Santa's Village!

Friday night, Andy, Sarah, Joseph, and James and our family ventured to Santa's Village in Huntsville. The weather wasn't the best, it had been raining all day and pretty much all week, so the ground was muddy. Not so great with children! Anyway, we got there pretty early and got in line to see Santa. They had snow flurries every 20 minutes and all the kids go crazy! 

James had gotten some special glasses to see Santa's Village with, and he was SO excited!! 

You get to tour Santa's house while your waiting, and they had posted Mrs. Claus' Christmas cookie recipe, and John made me take a picture so we would have it on file, so, I am sharing it with all of you!

Now, onto what you really want to see, the pictures with Santa!!

You Never Know What You'll Find...

We have been trying to introduce potty training to Addison. She seems somewhat interested so we got her a pink potty and she seemed pretty excited about it for a couple of days. She wants to talk about it, but not really use it, even though she is really proud of herself when she does use it. Since I have been cleaning the house like a mad woman these days with all the nesting, I was flying through the girls' bathroom and I looked down and was a little shocked. At first, I thought John must have done that, but when he got home, he swore he didn't do it. 

This is her new Minnie Mouse that she got for seeing Santa Clause at my mom's church Christmas party!!  Apparently, Minnie is doing great with her potty training!!

Claire's Nursery

I am FINALLY getting around to posting some pictures of Claire's nursery. The nesting bug is hitting me and Mom came over on Friday to help put the final touches on the nursery. Saturday, the nesting bug made me drive to Birmingham to get a baby blanket and then Sunday I wrapped all of over Christmas presents, cleaned all the carpets, went to lunch with John's family( they were all in town!), and then came home and cleaned and buffed the hardwoods and well as started scrubbing the house. John was smart and hid in Addison's room while she napped. I cleaned until I couldn't put weight on my right led due to the back pain. Man, I was a tired and happy pregnant lady! I am still in the cleaning process for the rest of the house and am REALLY getting some long awaited To-Do List stuff done! 

Some of the cute things for Claire!

Addison's 1st Haircut!

We finally took Addison to get her first haircut yesterday. Her hair was just becoming unruly to manage with it being curly. I know it may not look it, but her hair is past her shoulders when it is wet! Anyway, we took her to Loletah's where John gets his haircut and she was so good! It was a spur of the moment, so we woke her up from her nap and talked it up in the car. She sat in her very own "big girl seat" and got to hold the clips and pick and look at herself in the mirror. She was so good through the entire process. The only thing she didn't like was when John got in the chair, she told him that was her chair! Her hair looks great and she is really proud!

SEC Championship

Sorry I have not been a very good blogger this week. It's been a little crazy with work, and Christmas shopping, and getting ready for Claire's arrival. Anyway, this past weekend John, Joseph, Tracie, and I ventured over to Atlanta for the SEC Championship. John and I went over on Friday and did a little shopping. We stayed in Roswell with John's Uncle Warren and Aunt Susan. They were such gracious hosts! Susan fixed a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning, she said she wanted us to have all of our energy for the game!! John hasn't been to an SEC Championship since 1999, so he was very pumped about getting there early and going to the fanfare. John and Joseph had a lot of fun playing all the games like kicking and throwing the footballs. I even saw Jay Barker and Sara Evans run by us with all of their kids! 

It was so cold outside that we got to the stadium pretty early. We watched the teams warm up and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Since it was my first SEC Championship game and my first time seeing the Florida band, I was interested to see how they performed. John doesn't like that I like to see what the other bands do for their performances. He had a negative comment for everything Florida did! 

Even though we lost the game, I was super excited to just be there! I thought Alabama played a good game but Florida's was just a little bit better! Darn that Tim Tebow for not coming to the Capstone!! 

Iron Bowl 2008

If you would have told me at the beginning of football season that Alabama would be #1, undefeated in regular season, shut out Auburn, and be on our way to the SEC Championship, I probably would've had you committed. In my mind, that was just crazy talk. And every week, John has said, "I'm confident. We are going to win." No matter who we were playing. I was doubtful with Clemson. I still didn't believe with the Georgia game. And I just knew we couldn't make it through LSU or Mississippi State. Even with the Iron Bowl, I didn't want to get my hopes up, because I just KNEW Auburn had it in them knock us off of our perch. I guess it's a good thing I have an optimistic husband and the ability to admit when I was wrong! The weather was horrible- foggy, rainy, and chilly. But it was a great day for football if you are a Crimson Tide fan. We walked around campus, visiting the Walk of Champions and John's brother Jay and stopped in the tailgating spot that John's friends have. You would have thought we were playing no one we play on a regular basis based on how everyone acted. There was no trash talk that I heard from either side, before or after the game. John had on his lucky red shoes and lucky red socks, both of which he has worn for every game since Georgia. Being in the stadium when Sara Evans sang the national anthem and Siran Stacy ran out on the field, was something I will never forget. The crowd was totally pumped. I didn't relax until the score was 29-0. I had been wondering how loud Rammer Jammer would be when we finally beat Auburn, and now I know!!! The loudest I have ever heard! It put both the 2005 Florida and Tennessee games to shame. Afterwards, John said it was such a stomping, he didn't even get a chance to cry! 

Just in case you are wondering, John is very confident about the SEC Championship on Saturday. Our tickets came in the mail yesterday, so we are really pumped about it! This will be my first SEC Championship game, and if I am honest, I am hoping Tim Tebow gets the stomach flu! 

Thanksgiving with the McPhillips!

Every Thanksgiving John and I alternate between my mom's side of the family and his dad's side of the family. I always look forward to going to John's dad's side, because they spend a week at the beach! HELLO! Who wouldn't love that?!!? Not to mention the 50-60 relatives that we rarely get to see! The last time most of his relatives saw us was when Addison was 6 weeks old. So, I took Monday off of work to get the family packed and ready... what a job! Packing for 3 for a week is tough! John recently purchased for the family an AppleTV, which is one of the most incredible inventions. You can buy tv shows from itunes, download them to the AppleTV and then pack up the device and take it with you and plug it up to a tv there. We were never without Mickey Mouse or Imagination Movers! We also packed up our 42" flat screen tv in the car. John always wants the best picture possible! :) I, of course, forgot my camera. I have ZERO pictures of Addison with this side of the family. I hope we get to see everyone at Joseph and Tracie's wedding this summer. Thanksgiving evening, Addison got 3 fingers caught in an extremely heavy door. I was positive they were broken and she was going to lose one of her finger nails. We had it checked when we got back into town, and everything was fine. It rained Friday when we left, so it was a yucky drive back. We drove Addison to Birmingham and dropped her off with Boom-Pa and GiGi(my dad and step-mom) and John and I headed for Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl. Addison had her very own purple tree to decorate with Mickey Mouse ornaments. I think she was really proud of it!! 

We also got the proofs back from Addison's 2 year pictures with Stacie Dunn and they are adorable!! Here is the link if you would like to look at them. There are only 80 pictures!