Our Christmas in Pictures

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas! Though this was Bryan's third one, it was by far the best. He could not wait to get in to the "treasures." :) We loved spending time with our family and friends this year. Hope you all had a Merry one too!

Merry Christmas

so long pacifier

Sunday evening Bryan took his pacifier for the last time (we hope!) :) I got a crazy idea for him to put them in an envelope and mail them to Santa. In exchange he got one of his fun Christmas presents.


He's now taken one nap and slept two nights without it. He's done a great job. He'll ask about it every once in a while and I'll remind him that he mailed them to Santa to give to another baby. This morning he said, "Santa paci baby." That's how his sentences go sometimes. haha! I'm proud of him for being so brave and such a big boy. (of course he is still only 2!) :)

Surprise Visit

Look who came down our street today!


Bryan was waving and saying "Hey Santa!" We saw Santa on a firetruck in town earlier today too. What a fun thing for the fireman to do! Bryan couldn't smile any bigger!

Merry Christmas!

I'm IT!

Amy Lynn tagged me for this fun game.

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

This picture is of Matt playing a nintendo game at ML and Nate's house in Apalachicola, FL. I believe it was February 2005. haha

I tag Sherry, Kelley, Mary Lynn, and Kimberly!

Merry Chrithmuth from Dave Barnes

This guy is too funny!

Weather and other things

Aren't we having the craziest weather here in the South?! It is 65 and rainy outside. I just looked at tomorrow's forecast and and saw SNOW! No kidding! High of 44 and they are calling for snow. I'm glad I got out to do my errands today. I still have lots of shopping to do for Christmas.

This weekend B and I went down to Valdosta to see Lyndi, Grant, and Sug. We had a wonderful time visiting. Grant is getting so big and is very mobile. He's not crawling yet, but he can get something 5 or 6 feet away from him.

We went to Valdosta's Christmas thing they have downtown every year. While we were there Bryan and Grant got to see Santa. Of course Bryan didn't want to sit with him so I held Bryan while Santa talked to him. Santa gave him a sucker so that made him happy. As we were walking off Bryan said, "Thank you, Santa." :) He's making progress! Do you remember last year?






We enjoyed a funnel cake before we left. So yummy! Grant even had a taste. :)


Now we are home and trying to get ready for Christmas. :) I hope we can take it easy before the holiday rush hits. How is your Christmas shopping coming along?

The Halls are Finally Decked

I am updating this post for BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes!

This is our first Christmas in this house and we wanted to spruce it up a little without spending too much money. I got both of the wreaths on the windows for $7.99! I love a deal! :)

I've had this wreath for 4 or 5 years. I love all the berries on it.
I found this garland at Michael's and intended to hang it on the arch outside of our house, but I noticed other people's mailboxes decorated and loved them. Yes, I'm a copy cat!

This is our little tabletop tree. We bought it last year when B was only 16 months old. We had a fear of him eating hooks and/or turning the tree over. Since he's a little over 2 now we decided to keep it again this year and pray he doesn't pull any ornaments off :) He's done great leaving it alone.

Matt and I stayed up late one night decorating the house. I wanted to get Bryan's reaction to everything when he woke up. Here he is! :) (After watching the second video, do you think he might be related to Frosty the Snowman?!)

Bryan seeing Christmas from jamie baker on Vimeo.

Untitled from jamie baker on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Week

We had such a big week for Thanksgiving. We got to visit with lots of family and friends.

Friday before Thanksgiving, Bryan and I traveled to Phenix City to have lunch with Pa, Mrs. Betty, Aunt Beth, Tony, Mary Lynn, Allison, and my parents. It was so good to see everyone and especially nice to meet our new grandmother, Betty.

After Bryan's nap we hit the road and headed to the farm to see Sug, Pops, Lyndi, and big boy Grant. We had a wonderful weekend visiting. Matt met us there on Saturday morning. Lyndi and I went to a friends sweet wedding on Saturday afternoon and we enjoyed some girl time while Sug, Pops, and Matt babysat. (We also enjoyed the wedding cake!!)

Bryan ate his first roasted marshmallow that weekend and enjoyed it! He's so cute saying "marshmawhoa." He also wanted to "drive" so Pops let him help steer the easy-go.

Grant had lots of floor time. He's trying so hard to crawl. He can get up on his knees and rock until he scoots backwards. So precious!

Sunday, after leaving the farm, Matt headed home and I stopped in Phenix City to visit longer with Mary Lynn and Allison. They won't be home for Christmas so we don't know when we will see them again. We were having a wonderful time and then I came down with a horrible sore throat Tuesday that turned in to a cold later in the week.

Bryan and Allison ran their legs off and tried their best to share. haha! Thanksgiving Day we had a WONDERFUL meal with our family and one special friend, Mrs. Miriam. She just happened to bring the BEST chocolate pecan pie any of us have ever had! It really was delicious!

Thanksgiving evening mom and I went to see "Australia." Very interesting movie. I'd like to see it again because I felt lost a few times. Overall it was good though.

I spent most of my weekend relaxing trying to get over the cold that knocked me down. We returned home yesterday and still haven't unpacked! Maybe tomorrow. :)

Enjoy the pictures and short video clips.

Thanksgiving Week

Our Nephew Grant

He's getting too big too fast! We can't believe Grant is already 6 months old! We got to spend the weekend with him and had so much fun! :)

Click the webalbums link over to the right to see more pictures!

Sweet B

I took this with my phone so the quality isn't great, but I love his sweet face in this picture!

Crafty Stuff

If you are interested in buying a custom made shirt, or any other item you have in mind, I would love to create something for you! These would make great Christmas gifts! In fact, I already have a couple of orders.

Shirts-$15 each

Two Shirts for $25

I haven't practiced anything other than letters and numbers so if you have something else in mind I don't mind giving it a shot, but can't promise it'll look good! HA! Anyway, I'll accept orders until Monday, December 8th. That way it can get to you before Christmas. Please email me at jamalrae@gmail.com for more information.

Our Drummer Boy

Dancing and Drumming from jamie baker on Vimeo.

Please Take Our Poll

*update* Matt fixed it!! :)




The reason we ask is because when we view it on Firefox it looks perfectly normal. I got on Explorer today and the links were way off the sides. Thanks for your help!!

Hosanna

Hosanna by Hillsong United

Check These Beach Pics Out

Beach Pics by DeDe Edwards

The Cackle

The Cackle from jamie baker on Vimeo.

If you have ever spent any time around Bryan, you know he likes to go to bed. He loves everything involved with the process, but mainly his blankie, paci, and puppy. Here he is after supper one night at the beach getting SO excited about going "night night."

Beach Trip

We had an awesome time at the beach this past week. Lots of us loaded up and drove down to Rosemary Beach to celebrate Aunt Lynn's 60th Birthday. The weather was awesome and the beach beautiful! It was so great to spend time with our family. Here are the pictures!

Aunt Lynn's Beach Trip

United House

A must read post...

The Cutest Train Conductor EVER!

We had such a fun night. As soon as I put Bryan's costume on, I melted. He looked so adorable that I could not stop kissing him and taking pictures, of course! :) And I must say the pictures do not do him justice.

We went to eat with our friends, the McDowell's, and then we went to a few houses for candy. It was disappointing because no one was home. They just left bowls of candy out on their porches. We only passed out candy to 7 children. Anyway, other than no one being home, we had a great time of fellowship!

There are a whole lot more pics on our web albums...Click Here to see those!

Halloween's Past

(Amy Lynn, I'm copying you!) :)

Here is Bryan's First Halloween (2 months):


Here is his Second (14 months):


I can't wait for tonight! We are going to our friends house to eat, trick-or-treat, and pass out candy!

We'll post pics as soon as we can!

Sweet Slumber

vote as if you are not voting

I saw a link to this article by John Piper on another blog. I think it will bring a lot of peace to your hearts as it did mine :)

Are there really 59?

funny sayings

Bryan says:

"Scoop" for Scoot

"Goopy" for Goofy

"Down Up" if he wants up or down from something. This started because he kept saying "down" when he really wanted "up." So now he just says both.

"Squeeze" for PlayDoh

"E I Moo Moo" for Old McDonald Had a Farm

"Craynuns" for Crayons

One of his favorite things to listen to right now is "All I Wanna Do" by Sugarland. He'll ask for "more ooo ooo" over and over. He also LOVES tobyMac. He calls him "T Mac." So precious!

quilt giveaway

Check out this awesome quilt giveaway! It's beautiful and I hope I win!! Go leave a comment to see if you can win. :)

2 year check up

Bryan had his 2 year check-up this morning. He made an A+! Dr. Whitaker said he was very healthy and thought he looked great. He asked if Bryan knew about 20ish words. That was kind of funny because he knows WAY more than that. I think the doc was impressed. Actually, I know he was. When it was time to go Bryan told Dr. Whitaker, "thank you." The doctor started laughing :)

I was SO impressed and proud of B. He cooperated without crying! He had to get one shot. The look of pain on his face made me so sad, but he only wimpered a little...maybe had 2 tears...and got ok again. The nurse gave him some stickers so that made him VERY happy!

Here are his stats:
Height -36 1/2" (90%)
Weight -29lbs 13.5oz (50%)

No more check ups until 3!

speaking of Halloween...

I read this blog post last night after posting the random things about me. I loved it and feel the same way.

7 Random Things

Amy Lynn tagged me for this little meme. I think it's hard to think of 7 things about myself, but I'll give it a shot! :)


1. I've lived in 6 states and countless cities :) It's hard to pick my favorite place where I lived because there are great things about them all. I have very fond memories from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2. I love Halloween. I know there are many evil things behind the holiday, but I just don't view it that way. I love dressing up, passing out candy, decorating, fall festivals, the weather, etc.

3. I repeated 8th grade twice. All of that was a big blur, so I can't remember exactly the reasons behind it, but it was not easy. My birthday is late August and that had some effect. My first 8th grade year was in Tulsa, and the second was in Signal Mountain, TN. It was a VERY difficult move from OK to TN so to say that my second 8th grade year was hard is an understatement. I was missing my friends bad! I made one great friend that year who is still in my life today. (allison!)

4. I don't like mushy apples. So yes, that means I don't like apple pie. Weirdo, I know.

5. I don't like cold cheese. For that matter, I don't like cold sandwiches except for PB&J.

6. I was named after my mom's baby dolls. She used to name them all Jamie. When mom and dad went to the hospital for me to be born they still hadn't settled on a name. Mom told Dad she used to name her dolls Jamie and he liked it. It just so happens that my mom's dad was James and my dad's dad is Ray (Dad's middle name is Ray too). So I'm Jamie Rae.

7. I wish I could redo my whole style. I would totally decorate my house vintage and dress vintage. I have a tendency to lean towards hippie in my clothing (especially in middle and high school) but now I just love all things vintage. I would have loved to live in the 50's.

Ok, so there are somethings you might or might not have known about me! I won't tag anyone, but if you decide to do it, leave me a comment so I can see 7 things about you!

Pumpkin Patch

We made a surprise trip to Albany on Saturday. Let me just tell you too, they were shocked! :) It was wonderful watching their faces register that we were actually there.

Lyndi was in town with Grant so we loaded the boys up Sunday afternoon and took them to the Pumpkin Patch. Enjoy the pictures!



We stopped in Phenix City on the way back. Mom has pictures and video of B counting on her blog. You can get there by clicking here.

Slow Fade

thoughts and ideas

Being a stay-at-home mom is a lot of fun. It's a lot of work too, but mostly fun. :) I was talking to another stay-at-home mom one day and we were saying how most people think we are lucky because we get to be at home. The truth is, for people like us, it has nothing to do with luck. It's all about sacrifice. To be honest, we live pay check to pay check, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. A little extra money on the side would be nice, but I know God is teaching me lots of lessons on my spending habits. The main lesson being, don't spend money. lol

Bryan gets bored a lot and getting out and about is always fun, but there is always the temptation to spend money.

So, this is where I need all of your input :) What can I do with Bryan to help keep him entertained during the day? He's bored with coloring. Playing outside is always fun, but we haven't done as much of it because it was so hot. Thankfully it's cooling off now. I'm kind of stuck. How do (or did) you keep your toddlers entertained? If you don't have kids I know you still have ideas! I can't wait to see what you all say!

Shadowfeet by Brooke Fraser

Shadowfeet lyrics

Walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet
Toward home, a land that I've never seen
I am changing
Less and less asleep
Made of different stuff than when I began
And I have sensed it all along
Fast approaching is the day

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

There's distraction buzzing in my head
Saying in the shadows it's easier to stay
But I've heard rumours of true reality
Whispers of a well-lit way

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

You make all things new

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
Every fear and accusation under my feet
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

7 years ago...

Best Commercial I've Seen in a Long Time

Even MORE Beach Pictures :)

I have just started really going through our beach pictures. I'm trying to edit a few, delete bad ones, and put them in order. We literally have hundreds. The one above is one of my favorites of our family. I especially like the placement of the ball! haha! I told Penny that I might just carry one around with me :)

One more favorite:


Here's a link to another web album with the pictures Penny (aka Sug) took. Some of them were put online while we were at the beach, but I've since redone the album and added more to it.

weather changes

it's only 71 degrees here today. the high is 76! praise the Lord! it's supposed to get to 80 tomorrow and stay in the low 80's all week. I LOVE FALL! i've been so ready for it to get here that i went ahead and put out my first pumpkin decoration :)


what's your favorite season?

Kentucky

Our car has been having air conditioner troubles for almost 2 years. We've had several people look at it and have already spent almost $1,000 on repairs. Last week we were told the condenser was leaking and would need to be replaced. Before we spent another $1,100 dollars we wanted to see what my uncle, Big Daddy Bill, thought about it. So I decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Kentucky. Mom went along with me and Bryan. We also had another passenger....Margo! Margo and Bryan had a great time together. They really kept each other entertained and played well together for 2 two year olds :)

We arrived Tuesday night in time for bed. Wednesday we stayed inside all day and played, with the exception of going to eat Roy's BBQ. (it's the best!) Thursday we went to Bowling Green to Chaney's Diary Farm. There we had wonderful sandwiches for lunch and ice cream for dessert. They make everything right there at the diary. After lunch we took Margo and Bryan over to see their baby cows, goats, and rabbits. That afternoon they took very long naps and in the evening played hard outside. (you'll see Bryan's sweaty head in the pictures) We left to come home this morning and wish we were still there.

Here are our pictures!

Our sweet nephew, Grant

Grant is so precious! We had the best time with him last week. What a blessing to be able to spend a whole week with him and his parents.

yearbook pics *updated with matt's pics*

this cracked me up! i love all of the 80's hairstyles! i also, truely, love the 50's styles. sometimes i wish i would have been born in that era. :)

our computer is still down, but we hope it will be fixed monday. we've been using matt's work laptop in the evenings to check our email and such.

Jamie, Bryan and I are currently in Johnny Ray's eating dinner, and a rather large lady just walked in wearing a black and white flecked shirt. Bryan promptly turned around and proclaimed "It's cow!" Jamie and I laughed pretty hard about it, right after we made sure that lady didn't hear. :)

beach trip

we are finally home from our beach trip. we weren't ready to come back, that's for sure! :) we had a wonderful time. bryan LOVED the beach. he especially loved to chase the birds and swim in the pool.

anyway, we got home to find the motherboard on our computer fried so i'm not sure when i'll have another post. i'll be working on one so we can tell you all about our trip.

in the meantime you can see lots of pictures from our trip on our picasa webalbums. you can find them here.

more to come!!

a boy and his puppies

HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR THE BEIJING OLYMPICS

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes (You MUST read them aloud)

ENGLISH CHINESE

That's not right! Sum Ting Wong

Are you harboring a fugitive? Hu Yu Hai Ding

See me ASAP: Kum Hia Nao

Small Horse: Tai Ni Po Ni

Did you go to the beach? Wai Yu So Tan

I bumped into a coffee table! Ai Bang Mai Ni

I think you need a face lift! Chin Tu Fat

It's very dark in here! Wai So Dim

I thought you were on a diet! Wai Yu Mun Ching

This is a tow away zone! No Pah King

Our meeting is scheduled for next week! Wai Yu Kum Nao

Staying out of sight: Lei Ying Lo

He's cleaning his automobile: Wa Shing Ka

Your body odor is offensive: Yu Stin Ki Pu

Great: Su Pa

Happy Birthday to Dad/PaPaw and Uncle Johnny!!