Canton Festival of Lights

The weekend before Christmas we went to the Canton Festival of Lights with Brad's parents. None of us had been before but it was so much fun! We will try to make this an annual event.

Canton is a popular location for filming movies. The square is picturesque and every year they decorate it with thousands of lights at Christmastime. The gazebo has a beautiful tree that has no inch untouched by a light. It is a popular place to pose and you have to wait your turn!

There is a huge tree that plays music every few minutes. Will really liked it.

Grandfather and grandsons.

Father and son.

Me and my Reedie pie.

Our family in front of the white tree.

I couldn't find Reed's gloves, so I had to stick some socks on his hands! It was freezing!
Reed was upset that he didn't get to ride the rides. Isn't his hat cute? His cousin Julie made it for him! Will has a matching one. Too cute!

Riding the carosel.

Will REALLY loved driving the cars. Luckily there were few people in line after his first ride so he was able to stay on for a second one.

I pretty much had to drag him away after the second ride. We were out of tickets and it was late! We stopped for one more picture before heading home. Will wouldn't look because he was still mad!

A Visit from Friends

My friend L. brought her 3 girls to visit one evening. Reed was fascinated by her youngest. She and Reed are just over a month apart. They should have been nearly 3 months apart, but Reed decided to come early. Can't tell now, though!

Sweet loving.
Her middle daughter was not too impressed by Will! They are about 6 weeks apart in age, Will being the younger of the two.
Her oldest daughter is just too cute and too smart! Looks just like her mama!
Miss S. still wasn't having the picture session with Will! He was still oblivious to her!
It is so fun to have friends over. We don't do it often enough!

Bright Eyes

Reed was FINALLY able to have his tear duct fixed on December 2nd! Our pediatrician made us wait until 9 months to be referred to an opthamologist and we saw Dr. Mallette when he was 10 months. Dr. M made us try a few things and wait 6 weeks to schedule surgery. We had surgery scheduled a couple of days before Reed's birthday but they cancelled it because he was sick. So we were excited to get the go ahead in December! His little eye was almost always red or gunky if he wasn't on antibiotic ointment or drops and I was ready for it to be clear!

I thought the surgery would take minutes and he wouldn't even have to be intubated. I was a little nervous when I found out they would put him totally under, start an IV and intubate him. But he wasn't nervous at all!

Loving on his tiger before he went back.

They came and got him without premedicating him and I was prepared for him to scream. He didn't cry a bit! Brad and I sat in the waiting room and entertained ourselves by reading a site about autocorrect mishaps with text messages. We had to put our phones up because we were laughing so much and other families were staring! I think I did pretty well not being a crazy momma considering he was away from me for over an hour. So much for a few minutes! He had a distal blockage, meaning the duct was closed off down in his nose, not up by his eye. Basically the massages we were doing didn't help and wouldn't have. Dr. M. put a stent in that looks like a piece of fishing line curled up in his eye and we have to keep it in for 10 weeks or so. He said if he hadn't put that in, it would have closed right back up, meaning more surgery.

When they came to get us once he was out of recovery, I was expecting a screaming child. I work in outpatient surgery and most of the kids we get back are wild! But Reed was just looking around. Poor thing had his eyes dilated so we turned off the lights and snuggled. Once he woke up a bit more I gave him his sippy cup and some crackers. The ONLY time he cried was when I got him dressed to go home and had to take the cracker away for a second. He didn't even cry when the nurse took his IV out! He was an ANGEL!

We went home and had a mommy and Reed day. You can see that his eyes are still dilated here.

I love this precious man!
He is a gift from God!
Doesn't our tree look pretty? Much more festive than last year!
Thank you, Lord for this sweet boy and for protecting him during surgery!

Christmas Parade

I have lived in central Mississippi for 15 years and had never been to our town's Christmas parade. We went to the homecoming parade in the fall and the boys seemed to enjoy it (or rather enjoyed the loads of candy they got), so we decided to take them. Will liked seeing the motorcycles and lights on the floats.
Reed got tired of the stroller and enjoyed the view from Daddy's shoulders.
We didn't get too much candy, but Will did catch some beads!

I think we will try to make the parade next year, too!

Going to see Santa

Did you know that Santa goes to Bass Pro Shop? That's where we went to visit him one lovely Saturday morning.

After being inspired by some cute shirts on Etsy, I made the boys matching reindeer shirts. Cute, huh?

I love the look Reed is giving Will.
Buckled and ready to go!
At this point, I was really wishing I had my Canon with me instead of a pocket sized Kodak.
They did pretty good! Better than last year.
Will found the North Pole!
Then he found what Mommy and Daddy would really like for Christmas.
Reed thought it was unfair that Will got to drive the boat and he had to sit in the stroller.
To this I say, dream on, buddy!
It was a fun family outing!

Black Friday

I did not get up at 3 am to go to some huge doorbuster on Black Friday. Brad had to work and I was home with the boys. I did have his parents come over for an hour or so while I went to Children's Place once I saw they had 30% off the whole store plus I had a 20% off coupon. I got some deals. Then I got Chik-fil-a for all of us and came home and we shared lunch.

And THEN!

The Fedex man came and delivered my new bff:

It is delightful! There are many things I don't know how to do, but I love it. I had been drooling over one for quite a while and we were finally able to get one. Just in time, too, because the netbook was begging for death.

I'm Sarah. And I'm a Mac.

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's parents' house. I have known them since I was 13, so they feel like family to me. They have a beautiful old home they moved from the country to a small town and completely restored it. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the actual home. But we did take a few pictures on the stairs, just like we did last year.

It was quite warm on Thanksgiving day and we enjoyed some beautiful sunshine after lunch. Nana caught some snuggles from Reed in between chasing him around the yard.

Such a funny little guy.
This one cracks me up.

Silly Willy

Playing at the park

Just enjoying a nice fall day.