Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!!!

We got our tree up the week-end before Thanksgiving! I was so impressed with us and excited that we would actually have some time to enjoy it before taking it back down again. I'm usually one of those that is adamant that we should honor Thanksgiving before we skip to Christmas, but I knew with our schedule this year we might not get it up at all if we didn't seize the opportunity.

Here are my kids in front of the tree. I actually wanted a sweet picture, but this is as good as it got as they were being extra silly for me this day!

Here is our living room with the tree and the mantle with stockings. I like it with the holiday decor....too bad it has to come down soon!
Look what I did to my gourds?

My sister, Danina, brought all these pumpkins and gourds to me to decorate for Fall and while she was here she mentioned that she heard people painted them for Christmas so they could use them longer. So....I tried it. Looks pretty good and I felt very "martha stewart-like" too!

I love the space above my cabinets so I can have more space to decorate for the season! Like my speakers up there too? I got them for my birthday and now I have some great tunes in my kitchen. I think Billy gets just as much use out of them as I do though! : )

I hope you are feeling very Christmas-like as well!

We head to Colorado tomorrow to be with my family!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Billy's family in Oklahoma and had a great time. We ate very well and relaxed a lot, which is exactly what I needed.

Here we got to meet the new "cousin", Ashton. Isn't she sweet! Alyssa and Isaiah loved her and were very gentle!

Can you imagine us with four? Oh my!

Isaiah rode his first motorcycle with Great Uncle John! You can't tell he's excited can you?

My children performed for the crowd outside after lunch! They were not mad, just acting very silly!

Four generations have a very serious "after dinner" discussion!

Happy Turkey Day 2008!

Halloween

So - I've not kept up well and I have all these great pictures I've been wanting to share with you all. Here are a few that are from our Halloween in Texas. This was the first time my parents have gotten to trick or treat with all the grandkids! It was very fun for everyone! The night ended with a haunted treasure hunt where the kids found this great treasure box and the base on the "dirt mountain".

Grammy & Pa Pa George were some scary Pirates that set the stage for this "haunted house event".
Below are all the kids that we trick or treated with. All are cousins except the one dice on the top left. That is a friend of Elise. They are a pair of dice!

Here are my two. Sorry I didn't get the picture turned. Can you do that once you've downloaded the picture into blogger?

Before trick or treating the kids carved pumpkins with Grammy!

A week-end update!

I got home Friday about 4:15 from California, walked in the house feeling exhaustion in every inch of my body, but knowing that my sweet little boy was full of excitement for our evening festivities I put on my smiley face, fluffed my hair and ran back out the door with my family to Isaiah's Schools 1st Annual Winter Party. We ate chili, took pictures with Santa and made Christmas crafts for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun for the kids and the best news is, we've had our pictures with Santa now so there is no need to stand in any long lines at the mall! : )

Saturday morning Billy left to go watch the Big 12 championship Game in Kansas City. We've gone to this together the last two years, but I couldn't stand the thought of being so cold and traveling again. The kids and I went to our town's Christmas parade and then played at the park for an hour or so. It was good to be home and just enjoy the sweet moments with both of them.

That afternoon we hung some Christmas lights and put a new lighted deer out front. We have a little more to do, but it is looking a lot like Christmas here!

Yesterday the house was a wreck as we gave it little to no attention Saturday. We did a few chores, watched some movies, took naps, and went to Walmart (of course!). There were several sweet moments of the day that I'll share a couple with you.

*We read the story of Jesus' birth and Isaiah said he couldn't remember the poem he prayed when he got saved at age 4. So, we prayed the "poem" or salvation prayer again. He says he won't forget now, but is thinking about the right time to be baptized. He was very convinced that Alyssa needed to pray, but I told him she is too little to understand so he let it go reluctantly..

*Alyssa told me she loved me the best and wanted to stay with me forever. Then she lifted my shirt, gave me a big sloppy zerbert and asked sweetly, "Do I get a marble for that?!?" Is she nuts or what! She gets marbles when she makes right choices and then when her jar is full we will go have or do a special treat of her choice. She's motivated as she picked up all the toys in the shower without being asked and put her clothes in the hamper without being asked all day yesterday! She's only two! : )

Hope you have a great day and are thankful for the "little moments" you've gotten.