Monday, January 25, 2016

Celebrating Daddy's Birthday {2016}

Although January has been a slow month as usual for us, we do have to make a bit of a big deal about our Daddy's birthday right after the Christmas season is over.  I always note how guilty I feel that we don't do more to celebrate Daddy's special day that follows so close behind the busiest and most celebrated season of the year.  Daddy is so special to us and is definitely number one in our eyes, and we want him to feel special on his day.  Last year, we made him a football cake and made him a special picture frame for his office with all his babies' pictures in it.  This year, I wanted to attempt a little art project from the boys that Daddy could also display in his office at work.  The boys also wanted to make Daddy some special cards, and Brody helped me make him an "almost" homemade cake.

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We decorated a little, made a cake and homemade cards, and spent most of the day making our art project.  It was my first time painting on canvas.  Definitely not "professional," but Daddy really appreciated it.  I marveled at how big Evan's hand looked next to Mattox's.  He is really becoming a big kid/almost teenager.  

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Brody helping me stir the batter and lick the icing.  It was a really yummy icing with just cocoa, sugar, butter, and a little water.   

 I was actually going to make his cake purely from scratch, but I found this great new boxed mix from Pillsbury that is just the simplest dry ingredients with no unnatural additives.  We added the butter, eggs, and wet ingredients, and it made the fluffiest and lightest batter.  
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Evan took pictures of me and Daddy.  Of course, Brody had to get in one of them. 

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We took Daddy to eat dinner at one of our new favorite Thursday night kids eat free places Rudy's Pub & Grill in Apex.   They always do a lot for kids that night with a magician and balloon artist and televisions in some booths to watch cartoons.   Daddy even got a free birthday sundae with a candle. 

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Mattox enjoyed some special time with Daddy while the big boys watched Sofia the First.  Haha!  I was laughing at Evan for watching a "girl show," but Brody actually really likes that show too.  I am okay with that because it is a fun show for both boys and girls. 
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After dinner, we came home to enjoy some birthday cake for dessert.
Happy Birthday to my darling husband and the love of my life!  I hope you enjoyed your 38th, and I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays together.  Hopefully, some of them will be more exciting than this one.  I love you more and more every day and year as we continue to add to our stock of memories together!

Friday, January 22, 2016

Mattox's 10th Month

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{Taken Sunday, January 3, 2016}
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{Taken Wednesday, December 9, 2015}
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{Taken Wednesday, December 16, 2015}
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{Taken Wednesday, December 23, 2015}
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{Taken Thursday, December 31, 2015}

10 Months!  Yikes!!!  (and since this post is several weeks late, you are almost 11 months!)  I have really got to get on the ball and start planning your first birthday party.  Less than two months and counting.  This last month was such a big one for you with your first Christmas and all the festivities and you becoming a much more mobile almost toddler.  You have really been keeping mommy on her toes!

Size:  We haven't been back to the doctor again since your nine month well-check on your actual nine month birthday when you weighed exactly 18 lbs. and were 28.25 inches long.  I suspect you are getting close to that 20 lb. mark now, but we may not get another weight check until you are a year old.  You are definitely filling out mostly 12 month clothes now, and Mommy had to buy you some new shirts and jeans.  We were very limited on 12 month winter clothes because I had gotten rid of Evan's old ones, and Brody was mostly wearing spring and summer clothes in that size.  You have still been wearing size 3 diapers.  

Developmental Accomplishments:  You started full crawling when you were just over 9 months old, but you went straight to pulling up on your own and cruising.  You stay on your feet now walking from one end of the living room to the other about 90% of the time now.  You want to grab everything you see and are always figuring out how to get to something you want.  You open drawers, can reach so many things I don't think you can, and are really keeping me busy now.  You are babbling more although I haven't deciphered any actual words yet.  You do act more like your big brother Evan at this stage, and he was saying several words before he was a year old so we will see if you do the same.   You still only have four teeth at the moment, but that does not stop you from eating what you want. I would actually say the separation anxiety and stranger anxiety has decreased since Christmas.  You went to the library with your big brother for story time and were just crawling all around the other kids and parents and would just look back at me and smile and keep on going.  You don't mind playing alone in a room as much now and don't cry as much when I need to leave the room.  Brody is really loving you more now.  He encouraged you to follow him crawling through the house from our room to his room to play.  Then, you got in there and into his closet to play with his toys, and he left you.  Ha!  But he really does love you.  He plays with you more in the living room because he likes your new Christmas toys.  He makes you laugh so hard.  He helps me take your weekly pictures and makes you laugh and smile.   He lets you borrow his silky blankie too.  That is real love for sure!  Right now, you are trying to grab the cord for my computer.  You are just a sweet little mess!

Sleeping:  You still sleep very well through the night and only occasionally wake up once to get more milk.  You now sleep in your crib in your own room, and I am very thankful for your angelcare monitor. 

Eating:  You will eat ANYTHING!  We are still chugging away at breast feeding which I am thankful for.  You get 4 to 5 feedings a day getting between 5 and 7 oz. each with only one 7 oz. bottle of formula a day.  You still really love eating solids and have really been doing well with every food you have tried.  You enjoyed your first "real" meals this month eating some of our pasta with meat sauce, turkey with mashed potatoes and peas for Christmas, and a few foods at restaurants from our plates.  You actually enjoyed your very first Chick-fil-a kids meal today for lunch with grilled chicken nuggets and applesauce.  I just cut the nuggets up very small and mixed them with your applesauce, and you ate it all.  Most of the time, you still eat homemade pureed baby food with a fruit and oatmeal or fruit and yogurt combination for breakfast and a vegetable and meat combination for lunch and dinner.  You have now tried avocados, peas, squash, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, peaches, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, white potatoes, mangoes, kale, turkey, chicken, and ground beef.   You like white potatoes mixed with a green vegetable like peas, green beans, broccoli, or kale.  You eat a chicken or turkey puree mixed with an orange vegetable like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or carrots.  We pureed the rest of our Christmas turkey and froze it so you have been enjoying eating a lot of turkey lately.  

Favorites:  Cocoa (your dog); food; when Daddy gets home from work; playing with your big brothers; taking the track apart to your new car race track; blocks; cars; cups or bowls that have food or drink in them that you try to grab; spoons; bath time and splashing in the water; music and turning on the stereo (just like big brother Brody)

And of course, more cute pictures from the month:

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We enjoyed this little blessing so much for Christmas this year.  However, taking his pictures was definitely a lot more difficult because he is such a mover now and doesn't want to sit still.  He keeps trying to crawl away.  I had to give him an ornament to play with to get him to be still.  He is wearing the reindeer pajamas Evan wore his first Christmas. 
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I do think Mattox looks a lot like Evan did although maybe not so much in these pictures.  They both have the biggest, brightest blue eyes and big happy smiles.  They also both have Daddy's cute little ears. 


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Evan came along to help me get pictures of Mattox's little reindeer booty, and he wanted to get in the pictures too. 

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Trying to crawl away. Silly baby. 

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I still love that sweet face. 

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Mattox's favorite part of the Christmas tree was the tassels on the tree skirt.  Most of those didn't survive.  Ha!

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I just love when I caught him inside his little toy box.  He was perfectly content in there.  He had gone after a little vinyl book he wanted.  I added that picture of one of his funny faces from his weekly photo session just as additional proof of his silliness. 

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But he was just the cutest little Santa Claus wearing big brother Brody's old Christmas jammies. 
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But these two do look a like in these pictures.  Mattox does have longer and darker eyelashes more like big brother Brody's, and they both have my larger head size and shape.


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He still kept trying to crawl away. 

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The cutest faces. 

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He stole his elf's hat.  Where did the elf go? 


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He's been working on the railroad.  Our living room has been transformed since Christmas into a baby/toddler play area.  It is the best and safest spot in the house for him to play for now.  



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He was the cutest little New Year's baby.  I love how he plays with his ears.  He doesn't do it like it hurts or because he has an ear infection.  It has just become his little soothing thing.  Evan had his thumb, Brody had his silky, and Mattox has his ears.  He plays with them while he is nursing too. 



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For Brody's first New Year's pictures, I had a party noise blower for him to play with.  I forgot to get some of those again so Mattox got to play with a champagne flute.  Ha!  He says, "No champagne for me.  Milk milk please!"



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His emotions quickly went from happy and playing to "I am done!"  Haha!



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I just love watching him play now.  I can't really determine yet what his favorite thing will be, but he does seem to like little blocks he can hold in his hands or bang together. 



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He loves his new Lego Duplo train and blocks. 



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But what he really LOVES is getting himself into tight spots.  He got stuck here under his bouncer seat and the entertainment center cabinet.  I try to use his seat to block him from getting to the stereo that he likes to play with, but he is stubborn.  That poor stereo.  I have had it since before we got married, and it has seen some rough use from Brody and now Mattox.  It still works well though although some CD's have bit the dust.  These babies just love music!



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Oh, I love this handsome little GQ baby in his new tie and jeans. 



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So so so pretty!



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Who needs Christian Grey when I have Mattox Christian?  Way way better. 



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I love that little hand waving and finger pointing.  



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But when he's done, he's done.  He can go from smiling and happy to mad as a hornet in the blink of an eye. 


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Ringing in a New Year {2016}

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As has become our tradition, we ring in the New Year at home in our pajamas with some sparkling beverages.  We also celebrate the New Year earlier than midnight Eastern Standard Time.  We like to celebrate at 9:00 p.m. our time with Rio de Janiero.  

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We reused our old hats this year, and I made the little sparkly year banner to use for Mattox's weekly pictures. 

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Mattox was not pleased with this little photo session.  Picture taking has gotten a lot more difficult since he is very mobile and hates sitting still.  

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Big brother Evan tried to hold him but that was a losing battle. 

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Celebrating with Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

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Watching the New Year's fireworks. 

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Mattox loves computers and cords. 

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Brody loved his sparkling beverage. 

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This little guy just thinks he is grown now.  Sigh. 

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Toasting in the New Year.  Cheers!

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"What??? No sparkly drink for me???"

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Brothers toasting. 

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2015 Highlights

It has become a little "tradition" of mine to recap the highlights of my year.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  When we spend the majority of our days doing the seemingly mundane, less glamorous, and repetitive tasks of day-to-day life, we often feel like we haven't really accomplished much with our lives.  In this day and age when we look at the "perfect" social media lives of our friends and associates and think how great their lives are while we are folding another pile of laundry, changing another dirty diaper, or fixing meals for these little people in our lives, we often forget that we are only seeing the "highlights" of other people's lives.  People aren't as apt to post pictures or write comments about their mundane lives.  Similarly, when I get to the end of a year, I would be more apt to see the sum total of my year as a never ending cycle of days spent performing the everyday tasks that are so quickly forgotten.  The great memories made during each year would be lost to the depths of my computer hard drive or to some dusty old photo albums on a shelf.  That is one of the reasons I love this blog.  I can look back over my year and see the great memories we made each month.  When I rely on just my memory to catalog our year, I would mostly see the many days of exhaustion and remember feelings of "unaccomplishment".  However, when I start preparing my list of the highlights from the year, I feel uplifted and accomplished when I remember all the good memories we made together.  Those are the feelings of hope I want to carry into a new year.  I bet you could make a similar list of the great highlights from your year too.  I challenge you to look at all of the great memories you have made and all that you accomplished this past year and hold onto those feelings of accomplishment when you find yourself feeling "unaccomplished" or "unworthy" of the glorified lives out there on social media.


January

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We rang in the New Year. 

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Got a peek at Mattox at 30 Weeks.
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Brody and I embarked on our journey of preschool at home. 
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We celebrated our favorite daddy's birthday. 
February

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We celebrated a special Valentine's Day. 
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We got our first snow/ice storm of winter. 
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And another little snow day. 
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Evan attended his first Blue and Gold Banquet and was awarded his Wolf badge.  Sadly, this was one of his last events with his old Charlotte troop. 
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And made it to the final week of pregnancy with Mattox. 
March

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Mattox arrived!
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We moved!
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We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with these little Leprechauns! 
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Brody started his very first season of T-ball. 
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One of the highlights of the year was definitely meeting this dear blog friend.  I just hope we can return the visit very soon.  
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Moving to a new town and not having friends around to help him celebrate his birthday was hard, but he was so happy to share his celebration with his new Canadian pal, Sam.  

April

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Mattox celebrated his first whole month on the outside. 
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We celebrated our first Easter together as a family of six. 
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I was tickled pink to have this little Easter bunny this year. 
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We took our annual Spring family pictures
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Brody had a fabulous day celebrating his 4th birthday. 
May

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We took Brody to Discovery Place Kids Rockingham for a late birthday treat. 
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This little rainbow turned 2 months old. 
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We enjoyed hanging out with Great-Grandpa and the Hudson clan for a fun family day. 
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I loved celebrating Mother's Day with all of my babies. 
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I felt pretty accomplished when I finally finished Mattox's nursery before he was 3 months old.  Still my favorite room in the house. 
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We all enjoyed going to a Carolina Mudcats baseball game with Evan's Cub Scout troop, and Daddy enjoyed camping out with the boys that night. 
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Going to the Air Show was probably the highest point of Evan's year. 
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Evan also enjoyed going to Boot Camp with his neighbor friend, Ryan
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We had a fun weekend celebrating Memorial Day and Grandma's birthday
June

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Evan ended his first year of Cub Scouts and enjoyed lots of fun events with his new troop.
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We enjoyed exploring Bass Lake Park in our new town. 
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Mattox turned 3 months. 
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Evan finished up the second grade.
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Evan finished another great season of baseball
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And Brody progressed so much in his skills in t-ball
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We explored Historic New Bern, NC
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We discovered Tryon Palace
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We explored the beautiful Outer Banks of NC.

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We celebrated our 12th anniversary and Father's Day at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. 
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We learned all about forestry at the Cradle of Forestry in the Pisgah National Forest
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We celebrated Mattie's 2nd birthday
July

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Mattox turned 4 months
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We celebrated our nation's birthday at a good ol' American baseball game. 
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Evan started 3rd grade after a very short summer break. 
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We explored more in our new town
August

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Mattox turned 5 months
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We met the Pack
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We tried out a new splash pad in our area. 
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We took Mattox's 6 month portraits
September

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Brody and I made his 4th year of preschool official even if he will continue to be taught by mommy at home. 
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Mattox turned 6 months
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I celebrated my birthday with my sweet boys. 
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We explored Historic Marion, NC
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And the Historic Carson House
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And explored inside a mountain
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Brody played his second season of soccer
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And Evan had another impressive year of soccer
October

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Mattox turned 7 months. 
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We enjoyed a later than usual trip to our beloved Myrtle Beach
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And finally got our annual beach family pictures
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Evan jumped back into Cub Scouts as a Bear
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Our family enjoyed going to the State Fair
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We had a really fun Halloween in our new town. 
November

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Mattox turned 8 months
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We celebrated cousin Grady's 3rd birthday
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We had a great family Thanksgiving
December

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Mattox turned 9 months
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We kicked off the Christmas season
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We decorated for Christmas
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We visited Santa
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We took our Christmas card pictures
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We started some new traditions in our new town. 
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We had a wonderful Christmas at home
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Mattie celebrated her 3rd Christmas in heaven

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