The Sweeneys: December 2012

The Santa Run 2012- This was Eva Brooke's first 5K!

She had fun and wanted to "go again"

After the Santa Run was the annual Kiwanis pancake breakfast. Here is Eva Brooke with Mr. Duke Loden

Men can do a pretty good job cooking!

After breakfast was the Tupelo Christmas Parade

EB's faves: the Grinch and then the Avonlea Assisted Living float (who EB said was Mrs. Claus!)

And, of course, Santa!

Back at home that day, EB even found time for a tea party with the princesses.

She is REALLY into the whole princess thing right now

My Sleeping Beauty

Our house decorated for Christmas!

Eating lunch at Danvers with our friends. Eva Brooke ADORES Emily. She always asks to sit with her at church and to hold her hand :-)

The girl likes cars. She asks almost every day to "sit in driver's seat of your car, Mommy?"

Pigtails! I love them!

She likes baking cookies...well, really, to play in and eat cookie dough.

Eating some supper. She likes a LOT of ketchup like her Daddy!

My wonderful Andrew is working hard on his MBA and has to study a lot of nights. This semester he started doubling up on classes to get them done. He also has taken on about 134958 extra tasks at work :-) He absolutely HATES having to shut the door or go upstairs. I totally understand, but I see that it hurts his heart. We can't wait until he finishes in December! We did find out (after the fact) that he signed up for the hardest Capsim class this semester (that you're supposed to wait until the end to take). So, we are just REALLY looking forward to May!

EB brought her Bible and wanted to study alongside her Daddy

EB "cooking" in the kitchen with her spices ("red one," "green one," etc.)

EB accessorized herself and was ready to go on a walk. She likes pulling Cotton around on her leash.

Her new bookshelf she was calling her "library." I bought it from a store going out of business in downtown Tupelo.

EB on a "Daddy Date" while Mommy was at a meeting

She even got to go to Tutti Frutti!

She likes to pull out her old shoes and line them up in the floor (like her Aunt Beth)

Momma Lin made EB a fabulous choo-choo train out of our Christmas tree box! Literally, complete with a bell and whistle :-)

She is still one of the messiest eaters on the planet

One beautiful Sunday morning in her dress made by Momma Lin and monogrammed by Mimi

Her hair is always different depending on the weather. I love, love, love those curls though.

Our visit to see Santa! She kept saying, "not cry this year." She didn't cry, but would not move or dare crack a smile. And what is up with Santa's tacky outfit?

She constantly reminds me that the latest and greatest toys are not necessary. Here, my Cinderella is "riding to the ball in her carriage."

December 11, 2012- EB finally did the inevitable...she climbed over the side of her crib. I think Momma Lin was more shaken up than EB was ;-) Thankfully, they both recovered!

Had to make a quick transition to "big girl bed"

She still loves her bed as much as ever! I was terrified she wouldn't stay in bed or she would get up and wander, but so far, so good!

First night in the big girl bed!!

Her first princess dress...Snow White! Thanks, Mimi and Pop!

We have worn this dress about out already. She even sleeps in it occasionally! I believe she thinks she truly is a princess when she wears it.

Fun playtime over at Hollie's and Mary Robbins' beautiful house

Headed to Disney on Ice!

I was so proud of Andrew. He didn't even complain about paying $10 for cotton candy!

The Little Mermaid

Tinkerbell

This girl had a marvelous time, even though we weren't familiar with all the movies.

Toy Story

Now, Christmas at Uncle Danny's with my 89-year-old Grandmother (who was sick in bed!). I was trying out my panoramic function on my new iPhone.

Eva Brooke playing with Aunt Beth

After the Christmas celebration, we had a little surprise graduation party for Beth. She now has her Bachelors of Social Work!! Congrats, Beth!! We were also glad to meet her very nice boyfriend Russell for the first time.

We SOOOO surprised Beth with an iPad!

My beautiful girl headed to church in her snowman dress from our awesome friend, Mrs. Donna Loden!

Miss Thing!

She will do just about anything for some Starbucks whipped cream!

I love these precious smiles in the morning

My Pinterest project- an old coffee table into an ottoman. I am pretty proud!

Our friends, Ashley and Jennifer Harris' house decorated for Christmas. WOW! We hear Ashley started around Halloween. What a phenomenal job! Notice I didn't place this picture next to the pic of my house's lights, ha! For real though, it was fabulous!!

EB visiting with Mama Dean (Daddy Don's mother). EB was really showing out for her!

Now to Mommaw Brown's (Mama Lin's mother) for a little Christmas celebration.

Aunt Deb always has something special and unique planned for these events. She had all of us a gift to wear and said each person was a "gift to our family."

EB playing with Aunt Deb, who also had games for the big and the small.

Dueling mixers. EB is helping Daddy with some holiday food.

We loved having Momma Lin and Daddy Don at our house for gifts this year. After eating, EB went directly to the gifts and just started opening!

Eva Brooke LOVES her remote control Thomas the Train...

...but Andrew might like it just as much!

I wanted a hedge trimmer! Seriously! Now I just need to use it!

I love that my Andrew is such a kid at heart!

Doing some important ironing before bedtime :-)

It's Christmas Eve! Baking cookies for Santa with my beautiful chef!

Christmas at Pop and Mimi's. I love this picture of my Grandmother. She hasn't been doing well at all lately, so I treasure the time we had to spend with her around the holidays.

Beth got EB some beloved Disney dolls (that I think Beth really wanted to keep)

EB playing with Daddy's air drumsticks

Pop and Mimi gave EB her own white coat that says "Dr. Eva Brooke." This girl loves to give check-ups and give shots.

My parents are BIG Alabama fans. I was so excited about this cool platter I ordered for them for Christmas.

EB as Belle

Eva Brooke was sooooooo tired when we got home late that night. We sat out Santa's cookies and milk and she was ready for bed.

SANTA CAME!!!!

Christmas morning! She was so excited to see some of her newer toys that were already around the living room. We had been so busy that she had not had time to play with them much. She was not really impressed at all that Santa had left presents!!!!! She was already a little "over" the opening I think. Arrgh.

She has loved the Cinderella dress. We have quite the dress collection now!

Santa did find his cookies!

EB helped finish them off! :-)

Her consistent #1 answer whenever anyone would ask what Santa was bringing was a "washing machine." We have no clue where she got this idea! Can you believe that Santa found one?! It was really been a big hit!

Trying on her light-up Cinderella slippers

So many presents took so much time! We took several breaks to eat, etc. and then returned to opening gifts.

Andrew and I even got to open our gifts in the midst of EB's opening. I got some really great, thoughtful gifts this year! Thanks babe!

Princesses and parties!

Playing with her Doctor Mommy doll


Momma Lin and Daddy Don even brought EB her very own Jeep	!

The Disney Little People castle has been one of her faves

Did I mention she loves ANYTHING princess?!


December 31 was the BIG DAY! We said goodbye to those diapers and haven't looked back (for the most part). My friend Hollie let me borrow her book, Potty Training Bootcamp. We used a lot of their principles and embarked on the journey. The first few days were ROUGH. Not gonna lie. EB is still wearing a pull-up over her undies most of the time, but she is doing GREAT!