Christmas 2008

Finally I can get online again! Our computer has been down for about a week and before that, things were just crazy, but now things are getting back to normal. I was told yesterday that I needed to update my blog, so here goes.

Christmas was fun as always. It's great to be with family that we don't get to spend much time with throughout the year. On Christmas Day we went to my mom's in Alma. Taylor and her family also traveled to Alma. My sister and her family were in from Atlanta and the Russell's and the Bazyk's were in from Little Rock. Granny Ima, mom's sister, was also there. We had our traditional Christmas dinner and everyone seemed to have plenty of it!

After lunch, Grace opened presents from the Russell's, Bazyk's and Granny Ima. Then they headed back to Little Rock. As they were leaving, Rick, Marcia, Amanda and Alex came in. Everyone was visiting and watching the clock at the same time. Taylor had to be at work at 6:00 and we still had not opened presents. We all drifted toward the living room then to have our Christmas. We have started the tradition of opening presents from youngest to oldest, after Granny opens hers. Of course, with Christmas being all about the kids, Grace got the most presents. She seemed to enjoy tearing off the paper. She didn't hesitate to ask for help if she couldn't quite get it started. She was really funny to watch!!




It isn't often that the three of us are together in the same picture! I loved being able to be with both my kids for Christmas!

Grace always had someone close by to help when she got in a bind. Aunt Cathy lent a willing hand on this one, which happened to be from her family.

On Friday after Christmas, Mike, Tanner and I met Stephanie over at Taylor and Gene's for our Christmas. Stephanie always gets me some sort of snowman to add my my collection. This year, she gave me four and each one had a letter on it spelling out NOEL. They are adorable! Thanks Steph!!

This was the best present of the whole season!! When Stephanie took her blanket out of the bag, Grace wanted in! She and Steph played with this bag until they finally tore it up! So much for presents for the little one.

We got a little four wheeler for Grace to have at our house. Her Uncle T was very excited about putting it together for her. He is extremely fond of his precious neice!!!

She rode it all around the driveway. She does pretty good on the straight stretches, but hasn't quite mastered turning yet. I think she really likes riding it. The second day she was on it she ventured a little farther out. We have 5 acres out here for her to explore so she should get a lot of good use with it. I don't expect that this will be her only four wheeler!!

We had a good Christmas and it has been great to be out of school! I am having a hard time even thinking about having to go back!

Today I got to have lunch with Leah, Kendall and Evan who are in from Kentucky and my friend Karen who teaches in Bentonville this year. Taylor andGrace, and Jennifer, Austin and Taylor Raabe were there as well. We had a great visit and good lunch at Chik Fil A. Thank you Leah for making time to visit while you were here. I hope you all have a safe trip back to Kentucky!

I can't believe that 2008 is gone! I do not know where it went so quickly. I am really looking forward to 2009! I hope that everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a very Happy New Year!!!

Until next post....

Now it really looks like Christmas...

Finally! I have been trying to get pictures uploaded since last night. You gotta love dial-up service.

Anyway, I have completed my Christmas decorating for the year and wanted to share. I have several pictures so bear with me.

Remember the frames I told you I purchased at the garage sale? Below you will see the tree after Mike painted it white and the angel as Mike and Taylor began putting the lights on it.

This is the finished angel! Just had to plug it in to see what it looked like. Even in the garage it looked great to me!

For the last several years, I have designated locations for my decorations. The entertainment center is the main snowman center. However, I do have other snowman decorations throughout the den. I didn't take pictures of all of them. I am an avid snowman collector!

The mantle has become the santa collection. I had stocking holders last year that spelled out Santa. One of my stockings hanger came off last year, and we don't really do much with stockings any more since my family has grown, so I really only needed to hang 4. I found new hangers that are santa in his sleigh and 3 reindeer, so I got them and gave the others to Taylor. This way we don't have to move a stocking every time we build a fire, which is everyday!! The wreath is really too small, but I haven't found anything I like any better yet. I will though! Mike told me last night he thought the mantle looked better than it ever has.

While I was snapping pictures last night, Mike asked me to take one of him. He likes to have his picture made more than anyone I know! Anyway, I snapped this one of him and it got the wall and the top of the tree. The angel on top is not leaning, I don't know why it looks like it in this picture.

These next two pictures are my new additions this year. I took everything off the walls in the living room and gave them away, so they were completely bare and it made the whole room look funny. The tree and all were up and looked good, but something was definitely missing. Friday when we were at Kirkland's, one of my very favorite stores, I found this quilt and knew it would be perfect on the big bare wall. I was right, I love it. The three framed words were also in Kirkland's and I was relatively sure they would fill the space above the computer. Taylor agreed so I got them too. They do look like I thought they would. I probably really need a little something else to go with them, but for now, I am happy. That completed the living room nicely. It is very homey in here right now.

The next picture is the Grace zone! There are lots of Christmas pillows and stuffed animals in this pile. She went crazy playing with them and carried them all over the house. It is nice to have something down that she can play with and not get in trouble for! She did get into the potpourri in a little basket on my snowman table and played with the tree just a little bit, but not bad considering how curious she is. She did see where the tree lights are turned on and off so she had to try her hand at that, too, but it won't be new the next time she is here!

The piano has always been where I display my nativity scenes. I also collect them, so I have several. I didn't even get some of them out this year. I am very proud of how this area looks as well. Tanner got the wreath for me several years ago and it is perfect over the piano.

Last but not least, we have the yard display. Nothing elaborate, but I am very proud of it as well. Tanner and some of his friends built the snowman several years ago and then the angel and tree are what we added this year. Mike ended up stringing the tree all by himself!! He is not really a very big fan of Christmas, but he is always very complimentary of how good the house looks when I finish decorating.

I hope you have enjoyed my little tour. I didn't share it all with you, just the highlights. I look forward to this all year long and am so pleased to have it all finished so that I can sit back and enjoy it.

Looking forward to seeing more decorations on blogs!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I know it is not Thanksgiving yet, but I also know that I am planning to be pretty busy on Thanksgiving weekend, so I decided to go ahead a change my blog a little early. I spend quite a while looking for Christmas backgrounds that I liked before I settled on this one. I am a HUGE fan and collector of snowmen, so this one seemed appropriate! Hope you enjoy it.

We have had a pretty productive weekend around here. We got the lights strung on the angel frame that we had bought at the garage sale. It looks great! I will post pictures later. Hopefully we will get the tree done this week, it should be easier than the angel was. I wouldn't have been able to get it done without Mike! He had the plan. Taylor worked with us for a little while yesterday on it and then Mike and I finished up this afternoon. I can't wait to get it set up in the yard.

Well, I am off to watch the 24 movie that is on Fox. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It's beginning to feel like winter!

Wow, it feels like winter is here. I love the fact that it is cold. I was tired of being hot. It's also easier to get into the holiday spirit when the weather is cold. For the last two days, Taylor, Grace and I have been out in it. Tanner joined us for a while yesterday and then Corey was with us today. Both days were lots of fun and pretty productive as well. I am crossing items off my Christmas list rapidly! It feels great to be getting things done this early. Last year I was shopping up until the very end. This year, when I am out and in the mix at the end, I don't plan on being panicked!

I have been making some changes in decor at the house, and in doing so, have changed some of my Christmas decorating options. I have been studying on just exactly how I am going to make everything work out this year. I have been decorating basically the same way for several years now, just adding more every year, so I guess it is time for a change. I have already told Taylor that I will definitely need her help this year! I am going to have to quit looking at Christmas decorations whenever I am out, too. I have a hard time telling myself 'no', especially when they are on sale like the ones I found today!!

I have new lighted decorations for the yard this year, too. I bought an angel and a tree at the garage sale the police department had. They did not work but I got them so cheap that I couldn't resist. Last weekend, Mike and I stripped the lights off both of them and he repainted the frames so they look new. All we have to do now is string lights back on them. I can't wait to see how they look. Tanner had built me a lighted snowman a couple of years ago, so now I have 3 lighted decorations for the yard. I am ready to get it all set up! I really love Christmas time!

I have been looking at blog backgrounds, too. I defintely will be changing to a Christmas theme just as soon as Thanksgiving is over! My house will be transformed the weekend after Thanksgiving as well. My dad was a big kid when it came to Christmas, too. We always put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, if not that afternoon. That is a tradition that I have followed. I usually am involved in setting up two trees that weekend. We, probably I this year since Taylor won't be there, will help Mom get hers up before we come home on Thanksgiving Day. She has a brand new one this year so we will have a new experience there as well. I can't wait!!

I know that Grace will enjoy Christmas more this year than she did last year as well. She is already into snowmen!! She tries to sing "Frosty the Snowman". She's such a doll! (No prejudice there at all!)

I guess there is nothing more to talk about at this point. I hope it hasn't been too boring.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

Nana's jewelry, "trick or treat" and a Razorback game!

When Grace was over here on Monday or Tuesday she got very quiet while she was back in our bedroom. I called for her to come back to the den where I was and in just a few minutes here she came will all these necklaces on. She thought she was soooo pretty! Of course I had to snap a picture or two! We have lived in the same house now for 20 years and I don't remember ever having trick or treaters. Last night we had a special one come to our house! She was so cute in her little fairy costume complete with sparkly silver shoes and a wand. She even cast spells on all of us before they left.

She' checking out her loot! At this point she had not been very many places, however, she already had some pretty good stuff.

"Have it!" she said to her papa. Her mom and dad had already told her she had to wait, so he didn't give in!

I had to give you a view of the back! She was just adorable, not that I am prejudiced or anything!

One of Mike's good friends from Fort Smith has 50 yard line tickets for the Razorback games. They are also only 42 rows up!! They typically only go to one game a year and sell them for the rest of the games. The game they decided to go to this year was today's game and since they have 4 tickets, they offered to take us with them. How could we possibly turn down 50 yard line tickets! They have excellent parking as well. We had a great time. The weather was perfect, completely shaded after about the first hour we were there, and the game was awesome with the Razorbacks beating the Tulsa Hurricanes 30-23. What a great game to get to see!

One of my favorite things about the games is the band. This was right before the game started. Right after this formation, they moved into the 'A' that the players run through.

This was the view from out seats! Pretty good view, huh? Thanks Larry and Cindy!! After the game we had dinner at Doe's. What a great way to end our double date! The food was great and we didn't have to wait to be seated. Larry did a great job of getting us around and to the restaurant before the crowd got there. When we were leaving, there were people waiting outside! Our timing couldn't have been any better.


One of my favorite things about living in Arkansas is that we have a change of seasons. There are many beautiful trees in this area right now. I snapped this picture while we were waiting on Larry and Cindy today. It is not the prettiest tree that I have seen but it ranks right up there. I cannot imagine living anywhere else!

With all the excitement we have already had this weekend, we still have more coming. Mike's mother will be in tomorrow afternoon for a brief visit on her way to Branson with 2 of her friends. She has not seen Grace since April! She is very excited to see her. We are very excited to see Mema. We don't get to see Mema or Papa nearly often enough. They live in Fort Worth and it is hard for us to make connections with everyone's work schedules. They are retired, but traveling has gotten more difficult for them over the years. It should be a fun, albeit short, visit with Mema tomorrow. It will be a good way to end what has been a really good weekend!! We also get an extra hour of sleep tonight, yay!

It's finally Friday...

What a week this has been! I know it has been a while since I posted, but there really hasn't been anything special going on with us. I have been really tired this week and not spent much time on the computer at night and since we can't blog at school, I haven't been on. I hope everyone has had a good week!

On Tuesday night, 6 of us from school drove over to Tulsa to listen to Erin Gruwell speak. She IS the freedom writer the movie was made about. One of our teachers was invited to be a part of the Freedom Writers conference in California this past summer. We watched the movie at school on the last day of our before school inservices. It is a powerful movie! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is amazing what she was able to accomplish with those kids. Anyway, she is an awesome speaker and we had some laughs on the way over there and back, so it was a great trip, but I have paid for it all week. We didn't get back until about 10:45 so it was almost midnight before I got to bed. I'm way too old to be staying up that late on work nights!! But. we made it to Friday and now I am looking forward to the weekend!

Mike, Grace and I are headed to Alma tomorrow morning!!! (At least I think Grace is still going. I haven't talked to Taylor today to confirm that, but she told me last night we could take her.) Mom always looks forward to our visits, but she especially likes it when we have Grace with us. Mike is planning to spend Saturday afternoon watching horse races with a friend of his in Ft. Smith. I was invited, but declined. I am going to make a big pot of chicken and dumplings, Mema's recipe! They are wonderful, if I do say so myself! I haven't made them this year yet so I thought this would be a good time. They are definitely a cool weather food. I don't cook much when Grace is around, but there should be enough distractions tomorrow that I will be able to get them put together. I invited Julie, my cousin, and her mom (Granny Ima) to come and help us eat tomorrow. None of them have ever had my homemade dumplings. I sure hope they turn out good!

On another note, our son, Tanner, moved out again this week. He had been staying over at the house he is renting with his friends for a while but hadn't taken his things. He took some on Sunday and the rest on Monday. This is the second time he has moved out and I will admit that this time it was not as hard to see him moving everything as it was the first time. He is my baby, though, and I am not one of those parents who can't wait for their kids to be gone! He is very excited and proud of the house they have found. It is a nice place and I am not nearly as concerned/worried as I was when he moved into the apartment down in Fayetteville. I just hope he doesn't forget that he still has to come see us once in a while!!

Going to check in on other blogs now! Have a great weekend!

New look!

Wow, I managed to create this new look all by myself! I didn't make one phone call to get me out of a jam. What do you think? Keep in mind that it is only a temporary look because Christmas is coming and I know I will have a new one for that holiday. I'm already looking for the right one. If you know of any good places to find free templates let me know! I'm all about the freebies since I will probably be changing it all the time now that I know I can.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I certainly am. After being out all day yesterday, and having a lot of fun, I am in today. Mike and I did go to Sunday School and church this morning. It was good to be back, I've missed a lot lately. Since then, though, we have been right here. He has already had a nap and I have been working on laundry and playing with my blog. Now we are watching the Cowboys. He and his mom usually talk several times during these games but so far today he hasn't been able to get in touch with her. I know he will keep trying, though. It's just now halftime and the score is tied. Neither team has done anything special so far.

Gotta go fold clothes and get the next load in. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!