Wednesday, December 28

A LITTLE HAND TO HOLD

When I am waking with any or all 3 of my children, I can at any time open my hand and extend it behind me making a grabbing motion into the air, and sure enough within a matter of seconds a little hand will latch onto mine.  This is one of the best feelings in the world.  Yesterday Nicholas and I were walking across the house and I extended my hand only to have his precious little hand fill in the empty space in mine. 
 (Nicholas' darling little hand.....look and it is not even dirty)

It was sweet to be holding hands just simply walking across the house, just because I am his mommy and he is my little one.  There were no cars like in a parking lot that could put him in danger, or crowd of people that he feared he may get lost in......no, we were just holding hands because that is what mommys and their children do.  I was just filled with happiness at this thought.  But in that special moment, a sad thought shadowed my joy......what will it feel like when I extend my hand out behind me and no one will be there to grab onto it?  Wow, it is hard to see my little ones growing up.  I don't want to spend a moment not enjoying these 3 special gifts that were intrusted to me.  God, please console me in the future when they are gone and there are no little hands to hold onto mine.


Sunday, December 25

CHRISTMAS DAY-"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY JESUS!"

Here are some Christmas morning pictures of the kids.  They did everything that they could to stay in bed and not wake Mommy and Daddy.  They are so sweet.  Finally at 7:30am they could not wait any longer!
 Our Little Savannah on Christmas morning! (Santa brought her a cool new colorful lamp for her room)
 Our Nicholas on Christmas morning.....the most magical morning of the year.....notice Santa brought him a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun...."You'll shoot your eye out" (remember from the movie "A Christmas Story")
 Our Sweet Madison on Christmas morning! Did Santa bring a giant polar bear for our Madi-bear!?!
 Wii remotes!!
 A Paul Frank clock radio for her room!
 A Lego CD player!

A SHORT WHILE LATER NANA, PAPA, GRAMMY AND OOMPA CAME OVER TO CELEBRATE
 Nana got some beautiful silver earrings from Grammy and Oompa!
 Papa got 3 PLAID SHIRTS!!  We all had the same idea!
 They are so precious!
 Here are Grammy and Oompa with the grandkids!  It was such a blessing to have them come to stay with us for Christmas! Isn't this just the best picture!?!?
 Nana and Papa got me a beautiful cross necklace with plenty of bling!  Nana did good!!  I love it!
 We got Nana a jewelry box for all of her beautiful treasures!  She loved it
 A new dutch oven for Grammy's famous fried chicken!
We love our Papa 
What a blessed Christmas we had!!  Soon the rest of the family darkened our door with joy and laughter!
 We had a Christmas Feast of turkey and stuffing with all of the trimmings!
 After Christmas dinner, we had a special dessert......I grew up with the tradition of a birthday cake for Baby Jesus which is always Angel Food!
 Then we sing Happy Birthday to our New Born King!
 While we enjoy Jesus' birthday cake, Daddy reads "The account of the Birth of our Lord" from the Holy Bible -Luke 2: 1-20.  As we all listen, tears well up in the eyes of most of the adults as we hear these amazing words!  God sent His only Son to us as a Sweet Baby, to save us from our sin!  How blessed we truly are to be one of His children!  Thank you Lord, for our faith in You!


Thank you Jesus for sharing your birthday with us.  We feel so much happiness when we get to share in this special celebration!  It brings families together......just like you wanted it to!
MERRY CHIRSTMAS

Saturday, December 24

CHRISTMAS EVE

We got to spend Christmas Eve at my folks house!  What a blessing to live so close to my family.  
(Jeremy's parents left yesterday to spend Christmas with my brother in law and his family in Louisiana.  they will return Christmas day to be with us)
 First I must mention the  online "Reindeer Cam"!  My kids were glued to the screen all day long watching live feed from the North Pole......It was really special!
 They watched as Santa would appear and check his list and then even put some presents into his sleigh!  it was completely magical!
 Here is the Christmas tree at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents)  The kids were DYING to open the gifts
 After Christmas Mass (where our entire family got to take up the gifts....how awesome!!) and a yummy spaghetti dinner made by my sister (Turkey dinner tomorrow).......we got to open gifts!
(all in new matching jammies from Grandma and Grandpa Courtney)
 Look at these faces!
 Look at my Sis in her sassy new fur vest!!  She loved it......I just knew that she would!!
 Uncle Chris got a remote control helicopter!!!
 Auntie Deonn got my sister and I both statues of our Blessed Mother for our schoolrooms.  St. Mary is such a wonderful role model for us as wives, mothers, and homeschool teachers!! Thank you Auntie Deonn!
 Here are my folks opening a gift....it's so fun to shower the ones we love with gifts!  I love to watch them open them up.....especially when their faces light up with excitement!
We made Daddy a calendar of our family!

HURRY TO BED NOW BEFORE SANTA ARRIVES!!
 The house will be silent with soon with everyone asleep, BUT not before we set out the cookies and milk for Santa.....don't forget the celery and oats for his reindeer!
 Santa loves treats!
So do his reindeer!
GOODNIGHT AND GOD BLESS

Friday, December 23

DALLAS STARS CHRISTMAS EVE...EVE!!

On the Eve of Christmas Eve.......Christmas Eve Eve, our family went to the Dallas Stars Hockey game.  What a fun evening it was!   We started our evening with my FAVORITE....the Platinum Buffet (Audi's restaurant) in the American Airlines center. It was so yummy!!!  Then it was off to watch the game with the kids.  Here are some pics of our night!
Here is just a quick iphone pic of the game
Dallas Scores!!  The kids took turns getting on Dad's shoulders and dancing when the Stars scored a goal!  It was so exciting.  High 5's all around.....I would get a kiss from my Jeremy every time they scored.   I am so glad that we came up with that tradition so many years ago!
Here are the kids during an intermission.  Madison looked so cute in her Santa hat.  There was a  lot of Christmas cheer that evening.  It was great!!!
Here is a pic Jeremy took of me and my girls!
We asked the guy behind us to take a pic of our family and this is what we got.  His finger was in the front corner of the lens.  Oh Well, not really Christmas card worthy but it is a sweet souvenir of our fun night.  I don't want to forget these times with my loves!

Thursday, December 22

SNUGGLY FOOTIE PAJAMAS

Here are some pics of my babies in their snuggly, footie pajamas before bed!  I love snuggly freshly bathed babies!!
 They wanted to hold our statue of the Sweet Baby Jesus!  They never forget what Christmas REALLY means
 They are just so sweet and loving
Of course, Max saw an opportunity for snuggling and couldn't resist joining in.  The kids just love him so much

CHRISTMAS COOKIES WITH GRAMMY

Jeremy grew up with a very sweet tradition of making Santa cookies for Santa each Christmas.  These are not just ordinary Santa cookies......these are very detailed and beautiful Santa cookies.  Grammy (Jeremy's mom) brought all of the stuff to make the cookies with the grandkids!  What a fun and memorable event!
 Look at this vintage cookie cutter box.  It reminds me of my childhood!
 Mixing up the dough for the cookies with Grammy and Oompa

 Time to cut the cookies out.  They took special care to pack the dough in every corner of the mold.  There little fingers pushed the dough in all of the crevices.  They worked very hard
 Nicholas and Savannah were in charged of the raisin eyes!  They cut them and placed them carefully onto Santa's jolly face
Here are the bakers!  Madison loves to accessorize with a little flour (on her nose) when she bakes

BAKED AND READY TO DECORATE THE NEXT MORNING
Here are the Santas.......baked, cooled and ready for be-dazzling!
Grammy showed us step be step how to make our Santa cookies come to life!!
Madison was in charged on making his fluffy hat and pom pom for the top.....a very important part of Santa's outfit!
Nicholas carefully painted on an icing beard that was to be covered in shredded coconut to make really make it fluffy
Savannah be-dazzled his hat and rosy cheeks with sparkle candies

Time to add the coconut for his beard!
He is finished and ready for eating
 We made a lot of Santa's for family, friends, and of course to leave for Santa on Christmas Eve
(you will notice one Santa without  any icing......that is Nicholas' special Santa to eat.  He doesn't like icing)