Christmas Memories

Isn't Christmas simply the most wonderful time of the year?!?!? The whole world is focused on Christ (to some extent) and joy seems to flow from everyone you meet! We have had a fun holiday season in spite of runny noses and coughing. We did not get to do all of the activities that we had planned to do, but still had a wonderful month celebrating the love of our Savior and the love of our family.

Two of our greatest gifts on Christmas Eve. This was the first Christmas Eve spent at Mom and Dad's in several years... probably close to 20!!! We always went to Granny and Popa's until the boys were born and then we have had it at our house. So Mom was thrilled to have her home full of laughter and yummy food this year.

Our family on Christmas Eve.

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve... we are very methodical and watch each present being opened, anxiously awaiting the recipients reaction. Granna and GPop loving their new Christmas dishes.

Rylan and Jacob loved the Little People airplane!

Kim made Granna, Grandma S, and Granny a scrapbook calendar last year of 2007 photos. So this year I gave them a 12x12 album of Aug - Dec. 2006 and a calendar of 2008. BIG HIT!!!

Popa enjoyed looking at the albums too!

After opening gifts we had a fancy meal from the Wendy's drive-thru! I forgot to plan ahead for a supper... but in my defense, I was in bed sick from Saturday afternoon until Wednesday morning. After church we made another batch of cut-out cookies for Santa! This was a favorite activity of Rylan and Jacob. When Jason was little he and Justin would make them with his mom every year, so we used that same recipe and had fun making memories for the next generation.

Jason helping Rylan cut-out a gingerbread man cookie.

And admiring their handiwork! They loved their snuggly jammies! And when we asked what drink to leave out for Santa they both quickly replied with excitement, "Dr. Pepper!" DO our kids know Santa or what?!?!?!

Then it was time for Jan Brett's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Daddy!

After a night full of vision of sugar plums the boys woke up and were so excited to see what Santa had left them. Rylan requested Percy, a Thomas train. Jacob requested Horns to Toes by Sandra Boynton. That's all. Santa was a little more generous than their requests and they were very thrilled with what was waiting for them...

Jacob liked the things from his stocking the most! Sunglasses... gloves... Elmo slippers and his tool box. I think he "fixed" every piece of furniture in the entire house!

More fixing by Jacob...

We can hardly get Rylan off his horse... he watches TV on it, reads books on it, sings songs on it... He loves his "force"!

And they also have enjoyed the Little People Garage from Granna and GPop! We are a Little People loving family!

So that was our Christmas! Hope you had as much fun with your family as we had with ours!

Kids and the Bible

Hello All!

Christmas pics will be coming, but I wanted to tell you again about my other blog. Daesha and I have been teaching first grade Sunday School together for about 6 years. We decided that it would be a nice resource to have some of our ideas posted so that we could remember them next time we teach that lesson. So we created a blog! Daesha has spent a lot of time posting about the basics of how we teach and we are committed to taking photos of our crafts and posting the songs I write and lessons we write. Hope it will be a good resource for you too!

http://www.kidsandthebible.blogspot.com

Tree Farm 2008

Last year our dear friends, Jeremy and Daesha, went to a tree farm to get their Christmas tree. When they got home Daesha called and said, "You guys have GOT to go with us next year!!!" So next year is here and we went to the tree farm last week! This local place is so quaint! They have 40 acres of trees and everything felt very home-y.

To start our evening, the boys got to feel the animals. There were 3 goats and one donkey. At first they fed the goats hay, but then the lady brought out goat feed for the goats to lick out of their hands. You should have heard the squealing! Jacob L-O-V-E-D it and Rylan was a little scared... notice "death grip" hold he has on Jeremy! hahaha We rode on a tractor pulled hayride, the boys first, out to the tree area.

Here we are with Daesha and Jeremy! Don't you love the hats?!?!? Jacob would not take it off!

This dirt hill was Jacob's favorite part! He must have gone down the sled a hundred times. Look at that grin!

More of Jacob's dimples...

Finally we coaxed Rylan to join the fun! After a few times of shear terror, he started to enjoy the sled hill too!

More from the tree zone... This was Rylan's favorite part... touching the spiky needles of the pine trees.

As we waited for the hayride to come pick us up, the little boys got on the big boys shoulders.

And a sweet photo of Daesha and Rylan walking though the trees.

To end the event, the farm offers free hot apple cider. It was oh so yummy! It was the first time the boys had drank cider and it was a bog hit! Rylan gulped it down fast.

And one last sled ride for the road!

Thanks for suggesting a fun Christmas activity! We are already looking forward to coming back next year!

Disclaimer: No one bought a tree! The allergies in our family could not handle it! So even if you don't buy one, go for the fun of it! :)

Note: Ever since the farm visit we have been sick! 3 visits to the pediatrician and we are still coughing, snotting and fevering. (Are those even real words???!?!?!) Hopefully we will all be well by Christmas!

Party Time

This past week was full of parties! Tis the season for lots of fun!!! Last night when we got out of church we were thrilled to see WHITE falling from the sky!!! I know for many of you dear friends, snow is a normal thing for winter, but here in coastal Texas, it is NOT the norm! In fact, in my 32 years living here, I have seen snow 2 other times. So needless to say, Jason and I were freaking out about the snow!!!

This is Mom and Dad's tree out in front of their house. I love how the snow is on the branches and on the monkey grass.
The front of our house. We are still not living there, but had to drive over for a photo. It may never happen again! hahaha!!! This was also exciting because the snow masked the lovely blue tarp otherwise known as our roof.

OK - aren't the flakes big?!?!? For this Texan they seemed HUGE! This is my parents backyard. They had a storage shed (the barn) and my old playhouse built by Dad and Popa about 30 years ago. I kept thinking that if walls could talk these walls would be really confused as to what was on them. hahaha

Granna and GPop out front by the 'Stang... Mom's high school graduation present... covered in snow! Notice Jacob's cheesy smile - it is his new thing.

Rylan LOVED the snow. Just like the pool, he dove right in. He ran from plant to plant touching the snow, licking it and squealing. Jacob was also just like at the pool, not too sure! He did not want to touch to at first, but finally did after all the squealing from Rylan and the adults. And yes, our pitiful kids don't even have gloves! Those are socks on their hands!

Jacob and Mommy

Rylan and Jacob in the backyard.

Rylan and Jason. I don't knew who liked it more!!!

Now to another party...this one was a little more formal. Every year since 1996, the young couples at church have hosted a Holiday luncheon for the 60+ers. This year we served soup, salad and trifles. The men serve the tables, like waiters and the ladies slave away in the kitchen. This is our family at the photo booth. Poor Jason was at home sick, coughing up his lungs, etc.

Rachel , Amy and I had a blast planning the event!

Here is a glimpse into the kitchen.

And a glimpse into the Fellowship Hall. This is at the end of eating and just before BINGO. To end the luncheon, the kids came in and sang a few songs. It was precious!

And the last party of the weekend was the annual Pink Christmas! 6 years ago a little circle of friends started studying the Bible together. We have done about a dozen study books and over the years have grown quite close. What all began as a desire to learn more about God has blossomed into many hours of prayers, laughter, trips, and friendship.

This year, it was my turn to host! I had been so excited and been thinking about it for months. Then Ike hit and then there was no work done on our house... but I still hosted it and it was fabulous. The people, the talking, the praying, the laughter and the tears are what matters, not the decorations! There was a kitchen theme and sweet, talented Holly made us these adorable aprons! Aren't they the cutest?!??!!?

And of course, we had to pose in front of the pink Christmas tree! Thank you Auntie M for helping with the tree! :) Thank you Robyn, Holly, Maria, Heather and Lacie for a wonderful LATE night! You are all a blessing to me!!!

I look forward to hearing about your December parties... and we have a few more too!

A Weekend of Highs and Lows

Last weekend Jason and I had our first weekend away from our adorable boys... time for just the two of us! We were both so excited to relax, sleep in, do grown-up things that did not involve changing diapers or sippy cups! hahaha! It all started back in October on Jason's birthday. Mom, Dad, Granny, Popa, the boys and I all went in together and bought tickets to a Cowboys game. Now let me set the stage for you... Jason is a DIE-HARD Cowboys fan! He cheered for them when they stuck and he cheered for them when they were Super Bowl champions. He loves, loves, loves them! In the words of our preacher, "They are HIS team!" Jason has never seen a Cowboys game live, and this is the last year they will be in Texas Stadium, so it was the perfect opportunity to make a little dream of Jason's come true.

(My story telling will now be in backwards order. I am too tired to cut and paste all the photos into the correct order!)

We left from the hotel at 10:30. It was 4.6 miles from the stadium. The game started at noon. We got to our seats at 1:05. No, that it not a typo... 1:05 - middle of the second quarter. And that was after a 25 minute walk from where we parked! The parking STINKS at Texas Stadium. I mean , really, it took us over 2 hours to go 4.6 miles! But it was all worth it, really, it was! :)

This is after the Cowboys beat the 49ers and just before our trek back to the car. Jason was truly bursting with excitement the whole game!
And this was the view from our seats! They were awesome! Second deck right in the middle of the end zone. It was a neat view of the game. Even I could see plays developing. But most importantly, Jason loved the view!

Another view of Tony Romo and crew winning! As Jacob would say, "Go touchdown!"

To commemorate our parking fiasco... this was kick-off. So close, yet so VERY far from the action. It was so poorly marked and SO many cars! It gave me Rita evacuation flashbacks

And the night before... This was the view from our room. Jason used all of his points to get us a fancy room on the 29th floor. It was so nice, comfy and relaxing. That is until 10:30pm. You see, at 10:30 pm we discovered that out of 583 rooms, we were lucky enough to get next to a single dad and his 5 yr. old and 3 yr. old sons. They apparently love to play football because we could hear "down...set...hut" until 1:30am. Yes, 3 hours of kids screaming and banging into walls. Yes, on our not-so-romantic get-away weekend. Even after a call to the desk, the noise did not stop until 1:30. Then we finally fell asleep. When what should happen at 2:00am??? A fire alarm. It said "Lobby...Lobby...Lobby" in a very loud computer voice. And in case of a fire, don't use the elevator, so we walked to the lobby. Remember we were on the 29th floor????? Yes, our legs hurt. And I was laughing through all of my huffing and puffing. I discovered that I am really out of shape! haha So we finally got back to our room at 3:30am. No fire, just a faulty wire.

Hours earlier we discovered a FUN place! I highly recommend it for a night of expensive treating to some special occasion... The Melting Pot. We got the Big Night Out which was 4 courses of delicious food! Here is Jason with the chocolate course.

This is what we dipped in the chocolate, caramel, pecan mixture... marshmallows, brownie bites, strawberries, bananas, and rice krispie treats. YUM - O!!!!

Before the chocolate was the main course. We chose Mojo style - which was a southwestern citrus broth that you cook the meat in. We ate filet minon. salmon, pork tenderloin, chicken, shrimp and spinach ravioli. It was so fun to stab a piece of meat, put in the broth of at least 2 minutes, chat, eat and do it again! The whole meal took about 2 hours. So nice and relaxing... and did I mention no Tidy Diners or sippy cups?!?!?

This is me and the salmon.

They also bring out several sauces to dip your meat in. We both liked the ginger sweet and sour sauce the best. Oh - and you also get all the veggies you want. Broccoli, squash, mushroom and new potatoes.The second course was salad. I forgot to take a photo! Jason had southwestern Cobb and I had the California salad with feta, walnuts, cranberries, mixed greens and a delicious dressing.

We are cheese people. In our fridge on any given day we have at least 4 kinds of cheese - usually more! So the first course, cheese, was a BIG hit for us! We choose the original cheese fondue and dipped bread, veggies and Granny Smith apples. It was fabulous!

As soon as our flight landed, we headed over the the Sixth Floor Museum. If you have never been and are in DFW, I highly recommend it. I think it was my 7th visit. It chronicles the life and death of JFK. Truly fascinating info. And we were there on the 45th anniversary.

So here we are... two lovebirds! hahaha But really, it was refreshing to have some time away and get to talk and laugh like we love to do. Being away from the boys was hard, but we knew they were in excellent care with my parents and we were ready to see them on Monday morning.

Speaking of Monday morning... that was interesting... probably the lowest low of the weekend. We spent Monday morning filing a police report because our room was burglarized while we were at the game. Yeah, it was terrible... but we were gone and it was just stuff that got taken. And hopefully soon we can have that mess all cleaned up.

On another high - construction on the house should be starting this week!