Sleeping Beauty

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas! I love seeing the JOY of Christmas through a child's eyes. We woke up to a white Christmas! It was neat! Santa came and left some fun things for Reece and Clara.

And it looks like Santa enjoyed his cookies!

The only thing Reece asked for this year was a remote control truck, so Santa delivered! He had to test it out right away. They didn't stay out for long, though! It was so cold!

We started the day out at our house. My family came over for cinnamon rolls. Then we headed to Calico Rock for lunch at Aaron's mammaw's house. Next, we went to Pineville to visit Aaron's grandad. Then, back to Henderson to my mom and dad's house for supper. We are so thankful to have so much family to see, but we were exhausted at the end of the day!

Clara had a big time too! She got this adorable baby doll from grandma and grandpa Puckett. It looks just like her!

And Uncle Kent got her a little pink car to ride on. Every girl needs a pink car!

Clara even warmed up to Papa and sat with him and watched football!

We had a great day! Thank you so much to everyone who gave us way more than we need or deserve. We love everything! Both dinners were so yummy! We literally ate ALL day! Reece and Clara have played with their new things all morning! But, I know without a doubt that the things that matter the most aren't really things at all!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas is almost here! The children are nestled all snug in their beds. Reece is about to bust with excitement. I brought my Christmas tree home from school and we put it up in his room. So he his sleeping by the light of his very own Christmas tree! I think I will put it in there every year. I decided that when all the Christmas stuff goes 50-75% off, I'm gonna get a little white tree for Clara's room. Then they can both have their very own mini-tree in their rooms. We baked cookies for Santa tonight. Chocolate chip, of course! I'm pretty sure I could make them in my sleep!

It rained all day today. Late this afternoon, the sun peeked out, and Reece looked outside and said there was a rainbow! There sure was! It was a DOUBLE FULL rainbow! 2 rainbows from end to end! It was so pretty! They were so close to our house, I couldn't get the full picture of them both from end to end, but here is one side of the rainbows. One is not as bright as the other, but it sure was pretty!

Last night we had Christmas at Roger and Kathy's house. We opened presents with them and Sarah and Eric and the boys. Clara looked like such a little doll baby in her little dress!(She was not eating the candy cane. Only chewing on the wrapper:)

Reece is so sweet when he opens presents. He was saying "thank you, thank you" before he even opened anything. He truly just loves anything he gets and is always so excited about it.

Lots of fun to come in the morning! I'm hoping to wake up to a white Christmas!

Our Weekend

We all stayed around the house all weekend. I had so much to do...stuff to make, gifts to wrap, laundry.....Most of the weekend I felt like I was chasing my tail. I sure wonder why my house is always a mess?!?!

This girl has become so busy! And she loves being in to everything! She also colored on her pants with one of Reece's markers today, but I didn't get a pictue of that! I always tell myself that one day I will look around my house and wish it was a mess and filled with toys and messes like these! So even though sometimes I feel like I'm gonna go crazy, I am thankful for the JOY my kids bring me...even their messes! :)

I did manage to get some things finished! Clara took a really long nap, so I got a lot done then. I got some presents wrapped, some things made and Reece helped me bake some cookies.

Much better with presents under it! I always think my tree looks sad with nothing under it!

Reece also lost his SECOND tooth tonight! He was so excited! It's under his pillow waiting on the tooth fairy!

Only 2 days of school this week! I'm so excited for Christmas break! I'm hoping for a white Christmas!

JOY

That's such a great word for this picture! This is the sweetest little girl I know! Her smile can light up a room! And check out those shiny new teeth!

Clara was such a happy girl tonight! Reece was playing football and running around the living room. Clara was in her Johnny Jump Up and I think she thought she was running and playing right along with him!

We had our Christmas party at school today. I let Reece be a kindergartener for the day and come to work with me. He had such a great time! He is just getting so big! He was as tall or taller than all the kids in my class! He is going to be a tall boy! He is sleeping good tonight! Kindergarten is hard work!

Santa's Message for Reece

Santa sent Reece a message today! Click on the link to watch what Santa sent! It was so cute watching Reece see this video! You should have seen his face! His eyes got so big! I love seeing such amazement in him. I'm pretty sure I believed in Santa until I was about 18 so it is so much fun to get to "believe" all over again with my kids.

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/d68735c3abc492164dce9df62493eba9

Christmas 2009 Ornaments

Each year I get and new ornament for our family and a new ornament for Reece and now an ornament for Clara. Some day a VVVEEERRRYYY long time from now when they have thier own tree I want to give them all of the ornaments I collected for them through the years. So far, I have tried to get ornaments that make me think of Reece for that particular year. For example, one year he got a bear ornament because I always called him my little bear. One year he got a big buck ornament because that was the year he really got into hunting. Last year he got a snow globe ornament because he loved snow globes. This year he got a cute little Santa. He is so excited about Santa this year and has lots of questions about him. I even told him about the time the REAL Santa came to my house when I was a little girl, and I got to watch him put presents under my tree. Did you know I remembered that, momma?

Isn't this little Santa cute!

and here is Clara's ornament for this year:

My Date with Reece

Today was such a great day! I had a date with my 2 favorite boys! I took a 1/2 day off today to spend some one-on-one time with my Reece and to take Clara to the dr. (the dr. appointment was cancelled because I took her earlier in the week instead).

So, Reece and I went to the post office, met Daddy for lunch, went to Lowe's to pick out a Christmas present for Uncle Kent and to Walmart to pick out a Christmas present for him to give to Clara. He was so proud of the things he picked out! I think he did a great job! This "date" was long overdue! Reece doesn't get much one-on-one time, especially with me. He is such a great big brother and is so sweet and thoughtful about sharing his time and things with Clara. Today was all about him. This morning when he woke up he asked what day it was and I told him it was Friday. He said, "This is my special day!"

When we were at Sean's (his pick for the restaurant) he said this was the "best date he had ever been on." Just as long as he understands I am the only girl he is EVER allowed to go on a date with! :)

While we were waiting in the car for Aaron, we took some pictures. Not great pictures (I was taking them myself with my arms out in front of me), but GREAT memories!

Thanks for such a great date, Reece! You are momma's special little boy! I love you so much and had such a great day shopping and eating with you! I can't wait until our next date!

I always love looking back through our pictures. Lots of times at night after the kids go to bed, Aaron and I watch TV and I go through the pictures on my computer. I like cropping them, turning them to black and white, etc. I ran across this one and had to post it. These 3 people just melt me. Clara was 6 days old in this picture.

I took these two pictures the other evening. Reece was watching Animal Planet on TV while I was cooking supper. Such a sweet picture of a sweet boy!

10 months old!

Our sweet baby girl is 10 months old today!


Clara, what are you up to at 10 months?

• You are crawling everywhere!


• You are pulling up and can stand up by yourself! You usually hold on to something while you are standing, but just today you have started letting go for several seconds! You're getting brave!
  


• You don't eat ANY baby food! You eat veggies, hamburger, crackers, bananas, cheerios, puffs, and you love your carrot/apple juice.


• You have 5 teeth.


• You love your brother. He can make you laugh like no one else can. I know you can't wait to run right along with him.


• You say momma, dada, buba, nana, no, more, and just the other day, we heard something that sounded a whole lot like thank you!
  

You turned 10 months old on a Saturday. Usually I put you in one of your cute little outfits for your monthly pictures. But today you have been in your PJ's all day. These are my favorite days! In PJ's all day, doing nothing but hanging around the house.

Oh my! You sure have grown!

4 Generations

We went to mom and dad's tonight for left overs. Everything was just as good the second time around. Reece spent the day riding four wheelers with the boys and cousin Will taught him how to play the card game "war."

This little gal was so cute in this little chair.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

Two of the many reasons I am so thankful.

We spent the day at my mom and dad's house. My aunt Debbie, Uncle Mark and cousin Will were here from New Mexico. It was a great day and the food was so yummy!

Well, I started this blog about a year ago as a way to keep in touch with Melissa when she was in Birmingham. I kind of fell of the wagon. :) I have decided I really need to post on here for my sake. My kids are growing up way too quickly and I need this as a way to journal about what they are up to. Plus, I will be able to put pictures with the journaling. Oh, and now I won't torture my family with my weekly photo shoots of my kids and force them to look at the pictures in email. They can look on here whenever they want and see what's happening.


Sneak peak at pictures that might be seen on our Christmas cards:

This is so cute!

OK...only a mom would think this is adorable. It will take some explaining so bare with me. Reece got these blocks out and started putting them together. (OH, by the way, please forgive the quality of the pictures. They are not the best, but we are running low on light around here. This is our 5th day with NO power!) This is what he made first...

Mom look! "D for daddy, M for momma, R for reece, T for tucker, C for clara, M for maggie (cat), B for bo (cat), N for nana, P for papa, K for kent, and G for grandma and grandpa. It's our whole family!"

Then, he asked Aaron how old he is. Aaron said 30. (This is so cute...) This is what Reece made for 30. Say it slow...thirtE. (Only a kindergarten teacher would get such a kick out of this!)

Finally, he asked how old everyone is, and he put their ages with their letter. Here is the final product. He was so proud!

3E (thirty) next to D for daddy, 28 next to m for mom, 4 for reece, 6 for tucker, 0 for clara, 5 for maggie and bo, 50 for nana (but she had to share her 5 with maggie and bo), 17 for kent. (he ran out of numbers for papa and grandma and grandpa).