Very Happy Holidays

David and I had a great Christmas! It was crazy packed, but we enjoyed all our time with family! 

This is what our car looked like on the way to Hawkinsville....we had all of our prezzies, our dog, and almost 2 weeks worth of luggage! We'll have to have another strategy for fitting baby in the car next year. :)

Our first gathering was the Coody Christmas with my Dad's side. My mom had the cabin beautifully decorated for the holidays as we would be celebrating Christmas there too.

I loved getting to see our "nephew" Cooper

An exciting highlight of the day was a ride in the new elevator lift - here are those cute Childers kids getting a lift to the ground! :)

And here's the fam looking on from up top!

All the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

The tree was gorgeous!

And the tables were so pretty too!

These kiddos were anxious to open prezzies!

But not before it was time to eat!

On Sunday after church, David and I had a {very silly} photo shoot around the living room tree and piano - with my mom and Abbye directing us. We couldn't stop laughing and I had to share!

On Christmas Eve eve, the McLeods graciously invited us for a lovely family dinner at their beautiful home. Here's Abbye and Dad before we left!

And here's their incredible tree! I was in awe!

And our gorgeous table for the evening's meal....just so pretty!

We spent Christmas Eve at Amanda's....here's her pretty tree! We received lots of fun treats from Pammy and Pop, and Amanda and Ben!

And Christmas Day was spent back south at the Coody Cabin. Santa was so good to us! Santa BFF Amy brought us our big surprise - what will baby Griffin be? Boy or Girl?

I was instructed to open the green box first, and then the red box. 

We were so excited to finally know! Both families were there to watch us open the present

All of our lives, Amy, Christen and I wrote poems to mark big events....they were fun ways of marking special times in our life - spring breaks, graduations, trips...and Amy wrote the most special poem to reveal that our little bambino is going to be a precious baby BOY!

My MIL brought us the sweetest blanket knitted by David's grandmother

And Amy gave us the most darling onesie and blue Bible. We are so excited!!!! 

Ben is going to be a fantastic cousin!

And here's our lil 10 oz. baby boy at 20 weeks!

Later in the week, we celebrated Christmas at my grandfather's house with my Mom's sister and her kiddos

And finally, we made it to the beach for a few glorious days of R&R

We ate fresh seafood

And watched a ton of movies.

We saw This is 40, Jack Reacher, and Django Unchained at the theater. We watched Trouble with the Curve, The Candidate, and 21 Jump Street at the condo. They were all super entertaining!

In addition to our movie watching, we did a little shopping too. I really wanted this chair and ottoman, but we had no room in our sleigh!

Mom and I completed another family beach picture photo wall at the condo too.

And we headed to the festive Old Florida Fish House for our New Year's Eve celebration. This lil mama drove these crazy kids for the night!

We listened to the band for a while after dinner....they were so fun!

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

We wish you all the best in 2013! It's going to be a big year for us!

We are now 21 weeks along, and are still doing great! I have begun to feel Baby Boy move a little...it feels like little flutters under my skin. I think he's going to be active - he was doing somersaults on the ultrasound DVD and I can certainly feel those now! 

a few parties

Over the weekend, my sister Abbye graduated from Georgia Southern! We are all so proud of her! Her degree is in Hotel and Restaurant Management, and she'll begin her internship at Sea Pines on Hilton Head in March. We can't wait to go visit her! 

Before the graduation festivities, David and I traveled to Charlotte, NC for his work, and made the road trip to Statesboro on Thursday. A big family/friend dinner was had at Isabella's in the 'Boro before a night out at Dingus Magee's. 

Here's Abs' cute girlfriends before our night on the town!

And a few of us at dinner...

Her ceremony took place on Friday morning...here's Abs approaching the podium to have her name read before crossing the stage!

We were all so excited for this big moment!

After the ceremony, we had time for a few family pics before lunch! 

We are all so proud of our Abbye!

Later, on Friday night, we hit the Lamar's Christmas Party in Hawkinsville. It was so nice!

And on Saturday we were able to attend our friends Sydney and Gray's engagement party in Atlanta. It was so nice too!

Here I am with the bride (right) and her sisters Ansley and Colby! Love them all!

Me with my handsome date!

We'll be heading home this weekend to enjoy more family Christmas events! 

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Merry merry!

A Wedding and A Griffin Family Christmas

Last weekend, David and I attended the wedding of our hometown friend, Becca. My bff Amy was a bridesmaid (and the most beautiful one I might add!), so when we arrived at the reception we were so excited to catch up. The wedding was at the Perry First Methodist Church, all festively decorated for Christmas - and I loved all of the beautiful Christmas music playing before the ceremony. 

The reception was at the Bridle Barn near Fort Valley, and it was gorgeous too!

I had the best looking date there! And the sweetest one too!

We'd spent the day with James and had a ball! So sad this is blurry!

To round out a jam-packed fun week, Sunday was spent at our cousin Robert's house in Winder for the annual Griffin Family Christmas. We do an annual dirty Santa swap, have lunch, and visit. Robert's house is so great (house tour to come on B&B), and looked beautiful all decorated for the holidays - Robert, his brother, and parents had all worked so hard to make it a special afternoon, and that it was!

Here are a few of the Griffin women in the study...Pammy, me, Caron, and Amanda.

After a delish lunch of BBQ, the little boys, Ben and Aiden, helped us hand out the presents and orchestrate the dirty Santa swap.

The grand kids, affectionately called the "grands", had our picture time on the front step. 

L-R: Kathryn and Justin (expecting baby #1 two days before Baby Griffin arrives! So excited to have another generation of grands to grow up together!), Aiden, Sally and James, Fain, Robert, Amanda, David and me, and an evidently very sleepy little Ben. :) I suppose Doc, up front, counts as a "grand" too!

And the parents...Vicky and Grady, Caron and Steve, and Pammy and Pop!

The little boys got penguins from Aunt Caron - they climb and play on Robert and Da-Dah like jungle gyms! So cute!

David and I are heading for a little work getaway in Charlotte today before attending my baby sis's college graduation in Statesboro on Friday morning! So proud of her!!!!

Preggie.

I am in my 18th week already! 

It's really flying by, especially now that my energy has come back. 

Our little baby Griffin is about the size of an apple. I haven't felt any movement yet, but that's normal - it's still a little early. By Christmas, I'll be 20 weeks and should be able to feel little flutters! 

We've got friends that are all due in May too...my bff Hollie is due 10 days after me, and our cousin Kathryn is due 2 days before me, as well as several friends back home who are expecting bambinos too.

We'll be finding out the sex of the baby on Christmas morning. I've got my ultrasound in a week, but the results are going into a {sealed} envelope and straight into the mail to my bff Amy. She's got a fun surprise up her sleeve, and I am tickled to see what she comes up with for the big reveal. We've been friends forever, and she knows all of my secrets...and this will be no exception  She'll make it super fun to find out what our little Christmas present is!

With that approaching, planning a nursery has moved more to the front of our minds. As well as possible names. During the first trimester, we really didn't think about it seriously. Of course we've had the conversations, but now it's going to be more real! We've got great name contenders (all family names of course) and I've got some pretty cute nursery mood boards coming up on the other blog too.

I am feeling great...it's hard to believe we are almost halfway through the pregnancy. I can tell I get a little winded sometimes, and am visiting the ladies' room a little more often too. I think I've gained about 5 pounds, and am still sleeping well. Everyone has been so sweet about Baby Griffin's impending arrival, and with these graduations and a wedding coming up...there's lots to be grateful for! David and I are so excited for our little one to arrive in May, and we are enjoying every step of this miracle process. 

Happy Tuesday!

A Football Game and A Christmas Party

I've been a little behind on blogging...there's been a lot of work things to get done before the holidays and it's kept me from updating what we've been up to in our down time! 

Two weekends ago we were in Atlanta of for the SEC Championship. Sadly, the game didn't end the way we'd hoped or prayed, but we had a nice time visiting with friends and family for the weekend. 

On Saturday, we joined the McLeod's for their fantastic tailgate before heading to a friend's house to watch the game. 

Hollie snapped this picture during happier times while watching the game. We were at Amy and Jeff's house.

And here are a few other snaps from the day. We began the morning with the trip to the dome, and the McLeod's tailgate quickly amped up with more than 50 people there! So fun!

After watching the game at the Dils' house, we stopped by Griffin and Allison's house for some post-game commiseration.  We were so sad. Even Murphy, the Hamsley's dog wanted to just forget all the heartache and huddled under David's arm. 

This past week brought some happier times for these Dawg fans though...our first Christmas party in our new house! We invited our friends, family, and co-workers for a drop-in party, but most people just stayed the whole time - which I loved! 

Before our guests arrived, we had a little photo sesh with the fam...

So happy Amanda and Pammy could join!

My handsome co-planner! He's such a help and I couldn't pull it off without him!

I was beyond tickled that Laura Lyn came to play too!

And my sweet parents (who also brought James with them, but we don't have a pic!) drove up to hang for the night as well!

Here are two pics from the evening, but stay tuned to Bellissimo and Bella for detail photos of the whole house. 

Hope your holidays have been happy so far too! Can't believe its 2 weeks to Christmas!