Sellers Family Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. Jack really enjoyed it this year and had a blast. Since my family does not live near us we had a few Christmases this year. Jack really enjoyed that. It gave him just enough of a break before he started opening more gifts.

Our first Christmas was with our friends Sena and Robby and Mary Helen and Aidan on Monday night. I cooked a big pot of chili and everyone came over to hang out before they had to start traveling. Jack loved his gifts from Aunt Sena and Uncle Robby. He got crayons for the tub and a boat for the tub with some fun soaps. I also love my gift from Sena and Andi. Thank ya'll so much for our gifts. We are so lucky to have wonderful friends like you!My Mom got here on Sunday afternoon and was able to stay the whole week. Doug(Papa) was supposed to get here on Monday afternoon but because of the snow in Seattle he was not able to fly out of Alaska. They originally told him that he would not be able to get here until the Friday after Xmas, so we were really upset that he wouldn't get to be here with us. Well, God was watching over us because he was able to get on the 1:00 a.m. flight Tuesday morning and was here Tuesday afternoon! We are so glad you made it Papa!!!!

My Grandparents spent Christmas in Atlanta with My Aunt Carolyn and cousins. On there way there, Tuesday, they stopped and spent the night with us so that we could do Christmas with them. My Aunt Tracy also got in on Tuesday afternoon to spend Christmas with us! It was wonderful having everyone here. This time of year makes me really appreciative of the family and friends that we have. Jack is fortunate to have this picture below with one of his Great-Grandmothers!!! He was showing her how to use his new colors and coloring book from his Great Aunt Tracy.

Grandma made this robe for Jack and he loves it. Look how precious he looks. This was Brandon's favorite gift that Jack got. Ha!

My cousin and Jack's second cousin Ben also got to spend a night with us. He was riding with my Grandparents to spend Christmas with his Mom and brother and sister. He is so good with Jack and Jack adores him. They had a blast!

Jack also got to exchange gifts with his Parrain on Tuesday night. He loved his train named "Jack". Thanks John and Kaley!! He is starting to get into trains, so he got a bunch of those for Christmas. His Nanny has also been buying him one each time she goes to the store. He calls them "choo choos".

Chrismas Eve was alot of fun too. We started the festivities off by going to mass at 4:00 and then headed home just in time to see Santa come around the neighborhood on the firetruck. That is a tradition that is done all over Birmingham every Christmas Eve. Brandon remembers being little and running outside to see Santa on the firetruck. Jack was too little last year, but this year he knew what it was. He was a little scared when he drove by but on his way out of the neighborhood he was waving and saying "bye" and "ho ho ho". After that my sister's boyfriend James' family came over to eat some gumbo and just meet the family. We really enjoyed visiting with them and getting to know them. It was a very late night, but we enjoyed every minute of it!

Here are Jack's gifts from Santa. I think that Santa went a little overboard this year! Jack's favorite toy was the shopping cart of all things.

Jack was precious Christmas morning. It took him about 1 second to figure out what was going on. He had only been downstairs about 1 minute in this picture.

He is starting to get a litte worn out in this picture. He got soooo many toys. I don't know where they are going to go. Mom and Doug gave him a ride on train and a little 4 wheeler and he just loves them. Mimi gave him a slide and a car that he moves with his feet. Can you say spoiled?! Thanks Mom and Doug for everything and thanks Mimi for everything as well. Ya'll made this a wonderful Christmas for Brandon, Jack, and I. We love you!!

Friday, my Dad and Kim came in to do Christmas with us! We had a great weekend. I didn't get my camera out that much because I honestly forgot about it. Sorry Dad and Kim. This is a picture that we took Saturday night of Jack and Cookie on the back porch. Jack was a little sick so he was being very calm and all of us were taking advantage of the lap time that we were getting. Cookie and Kim gave Jack some of the most precious clothes for Christmas and this was one of the shirts. Jack looked a little like his Cookie here! Thanks for everything Dad and Kim, we had a great time and we love you!

We missed being able to spend Christmas with the rest of our families. We love you too! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Love,

The Sellers

Deck The Halls...

On Sunday we got our entire outside decorated and most of the inside except for the ornaments on the tree. Monday night MiMi came over to have white chicken chilli and help decorate the tree. We were nervous about Jack but he actually did a pretty good job. He wanted to help so bad so I let him put a wooden ornament on the tree. He got it on and was so proud. He said "yea" and clapped for himself. I was pretty imressed. Well, that taught him that he could play with the ornaments I guess because he hasn't stopped trying to pull them off since then.

You can see the stocking hanging from the mantel behind me. Brandon and I disagreed about this but I had to have them up. Brandon is very worried that Jack is going to get curious, as he does quite often these days, and pull on them bringing the stocking and the iron hanger down on top of him. I am watching him very carefully and so far he has not fooled with them.

These ornaments look cute but Jack thinks they are balls and should be thrown. They have been there 2 days and are now on top of my armoire. Ornaments are slowy moving higher and higher up the tree. By the time Christmas gets here all of the ornaments are going to be on top of the tree.

We are having such a great time with Jack teaching him about Christmas and Santa. He still thinks that Santa says "roof roof" like a dog, but we are working everyday to teach him that he says "Ho Ho Ho".

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday Season!!

Thanksgiving in Louisiana

I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We definitely did. Jack and I were able to go down to Louisiana for a while before Thanksgiving and then Brandon came in the day before. We got to hang out with lots of friends and family. It definitely reminded me of all of the things that we have to be thankful for.

Jack got to meet alot of cousins that he had never met and Brandon and I got to catch up with alot of my cousins that we don't get to see that often.

This is Jack and his 3rd cousin Jay. They have a Thanksgiving Eve party at their house every year and we got to go this year. It was great catching up with everyone.


These are Jack's 5th cousins Peyton(18 months) and Carter(2). He had a great time, as you can see, playing with them. He was very happy to have some boys to play with too!
This is Paw Paw and Maw Maw. We had a great Thanksgiving Day at my Parrain and Aunt Stacy's house. There was tons of family there and at the end of the day we had a bonfire. It was alot of fun sitting around the fire catching up. It has been 5 years since we have been able to be there for Thanksgiving.

Jack and his 2nd cousin Gordie had a blast on Gordie's F-150. It was also Gordie's 6th birthday. Gordie was so sweet and took Jack around the yard until the battery ran out, literally. Jack didn't want to get out so we had to carry it to the porch to get the battery out to recharge. I think we will be needing one of these in the near future.

Brandon, Jack, and Cookie took a ride on the Mule from the bonfire. Jack also had a blast on this. We had to pull him off kicking and screaming to leave that night.

My New Hobby.......

I am going to brag on myself for a minute... Most of you know that I have started a new hobby, sewing and that I love it. It is all that I do these days. I just want to show everyone my first 3 outfits that I have made.
I made this for dressy events and church.

This is some fabric that I just had to have so I made an outfit for the end of the winter when it starts warming up.

This was my very first outfit that I made in my beginners sewing class. It is reversible.

Side 2 of the reversible outfit.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and can't wait to see alot of you over Thanksgiving!

It C Bit C's Children's Clothing

I wanted to let everyone know of a precious monogramming and clothing business that my friend Denise, here in Birmingham owns. She has been doing Jack's stuff since he was born and I could not be happier with the outcome. I get so many complements on his stuff. She is great to work with, quick, and inexpensive. Please check out her blog. She is still working on getting everything up, so check back often. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions!

http://www.itcbitcs.blogspot.com/

Baton Rouge

This is a long overdue post. We have been crazy around here trying to get back on schedule form our weekend in Baton Rouge. Brandon, Jack, and I headed to Mandeville on Thursday for the weekend. Friday Brandon and I headed to New Orleans to pick up our Alabama Fan friends, Joey and Andi and then were on our way to Baton Rouge. Jack stayed with Gigi on Friday and then with Maw Maw and Paw Paw on Saturday.

Despite the loss, we had a great weekend. Here are a couple of pictures from the tailgate on Saturday.

Jack learned alot while staying with Gigi. When we picked him up on Sunday he could show us with his finger how old he was and he could tell us that the kitty cat says "meow". He now knows what the dog and cat says. He has also started counting with a little assistance. I have always counted to 2 or 3 when I do things with him like rolling his sleeves or tying his shoes, so I guess he just caught on. If I say 1, he will say 2, and sometimes 3(not very often). He is soooo precious these days and is learning something new everyday.

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween. My Dad came in town for a long weekend to hang out with us and be with Jack on his 2nd Halloween. He was precious.

My Mom was in a while ago and we were out shopping for nothing in particular. I had not even thought about Jack's Halloween costume yet. We walked into HomeGoods and there it was the most precious costume I have ever seen, a shaggy dog. We tried it on him and didn't think twice. GiGi had to buy it for him to wear this Halloween.

He acted like he had been doing it for years. He didn't understand the Trick or Treat concept but he did understand "knock knock". He would run up to each door and knock. If they didn't come right then he would try and open their door. Once they did open the door he would take a handful of candy, put it in his bag and go for another. He even tried to make himself at home in a few houses. One in particulatr he noticed the neighbors little boys toys in the living room and walked in and sat down to start playing with the toys. I was so embarrased!!

This is a picture of him on Halloween. Dad and I trid to prepare him all day, but he had no clue what was going on.
Here is our precious litle puppy. He got to Trick or Treat on his new tricycle that Cookie(my Dad) bought him this weekend as an early Christmas present. Can you say spoiled?

This isn't the best picture but I thought it was cute of the 3 boys having a blast.

Jack is impatiently waiting for them to open the door.

This is the best picture(not saying much) that I could get of him all night. He is at the age where he will not stay still and I can't seem to get any cute pictures.

I had to show the cutest part of the costume, the tail. When he runs(because he doesn't walk) it wags from side to side. He even kept the hood on all night! He was such a trooper.

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Jack's 15 Month Checkup

Our little man is growing up so fast. I can't believe that he is 15 months(really 15 1/2 months) already. We are loving every minute of it and we never have a dull moment around here. He is talking up a storm and really starting to understand what we are telling him. This morning at the doctors office we heard a baby crying and I asked Jack "do you hear the baby?", then I told him, "you used to be a baby like that and cry like that baby". He looked up at me and said "Baby". When the doctor got in the room he heard another baby crying (we heard alot because they were all getting shots...poor things!), he looked at me and Dr. Dudgeon and said "Baby". It was really cute and I was very proud that he reconized on his own that it was a baby crying. Enough bragging on my son, here are his stats:



32 1/4 inches tall (80%)

24 lbs. 4 ozs. (50%)



He has all of his molars and is getting all of his eye teeth right now. Grandma, this explains why he was up so late screaming the other night. Dr. Dudgeon said that these are very painful for them because they are pointy. He was also very impressed with Jack's vocabulary for a 15 month old. He said that he was advanced and is really talking on a 2 year old level. I'm such a proud Mom!!!



I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great Halloween! Post lots of pictures of the little ones.

Boo at the Zoo

Sunday night a big group of us took the kids to the zoo for Boo at the Zoo. We had a picnic dinner before and then headed into the zoo for some fun filled festivities. It was really crowded because it was the last night. Genius me did not realize that when I planned this night but overall it was alot of fun. It was just really hard to all stick together as a group, so most of us split up and did our own things. The important thing is that the kids had a blast.

This is my precious puppy, Jack. He only kept the hood on for about 30 minutes. This is only partial costume. I will have the full costume for Friday night.


Here was our best attemp at getting some of the kids together. We are missing Charlie and Caroline, but did the best we could. From left: Addison, Claire, Ann Rogers, and Jack.

Jack and Daddy took a minute to pose in front of the huge pumpkin. This was the best that we could get being that it was 8:00 and Jack's bedtime.

Jack and his nanny had a great time.

Lindsay and James had a great time riding the haunted carousel.

They had 2 little villages set up around the zoo with fake houses and people handing out candy. Jack really enjoyed it and was very polite and said "Thank you" to everyone!

The Pumpkin Patch

This past Sunday we took Jack to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful and felt like a nice fall day. Jack absolutely loved it. His favorite thing was the hayride though. He didn't want to get off.

After everyone else had gotten off, Brandon and Jack stayed on to discuss their strategy on finding the perfect carving pumpkin. Look how intently Jack is listening to his Daddy.

There were 2 different patches, one to the left and one to the right. Jack immediately took off running to the patch on the right and towards the pumpkin in the picture. The whole time he was yelling "ball". He was a little confused but I was pretty impressed that he recognized the pumpkin as the same shape as a ball.

He found the perfect pumpkin and then was done with the patch. I think that Aunt Sena and I had more fun in the patch picking out the best pumpkin for decoration.

Jack and Daddy have loaded up and are ready to head back to activities.

Aunt Sena, Jack and I were cuddled up. It was pretty chilly on the hayride.

On the way back Jack tried to taste the stem of the pumpkin. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the awful face he made right after he took a bite. He did not like the taste.They had a huge 18 wheeler cage full of cotton that the kids could play in. When we got there big kids were playing in it so I was upset Jack wouldn't get to. When we were leaving I was so excited to see that it was empty. We took Jack's shoes off and put him in. He loved it. The first thing he did was fall face first and loved it. It was like he knew how soft it would be. I got to go in and get him out and it was pretty cool.

I hope that everyone is having a great October and enjoying it as much as we are. We can't wait for Halloween next weekend. Jack will be a shaggy dog. I can't wait to post those pictures and to see all of the other posts of the little ones in their costumes.

Jack's 1 year Pictures

Jack's 1 year pictures are finally finished and up on the photographers website. Please take a second to sneak a peek. They will only be up for 2 weeks from tomorrow. I went a little formal on these because I really wanted to get a portrait out of this session. Click on the Abernathy Photographics link under My Favorite Links on this blog, click on Clients, and enter the password sellers. Enjoy!!!

Sweet Caroline

Sunday we went to church for the first time in a while(I'm embarrased to say). We have been out of town for 2 Sundays and Jack just hasn't wanted to go to the nursery and can't sit still long enough to sit through Mass. This Sunday was great. Mimi and Aunt Nikki met us at church. Jack went to nursery and had a great time. We saw our friends, The McDowell's that we have not seen in a while. After church we went to Jim N Nicks for lunch and met Nanny and James and also ran into The McDowell's again. Luckily Cydney had her camera and got these precious pictures of Caroline and Jack in their fall outfits. Isn't she the most precious thing you have ever seen?
Jack is thinking about going in for the kiss....
He takes a minute for a picture....
Score...well almost! They were so precious. Jack definitely knows how to work the ladies!!!!

Two You Stationery

Two You Stationery finally has a blog. It is about time. My friend Monique and her sister Nicole have a stationery company with the cutest stuff. They have done tons of stuff for me over the past couple of years and I just love it all. They are very reasonable and quick. Please take a minute to check out their blog http://twoyoustationery.blogspot.com. You can also access if from my Blog List.

I hope everyone is well and having a great October. I am loving this time of year, especially with Jack.

Love,
Ashley

Jack's 1st Fair

Saturday was a busy, fun filled day. We went to downtown Covington for Oktoberfest, which was a festival for the opening of a German microbrewery. Simone and I thought it would be fun for us to take Jack and hang out outside. Well we got there and there were only about 20 people including Me, Cookie, Jack, and Simone so we decided to take Jack to the fair.

Our plan was to let Jack ride some rides and play some games and we could have a few beers and then go to dinner. We quickly found out that the fair doesn't sell beer. We still had a blast watching Jack though. This is the same fair that has come to Covington every year since I can remember. I grew up going to this fair each year. You get a day off of school for it to. I was telling Simone that I thing that all of the rides are still in the same place and look like they are as old as we are.

We bought Jack some tickets and he loved riding the rides. Dad and I took turns riding with him. It was pretty funny seeing Dad and I squeeze onto these rides that are made for little kids.

We let Jack play his first fair game. He got to pick 3 ducks out of the water and whatever the total of the numbers on the bottom of the ducks were determined the type of prize he got to get.
We played twice because he didn't want to put the ducks back.

It took him a little while but he figured out that if he handed the lady one duck he could get another. Look at that precious smile on his face. He was so proud of himself.
He won this blue ball to keep at Cookie's house on his first round. His second round he won a yellow car.
Jack and Simone danced to the band. He had just finished showing everyone his moves.
Some of these pictures are not the best because you are on a ride that goes around and circles. I got off of a few rides feeling like I could get sick.

Cookie and Jack riding in the boat. Dad was not sitting too comfortably in this, I promise.
Jack loved this plane. This was right before I had to squeeze myself into the seat next to him. It was not comfortable and I'm pretty sure that the ride went slower than normal because I exceeded the weight limit.
Cookie and Jack rode the 3 wheeler. Jack was more interested in the people walking by at this point than riding the ride.
This roller coaster was fun. Jack wasn't sure about it at first because it was pretty bumpy and had a few more drops than I would have wanted for a kiddy ride. He did great though.
All in all we had a great trip home. I enjoyed catching up with all of my friends and my family. I feel so fortunate to have so many special people in my life. I love you all and can't wait to see you again soon.

Love,

Ashley