Tagged

8 Things About Me
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8 TV Shows I Watch
1. Heroes
2. 24
3. Grey's Anatomy & Scrubs
4. Flight of the Concords
5. How it's Made, Science channel
6. SNL
7. We love the Discovery channel
8. America's Funniest Home Videos (late night...really, I just listen to Nathan hysterically laugh as he watches this show all the time. I just watch him laugh!)

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Javier's (downtown Dallas gourmet mexican- yum!!)
2. Raising Cane's
3. OTB
4. Christina's
5. Lawry's
6. Chicken Play :)
7. Lucianios (in the Bahamas)
8. Maxwell's Steakhouse in Crested Butte, CO

8 Things That Happened Today
1. fed Carson at 5am & 8am
2. spoke to both of my moms
3. danced with Alex
4. listened to new tunes I just downloaded
5. wrapped gifts for Christmas and packed bags for trip tomorrow
6. lifted weights
7. cooked gourmet toffee from scratch
8. kissed my hubby goodbye

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. sleeping in...someday
2. weekends with my family
3. getting a text from Nathan that says "DC" (daddy's coming)...means he's headed home from work
4. date nights
5. working out (it's strange, but I really love it!)
6. getting to eat chocolate and pizza and ice cream again someday
7. traveling (ready to go snow skiing-- we are due!)
8. watching my children play together
9. turning 30!

8 Things I Wish For
1. financial security and freedom
2. a cure for type I diabetes
3. to always have my families close (wishing I could have both sets of parents local!)
4. playdates with my best friends everyday
5. remain in God's will and be a testamony to others
6. to always keep it real and learn to let go
7. a housekeeper :)
8. the ability to travel regularly

8 songs I just listened to:
1. A Thousand Years, Sting
2. Sober, P!nk
3. You Found Me, The Fray
4. Hold You in my Arms, Ray La Montagne
5. Just Dance, Lady GaGa
6. Angel, Dave Matthews Band
7. What's Been Goin On, Amos Lee
8. I'd Rather Be With You, Joshua Radin
A very funny one to check out... Hope it gives you hell, All American Rejects

8 movies I love:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Transformers on Blue Ray (Do you love me babe?! tee hee)
3. Marley & Me
4. Derailed
5. The Notebook (fine, make fun of me...but I loved it)
6. Princess Bride
7. The Green Mile
8. Thelma & Louise (ahh Brad Pitt's debut. I want to hate him but I just can't!)

8 People I Tag
1. April
2. Holly
3. Allison
4. Ebes
5. Jaime
6. Sally
7. Ann
8. Jennie

Marley & Me

Ahh...what a tearjerker! If you are an animal lover like Nathan and I are, be prepared. We saw Marley & Me tonight and gave it a 9 out of 10. Great movie! It's sooo our life :) The family was just like ours in many ways. Nathan and I both related to the characters and of course the chaos of family....both good and bad. It's always nice to be reminded of our little blessings in life. We came home and loved on Emmy and Macy for a long, long time. 2 thumbs up! And, it's based on a true story-- if you are a reader, check it out. John Grogan is the author.

It just keeps getting better...

The last two Christmas holidays have been beyond amazing. I know now it's because of the kids. I have always adored Christmas, but watching it through your own babies eyes...it's just one of those things you really can't explain. My aunt asked me why I hadn't opened any gifts, and I realized I was just too busy taking it all in. The gifts were nice of course, but truly, just being with my family and children is all I could ever want. It sounds token, but I feel so fulfilled and happy and ridiculously blessed. I love this moment in life and wish I could hit the pause button. It's insane, need sleep, wish I had more me time....blah, blah, blah. But I know I will look back on these precious years and wish for them back!

This holiday was very stress free, chill and FUN! Just like I like it :) We spent Christmas Eve in Farmersville, Texas with the Moran-Cottier fam (Mel's family). Scott and Kelley made my dad's famous Cashew Chicken for dinner. We were all in pain from overindulging!! After dinner we gathered around the tree and watched the kids open presents. Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve:

Alex is our favorite gift under the tree!


My parents watched the kids so we could go to a Christmas party.
Then off we went to spend Christmas Eve with the family.


Nathan and I at the Wagner's home on Christmas Eve in Farmersville.
It was 75 degrees!


Natalee Grace (9 months) loving on Carson.


Nikki (Alex's 2nd cousin) was soooo great with her!
We really want to steal her :)


Alex and YaYa were inseparable as always!


Mom and Dad opening a special gift from the kids.

We came back to our house at the end of the evening and baked sugar cookies for Santa and wrote him a letter with final requests.

They included:

• Sleeping Beauty show
• Ariel that swims in the swimming pool
• A bigger potty (umm she uses a regular one like everyone does. She said it needs to be really big!)
• A pony
  

I kept telling Alex the cookies were for SANTA...
but she insisted on shoving an entire cookie in her mouth!


We woke up the next morning and sure enough, Santa came!
Alex got a Disney Princess tricycle! She was stylin' & profilin'


My precious hubby LOVES to take pictures of me "au naturale"
...aka no make-up and pre coffee. NOT OKAY!


It was a mad house opening gifts! Mommy in the middle


B.B. sandwich


Emmy was in the middle of it all as usual


Alex showing off her new make-up kit. Notice she's still learning


We caught some precious moments as well.
Here is YaYa with the new man in her life


Alex and B.B. share a special moment together
...looking at her new Sleeping Beauty DVD


Sweet baby girl opening gifts


Mommy and Carson shared some super cute moments
in the middle of the chaos...
"Hmm..not sure what I think about this lady"


"Well, she does like to cuddle me quite a bit..."


"Okay, okay, I think she's hilarious!!!"


And of course, we have to end on an Alex funny.
After we opened all of the gifts, she was ready to watch
her Sleeping Beauty DVD. She got all comfy in her princess
chair to watch the movie. My mom told Nathan to grab the
camera and get this shot. I love the look on her face...
"What do you want? Can't you see I am busy?!"
Does she realize her panties are 1/2 way off? Typical!!

What an awesome Christmas it was at the Darby home! I can't believe next year we will have an almost 5 year old and a 15 month old running around everywhere!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

I love taking this time to look back at all of the changes that happen in just one year. Our biggest change this year, is the addition of our son, Carson Kyle Darby. I can't think of a day in his precious life that I haven't thanked God for him. He is my little angel. Here are some photos from the past few years....my little girl is growing up. Wow, thank you God for this amazing journey.

Christmas card 2008:

Christmas card 2007:

Alex and Carson with Santa (Alex: 3 1/2, Carson: 3 months):

Alex with Santa, 2007 (age 2 1/2):

Alex, 2006 (1 1/2 years):

Alex with Santa (10 months):
Merry Christmas to each of you. Enjoy every moment...it goes WAY too fast!

Holiday Happies

*Christmas cards: Such a nice break from the sea of bills and ridiculous catalogs in the mail. We love seeing updates and photos from everyone.

*"O Holy Night"- my favorite Christmas song. The Mariah Carey version is beautiful.
*Scarves and gloves.

*Fires at home and lots of cuddling. Hot tea with honey and hot chocolate.

*My famous toffee- this stuff is addicting. I only make it once a year. Yummmm. My aunt made this with me as a child each year and I've passed on the tradition.

*Sparkles" as Alex says for Christmas lights. Here is a picture of her in our sleigh in the front yard.

*Teaching Alex about Christmas. Every SINGLE toy commercial we get "That's what I want for Christmas REAL, real bad. I'll have Santa bring me one when he is at shoppin' with his coins."

*Watching The Wizard of Oz. A holiday tradition for our family. Not sure why, we just always watch it together. So, this was Alex's first time to watch and she loved it. Toto was her favorite! She asked "mommy, can I get a magic wand from Santa for Christmas and bing Emmy and Macy into Toto?" Translation: she wants to turn our dogs into Toto. She loves to "bing" her wand :)

*The smell of a fresh Christmas tree.

*Our Elf on a Shelf: an awesome new tradition in our home. Alex named our elf Criddle.

*Having my hubby home for many days. I am a quality time person, and I really am looking forward to spending time with my fam, the kids and Nathan. My parents are going to spend the night on Christmas Eve and be here when Alex wake up to see what Santa brings.

*Teaching the kids about Santa and Jesus. Alex thinks baby Jesus is in my tummy?! We clearly have some work to do.

*Annual photo with Santa:

This year more than ever, I am truly reminded of the reason for the season and so incredibly thankful for the abundant blessings in my life. This Christmas I am most excited about the little ones and loved ones that will surround our Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving at the Darby Cabin

I've been procrastinating to write this entry because we took 344 pictures! I know there are a ton, but this is my attempt at summarizing an amazing holiday. The cabin is located on the White River in a nature reserve right outside of Stuttgart, Arkansas (duck hunting capital of the world). Here is our view from the deck:

The cabin is awesome! It's out in the middle of nowhere....no phones, no people....just nature. A perfect place to escape especially in this madness of holiday season. All of our fam (and the pups), Andrea & Brandon and the 3 boys, Deb & Darby, and Andrea's mom and brother came for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a BLAST! The kids were in heaven. The guys were in hunting heaven and the moms were so happy to have help.

Here are a few family pics:

Pops got in TROUBLE for messing around during fam pics. It's nearly impossible to get 6 adults and 5 kids to all take a good pic. Way to go POPS!

Carson was the center of attention and loved every minute. He met most of the family for the first time at the cabin:

Okay, I'm DONE with all these pictures...seriously!!

Here is a cute pic of "the boys" posing:

And....5 minutes later: (please don't hate me babe-- too funny!)

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Kids at play:

Alex playing peek-a-boo with mommy

Alex and Caden-- adorable together.

Alex learning how to use a pop gun!

Stud Caden using his bow. Can't believe he is 8 years old.

Alex & Dru playing with the box. Yes, we brought toys for them :)

Dru & Alex thought the pups would enjoy it too!

Eston & Alex having a precious moment on the dock. They are 5 months apart in age. So dang cute!!

Sharing smores

Poor Uncle B trying to catch a nap after a long day of hunting....

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And then there's Alex...the mess, as usual. The guys came home from the morning duck hunt and all of us lined up at the door to greet them. Alex went running outside and grabbed a duck out of Pops' hands. Clearly, she thought they brought her back a fun "prize" b/c she was cuddling with it (ew) and singing "rubber ducky, you're the one"...and yelling "quack, quack, quack" at the top of her lungs. It was hilarious. We all kinda just had to sit back and laugh at her innocence:

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Finally, here are a few pics of the Darby men hunting:

Nathan & Brandon practice.

Here they are at 5am ready to go.....why would anyone wake up to intentionally freeze and kill animals??

Dinner! (not for me)

And finally...a video of our strapping men "calling in the ducks." We were in tears watching this!! Nathan needs to get into it a little more-- haha!!

I adore our family. We have so much to be thankful for. We spent 5 days in very close quarters and couldn't have had a better time!