Christmas Day 2008

Christmas at the Maxey house began with a collision, a face plant, and busted lip. It did not stop Katherine from having a great time opening presents. Andrew & I have decided to try to keep the presents under control, so we are only giving Katherine one present from Santa every year. She will also get three gifts from us, representing the three gifts from the wise men to Jesus.

My family came over at 9am for breakfast and to open presents.

Katherine's "Santa present" was blocks. Presents from us included a Jack-in-the-Box, name puzzle and a music DVD.

Boa from Aunt Rachel and family.

Dress from Aunt Linda.

Rocking horse from Mimi & Pop Pop.

We went to the Howard's house around 1:30pm. Amber & I finished making dinner, we ate, tried for hours to get Katherine to nap (Andrew succeeded at 4:30pm), played Apples to Apples and went to see "Bedtime Stories." Katherine was hilarious at the movie. She sat with Andrew most of the time while Lauren fed her freeze dried yogurt. Katherine thought the movie was funny and would laugh loud enough for all of us to hear and laugh at her.

Katherine's Christmas Party at School

Katherine's class had a Christmas party with a gift exchange and everything (which I thought was a bit unnecessary). Anyway, the kids chowed down on junk food, the moms took pictures, and they opened their presents. Katherine ended up with a book. So sweet. Katherine had her 18 month check-up this month. She is still in the 25th percentile for height and weight. She's older than everyone else in the class, and you can see here that she's smaller. She is talking like crazy, loves to do puzzles, read and entertain everyone she's around.

Lori's 30th Birthday

I have the most caring and romantic husband! Andrew went all out to celebrate my 30th birthday:

• Surprise night for two at The Simpson's house / barn
• Lunch & manicure/pedicure with Amber
• Arranged for Judy & Jim to come from Tennessee for Sunday lunch at Hokkaido
• Got 30 friends from all over the country to send birthday cards

AND it's not over yet!

Andrew arranged a girl's weekend in Atlanta for me and 3 friends in January.

Here are some pictures from lunch at Hokkaido.

No one else had eaten there before - they all thought it was delicious.

Katherine loves broccoli!

December

December was a very busy month for us like it is for many people! The first Friday was the Music Department Christmas Party. Amber took the day off work to help me shop and set everything up at the Simpson's house. She also made a guest appearance as Oprah, and we played a few fun Christmas games. People seemed to really enjoy themselves.We had some delicious food! We got it from places all over town: Wing Zone, Publix, Peterbrook Chocolate, Celebrations Bakery, Sams. 70 people had signed up for the party, but only about 50 showed up. We had a TON of extra food left over. Here is Jeffrey bringing in the fried mushrooms from Zaxbys. Yum!I was not going to put up any Christmas decorations because of everything going on but got inspired one night to put up a little cheap tree we got from Target last year. I'm glad I did, because Katherine really enjoyed helping. She stayed entertained the entire time. December was a big month musically at church. There were two choir specials each week, including the youth and children's choir. We also did special Christmas worship music. I headed up an all-church Christmas caroling event and was in charge of the Christmas Eve service. My birthday was in the middle of all of that (see the other birthday post). Exhausting! I did find time for a little fun with friends. We went to My Monet downtown and painted a tree.

Every one's turned out differently: Martha, Brandon, Amber, Lori, Nancy & Ashley.

Thanksgiving Videos

Here are a couple of videos from our Thanksgiving trip.

Piano lessons with Bob.

Katherine having fun with Rose & Grace.

Thanksgiving 2008

We left the Friday before Thanksgiving when Andrew got out of school and drove over to see Bob & Gail in South Carolina. All of us were really tired, so we just mainly hung around the house, ate good food, played cards and talked. It was exactly what we needed.Picture time before church. Big smiles.Monday, we drove to Florida to visit Andrew's sister and family. It was a LONG 12 hour day of travel. Katherine had a great time with her cousins, Rose & Grace. Here she is playing on the swing set. Look at the beautiful sky - the weather was great in Florida.Fun at the mall on Wednesday. Andrew entertained the girls while I shopped for a couple of hours.We went to the beach on Thanksgiving morning to take some pictures. Katherine finally decided that the sand was okay to walk on. It was too cool to dip her toes in the water. Maybe by next summer, she'll like the beach. She enjoyed picking up shells and did not want to leave.

The highlight of Andrew's trip was that Tim & Becky's rooster did not like me. I had two unpleasant encounters with the thing while I tried to get some stuff out of our van. The first time, it attacked my leg, so I ran back in the house. When I thought it was all clear a couple of hours later, he cornered me behind the van and then chased me back into the house. Andrew thought it was hilarious.

We left Florida early Friday morning and drove to Atlanta to visit with the rest of Andrew's family for a couple of hours. We left there around 6pm to drive the rest of the way home. After 16 hours of traveling, we were all glad to be home!

Katherine's First Slumber Party

Katherine spent her first night away from home without us last Friday night at The Howard's house. She was not at all sad to see us leave, and actually didn't want to be bothered for hugs and kisses. She said, "Bye, y'all!" and returned to playing. The report is that she did well. Amber saved her from getting her nails painted black and her hair sprayed white like Beetle Juice. And, there were a couple of hours in the middle of the night when some non-mothers allowed her to wake completely up and play. She ended up sleeping the last half of the night in the bed with Sara. Andrew & I were glad for the night alone and both got about 12 hours of sleep! I think the slumber parties will have to be a regular thing.

Halloween 2008

Katherine was the cutest little butterfly this year for Halloween.On Wednesday night, we went to our church's Fall Festival. It was late in the day for Katherine, so she looks a little dazed and tired. I think her Mama was more tired than her, though! Here she is with Kendall. There were a couple of toddler rooms. Katherine liked the balloons but was still a little small for the bouncers and games. Next year she'll love it.
Walking through the choir room to the festival with Julia Davis. I love this picture. This video is crazy. It's of Andrew & Katherine going down the big slide at the Fall Festival. First of all, it's with my camera, so the quality is poor. Second, I forgot that if you hold the camera sideways, the video will be sideways, and you can't turn it. Third, it's kind of far away, so you can't see it very well. But, the sound is great. Lauren is talking about how it would be hilarious if Katherine's wings caught the air and she flew away. Amber is yelling at Katherine and laughing. Andrew is bouncing up and down at the top of the slide trying to get going. Katherine really doesn't know what in the world is going on. Catch her face at the very end. So...turn your head sideways and enjoy!

Friday morning, Katherine's class at school had a little party. This picture cracks me up - the wings and her costume were a little bulky for the seats.

They enjoyed unhealthy snacks and juice while the moms stood around taking pictures. Katherine is the oldest in her class, and she knows every one's name. When we were looking at these pictures, she pointed everyone out to me and said all of their names well enough that I knew she was saying the right name for the right child. Stuffing their faces.

October Days

Last week, Katherine & I joined Mimi and Harvey at the beach for a few days. The condo was very nice, and the pool was amazing - the biggest one I've ever seen.Katherine did not like the sand at the beach, so I went alone for a couple of hours both days and read and walked and relaxed. Katherine did like the pool very much. She swam a couple of times every day.Katherine's other favorite activity was to pick berries. She was finally big enough this time to wear the bathing suit Aunt Linda gave her when she was born!Our trip was cut short when my dad called after falling while painting our house. The ladder slipped, he rode it down on to the driveway and shattered his elbow. We packed up and left Friday afternoon, so we could be there for his surgery Saturday morning. Since we were back early, we were able to go to the quad with Amber. We forgot Katherine's sippy cup, so she drank from a bottle and poured most of it down the front of her.Sara was only there for the last ten minutes that we were, but she was camera crazy!Katherine says Sara's name so cute. She says "Saysa" and always says it really quiet. Katherine spent Sunday afternoon with them, and Sara was her favorite this time. Sara was happy!

Roll Tide!

For those of you who don't live in Tuscaloosa and are not aware, The University of Alabama football team is currently undefeated this season. This past week we were ranked #2 in the country, and Tide Mania is at a high in town. We went out to the quad this weekend to be part of the tailgating scene. Of course, we were not totally prepared - didn't know everywhere reasonable to park cost $10. We had $2 with us, so parked forever away and had to trek across the soccer fields before getting to the action. We stopped by Brandon Howard's tailgate first and said hello before moving to the crowded quad. Katherine was hilariously happy. This grin was so big and cheesy, it just cracked us up. Belle is the youngest of the Cormiers and 5 months younger than Katherine. They were not exactly sure why they had to sit on a cooler for pictures and were looking to each other for answers. The Cormier's tailgate won the prize for the week. They got a Publix gift card and video time on the big screen in the stadium. Andrew & Katherine are in there on the right side. Here's a little video clip - kind of hard to see Katherine, but she didn't like it when everyone started screaming.

We watched the saxophones warm up when waiting for the band to play on the library steps. Katherine couldn't make it long enough to hear the band - she conked out. She was so fast asleep that nothing woke her up on the long hike back to the van. Next time we go, we'll take $10 and go a little later to hear the band play.