Merry Christmas!

Oh my gosh, Christmas morning was SO fun!! I will never, ever forget the wonder and surprise on the kids' faces as they see the presents under the tree. Lorelai looked at the tree, looked at me and said " now that's what I call Christmas!" So funny. She cracks me up! Connor does this funny surprised gasp whenever he gets excited and he kept doing that while he ran to grab at all of the presents. Santa left a few of Connor's gifts unwrapped so he of course enjoyed that!

They were so cute playing and enjoying their gifts. We talked about the reason for the holiday, and we made family breakfast. This year it was sausage and gravy over biscuits with scrambled eggs. YUM! I lived on that stuff when I was pregnant with Connor. Nothing else seemed even remotely appetizing. It is strange what morning sickness does to you. We said a special grace and wished Jesus a happy birthday. Even Connor chimed in with his "Amen".

To make our day even better we went to our cousin's house in Virginia to celebrate and have dinner with them. They made a yummy lasagna. The kids played Wii for most of the day. They have a Wii Fit and one of the activities in there is hula hooping. Connor was trying to mimic everyone doing that and it was SO cute and funny!! He loves to do what everyone else does. It is hard to believe he is 21 months!!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, whatever holiday you celebrate. And I hope you got to spend some time with family or friends, or both!

Now we are looking forward to a New Years Eve party that we are all invited too! I will let you know how it goes :)

Beautiful Snow!

How exciting to wake up to this gorgeous view this morning! And it is still coming down! Can you see the excitement on their faces? Connor and Lorelai were so mesmerized, they just couldn't stop staring out the window! Hopefully it will stop snowing enough so that we can go out and play later. Connor has never played in the snow before, so that will be interesting. The Weather Channel says we are having a blizzard. How lucky for us that it is the weekend! Yeah, the kids are not as happy about that, lol. We are supposed to keep getting snow until this evening! How cool if it snowed like this for Christmas! I can't wait to get out there and build some snowmen with the kids.

Blog or Treat

Thank you Shannon for hosting this super fun swap! This swap was hosted by Shannon of
The Mommy Files.
It was loads of fun! I got some great goodies from my Blog Or Treat buddy Lin of Linny's Vault She sent candy (yum), some cute silverware for the babe, and lots of decorations!! Which the kids love, of course! I especially love the jack0-lantern candle holder! Thank you Lin!! The box was very awesome :) Here is a photo of the goodies!

Have a Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Halloween Party

I took the kiddies to our neighborhood Halloween party today! It was fun and the kids got to wear their costumes, which is always a great thing in their books! Lorelai went as a pirate. She was wearing her gorgeous pirate tutu made by yours truly. Connor went as her first mate. He had a BLAST playing the games! And he did pretty well too! Gabe and Nana did not dress up this time but they had fun anyway :)
They are all looking forward to Halloween when they can get loads of yummy candy!

Disney On Ice Celebrations

So we decided (my husband and I) to surprise our 6 year old daughter (and our 18m month old son although he will probably have no recollection of this) and take them to see Disney on Ice on Friday. It was SO much fun!! Lorelai was SO surprised, and she loved the show! They did a really great job with the presentation. It was very exciting and very colorful. There were lots of cool special effects to keep the kiddos attention. The Fairy Godmother shot sparkles out of her wand! And Mickey made brooms dance!!



The costumes were INCREDIBLE! Very well made. Connor was even entralled enough that he didn't try to get away from me. Well, at least not too much. His favorite part was when Buzz Lightyear and Woody made their appearance. It just so happens that Toy Story is his most FAVORITE movie ever and to prove it we watch it a minimum of 6 times a day! Just kidding! We only watch it about 2 or 3 times. Still, I think that I know the ENTIRE movie by heart. I think I dream of Toy Story at night, lol.




Anyway, there were so many of our favorite Disney characters, Jack the Pumpkin King, Belle, Cinderella, Cruella DeVille, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald, Ariel, lice, the Mad Hatter, Mulan, ok you gt the point. There were LOTS of characters!! It was really a fantastic show! Going on a Friday was a great idea! There wasn't too much of a crowd. We had so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

HAPPY STURDAY! UPDATE!! WINNER ANNOUNCED!

Today is Saturday, and you know what that means!! The Winner is going to be announced TODAY!!!!! Right on this blog!! As soon as the winner i posted I will update here as well to offer a big CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Copoied direct;y form Joey and Aleethea:

"CONGRATULATIONS to # 276 -- Joann of http://www.arkofjewels.blogspot.com ! How AWESOME, how lucky is she??

I've sent you an eMail Joann, and Liz will be contacting you soon to send out your gorgeous handmade handbag!! Woohoo!!

This was SO MUCH MORE FUN than I could've imagined. Let's do this giveaway stuff again soon, ok?

oxox "

HOORAY JOANN!!!!!! It is your LUCKY day :)

For my Daddy

Today is an especially sad day for me. Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my dad's death. He died of a heart attack. It was very sudden, he was 52 years old. He had just celebrated his 52nd birthday on October 1st. It was on that Thursday night, October 9, 2008 that I was woken up by my uncles (twins, in the black and white photo with my dad in the center) with the devastating news.

My dad lived in Toney, Alabama. It is a pretty small town just north of Huntsville. It is rural and pretty. He had lived there for at least the last 17 years, though it may have been longer. Heworked for the City of Hunstville. He was a crew chief. Before that he had been a paramedic in Chicago.

My dad was one of the kindest people I knew. He would give you the last $20 in his wallet if you needed it. Even if he had a bill to pay with that $20. He loved everyone, and he treated everyone the same. Like they were family.

My dad lived with his mom until she died in 1999. Then he lived alone. He worked, and went to church. And he LOVED his black Ford Mustang. He wiped that thing down every single time he drove it. That car shined like a star. You could probably shave in the reflection because it was so clean. That was his 2nd child. I was the lucky first.

My dad had just been to Maryland to visit us about a month before he died. My youngest was only 6 months old. I am thankful everyday that I got to see him so close to the end. I am always so sad that I didn't know. That I didn't say more. That I didn't tell him that he was such an inspiration to me. He was my hero. He loved me so much, did he know that I loved him just as much? He loved me unconditionally, and that is such a wonderful feeling. To know that no matter what, someone out there thinks the world of you. Even if you goof up. I miss him very much.

I know my dad was an extraordinary nice guy, but I did not know truly how many friends he had until he died. All of the men he worked with, people from church, people from all over came to the wake to pay their respects. I was overwhelmed with the love they all had for my dad. I wonder if he knew he had touched so many lives. There were many stories of my dad being there to lend a helping hand, lend an ear, or lend a dollar. He was just that kind of guy.

I think of my dad every single day, and I imagine I will for the rest of my life. Because of him I try everyday to be a better person. Even though he is gone, he is still with me and I still want to make him proud. I always think to myself, "what would my dad say about this?" Before I do anything. I want to be the kind of person he was. I want to be kind, loving, giving, understanding, selfless. I want to honor him, and so today I am remembering him, and celebrating his life.

I love you daddy, and I miss you so much.