Out with the Old, In with the New

New Year's Eve came fast this year! We have so much to be thankful for, most notable our precious Beau Elias. Tonight is the first night I can ever remember that I haven't gone to someone's house or out somewhere to celebrate. Instead we stayed at our house, I made homemade biscuits and eggs, cheesy potatoes, and sausage with homemade gravy to go on them (it's the last day of the year so we went all out on health, ha!). After we ate, we ran and got a [free] Redbox and some Phish food. We all took our baths, cuddled, and just now finished watching the movie and ate a little of our ice cream. I'm thinking now Brandon and I will see if we can stream the NYC ball drop at 11 PM here and then its off to bed for us! Brandon has to go to work in the morning, and Beau and I were up every hour last night. 

I wanted to end this year with a picture that summed up our feelings for the past 365 days, so here it is:

Pure joy.

Happy New Year!

Fun at 7 Months!

The boy's seven months old today! I think we're slowly realizing how fast this whole parenting business goes by. It seems unreal to already realize that seven months have gone by and here we are! The boy's growing and becoming so interactive. Here are some of the other things Beau's up to at this point:

• He's crawling! Yep, the boy's on the go. At the bottom of this post I have a link you can click on to watch the little one in action. So proud of him.
• "Talking" up a storm! He likes to be a part of the conversation.
• Laughing and smiling all the time.
• He's become quite attached to his mommy recently; which I don't mind at all, but if he was going very willingly to you and is now slightly hesitant, don't worry, he's doing that with everyone right now!
• Totally into bath time and water; we're thinking a pool party might be in the future for a first birthday
• Loves Bible class
• Everything's going into the mouth; everything.
• He's wanting to take steps forward when he's on his toes and holding onto your hands
• NOT sleeping at all. This has been quite a tough thing this month! He's waking up at 7 or 7:30 every morning (which isn't a bad thing at all), but he's not taking very good naps during the day (usually 20-40 mins, maybe twice or three times a day; but maybe) and then is going to bed somewhere between 8 and 9, but then waking up 5-6 times throughout the night. It's made for some rough mornings, but I just know we're gonna get through it.

So here are some pictures of our little guy (and some with his handsome dad!). Enjoy and look for the link at the bottom to see our precious Beau Elias crawling. (Unfortunately he got a little upset at first, but quickly recovered!)

Here's our little guy doing his new trick!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

What a wonderful 24 hours we've had! We had a white, snowy Christmas Eve over at Meme's house for Christmas Eve and had such fun! We ate, played BuzzWord, and had a fun round or two of Chinese Christmas - such a great way to spend the holidays. We left about 11 or so to go home and get ready for Santa's arrival! Brandon and I cleaned up the living room and laid out the guys' Santa suits for the morning. We even laid out Santa's cookies for when he came - and come he did! We woke up about 7:30 this morning and Beau was LOVING Christmas! This was our very first Christmas as a family and it was so special. Due to our current work situation, there wasn't much to be spent on Christmas, but I tell you, I think this one was the best of all. Brandon was so extremely thoughtful in what he got me and it reminded us about what the true meaning was of Christmas. And this afternoon at Mike and Lisa's has been amazing. It seems sometimes I can barely express my gratitude for the blessings God's given me. I get to a point where I almost choke up at the thought of the riches that abound in my life; the people God placed in my life, the opportunities he's given me, and the obedience he requires of me...all make me love him more and more.

All that to say, here are some pictures from the last day....Merry Christmas!

Click here for Christmas!

Christmas Eve...at work.

Brandon had to go into work today to work on some things, so when it got close for quitting time (1:00), we ran by and grabbed a few Eve shots at the office. Hooray though that he's home now and doesn't go back until Monday! I just love Christmas, don't you?

A very happy boy after seeing his Daddy

Oh how much we love this little boy!

And how much I love this grown boy!

Merry Christmas! May your heart (and tummy!) be full!

Deck the Halls with "Beaus" of "Haley"...

Beau and Haley had to celebrate their Christmas a little early this year due to some traveling for the Price bunch, but boy did they have fun! Getting these two together is getting cuter each time. Haley girl is 10 1/2 months old (Beau will be 7 months on Sunday!) and is helping show Beau the ropes when it comes to sharing and playing with other kiddos; we appreciate all your help, Haley! The kiddos got to open presents and boy, Beau hit the jackpot! He got a terrific sounds playing steering wheel (to go with his keys he already has at home, ha!) and a Harley motorcycle that revs its engine and then zooms across the room! Beau's especially excited that he now has a motorcycle just like his Pops. ;) Here's some presh moments from our time with two of the sweetest kids we know; Merry FIRST Christmas, Haley and Beau!

Mommy-itis

This little boy is going through a serious case of the "mommy's" ... and I'm totally ok with that!

It's Alive!

A message from my sweet husband:

"Hi everyone. Just want to let you all know that http://www.lehrmannjackson.com is no longer under construction. The real product is going public later tonight! We're glad you're all keeping up with what's going on with us. You are excellent friends. We are blessed to know you, and honored by your encouragements. If we can help you with any tax or accounting needs give us a call (817) 760-0645."

Check them out! Go here and show your support for their website or go here and show your support by checking out their blog!

Christmas is A'Coming!

We went and picked up Aunt Lindsey today and Beau did great! For being in the car for around 3 hours total, this kiddo held his own. Later on we went to a kids' Christmas party at Mike's office and there was a certain fact that was assured: my child does not want ANYthing to do with Santa. At least this year. I'll get some pictures up from THAT experience soon. (hint: just seeing them walk in had him bursting into tears!)

But here are some sweet moments from the road and playing with our tree; he just loves the lights!

Too Sweet for Words

I came in our bedroom to see what my guys were up to (it was WAY too quiet) and this was what I found...

I just don't know if it gets much sweeter than that!

Open for Business!

Lehrmann & Jackson LLC is open for business! I'll post some MUCH better pictures soon, but for now, here's a snapshot of their sign (in the dark no less, way to go Mary! ha.) and an edible sign. Yum.

Gingerbread Hiney

The boy received what we have lovingly deemed his "Gingerbread Hiney" pjs from Gran recently. Here's some evidence as to how they got that name...

A Prince and his Pups

Huck and Annie have gone through some major adjustments with our addition of sweet Beau. Thankfully, they're starting to get used to the fact that he's going to be sticking around for awhile. Who knows, maybe someday they'll even want to play with him? :)

Doing Big Boy Things

Beau's trying so hard to be a big boy; even before he's really ready! This is what I caught him trying to do this evening.

Big kid...

Big crash! :(

Christmas Lights

Brandon had to go to a conference in Arlington today, so the boy and I were flying on our own from the moment he woke up to the moment he went down. We had a lot of fun though! It's taking me a few posts, but its mainly because he did so many incredibly adorable things today. He and I went to the park this evening for our first trip to look at lights. It was a pretty spesh experience to share with the boy and boy did he love it! He found the lights so interesting, and kept wanting to touch them. It was very sweet. Here's a few moments captured at our time there.

Beary Good Friend

Beau's recently become quite attached to his bear. This one is the one that Brandon picked out, mainly because it has the heartbeat pounding and Brandon always loved that as a child. He's been secretly hoping Beau would love that as much as he did, and it seems that Beau's finally coming around to it. Here he is loving on his friend.