Family Christmas

Just a glimpse of what Christmas was like at our house...

Hope yours was as fun as ours!

**Notice Granny Great in the midst of us all holding her head!

Merry Christmas

I received this version of one of my favorite passages from the bible several years back. I have kept it and read it often throughout the years. It is so full of truth and speaks volumes to me especially during this time of year. Hope you find it as sweet as I do.

I Corinthians 13
A Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with gold bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas

china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure forever.

Our family wishes yours a very merry Christmas. May the magical birth of our Savior be the center of all your celebrations. What a wonderful season of love, peace and joy!

School Program

Brain Gym performed Twas the Night Before Christmas for all of their friends and family on the last day of school. As always, Ms. Sherri and Ms. Dee painted an adorable set and the play was too cute.

Here is Trent's class singing a few songs for the opening act. Please notice the gap between the two little girls...

Where is Trent?? Was there ever really any question???

Here is my cute Dasher. He was SO excited to be in this play. He told me to make sure and clap if I liked it. Then he said, "Even if you don't like it, go ahead and clap, Mama."

He said his lines beautifully.

And sang REALLY loud and only a few seconds ahead of all his classmates.:)

Then he came and got his favorite girl out of the audience for a little Jingle Bell Rock. We tore it up!!!

After the program, KK told him what a great job he did. He answered, "I know."

We are not lacking in confidence.

Nutcrackers

Brandon's aunt, Jane, brought me a nutcracker from Germany several years ago that I just loved. I decided at that point to begin collecting them. I try to add one (or more) to my collection each Christmas. Most of them have been given to me by friends or family and many have come from cool places. BUT, I have a feeling that these will be my favorite for years to come...

Tree Farm

Brain Gym went on their annual field trip to the tree farm recently. It was Trent's first field trip since beginning at his brother's school in early December. The outing was during Zachary's hunting trip with his dad, so just Trent and I got to spend the day with his friends at the farm.

The day was extremely cold. (I think the adults were more bothered by that than the kids!) They picked out a perfect tree and cut it down to take back to school. Trent's favorite part was the swinging on the swing set and seeing all the different animals.

HOG Wild

Brandon and Zachary went on their first trip of male bonding and shooting all things living this past weekend (more on that later). Trent and I headed to Little Rock for a little fun of our own. It was a quick trip, but we got to see a few of our very favorite people. A certain family attempted to continue the brainwashing that we received while living in Arkansas on our short visit.

They treated us to dinner at:

Where we drank from this:

And saw this:

On our way to and from the restaurant, we passed this:

Good thing the company was good:

One highlight from the trip was when Rhett told me that we shouldn't get a certain toy out because we needed to keep the house clean for their company. I think he was a little disappointed when Jamie reminded him that we WERE the company!

Saturday we were off to see the Svoboda family.


Our visit was right in the midst of nap time for the twins so they weren't real excited about smiling for the camera. Olivia, however, was in a great mood and played so well with Trent. He had a blast with her.

Thanks, Jamie and Becca, for letting us come for a visit.

Tour of Homes

Last year I loved looking at the homes on Boomama's blog during her Tour of Homes, but never joined in. I decided to play along this year.

Enjoy:

Tree in family room. I had absolutely nothing to do with this beauty. My MIL, Jana, does it for me every year!

My favorite nativity sitting on a table in my entry way

mantel. Had nothing to do with this either. Oh I take that back, I did hang the stockings!:)

The boys' tree in the office. We had a great time decorating this with all the ornaments they've acquired or made during their short lives.

These are the boys' stockings that Santa actually fills. My aunt Becky made them. BTW, Becky, Zachary wants to know why his is so much smaller!

Zachary's minature tree that he decorated himself. It's in his cabin themed bedroom.

Front door wreath. Notice the creation from Engraved Euniques in the center. If you are participating in this tour of homes, you may win one for yourself.


Go here and check out all the other great homes. It's so fun to see how everyone else decorates for the holidays. Warning: It's addicting and you will waste half of your day clicking on all the different one million participants!

Merry Christmas!

The Real McCoy

Brandon's dealership had a customer appreciation dinner recently. Neal McCoy, who does their promotions, hosted the evening. He even treated us to a few Christmas songs which was really neat. It was a big success and I think their customers had a great time.

One of the prizes that was given away

Cutie Patootie

My mom and Brandon's mom with Mr. McCoy

He thought I was a young kid and told me so. That is why I appear SO happy in this picture. He couldn't believe I had kids of my own!

People stood in line for a long time to get autographs and pictures with Neal. This picture was taken after everyone had left and he had to sneak up behind Zachary to get a picture with him. Obviously Zachary was not as star struck as some of the people who came.

License to Kill

I just had to share a picture of Zachary's hunting license.


Is that the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

The Season is Here

Saturday we took the boys to watch the Christmas parade in our little town. They held the parade at dark which really made for a neat event. The floats were very impressive and my kids had a great time watching.

Zachary, Katie, me, Trent and Grandmother

One of our favorite floats

I ran in the Rudolph 5k Run prior to the parade. It was pretty chilly, but lots of fun! Grandmother, Zachary and my niece, Katie, stood along the route to cheer me on. Zachary even ran across the finish line with me!


Our house is decorated, lights are up, most gifts are bought, now it's time to enjoy the season. We love this time of year!!!

First Kill

This morning was Zachary's first morning to ever go hunting. He and Brandon actually went out to put feeders, but took the gun---just in case. They got lucky and not only saw a buck, but shot it! Zachary is very much claiming this as his first deer, but I think Dad actually pulled the trigger. This picture is awful, but he wouldn't get any closer. AND, I couldn't get excited about taking pictures of a bloody animal.

They've got a big hunt planned for next weekend so I am afraid that my little one has "got the fever!"

Letter to Santa

If you haven't sent your letter to Santa yet, you can go here and e-mail him. He will reply with an adorable personalized letter in just seconds. We are sure glad he's tech-savvy because we keep forgetting to write and mail him a letter. Only 20 days...

Christmas Portraits

Having family pictures made around here is really no fun! Does anyone else have major stress when it comes to family photo sessions?! My husband acts bad, my kids act awful and I get SO MAD!!! I have threatened to use this picture for our card this year just to give a true glimpse of our daily lives...



Trent's crying, Zachary's whining, I'm lecturing...

I know Brandon looks innocent in this picture, but trust me, he had his moments too!

Thanks, Kisha, for hanging in there with us. We did get a few where we look like somewhat of a happy family.

Tales of a Fisherman

Uncle David and Zachary spent a little time fishing over the weekend. Zachary was very pleased with his catch!



After a day of fishing, there is only one thing to do...have a fish fry! We love when Uncle David comes to town and spoils us with his fish and homemade hush puppies.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of family and food. We saw all three sets of grandparents in a 3 day span and were loving living within 20 minutes of all of them. For some reason I took very few pictures. I got several of lunch at my mom's, but then really slacked off at the Milam's and at my Dad's house.

Jack, Ali, Katie, Trent and Zachary at Grandmother's (my mom's)
[Please note that this is Z's official pose these days. I've given up on getting him to smile.]

Daddy and Uncle Tripp holding a baseball clinic

Granny-Great, Trent and me

Grandmother with Trent and Jack

I didn't take ANY pictures of all the kiddos and family at the Milams. I did get one that is worth sharing. This is Raegan. 16 is such a cool age!

I made Thankful Trees for each house. It was fun to fill out the "leaves" with what you are thankful for and then hang them on the tree. Would you believe that I also didn't get a picture of any of the them?! Sister posted more pictures from the day and a picture of one of our Thankful Trees.

Over the weekend we also celebrated Brandon's birthday. We went to dinner in Longview with Karen and Jon for his celebratory dinner. We also did a little shopping, but were cut short because of the OU game on Saturday night. Jon actually timed me in the last store that we went in (17 minutes!). We did make it home for kick off and enjoyed a great game.