Christmas pictures

How blessed are we to have such beautiful daughters?  Their smiles and laughter light up our world.

And because no Compton girl photo shoot is complete without a few outtakes...for your viewing pleasure:

Merry Christmas

Warmest Christmas wishes from our family to yours!

Luckiest Man Alive

Seven years ago today, Martha made me the happiest person in the world.  She said, "I do."  Since that time, she has brought into this world two beautiful and healthy daughters who are the joys of our lives.

I'm sitting here looking through our blog to find a picture of Martha to re-share with you all and I come across post after post showing how wonderful of a mother, wife, and friend she is.  I'm not the only one  who gets to experience the awesomeness of Martha, but Campbell and Maggie gets to as well.  Martha is an incredible mother who does some much to enrich the girls' lives.  She brings so much joy and happiness to all three of our lives . . . more than she'll ever know.  Martha, we thank you for this.

Martha, thank you so much for the past seven years.  I am looking forward to what year eight, and the rest of our lives have in store for us.  Thank you for making me the luckiest man . . . . Happy Anniversary my love.

Christmasville

Our town has an annual event called Christmasville.  This year, the weather was perfect: not so cold we were freezing, but not so warm that we felt like it was Fall.  

It started with a parade Friday night...there was lots of talk this year about why they have the parade at night.  I actually like it because the lights look so pretty and it's just a unique experience.  One of the churches along the parade route (we always just happen to sit nearby) provides free hot chocolate and popcorn and I can just feel the memories being made for the girls  This year we went with our friends the Popes and some new friends, the Rays.  Their son, Boston, is in Campbell's class. 

Saturday morning Maggie had some fun with the Santa hat that she got at the parade.

The rest of the weekend was spent going to fun activities like pony rides, cookie and cupcake decorating, train rides, and they even brought in a bunch of snow for the kids to play in.  We ran into our friend, Crystal, and her daughter, Emily so that was fun to experience a lot of this with them!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been very busy getting ready for the holidays around here.  It has been so much fun this year as both girls have been so excited and having so much fun!

Last year my friend, Shana, posted the cutest pictures on her blog of her daughter, Lily, with her very own pink Christmas tree.  It was so cute that I knew that we'd have to do the same for Campbell this year.  Let me just say...it has been a hit.  Campbell loves her pink tree.  She and I had a great time shopping for ornaments and a star for the top.

We also took some of our leftover ornaments, some lights that we bought half off last year the day after Christmas, and a $1 star our friends and neighbors, the Popes, got for us at IKEA and decorated a tree in our front yard.  The girls love it probably more than the tree in our house.

We have a new visitor in our house this Christmas...Tinkerbell the Elf.  We jumped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon and it's been so much fun already.  The 1st sighting of Tinkerbell happened this week after Robbie had taken the girls to an Elf on the Shelf event at our local library.  She was sitting on the bed in Campbell's room when the girls went in there to get ready for bed and there were a bunch of presents from her to the girls (they open one each night) under the pink tree.  The girls (especially Campbell) have had so much fun every morning looking for her.

Here she is with her first gift for the girls!

Reading the book that she gave us...just happens to be the Elf on the Shelf

1st morning- silly Tinkerbell.  She took the star and ornaments off of Campbell's pink tree and put them on our tree and then visited with the Gingerbread Girl for a while :)

"Look! There she is!"

Tinkerbell got into Campbell's cereal



Hanging from Campbell's water cup that she keeps by her bed at night

Another new tradition we started this year was having the girls count their money in their piggy banks and take some to buy Christmas gifts for each other and donate some to charity.  Ok...I'll be honest, Campbell is the only girl doing it this year, but Maggie will join in next year when she can actually understand the concept. 

So, Campbell and I sorted and counted out her money. 

Then she and I went to Kohl's and picked out a gift.  She then took the gift and her baggie full of quarters to the cashier and paid for it herself.  She even carried her bag out to the car and then we wrapped it when we got home.

She then went and gave all of her dimes to the Toys for Tots. It was so sweet.

One Happy Thanksgiving

Due to some technical difficulties, this post is short on pictures.  We hope to be able to retrieve the rest of the pictures from our frozen hard drive soon but for right now, this is all we have :(

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents' house with 32 people (including 13 kids!) and it was crazy but so much fun.  Both girls loved playing with their cousins, other relatives, and friends. My mom and sister, Sara, and I went on our annual Black Friday shopping and had a blast!

On Friday we had a nice visit from Robbie's Grandma Compton, his Aunt Pat, and his sister, Beth, and her family.  We have some awesome pictures (especially an adorable one of Grandma Compton tickling Maggie) but they are among the ones frozen on our hard drive...  I really  hope we can get them back because Maggie really warmed up to her, and you know...Maggie doesn't often warm up to people ;)  Robbie's Grandma Compton is a very special lady.  Each week, Robbie's Aunt Pat prints out our blog and takes it to her to resad.  She writes me the sweetest notes about what we've written and I really appreciate each one. 



Grandma Compton with 4 great grandchildren (Campbell, Maggie, Matthew, and Madeline)

So Thankful

This month I (along with lots of other Facebookers) committed to posting one thing I am thankful for every day until Thanksgiving.  It was an uplifting and humbling experience to take a few seconds every day to recognize one blessing in my life.  Here they are:

Taking the Thankful November challenge (posting one thing I'm thankful for every day til Thanksgiving). Today I'm thankful for the safe and healthy arrival of my newest niece, Eliza Grace! Congrats to Julie and Dean!

 I'm thankful that I was born into such an awesome family! They are loving and generous and great role models as I am raising a family of my own. Love all of you!

 Today I'm thankful for Campbell, aka CAC, aka the Princess (formerly pint-sized), aka Diva (according to her Aunt Sara). She is a light in my life who is sweet, sassy, and a daily reminder that miracles do happen.

Today I'm thankful for little Miss Maggie. I give her a hard time b/c she's a little ummm...."high maintenance". But, she's so sweet she'll melt your heart, so funny she makes us laugh all the time, and so full of personality that I know she'll do amazing things in her life. I love her curls and her round belly and I appreciate that she's made me realize that full term babies are miracles, too.

Today I'm thankful for Robbie. I could not have asked for a better father for my girls. It's inspiring to see his love for them and their love for him. Thanks for being on this journey with me, honey. Love you!

On this Monday, despite the fact that I wish I was still at home with my loves, I am thankful for my job. I'm so lucky to have something I'm good at, to work with people I really like, and to feel like my work is important.

Today I'm thankful that although Campbell didn't eat dinner and asked to skip bath because she wanted to go to bed and then cried for the next half hour saying her ear hurt, she woke up happy and apparently healthy this morning!

 I'm so thankful for our amazing NICU nurses. Christine- thank you for teaching us so much, Anna- thank you for being a friend and giving my baby "loves" when I couldn't be there, Kelley- thank you for being our "1st" and being so sweet to us, Melissa- thank you for laughing at Robbie and then putting him in his place, Courtney- you were so sweet and I loved that you enjoyed picking out Campbell's bedding and making it cute as much as I did  and Mary- I'll never forget that you made me cry when you told me that I knew my baby best...not the dr.s or nurses. We couldn't have survived without y'all!

I'm thankful for bicycle helmets. More specifically, I'm thankful that the one Campbell was wearing last night on our bike ride protected her noggin as she bit the dust while being a daredevil down a big hill. I'll take a Dermabonded chin and a scratched up Princess helmet any day over a head injury.

This week I talked to a little boy at my school who's Daddy has been deployed on and off for much of his life and won't be home this year for the holidays. I'm thankful for that Daddy and all the other Mommies and Daddies who are willing to sacrifice holidays with their families so I can safely and freely spend the holidays with my family.

I'm so thankful for the ladies of TPP and the one who started it all (Tricia Branham Cox)! Many of you have been there for me since Campbell's birth and have been such good friends since then...even if I've only met a few of you in person. Good luck today, Trish! We're all cheering for you!

This homecoming weekend I'm thankful for my time at Winthrop University. I made lifelong friends and had an amazing college experience. I was lucky enough to join Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity which was one of the best decisions I made during that time. And I may have met a cute special ed major who would become the father of my girls... :)

I'm thankful that even though I can fall off the exercise bandwagon,  I am able to pull myself back up again. I'm excited about committing to train for a 10K in March with some awesome ladies (and officially started my trained today!)!

I'm thankful for the nightly family devotionals we've started. Nothing like hearing a sweet three-year-old voice praying to nourish your spirit...

I'm so thankful that God continues to show me His plan...even with Campbell's prematurity. This week alone I had two friends reach out to me, one who had a 30-weeker last week and one who is 28 weeks with rising BP. I'm thankful that I'm able to offer them support and hope through pictures and stories of a beautiful, healthy former 27 weeker.

I am so thankful that we were safe during the tornadoes so close to our home last night. Our family has been saying prayers for those who were devastated by the storms.

I'm thankful for Fridays and the excitement of a weekend to spend with my family!

This Saturday morning I'm thankful for cinnamon rolls with my 3 favorite people, fun morning playtime, and a baby with a sense of humor who is right now running around naked with a Dora trashcan on her head!

I'm thankful (as I know all parents of young children are) for shatterproof ornaments. Like, a lot.

I'm so thankful for awesome co-workers who were so excited about and dedicated to making our 8 students' Thanksgiving lunch an awesome one (and for some, probably the only "real" one they will have). What an amazing experience to watch the joy on the kids' faces!

I'm thankful for my Kindle app on my iPad and iPhone, free downloadable eBooks from my library, and no work until Monday so I can read my new book!

Today I'm thankful for the sights, sounds, and smells of the holidays and the memories they evoke in me and the memories the girls are going to have. Today I'm making my mom's yummy smelling stove top potpourri (whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange and apple peels all simmering together in water) and my house smells like the holidays!

On this Thanksgiving day, I'm so thankful that every day this month I've had to take time to sort through all that I'm thankful for to pick which one to post. I am so blessed to have a healthy, happy family, amazing co-workers and friends, and a good Lord who  makes it all possible.