before they got up he went and turned on the tree, ate the cookies, chased them down with milk, and made sure everything was ready for their big morning. Infact, im really not sure who was more excited him or jax.. close call :) Jaxson was the first one up, he came in our room to get us... we let Kellen sleep and let Jax go see what Santa had brought...I am proud of us. Rather then get caught up in trying to have 50 gifts for them under the tree we kept it simple... Jaxson was appreciative of all his gifts and seemed pleased, and Kellen is 10 months old.. he could have cared less about the presents he only wanted to tear off pieces of paper and eat it! And with coffee in hand I couldnt help but set back and take in the sweetness of our little family moments...

Holly Jolly Holiday Season!!

What a wonderful time of year! My child's first holiday season, how exciting it was for both of us! And lots and lots to do with family!
Jaxson got here Wednesday night and it was off to Pops and Mimi's house for some baking cookies and going to the square to look at lights..

 Jax was hamming it up and loving the lights of the ozarks, and Kellen was taken by the 2 guys playing the bongos and singing carols... and well us adults we just froze!

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A few weeks back we had taken Kellen to see Santa one day while out shopping. He did fine, sat on his lap, smiled, looked at him and smiled.. no issues.

but Thursday with his cousins was another story.. he was NOT liking the big man with the crazy white beard!! (Jaxson sure looks handsome though! He got right up on Santa's lap and started giving him his list of wants...ha

Santa saw this crew coming and said, um, this will work best if I get out of the line of fire and stand behind the chair !!

Pictures with Santa, lunch at Red Lobster, and the movie Tangled were all on the days agenda...When these 5 get together its a boy party!!! (Kellen's first movie by the way, he slept through almost all of it.)

cute cute movie!
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And more sugar cookies!! Gramma came over and the boys got to bake again...

Little dough for little fingers...

It was short lived as you can imagine the only thing he wanted to do was eat it !!

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It is our yearly tradition to celebrate Christmas eve with my family, either at my parents house or my brothers house... This year Jon and I took on the challenge of hosting the 'bidding game', which is a gift game my mom started for us a few years back... Of course we tweaked the rules a little and added some 'swap' cards and S.O.L. cards... have to keep it entertaining! After my 3 year old niece went to see Tangled a month ago she went home, found the scissors and decided to cut her hair.. when Angie came in and asked what she had done she told her , 'i'm cutting my hair like Repunzel'.   MERCY and guess what we happened to have already bought her for Christmas ??? the Repunzel wig!

He's checking it out... seeing if its cool enough to bipass chewing on the paper for...

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Christmas day was breakfast at Gramma's...

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Keep seeing posts of various trees with frillz and glits, but I think my mother-n-law takes the cake for having some really neat classy trees...

Those are all gifts !!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!  

In the Christmas spirit.

Boy Tree!!

A friend of mine was telling me she wanted to do something special for her kids so they would cherish and have fond memories of Christmas traditions at their home. She decided to collect various nutt crackers... another friend collects the little villages of people they sell during the holidays.. Well this kids tree is one of the many traditions I want to have for our kiddos. For a couple years now we have put up a tree in Jaxson's room and dubbed  it the 'boy tree'. Each year we will add fun new ornaments to it until some day it is a huge tree filled with adorable keep sake ornaments from year after year.. My hope is that they look forward to seeing this tree every year and take a few minutes to look at the ornaments that are on it and remember when they made them or got them.

Our friend Lisa gave us this ornament last year, so perfect..

The difference one year makes is incredible! Last year Jon and I enjoyed a quiet kidless Christmas morning  while sipping coffee and enjoying each others company. We opened gifts and talked and laughed about how next year we would have a baby crawling around everywhere as well as Jaxson's year to spend Christmas with us.. so lets recap, one year we have a kidless Christmas holiday and the next year we have a family of FOUR !! Well, this is that next year !! We now have the adorably spunky baby crawling around almost walking, and we will have our five year old here as well.. Makes me smile just thinking of how chaotic but enjoyable it will all be. Totally worth it.  Maybe its the family mode that has kicked in with me or maybe its the getting older part, not sure.. but i am sooooo loving all things Christmas! Fantsy boxes, wrapping gifts, ornaments, decorations, baking cookies, looking at lights, candles that smell like cinnamon something, taping cards to the door to see how many I can collect, even Christmas cd's, bring em! My sons first Christmas, woot. here's hoping for SNOW !  

Baby quirks at the 10 month milestone!

Unless they've changed things,  the 10 month mark is only two months away from being ONE year old!

This little gift from God is at his 10 month milestone.. with 6 teeth and more on the way he is eating almost everything we eat for dinner. He says momma and dada plainly and sounds out first letters for several other things including dog (da), red (re), you get the picture.. Loves refried beans off the fajita plate (go figure) and eats organic baby crackers and cookies with ease.. the entire thing goes in all at once! Pops and Mimi have a 'talking fish' named Bubba Bass on the wall in the living room (its Arkansas, this kind of thing is fairly common)... Anyways, Kellen LOVES it. He has his Pops wrapped around his finger and he will get him to pick him up as soon as he sees him and will point to the fish and say xxss... we're all guessing that means fish, ha. Bubba sings two songs, 'Don't worry be happy' and 'Take me to the River' and K will stand on the side of the chair and dance and smile and clap... HOOT 

we are over a week into teaching him to go straight to sleep at bed time and for most naps, and not waking up in the middle of the night for a bottle. It took me pretty much two nights of him crying for 30 minutes or so.. but each night he cried less and less until finally he is smiling at me and then going to sleep. Typing that out and then reading it, it sounds like it would be such an easy ordeal, but its actually very high stress, no joke. Hearing your child cry is horrible for a mom, and knowing they want you to hold them and comfort them but youre trying to teach them its okay to learn to fall asleep on their own.... awful. My sister-in-law gave me the book on teaching the Ferber method.. supposedly it works wonders and will help the mom get some good sleep as well as the baby.. so far so good! Of course like everything else I am only following the jest of the idea and tweaking it with my own input and way of doing things.. ha. --In the past few weeks he's starting to cuddle and give hugs. He is a remarkably sweet baby anyways, but this is just precious. He is saying hi to everyone and will wave and say bye bye.. I continue to be in complete aww of this child. 

   

Happy Holidays from the Davis family

 The grand plan was to get some stylish family pictures done this year and use them for a really rockin Christmas card for me to design.. (im always looking for an excuse to do this.)  The day was ice stinkin cold for starters, and Kellen had yet another allergic reaction to something. I'm guessing it was the unwashed beanie and tee-shirt he wore for the event... I wash ALL of his clothes in dreft before he wears them, and if I questioned why I do this before, this is WHY! Thankfully benadryl was there again to save the day, but in stressed out- momma mode and frozen- fingers of it all I completely forgot to get the pictures we needed.. you know, like actual pictures of the KIDS! I am someone who has great ideas at all times.. Can come up with great ideas, great plans, advise you on whatever it is you need, but when it comes to actually implementing the plan for my own self and family it is a train wreck! Bless their hearts for loving me inspite of my quirkiness! And thanks to Ali for weathering the freezing cold day with us :)

 Our little beanie baby



mmm...mmm. turkey day, gobble gobble

Two weeks ago I called it quits on my day job... Saying goodbye to my corporate America gig of nearly 8 years was both awesome and bittersweet. A lot changes in your life over the course of working a job for that length of time... let me be clear, A LOT changed in my life over the course of 8 years! A single rowdy semi- grounded but mostly crazy girl experienced what i'll just refer to as, adulthood.. I grew up! Got over all the hoopla and road to a lonely and meaningless existance and found a really comfortable place for myself in this world. yada yada..Not to say I wont ever grace a corporate building with my presence again but for now the chapter is closed.  The transition has been good and the extra time with Kellen has been wonderful. I'd love to say I am able to do nothing every day, shop and set around eating bon-bons, but thats not the case. The imagery emporium,lol, my picture biz is going strong. To God be the glory for it being a success..  Kellen's first Thanksgiving was good.. It's fun when you are so excited about your child's 'firsts' of everything like holidays and the christmas tree etc. and try to talk to them about it and they just look at you and smile and then pinch your nose!

K's first Thanksgiving

A grand tradition to draw names ... Kellen and Lily got to help decorate the name cards. well, Lily apparently helped Brittany drink her iced coffee and Kellen chewed the markers, but STILL... grand tradition.

 

Brittany and Christopher came up for the holiday also... Kellen wishes she would just move back!

We love you Britty Louise Mandella Lavern the 33rd!!