Christmas Eve

We love the Dollie and Me matching gowns for the American Girl Dolls.

We made Ginger Bread Houses with our grandma and great-grandma.

Gotta love making these messy houses.

We had so much fun with our family coming to visit us from Nashville.

So, the big gift this Christmas was electric scooters for the girls.

The girls are helping baby girl open her little gifts.

I got this sweet card from Em.

I love the little homemade gifts from our precious children's hearts.

It was a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Savior with family and friends.

Visit From Back Home.....

Grandaddy and Nana came for a special visit!

Can you tell the WIND is BLOWING!

It was actually cold, I know, can you believe it?

We took the family on a field trip to the San Jacinto Monument.

It had just rained a couple of days before and we were attacked by mosquitos.

I have never seen such. I mean literally attacked!

The coolest part of our trip was our car ridding the ferry boat. The girls thought that was big stuff. It really was fun!

See the monument in the back, can't miss it!

Well, everyone rode to the top in this elevator. It takes exactly 36 seconds to get to the top.

Ab enjoyed it too!

We had a fun visit with our grandparents!

Not only did we enjoy a field trip, but we also enjoyed a few more, BBQ, shopping, a yummy pizza place, home cooking, and a great performance from the girls at church.

We love you Grandaddy and Nana!

Finding that perfect family Christmas Tree....

Here's the view from the tree house on the farm

Which one?

Well, unfortunately, I did not capture the picture of the tree on the farm. So, here it is, arriving at our home.

ta da....I see that someone is excited of our find!

Thankfulness

I am so thankful for my relationship with Christ Jesus and so thankful for the beautiful family He has blessed me with....

"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!"

Psalm 147:7

Look Who's 7

My Sweet and Adorable Em is 7!!!!!

Em and her cousin at Sweet and Sassy! A birthday would not be complete without a "girls trip" to Sweet and Sassy to get our nails done.

Glitz and Glamour!

Strike a Pose Girls!

Daddy is one blessed man!

We went and had pizza and cupcakes for lunch.

The cupcakes were delicious!

We had so much fun!

The big state would not be complete without a horse party!

I am so thankful the Lord blessed me with this little girl. 

So blessed!

Filling Our Shoe Boxes

Operation Christmas Child

I can hardly believe that Christmas is around the corner........
Each year, it has been "a Nana tradition" with the girls to go and gather the fun toys to fill up their age shoe boxes. The girls love sharing the love of Christ with the children who have very little. We go to samaritanspurse.org website to watch the video they have released each year about this operation and the journey our shoe boxes make.

Yum...

Ab LOVES Spaghetti!

Her favorite meal besides grilled cheese sandwiches, is SPAGHETTI!

BiRtHdAy GiRl

It's Lou's birthday!

She is 5 years old!

She tells everyone, now that she has turned five, she is in pre-K. I laugh every time, because she already is in pre-K. That girl is so funny!

She is one giddy little girl over her birthday! She loves to celebrate her special day! We started our morning opening presents and then we were off on our adventure for the day. Lou's favorite place to eat is Chick-fil-A and then riding the carousel afterwards. Then, we made a stop at Sweet and Sassy to get our nails done of course! That in itself was a huge hit!

Then, we were off to WOW at church! The kids choir. Tonight Em received a Bible at church followed by a cupcake reception.

Friday night, we had our family birthday party!

I love this little girl!

A Quick Re-cap of September....

A recap of September! Well, where should I begin? Lets' see.....unpacking, unpacking, unpacking, and of course, school. I am way behind on posting because I am way behind on myself! I love my life, but it is hard! At least, I should say, this season of my life is plain ole' busy!!!
Ab has been busy running everywhere! Her new thing is to push the stools around the house and poke her head through the bottom. So silly that girl!

Okay, who says you can't read a Bible with sunglasses on. God's word is pretty "bright and powerful". She cracked me up the other day. She came into the kitchen just walking in with the glasses and Bible. There is never a dull moment in our house!

Then, there is MJ. My adorable oldest! She loves playing basketball when it's not triple digits outside. Friday was the first day of Fall, and she said, "mom, it is NOT Fall", we are just not wearing the jackets and looking at the beautiful Fall colors. We have heat!

Em is a hoot! That cowgirl! She walked in with daddy's boots and hat and started singing. She is so funny!

September we started school. We began our day with a fun craft and ended with a whole lot smiles. God placed a lot of joy in our hearts that day as we began a new school year.

We Are On The MOVE.....

I feel like we have been on the move for a while now....

We moved the end of March into a rental home until our home sold in Tennessee. Two house payments may not have been too pretty! So, we waited patiently for the Lord to bring us the perfect buyer for our home. He did just that! We sold our home in 59 days. God is good! The rental house worked our perfect for our family. It was right across the street from my dearest cousin, who too has four kiddos herself. Everyone had a playmate! Again, God is good! We waited patiently to purchase the perfect home for our family. We are such new home buyers that I never thought we would purchase a pre-existing home, and we did! God picked out the most perfect home for our family. God is good! So, we have now been in our home for exactly one week and we are busy unpacking our stuff that has been boxed up since March. It's almost like Christmas. I have not seen my stuff in SO long. We unpacked the bare necessities for our rental home. Basically, as if we were in a hotel. I did not want to unpack and re-pack and unpack again. So, we saved all our unpacking until now. What a job! I am so thankful to where God has brought us! I love our home He chose for us. So blessed indeed! I will post a picture of our home soon. I just have had no time to take a picture!

Ta.....Da....

These girls are just precious! We enjoy Sunday's the most! It's the one day of the week that we get to spend an endless day of swimming and playing with our cousins. It is always fun had by all! This particular day, was our cousin's birthday party. It is hilarious watching all these girls swim in the same swimsuit. Lot's of stripe candy in the water.

I have to add just one more adorable picture of "two peas in a pod"

Happy "pinkalicious" to the birthday girls!!!

Remember....

Remember was our camp theme.

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." Deuteronomy 4:9

Okay, so we took the family to a much needed time away camp before our big move! It was like anything that I have ever experienced before in my life! We have met several families who go to this family camp year after year after year and absolutely love it! So, with us moving in a week and could not go too far, we decided to see what the fuss was about. Amazing! God blessed us with time together as a family. We are so thankful for His goodness.

First, you decorate your car to start the excitement! Check, we did that! The girls had a blast doing it!

When you arrive, the camp crew cheer you on.....

I kid you not....these kids (college folks) have tons of energy that make you yourself believe you too have the same amount of energy and excitement.

Family Camp is all about being together as a family and oneness with Christ. It is a Christian camp that honors and glorifies Christ in all that it does. It's a seven day camp with activities for everyone. We (the adults) have a speaker for the week for morning sessions, kids have their groups, each night is filled with a theme, you even get two date nights (yes, while they keep your kiddos) free time to do endless activities and tummies stuffed with amazing food, skits, talent shows, singing, family worship and lots of silliness. What more could you ask for? Oh, and the best part that makes the camp are all the cheers that the counselors do for EVERYTHING. You even have to sing I am a little Tea Pot if you loose your name tag. You enter camp with the BIGGEST smile and leave with the BIGGEST smile. CRAZY FUN! There is nothing that this camp does not have. It really is AMAZING!!! You cannot replace the time spent with your family without t.v., phone, laundry, cooking any kind of distraction. The camp does EVERYTHING for you. Everyone at camp has a servants heart. All the counselors love the Lord and they share that love with your family and kids.

This is rodeo night. The kids got to chase the cows to grab a tag off the backs. So fun!

Em and her counselor, Chips A'Hoy. Each counselor has a funny name. A name that the kids are for sure to remember.

Daddy too, got a tag from the cow's backside. Congratulations Dad!

This is me on family worship night. Lots of celebration!

This is a great face of MJ right before she did the zip line. A tad scared! She did great and loved it!

AB has the hat on at the lagoon. We spent a lot of time in the water. We had record breaking heat the week we went.

I could go on...and on...and on...about camp. This is just a snap into our week at Family Camp.