christmas!

the boys and cousin kiara. christmas eve. at diamond and ronnie's in glen rose. *********************************************************************
it was a great birthday + christmas eve. i turned 41... whaaa! sounds funny to me. i can't be more than 35. these little kiddies had a great christmas. night vision goggles... way cool! new ride on toys for the boys; razor rip rider and plasma car. robe, blanket, clothes, adorable hat, itouch for kiara. we are all blessed.
especially that we could be together, even if it was just for the day.

back home, christmas morning came early. we were up and gathered at the tree by 7.
these boys. super excited christmas morning. big lacrosse sticks and goal. wearing last year's christmas pj's. my boys have grown this year. daddy is getting them ready to start lacrosse this spring.
the equipment is PRICY. times two. we will be spreading out the purchases
cooper was so excited going through his stocking full of new justice league underwear, socks, toothbrush, and mini legos. corbin is all about opening presents... the more the merrier please. they are all about the legos. and playing games on their new wii.


grateful for the magical moments celebrating the holidays with our little boys.

we are really enjoying a staycation this week while adam's off work.
life is good.

Merry Christmas!

from our family to yours someone was having too much fun making faces at the camera. oh well.

wishing all our friends and family a very merry christmas, and happy new year!

christmas party {kindergarten}

the boy's kindergarten classes had a holiday craft party the last day before Christmas break. i took scratch-n-sniff tattoos for all the kiddos. oh boy that was a hit!a few other parents brought other crafts to share. i loved spending time in their classroom getting to know their classmates more. and loved seeing everyone interact. such a great group of littles.
we LOVE both of their teachers so much!
cooper insisted on helping apply tattoos as well. such a good helper! and if it's good enough for one, then the other has to try too. corbin helped apply tattoos to some of his friends.
yay for kindergarten! lots of new friends and parties!

advent week 4

our little family participated in the Advent season reading and candle lighting at our church the sunday before christmas. adam did the reading. Luke 1:46-55. i lit the candles. and corbin asked the question at the end. cooper entertained the crowd with his cuteness. Enjoy!



hoping to make this an annual tradition. definitely a great family moment and small service to our wonderful church.

instafriday

cooper bought me a "MOM" heart charm necklace for christmas at a little shop they set up at school for the kids to buy gifts. i sent them both to school with $5 of their own money. i love how he totally gets the idea of giving to others this time of year. and how he takes after his dad by not being able to wait to give out the gifts he buys. lucky me!
my view at the school picking up the boys every afternoon.
shortbread cookies with sprinkles. easy and yummy!
i love our grocery store. a view of my cart with a redbox rental and tons of yogurt.

this little card reader has changed my life. i used to hook up to my ol printer and upload. coach hanging out by the tree. our next door neighbors tree just turned bright orange this week. love it! super excited about these big boy lacrosse sticks we got the boys for christmas.
a few photos of my crazy hair. it grows so fast and then i can't do a thing with it. i have to show my hairdresser the way it looks just 3 weeks after a hair cut. i'm going shorter next time.
homemade baquette. i'm getting the hang of making the loaves look pretty.
i had to crack up after getting these eye pillows packages up... they look like pretty bras. ha!

a rare doctor visit with the boys. just need assurance they just had colds and no ear infections. they always have so much fun going to the doctor. go figure!
had to get our first doctor excuses for an absence from school.
i loved the scripture and picture on the calendar hanging in our waiting room. james 5:16
the view on our counter for a few days.


hope everyone has a great weekend!

tuesday

last week i did a little sewing for others....

i made eye pillows filled with flax seed and crushed lavender flowers

made these for my sister in law to give as gifts. love them! i'm making more to give out as well. they smell so wonderful! lavender is my favorite. warm this up in the microwave for 20 seconds, lay across your eyes. feels heavenly.

big barbie totes
my client brought me the vinyl fronts from several Barbie Doll Carrying Cases. from the 60's people. pretty fun retro colors.

i have a little more sewing to finish before Christmas. really enjoying sewing with this new machine my mom passed down to me. i love it! thanks mom!

speaking of...happy birthday mom! we love you!!
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my favorite and cheapest christmas gift to the boys... did you see this placemat collage idea on Clover Lane? I love picasa. so i knew i'd have to make them one. so easy! easy to wipe clean. lots of fun pictures from this year to look at, talk about over our meals together.

weekend

on saturday me and the boys stayed home all day playing around the house. adam went to a lacrosse tournament. we did some Trio building, baked bread for sunday school teachers, corbin showed me how to play marble tossing, laundry, and we colored some christmas pages to send to uncle ronnie.
boys are fighting some sore throat bug. praying they keep it to themselves. i have a feeling they will be staying home from church, and school on monday.

we caught up on some of our Jesse tree stories on saturday morning early.



this curly haired boy is back to his self. and in desperate need of a bath and haircut. he loves the colder weather, and is properly insulated to go in and out. he barks loud when he's cold and ready to come in. spoiled with bones and treats

visiting Santa...

man i love this tradition. i have vivid memories of each year taking the boys to the mall for pictures with Santa. we always go the first week of December. starts off the holiday season in a special way. this year they were especially cooperative, interested and played along very well. happy me!
7 months old, 19 months old, 2 1/2 years, 4 1/2 years

sadly i don't have one from 2009, 3 1/2 years. i got them dressed in shirt and tie took them to the mall, but couldn't convince them to sit with santa. AT ALL! i was so sad! but thankfully i got this beforehand picture by our tree at home.


this year was fun. they were ready and excited to go!

they insisted on one in my sunglasses... lookin' cool. they are pretty cool, for sure! cooper has been sure to point out over and over that the santa's in most of the pictures are different. hmmm

instafriday

yay! i made it... linking up with Jeanette at Life Rearranged on FRIDAY.
love her motto -life doesn't always go as planned. help others anyway. Amen to that!

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it's been a super great week 'round here. here's some pictures i took with my phone.

i took these cool dudes to the mall to see Santa. i've taken them every year of their life in the first week of December. i am very sentimental about it. the boys played along superbly this year. five is good! they dressed up and corbin accessorized them by suggesting they each wear a pair of my sunglasses. it was so cute! more on that in another post...

this is InstaFriday! on to more phone pics

we made a few homemade snow globes. i thought about doing it as a craft for the boys class party. not sure i can come up with enough for 40 kiddos or not. they sure are cute though. i still need to add the distilled water and glycerin.

we are so behind with our Jesse tree stories. adam said it looks pretty sad. we are only 6 ornaments behind. we will catch up.

i'm busy sewing. and trying to remember to be elijah the elf after the boys go to bed at night. most days i'm waking up in the middle of the night remembering to move him to a new spot. wife, mom, daughter, sister, elf... whatever.
the boys like the find the elf game.

cooper said this morning, ugh elijah's in the tree AGAIN. ha
the game invokes lots and lots of questions out of our curious boys.



the hospital by our house had the cross lit up in blue last night. i knew the boys would want to see it, but they were home in bed. i took a picture to show them.

happy weekending! our plans include christmas party with our sunday school class, lacrosse tournament work for adam, church, and caroling on sunday afternoon around dripping springs with our class. we love our sunday school friends. surely loads of laughs and good times to come.

we are blessed!

remember jesus is the reason for the season

terrific tuesday

oh christmas tree!
i really love this time of year. decorating for christmas is the best.
me and the boys made pretzel hugs today after school. trays and trays of yummy goodness. the boys eagerly took a few plates to the neighbors before dinner.


we love this fabulous mexican pizza.
we eat too well around here.
the temperature barely got to 40 degrees here today. i was lucky to have a fire going most of the day. thanks to adam.


my big kindergartners are learning to read.