Tinley's first Christmas!

 We had a great first Christmas with Tinley!  Children really bring a new meaning to Christmas! We did so much more this Christmas having Tinley so that she could experience more and, I should confess, so that we could show her off in her Christmas outfits! I learned many valuable lessons this Christmas though: 1- Buy christmas outfits way before the season in order to get more wear out of them, 2-Wrapping paper is the real present (I could have just wrapped old toys and she still would have loved it), 3- do the actual Christmas with Tinley in the morning opposed to at night before she goes to bed... One of the best things about Christmas besides sharing it with a baby and your spouse is spending it with family and friends! We went up to St.Louis to celebrate with Michael's side of the family, and celebrated at our house with my parents and sister. We also feel so blessed to have so many friends to share the holiday with and we even got to see our dear friends the deRoos' who came up to visit with us!  We are so thankful for 2011 and looking forward to 2012!

Tinley and Amelia

It is such a blessing to us that Tinley has a very best friend already! Her name is Amelia Harnden! They have gotten to do so much together already in their short, little lives.

 Amelia was there in the hospital when Tinley was born,

 was there for her first Easter sunday morning,




 sat by her when she went to sunday morning bible class for the first time,

swung beside her in the swings for her first time, was there at her first picnic and her first halloween party.




 Tinley and Amelia get to see each other at bible studies, at church, saw each other at Breakfast with Santa, and got to see Christmas lights together at Opryland hotel,

have gone shopping together, swimming together,

and have played together at each others' houses,
and went to the Farmer's Market together!




They also met up at Train Day to play together!

 Tinley even got to celebrate Amelia's one year old birthday at her party!




It is such a joy to see these two girls growing up together.  Amelia's mommy and I have already been discussing their first sleepover! I am so thankful to God for their growing friendship!

Breakfast with Santa

 Saturday, November 5, we were so excited to get to attend the second annual Breakfast with Santa at Crieve Hall! It is put on by several of the families at Crieve Hall, and they did such a great job! It was more than what I was expecting and thought of everything, from seeing Santa Clause, singing Christmas carols, breakfast, crafts, goodie bags, all the way to a wishlist for every child to fill out and place in Santa's mailbox! Tinley had so much fun, and of course, got to see one of her favorite people at Crieve Hall, Santa, a.k.a. Mr. Dick Brackett! It was such a wonderful morning and a great start to the Christmas season!

Tinley's 1st Fall!

Having a baby gives us lots of reasons to get out and do more fall festivities. This year we hosted a halloween party, went to the Walden Farm, participated in Trunk or Treat at Crieve Hall church, and went to the Franklin Pumpkinfest! Great reasons for dressing her up and taking lots of pictures together!!!

Let me catch you up!

Michael and I met at Crieve Hall Church of Christ. He asked me out two weeks later, and we've been together since! We dated for 8 months, then got engaged, and 4 months later, we were married!