Merry Christmas

                   From our family to yours,

     Have a very Merry Christmas and a
                         blessed New Year and 
                 remember the reason for this 
                               holiday season.


                      Happy Birthday Jesus!



                                                A few memories of Christmas 2011.
                                                          (Pictures of a few of our new decorations)

Christmas Morning 2011

Family room tree

                       Everyone needs mistletoe

The best two words I know.

 

Mike has a taste for everything retro.  Something about reliving his childhood.  ha!

He got these "retro Christmas robots" last year (never thought I'd have an occassion

to use those three words together).  

                                       

I saw this idea on Pinterest and my sweetie made it happen for a Christmas party.

Still trying to find an excuse for not taking them down.  Valentine's Day possibly?

Maybe he could add a few pink balls.  :-)

This year I asked Mike to make me for
Christmas, 2 magnetic chalkboards to
hang in my breakfast nook.  I love them.
My favorite gift from him.

I also saw these candy dish stands on Pinterest and Mike made them for

me for Christmas.  I plan to use them again for Valentine's Day.

He also made a white one so I may get to use them for 4th of July (if I only

had a blue one).  Sweetie!

I try to display Christmas cards thoughtout different places in our house.

My favorite are the picture cards.  I didn't get to make one this year which

I'm very sad about, however I have a fantastic idea for next year.  Yes, I'm

already planning next year.

This is something you won't see often (as in never).  Mike does most things but

he doesn't cook but he was great and pitched in for Christmas brunch.

Dylan got twin revolvers from us.  Poppy's favorite and Dylan

liked it pretty well himself.

My sweet big baby grandgirl.

Kelly and Matt weren't able to make it this year so the day after Christmas,

as in 3:30 am, I hopped in my car and headed up to see them for a couple

of days.  It was a long, long, long drive but so worth it.

Makenzie Belle

I love this photo of Brody, in his camo playing with his sister's stocking stuffers.

He gives equal opportunity to all toys. 

And an additional little bonus to my trip was waking up the first morning

after I arrived to this.  It only lasted a few hours, but for this Florida

girl, what precious hours they were.

Looking down Kelly's street.

Kelly's house at 6:00 am, December 27th, 2011.

                                                                 

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

A boy who loves his train.

Multitudes on Mondays (Christmas Edition)

                              Joining Ann Voskamp 1000 gifts.



              Hope you'll visit. Just click on Multitudes
                     on Mondays picture above.


                Remembering to be greatful in all things



I'm thankful for:

461.   the birth of Jesus.
462.   a great sermon at church followed up by a sweet Christmas program that
                my nieces and nephews were in.   
463.  Carrie, Melissa and Dylan coming with us.
464.  the Christmas shopping done, mostly. :-)
465.  Richard and Marlene hosting our family Christmas celebration this year.
466.  cousins at Christmas time.

Most of the cousins who "will remain nameless" did not want pictures this year.

467.   our parents.

468.  the influence that Tim Tebow has on the high school kids.  Yay God!!!
469.  Christmas trees.

470.  homemade gifts from my husband.  The Best!!
471.  all the packages being mailed.
472.  more people putting up Christmas lights this year.
473.  the precious announcement that our family will add another member by way
                of adoption.   Click here  to see our surprise.
474.  the upcoming trip to see grandkids.
475.  a brother in town visiting.
476.  24/7 christmas music on not one, but two radio stations.
477.  egg nog.
479.  Christmas movie marathons.
480.  gingerbread houses.
481.  the nativity  (the inside and outside kinds)

482.  little girls in Christmas dresses

483.  big girls who will still wear Christmas pajamas for her Nana.

                               What are you thankful for?

Gingerbread House

My first gingerbread house where I actually made the dough, cut out the pieces,
baked them, assembled and decorated.     I was able to use enough icing to cover
up most of my mistakes and I was happy with the results.  The best part is the entire house smell like gingerbread all day.  I don't think I'll ever go back to the pre-baked
 kits.   I also don't think I'll ever be entering any gingerbread house competitions
either (which was a dream of mine).  This one took me 4 hours and it's fairly small.
 I will just be content with a little one for our home.

Kristi's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

Kristi from   ...and babies make four    is having her annual 12 days of Christmas giveaway.  Click on the link and join the fun.

Whose birthday is it?

                         Take the time to read an amazing post by Ann Voskamp
                                     






When I grow up (even though she's MUCH younger than me) can I be her?      :-)

Gymnastic Meet Take 2

Makenzie had her second gymnastic meet and this time she did her routine with her eyes "open".  She loves gymnastics, but the audience, not so much.  So we're putting this in the win-win category.

Warming up.

Getting first place

And the best part of the day, ice-cream afterwards.

We're proud of you Makenzie Belle.

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

The cutest little "Santa" I ever saw.

Brody

(He will be18 months in a few days)

Christmas Mantle

One of my favorite things to decorate for Christmas (or really any holiday) is our fireplace mantle.  Probably because one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the stockings.  Even when I was little, to me the stockings were better than the presents.

The kids are grown with families of their own but "Santa" still leaves stockings for everyone.    I've never done a mantle link up before and I'm so glad I happened upon the two below.  In looking at all the links, I've gotten so many great ideas.  Besides pinterest of course.  I'll definitely be trying something new next year.

Stockings:  Pottery Barn Kids (We are actually missing four of the stockings)
Stocking holders:   Target
Fire place screen: My husband got this years ago at Kirklands.  He is very partial to it.

                      Click on the link ups below to view some really spectacular Christmas mantles.
                                           


                                                              Today I'm linking up with
                                                                          Ten June

and My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

     

Multitudes on Mondays

                                             Joining Ann Voskamp 1000 gifts.




                  Hope you'll visit. Just click on Multitudes on Mondays picture above.
                                  Remembering to be greatful in all things



I'm thankful for:
439.  church sermons that speak directly to the issues I need it to (again).
440.  beautiful december weather in Florida.
441.  pinterest ideas.
442.  a visit with my parents this weekend after church.
443.  train building with Dylan.
444.  my grandkids and my better-late-than-never (posting) of their halloween pictures.



Dorothy and the lion.



A Modern Day Fairy Princess



Spock
(Dylan doesn't know who Spock is so he decided he was a spaceman)



445.  gingerbread houses.
446.  Mike always being able to fix whatever I break.
447.  two nieces accepting Jesus into their hearts this month.
448.  Muri's new picture.
449.  being closer to finishing our Christmas shopping.
450.  peppermint mocha frappuccinos.
451.  peppermint bark.
452.  children's Christmas plays.
453.  outdoor nativitys.
454.  all day Christmas music channels.
455.  my dad wrapping all the Christmas presents for my mom.
456.  Wanda's continued healing from surgery.
457.  Christmas cards arriving in the mail.
458.  advent calendar ideas by bloggers (I especially love Pitter Patter Art's idea
               of a Random Act of Kindness advent calendar).
459.  more neighbors putting up Christmas lights this year.
460.  light traffic to work this morning. :) 


                                 What are you thankful for?






 

Trains

What is it with little boys (and big boys) and trains.  Dylan came for  a sleep over this past weekend and all he could think about or talk about was trains. So after dinner Poppy and Dylan set up the Christmas train and had lots of fun watching it go around and around f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  

Train building is serious work.

Time to start the train!

After a  night of rail-roading, a bath and pj's, I tried to do a little photo shoot by the tree.

I gave up after a few minutes because sometimes it's better just to "shoot" for another day.

We had a great visit sweet boy.