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Friday, December 19, 2008

Thanksgiving

This is my precious Mimi! I am so close to her and love her so much! She turned 80 in August and you'd never know it. We lived in Lubbock growing up, so I got to spend a lot of time with her. She would take me to the Nutcracker ballet every Christmas and spending the night with her was a treat! She would wash my hair in the kitchen sink, play tic-tac-toe, read many books, play the piano and sing with me, and give me lots of Jell-O pudding ice cream bars. Yum! Being at her house on any holiday is so special because it's what I've known my whole life. Thanksgiving was great and we have much to be thankful for!
This is my cousin, Abbee. She is the youngest grandchild (7th grade) and I am the oldest (won't say how old I am). My Mimi has been to more sporting games, recitals, and graduations than anyone in the U.S. I'm sure. But we all appreciate her so much!

The day we left Lubbock, my mom decided to decorate my Mimi's house for Christmas. So everyone had to pitch in. My grandmother has TONS of decorations, so there's plenty for everyone to do. I'm realizing now that I didn't take very many good family pictures over Thanksgiving. Oh well, I guess that means we were having too much fun!

Grandad with Grace and Brady
This is Josh's granmother, Mommu. They are always so generous to let us stay with them. They have a huge king bed we sleep in and Grandad cooks breakfast daily, including homemade biscuits! We love it there!

Our cousin, Caitlyn. Grace always loves playing with her when we visit.

Erica, Micah, and Josh listening to the same story, 40th verse from Mamaw! Gotta love grandparents!

We spent one day with my dad's mom, Mamaw. She is a hoot! She tells all kinds of stories! We are always glad to see her when we visit Lubbock!

Micah and Erica. Poor Erica has to hang out with us way too much! She is an only child and probably didn't know what hit her coming into such a big family!

Josh tickling Grace

Brady wrestling with my brother, Micah.
Our cousin Ethan

We got to spend one evening with some of our cousin's on Josh's side. This is Blake, Grace, Reaghan, and Brady wrestling with Josh.

Randa has 3 kids, Rebecca had 3 with another one just born, and I have my two. Needless to say, we storm the Chick-fil-A! I sure do appreciate them helping me wear my kids out before we get back on the road.

The kids and I drove to Lubbock, TX for Thanksgiving a little early so I could visit my bestest pals! They live about half way to Lubbock, so it's a great spot to get out of the car and stretch. Not to mention catching up with these sweet girls and all the kids playing! Randa, Rebecca, and I were buddies in college. Randa was my college roommate and little sis in our sorority, and Rebecca is Josh's cousin. We were friends and she introduced me to Josh. So the good thing is that even though I'm stuck with Josh for life, I always get Rebecca at family functions too! :) Rebecca was due 1 week from this picture with her 4th child, and she still met me for lunch!

Prestonwood Tree Lighting

The family at the tree. This is such a fun family tradition. They even serve cookies and hot chocolate! Good times!


Brady was dead still the entire hour. He was mesmerized by all the action and lights!
Grace loved these dancers the best. The boys is the background have neon sticks they are drumming with. In the dark, it looked awesome!
Our church really outdoes itself at Christmas. With 27,000 members, I guess they have to find a place for everyone to serve. We had our tree lighting earlier this year. Is Christmas sooner than ususal or is it just me? I am frantic! Anyway, the 1-6 grade choirs did the tree lighting this year. They were awesome! They had ballerinas, lots of singing, and lighting up the tree.

Grace's Choir Program

Our sweet family
Grammy, Pops, Aunt Marisa, and Caleb all came to the program!

Grace had her choir program right before Thanksgiving. She sings constantly, so this was the perfect outlet for her. She sang loud and strong, but did NONE of the motions they were taught! Oh well, it was so precious to see her first choir concert!



Sunday, December 7, 2008

Early November Happenings

November 12th- Happy 32nd Birthday, Daddy!
Josh got a staple gun from his parents. The kids had to help open.


On the day before Josh' birthday, we went to eat at his choice, Babe's. It's a country place that only serves chicken fried steak or fried chicken, and then brings huge bowls of corn, green beans, rolls, and mashed potatoes for everyone to share. Grammy and Pops came too. The waitresses even do the chicken dance and ask the kids to join along. It's a fun place.
This will be bribery for Brady later...like at his wedding! He does make a beautiful Cinderella though!

Taryn's Birthday

The kids had cupcakes and a carousel ride after the Build-A-Bear store. It was Grace and Taryn and a bunch of boys!
Grace with the birthday girl, Taryn

Pink and white furry bear, white dress with gold accents, and silver shoes. Nice!!


Grace finally got to go to the beloved "Bear store." Our friend Taryn had a birthday party there and it was a hit for Grace. Of course everything she picked out TOTALLY did NOT match, but oh well. She had a great time!

HALLOWEEN!!

We let them ride this train twice to try and get rid of our tickets. It was a great night and fun for all, but time to go home. Mommy didn't even get her funnel cake. Oh well. At least Brady got to play the games this year. Although he thought you got to eat the candy you were given after every game. Talk about a sugar high!!

Who thinks up these games?? The object is to throw mini dog chewing bones into the dog bowls. Of course Brady loved this game, but not as much as ones with balls.

Grace chatting with her friends like old ladies: Riley (butterfly), Chloe (in pink bow), and Taryn (Snow White back behind). Hilarious!

Grammy and Pops with their 3 grandchildren

Family Photo
Grace just HAD to ride the ponies. Notice Josh's smile. We are all laughing at him because he is walking in all that horse poop! Anything for his little girl, right?

Soccer
Goin' Fishin'

This is Pacey. Josh's cousin Rachel and her husband had her this time last year. Isn't she a cute butterfly?
Our nephew, Caleb. For his first Halloween, he was a pumpkin.

We found Brady's friend, Jackson (or Elmo). They were having more fun rolling in the grass and down the hill than playing any games!

Feeding goats...You would've thought they were wild goats the way they were behaving!

Thank goodness Grammy and Pops come with us to help corral the troops!


First stop: finger nail painting. Brady was NOT interested!

This year Brady was a mouse and Grace was Sleeping Beauty. She has been asking for 2 yrs. to be a princess, so I finally gave in. We were off to our church Fall Festival. In order to visualize what we go to, picture 27,000 people in 5 parking lots with hundreds of games. I can't even count the number of inflatibles to jump in. Thank goodness they have an area for preschoolers and an area for "big kids."

They got a little pumpkin filled with bubbles, so they had to try them out right then!


These are the kids pumpkins on Halloween morning. We try not to give them candy since they will load up later at the Fall Festival, so we gave flashlights, books, glow necklaces, etc.