Christmas Vacation

Our Christmas was really busy this year. It is our first Christmas when we had to drive more than 30 minutes to get to family. We decided to spend Christmas night at home to see what "Ho Ho" would bring.

Here's what the big guy left behind.



As expected, Abby ran past the chair and other loot.
She was afraid she missed Handy Manny I suppose.


Then, she saw it. She was really excited. (Mostly about the
Imagination Movers cd she got and has listened to CONSTANTLY
since Christmas morning.)


She's a great mommy to her new dolls. They are fed,
diapered, and rocked numerous times during the day.

She also got some good books to read.

Then, we headed to Bristol to visit with Granny and Phil.

She and Granny loved playing with their new toys! ;)

Mimi and Gramps helped her with all of her gifts.
They even had to take some with them in the van
because we couldn't fit them in the car.


I thought you all would like this shot of Steve,
especially if you know him. It fits him so well.

Phil made it through mostly unscathed. He did
have to change where he was laying a couple of times.

Then back to Jefferson City to spend the night with Uncle Tom.

Abby sweet talked Uncle Tom out of most of his orange.

Friday night, we were able to to get together with Aunt Debbie,
Uncle Tim, and TJ. It is the first time we had all been together since
Joey and Jennifer's wedding. Fun Times!!

The "kiddie" table. Abby had all of them playing peek-a-boo.



Abby and her "Aou-lee" could not be separated. The Puckett
girls really got to stick together, ya know!

We had a great time in Tennessee visiting and playing. What I haven't mentioned is that Abby was recovering from a bad cold (she had to meet her new doctor on Christmas Eve), and I was quickly coming down with one. We had to cut our visiting short and head back to Asheville.

We were joined by Uncle Jared, Steve's best friend. He was
able to stay a couple of days. Abby was smittened.

We are still working on our guest accommodations.

By New Year's Eve, we were recovering nicely and
hanging out at home. We were lucky enough to have
Steve with us the whole week.

Steve ended up getting the cold, and we are still playing it safe on visiting anyone just in case. Plus, it feels like -1 outside right now, so we will probably stay under our favorite quilt and watch good movies, play games, and read Handy Manny books over and over and over and . . .

I promise to post some 2009 pics soon!

Happy New Year!

Abby has been catching up on her reading.
Here she enjoys a book Santa brought her with
her new friends.

Hope everyone is having a great start to 2009. Abby and I are recovering from colds and are finally starting to feel better. We had a blessed Christmas and can't wait to tell you about it. I promise to post soon about it!

Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas! We are spending Christmas Eve in Asheville. It is a bit of a change for us to be away on Christmas Eve, but we are excited about Santa coming to our new home. We are hoping to see family on Christmas Day; however, Abby and Steve are pretty congested, so we may have to postpone. We are keeping our fingers crossed though. (Abby was not a big "Ho Ho" fan this year, so we played dress up at home instead.)

With Wings Like Eagles

Right after New Years a moving van will pull up to my best friend Aimee's house, pack up her family, and move them to Florida. She and her wonderful husband, James, have answered the call to be the Ministers of Students at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Wauchula, Florida. It is hard to let them and their beautiful children go, but we know that they will be following God's calling and will be blessed for it. This past weekend, we were blessed to be at the dedication of their beautiful daughter, Tabetha Rhea. We want to wish them all the best and let them know that our prayers and hearts will be with them the whole time.

Tabetha looked beautiful in her gown!


Daddy (aka James) telling his church about Florida.


Mommy (aka Aimee) can really belt them out still!
(Just ask Abby who danced and clapped through the whole song!)


"I wore the scottie dog dress for you, Aunt Aimee!"
Abby really wanted her Aimee time.

Talmadge and Abby checked out the set for the children's play.
They gave "heaven" the full toddler treatment.



Tabetha's "girlfriend" look.
She had changed and was in her
casual wear after the service.

Time Flies

Here are a couple pictures of Abby and her best buddy Ben from about this time last year. . .

Momarrazi strikes again!

Ben was obvious not excited to be heading out for
yet another shopping trip.

And here they are last week. . .

The toddlers taking a break.

"Why did the baby cross the road?"

"I forgot!"
(Abby thought that was the best one she has heard in a while.)

My how the time has flown by!

*********

It's off topic, but I didn't want to do another post, but did I mention that the windchill was minus eight this morning in Asheville. That may not be cold to some, but it was quite chilly to us. Case in point. . .

We had some last minute shopping to do today.
Abby pulled her lap blanket up to keep out the cold.
No, really, she did it herself.

I Abby!

Abby has recently been saying "I Abby" when someone asks where she is while playing Peek-a-boo or when she is hiding. It got me to think about how much she does now compared to a year ago. It has been such a crazy year (especially the last four months) that I haven't been able to keep up with her, blogging-wise. Here's what it is like to be Abby these days. This post turned out to be longer than I thought. Sorry. I hope you enjoy it anyway.


The Move:
In case you haven't heard (haha), we recently had to move to North Carolina. Though we desperately miss Tennessee, especially all of our friends and family, we are settling nicely in Asheville. Abby has actually done the best of the three of us. Just see for yourself:

A toddler's paradise. The first two weeks in the apartment
were spent sans furniture save her little chair and pack and play
and an air matress for us. She was in heaven. Everything on her level.
I think she was disappointed when the furniture arrived.


Abby gave her friend, Jasper, a big hug on moving day.
She misses walking through the yard with "yapper."


Gramps and Abby check out the moving truck.
Her toys were the only things on the truck for a while. She was
confused as to why we had gotten such a big truck for such a job.

The movers were very thorough.


Abby and Daddy double checked every box to make
sure we had unpacked everything.

Now that we are moved. . .

We are open for visitors. We were so excited that
Granny, Kathy, and Randall stopped by on their
way to Atlanta. We can't wait for them to visit again!
We can't wait for more visitors.. come any time.


Game On! Abby and Daddy can finally concentrate
on their gaming skills again.


Breakfast is Abby and Daddy's meal.
They love to share their cereal with each other.


We talk to Grammy (who apparently is called MiMi according
to Abby) and Gramps every night. We recently added
a webcam. Great Fun!

She has been "helping" with the housework.


She uses her 'ipies" to help dust.


Also, she has been helping with the groceries.
(I refer you to the Snacktime post.)


She loves her new room.. especially the toy box.



She is catching up on her reading now things have
calmed down some.

MISC. . .

She loves to enjoy some "fine" dining.


For those who know her,
you know that this is her natural state.
She must always have access to her belly button.

Did we mention it has been REALLY cold.


That didn't stop us from travelling across the mountain
for Turkey Day!!


YUM!! Thanksgiving brunch with her cousins,
Aleigh, Mathew, and Ethan.