Little Helper

I thought these were a couple of sweet pictures showing Katie Jo doing what she does best, helping. She loves to assist Jay and I in whatever we're doing and we don't always say yes, but when we do, it delights her heart to the fullest.

Ist photo session

I love getting gifts. I love wondering what they are and then the excitement of opening them to see what's inside. So, this year when I asked for money it was a step outside of the norm. BUT I've had my eye on a certain camera for some time and it doesn't cost the kind of money I make subbing so I had to find another route. I decided to put the money I received towards purchasing the new camera. The day after Christmas Katie Jo and I loaded up and headed to Costco to make my big purchase. Luckily the camera I wanted was in stock and came in a kit with the camera, two lenses, a camera bag, and a memory card. Jackpot! So now I have a nice new camera and Sunday morning seemed like a good time to try it out. So here's a little sample of our photo shoot.

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Day at the Byars' house was the best one yet! We had such a great time with our families and the girls had a blast with their new toys. We opened gifts first thing, had breakfast, played, opened gifts again, played, rested, ate dinner, played, rested and went to bed. It was a great day!

Here is their loot from Santa. Their big gift this year were bikes and they were very excited. Katie Jo has ridden hers a lot and Georgia will probably take some time getting used to hers.Santa left the girls a note.

Georgia on her bike.

Katie Jo has mastered the art of riding a bike while holding the umbrella!

Georgia and her new sleeping bag.

The barbie head was a BIG hit. She has played with this thing endlessly.

Daddy, his girls and his gifts.

Mommy opening her gifts. Jay and I decided this year instead of giving gifts to each other, we would get the girls to give gifts to each of us that they helped pick out.

Me and my girls!

More gift opening. We do gifts from Gran, Pop and Uncle Brian on the back porch. It's a nice change in scenery.

Katie Jo got a karaoke machine and boy have we ALL enjoyed using it!

Georgia got a princess pop up tent. It was a little bigger than expected but both the girls have loved it!
Everyone had to try out the new singing machine. The girls provided the entertainment.

Fried turkey for dinner. Can I get a YUM?

The parents/hosts/gift-givers; Amber and Jay.

Are we ever going to eat?

Yay, finally sitting down to our Christmas dinner.

What a wonderful day we had. If gifts hadn't been present (no pun intended) we would have still had the greatest day spending time together and having fun! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve 2009

We had a truly wonderful Christmas and wanted to share a little of it with you. Our Christmas Eve was jam packed with activities and memory-makers but that's the way we like it! Here's a little tour of our day through photos.


We began the day with breakfast: casserole and croissants, yum!Mia and Uncle Matt came in town and we did our family gifts on Eve morning after our eats.







Here I am with the girls right before braving Publix for the "last second, just gotta have it" groceries.

Our meal of Lowcountry Boil was enjoyed outside. Gotta love that lowcountry weather.

We took our annual hayride around the neighborhood to see the luminaries and Christmas lights.

Santa came to visit us at our house. Can you believe he had time to squeeze us in?

Opening the Eve gift. Christmas pajamas, of course.


And off to bed they went!