A Baby Flood

I thought I'd be lucky to get one baby shower, but God has truly blessed us by giving us a grand total of 4!  I think I can officially say that all these showers created a flood.  Here are snippets from all 3 of my Savannah showers:

Anne can't wait for Baby McD to come!

My church family at Grace Church of the Islands threw me a huge one.  It was so encouraging to see how so many ladies in our church took care of our expanding family by giving us so many baby items that we will need to welcome our baby girl into this world.

This shower was a brunch and this was some of the spread.  I loved the diaper bouquet as the centerpiece!

I had several younger girls assisting me with the opening of gifts.  They were a big help!

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Next up, I had a shower at my work, Mathnasium.  My co-worker, Rachel, was the one who did most of the work for it.  Look at her yummy baby carriage cake!  It was made of funfetti cake, one of my favorites.

My boss says that our baby will be the first "Mathnasium Baby."  As you can see, they decorated it accordingly.  I'm wearing a little sash that says "Mommy-to-be."  It was a smaller shower, but I had so much fun!  They focused on giving me very practical gifts, which I definitely will need once she makes her appearance.

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Lastly, I had a Paris-themed shower for friends that I've gotten to know in Savannah that aren't a part of my church family or work.  The invitations were super cute and said "Ooh La La," and Laura did a great job of including that into her decorations.  Look at this spread!  It was beautiful!

Once again, I had some helpers - these twin girls helped me determine which gifts to open.  :)

I got a pretty good bump shot at this shower - they gave me a boa to go along with the parisian theme.  I was about 34.5 weeks pregnant in this.

All my showers were so much fun!  I have just been blown away by all of the love and support that I've received from all these sweet ladies that have touched my life over the past 3.5 years in Savannah.  I've now begun the task (with a lot of help from my mom) of putting the nursery together.  It is coming along and I think I am in the middle of nesting! 

Rocking in 2013 with the Fields

We have been fortunate to be able to see the Fields several times this year.  We were so happy to find out that they'd be coming through Savannah after their Christmas travels on New Year's Eve!

As I've probably told you before, Ryan is Curtis' best friend.  Probably the closest thing he has to a brother.  I love seeing Curtis light up and get so excited whenever he gets the opportunity to spend time with this godly guy.

They had a great time making s'mores together in the fireplace.

Here's one of our little family.  I thought this was sweet. :)

Here's Ryan and his wife, Emily.  Whenever I spend time with her, I love her even more!  She has such a heart for others.

Of course, our night consisted of playing Rock Band.  One of our favorite things to do with the Fields.

We named our band "2013" to rock in the new year!  We were getting high scores on all the songs we played.  It was a great start to 2013!  And we have many more things to look forward to this year. :)

First Thanksgiving with Curtis' Fam

This was the year we planned to visit Curtis' side of the family for Christmas; however, I will be too far along in my pregnancy to travel at that time so we compromised and spent Thanksgiving with them instead.  It was my first time that I got to experience a McDaniel-style Thanksgiving!  It had been 5 years since Curtis last celebrated with them.

The whole McDaniel family

As a tradition, each adult child brings a dish to the table for the Thanksgiving meal.  I brought green bean casserole and Curtis brought a sea-foam jello salad.  Everyone went around the table and shared something that they were thankful for from the current year.  They write their answer on a paper leaf that is displayed on the table each year.  It was neat to see all the things that his family was thankful for over the years - some big, some small (like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, haha).  

We also got to spend some time with his grandmother ("Nana") while were were there.  It was really nice to see her since we hadn't seen her in almost two years.  She was very excited about her great-granddaughter on the way!

The weather was amazing for a Thanksgiving in the Pittsburgh area.  We even played bocce ball and corn hole outside!  

Curtis was able to bond with Belle, their sweet dog.   She was so desperate for attention!

Thanksgiving night, we headed to the Grove City Outlet Mall to see what kind of deals we could find for Christmas gifts.  This is another one of the annual traditions in the McDaniel family.  I did feel bad for Megan (his sister) who had to work early the next morning.  I'm sure she was exhausted, but I'm glad she was able to join in the fun.

I thought this was such a cool picture of Curtis, his dad, his mom and Heather as they were putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

One more thing...in anticipation of my upcoming baby shower (post coming soon), Heather made us this motorcycle diaper display for our baby girl on the way.  She was so creative!  It's hard to see all that went into this, but she used bibs, receiving blankets, washcloths, socks and so much more.  She also made little booties and a cap for her.  Thanks Aunt Heather!

Our time flew by in Pennsylvania.  We had a great time celebrating with them.  It's hard to believe that the next time we see them all we will have a new little addition to the family!

Wedding Número 3

Curtis and I have had the honor of counseling and preparing David and Amanda Brodmann for their upcoming marriage for the past 9 or 10 months.  Finally, the big day arrived on October 13!  Every year since Curtis has been ordained, he has had the opportunity to officiate for one wedding, which makes this wedding #3. :)

The wedding was gorgeous - they had it at the Mackey House in Savannah.

I got a pretty good picture of Amanda and her father walking down the aisle.

You may now kiss the bride!

Amanda & David released doves after the ceremony was complete.  I thought this was a pretty good capture from my phone!

Curtis and I really enjoyed being able to celebrate with David, Amanda and their families.  I'm sure the Brodmanns are feeling relieved that both weddings went smoothly this year - (A Beautiful Beach Wedding in May and this one in October)!

Quick Trip to Central Florida

Last weekend, my aunt and uncle planned a day trip to tube down the Ichetucknee River with my parents.  They also planned to surprise my parents by having Curtis and I show up!  

 Curtis and I traveled to Gainesville the day before so that we would have a shorter trip the next morning.  This was a blessing because Curtis and I were able to spend more time with the Fields!  Jeffrey, another good friend, was even able to join us for a little bit.  Pictured above, you can see Curtis and his buds praying over each other.

Meanwhile, everything was going smoothly for the surprise until my parents ended up canceling at the last minute.  By this time, we were in Gainesville and my aunt and uncle were in Ocala prepared to head to the Ichetucknee River the following morning. We ended up spilling the beans to my parents and we worked out a compromise so that we could at least see them after we went tubing.

The tubing was really relaxing - Curtis and I were able to float down the river talking with two of my uncles, an aunt and our sweet 4 year old cousin.  Afterwards, we met my parents at Sonny's for a late lunch.  Even though our plans were changed a little bit, our trip was a lot of fun.  Great memories were made! :)

A Curtis Style Christmas

Here's our McDaniel family Christmas 2011 picture:

I mentioned that our Christmas was "Curtis Style" - in case you didn't know this, my maiden name is "Curtis" - so, we spent Christmas this year with my side of the family, the Curtis'.  Before I go into all of the Christmas festivities with the family, I will start with the cat family...

 Here we have Buddy Curtis (left) and Regis Curtis (right) meeting Lion-O McDaniel.  We say these are his uncles.  Regis was my cat when I was living with my parents, but they didn't let me keep him when I moved out and got married. 

 I thought this photo was just precious.  Buddy is checking out the toilet while Lion-O is hiding in the bathtub.

 Here's a picture of my mom holding Regis.

Regis must have remembered me because he snuggled up to me while I was on the couch and made himself at home.

In this photo, Lion-O is wearing a Mexican hat that he received from my parents for Christmas.

Here we have Curtis & Lion-O taking a cat nap on Christmas Day.

 OK, so on to the rest of the family:

 We spent Christmas Eve going to a candelight service at Pinewood.  Afterwards, we headed over to Uncle David's house for a nice family dinner.  In the above picture, we have all 3 of the Leinecker kids.  Uncle Rick, my mom and Uncle David.

 Here's my grandmother, Margaret (Marge) Leinecker.  I was named after her. :)

 Here's my grandfather, Richard (Dick) Leinecker.

 Here's a good picture of my cousins, Jason & Jennifer, sandwiched in with my parents.

 ...and here we are with my cousins, too!

  Aunt Ginger & her dog, Lucy.  Ginger is also carrying a baby that is due in May.

The next day, we woke up very early and opened up gifts.  We had a nice breakfast and then we went to a Christmas Day service at Pinewood.  It was very encouraging - they even spent some time talking about dealing with loss during the holidays.  It was very emotional for Curtis and I, but we are so glad that we made the decision to go!  

Curtis and I also had the opportunity to skype with his family in Pennsylvania.  We would love to be able to celebrate the holidays with both sides, but it can be so difficult when they live so far apart.

Later on, we had almost the entire family on my mom's side come over for a Christmas dinner.  Everything was tasty!  Afterwards, we had some entertainment for the whole family with a Wii game called "Just Dance 3" that Curtis got me for Christmas.

Here I am trying to emulate the dance moves on the screen - it was more difficult than I thought!

 Here's my younger brother's attempt!

 Curtis did a great job.  We even have some of his footage on youtube, if you are interested, click here.

 Ben & Uncle Rick - dancing together!

 Jason, Curtis & Ben dancing.

 My mom, Jennifer & Jason getting down.

A father-daughter dance!

Curtis & I danced to "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

 We had a lot of fun!

Two days after Christmas, we headed to Melbourne to visit some of my dad's side of the family - two uncles, an aunt & a little cousin. 

Here I am spending time playing with my cousin, Elle, in a tube!  She was so cute and we had a great time with her.  We even played on her playground outside.

 Here's Curtis & I on the swing!  We bought Elle a Looney Tunes mix-and-match game for Christmas.

 We immediately started playing the game.  I think Elle really enjoyed our gift!

Curtis and I were able to see most of my family on both sides - we were missing my older brother and his family (but we got to see them for New Year's - post will come soon), 3 of my cousins, and one aunt!  Now that we are all getting older and moving all over the country, it can be difficult to get everyone together.  I'm very thankful for my family and the new memories that we made this year.

Christmas Time 2011

It's almost that time again!  Christmas - when we remember that our Savior came to this earth as a man.  As Hebrews 2:17 says, "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."  If Jesus hadn't become a man, he would not be able to sympathize with our weaknesses or understand what we are going through.  He was able to live on the earth, be tempted as every human is, and yet able to be without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  It is so encouraging to think that we have Jesus interceding on our behalf to God our Father!

We had lots of Christmas parties to celebrate - Progressive Dinner with the youth group, one with all the reformed pastors and their wives in the area, an open house at our senior pastor's house, a youth ministry leadership team party, a shepherding group party, and our young marrieds' small group (see more by going to Laura's post).  One of the parties at my house was a Park Lane jewelry party.  Here's some of my decorations:

Of course, the Christmas tree :)

 Kitchen towels

 Bathroom towels

Our stockings - Lion-O, Curtis and mine

We are now "partied-out" and ready for Christmas!  We look forward to celebrating with my family!