Our Little Chatty Kathy!

We have had such a blast listening to Nora's "vocabulary" expand over the past few weeks. She has really begun to show her personality, and it seems that she is following in the footsteps of her parents because she LOVES to talk! I am convinced she is telling us stuff. I just wish we could understand her jabber! I've attached a small clip of Nora telling the family secrets to her Granna (Jonathan's mom) during their last visit.

Another thing is that Nora is daily finding new and exciting things to do with her mouth and tongue. Her most recent accomplishment is her spitting....not just the cute, adorable "Razzing" that most babies tend to do, but spitting! One must especially watch out when she's mad, because she goes crazy! I'll try to capture it on video at some point because it is hilarious!

We leave in the morning for Jackson, MS, to spend Christmas with Jonathan's family. We'll also head down to NOLA for a few days to have Christmas with my folks. We are so excited to spend more time with them and to let them get as much Nora time as possible.

We wish you joy this Christmas season! Love, The Bradshaws

Our Christmas Decorations

Below are just a few snapshots of our Christmas decor. My favorite are the Christmas stockings that are hanging on our mantle. Jonathan's Aunt Hazel made these for us by hand. She gave these to us for Christmas last year and she made a few extras for future babies! How wonderful to have such priceless and precious memories that will go with us for years to come. Jonathan's mom has similar stockings that hang on her mantle each Christmas that Aunt Hazel made when Jonathan and his sister were children. I was given one when Jonathan and I were married. Such a sweet tradition....if only I could sew well to carry it on. Who knows!

Pics from Jackson Thanksgiving

Above are just a few precious pictures of our stop in Jackson during the Thanksgiving holidays. This was a very special visit because Nora got to meet Aunt Hazel for the first time. Hazie is Jonathan's great aunt, but she may as well be our grandmother. We love her so very much, and she was so anxious to meet Nora. As you can tell from the pictures, Hazie was in love with her and kept commenting on Nora's "cute little turned-up nose." Also, I included a few pictures of some close friends of ours who also got to visit with Nora. Jonathan's two best friends from high school, David and Ryan, stopped by with their wives for a bit. Also, my good friend Suzanne came over to say hey and brought Nora her first Santa hat to start the Christmas festivities.

In just a little over a week, we'll be heading back down to Jackson to celebrate Christmas with the Bradshaws. We will also spend a few days in New Orleans with my folks while down that way. We can't wait!

Busy, Busy

This week has been quite busy. Jonathan's parents are in town visiting us for the past few days through the weekend, so we have been spending some quality time with them. Mr. Paul and Mrs. Joyce are camping in Sevierville, TN, so yesterday Nora and I drove over there to spend the day with them and hit up the outlet mall. I was able to get lots of my Christmas shopping done and Nora got to hang out with her Granna and Pop Pop.

Last Saturday we put up our Christmas lights in front of our house....I was so pleasantly surprised at our zealousness! We talked about making that a new family tradition. So, in the future, we will make the first Saturday in December our Christmas decorating day. We have not gotten up our tree yet this year, but Jonathan's parents just brought our artificial one up with them from Mississippi. I would like to get it up by this weekend, but we'll see. It has been three years since Jonathan and I have had a Christmas tree. The last time we had one was in our house in New Orleans, but Katrina got in our way for a while there. How exciting that we now have a home where we are able to implement our own little family's traditions!! How wonderful that we have Nora to share this Christmas with!

I will post pics of our Christmas tree once we get it up and decorated. Happy shopping and decorating to our friends and families out there.

Cajun Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day was at my mom's house. My mom's entire side of the family came over along with the Leingangs, some family friends from church. I'd say all in all there were about 25 of us! It was nuts and very loud, and if you add the volume of the television with the football game on, it was miracle we could hear each other! Most importantly, however, it was wonderful to all be together. My grandmother got to meet Nora for the first time. It was so neat to think that last year at this time we had just gotten pregnant, and it was Christmas last year when we told all of these family members that Nora was on her way. My cousin Angelle was in town with her husband and their 15 month old daughter, Lindsay. I had not yet met Lindsay in person, so it was great to see them. My mom's sisters, twins Eileen and Kathie, came with their families and lots of food in tow. Uncle Jimmy and his girlfriend, Eileen, were there also and, as always, Uncle Jimmy did a mighty job of cleaning the kitchen after everyone had eaten.
One precious thing that I must mention was the prayer before the meal. Typically, it is my Dad who says the blessing over the food before we all eat. However, in a bit of confusion, my grandmother ended up saying the prayer as we all gathered and held hands. I have never heard her pray before, and it was the sweetest, cutest, and funniest thing ever. My mom and my two aunts were crying! Also, I made a point to get some pictures of me and Nora with my mom and grandmother. Four generations in one place at one time. That was certainly an adventure, because the whole time my grandma kept trying to talk to Nora instead of looking at the camera. (By the way, my grandma thinks that Nora can talk to her. She kept telling me, "Casey, I have never seen a three month old that can talk." I would just say back, "Me neither, Grandma, me neither.) Other funny grandma moments include that she kept calling my sister Emily by the name "Connie." The whole day she would refer to Emily as Connie and we were all like "Who is Connie?" It was hysterical. Hillary, my youngest sister, and I called Emily "Connie" for the remainder of the day. It was great!
Finally, in the pictures below you will notice Nora's beautiful Thanksgiving Day attire. My mom bought Nora this beautiful dress along with the most adorable white bow and cute little shoes. She looked like a doll and the blue dress really made her bright blue eyes pop!
I am so thankful for all of the blessings that the Lord has bestowed on our family this year. God has been so kind and so faithful during this year and through all of the life changes that we have experienced in moving to Knoxville and becoming parents. Nora has been such a work of grace in my life and I am thankful to the Lord for the changes he is bringing out in me through her!

"Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights."

Hillary, my youngest sister, holding Nora who dozed off shortly after meeting everyone.

Nora with my Dad

One attempt at getting our 4 Generation picture....here my grandmother is "talking" with Nora

Much better!

Me with Nora and my two sisters, Hillary and Emily (AKA "Connie")

Our precious blessing

Brunch with Friends

On Friday, November 16, Jonathan, Nora and I left Knoxville for the first time since May and headed home to New Orleans for Thanksgiving '07. We arrived at my parents' house around noon on Saturday. Nora did so well in the car and slept like a champ while we were away from home. I was so nervous that she wouldn't sleep well in her pack 'n' play, since she hasn't slept in anything but her crib since she was one week old. God was so good because, honestly, I think Nora slept longer away from home than she does here. (That could be because we wore her out with all of the busyness while down South). We had such a great visit in New Orleans. We spent lots of time with my folks and my two sisters got to meet Nora for the first time. On Sunday, we went to church at the movie theater and got to see lots of friends for the first time in a long time. (Our church, Lakeview Christian Center, meets on Saturdays at another church location and on Sundays at a movie theater since our building was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Praise the Lord, though, the new church building is under construction, so it shouldn't be too much longer before everyone can meet together on the old property). Sunday night was my dad's birthday, so my mom went all out with a Mexican dinner for him and had some family and close friends over to eat fajitas, enchiladas, and several desserts. (Once you get down there, you just eat and eat and eat! It's terrible really, but so delicious!) We were also able to go to dinner with some friends, and I got together with several of my girlfriends and their little ones at a brunch on Monday.
Nora got to meet several new friends while in New Orleans. My friend Chrissy hosted a little get-together so a bunch of us girls could get together and visit and all of the little ones could make their introductions. Stephanie Francis brought Andrew, Stephanie Maltzahn brought Lydia, Gwen brought Nate and Micah, Chrissy had Ava, Lauren brought Hannah, and I had Nora. Also, Abi, Tina, and Erin were there. It was quite fun and got a little loud at times, but we managed to get some good visiting in and took lots of pictures of all the kiddos!



Nora and Lydia (they are only two weeks apart and both look just like their Dads)

Lydia, Andrew, and Nora

(Andrew is one big, handsome boy!)

Steph and I with our two girls

Ava keeping an eye on the babies....she's about to be a big sister!

Gwen with Nate and Micah

Steph Francis with Erin and Andrew

Baby Hannah Widener (only 4 weeks old)

November with Nora

Well, today is technically December 1, but since I didn't post a single thing in the month of November about Nora and all our goings on, I thought I would make several posts about what we did during the busy month of November. This is Jonathan and I's first fall here in Knoxville, and actually, it is the first FALL that we have ever truly experienced. Being from New Orleans and Jackson, MS, we rarely, if ever, experience the changing colors that faithfully surface here. We have been waiting in anticipation since we moved up here, and even though we've been told that this year hasn't been as pretty as years past, we were not disappointed by the beautiful array of oranges, yellows, purples, and reds. AAHH, the red trees are my favorites. They just give me such an appreciation and awe for the Lord's creativity and power!One of the fun things we did a few weeks ago was take a day trip to the Smokey Mountain National Park with our friends, Robert, Amy & Layla Townsend. It was so much fun! We rented a minivan and drove up there on a Saturday. Surprisingly, the park wasn't too busy, so we were able to coast through Cade's Cove and stop for a picnic lunch at one of the beautiful sites. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable day, even with two infants in the car. The girls did great! They slept through most of the trip, but when they were awake to eat, they were wonderful and easygoing, allowing us parents a fun time of laughing, cutting up, and fellowship. I don't know about Robert, Jonathan, or Amy, but I felt like such a parent....a minivan!!!! It was a blast!