New Orleans, Houston and now Nacogdoches

Our car trip to Texas has been a quite enjoyable one, surprisingly. On Monday morning around 4:00 am, we pulled out of the driveway and headed out. We decided to head towards New Orleans where we stopped at Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets. It was the girls first visit and they seemed to really enjoy it. I know I did!Something that surprised us as we entered New Orleans was the devastation that still remained from Hurricane Katrina. Three years later and it looked as if it had just occurred. Kevin and I can tell exactly where we were when the Hurricane hit because Lacey was born on that day. So, that's a hard one to forget.

After beignets and coffee, we were off and on our way to Sugar Land (which is outside of Houston) to see the Hicks' family - Cammie, Paul and their three boys Clay, Cole and Cooper. The girls were so full of excitement about seeing their cousins; and I think everything lived up to their expectations. Cammie and Paul have three dogs - a Lab, named Jet who lives outside and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, named Duke and Barron which live inside. The girls fell in love with Duke and Barron which it was not hard to considering how cute and well behaved they were.

On Tuesday, we had decided to take the girls to the NASA to see the "rockets." This was probably not a good idea because we seemed to enjoy it more than the girls. The very first thing the girls saw when we walked into Space Center Houston...a playground. So, the whole entire time was spent hearing about how we had to go back and play on the playground. Are we surprised?

This morning we have packed up the bags and are heading north toward Nacogdoches to see the rest of the family. We will stay here until Friday and then pack up again and head back home to the big ATL.


Daddy and Lacey enjoying some beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.






"The Girls" smiling for the camera at Cafe du Monde.








Welcome to Texas!!!









Daddy and Lacey with "Flat Stanley" standing in front of one the engines on the Saturn V rocket. Look at the size of one of those engines...well, it's like they say everything in Texas is bigger?








Daddy and Lacey ready for blast off?











Lela and me in front of the Star Wars - Clone Wars exhibit at Space Center Houston. I'm a huge Star Wars fan but don't tell anybody. So, when I found out about this exhibit I got all excited.


Me in front of the actually Saturn V rocket. It was HUGE!!!

Texas Here We Come

Bags are being packed and a flurry of excitement is in the air here at the Daniell Household. Personally, I'm a little nervous because we are about to embark on a 700+ mile trip one way with two small children. Yes, we have lost our minds. Later today the Sequoia will be packed, movies put on standby, and we will head out to Houston. I'll keep you posted on our cross country adventure. I'm sure it will be entertaining.

More From Christmas

Lacey and Lela at Memaw's, with their new horses for their American Girls.

Kevin worn out after opening all those presents.

Laura and me with Mom and the kids at Laura's on Christmas Eve.

Sisters forever, Laura and me on Christmas Eve.

The four "L's" in my life - Lela, Laura, Lacey and Lisa.

It Was...A Merry Christmas

Well, the last box of ornaments is finally being put away. And the tree is gone and the wreaths and garland are coming down from outside. Another Christmas has come and gone. Did Santa bring you everything you wanted? Ours was a GREAT ONE!!! The girls had a blast and every year it just seems to get better and better. We had the pleasure of having Gigi spend the night with us on Christmas Eve which was a huge hit for the girls. Then Christmas Day was spent at our house having brunch with everyone. Santa was very good to us this year and brought the girls or was it us a Wii and Wii Fitboard. We have had so much playing with it. I'm still trying to figure out who is having more fun with it us or the girls.

Family picture in front the Christmas tree, what a good looking group!

My sweet babies - Lela (5 1/2) with her new Bratz doll and Lacey (3).

Lela, Lacey and Mommy at Memaw's opening up presents.

Lacey showing off Kit's new gown that she got for Christmas from Gigi.

Having Fun With The Girls

We are so blessed to have such good friends. Yesterday a group of us got together to decorate cookies, eat dinner and then head downtown for the Lighted Christmas Parade. It was fun just hanging out and visiting with one another. Here are some pictures from our afternoon of fun:

Christmas In Downtown Newnan

Never in a million years would I expected that I would love living in Newnan as much as I do. My only regret is that we don't live closer to the square. There is always something going on around there and last night was no exception. It was the beginning of a two night celebration that will end tonight with a Lighted Christmas Parade through downtown. We went down there and had dinner and then enjoyed a horse drawn carriage ride through the historic district and around the square. The girls had a good time, I think. But who knows with them? Lela kept commenting on how it stunk and then Lacey just sat there not making a sound. You just never know with those girls.

Even Martha Stewart Would Be Proud

I've been pretty busy these past few days trying to get everything ready for the girls' Christmas parties at school tomorrow. I'm the room mom for Lela's class so I have all these extra responsibilities of getting the party organized, purchasing the teacher's gift, etc. This is my very first time doing something like this and I actually like it, if you can believe it?

For Lela's class, I took up a collection to get the teachers' a gift card. I was a little hesitant about doing it but ended up having a lot of success. So, I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they see the amount we collected for each of them.

Me being the creative soul that I am wanted to do something extra special for the teachers as well. I love baking and especially this time of year because I have a reason to make extra stuff and try out new things. I made some triple chocolate-nut clusters and some white chocolate-peppermint jumbles and put them in plastic Rubbermade containers and then tied a red polka dot ribbon around them. They turned out really cute, if I don't say so myself! That's one thing I have learned from being a graphic designer "presentation is everything!"


Here's something else I did. I found this cute little red and white "bakery box" at Michael's with dividers in it. I made this box up with goodies for the preschool director. It contains (in clockwise order from upper left hand corner) triple chocolate-nut clusters, sugar cookies, oreo balls and holiday pretzel treats.



And last but not least the other thing I have been working on is a Christmas gift to give all the kids in Lela's class. What I ended up doing was purchasing Happy Birthday Jesus coloring books, scribble pads, crayons and pencils. I tied ribbon around everything and then stuck a candy cane in each. Not that the kids care, but I think look nice. (Besides it's more for me than it is for them anyways.)

24 Days of Christmas Books

This is an idea I just came up with, it's a little late to do right now but it's definitely something I will do next Christmas.

I love Barnes & Noble, it's probably one of my favorite stores out there. And one of my favorite things to collect is children's Christmas books, hardback of course. Every year I'm always adding to my collection. This year it dawned on me that I could use my books as part of celebrating advent. With 24 days in the advent season we could read a different book each day. Here are just a few of my favorites in my collection:

Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera
This book is beautifully illustrated. In fact that is what caught my eye when I found it. It's a cute little story about Sophie Kringle and her mysterious great-aunt, Auntie Claus, who dresses in glamorous red velvet gowns and wears a diamond key around her neck. Sophie ends up discovering a faraway world where she learns the true identity of her Auntie and that giving is far better than receiving.


Santa's Favorite Story: Santa Tells the Story of the First Christmas by Hisako Aoki
Beautiful story of God's gift of love for us. "And this love is far better than any presents..."



The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore and illustrated by Mary Engelbreit
It's a classic need I say more!!!




The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
This is probably my all time favorite. For you see, "only believers can hear the sound of the bell."

The Pink Pig & Santa Claus

Yesterday Mom, me and Kevin took the girls to see Santa and ride the Pink Pig. We've been doing this since Lela was a baby. It always puts me in the holiday mood to be at Lenox and it reminds me of my childhood when we would go to Rich's downtown and ride the "real" Pink Pig. The girls love it! And it is always so fun!

Lela did see Santa, but Lacey would have nothing to do with him. All she kept saying was that she wanted a candy cane but she wasn't going to see Santa. I asked her if I went with her would see go and see Santa, "No, you can go see Santa, Mommy and tell him to get me a candy cane."

Later Mom and I were asking her what see wanted for Christmas and she told us a monkey(?), a stroller and a swing? The swing she told us was for her monkey. That child has the most vivid imagination I've seen.

Lela, me, Lacey and Mom getting ready to take our ride on the Pink Pig.

Lela with one of our elves Dottie and Santa.

This is the closest Lacey got to Santa.

The GymDogs

For those of you who don't know, my kids are huge GymDogs fans thanks to their Dad. Neither of our girls take gymnastics even though Lela does a really good cartwheel. Yesterday, while I was on my way back from St. Augustine Daddy took the girls along with their cousin Brooke to meet the GymDogs. Kevin said they were really excited about meeting all the girls on the team. As you can see from the smiles on their faces it looked they were on cloud nine.

A Trip Back In Time

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to St. Augustine with some girls from my bible study. It was so much fun!!! (Thank you, Wendy for coordinating our trip.) We left out on Thursday night and came back on Sunday, it was definitely a nice little weekend outing to recharge the batteries.

On Friday, we spent the entire day shopping. Talk about heaven, it doesn't get any better than that - no kids, no husband, and all the time in the world. Yeah! I got quite a bit of my Christmas shopping done which was so nice. I'm completely done with the girls and that takes a lot of the pressure off.

Then Saturday, we went to downtown St. Augustine where all the old buildings are and spent the entire day there; wandering the streets and looking at architecture. My friend Wendy, who is very involved in the Daughters of the American Revolution, told us that weekend the city would be having a British Night Watch and Grand Illumination Parade. Can I just say that was one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. What the British Nightwatch does is recreate the celebration of the beginning of advent in British, St. Augustine, December 1776. So, basically it was like we were taking a trip back in time.

I was like a kid in candy store just watching all the people in "full costume." I was in total awe of what I was witnessing. It all of a sudden struck me that this stuff really did take place. I've never been a big a history buff so to speak, but this weekend might have change me in that aspect.

Thursday Won't Come Soon Enough

I'm leaving tomorrow for a weekend get away in St. Augustine with some girls from my Bible Study. In fact there are eight of us going. I'm so ready to leave. I can't wait. I know we'll have a good time. It's so funny because I know for a fact three of us were at the doctors yesterday with sick kids. If I didn't know any better I would swear the kids were in cahoots together.

We've Been Invaded By Strep

Yesterday I got a call from Lela's teacher to come and pick her up because she was sick. Well, little did we know how sick she was. I took her to the doctor this afternoon to find out that she has strep throat. Now my goal is just to keep everyone else healthy.

They're Back

Yes, Dottie and Colandra have returned to stay with us the holiday season. The girls were so excited when they saw that the elves were back. From what Lela and Lacey told me they were sitting in their car seats this morning ready to go to school with them. I can only imagine the trouble these two little elves with get into. Christmas Eve probably won't come soon enough when these two little mischief makers return to the North Pole with Santa.

It's A Yucky Rainy Sunday

and everyone is taking naps except me, surprise surprise! I've been on the computer ordering Christmas cards, shopping, checking email. Wow! Just think what did we do before the advent of computers? I don't know about you but they sure do make my life easier. I apologize for not blogging these past few days, but I've been enjoying the holiday weekend. Thanksgiving was nice. Of course, I ate to much or at least I felt that way. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did.

On Friday, Kevin and I did something we have never done in the past eight years of marriage - go shopping the day after Thanksgiving TOGETHER!!! I still can't believe we did it. We went to Target, Toys 'r Us and Best Buy. I told him we were really testing our marriage because we both have two totally different approaches to shopping. I like to take my time looking and he has his list and goes directly for what he wants. It drives me crazy because he usually doesn't deviate from what it is he needs. Everything went well and we were in and out in a reasonable amount of time. Afterwards, he then took me to my mom's house where I spent the rest of the day shopping with her. (The girls had spent the night at Grams and Buster Bud's house the night before.)I did get a little of my Christmas shopping done, which was nice. I have finished the majority of it of for the most part. My goal this year is just really to slow down and enjoy the season - I'll let you know how it goes.

Here are pictures of our family Christmas tree and then the tree that is in our bedroom. I finally finished decorating everything last night...yeah!!!

"Our" tree in our bedroom - it's decorated in aqua blue and brown


The Family Christmas tree - decorated in traditional red and green