Last Family Gathering

With all of the holiday festivities going on and college graduations, we couldn't all schedule this get-together until after Christmas. So, on Sunday morning the kids and I hopped in the car and traveled 4 hours to my cousin, Kelly's house.

Here are some pictures of the days activities & Kelly's house (cause it's purty).

This is my cousin, Jed & his daughter Ava - cute isn't she?
Ok, if you can get passed all that cuteness....check out the lovely blue paint & the bird prints on the kitchen walls. (I may have to ask the name of the paint to use in our bedroom.)

I'm not quite done with the cuteness yet - she is adorable.

This is a painting my aunt Rita & a friend did of Kelly's boys. It's hanging in their family room.

(I may have to ask about this paint color too - it's a nice neutral without being boring.)

The dining room.

Looking into the foyer.

Aunt Debra & cousin Tori.

(Check out the wet bar behind them - complete with a wine fridge.) This is our host for the day - my cousin Kelly and Jed again.

Time out for a birthday boy - Grayson's 6 as brother Parker looks on.

Mimi & G enjoy the party.

The Christmas tree topped with peacock feathers.

We're all partied out - literally.

What a Christmas season it has been. We are so grateful & thankful for all of our friends and family. It was great seeing everyone.

We're looking forward to New Year's Day when we have friends from Indiana coming to visit. She's a fellow blogger so stay tuned.

Now, back to straightening out the house.

Christmas Day 2008

Whew! It's officially over.

I don't know about you, but I'm pooped.

My oven and I have never been closer and I think I have new best friends

at Target & Hibbett Sports, but.....it was all so worth it.

We truly had a wonderful Christmas and are blessed beyond words.

I am thankful for my health this Christmas especially since finding muscle groups that I didn't know existed and thanks go to Wii for finding them.

Now if it can get them in shape for me, I'll be good to go.

That is providing our family with lots of entertainment.

Who knew that boxing was so tiring?!

As of this morning at around 8:30am our company (my parents) were hitting the highway back to NC. Granddaddy just can't stay away from home long.

I have to admit that it will be kind of nice to try to get things back to normal.

I love the holiday season, but I'm more of a routine kinda girl.

(Is it cranky of me to want the tree down today?)

I guess I can leave it up until tomorrow, even though B wants to wait until Monday - ugh.

We do have one more family celebration to fit in on Sunday.

The fact that it's 4 hours away doesn't make me dread it in the least.

(inject sarcasm)

It will be nice to see the family members that we only get to see once a year and my cousin, K, has recently done some work on her house so stay tuned for beautiful pictures.

For now, enjoy some moments from our Christmas celebration.

We hope that your family celebrations were as blessed and fun as ours.

(I have to put one of these in each post - it's so Granddaddy.)

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas!

Am I loosing my mind?

I can't be the only one who would love to see this under her tree on Thursday morning.

A blanket with arm holes - how great is that?

Reading, loving on the cat, snacking during movies....all could be so much easier.

Ummm. Maybe I'll have to go to that "Seen On TV" store at the mall after all.

Family Gathering #2

We had a lot of partying to cram into a two day visit, so back to the highway we go.

We're meeting at Mimi's house this time with my parents and sisters.

Again, there were lots of Christmas goodies, gifts, and dancing with a few magic tricks thrown in.
(B got a magic kit & had to practice.)

As you can see from the pictures, a good time was had by all.

I think we wore Granddaddy out - he had to take a little nap.

Enjoy the pics - I've been playing in Picasa so hopefully they'll come out ok.
(just click to enlarge)



Hope everyone has a good weekend. Last one before the Big Day so hit those stores and wrap those gifts.

Today is also a big day in our household - it's the kids last official day of school (of the public variety anyway).
I'd better enjoy it, huh?

Family Christmas Gathering #1

One of the best things about the holidays is getting to spend time with family.

Throughout the year, we all get so busy with life that we don't usually take time to slow down and visit. That can be especially hard to do if you live out of town, which we do.

Well, this past weekend we didn't do much slowing down but we did get to spend some time with family members that we don't get to see that often.

On Saturday we drove to see Daddy's side of the family. He is very blessed in the fact that he still has one set of grandparents still going strong.

Here are Big Mama & Big Daddy with their great-grandkids.
Cousins. (Don't they look more like sisters?)

Look who was goofing off for the camera.

Big Mama made Big Daddy open his gift early so that she could open hers......I see why.

It's beautiful.

Nana & Papa with their grandkids.

Here are two new additions to the family this year - Copper & Toodles. They provided everyone with lots of entertainment. That Toodles is quick.

Daddy's cousin decorated his golf cart for their local parade a couple of weeks ago. They had a big red Santa sack in the back with gifts spilling all out of it & his son dressed up as the Grinch. They won second place as The Grinch who stole Christmas. It was a very cute idea.

We had a great time seeing everyone, exchanging gifts and of course eating all of that good food that Big Mama & Big Daddy cooked. He is a master at desserts...pecan pies, lemon pies, fruitcake, black walnut cake, cheese cake & I don't think that's all he had, it's just all I could remember.

Stay tuned as our weekend of festivities continues later this week.

Kimba's Open House Party

Go check out Kimba's Open House Party over at A Soft Place to Land.

She's hosting and this way we get to see into everybody's homes without getting arrested for peeping.

Sounds like fun to me.

Have a great Tuesday.

On the road again.....

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned.

Not too much more time to stock up on those gifts and bake all of those Christmas goodies.

(I've got to do that myself.)

The kids & I have a busy weekend.

Starting tonight, G had a gymnastics competition. It happened to be local so at least we didn't have to travel for that. She did really well & got her highest all-around score yet.

Way to go!

Saturday morning, we'll leave bright & early to head to Great-Grandma's house (actually, we call them Big Mama & Big Daddy). It's only a 5 hr. drive and we need to be there by lunch. It's going to be an early morning but at least the traffic shouldn't be too bad.

From there, we head up the highway a couple of hours & spend some time at the sis-in-law's house then wake up Sunday morning for Christmas festivities at my mom's house with part of my family - we then head back home (another 5 hr. drive).

Ummm. Maybe the kids can miss a day of school on Monday. (Shhhhh. I won't say that out loud.)

Whew. What a weekend.

Y'all have a great weekend and hopefully I'll have some pictures to post on Monday.

Confirmation

This afternoon B and I were sitting in the car while G was in gymnastics. He was working on homework at the time. I took out his folder to sign and see a paper in there from the room mom.

Can anyone guess what this paper was concerning?

It's that time of year. It involves food, plates, cups & candy.

Come on, you know what it is.

That's right. It's time for our annual........

Winter Party!!!!!

Huh?

"Winter Party??" I say. (B looks at me like I'm losing my mind.)

"A Winter Party????"

I cannot even describe the level of disgust I felt at that moment.

Our children are being taught that they can't celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in schools.

I tried to explain my anger to B and told him - if we're not celebrating His birth, there is no need to have a party.

I tried to calm down but must admit that I'm still just as disgusted as I was earlier tonight.

To me, this is just a confirmation that we've made the right decision about homeschooling.

I just can't continue to allow this "political correctness" to mold my children's minds any longer.

In our home, at this time of year, we proudly celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior and that's what our children will celebrate at their parties.


But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

We're making a big change.

Sorry the blog posts have been a little slow in coming this holiday season, but there is a good reason.

I've been really busy.

Doing what, you ask?

We have made the decision to start homeschooling our children and I've been trying to get everything ready. My goal is to begin after the holidays and finish out this school year at home.

This isn't something that has come out of the blue. It's actually been on my heart for a couple of years now, however I've been trying to do more of what I want to do than what God wants me to do. (Has anyone else ever tried that? It never works.) He will always win.

So, here we are trying to dive into this new experience and I'm trying to learn as much as I can to make the transition easier for the children. They are super excited by the way.

I would like to ask a favor - if any of you wonderful ladies out there homeschool your children and have some helpful hints or wonderful advice for us, please feel free to offer it up. I will gladly take any I can get - this whole process is a little intimidating but with God on our side, how can we fail?

Hope everyone is having a great time preparing for this Christmas season and thanks in advance for your support.

They think they're funny.

Well, it's that time of year again.

Christmas card picture time.

This is one of my favorite holiday activities.

I have visions of beautiful pictures of my children from which to choose.

You're probably guessing by now that it never works out the way I had it planned.

And, you would be right.

Everyone else hates this annual activity.

They always give me a hard time.

Guess what?

Not this year.

The children actually put their chosen clothes on, fixed their hair & smiled when I asked them to.

It was lovely.

They did start to get a little silly toward the end of my photo session and this is what they came up with:

Yea, like any of that is going to end up on my Christmas card.

I don't think so.

But they are funny kids.

I'm not showing the final decision, yet.

That will come later, but for now......"Peace out!"

Our Christmas Home

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I absolutely love this time of year for many reasons.

1. The birth of Jesus Christ

2. Giving gifts

3. The food

4. The music and

5. Decking the Halls

Here are some of the holiday touches around our home.

These are the two new ornaments we added for the children this year. One for the NCSU football fan and one for the Wizard of Oz fan.

Our family room.

Please ignore the foot in the corner and the pile of toys on the floor. These people I live with just won't cooperate with a photo shoot.

I've changed the mantle a little. These lovely angels reside there (for now).

A small table in our foyer.

My Santa collection is on top of the entertainment center.

That's it for now.

Look Who Got Older

Not only were we celebrating Thanksgiving last week, but we threw in a couple of birthday celebrations as well.

B turned 11 and G is now 8.

Here are a few pictures from the festivities.

These stilts were one of B's gifts & everybody had more fun with those things.

(When I say everybody, I mean everybody....even Uncle B & Daddy tried them out. Mommy may have given them a whirl herself - no photo proof though.)

The kids had a great time celebrating with family.

To everybody who helped them to feel special & loved on their special days....Thank You.

We have a wonderful family and are very blessed.