Marley and Me: For all you Dog Lovers

This year we sucked it up and participated in a Potts Family Tradition of going to the movies Christmas Day, with a 2-year old and an almost 5 month old.. We usually go in the evenings. This year we went to a 7:15 showing of, you guessed it! Marley and Me. Although many of you may be surprised that I have not read it yet, I now plan to. I recommend it as simply a cute, animal-lover movie that'll make you go home and give your dog a little extra love; or, in our case, we've let Moka in the house every days since we saw the movie, taken her to the mountains with us when we went to the snow, and taken her to the park. :-) It was such a sweet film, and really hit home for our family, as we are a HUGE lab family originating with our dearly departed Sassy-girl. It's funny, sweet, sad, and amazingly accurate in terms of lab behavior. Hope you all go see it!

Nevaeh's favorite part? Popcorn, Soda, and M&M's.

Our posse... The Meleski's and my parents.

More of our posse.

Nevaeh smiling with popcorn hanging out of her mouth.

Christmas morning was the most fun this year....so far. Nevaeh was totally excited about everything. She played with her nativity scene, watched Frosty the Snowman, asked Santa for Christmas lights on her house. Just a lot of precious moments. :-)

Look what Santa brought me! A kitchen! You'll be fast friends with Nevaeh if you play with her kitchen.

Opening more presents, like this cute, warm sleeper from Aunt Mary!

Baby Taylor got a Nemo towel from Aunt Mary...Nevaeh was jealous. :-) "Mine Memo" she said.

This is how Taylor opened her gifts.

Yum!

Look what I got!

Later we opened gifts at Pop pop and MaMa's house. Nevaeh was excited over her easel...

But even more excited about the bug set Pop pop got her. "Mommy says eeew. Bugs is gross." She thinks it is so funny to gross Mommy out by bringing the bugs to her. I think Kaleb taught her that. But now Nevaeh can identify the caterpillar, spiders, ladybugs, bee, fly, grasshopper, and others. My weird little girl!

I'm already looking forward to next year when both girls can enjoy it a little more.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Christmas Eve Family Photos

Don't worry, we didn't get rid of Kaleb. He is missing because he had to work Christmas Eve night shift. Don't feel too bad for him, though, because he had 5 days off after that...or was it 8?

Pop pop and his granddaughters.

MaMa, Mommy, Nevaeh and Taylor.

Wonderful grandparents. Can you tell Nevaeh really likes them???!!!

MaMa and the girls.

Proud Auntie Ally and her nieces.

"Cold Snowman!!!"

This year Nevaeh's winter obsession has been with "cold snowman" and "Frosty the cold snowman." She likes the movie, the figurines in our house, the ornaments, and most recently....a real live snowman. My parents' neighbors went to the mountains and brought back a truckload of snow and made the snowman you see in the pictures. Mama came and picked her up and they went to see the real cold snowman and play in the snow. At first Nevaeh was intimidated, but she gradually got more comfortable and even brought Mommy a snowball.

We're going to the snow today, so look for more pics of Nevaeh in the snow soon!

Christmas Photos

Here is a preview of our latest photo shoot! Our friend Bethany took them, and they turned out great. This is just a small sampling of my favorites. We'll use some for our holiday cards, although since it is already mid-December, maybe they'll have to be New Years cards! Hope you enjoy. Aren't the girls beautiful?!?!

The only way Nevaeh would get in front of the camera was to bribe her with toys.

Daddy and Happy Taylor.

Aw. So special.

Lots of feet...even more toes!

Cutesie jammies.

"I'll show you how to do this, Baby Tay."

Smiles. Always.

I know I'm cute.

All of Daddy's girls.

Family pic.

Fun times with Aunt Kaky (Kathy)

Blocks: Nevaeh's new obsession...

Kaleb taught Nevaeh how to build a tower and crash into it with a car.

Aunt Kathy and Taylor watched Nevaeh "play blocks in mine play room."

Vroom! Vroom! she says.

Aw. Taylor wanted to give slobbery kisses, not smile at the camera!

Nevaeh's Christmas present from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Shawn was her TX Longhorns sweatshirt. She looks gorgeous in "burnt" orange, huh? I just hope she doesn't think she's going to college that far away! :-) What cute sisters!!!

Family Visits

Although much of our family time this past week consisted of mourning our loss, we also got to enjoy seeing each other and spending time together. It is dreadful that our reason for gathering was to attend a funeral, but we also appreciated the opportunity to spend time together.

Nevaeh and GiGi.

Taylor was tired at the pizza parlour.

I don't know who was happier..Nevaeh or Auntie Nenny. Nevaeh has really missed her since she moved to Texas, and I know the feeling is mutual.

Earlier we picked Nenny up from the airport and she gave Nevie a cup. It has a kitty from the "cat movie" (Aristocats) that Nevaeh loves.

Welcome home Auntie Nenny! Jen surprised Neve with a cup, and Nevie showed up to the airport with a "Welcome Home Nenny. We missed you!" sign. They had lots of fun together while Jen was here.

Christmas Tree Lane

This year Kaleb and I braved the cold to walk the girls down Christmas Tree Lane. As you can see from Tay's face below, the cold and lots of lights were very surprising.

Wide-eyed Baby Tay

Mommy and Daddy took pics with Nevaeh while Taylor slept in the car seat/stroller.

Daddy's Girl

Taylor all bundled up, warm and cozy...and sleeping comfortably.

Nevaeh had lots of fun walking at first, but got cold quickly and wanted to be carried inside Daddy's coat. Kaleb didn't mind at first, but she started to get pretty heavy on the way back to the car.

Christmas Tree

Nevaeh had fun picking out a Christmas Tree.

Taylor, on the other hand, slept comfortable in her car seat (surprisingly) the entire time we were there.

At home Nevaeh had fun unpacking all the ornaments, but she didn't quite understand how to put them on the tree. Instead she collected them in a little box until Mommy and Daddy placed them on the tree.

Taylor thought decorating the tree with lights was hilarious!

Our pretty tree, all decorated and with presents already wrapped.