new year's eve

wow! i seriously can't believe that 2009 is just a few hours from being retired into the history books. some 365 days dead and gone, never to return again. it's funny but the older i get the faster time just seems to fly by, why is that?

today, i've spent trying to reorganize the girls' rooms. something that seems to happen every year after christmas. i guess, it's because christmas seems to bring on a new mess of toys and such. we took the girls to lunch and bowling earlier today. in typical lacey fashion, she forgot her socks? yes, we asked her before we left the house if she had socks on. "yes" was her reply, but somehow between the five minutes from our house to the bowling alley they mysteriously just disappeared. uh? oh lacey....so, kev ending up spending $3 on a new pair of socks that were two times too big for her at the bowling alley. yes, these were the smallest they had. check it out!

i love learning new stuff...

yesterday in our sunday school class, we learned something very interesting and something which i didn't know about...the twelve days of christmas. i had no idea what exactly this "silly" song was about other than receiving a bunch of stuff such as ten lords a leaping, and nine ladies dancing, etc. but in fact, the twelve days of christmas actually contain hidden reference to the basic teachings of the christian faith. i found it extremely fascinating learning what each "gift" meant and its reference to the bible. here is what i'm talking about...

religious symbolism of the twelve days of christmas:

• my true love refers to god
• first day - a partridge in a pear tree refers to christ
• second day - two turtle doves refers to the old and new testaments
• third day - three french hens refers to faith, hope, and love (the theological virtues)
• fourth day - four calling birds refers to the four gospels (matthew, mark, luke and john)
• fifth day - five golden rings refers to the first five books of the old testament known as the torah (genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy)
• sixth day - six geese a laying refers to the six days of creation
• seventh day - seven swans a swimming refers to the seven gifts of the holy spirit
• eight day - eight maids a milking refers to the eight "be attitudes"
• ninth day - nine ladies dancing refers to the nine fruits of the holy spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control)
• tenth day - ten lords a leaping refers to the ten commandments
• eleventh day - eleven pipers piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
• twelfth day -twelve drummers drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the apostle's creed.

talk about a new appreciation for a song that usually drives me crazy. hope you learned something new, too.

seriously???

lacey is probably the only four year with a ninetendo ds. her cousin, brooke pasted down an old one to her. lacey loves it!!! she thinks she is as big as her sister and all her cousins. she has even taken it a bit extreme....don't you think?

the presents have been unwrapped,

the food has been eaten and santa has come and gone....i'm a little sad that christmas is actually over. it seems so much went into the preparation of that one special day and then in a blink of an eye its all said and done. ah!!! this year, we hosted christmas at our house to almost 20 people! i loved it! god has truly blessed us! it was wonderful being surrounded by the people you love along with good food.

the girls had a great christmas full of many surprises! they woke to find a note from santa saying he couldn't get their present down the chimney because it was too big and to look out on the patio. well, we checked out the patio and guess what? there sat a big box with a trampoline in it! they were so excited! lacey had been asking for a little one, not a big one! so she couldn't believe what she saw! they also got their american girl beds that they had been wanting for a while, so that was exciting, too.

but probably the biggest surprise of all was the fact that my sister got engaged. talk about a beautiful ring! she was so happy and beeming with joy as she showed off her ring. congrats little sis! i'm so looking forward to the new year and all the new and exciting things that await us. i have no idea what lies ahead but there is one thing i know for sure - life is an adventure and it's meant to be enjoyed!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

let the festivities begin

for the next 72 hours this family of four will be celebrating christmas. i honestly can't believe that it's finally here. the last of the presents were wrapped this morning...yeah! and now i've started baking and preparing for our guests that will visit our house on friday. the girls are excited at the thought of santa's arrival along with the fact that they finally get to open the presents that have been under the tree for sometime. it's at this point in the "game" that instead of getting stressed out or excited, a sense of peace falls upon me. our journey to the manager is finally here and god's miraclous gift of jesus is presented to the entire world. wow! what a humbling thought, that this tiny baby born would take upon the sins of the world in order that we might live in eternity with our father. that is truly the greatest gift we can ever receive, how blessed are we? let's celebrate....

santa cow?

look who we saw at chick-fil-a?

children's christmas pageant

this morning in church we had our annual children's christmas pageant. there is nothing like children retelling the christmas story in my opinion. it is always so cute and innocent watching them sing and act. last year, lela was an angel. she was so hoping to be mary, but that part is usually reserved for the older kids. so, this year again she was angel and a beautiful one at that. christmas is definitely fast approaching and the excitement of it all can be in seen the child's faces everywhere you turn. here are a few pictures from all those precious little faces.

still in shock

you could say that yesterday i got a surprise that i was definitely not expecting. kevin decided to take the girls to snip-its to get their haircut yesterday morning. he is such a great dad always thinking and on top of everything. so, unlike myself who is just the opposite. i was in fayetteville having breakfast with some of my class managers. earlier that morning i had taught a double and bascially was starving, so we all headed to eat after class. we had just finished eating when kev called to tell me he was at snip-its and was there anything special they needed to do to the girls' hair. i told him, "no. just have it shaped up." then i told him i would just meet him down there. i jumped up and out the door i went.

as soon as i was about 5 minutes away, i called to tell him i was almost there. he then announces to me that lela had 7 3/4 inches cut off her hair. what? uh? please repeat? did you say 7 3/4 inches cut off her hair? yep, and her hair was to her shoulders. i almost drove off the side of the road in shock. i couldn't believe it. for months we have been talking about growing her hair out and giving it to locks of love, but from everything i had been told it need to be 10 inches in order to make a wig and we were so close. i kind of got sad thinking that her hair wasn't going to be used for anything other than going in the trash:(

when i walked in lela was all smiles. i couldn't believe how growny she looked with shorter hair. ( i really like!) kevin then showed me her hair that they had put in a ponytail and cut. it was going to locks of love...yeah! anything from 5 inches on up could go and would be used in a hairpiece. that just made me so much happier knowing we were helping someone out! lela was excited, too knowing that it was going to locks of love. so gone is the "princess" hair as she liked to call it......

stocking deliveries & caroling

this afternoon has to have been one of the highlights of this christmas season for me. the girls and i, along with some other people from our sunday school class headed to the newnan nursing home and rehabilitation center to deliver stockings and sing christmas carols. we had so much fun! the girls really enjoyed themselves. hugs were exchanged and the joy of christmas could be seen in the faces of everyone. what a blessing to have given so little of ourselves to make these men and women feel so special! i told wendy that we definitely had to do this again! it was not only good for us, but for the kids and the patients as well!

parent's visitation day

kind of sounds like you're in prison, uh? well not exactly. yesterday, lela had her annual parent's visitation day in her jazz class. every year around this time, we get to sit in on her dance class see what they have learned and the principals behind everything they are doing. it was fun watching them, especially this year since they are really having to find the beat and just move with it. too cute, not to mention lela who really seems to get into it.

talk about crazy weather

it's december and you would think it would be cold, right? wrong. i swear one day its cold and then the next day its hot. what's up with this? talk about extreme weather. the other night we woke up to our weather radio going off because we were under a tornado watch? come on its december, not april. then the rain. i honestly feel like we have moved to seattle because of all the rain. its just crazy. i have lived in georgia my whole life, so would you think i would be use to this craziness...wrong! besides i have decided my headache is due to the barometric pressure so that's definitely not helping matters.

behind...again?

i'm behind in my posting and i completely apologize. i've been so busy with school, christmas shopping, decorating and cleaning the house....you get the idea. honestly it seems it has been one thing and another.

last night we had our sunday school christmas party. i'm hoping that i have still have friends after last night's game of "dirty santa" involving christmas ornaments. i'll be honest to me half the fun is in stealing the ornaments from the other person. not real christian, but it is real fun! i'm all about the strategy of how to get the ornament and yes, i will make deals to make sure others get want they want. it's all in good fun and i hope others can see that. life is too short to take things seriously! so to anybody reading this if you want your ornament back i'll make a deal with you...lol.

on another note, and a little more christian like. i'm really looking forward to this week. on wednesday, a group of us from our sunday school class will go out delivering stockings to the shut-ins and elderly. we are taking our kids as well! this will be the first time lela and lacey have ever done anything like this before. i have suggested that we sing a christmas carol or two while we deliver the stockings. i love christmas caroling i grew up going to other people's houses and nursing homes singing, so to me this is only natural. i hope the girls find it fun as well.

our neighborhood cookie party

was on saturday night and we had so much fun! the girls especially. they got to play with a lot of the kids from our neighborhood. the food was great! the desserts were fabulous! but the best thing of all was a surprise visit from 'ole saint nick himself - santa claus. the kids were so excited! most of them were upstairs playing when he arrived, so a flurry of little feet came scampering down the stairs to see what the excitement was. the first thing lacey did was run over to him and ask him if she was on the nice list. that child...she doesn't miss a beat! she then proceeded to turn around and tell us she was on the nice list. awe great! if i'd known she was gonna ask santa that question i would have paid him to tell her she was on the naughty list that way i had at least a few more weeks of a little less mischief from her (if that's possible.)oh well...

here are some pictures from the evening:

the holidays are here!!!

have i told you how much i enjoy christmas? i do...a lot! the decorations, the presents, the parties, the excitement of our girls on christmas morning when they see what santa has brought them. it all fills my heart to overflowing. i love this time of year! a time to reflect, a time to savor and a time to just enjoy! here are some more of our christmas decorations. i really enjoy the house this time of year...it's so festive and alive.

our family tree in traditional red and green

the mantle with my collection of santas and our fun stockings

mine and kevin's tree in our master bedroom - in blue and brown

lela's tree - pink, of course

women's gala dinner

monday night, a group of us girls got together for a women's christmas gala dinner at church. we had a really good time the six of us - wendy, laura, melinda, jennifer, whitney and myself. the entertainment was good and the food was delicious. it was definitely a great way to kick off the holiday season! our table i will say looked awesome! we had so many compliments. it was a combination of browns, cremes, greens, gold and silver. very contemporary looking in my opinion. what was so cool is that each of contributed a little something to it. check it out...

my mind is already racing with ideas for next year...lol