Christmas 2009

We survived our first Christmas without Mom and Grandma. We did everything we usually do for Christmas; traditions at their finest.



We made and decorated sugar cookies. The girls did a fabulous job. We made our normal delivery to the Spiveys. We knew Mom would get us if Donna didn't have sugar cookies for Christmas :)



The kids manning their positions to open presents. I think the funniest thing was Ben opening. Everytime he would say "what is it" over and over again until he got it opened.



Uncle Brent and Luke



Shelly and Ben



Santa Jack ~ inside family joke :)



Me after opening my heart.



Dad got Luke and Ben train sets for Christmas. They LOVED them.



We finally made it home thru the blizzard and opened gifts at our house. The kids had a very very very nice Christmas. We all did :)

RIP Max

Our dog Max died. We came home from Brent's parents and we knew something was wrong. He just laid out in the yard and wouldn't come to us. Then he went off & didn't come back. We went out of town Sunday, getting back on Monday and still know sign. Brent went looking for him yesterday while Hannah and I went shopping. He found him going down towards the pond. He was such a good dog and we miss him so much. It's weird going out the back door without him meeting us. 2009 sucked. Come on 2010.

Why I Cried

My Dad took my Mom and Grandma's wedding rings and had hearts made for all of us girls. It was the sweetest thing he could have ever done. I will treasure it ALWAYS!!!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, it snowed. It is so pretty. I took this at my Dad's house. We were suppose to go up to Brent's family today but they have closed the interstate. Hopefully it opens up in the afternoon. We had a nice Christmas Eve at Dad's. Another "first" over with. I only cried once; will post about that later.

Eve

Well I guess I'm ready for this. We are expecting snow today; our first white Christmas in like forever. The last one I can remember is when I was little. I'm wondering if my Mom has something to do with it; a sign maybe :) Wishing you a great holiday with lots of laughter and love.

Three

My little nephew Ben is 3 years old today. I told him Happy Birthday & he said Merry Christmas CyCy. He's such a sweet boy!

And Just Like That He is Fifteen

My goodness, time flies when you are having fun. I can't believe Colton is 15 years old. Next stop, driver's permit. Oy!

PW Cookbook

I absolutely love LOVE love this cookbook. I wanted to go to her book signing in Oklahoma City but life got in the way. So I was so excited when she posted that she would sign cookbooks if they were mailed to her. SWEEEEET!



I mailed it off last week & have already gotten it back. So very cool!!!

Under Attack??? Well, Maybe Not :)

Thursday afternoon I heard an airplane flying. We have planes & helicopters fly over so I didn't really think anything of it until it was really really really loud. I went outside & saw this......



I ran in & grabbed the camera. It was so stinking low that I thought it was making an emergency landing. But.......



it started circling our property. I could read US Air Force on the side, that's how close it was to the house.



And it kept circling. I got freaked out & ran back inside to call Brent. I told him I was going to post the pictures on Facebook so he could see how close it was.



Finally it went on it's merry little way. Thanks to Facebook I found out what the deal was. The pilot is from my hometown. He got permission to fly over the town/county because it was the last time he was going to fly that particular aircraft. It was a shout out to his Mom and his hometown. His dad lives up the road from us so that's why he was over our way. I went to school with him & my younger sister, Shelly, graduated with him. Glad to know it wasn't a sneak attack :)

Teacher Gift

I saw this idea on the web last year & of course forgot to do it last year for Hannah's teacher so I made one for her teacher this year. I found the frame at the Dollar Store. I took out the glass and it worked perfectly.

Santa On A Firetruck

Saturday morning we were sitting around the table making bows and talking when we heard sirens and honking. Becky grabbed Hannah and told her to come on.



Well of course by the time I found the camera he had already gone by but it's santa on the firetruck. He goes around the neighborhood throwing out candy for kids who come outside. I've never heard of this but it's such a cool idea.







And the big kids enjoyed picking up candy too :)

Shea & Martha

We headed out Friday afternoon for Seabrook, Tx for our niece's, Martha, wedding. The trip was fast and furious but worth every minute. The wedding was wonderful and the way I wished I had done it back in the day. Hannah was the flower girl and looked gorgeous. I have tons of pictures to share but I'm to sleepy to upload all of them correctly :) Isn't digital photography wonderful? Gone are the days of having to wait forever to see your wedding pictures. Here a couple I played around with in photoshop.



I love how he is looking at her. He is the sweetest.



Congratulations and best wishes to you both. We love you!!!

Crafty (finally)

Finally got to get crafty on Thursday. I've been wanting to alternate more comp books to try to sell. I got 4 done. Woo. Hoo.









I'm loving this line from Graphic 45. I need to go back and get more.

Baby Girl

10 years ago today our baby girl was born. She keeps us laughing and makes life interesting :) Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!!

Stressed Out

We are still around. It's just our busy time of the year to say the least. I haven't started shopping for Christmas and plus we have birthdays coming up too. It's been keeping me up at night. I'm going to pick out one night next week to go. I like going during the week because it's a lot less crowded. I can probably knock out most of it in one night (knock on wood).

We survived Hannah's "friend" party last Saturday, barely. Was planning on them to be outside as much of it as possible but the wind was blowing making it so cold. Most of the boys did stay out most of the time playing football.

We went to the late show that night to see The Blind Side. I definitely want to buy it on DVD when it comes out. Go see it.

This is a crazy week. Worked last night, going to meet a cousin tonight for dinner, Hannah's family birthday party on Wednesday, Thursday working at concession stand plus Hannah's Christmas program at school plus her actual birthday and Friday heading out for our niece's wedding. My head is spinning :)

So I leave you with this picture:



I noticed it after the party on Saturday. It's what happens to decorations above a door after 20 kids go in and out a door about 50 gagillion times. And it's kinda how I feel right now.

Snow! Yea!!!

We woke up to snow this morning. They said we had a chance of a dusting but I consider this more than a dusting. It was pretty while it lasted. It's almost all melted away. Oh well, it's better than no snow at all.

Colton

The kids have been off all week for Thanksgiving break. Brent took off too. The weather has been beautiful so Colton has been working on clearing off brush & old barbwire under some trees for Brent.



I asked him if he was having fun thinking he would give me a smart butt answer but he said he was enjoying the work. Shock!!!



He said that the dog was slowing him down. When Colton threw a branch to the pile, Max would go get it & bring it back to him.



He did a really good job for a 14 year old boy who sometimes does things "halfed ass" to put lightly :)



I can't believe he is going to be 15 next month. Just seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with him.