Christmas Day!!!

Braxton woke up to a heap of toys, it was so cool! His face lit up with joy & he immediately started playing with his vacuum then of course the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book set! It was great! After he settled down a bit we then opened our presents. We all were blessed with great things, from books, to jewelery, to shoes & clothes!! The most fun was to open Braxton's gifts to us because we had no idea what it was. He went shopping with his teachers at school (they had this shop called Candy Cane Lane where the kids could pick out gifts to buy their family members & they wrapped them at school so only the kids knew what they were)so we really had no idea what to expect. It was sweet. Daddy got a pen that says # 1 daddy and I got a cute keepsake box. Braxton is so sweet!!!

After all of this excitement, we got ready for the days adventures. We headed to the Puckett building for Christmas with the Pruitt clan (Jeremy's mom side of the family.) We had a great time, lots of great food and lots of fun! Jer played rook and the kids all had a blast! Karen tried to learn how to play rook and to see her facial expressions, well let's just say it was amusing!!!

We ended our day at Uncle Toms house, my moms side of the family! We were loud as usual and had a wonderful time. My side of the family is crazy. We are super loud and always poke fun at one another! It truly is a unique experience each & every time we all get together!

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve. I can honestly say that I do not think we've had this much fun since the both of us were kids. It was so neat to start traditions with Braxton and explain to him what this night and season is all about , the birth of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!!

The nights activities included making banana bread for Santa, writing Santa a letter, putting reindeer food outside, and when it was bedtime daddy read us the Christmas story in Bman's room while we were all sitting together. It was the best night by far!!! To watch Braxton get so excited about throwing the food out on the lawn for the reindeer, to him trying to eat & drink Santa's banana bread & milk. The magic of Christmas was truly brought back to life for me this year and I can not wait for all the years to come!!!

Our week of Christmas!!!

Yes, that's right, we had a week of Christmas. We had some sort of Christmas activity everyday of the week of Christmas & two on Friday, Christmas day! Let's just say WOW!!!! We had a blast at all of our families homes and especially at our own house with Braxton, Christmas Eve. He was a real joy this year even though we ended up in the doctors office Christmas Eve morning and not able to attend the Glaze side festivities that day, Daddy went for us, which was really weird!!
Here are the weeks activities & pictures from all!!!

Monday: we we to Grandma & Grandpas to have Christmas with them, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kim, & Cousins Carly, Reed, & Will. Everyone had a great time and racked up!! Braxton got a ton of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff, which is his favorite, as well as a cozy coupe car which he adores!!! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Tuesday: was Small Group Christmas at the Bells house. We had yummy food and celebrated a birthday as well as played a game and heard a really great message from Jeremy!! Group Rocks!!!

Wednesday: we were off to Nanny & Papas house to have Christmas with them, Uncle Lolo, Aunt Allison and cuz Lane. It was so much fun to see the boys play and open presents. Lane & Braxton are only 7 months apart so it's really cool to watch them play together. Santa(Papa) was really good to them as well. Brax got his kitchen which we can't get him out of and not to mention I am loosing all of my utensils to his cabinets!!! Thanks Nanny & Papa!!!!

So that was the starting of our week.... it was fun and we are so thankful for our families!!!

My friend, Hayes, spent the night!!!!

So we had company tonight. The Airharts spent the night, which is very unusual for us. We typically do not do sleepovers, not that we do not like having people over we just really do not have the right accommodations, the spare bedroom stinks, and that's being polite about it!!!!! All 6 of us had a great time, the boys played and Braxton even tried to get Hayes into Blues Clues. I think he liked it too! We did have a little trouble at first sharing our toys with Hayes ( I guess that's the only child syndrome) but overall they played well together and we look forward to doing this again!!!!

A life changing experience.....

This day was so unique that I nor Jeremy and I believe I can speak for the others that were there with us will never forget and truly hold dear to our hearts forever. This day we made our way down to the Atlanta Dream Center which is in the heart of Atlanta, the 4th ward of the projects to be exact. We went to volunteer for the day at the Dream Center with our friends from small group, (Kim, Chris, Will & some of the Kim's neighbors & other friends). Let's just say all of our eyes and hearts were opened to what reality is in others eyes. Our mission for the day was to deliver presents to these kids that lived in projects. The program is called adopt-a-block. People go to these homes and knock on there doors to talk to these people, try to spread Gods love to them and give them a glimpse of hope! I believe that we the volunteers were touched by God in so many ways and felt Him at work all throughout us and the city!

The day started out in the front lawn of the the Dream Center which is an old house in a neighborhood. There were about 400 people just gathering throughout, bringing toys, grilling hot dogs & hamburgers, mingling, & getting ready for the days activities. Then we started worshiping. The worship leader started singing "God of this City," and wow it was life changing. It was so surreal. Standing in the front lawn of a house with 400 complete strangers all singing in one accord "Greater things are yet to come greater tings are still to be don in this city!!!" It brought tears of joy to my eyes and proved once again how awesome God is!! Once worship was over we split into small groups and embarked on our mission to find children that may not get a Christmas and give them one as well as to let them know God is here with us and is always with you. He is Great and all powerful!!! We saw many things that day; from smiles of disbelief that they were getting toys, to small children (age 2 or 3) trying to protect their little brother from us because she thought we were going to harm them as they were broken into just that week. It was pitiful to see that fear in her eyes. The little girl was literally shaking and trying to move her brother in the apartment. The end result at this house was amazing, they welcomed us into their home and we handed out toys to them all and the little girl that was once terrified was smiling & playing like one her age should be!

The last house we visited was by far the most emotional. I know it will stick with me forever. My heart broke for these kids that were lived here. A 3 year old girl, Honesty, & 8 month old little girl, Faith. The mother was in the car in the driveway leaving her children in the house alone. We gave them so many presents and showered them with love for the longest period of time. When I saw Faith, the baby, in a swing just sitting there unattended to and what seemed to be unloved I made a mad dash to get her. I had to hold, comfort, and love this child as if she were my very own. I held Faith for a long time. I held her so close to me and kissed her and just loved this baby! I was crying I could not help myself and did not want to put her down. I wanted this child to come home with me, to give her a better life , one she deserves. Faith showed me hope in the end. This little 8 month child who was in a dirty diaper, half clothed, & in a very poor,environment, was happy in my arms. She smiled at me, played with me, all in all making me smile & laugh when I thought that was not at all possible. God was there with us, right there next to us, holding all of us in his arms showing us His great power yet again!!! WOW and Thank you is all I can say Lord!!!! This experience, especially the last 15 minutes with Faith (the 8 month old little girl) changed my life. God spoke to me in a way that He has never before (or maybe I just never heard Him). I realized, I mean truly realized that God is always with us no matter what our situation. To have this child in my arms playing a game with me ( I was kissing her forehead and she would lean back & then lean into for me to do it a gain) while we are praying for her & her family was something that will remain with me forever!!!

I believe this experience impacted all of our lives in ways that we know and still have not figured out. All I know is I want more times like this!! Praise God for this day!!!!

Braxton's Christmas Party

Braxton had his first Christmas Party at school today. Daddy gave us a nice a surprise by showing up. I was in the parking lot of the school and Jer pulled up. I got so excited because I didn't know he was going to come. He had said earlier that he was going to try but it was doubtful, it made both mine & Braxton's day that he was able to be there!!! Braxton and all of his friends in his class had a great time. They got to eat chips, sandwiches, & yummy sugar cookies ( the good ones from Publix) which turned out to be Braxton's favorite, he had green icing all over the place! His teachers, Mrs. Karen, Mrs. Melanie, and Mrs Kathie were all there and they had made a stocking for each child as well had gifts for everyone! The kids had made ornaments for their parents that had their picture in it as well as another one that had all the kids names in their class on it. They are really cute keepsakes that I will cherish forever!!! All of Brax's teachers are truly wonderful and we are very fortunate to have such great teachers to take care & provide an eduction to our little guy! Props to you all!!!!

Married Life Live

Well to end our date weekend we and two other couples(The Airhart's & Nobles) from our small group went to dinner & Married Life Live at North Point Community Church tonight. We started out for dinner at Chipolte which we about missed because we were meeting at 6 and they were closing then. What, closing at 6 on Sunday we thought???? No one knew this nor understood why but thank goodness the other couples were on time and already in there when we arrived! We had a nice dinner and then headed to church! Married Live live is a married couples ministry that puta on conferences and date nights etc., Tonight was all about Christmas. We got to hear great music and even a good message! They sent us home with their version of the 12 days of Christmas, an exercise for each couple to do over the next 12 days. Basically, what it boiled down to was each of us had a list of things to do for our spouse (things like flirt with them, tell them how much we love them, get them a small but thoughtful gift) it was a really great idea and Jeremy & I took it seriously and had lot of fun with it!!! The others we went with participated in the exercise too and we all held each other accountable so that made the 12 days of Christmas that much better!!! The whole idea behind this was to LOVE your spouse and really show your LOVE to them! That's what our God wants us to do and North Point just gave us a little kick start on ways to do so! God has truly blessed us with our friends in small group! We are thankful for them & love them very much!! Thanks guys for a great evening!

Christmas Sprinkles!!!!!

Tonight we headed to Allie's house for a Christmas party! Let's just say we had a blast!!!! Allie is one of my best friends from high school. She and her sisters hosted this party! Heather & Eric were there( among others that I have become friends with through Allie) and of course Jeremy & Eric had a fabulous time, as you can see in one of the pics Jer had E serving him before the night came to an end!!! All of us girls had a great time too! Heather even put on a shoe show for us which was quite a treat! The kicker for the night was us almost loosing our car to the Valet!!! So here's the story, Allie lives in Buckhead, and we could not park in her buildings parking deck, why I guess we are just not all there so we used a restaurants valet that is across the street but in the same drive as her building. Yea, well time past & time past til approximately 1 am or so and then all if sudden I realized that we need to see about getting our car. It was an ordeal. Jeremy & Eric went on the hunt for the keys & the car, The valet was closed and no one knew anything, not even the concierge in Allie's building so to say the least their journey was unsuccessful. I started to freak out just a bit because we do not do sleepovers, unless absolutely necessary, and we did not want to have to go back to Buckhead to search for the keys & our car in the morning! Guess what????? I got our car from a security officer about 45 minutes after it all began! We were ready to go!!! So we hit the road and Heather & Eric hitched a ride ride with us and when we got to their house Jeremy & Eric had a concert!!! They are so much alike it's scary!!! They were jamming out in Eric's office to old music, singing to the tops of theirlungs and all Heather & I could do was laugh and then we joined in!!!! We had a great time, Thanks Sprinkles!!!

Daraja Choir!!!

Jer an I had a a date night, well actually what seem to be a whole weekend!!! Friday night we went to North Point Community Church to see the Daraja Choir. They are a group of orphans from Kenya who are rescued from their situation by 410 bridge, an organization in Kenya. Let's just say these kids are amazing!!!! They truly are examples of Gods work!!! They come from bad situation, they are orphans living in poverty yet they are so happy and have the biggest, brightest, most vibrant smiles that bring tears of joy to your eyes!!! Their stories are incredible all they want to do is praise God & share His word! Its remarkable!!! We had a great time listening to the kids sing wonderful songs and watching them dance!! The energy that was in the theatre and with all that were there was truly God at work!!! We had such a fabulous time!!! Thank you God for being so great and letting us be a part of it all!!!!

My little shopper!!!!

What a serious look, a hardcore shopper!!!!

So we (Braxton Grandma & I) went to Walmart one day and Brax decided he wanted to push the buggy!! Pretty funny I might say. He would NOT let me or Grandma help him in any way shape or form! When he saw that we were trying to guide the buggy he would immediately stop and push us a way!!! The next thing that took me a minute to figure out was; He would stop pushing the buggy and go over to the clothes rack every few feet. Then it hit me he is looking at clothes or shopping !!! We just had to laugh!!! He is shopper just like his mama!!! Sorry Daddy!!!

Breakfast with Santa

This was before we went into school, how adorable are my two favorite guys!!!!

The pic with Ms. Clause is very similar to the santa picture!!

WOW!!! That's all we can say!!!
Braxton's school put on a Breakfast with Santa that was really cute. There were a few different rooms set up with different activities for the children to participate in. There of course was Santa which Bman was having nothing and I mean nothing to do with at all, it was so bad that Jeremy said "I can't believe we are doing this to him we need to stop!!!" Then there was Ms. Clause in anohter room reading the Christmas story which went a litte better for Braxton. He enjoyed the reading after he saw that we( mommy was going to sit on the floor with him to listen to Ms. Clause read. Last but not least, there was a place for the kids to shop called Candy Cane Lane they could also wrap their gifts as well as make their own Christmas card! All in all it was a very neat production by Creekside!