merry! merry!

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! This has been a very busy year for us and a very busy month with all that we have going on with our house. We feel very blessed and fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends. We love you all! I haven't posted at all in December, so tonight I posted about 7 times to make up for it!

Have a happy New Year!

christmas 2008

Christmas morning was so much fun! The girls are at such fun ages right now. Mamie was really excited and talked a lot about Santa and what she wanted (baby, new stroller, horsey, and Cinderella). Lilly has been so excited about Christmas this year--she even walked into the kitchen while I was cooking a few days before Christmas and said, "Mom, I love Christmas so much it makes me get tears in my eyes when I think about it." It was so much fun watching them open all of their presents. Santa brought their gifts to my mom and dad's house and we stayed in Huntsville for three days. It was nice to relax and visit (and eat!) with my parents. Lilly got a camera from my mom and dad and has already taken about 250 pictures. Some of them are pretty interesting. Of course, it wouldn't be a Carman Christmas unless someone got sick! (Lilly two years ago, Jon last year, Mamie this year.) We ended our vacation by driving straight from Huntsville to the Pediatrician's office in Nashville where Mamie was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Oh well! It was a great Christmas season and I'm a little sad it's over.

Lilly looking at what Santa brought.

One of Mamie's favorites--A Fisher Price purse with "lipstick" in it. She puts her lipstick on about 20 times a day.

Looking at all the baby stuff Santa brought

Lilly opening her stocking. We made her wait until after lunch and she could hardly stand it.

ring pops! can you tell our girls have a sweet tooth?

Another fun thing Santa brought--pop beads. We've been making jewelry for everyone..the dog,

and daddy :)

Lilly spent a lot of time dancing in my mom's living room to her new princess songs CD. Mamie is a little copycat. She tries to do everything Lilly does.

Our almost complete family picture. My poor dad had surgery on his face the week before Christmas and wasn't exactly looking like himself.

christmas eve

We always celebrate Christmas with Jon's family on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Jon had to work late and didn't get there until about 8:30. Lilly and Mamie got to open a few presents early while we were waiting. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kellye gave them the most entertaining toy of the night--a giant dragon tent with tunnels. They loved it, and so did Hollis. We had a great meal, listened to the carolers (I am always one of the ones who gets stuck answering the door), opened lots of presents, and then hit the road for Huntsville so Santa could come to CJ and Pop's house.

Popping out of the top of the dragon. I don't think Uncle Jeff got the memo about us moving into a SMALLER house (ha ha)

Uncle Zach, Aunt Kim, and cousin Hollis

Hollis is getting around pretty well these days

Oh, and Santa has a habit of calling Lilly on Christmas Eve while we're at Sassy's house. This year he called her to tell her he knew she would be at CJ and Pop's house and that he was bringing her toys there. Lilly is so nonchalant about it you would think she had just gotten off the phone with me. We were all standing there like, "Well, who was it?" and she just went, "Oh, Santa called me to tell me some stuff." and ran off. No big deal.

Mamie and Uncle Branson

Lilly showing off her new Tinkerbell dress and wings from Sassy and Papa Al. She was dying for them and had been talking about wanting them for weeks. She helped Sassy pick out Mamie's ballerina outfit for Christmas.

Mamie feeding her baby Cinderella with Sassy

Aunt Kellye and Hollis

Lilly and Aunt Kristin

Christmas with Jon's cousins

The Sunday before Christmas I drove back from visiting my parents in Huntsville to come to Christmas #2! We celebrated Christmas with Jon's grandparents and cousins. As usual, The girls got way too many gifts and had a lot of fun playing with Hollis and baby Sean.

Hollis is starting to stand up!

Lilly holding cousin Hollis

excited about opening the first gift

This year was so different from last year--Mamie didn't need much help opening anything!

Lilly and Mamie's great-grandparents, Granny and Grandad Burris

sweet baby Sean

Hooray for Pez!!!!!!!!!

the best christmas program ever

Lilly had her first preschool Christmas program this year. She was SO excited. We practiced and practiced and practiced those songs. I thought she was going to pop before she got to go up on that stage. It's hard to predict what an almost four-year-old will do when you put them on stage in front of that many people, but she did a great job. She did stop in between songs to wave and yell, "Hey Mamie!" into the audience. After the program there was a little reception with finger foods and snacks. You would have thought our girls hadn't eaten in days. They were in heaven. At one point we lost Mamie and Jon found her standing in the food line with two huge handfuls of cheetos and orange dust smeared all over her face. I think they both enjoyed the show :)

singing S-A-N-T-A (like B-I-N-G-O)

Another attempt at a family shot. Jon has his eyes closed in almost every single picture I have of him.

Sassy and Papa Al came to see Lilly sing

Christmas with cousins

16 little kids and one on the way! We had Christmas with my mom's side of the family at their farm. It's so crazy and so much fun. My mom's brother and his wife have 14 great-grandchildren and one more on the way. They are so sweet to include Lilly and Mamie along with their great-grandkids. Lilly calls my uncle "Pop Aston" just like all the other kids do. It's a little confusing, but very sweet to me since my girls don't have any great-grandparents still living on my side of the family. The food is always wonderful and the kids play so well together.

just a glimpse as the gift opening begins

My mom and dad, her brother Jimmy and my Aunt Betty (AKA Pop and Mom Aston)

I tried all day to get a picture of Ty, Lexi, and Mamie, and they would NOT cooperate.

One of these things is not like the other one...

Do you notice anything??? Maybe that Ellie and Carly Beth have giant, flashy keyboards with a stand, and Lilly is holding her TINY version as she stands next to them? Her mommy did not do a good job :( I felt terrible. My uncle gives us money each year to go buy their gifts. Tressa and I had talked and I knew that she and Christi were getting keyboards and microphones for their girls. I thought that was a great idea and knew that Lilly would love that and they would also love having the same (ha ha) thing to play with. So, I went to buy the keyboard and microphone. I knew theirs came from Toys R Us, but I didn't have time to drive from Lebanon to Cool Springs that day, so I opted for Target. I found this cute little pink keyboard and a separate microphone and decided she would love them. When I saw Ellie open her gift, I knew I had screwed up. I wanted to go hide under something. I felt so sorry for Lilly, but she really didn't seem to notice at all and seemed to have just as much fun with her little one. Thank goodness. Next year I'll remember that it's worth the drive to get the right thing!

snow and the gingerbread house

We were so excited to finally get some snow! I think we got at least three inches here and I was so excited about it, the girls and I put on our snow gear and headed out to play in it at 8:00 that night.

Mamie was more excited about her pockets than the snow.

standing beside the neighbor's snowmen the next morning. I was glad we went out in it the night before because it melted so fast the next day.

Lilly wore her cousin Dylan's old snowsuit and Mamie had Lilly's old one. I love hand-me-downs :)


nightime snowman building

getting ready to go out and play!

The Saturday after the snow, Sassy took Lilly to make a gingerbread house. Aunt Kim and Hollis also went, so I only have her pictures. Anyway, we didn't really know it was going to be such an elaborate family affair. Next year I am definitely planning on going. Lilly had a wonderful time and got to spend the night with Sassy all by herself the night before. Of course, no overnight trip to Sassy's is complete without a trip to Cool Springs, which Lilly and Mamie both refer to as "Sassy's mall" since she always takes them there.

Lilly drinking her sprite with Sassy and Hollis

A proud Lilly beside her gingerbread house. It actually turned out really cute.

When I got to Sassy's house to pick her up, Lilly told me, "Mom, I ate a bunch of candy. I mean a BUNCH of candy." I think it was one on the house, two in the mouth...