Christmas Fun

Cookies for Santa!

Christmas was nice and relaxing for our family this year! We made Christmas cookies and made a special plate for Santa on Christmas Eve. After the kids were snug in their beds we heard Santa up on the roof!! (aka Daddy) You should have seen the look on James' face.....priceless. This is the first year that Callie was in on our Christmas secret. She figured it out last year and now enjoys helping in the fun tradition for the younger ones.

Christmas morning was full of excitement as the gifts were ripped open. Joshua's favorite gift was a new guitar from Oma and Granddad.

James' favorite gift was a new hot wheels set that has loopty loops!

Callie was so excited to to get a parakeet. She named it Clovie. It is very sweet. We are trying to teach it to sit on our hand and hoping it will learn to talk.
Memaw, Pawpaw and Uncle Mike came over and we had a big breakfast. Then they left and went to Hot Springs to visit family there. We had a nice relaxing rest of the day. To view more pictures visit my facebook album here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155825&l=25c07&id=1384546354

Last weekend we decided to go to Jefferson to ride the Christmas train and drive through Marshall to see the lights. I love Jefferson! Every time I go there I feel like I have gone back in time. Before it got dark we drove around looking at all the old homes.

This was the first time we had ever ridden the old steam engine! When we got on Joshey freaked out and started to cry and I could tell he would not be happy. So I ran in and got a refund so he would not ruin the ride for everyone else. He loves trains so I don't know if it was the fact that it was cold and dark that scared him. Justin was so sweet to walk around downtown and look at lights with him while I rode the train with James and Callie. It was fun, but cold and we were wrapped up in blankets to keep warm. As we rode the train we saw pretty Christmas lights along the route and they even shot off fireworks!

Then we drove into Marshall. It had been several years since we had gone there to see the lights. It seems like there are not as many lights or maybe we did not go to the right neighborhoods. Or maybe I had seen so many lights already that it was overkill?! It just didn't seem all that great to us. Josh and Callie fell asleep as we were driving around. James, my night owl, finally fell asleep on the way home. Ah, that was a nice, quiet, peaceful ride home!!

The last four months.....

Oh my goodness....it has been 4 months since my last blog. Isn't that horrible. So if there is anyone out there actually reading this I thought I better update. So I pulled my cyber rear over here and actually logged in to do it.

I would like to put a plug out there for facebook. I have recently joined and absolutely LOVE it. It is so fun and easy to find long lost friends and family on there. It is also very easy to stay connected and communicate with all of them. So much easier than reading through a million blogs all the time. Anyhow I only accept people that I know as friends on there. So if you know me...search for my name on facebook.com.

Now for my update:

In August James had a wonderful swim party with a giant water slide thanks to Daddy:

Justin also took James for a Father/Son camp out to Caddo lake this month. They both had a wonderful time. Justin took some gorgeous pictures of the Lake!

I have to brag about how beautiful my flower garden turned out this year!!! Thank you Oma for all the wonderful seeds. I am hooked now and have to plant them every year!

October was a fun filled month:

Fishing with Daddy at Lake Gladewater

We went to a neat festival in Jefferson called Buckskins and Bar-B-Q where they had old time reenactments. We then had fun walking around Jefferson looking at the sights and eating ice cream at the old general store!

The kids went on a camping trip with my Mom and had a lot of fun.

Justin and Callie went to a Father/Daughter dinner at our church.

Halloween was especially fun at our church's festival called Farm Fair. James and Callie were both leopards and Josh was Tigger. MEOW!

In November we met some friends in Shreveport. The kids had fun playing at Chucky Cheese and we had a nice visit with our friends. We also walked around the Shreveport river walk area for a while. Here is a picture of the kids in a neat indoor botanical area.

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving time visiting with family. My family was here at our house for Thanksgiving day and then we went to Dallas on Friday to be with Justin's family for the weekend. The kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins.s!I just learned to crochet hats! Doesn't she look cute?

This school year is off to a good start. We just completed our term 1 for the year. Our year is broken down into 3, 12 week terms. We are now in the midst of doing an Exam week where we review what we have learned during the first term.

Callie and James really enjoyed the home school soccer that they participated in the first part of the year and are really enjoying their violin lessons. I am also loving the lessons because I am learning along with them!!

And last but not least... today was Justin's birthday! We went out to eat and came home to celebrate with cake. My Mom, Step-dad and brother were here to help us celebrate. We put on a little violin concert for them for entertainment. "I can't believe I'm 36!! "

Happy Birthday America!

We had the best time on Independence day. We went to a picnic put on by a family from our church. They had a big blow up jumping slide, a train to ride, live music, and a great fireworks display. Poor Joshey did not like the fireworks. They were SO loud, he just held onto me and covered his ears in terror. Callie & James were right up there close to the front loving every minute of it!

Blessings for Me in May!

Earlier this month was my 35th birthday. We celebrated by eating my favorite pizza, the everything loaded (minus anchovies & jalapenos) from Pizza King! It is the best pizza in the world. Thin crust, hardly any sauce or cheese, just tons and tons of toppings. I love, love, love, it! I have tried to duplicate that pizza at home to no avail. I just can't get it to taste the same. I must be missing the MSG or something! HA! We also had my favorite carrot cake with cream cheese icing!

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Here is a sweet poem that Callie wrote for me for my birthday:

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My Mother is Darling

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My mother is so sweet and pretty,

She is a garden, like a lily.

She teaches me God's Word in my arms,

She helps me with my school.

If she's sick I'll lay a hand,

and help her get a drink.

She has such pretty hair,

her eyes are like a blue bird's feather.

I love her so,

and I will do everything she says.

Last Sunday on Mother's Day I took Callie and James to see a play put on by the local children's theater. It was James and the Giant Peach! That is one of their favorite movies so I just had to take them. I left the house in plenty of time to get there but then the theater was not located where I thought it was and we were a little late. That was really frustrating! But we really did enjoy it when we got there. I will have to take them to more of their productions.

Yesterday was Joshua's "official" 2nd birthday, although we are not having his party until tomorrow. I can't believe my little baby is this old. Sniff! Sniff! It was also my maternal great grandmother's birthday. I think it is neat they have the same birthday. She passed away when I was 16. She was such a dear sweet lady. I can't wait to see her again one day. I always have fond memories visiting her as a girl and eating her chocolate cake with pecans on top. I also remember she always would make jello with bananas cut up in them. I was passing through the town she lived in last Saturday and I drove by her old house. The people that live there now have painted it green with purple shutters. Simply Horrid! I really miss that house and all the memories there. After she passed away my grandmother lived there for years and I spent a lot of time with her there. I loved her old timey...deep bathtub with the claw feet!

New Years Happenings

** I meant to post this earlier, but I could not get the video to work**

On New Years Eve Justin and I had a nice quiet evening together as the kids slept peacefully. Ahhhh....it was nice. Justin was so cute to make me up a little hors d'oeuvres tray to munch on. We also had cheesecake and a bit of wine to celebrate.

On New Years day we just relaxed and spent the day together as a family. We did have a little excitement and the kids had some fun acting out as you will see.............

Blackened waffles anyone?!?



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Our family theater presents, A play, in one act:



Green Eggs & Ham