The Donley update

My deepest apologies for being a blog "slacker"! It's amazing how fast time gets away from you! All is well here and as usual, we have been super busy! Our neighbors often ask us if we really live in our house or if it's just a place we visit occasionally!? That's pretty sad!

Matt is keeping busy with the youth and putting in some extra hours doing construction work on our new building expansion at the church! That's right folks, you read it right....Matt is sawing, nailing, & screwing in objects to a building that our church will soon occupy! (If you know anything about Matt, you know that "handy-man" work is not his forte). But he is doing great! I'm so proud of him! In addition to being super mom, I'm preparing for a big women's conference that is coming to our church next weekend. They have asked me to lead the worship for the event so I'm trying to get myself organized!

Enough about us! I know Amelia is the one you really want to hear about! =)

She is doing great and growing like a weed!! She is 8 months old now. We haven't been to the doctor since her 6 month check-up, but if I had to guess, she probably weighs about 17 lbs. and some ounces. She is a little petite thing! We are waiting for her first teeth to break through any day now! She has been very irritable this past week because of all the teething!! Her most favorite thing to play with and chew on is the TV remote!!

We have tried everything within our power to get this little one mobile... but she is just not interested in the whole crawling thing. We even bought her this little crawl ball that moves around on it's own which is supposed to encourage crawling. YEAH RIGHT! She is scared of it!! Every time it starts to move on it's own she starts to cry. Crying is one thing she rarely does! We are very lucky! She's also afraid of the vacuum cleaner. I can't vacuum the house unless someone holds her and distracts from the noise!

On a brighter note.... her hair is really starting to come in! I can finally put all the cute little bows in her hair!! She looks so much more girly now! Too cute!

Her baby babble sounds a little something like this now-a-days.....

1. AHHHHH Ba Ba Da Da Da Da

2. Mum Maaaa Mum maaaa

3. ewwww ohhhhh

I bet you feel silly right about now trying to read all those sounds! HAHA!

Amelia is going through a "kissy" phase right now and has been puckering up a lot these days. She loves to give kisses to anything and anyone...which kinda freaks me out a little. I'll catch her giving kisses to kids in the nursery that I don't even know! And she won't just settle for the forehead or cheek... it has to be right on the lips!!!

Ah well, it doesn't seem to stop me from kissing her all over! She truly is precious and it's hard to believe that we will be celebrating her 1st birthday in about 4 months!!! Time really does fly!

Another year has come and gone!

It's hard to believe that 2008 is already over!! What an exciting year this has been for our little family! We have enjoyed every minuet that 2008 has had to offer!! Who knows what next year will have in store for us!

Amelia and I will be "ringing in the new year" cuddled up in our jammy's and in the bed!! Matt on the other hand, will be bowling the night away with our youth group! I'm going to take Amelia for a little while, but then it's back home and off to bed!!

For all of our adoring fans who are wondering how Amelia's first christmas went...wonder no more! She had a great time! I was actually quite impressed with her unwrapping a.k.a. eating paper skills! She had SOOO many presents to unwrap! Needless to say... nap time came early for this little one! She was exhausted! Must be such a hard life!

We spent the holidays at my mom's (grandmama's house) and enjoyed every minuet of just being back home! She even pulled out some of her yummie recipes and we ate our hearts out!

Mimi and Josh got to come too which was an added bonus to our holiday fun. The more family the merrier!

For those of you who we didn't get to hug this holiday season ( Grandpa Bob, Mam-maw, Pap-paw, Neesie, & Granny) Here is a big hug from all of us...especially Amelia....*Squeeze* Squeeze* *REALLY BIG SQUEEZE* =)

May God Bless this upcoming year and be with each of you for 2009! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Here are some pictures from our christmas 2008!

This Amelia in action opening up her presents on christmas morning!

Picture perfect moments!

The holidays are times for giggles, fun, and memories!! Here are a few pictures that capture the beginning of our holiday fun. The weather has been pretty cool here the last few weeks and we've had to bundle up our little one! (Although it hasn't been that cold....I'll find any excuse to snuggle up to my two most favorite people!!) =)

The family drinking hot cocoa...YUM!


Our little snow bunny!

sweet dreams

Daddy and Amelia picking out our christmas tree!!

This is her "angelic face"

Thanksgiving Highlights

I know I'm a little behind, but our thanksgiving memories were too special not too share with everyone! We had a great time visiting with family and of course being back in good ol' Louisiana!

Every year for thanksgiving we always attempt to cook the turkey a different way. My mom came up with the "great idea" of doing our turkey trash can style. That's right folks... TRASH CAN TURKEY!! translation: Redneck smoker.

Matt attempting to "get the fire going" haha

Looks like it worked!!

I must admit....it tasted DELICIOUS!



Amelia had her fun too! She was tempted and lured by all those grandma's to taste the table food. I stood my ground and somehow managed to protect her from all those fingers dipped with thanksgiving delights!.....Well almost all of them... my brother managed to stick a finger full of turkey gravy right into her mouth. Fortunatly, the camera wasn't far out of site and I was able to catch her first taste on video!!

Needless to say... I think she liked it!

Our little Amelia is 6 months old now and last time we checked she weighed in at 15 lbs. & 26" long! She is sitting up great with very little help! She has started to learn some new baby babbles this month. In the words of Amelia "ba ba dah dah ba"! Sounds like she will learn to say da-da before ma-ma *sigh* I did all the work and get none of the credit! =)

Thanksgiving is almost here.....

And that means I'm one step closer to being home with family!!! I can hardly wait! There is just something so wonderful about being home for the holidays!
We are headed off to New Orleans tomorrow evening and we will be welcomed by two proud grandma's who just can't wait to get their hands on our little Amelia!

This will be her first thanksgiving and I'm sure she will want to have her hands in all the food! She will be happy to demonstrate her "great" table manners! Spitting, mashing food in hands, and other bodily functions will be part of her routine.

During our time off, which we so desperatly need, I'll be working on giving our blog a facelift. I think it's time for a change! I can't wait to share all our thanksgiving memories with you!

Have a great turkey day!
To all our family and friends that we won't see on thanksgiving day...we miss you and hope your day is great!!

Tag, I'm it!

So apparently there is a game of tag going on and I've been "tagged" the question, "are you ready to get your jingle on?" Well, ready or not there is only 37 days left until christmas!! (not that I'm counting or anything) I love christmas!!! Let me count the ways...

1. I love going to pick out the perfect tree just for us!

2. I love the smell that fills our home once the tree is officially decked out!

3. I love lighting candles that smell like cinnamon and spice

4. I love turning off all the lights and just staring at the lights on the tree

5. I love snowmen! (even though we don't see snow in the south, I still like to decorate my house with them)

6. I love the christmas cookies

7. I love all the cheesy christmas movies that come on TV

8. I love the shopping for friends and family

9. I love getting all the holiday greeting cards in the mail

And my most favorite thing about christmas.....

THE MUSIC!!! I promise you I know every word to every christmas carol ever written!

Matt and I before we were married Dec. 2005

Our first christmas together Dec. 2006

Christmas is such a special memory making time! This year will be Amelia's first christmas!! I can hardly wait to put those cute little christmas pj's on her and watch her tear into all the wrapping paper!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Tag your it!!....... Jena Jo and Danielle!

Our very busy weekend!

Or should I say our very busy LIFE!! It seems that the closer the holidays come the more hectic life gets! We have been blowing and going non-stop! Mondays are our days off...or should I say our one day to go to the grocery store, clean the house, and do the laundry! Whew!

This past friday, Amelia took her first trip to Panama City to visit her great-grandma! It was an enjoyable visit and Amelia, needless to say, was the center of attention. All eyes and cameras were on her! We made it home late friday night and Amelia slept the whole way back. But wouldn't you know that as soon as we pull up in the driveway, she is wide awake from her refreshing 3 hour nap!!! I'm sure you can figure out how late we all had to stay up till Amelia decided she was sleepy again! Thank goodness for saturdays!! We all got to sleep in a little and gear up for our busy sunday!

Now that the weather is turning cooler, Amelia has been able to sport all her cute little winter clothes!! The sweaters, corduroys, tights, jackets....AH! I love it all!! Too cute! She is growing by the minuet and will officially turn 6 months on Thursday! She is sitting up all by herself now and has grown fond of applesauce...finally! So now she's a spoon eatin', feet grabbin', sittin up, cutie patootie!!

Amelia will be posing for her 6 months portraits on friday. I'll be sure to send everyone the link for viewing when they are posted on the internet! until then... happy monday everyone!