Christmas Morning

We had such wonderful Christmas! Rylee was old enough to really understand why we were celebrating and, although Reagan has yet to really understand, she loved the excitement. Every morning, the entire month before Christmas, we did the Jesse Tree. It was a great tradition that will continue for years to come!

After we opened presents and enjoyed the morning, we spent the rest of the day at my mom's house. Our kids always love the opportunity to hang out at Grandma's house wit all their cousin and that what we did all afternoon.

It looked like the presents exploded all over our house!!!

Rylee and Uncle Craig

Daddy and Reagan

Notice the make-up...Rylee and Keely had to get all dolled up!

Daddy and Rylee

Rylee's Christmas Program

Rylee's school did a birthday party for Jesus and each class sang songs and then everyone had cupcakes and punch. I decided to spare everyone the 5 minute video of Rylee performing (because my mom and sister would be the only people even interested in watching it). She is a natural though!!

Rylee is in the very middle...standing perfectly still...that's my Ry :-).

Rylee with her sweet teacher, Mrs. Regina.

Rylee with her other sweet teacher, Mrs. Michiko.

Miss Patty Cake

Matt and I took the kids to see Miss Patty Cake this year and she was fabulous...as usual! They added a special character, Stan the Handyman, and it was a good thing. Campbell was with us and he didn't love Miss Patty Cake as much as the girls did, but boy did he perk up when Stan the Handyman came out. The kids were great and we waited over an hour to get pictures, but it was totally worth it! Reagan decided she didn't want to be in any pictures, so that is why she is looking away in all the shots :-).

Misc Christmas Pictures

We went to see the Grinch on ICE! with the Wood family and had a great time. My camera ran out of juice, so this is the only picture I got. We had a great time and after ICE! we ate at Rain forest Cafe and the kids loved that too.

Classic Reagan...she loves anything glam!!!

These are the snowmen shirts my sister-in-law, Pam, made for the girls. They are so cute!!

Christmas Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends

A friend emailed this to me today and I like it so much I thought I would share with my fellow bloggers...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrap
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial but I love a real tree
3. When do you put up the tree? the weekend after thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? the week after Christmas
5. Do you like eggnog? love it
6. Favorite gift received as a child? anything barbie
7. Hardest person to buy for? parents
8. Easiest person to buy for? girls
9. Do you have a nativity scene? several
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? ???
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Polar Express
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? homemade treats from my friends and family
17. Favorite Christmas song? love them all
18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? at home
19. Can you name all of Santa's Reindeer? dasher, dancer, prancer, vixon, comet, cupid, donnor, blitzen, and rudolph...not so hard when the person before me did it!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? always Christmas day
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Happy Holidays...I just prefer Merry Christmas
23. What theme or color are you using? no theme but we focus on the "reason for the season"
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? super skinny body, perfect skin, new wardrobe :-)

I won a wristlet!

I've never been a gambler, but feel like I need to go buy some lottery tickets (or maybe I should stick to the blog give-a-ways)! Over the weekend, I found out that I won the above wristlet. It is sooo cute! Girls, there is something to these blog contests...get out there and leave a comment and win some great stuff!

My sister-in-law Pam had a give-a-way on her blog last week and I was one of many winners. If you need any very cute and personalized Christmas gifts check out her Etsy store.

Thankful

I am truly a blessed woman! It seems that there are so many things around us to be discouraged about, but inside our home is a place of comfort. Here are a few of the things I am most thankful for:

1. My awesome husband (we don't sit around the fire having long romantic talks, but he is a great man and a great father and a great husband)
2. My precious girls (they aren't always perfect, but I am blessed everyday to see God's little creation right before my very eyes)
3. Our nation (I'm not always thrilled with the direction of our nation, but we still have freedom...to worship Jesus Christ, to choose how I want to live, to express my views...there are thousands of people around the world who don't have those freedoms)

Bethy and Rylee making apple pies...they were yummy!

Snow Fun!

We went to East TN last weekend to visit Matt's family and we were greeted with snow! There wasn't a ton of it but is was soft and beautiful. We don't get much snow in middle TN and when we do it's more like ice. The girls LOVED it! They also had a great time seeing the grandparents and family.

My Little Gobblins

Here are a few pictures of the girls on Halloween. Reagan was the sweetest little pumpkin and Rylee was doctor at school and decided she wanted to be a princess an hour before we left for trick-or-treating on the square. They had a blast this year!

Our Sweet Girls

These pictures were so sweet...I wanted to share!