Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Snow!

Christmas snow isn't a big deal, unless you live in Alabama & it has not snowed as long as anyone can remember!  Hope your Christmas day was just a merry & white!!

Our Christmas..

Like I have said before, this Christmas I haven't been in the "Christmas-y Spirit" like I normally am.  I am not sure what it is...but I know that many of my friends and even family feel the same way I do.

I think it has to do about Christmas' in the past and what is in the future... but I will have another post about both of these this week (hopefully tomorrow). 

On to this Christmas!!!

This Christmas the boys opened their presents from us seperately because someone was having problems with his clothes.

Lil D's Christmas presents

Big D's Christmas presents

This Christmas we arrived late at my Grandparent's house (and omgosh we were the very last ones!!) to eat our annual Christmas Brunch and give my Grandparent's their presents, take pictures, chat with one another, & of course eataton of yummy food that my cousin made.

Christmas at my Grandparent's

This Christmas we left for the second annual Christmas get-together at Joey's Uncle's house to exchange gifts with his side of the family, eat some more of the yummiest foods, have some wine tasting, chatting, and of course picture taking!

Christmas at Uncle's

This Christmas we brought home our nephew so that he could spend the night (after waiting patiently for a very long time) and played Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, and some Kirby Epic Yarn on the Wii together as well as him playing (or rather taking turns playing) with the two D's.  We also played in the snow together since it snowed over night again.

I will have to say...even though I have been a little down somewhat about this Christmas, it has been a wonderful and surprisingly even white!  I hope your Christmas was just as good!! Enjoy these shots that were taken by Joey or myself between Oneonta, AL and Springville, AL from all the snow that fell. 

I have to say though Nectur, AL is one of the prettiest towns & I NEVER have my camera ready for it!!

and They're gone!

My sister and her family that is.  They were here from Friday evening until Friday (a week!! They stayed a full.week this time!!) Christmas Eve morning & they have left for another week of being with family.  Iguess it must be very hard being about 5 hours away from the in-laws and your own parents..as is with my sister and her hubby. 

The most exciting thing has been that I have actually gotten to spend lots of time with my sister and her family this year, the boys & their cousin got along nicely together & we celebrated our Dad's birthday  all together- can I just say it was heavenly!!  Normally, I don't get to spend as much time with them because of working at night or them not staying so long.  So I am exstatic that it happened this year and I am hoping that we will get to do it again in the future real soon!  Love you lots Sister & family!!!
P.S. Can you believe I did NOT take one picture of them being here!?!? The picture is from Disney World this past summer.

Our Christmas Card



This is our Christmas card for this year, YES I know I am like totally late & some of you may be getting them on Christmas Day, or on the 26th or even maybe the 27th or 28th!!  I apologize in advance ;) I wasn't going to do one this year & then decided that I better.  So here is us wishing you & yours a

Very, Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year yet!!!

again have a wonderful Christmas day with your families!!!

What is your favorite thing(s) about Christmas?

Some of my favorite things about Christmas is...

the flowers....

Santa hats....

& some of the YUMMIEST

bestest goodies EVER... (I will add here the we've recieved more than this now)

& of course the....

PRESENTS!!  but....

the Christmas Tree &

Christmas Cards are my absolute favs! 

Well that and the reason why we celebrate the season...
 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

because He is the reason for the season!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

The Boys' Christmas Parties at school

Both of our boys now go to the same school, for this year only-this school only, and I am SO happy about that.  What am I sad about? The fact that both boys' Christmas parties were on two different days (might I add two different WORK days for me) I am the "backup" room mother for one class and the room mother for the other one.  I enlisted Joey to help me with the party that I am the room mother in because I couldn't stay for the entire party.  The teacher appreciated our help I think, but she would have been OK if we'd just brought the items & left too.  I will remember that next time.

I only took some pictures of my boys because my blog is open to all readers at the moment & I do not know if some of these children can be "seen" on the Internet or not.  So for securities sake-I only have a few pictures.

Little D's class ate just some finger snack foods-i.e. cookies, chips, Capri suns and they also made jingle bell necklaces.

Big D's class had pigs in a blanket, sausage & biscuits, doughnuts, coke/cherry Pepsi, & cupcakes after Children's Theatre (Can I add here that I LOVE Children's Theatre & if I could have gone I would have!).  They did not do a craft because of the field trip that day.  They went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Big D said that, "many of things kids were unappreciative and didn't like it, but he did".  I am glad that he did not act ugly whether he liked Children's Theatre or not.

Snow flurry days

Lately we have had flurries, snow flurries that is!  I know it is no big deal to 90%+ bloggers that I read (who say they are in the south) BUT I am in the s.o.u.t.h. (as well as 90% of people who read this blog) and we have been having-snow!!

It sarted on Sunday morning very early.  Our family was heading to church for the musical that we were all in.  I opened up our front door to go start the car so it could be warming & saw little white specks falling from the sky.  It then got harder and harder-it was SO beautiful!

"How wonderful & beautiful!", I thought when I saw it blowing about & coming down.  Also I thought about the Gift of Love program that was going to be put on in a couple of hours & thought about the treat of the snow and the program.

It snowed off & on all day Sunday and even some during the early hours of Monday morning before the kids got on the bus.  Then the sun came out & made all the pretty snow flurries go away...until this weekend when we see you again :)!
*pictures were all taken on Monday morning 12/13/2010 & of course, you can't see the flurries :(

Thankful Jar: Eyes

(Yes, I do realize that it is no longer November)

Remember when I did the post on the Thankful jar?  Well we did a couple of other things with it that I was waiting for something to come in and show everyone about.

This time it is our Eyes.

We are so.very.thankful for our eyes and that God has blessed us with sight!  So since we are so thankful for our eyes the kids had very belated eye appointments one day in November.  I got them from school earlier & we trekked, in the rain (I might add), to a not so  local Children's Hospital to see their eye doctor. 

Dr. Cogen is a VERY good eye doctor that we have had the privilege to know for the past 10 years!  He is excellent with infants & children so if your insurance takes him than take them to him!

We found out during our latest & very needed eye visit that both of our boys are going to need glasses due to nearsightedness (it's heredity, sorry boys!).  Big D needs them now and so Mom was so very generous in taking/buying him his new glasses!  THANKS MOM!! YOU ROCK OUT LOUD!  The eye glass place said they had called us on Nov 30th telling us they were in, but they failed to call either of us on our cells so we were not aware.  So finally on Dec 6th Big D got his new glasses and has NOT taken them off since they were put on his face (again thanks Mom for taking him!)

Santa was here....

& guess who got to take pictures of him

and some really cute kids!

Yep, that's right ME!!

I got to take pictures of some really adorable children, but unfortunately I can't show anyone the pictures...yet!  Maybe I can see if some of my sweet Mommas will allow me to post their babies pictures here & facebook..so stay tuned!!!

A Laptop...

Cat? 

Yep you saw it correctly!! 

 Our little rascally Rascal IS in fact a laptop cat.

I know for some of you it is hard to believe,

but as you can see he is...a laptop Kitty!

CHRISTmas decorating!!

I wish I could say that I love to decorate for Christmas, but I don't; I LOVE the result of decorating for Christmas. 

I LOVE sitting in the living room by the flickering tree while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot coco (I hate drinking/smelling coffee).  Especially while the children (& other adults) are sleeping soundly.  It is ME time!!!

I am sort of in a rut this year though, I have so much beautiful stuff that people have made for us but can't put it out for one reason or another.  This makes me sad....

I NEVER forget why we celebrate though...Jesus, he is the reason for the season!! His birth is why we have life.  He lived, taught, died, & rose again just for us-sinners that are so unworthy & He willingly died a shameful death for us!!  Could you..., would you do that for a world that mostly doesn't love you?!  What an amazing Father we have to send His son to die for us!

Sorry for the little sermon!!  Have your Christmas gatherings started yet?!

My Oldest "baby's" Birthday Party

Yep, it is true...we celebrated the birth of David yesterday with a little party of friends and family at Chuck E Cheese's.  And YES, we are SO thankful to those friends & family for braving the dreaded fun place so that our eldest would be soo very happy, and he was :)

He wanted to have his party at the YMCA like his little "Brudder" but his Mommy failed to ask them in time so he had to come up with a "plan B" real quick like.  His theme...Mario of course!  If anyone knows my boy than they know that he has brought Mario back!  He L-O-V-E-S Mario games and can humm most of the tunes on the games!

Happily there were about 6 families that came to say happy birthday & brave the madness that is C.E.C. and that made David oh so happy!!

Again thanks for coming out & joining us for David's 11th birthday!!  Happy Birthday DAVID!!!!
You can read about the day of David's birth here and here .

The Annual TableScapes

The women's ministry at our church holds an annual Tablescapes in November.  The theme... tables decorated beautifully; & a guest speaker that (in my two, or so,years going) usually will knock your socks off.

This year I got to sit at a fellow choir, Sunday School, friend's table (last year we sort of strolled around together until we finally sat down at another church members beautiful table) & I must say she did a fabulous job at decorating it.  What do you think?!

I honestly did not want to go when it came time too.  I had a terrible headache that just pounded away all thru the night but still  I am SO glad that I went.  I was very blessed by Mary Kay Beard and her testimony and I got to see some people that I haven't seen in quite a while.  

I mingled some, but with the pounder that I did have that night, most people were just asking if I was OK.  

What an awesome time I had with some great friends!! 

Thankful Jar-Family

I found a Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown by Valerie Lee on the web sometime last year (of course it was after Thanksgiving) and thought that I could incorporate it into our lifestyle....


So here is our first Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown outing...

I am THANKFUL for my Family!

So yes, I did sort of pick it out & not pulled it out of a jar, but...I had seen it picked it out & then our plans just sort of fell into place- GOD inspired for sure!!

Our family and our family-by-marriage adopted family met at a local (as in about 10 minutes from our homes) Nature Preserve. 

We ran on the rocks

Took family photos

Checked out the beautiful scenery

& hiked on the Boy Scout Trail

It was absolutely beautiful, serene, and we loved being there.

Thank You LORD for your beautiful masterpiece in the fall.  All the oranges, golds, greens, yellows, reds shined out and the water...just refreshing. 

AGAIN, THANK YOU LORD for your GLORIOUS BEAUTY!!!