New Light!

This is what our laundry room looked like before Christmas:

And thanks to Jessica, this is what it looks like after Christmas!  :)  

Our Little Family Christmas!

Here is our lovely tree!

Don't worry, it isn't still up.

We took it down at a normal time this year.  :)

Lydia got excited about every present, 

and she shook her little fist in the air.

Aren't they cute!?!  :)

This is one of the things Joel got me.  I love it!  

Habermas Christmas!

Look at our cute little piano player!

She's learning from the best!  :) 

And here is the only picture I took at the Habermas Christmas!  Whoops!

I promise Lydia was having a good time! 

She just hasn't quite mastered the skill of smiling for the camera.

We're working on it!  :)  

Christmas Friends!

Our photo shoot didn't go too well, as you can see from the lack of smiles, 

but the girls sure looked cute in their matching outfits!

Poppa's Glasses!

Lydia was playing with Poppa's glasses.

Then I just happened to snap this photo,

and Jessica noticed that it resembles Ben Folds!  ha!

He is a musician that was on a show that we were watching at the time.

Christmas Cookies!

We went over to the Shibley's house to have a little cousin Christmas cookie fun!

We had a great time, 

and the cookies turned out lovely...as you can imagine!  :)  

Decorating Time!

Lydia was a big help decorating the tree! :)  

The hard part was getting her to keep the ornaments on the tree after we got them all up!

Let's just say, the bottom half of our tree was quite bare this year!  :)

Christmas Time Is Here!

We finally made it to Christmas (a month late)!

These are some pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot.

My mom came along to take the pictures, 

and my dad came to make Lydia smile.  

The second part didn't work too well.

She kept reaching out for Poppa!  :)  

I just love that little tongue sticking out the side!  

Merry Christmas!  ha!

Townsend!

We got to stay in a cabin in Townsend with Joel's family a few days before Thanksgiving, 

and it SNOWED!

 Joel and I, along with Lydia, decided to take a drive through Cade's Cove.

Look what I spotted!

I tried really hard to get him to look at me

but had no luck!

 Winter wonderland!!!

Lydia's doll fell out of the car, 

and we found her the next day.

Joel thought she looked hilarious, so we took a picture!  :)  

More Great Grandparents!

Joel's other set of grandparents also live in Michigan, 

so we visited them during the same trip.

Here is Nannie reading to Lydia...so sweet!

And this is for you Heather!

The squirrels in Michigan are black!  Bizarre!

No one believed me when I said I had never seen a black squirrel, 

and they thought I was a bit nuts to want a picture of one!  ha!

And here we are with Papa and Nannie!

They are so wonderful!!!

Great Grandparents!

Over our Thanksgiving break, 

we got to travel up to Michigan to spend time with Joel's grandparents!

We had a great time!!!  :)

(These are Joel's mom's parents, just in case you're curious.)

Fall Friends!

We attempted to do a fall photo shoot with these friends, 

since we did it last year:  

Pumpkin Babies 2012!

They wouldn't quite fit inside the pumpkins this year!  :) 

 Zoie knows the way to Lydia's heart...food!  :)

Can't imagine how big they'll be next year!

They sure are growing up fast!!!  

Fall Hike!

Alright, folks!  

In this little catch up game of mine, 

we are going to go back in time

and then move towards Christmas.

So here we go!

Back in November, 

we went on a beautiful little fall hike with Poppa!

Overall, I think this was Lydia's impression of hiking:

We're gonna have to work on that!

She didn't even have to walk!  :)

The rest of us enjoyed our little outing together!