Holly Jolly Christmas with Shutterfly!

I have been so thrilled with shutterfly this past year! They are my favorite company to order prints from and I have also been using their website to design photo books for my family. I used to be an avid scrapbooker but shutterfly has made it so much easier and much less messy :)

Recently I got an order of $80 worth of products for $30 due to their incredible cyber monday product and shipping deals along with promotions I recieved through emails they send me since I have an account with shutterfly. I was so excited!

I normally make my own card on Publisher, save them as a jpg and upload it to shutterfly for them to print for me. But this year, why not let them do the whole thing? They're having super deals. Since I don't have to make them, I have a feeling these are going to be my family's favorite Christmas cards yet! Thank you, Shutterfly!

Here are a couple of my favorites that I'm thinking about:

I'm pretty sure this one's my favorite. I love the holly!

I love the stipes in this one.

This one has potential too :)

The poinsettia print is so cute on this card.

I love how simple yet elegant this one is. I'm thinking it's the second favorite.

You can find all of these cards and more at the following link:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-card

If you're interested in Christmas cards without a photo check out the following link:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

You can also get a personalized Calandar...they'd make great gifts!

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Brennan's first Thanksgiving

All packed up and ready to go to Grandma's :)

This year we had Thanksgiving with Ryan's family. Uncle Ross surprised us be coming home from UCLA to celebrate with us! Brennan's shirt says "I'm thankful for mommy and daddy!"
Well, why not? lol

Thanksgiving family picture.

Brennan and cousin Hudson in their first Thanksgiving outfits. Mom made everyone Turkey shaped gingerbread cookies...even the little guys :)

The three cousins. Joel, Brennan, and Hudson... we're gonna need some girls next ! lol

We love fall!

(Haven't posted in a while so there a bunch of pics)

One of the reasons I love fall this year is because it's time to put Brennan in footie PJs and I LOVE THAT! So snuggly and it helps that he's a cuddler too.

My little stinker is SUPER smily these days. It's so fun to "Talk" with him. He's trying so hard to talk back... too cute! He won't smile at a camera but if I have his daddy come over and talk to him he'll smile away. Guess he's gonna be my little conversationalist. :)

Snuggling with daddy. I hope he stays a snuggler. We love it.

Brennan talking to me. :) He has so many expressions. My favorite is when he lifts one eye brow and looks at me with a serious face... like "really, mom?" :)

An outing with Aunt Katelyn and cousins Joel and Hudson and the grandmas.

Nanna and Grandma with Me and Brennan

Wiped out after being at AWANA with all the other kids :) .... love the footies:)

When I go to get him up in the mornings, he's always got his head in this corner. Most of the time it's even more up there!

Going to watch the world series at Papa's house. I accidently put a football outfit on for him to go watch baseball with Papa and daddy:)

And of course, he would poop out of it. The story of our lives these days!

Introducing Brennan to family

My mom and Brennan and I traveled to Atlanta, GA this past week to allow my grandparent's to meet my new little guy. It was a precious time and Memaw and Papaw were thrilled to see him. Memaw is struggling with Alzheimers and the whole time she alternated between two sentances.... 1. He is just growing by the minute. He's getting so big look at him just growing and changing by the minute. and 2. He is SO precious. So precious.

It was really sweet to watch her with him. She loved to hold him and make funny noises to him. I know Brennan's too young to remember this trip, but it was a special memory for me to be able to see my grandma loving on him.

It was special for me to be able to see my mom showing off her grandson to her parents. I know it meant a lot to her as well. She's so proud of him. :)
Brennan got to spend a lot of time with Nanna. Since he was so off schedule due to the time change, mom would help me watch him while I caught another hour or so of sleep in the mornings. SUCH a blessing.

We took a 24 hour trip up to Greenville so that Abbi and Suzanna could meet their nephew while he was still in the semi-newborn stage. While there we got to have dinner with my cousins, the Bullocks, and we stayed the night with my cousin Jess, her husband Tim, and their adorable new baby, Kyle.

The funny thing is that they're about the same size. Kyle was born on May 30th and Brennan on September first. So they're approx. 4 mos. apart and relatively the same size. lol

We had such a special time visiting with Suzanna and Abbi. They were SO excited to see him. When we walked around the Bob Jones campus, people kept coming up to Suzanna and saying, "This must be the nephew you've been talking non-stop about!" lol Apparently this little guy's already a big name on campus thanks to his Aunt Suzanna. Suzanna was a trooper. Brennan had his biggest blow out yet which Suzanna volunteered to change. It ended up getting on the jacket she was wearing. She changed, picked him up, and he promptly spit up on her new outfit. So she changed again! Then she came back for more. She really really loves this little guy... :)

Abbi was so sweet with him. She and Suzanna gamely shared their time with him. Let's just say he was never put down during that whole visit. Brennan didn't mind... he is defintely a cuddler. :) Abbi's boyfriend Brett was also able to visit with Brennan. Apparently they've already bonded, for as Brett pointed out, they both belong to the club whose member's name's begin with the letters BR :)

The trip was amazing and Brennan did amazing. It was well worth the mess up in schedule and we're all looking forward to having Aunt Abbi and Suzanna come home for Christmas!

While we were gone, Brennan became incredibly interactive. His daddy wasn't happy to miss this. I love this adorable little side smile that he does when he's thinking about smiling full bloom but is waiting for you to do something rediculous looking before he'll give it to you :)

We discovered he's going to be a singer. Of course I sing to him all the time. But while we were on the trip, he would start trying to sing with us. He doesn't have a whole lot of sound coming out yet, but you can tell he's trying SO hard. I love this!!!

Brennan Andrew Hougham

Our sweet boy, Brennan was born at the beginning of September. We are thrilled over this spexial blessing God has granted us a stewardship over. Every day is a delight and we worship Him for the miracle He has done in creating Brennan perfectly for His divine purpose.

He makes the sweetest faces. It's hard to imagine that this little man has a sin nature :) But we know that he does and are eager looking forward to having the opportunity to help him understand his need for a Savior. Pray with us for ou son - that God would reveal Himself to Brennan so that Brennan will one day be adopted in God's family through faith in Jesus Christ.

Getting Ready for Baby

This summer has been crazy! But we're in part of the final count down till the baby comes! I'm coming up on 37 weeks, so our baby boy will be here before we know it. :)

We brilliantly decided to do some remodel projects before the baby arrived. As we worked on them, they kind of grew and grew until they became somewhat overwhelming. But the good news is that the inside of our house is now finished. The outside however is dirt from front to back and all pre-existing vegetation has been removed.... great!

Ryan's dad and brothers have tremendously helped us over the summer. They've been a blessing to be around and have been SUCH hard workers. Hopefully by the end of this week, the new sprinkling system will be in and we'll be able to put in new planters. Next week, we'll seed the lawn. I'm sure our neighbors are looking forward to seeing grass again. I know I am. :)

My parents have also been helping us gear up towards baby's arrival. My dad is building a changing table/dresser. So far it looks amazing. He's done an incredible job and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product. It's going to match the crib that he got us perfectly!

Dad has also matted and framed the pictures that we cut out from one of our favorite children's books to use as the inspiration for the room decor. Below is a picture of the type of picture we're using, but I'll have to post the finish matted product once they're hanging up in the room.

Mom has been helping me (*making for me* ) the baby's bedding and curtains. The curtains are almost done, but the bumper pads and crib skirt look amazing :) Tonight, Ryan and I are going to buy a matress and it will be so fun to see the crib all put together.

Today is Ryan and my second anniversary! We went on a special trip a couple of weeks ago since we didn't want to risk being gone when the baby came. In the midst of the chaos of the house remodel and the complete landscaping makeover, this trip is truly a blessing. We had no schedule whatsoever and so it was a nice time to just sit and talk as we looked out over the ocean below the property where we were staying. Truly Beautiful! Now as we are home again and once again hitting the grind stone, we are getting more and more excited to meet our precious little man.