happy birthday jesus

merry christmas at the fuquay house.  brooks woke up and was thrilled that santa had come to our house and ate his cookies and carrotts.  what a wonderful thing to watch! 

santa came via atlanta to bring brooks a brand new strider bike like his buddy xander has.  what a thrill!  we haven't been able to get him off of it for 3 days.  it's too snowy and icy to ride it outside, but there are ruts in our hardwoods from riding around the house!

santa didn't forget our sweet kate and brought her a new walker that she loves.  she isn't pushing it around on her own yet, but we know it's coming soon.

we loved having nana and papa in town to celebrate christmas.  we opened presents all morning with lots of breaks for yummy treats and finished the day with a big turkey dinner and all the trimmings. 

we had a wonderful christmas and hope that all you reading did too. we are so blessed by our family and friends and thank you all for making our christmas special with your gifts, cards, calls and thoughts.

christmas eve

a wonderful christmas eve celebration with early family church service, driving to see christmas lights and a wonderful yummy dinner after the kids went to bed. 

kate wore her beautiful christmas dress from richard's aunt dorothy.  what a special gift - kate looked like a little present.

couldn't get big brother to pose for too many pictures so this is the best we have of the two.  at what age do they start sitting still together!?!

getting ready for church with nana

about to go to bed - brooks left out 4 cookies for santa, carrotts for rudolph and dancer (he said) and soy milk in case santa liked the same milk as brooks.  this was so cute and the first year brooks got into the santa thing.  gotta soak it in before the years fly by.

11 months

a little behind and unorganized but here are our 11 month pictures.  we have a had a few germ bugs take over our house in the last couple of weeks, and brooks, kate and mommy just keep passing them around.   

at 11 months we want to remember:

• kate seems like so much more of a big girl now.  she is so spirited and sometimes a little high maintenence! that red hair is starting to show a little more somedays
• she weighs almost 20 pounds but still prefers all the baby food jars to anything she has to eat herself.  (other than puffs which she would eat all day if we let her)
• she has 6 full teeth and two more breaking through
• she is pulling up on furniture but not really cruising yet.  her crawling is getting faster and faster. 
• she likes playing with the little people and zoo animals and picking up any crumbs off the floor.  kate also likes books all of a sudden and points at the ones she wants.
• she does not like having her diaper changed or having any toy taken away from her. she also screams when we try to wipe her nose - poor baby has had a runny nose for a week now.
• she has started playing at a stand up table with music and lights and seems to like the loud noises.  she also dances when she hears music.

at almost 3 brooks is a total big boy.  we have had a few tastes of what the 3 year old attitude might be, but on most days he is still a sweet guy.  we are definitely entering the time when i need to have a notepad with me all the time to write down the hilarious and sweet things he says.  lately he has enjoyed his christmas parties at school, sledding in the front yard and with friends, "camping" in the basement with daddy, and having a "sleepover" with mom when daddy was out of town.  (that was more fun for him as mommy got kicked repeatedly in the head throughout the night!)

I didn't know that a stationary car could slide down a driveway and into the street.

catching up before christmas

front yard sledding in an early december snowstorm

tebow mania at the fuquay house

decorating the christmas tree

playing with brother's toys all the time

boompa and moompa came to visit

pulling up on everything!

denver zoo lights tour - brrrrr! 

showing off her new standing up skills

kate also turned 11months but has been under the weather and we haven't taken our official pictures yet.  we promise not to miss a month though - check back soon!