Mailbox Cheer

Our Christmas cards finally are out... it took me forever to decide which pictures to use! There's just too many cute ones of Georgia! Actually- I'll confess- I tried to do a picture with Bernie the basset hound, and Georgia together... not such a good idea! Bernie thought it was a game, and even when I tried to bribe him with cookies, he spent the whole time sniffing my pockets or drooling on Georgia, waiting for the cookie. Then Georgia got mad I was making her sit still, and that Bernie kept jumping around and drooling on her. Plus, it was in the middle of the heat wave we had last week, and I had her dressed in thick snowflake tights and a Christmas dress in the backyard! Sooo, we scrapped that plan and went with a cute picture previously taken (above)! Here's a few you WON"T see on our card...

Please sit together and smile this way!


This one will make my mom cringe, but I just think it's so cute when she cries like this!


I tried to bribe her with my watch, but she just wanted to eat it... not cute.


I love this one- those big blues! This was our runner-up.


I love Christmas cards. I love sending them and I love getting them every year. Larry bah-humbugs and says they're a scheme from Hallmark, but I ignore him! He still enjoys getting them. As someone who is very bad at keeping in touch, I love the chance to reconnect, even thru a simple "Merry Christmas, love Us". Especially this year, with so many of our friends having had babies. I love those picture cards- we are some proud mamas and papas!
I hope you are enjoying this holiday time, and the sweet Christmas cheer coming to your mailbox. If ours did not reach you, I apologize, and please consider this your own personal
Merry Christmas from The Hipps!!

Georgia Meets Santa

Georgia met Santa today! It's quite an event, meeting the Christmas elf. We all line up, with the kiddos dressed in their Christmas clothes, hair brushed and faces scrubbed. As you get closer you can see Santa and watch the kids get their picture taken. About every other kid screams and cries, refusing to sit with Santa, and all the parents in line get more and more anxious that their kid will be a screamer. The kids pick up an this anxiousness, and start getting jumpy and fussy. By the time you get up to the big guy, you all just want to get it over!

Thankfully, our visit was pleasant! Georgia was more excited about seeing all the other"big kids" in line and "talking" to them, than seeing Santa. But she sat on his lap- no smiles, but no tears either! She just seemed intrigued, like she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. We got our pictures, got some lunch and made it back home for a nap! A successful Santa introduction!
Thanks to Larry's cousins Jaclyn and Joseph for coming with us, and especially to Jaclyn for telling us about this great Santa!

A Phelps Christmas

Last night we had Christmas with Matt & Sandy Phelps, some good friends of ours, and Georgia's honorary "aunt and uncle". We had a great dinner and had fun hanging out, but the best part was watching Georgia open her first Christmas present! At first I think she thought the box WAS the present, which she was just fine with- she was enjoying climbing over it! Then we showed her how to rip the paper off- wow! that's fun too!! And THEN- there was a super fun hippo push cart inside! Watch out- here she goes!!! (see video below)



Thanks for a great time last night, Phelps, and for the great presents- we'll take you up on the babysitting for our date soon! Thanks for ALL you guys have done for us this past year, and being special friends!

Glimpses from Tampa

We are back home from our visit to Tampa, but have been in a whirlwind of Christmas parties since, so I didn't get to finish my Tampa posts. We had a great visit- thanks Grammie & Grandad! We'll be back down in less than 2 weeks for a 9-day visit over Christmas. Here are just a few more pictures from our visit- more to look at in "Georgia's Albums"...

Looking down the canal...



All dressed up to see the children's Christmas Program.


I'll take the wheel, Grandad!


Georgia with Grandad, Grammie & Uncle Wes:

A Walk in the Park

Today Georgia had an awesome nature lesson! We went with mom and dad to the Crystal Springs Preserve in Zephyrhills, FL- a 500+ acre nature preserve, home to the same springs Zephyrhills Water bottle their water from. Aunt Karen, our long-time family friend and my mom's college roomie, designed and built the park, and now manages it and leads educational tours thru it. It was awesome to get to see what she's done and the wonderful natural treasure the park is. Georgia got to see the river and the springs, walk thru the woods and over boardwalks, and meet both a tortoise and butterfly face to face!

Check out all the beautiful pictures in her album!

Georgia talks nature with Aunt Karen.

Tidings from Tampa

Since daddy was headed out of town on a business trip, Georgia and I came down to Tampa to visit her Grammie and Grandad. She did quite well on her first plane ride, despite an unexpected detour to Nashville. (It's never a good feeling when your pilot says over the loudspeaker, "We have a situation in the cockpit we need to let you know about..." It ended up being a small crack in the windshield, but couldn't he have led with that!?)

Georgia is enjoying her first visit to the Sunshine state! We've gotten to hang out with family and friends, play with the dogs and cat, take a bath in the BIG tub with the 50 or so ducks Grammie has been collecting, and even help pick out their Christmas tree. Georgia has, of course, been the center of everything, but I think she has most enjoyed chasing the cat around the house!

Enjoy these pictures- more will go into her album soon...

Georgia likes this tree, Grandad.

Can I have a ducky to play with?

I'm all clean, Grandad!

Dressed in pj's and ready for Grammie's snugglin!