New Years Eve

We spent New Years Eve with some friends and neighbors. They came to our house and we ate, drank, and were merry. ;0)

We had a lot of fun. We played an adult game called "Cards of Humanity." We had some pretty good laughs. A LOT OF LAUGHS. No worries...the kids didn't play this game with us...they all kept themselves entertained upstairs with their own games. :)

We were having so much fun that we forgot about Midnight. So we celebrated and did our own countdown well after the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!!!!

Christmas Eve Service

This is the first year that I can remember that we didn't have a church home for Christmas. Our church got acquired by another church a few months before Christmas which left us without a church home. We knew we would go to Christmas Eve church, we just weren't sure where we would end up trying. A friend invited us to go with her and her family and the kids had a blast. It is the church Frank and I first started going to when we were first married and they do a great job catering to the kids. Although it won't be our new church home, we had a great night celebrating Jesus' birth and playing in the snow.


After all the fun playing around in the snow around the church....it melted my heart to see them all sing by candlelight in the service.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Cadet Christmas Party and Philanthropy Project

Hadley team had their team Christmas Party and Philanthropy project all the same day. They met and decorated cookies, did a coloring book exchange, ate lunch and make ornaments for a local assisted living home. The girls had such a fun time at their party but the best part of the day was yet to come:

After we left Woodlands Elite, we headed to the assisted living home. They were SO happy to see us walk in the door. There was one little lady who kept talking to the girls and was telling them how beautiful they were. And she kept repeating the same thing over and over, and the girls were so sweet with her. They then went to the back room to sing Christmas Carols to the residence. Wheelchair after wheel chair kept turning in the hallway. They were excited to have the girls there. The girls sang a few songs for them and then decorated their tree with the ornaments they had made. It was a very special day. I was holding back the tears for so many reasons..but mostly for how sweet the entire thing was. How grateful these people were to have visitors, and how much joy our girls brought them.
I love Hadley's team. They are such a sweet group of girls and are unbelievably talented! I love the that she will have a lot of these friendships for years to come.

Annual Gingerbread Houses

My mom called to set up a date with her grandbabies to make their annual gingerbread houses. They love making them. They love the actual house making, but they love that my mom makes the time to come see them too. It makes them feel special and loved. Time is definitely the best gift you can give a child.  I love that they will always have these memories that she creates with them.
Nanny came along this year. She has had a rough year. Her last two friends past away this year. She has been down which is totally not like her at all. In all of my 35 years I have never seen my grandma not be the ultimate optimist. Mema brought her and Ellie, who knows nothing about what is going on, seems to have this special gift of picking up when someone needs extra loving. She called Nanny over and asked if she would help her make Gingerbread Men. She was so gentle and sweet with her. And kept saying, "Good job Nanny...that is beautiful." Nanny went from being down to singing Christmas songs and helping her great Grand Daughter. I held back the tears as I watched them.
Mema always brings lots of "extra" goodies so that we have candy all Christmas long. Here are a few pictures from their Gingerbread House Afternoon:


Our Neighborhood does an annual gingerbread house making party too. A few days before, me and a few other neighbors constructed 50 gingerbread houses out of graham crackers & lots of icing. We send out a list of goodies we need and everyone brings something and the party is a blast. I absolutely LOVE our neighborhood and the friendships we have made here.

Stunting with the Neighbors

Our front yard typically has one or two things going on in it....football or stunting with the neighbors. The girls adore our neighbors and they also do cheer. They love stunting little ones and my girls love being stunted...so they have a lot of fun together. ;)

The Woodlands Highschool Football Game

For Gavin's birthday he didn't really care to have a party, he just wanted to go to a Woodlands High School football game. So we went to two. The first game it started pouring down rain so we left at half time. The second game we brought a few of his buddies along with us.
Before the game we had pizza and opened up a few gifts his friends had brought him:

Then it was off to the game:

After a Highlander win, we came home and had Chocolate Chip Pound Cake:

And the boys stayed up REALLY late playing...(and wrapping the inside of our house)...LOL.