Sign

More pics of the sign in Tess's nursery. Thanks, Sara Ellen!


Bec posted a pic of the sign Sara Ellen made on her blog, which I have stolen and posted here. Doesn't it look great?

Baby Vacation

So, kinda a weird title for a blog posting, I know, but basically Robert's old sister, Rebecca, had a baby last week and so we took some days off and headed to South Carolina to meet our new niece (who has already made her debut on this blog) and mostly play with her big brother, Tallon. Hence, our baby vacation.

We had such a great time visiting with family and basically adopting the playing, running, chasing, jeep-driving life of an active 3-year-old. Needly to say, we slept like a rock every right.

Did I also mention we ate like kings? Between my mother-in-law's unbeatable fried chicken, Papa's fried fish, Nana's breakfast, and homemade cinnamon rolls, chocolate pie, christmas cookies... Well, let's just say nothing we've eaten since then has quite been up to par.

Here's Tallen helping MiMi (Rob's mom) make christmas cookies.

Tess is just the cutest, sweetest little thing ever. I has Sara Ellen make her a sign for her nursery and it turned out just perfect. Eveyone was raving about it - from the family to the hospital staff. I can't belive I somehow didn't get a picture of it, but you can see it in the background in the picture of Tess her talented photographer Uncle Collin took on his blog. Sara Ellen is so talented. She really helped me customize the sign just perfectly. If you're shopping for a great sign check out her blog.

Tallong was eager to hold "his baby" and would periodically go over and check on her and give her a kiss, but then he got distrated trying to beat his uncle, dad, and grandfather at Hungry Hungry Hippos!



We were treated to PaPa's famous fried fish, which we all are horrible at nibbling on while it's cooking and certainly before dinner. Luckily, PaPa doesn't mind. We also enjoyed watching the SEC Championship with Papa and Nana and playing dominos with Rob's parents.

Pop (Robert's dad) got Tallen a new playhouse and we all had great fun breaking it in. Tallon was pretty excited watching his David and Goliath video - and making us reinact the slaying of the giant. We also had fun seeing Tallen's new house and his gigantic play room.

Proud Uncle Robert

Baby Tess

So, I stole some pics from Bec's blog of Baby Tess which Reeve's sister Aron took this morning. My new niece is so beautiful, and I can't wait to see her. As you can see, mom and dad are so proud!

Baby Tess is Here

Our new niece, Tessa Nell Cannon, was born this morning at 7:52 a.m! She came in weighing 7 lbs 6 ozs. Mom and baby are doing well. We can't wait to get up there to see everyone and especially baby Tess!

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and it was nice to have a break from the busy pace of work and school. I am thankful for the time we got to spend with family and friends. We spent Thanksgiving with my family and enjoyed a massive spread for Thanksgiving lunch. Between Dad's fried turkey, mom's baked turkey, Big Mama's ham and all the trimmings (plus some) we were all stuffed to the max. I attempted a very complicated pumpkin cheesecake that consumed five hours of my life but actually turned out quite yummy!

As you can see, Shelby, my brother's girlfriend, got in on some of the turkey carving action. Dad was pretty excited about his electric turkey carver.


Big Mama enjoyed my cousin and his wife's new puppy. I think Oscar, my parents' dog who lives half his life with my grandmother, was pretty jealous.

Somehow I managed to only take three pictures during the entire weekend, but I enjoyed having a girls night out with my mom and going to see the movie Australia. It was really good and fun to spend some quality time with my mom. I think Robert had lots of fun playing endless games of NCAA football on the PS2 with Ryan. We also enjoyed Big Mama's hospitality (she graciously hosted us for two nights) and her wonderful breakfast she made us Friday morning. Let's just say it was an improvement from the cold cereal we're used to!

I am also thankful for the new baby girl Blackwell that is coming in April. Kristi and Clay announced the gender of the baby to the family on Thanksgiving and we got to see some of the sonogram pics. Clay is going to have his hands full with all the women in his life!

On Friday, we headed to Jake's house and enjoyed an additional Thanksgiving spread with our friends and family. Jake borrowed dad's turkey frier and let's just say we had our fill for the second day in a row.

On Saturday, we had a blast hosting an Iron Bowl party for my parents, Big Mama, and some great friends from college - Collin and Michelle and Anne and Rob - who we are so fortunate to have in town and be able to hang out with frequently. We were all in a fantastic mood that day. Oscar also attended our Iron Bowl party and almost got lost in Homewood when Robert and Dad got distracted by football and he walked out the front door! I'm not sure if mom will let him come back to the house after that scare! :)

I am also thankful for our church family at Faith and our new Senior Assistant Pastor, Carl Smith. Carl's installation service was Sunday night and was such a blessing to attend. Robert and I were both very encouraged to see the Lord raise up godly men to shepherd his flock. We all miss Jamie and Michelle Peterson and their precious kids a ton (they are now in Frisco, Texas planting a church), but God has provided for our church through Carl.

I am thankful for nearly completing one more semester of school. I had my last and only final last night and only have a few more papers and presentations before this semester is complete. Robert is finished next week also. We each only have six more classes to take (plus one independent study I have) and are looking forward to wrapping our graduate studies up next year.

Other things for which we are thankful:

• Definitely DVR. Let's just say it's amazing to record our favorite shows, watch them when we want, and skip all the commercials. Dont' know how we survived without it.

• Christmastime! I can't wait to put up our tree and decorations. And now Christmas music is playing on the radio and Robert will let me listen to it because it's after Thanksgiving! And Christmas lights are starting to pop up in our neighborhood!

• Our upcoming trip to South Carolina to visit with Robert's family and celebrate the arrival of our new neice, Tess, who is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. We both have been looking forward to this trip for so long, and now it's finally here. We're hoping to leave tomorrow once we've wrapped up everything with work and school. I'll be sure and post some pics from our trip!

Tebow's backup

Robert found this article today and sent it to me for some humor.

It can't be easy being Tim Tebow's back-up quarterback at Florida. You are the most overlooked man on campus. All you ever hear about is Tebow this and Heisman that. It can really wear on a young man. Well, if Cameron Newton was looking to grab some of the limelight, he finally achieved his goal. The sophomore quarterback, who has backed up Tebow for the better part of two seasons, was arrested on Friday for stealing another student's laptop. Police suspected Newton in the computer heist, which occurred back in mid-October, when someone logged into the school's network under the user name "cnewton." On Friday, as police entered his dorm room to investigate, Newton panicked and threw the $1,700 computer, which he had painted black and labeled with his name, out the window. But police didn't fall for the ol' pitch and run. Newton has been suspended from the football team and is being charged with felony counts of burglary, larceny and obstructing justice.

This is why I still love DeMeco Ryans...

Check out this article about what he did this Thanksgiving.