Our Christmas in Pictures

What's a sure way to know if I've had a great time somewhere? I have very few photos to show for it. : / There are LOTS of photos in this post, but not nearly enough that cover all the fun we had these past two weeks. SO fun. But here is what I did manage to get...

Our Christmas morning...since we were heading to Texas for Christmas, we had our own Christmas celebration before we left, party of five style. ;) When we woke up, Brian read the Christmas story first....the boys were surprisingly patient and engaged, which made my heart very happy.

Then we headed downstairs to see what Santa had brought. Hunter was SO excited about his orange 4-wheeler....

Harrison and Hud both had a major Lego Christmas, which thrilled them to no end. I can't believe they both built their big sets that day. Crazy.

Clearly, Brian was having fun with some of his gifts too. ;)

And at the end of opening gifts, there was a special gift for each of them from Mickey Mouse, telling them that he can't wait to meet them this summer when they come to visit him at Disney World! Not sure who's more excited, me or them. Maybe me because I know just how magical that place is. They are really excited too...Hunter keeps asking me if it's time to go to "Disney Channel" yet. :) He has no idea how much fun it's going to be.

The next day we loaded up the car (and managed to fit all of us and everything else in it, which was a Christmas miracle) and headed fort Texas. We spent Christmas Eve at Nana's, and it was great. Family time, a delicious dinner, and the Christmas Eve service at our old church. Really great getting to go back and see friends...it was nice getting to be with our old church family.

Hunter really loves playing the Wii at Nana's....

Cousin time....

...that night we headed up to the farm for Christmas day. Harrison played his guitar for Mimi and Papa (with the help of his brothers~Hud on spotlight, Hunter was the music stand)... ;)

Hud got involved in a very serious game of Monopoly with his uncles. :)

Todd thought my mom's new cozy socks were a handband....hahaha.

The boys got to drive their new car-thing, and LOVED it. They were very cool.

Hud loved his cozy fort...in fact, he spent most of the day in here, playing his new DS games. The kiddo was in heaven. :)

Hunter ended up sick on Christmas with some yuck upper respiratory stuff. Not fun. Thankfully he was better the next day, and improved even more over the rest of the week. It was pitiful.

And apparently that's where I decided to stop taking pictures. Not happy with myself at all. The rest of the week was great too. Hung out with my friend Tomi, had a dinner date with Brian and our friends Brent and LeeAnn, shopped with my mom and sisters, watched the boys play hard with my dad and their aunts and uncles, taught a class at the Little Blue House, did a family photo shoot (can't wait to update the blog!!!)....we made tons of memories, and are thankful for a fantastic Christmas with our family and friends.

Now we're back home, and there is unpacking, a little laundry, and lots of cleaning and putting away of Christmas decorations to do. I'm going to buy my new calendar tomorrow...can't wait! Love the cleaning, fresh start, nesting thing that comes along with starting a new year. Here we go...bring on 2011!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope you're having a wonderful week! Been taking a little break from bloggy world...busy with school Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, visiting Santa (took two tries to actually see him, but whatever), making cookies, wrapping gifts, sitting in front of a fire with the hubs...you get it. :)

Hope you have a very merry Christmas~ I'll be back with plenty of stuff to share in the new year!

Rockstar Heaven and Other Stuff

It's no secret that Hunter loves to play guitar. And he really loves when he gets to play with his Uncle Todd, who has lots of really cool guitars. And a cool hat too. :)

This kiddo was in heaven.

So was this one. Playing, wearing the cool hat too. He's past due for a haircut~ but he asked me to make sure he gets to keep his sideburns. ;) Apparently he's starting to have an opinion about his hair. Thankfully I love his sideburns too.

Harrison is 3 months into guitar lessons, and is doing great! He played "Jingle Bells" for us the other day, and rocked it. :) Uncle Todd taught his a couple new chords while we were visiting too.

Love this one of Mom and Reagan. Don't know why Beth was hiding behind them. Weirdo. ;)

One with my hubs...playing with photobucket a little....kinda like the old photo look.

And this is one of my favorite photos from our week in Texas. Love those two boys very much.

Hunter loves hanging out with his Uncle Jon too. They are good snugglers, and share a love for playing games on Jon's phone. :)

Thanksgiving, Part Two

Today was part two of our Thanksgiving.

We spent the day with my side of the family.

More turkey and all the yummo fixins...food heaven.

Hunter loves to lay down and drive his trains, cars, anything with wheels. :)

Harrison and Papa enjoying a pre-Thanksgiving dinner sucker. 'Cause that's what they needed.

The girls (we're so outnumbered.) :)

The lovebirds.

More lovebirds. :)

And some more lovebirds. There's all kinds of love here. ;)

And the whole big family. Happiness.

Thinking about making this my new profile pic of Facebook. What do you think? ;) Haha.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow the Christmas season officially begins for this girl. Even though our house is already decorated. I'm a step ahead, people. :)

Thanksgiving, Part One

We are having a GREAT time with family and friends this week.

Today we spent the day with Brian's family.

I wore my skinny jeans in an effort to remind myself to pace myself today. Didn't work so well. Way too much good food. And we get to do it again tomorrow with my side of the family. :) Yummo.

All of the cousins together...I think they all look like they could be brothers. (Photos taken by Leslie Hatcher)

Nothing like a good card game with family on Thanksgiving. We played (and played and played) Toy Story 3 UNO. It rocked. :)

And what would be a visit to Nana's house without some Wii time? Gotta love the Wii. :) Hunter has been playing so much lately that he smoked his older cousins in severalgames. Made me giggle. ;)

I love this photo of Nana and Erik. So sweet.

Ummm...time to eat? ;) Bring it on.

A turkey coma hit Mike pretty hard. ;)

More Toy Story UNO....

And by some miracle, we got a family picture where everyone looks good and happy at the same time. Love it.

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving was happy (and maybe included it's own miracle) too. Tomorrow, more fun with my side of the family, more delicious food, and I'll be wearing more comfortable pants. ;) Happy Thanksgiving!

Stream of Consciousness

Because I haven't done a stream of consciousness post in awhile. And there are so many thoughts in my head, so why not?

I can't believe how fast November is flying by. Almost the middle of the month already. Thanksgiving is two weeks from today...which makes my heart so very happy because that means that in less than two weeks we will be in Texas, celebrating all we are thankful for with family, seeing friends we haven't seen since summer, eating more turkey and stuffing (my favorite!) than people should ever be allowed to eat, and just relaxing and soaking up every bit of being back home again. Because even though this place is starting to feel like home in some ways, truth is...I'm a Texas girl. Through and through. Despite the fact that this peach state is growing on me. And I love the fall colors here. The trees are the most vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange I've ever seen. And speaking of orange....

Have I ever mentioned how much I love pumpkins?

I have? Hmm...must have forgotten. :)

Today was parent-teacher conference day at the boys' school. Thankfully they were uneventful. Both boys are doing great academically, socially....huge blessings. And because of the conferences, today and tomorrow are half days. Which I love. Today I treated the boys to McDonald's for lunch. Which is a restaurant I had banned. Too many disturbing reports on the food quality, and I just can't stand the thought of that food digesting (or not) in their tummies. But I gave in today, with the understanding that it would be a VERY long time before that happens again. And as a reward (hard for me to think of it that way, but they certainly do) for their awesome teacher reports. They understand my issue, and were just happy to get to go, and THRILLED that it happened to fall while MegaMind toys were in their Happy Meals.

Yesterday Hunter and I met some new friends for lunch and to play. We have SO much fun with them. So fun. Jenny and I just click, have similar interests (including a love for leopard print and decorating, especially at Christmas) and our boys are the same ages. Hers are 3 and 4, and Hunter falls right in the middle. And they play well, and are always so excited to see each other. I'm loving it. And no, that wasn't a McDonald's reference. ;)

Halloween weekend was Hud's last football game of the season. :( We're all a little sad about it. Loved his team, the coach, the parents of all the players...and most of all loved watching him figure this sport out and develop a love for it. He's begging to play tackle football instead of touch next year. *gulp* We're going to have to see about that...thankful we have a whole year to decide. So happy that Reagan and Mimi got to see one of his games.

Have I ever mentioned that there are some OLD (like, Civil War old) cemetaries near our neighborhood? One of the really cool things about living in the South, I suppose. I love to walk up there and read the headstones...is that weird? Sounds creepy, probably, but I find it fascinating read the names, how long the people lived, how many family members are buried together. Always blown away by how many babies there are. Breaks my heart....I get lost in thinking about the parents and how devastated they must have been, and start imagining their story in my head. Is that weird? Probably. ;) Once when my parents were here my Dad found a headstone belonging to a Confederate soldier. Amazing, huh?

And now I've got to get back to scrapbooking, getting the boys' stuff ready for school tomorrow, making a grocery list, clipping coupons, getting the kiddos to bed, etc. And tonight is my favorite tv night too...priorities, people. ;)

(Over) Achievers

I'm a proud mama.

Can't help it.

I've posted many times over this past year about the mom guilt that comes along with plucking your happy, well-adjusted kiddos out of their happy comfort zone and planting them in a new place. Even when it's in the name of Jesus, it still kinda stinks.

After this past Friday, I have to admit I feel a little better.

On Friday Hudson was given the "Student of the Month" award for his class. His sweet teacher talked about why she chose him, mentioning his generous heart and sweet spirit as a couple of the reasons during Praise and Worship.

I mean, look at that face. Does it get any sweeter? I think not. :) It is so, SO good to see him adjusting so well at school.

And on Friday Harrison and his sweet friend, Blakely, were announced as the 4th grade Student Council Representatives during Praise and Worship too. We were so excited when we found out Harrison had won this week...he worked hard campaigning, gave a speech, etc, made posters to hang all over the school. Both of the boys are SO much more outgoing than I ever was as a kid, and it does my heart good to watch them dive in head first into their new school, making friends, rockin their grades....making an impression.

Like I said...proud mama. :)