Merry Christmas

This is Autumn's first Christmas where she really gets it. We have been counting down the days. We have wrapped presents, sung happy birthday to Jesus many times, and baked Santa cookies all to build up to this day.

First things first...yesterday morning first thing, Autumn yells out from her bed, "Where we go tonight?" I reply: Brittany and Kinsey's house. Autumn: "We go RIGHT now?!?" I reply (mind you we are in separate rooms, so we are both in our beds yelling this to each other). "No, not till tonight." Autumn replies: "Santa Claus comes tonight!!!" Then she gets up and runs into our room very excited.

Yesterday started our time of love, family, and yet a lot of rushed chaos. We went to Papa and Granny's yesterday to spend the day with them. We ate Granny's homemade gravy and buscuits, and Linda cooked us eggs. Let me just tell you that's enough Christmas present for me. I love their homemade breakfast!!! We played and opened gifts. We gave gifts. We were able to spend a lot of the day there just relaxing and enjoying each other (other than the fact that poor Kristi kept getting attacked by the killer dog, Max). We got home around 4 yesterday afternoon, and made it to church for the 6:00 service (and we were even a bit early). The service was great! It truly reminds us how Great our God is! So, I am very thankful that we were able to attend the Christmas Eve service this year.

Next stop, Brittany and Kinsey's house for Currey Christmas. We got over there a few minutes past 7 and enjoyed eating and hanging out with family. Autumn loves to play with her two cousins. She thinks she's as big as they are (7 &10). Luckily for William, she even payed attention and played with him as well. She chased Lucy (which of course that poor cat loved, right?) Autumn kept telling us all day that she was going to go to Brit and Kins house to chase Lucy! Lucky Lucy! We ended up not leaving there till after 10. Autumn passed out in the car, and she was out cold.

This morning we had to be at my nana's house (well, Donna's house for my nana's cooking) by 8:30 or 9:00 (which is what we were shooting for). So, at 7ish, Autumn cries out a bit, then falls back to sleep. Then we try to convince her to come to our room. Finally I just go get her. Brandon tries to tell her that Santa Claus came to our hosue last night. She just looked at him and nodded. Brandon asked if she wanted to go see what he left for her. She said not right now. I need to rest. But eventually I think the excitement got the best of her and she finally gave in to our begging and pleading! So, we finally got to go see what Santa left. He did eat most of the cookies, but don't worry Autumn ate what was left over and even finished up the milk!

Santa brought Autumn a baby doll (her first cabbage patch...however, we aren't sure if she's in love with her yet...but that's okay), roller skates (Brandon just looked at me and said, "What was Santa thinking? I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled), and then he also brought her a digital camera of her own. She loved it! She loves to take pictures just like her daddy.

Brandon bought her a t-ball bat, t-balls, t-ball stand, and a t-ball glove...see the theme here? She loved it all. She wanted to of course try it all out upstairs. But luckily she saw it our way and realized it would be so much more fun to play outside. So here we go rushing around (I have already decided that she was going to live in her pj's today) trying to get her to put her shoes on and run outside so that we all could play t-ball for a bit (it's about 8:25 at this point).

We get to my nana's shortly after 9, we get to spend time with everyone...well, I get to spend time with everyone...Brandon and Autumn decide to go for a walk on such a lovely day (since they are both such "people" people...if that makes sense). After a few hours of eating, presents, and just spending time with family, we are off to our next stop...Grammy Mae and Pa's house.

Well, Autumn's much too busy doing somefin as she called it to even consider opening up presents by this point, because Grammy (Mae) and Pa got her a vanity and lots of accessories for it. We seriously couldn't pull her away from it. She loved it! I will definitely have to add pics later. However, eventually we wrapped up there and we were off for some lunch...then we realized we didn't know what we were going to do for lunch. We have nothing at home, we don't eat at the Currey's till 5, and everything is closed...well everything except for the good ol' Asia Chinese in Smyrna. So, can you guess what we had for lunch?

By this time it's already 1, so we rush home for as much of a nap as we can get. Then we head off Nanny and Papaw's house. We spent time over there, ate, and opened more presents. Wow, by this time, Autumn's cranky and exhausted...as we all are. But it's still been an amazing day.

We finally get home around 7, come in we let Autumn play for a bit, while we (no, not clean...that will come eventually, right now we were just trying to sort) try to get the house somewhat under a little bit of control. Then we go upstairs and watch some of ae's new movie "Nemo". I had seen it before, but didn't realize how many scary parts are in there for a 2 year old. By 9, we put ae to bed. And now here we are, exhausted, but almost too exhausted to sleep.

We did do our present exchange just a little bit ago (we do our's on Christmas night...we've done it like this since we started dating...can't change it now). Brandon got me 2 precious moments that are precious...well, I could have probably used a better word...but there's a good reason they are called that. Then he also got me a couple of pairs of cute pj's shorts and tanks...but of course (poor Brandon), I fall in love with the flannel pants and long sleep shirt...so guess what I am wearing tonight?!?

We had a very busy holiday. It was rushed and there were lots of presents.
But we made sure that we thanked God for His gift to us...His Son, Jesus Christ. The most amazing gift that has ever been given.

Disney World-Oct. 2008

We took ae to Disney World over fall break. We went there, Sea World, and St. Augustine. We had an amazing time. There's lots to tell, but since I am so far behind, I will just share the pictures for now and tell you more later.
Needless to say, my daughter was totally in awe and in love with these amazing characters. You would have thought she had seen her long lost parents, the way she held on to them for dear life.

Seeing Autumn's face as she saw her favorite characters was absolutely priceless. She loved Disney World. She loved the rides. However, the 3D movies...not a big fan. If you are every curious, ask her about the "Big Daddy Bug that shoots fireworks". She also didn't like the "Big Bad Wolf" at one of the parades.

To see more pics:

http://www.curreyfamily.com/disney/

Halloween

I am so behind...but just bare with me.

Autumn loved Halloween this year. She actually understood the whole trick or treat thing. We were walking her around our neighborhood and she thought she needed to go to every house. I tried to explain to her that we should only go to the houses with their porch lights on. So, she figured it out. She would point and say, "Oh, I know...I know...that one...let's go there!"

She was such a polite trick or treater. She would kindly say (in a very soft voice), "Trick or Treat, Please". However, on her way to the house, she would always growl pretending to scare them first, but the closer she got to the door she'd chicken out and turn into our sweet, polite dinosaur.

This is a picture of Granny and Autumn carving a pumpkin! They had so much fun. We love going to see Granny and Papa...just ask "ScooterBelle" (that's what Papa called ae last time we were there).

This picture is pre-Max stealing the eyes, nose and mouth and eating them. Autumn still tells me about this. She says, "I spank him...No No Max! That's my eye, eye, nose, mouth!"

Here are some pictures for you. I will try to update more later.

ABC

It's 12:35 Sunday afternoon. We've been to church; we've ate lunch; and now it's naptime. So Brandon (thankfully) decided to go lie down with ae. She's in there still talking. They've probably been in there for about 20 minutes now.

They have football on the tv, because that's what they do. But he's trying to just stay quiet and let her slowly start to fall asleep. Unfortunately, it's not working yet. But she started singing her abc's and it was the cutest thing.
She sings "AB FGH...LMN...RSTU....W..YZ..." So, then the started learning time. So they were both in there singing their ABC's. So, she's getting it now. However, as cute as this precious moment is...I honestly hope they end up dozing off and falling asleep.

Bad Word

So, I noticed on Monday that Autumn said her first bad word. Yes, I know...I can't believe it either. To my surprise, she repeated it several times.

Okay, it might not be a bad word to most of you...but to a mommy of a 2 year old...it is. I assure you.

All of a sudden, we were talking and I told her to do something. And there it was: "Fvy, Momma? Fvy?"

I just sat there and stared at her for a minute. And thought, "Oh No! Not the WHY! Not yet!"

So, yes, she's now needing to know "Fvy?"

I caught myself that very night saying to her: "Because I said...oh goodness it's just started and I was about to say because I said so." So I caught myself and answered her in another form. I figured that I would use that answer soon enough. I can't believe it almost came out of the first night.

She's funny because she will ask "fvy?" and then I will answer her, and then she will ask "fvy?" and then I will answer her, and then she will ask it again. Well this time I also answer her, but if she asks again, I tell her that she only gets 3 whys and then we move on.

Brandon said he was ashamed that I was hindering her learning by limiting her whys. Well, if he had to answer them all day, he probably wouldn't make it to three. He was picking on me about it.

But to be honest with you...right now, it's so cute to hear her say, "but fvy, mommy?" Please don't tell her I said that, because I am sure the cuteness of it won't last long!

Who would have guessed it?

So this story happened a week ago tonight, or it actually started last Wednesday.

So, last Wednesday I was putting ae to bed. We were doing our normal routine, and then I started something. I told her that we were going to the fair "tomorrow night" (being the next day). She, of course, had no clue what the fair was. So, I started talking about it a little bit. Telling her that she would see some cows, chickens, rabbits, and all of a sudden she yells out..."Hee Haw". So, I said, "Yes, there might even be a donkey there, who knows?!?" She said she wanted to ride the donkey. Well, I explained to her that that was a very silly idea. That she wouldn't be able to ride a donkey. She kept on and on. Remember it's bed time, and now she's all wound up. So, here she is in her conversation: "Hee Haw Hee Haw! Ride Hee Haw, Mommy! Ride Hee Haw! Hee Haw don't bite me! No Ma'am!"

I am laughing at her by this time, and I tell her the donkey's not going to bite her. That he only eats hay. Well, then she started to pretend to give me hay and say "Here's you some hay, Hee Haw. Here's you go!" Over and over again.
She was so excited, that I was surprised she finally went to sleep.

So, we go to the Wilson County Fair. We are walking around having a good time. We see the cows, ducks, chickens, and rabbits. We are about to leave for the night....and
what do we see....A donkey....actually several of them. Then a lady asked us if she would like to ride one.

WHAT!!! I am so excited about this, that I can't contain myself. I keep saying, how did Autumn know???? That's crazy.

So she went to get on a donkey, and the lady told her she could ride Eeyore. Now if anyone knows me they know I love Winnie the Pooh. Autumn's room is done up in Winnie the Pooh. It has a mural of Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. Now, not only is she getting to RIDE a donkey like she wanted, but his name is Eeyore. She's loving it! She's so excited, however, I think I am even more excited just because she's getting the chance to do what I didn't think was possible. How amazing it was to see her up on Eeyore the Donkey. Oh, and by the way, she made sure to inform me that he wasn't eating hay...he was eating grass.

She was so cute and so happy. God yet again reminds me that anything is possible. Even in the simple things.

Daddy, four airplanes?

So, Brandon had to go on his first business trip this past week, and then he has training this week. The last time he had to go anywhere for business was a couple of months before we got married. He left last Tuesday to go to San Francisco and got back yesterday (Saturday) at 10:45 am. Then he had to fly out again this morning (Sunday) at 6:00 am. So, he was home less than twenty four hours, and now he won't be back until Friday around 5:30 pm or so.

I don't think I really had time for it to truly hit me last week, because I kept ae busy all week. We ended spending two days at my Granny and Papa's house (which was truly amazing and relaxing). Kristi and mom were able to come down too, so it was great! I have pictures of AE, me, and Kristi trying to make Granny's famous homemade biscuits (I will post those pics later).
We were so exhausted on Wednesday night, that it didn't bother me too much that I was home alone. Thursday night, we stayed at my mom and dad's. Then early Friday, I took ae to Nanny's house, and then had dinner over there that night. Then De and Steve came over to my house and kept me company till about Midnight....then we went and got Brandon at the airport on Saturday morning. So, needless to say, we stayed busy.

However, poor ae is so out of sorts that this week, my goal is to try to get her back on some sort of schedule. All she knows is that Daddy left on four airplanes, and now he's on four more airplanes. So, at random times during the day she will say, "Daddy, four airplanes? My miss Daddy."

Today at lunch we were getting in Nanny and Papaw's car, and all of a sudden ae said, "Lost Daddy." She feels like she's lost daddy because she doesn't know where he is.

I started her bedtime routine around 8:30 tonight (since she's been staying up later, I didn't think I would jump back into our 8:00 routine just yet). We read two books, said our prayers, and read Goodnight Moon. I then covered her up and gave her kisses. Well, this of course went hand in hand with "her" routine of..."gotta potty momma....night night juice mama....my belly hurts mama..."

Finally she got quiet, then Brandon called and I think she heard the phone, because she started back with "my belly hurts, mama." So, I said, "Here (and handed her the phone), maybe this will make you feel better." So she talked to him for a bit. She asked him about being on four airplanes. She tried to tell him that we made a paper chain to tear off each day until he came home again. But then all she kept saying to him was, "I wanting my daddy; I wanting my daddy." She kept saying it over and over again. Even after I took the phone from him, and she would say it in the most pitiful voice. She broke my heart and his.

Just between you and me though, I know what she's feeling right now...because, "I wanting ae's daddy to come home too!" My heart misses him tonight.