Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve my mom came over and stayed the night with us. Since we were getting snow that I night, she and I didn't want her driving in it on Christmas morning.

We let the kids open their traditional Christmas Eve PJ's...

Read the Christmas Story and The Night Before Christmas...


and set out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa.


The next morning Caleb came and snuggled with Dan and I in bed while Ariel snuggled with my mom in Ariel's room. Caleb finally couldn't stand it any longer and had to get up and look outside. We had about 3 0r so inches of snow on the ground! What a wonderful Christmas gift!!


They were waiting so patiently to go downstairs...

He discovered that Santa ate all of the cookies and drank all of the milk!

Santa brought Caleb a few dress up outfits, a dry erase board and a Shrek Operation game. Ariel got a new Barbie bike and a Princess Helmet. Caleb said that Santa brought just what he wanted! Santa is SO good!!

Caleb played with this dry erase board for atleast 7 hours on Christmas Day. I am not kidding, the boy loved it! The board in this picture says...HOHOHO Mary Christms!

Ariel really wanted REAL tap shoes and a new tutu for Christmas and that is just what she got!

Daddy putting on her tap shoes...so sweet!

This is the perfect attire to use her new vacuum...tap shoes and a new tutu!

Dan got what he wanted!!

and so did I! (excuse the bed head!)

The girls (My mom, Ariel and I) took a nap while Caleb and Dan stayed up and played Caleb's new Wii game. After the naps and game time, it was time to go play in the snow! I had to get dinner on to cook so I wasn't able to go outside with them like I would have wanted but I did manage to get a few pictures from Caleb's window upstairs! It was bitterly cold out there and the kids didn't last very long!

I cooked a Honey Spiral Cut Ham, my mom helped me with some homemade au gratin potatoes, green beans and cresent rolls. For dessert I had planned on making a red velvet cake in celebration of Jesus' birthday but my mom brought a pecan cobbler so we put some candles in it and sang Happy Birthday to our Savior!

Thank You Jesus for my family and all the blessing you have given me. We had a wonderful day to remember the most important day in the year!

Christmas in Dallas 2009 Part 2

By the way...this is my 400th post!!


On Tuesday night we decided to go look at Christmas lights in Farmer's Branch. We did this last year and it was so much fun! My dad was able to get all 8 of us in his suburban! I was in the back with Allison and Caleb, Debbie and Les were in the middle with Ariel and my dad and grandma were in the front. We first went to look at lights in town and then we went to North Carrollton to look at a house that we saw last year. Apparently they add more and more lights every year so we wanted to see what new things they had! It was so pretty and we all took pictures in front of the big blue tree and the kids got candy canes from Santa.So, as I said before, all 8 of us were in one vehicle...it was about 70 degrees outside and I was sitting in the back. I could not get cooled off as we were heading home. We were about 5 minutes from my aunts house and I started feeling REALLY nauseous...I mean REALLY! I haven't ever been the type of person to get car sick at all but that night was a different story. I seriously thought that I wasn't going to make it home! I did though...thankfully and as soon as the suburban stopped and I was on solid ground I felt so much better! I don't think they will be letting me ride in the back anymore though! I think my step-mom was afraid that I was going to get sick in her hair!

The kids and I left on Thursday. At 8:00 that morning I get a call from my mom asking me if I was on the road yet because there was a big winter storm on its way. I had just gotten up and hadn't even fed the kids breakfast yet!! I packed as fast as I could because I didn't want to have to drive in bad weather with the kids. My dad came over to my aunts house at 8:45(he and Les stayed at my Grandma's so we would all have enough room) and the first thing he said to me was, "You need to get one the road girl...it looks bad!!" Thanks parents for scaring me!!!
I am kidding...I needed the push to get me out the door! The kids did great on the ride home. My aunt packed us PB&J's for the ride home so we wouldn't have to waste an hour in a restaurant eating. The weather was cold...REALLY cold and rainy. Not the best driving conditions but it was better than sleet and snow! The kids and I made it home a little after 4:00 and by 6:00 it had already started snowing. We got home just in time!

Christmas in Dallas 2009 Part 1

The kids and I left to go to Dallas on Monday, Dec 2oth. Dan wasn't able to go with us this year due to the fact that he had a job to finish up before Christmas. We missed him terribly but we knew that he needed to be home for a few days to wrap things up.

The kids did EXCEPTIONAL on the trip! They went 3 full hours without complaining one time. By the time we got to Mcalester it was time to eat. We stopped at Wendy's, had a potty break and then ate some lunch. We made it to Dallas right at 3:00. The kids were so excited to be at my aunt's house. My dad and his wife (Les) arrived shortly after we did and it was so good to see them. They drove all the way from Colorado to spend some time with the family.

The kids played lots of games: With Allison, with Ben and then several with the whole family!

We opened lots of presents...I mean LOTS!! I counted it up and we opened presents 6 nights in a row!! WOW...We are blessed!

A 2009 Christmas would not be complete without Sham WOW and a Snuggie!

My grandma has such wonderful sewing, crocheting and quilting abilities...she made the kids kitty and puppy hats with paws, she made each female in the family little knit slippers for our feet and she made matching hats a scarves for Ben and Sarah! She is so talented!

Waiting patiently to open gifts!

The weather in Dallas was SO unseasonably warm. On Wednesday we went to the park and let the kids play on the playground and it was 78 degrees out. My dad kept telling me that usually when the weather is that warm, something big was going to happen weather wise. He is such a smart man because Christmas Eve it snowed in Dallas...the first time in like 80 years!!

I am going to have to break this blog into two parts...blogger is getting harder and harder to edit...bare with me!

Gift Giver

Caleb got Ariel a gift for Christmas and wanted to wrap it so I assisted him today. He did a really good job and was so happy to show her that he had placed a present under the tree for her today. He wanted to tell her what it was so bad but he said that he didn't want to spoil the surprise!

Knit Hats

I had a dear friend of mine give me a wal-mart sack full of knit hats to give away to needy children. I decided to give the bag to the children at the Double-Tree that our church was sponsoring but before I gave it away, I found the kids in the sack and they were modeling a few of the hats in the bathroom mirror for me. They even put their coats on to give the "full effect"!

What do you do on a Saturday when it's raining?

Get your bounce on!!

I let the kids bounce and play in the bounce house that was given to us by a sweet friend of mine on Saturday. It was a great way to get the kids energy out and to give me some time to get the house picked up and put away some laundry. The garage is a great place to play!

Christmas Card

I wanted to post our Christmas Card here on my blog because I wasn't able to send out all the cards that I wanted to this year. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and is able to really see the true meaning of this holiday.

Christmas Pictures and Santa!

Today we went to see Santa. The kids were so excited. Caleb of course walked right up to him and sat in his lap with no hesitation but Ariel was a little more timid. I had to walk her up to him and place her in his lap and then she was fine. Santa gave them each a sucker and a coloring book and I got 10% off of Gymboree and some chocolate...score for me!! Although I won't be using the 10% off of Gymboree so if you want it you can let me know!

Before we went to see Santa I got a few shots of the kids. Caleb has his fake smile going on but that's alright I mean, it was 40 degrees out, I can't expect too much out of him considering he didn't even have a coat on!