Photo Shoot

I got to shoot this little cutie and his older brother today. Such cute boys!! Gonna break some hearts some day for sure.

Telling a Story (picture heavy)

The kids and I finally (emphasis on finally!) put up our little tree this week. It's a cute, small little thing. The thing is... last year we went to Lowe's and picked out a live tree, had the sweet little thang working there help us tie it to the top of our old beater car, brought it home... and then... I found myself with this 7' real tree... complete with real needles that shed... and somehow I had to get it in my house myself (while the kids watched from the sidelines). Same story when it was time to take it down. Only now... it was dead, and shedding all over the house and just as heavy going out as it was coming in. I vowed not to do that again without help. So... this year we just used an old two foot tree that I bought on sale four years ago at Hobby Lobby.

Since our tree is so small this year, we weren't able to hang all of our ornaments, just a select few. It has been a tradition at my family's house for as long as I can remember, that one of our (mine and my three siblings) presents was a new ornament. Usually the ornament had to do with something that we were "into" that year. Every year part of the fun of decorating our tree, was to pull out the ornaments and remember who's was who's and why it was special to that specific person.

When we were grown and out of the house with famlies of our own, mom gave us a box with all of our ornaments from over the years in it. So on our first Christmas away from home we've already got years worth of ornaments that actually mean something... not just plastic or glass fillers from Wal Mart.

It was always one of my favorite Christmas traditions and I have since carried on the tradition with my kids.

So, for today's blog... I'd like to share with you some of our ornaments from over the years.

I played the saxophone from sixth grade through college. A total of ten years. One year my ornament was this santa playing a saxophone. I always wondered why he was black. Hmmm. Oh well, Christmas knows no skin color...



In high school, we were the Waynesville Tigers...



I played soccer in high school...



Carrying on the tradition with my kids...

We moved back to America from England two years ago. The day after Christmas 2006. The four days before Christmas of 2006 we spent driving through Germany and Belgium going to Christmas markets. It was my parents, my two sisters, me, and my two kids, all crammed into a minivan with all of our luggage for a four day drive through France, Germany, and Belgium.... yeah... it was snug. But not something I'll ever forget. It was also Audrey's first Christmas. That year, while at a market in Belgium I got the kids these ornaments...

Levi's:



Audrey's:



just for fun... here is a picture of Audrey on Christmas Eve 2006. She's sitting on the steering wheel of the minivan as we wait in France for a ferry back to England...



This next one was Levi's first ornament. He was born in north carolina (first in flight).



It says north carolina on the bottom... see?...



we've also got a Missouri one...



These are the kid's ornament's from last year. After I took these pictures I wrote their names on them with a black paint pen. I've hung these in front of their stockings this year instead of on the tree...

Levi's:



Audrey's:



this one we got last year at Dixie Stampede in Branson where we spent new year's eve with the kids... (sorry for the fuzzy pic)...



We've got a few more... like the one I made in girl scouts in first grade. (I didn't get a picture of it). We've also got two Mizzou ornaments...





And this? This is our tree topper. The most beautiful tree topper you've ever seen. Audrey made it at Mother's Morning Out this year.



That's our little tree... our story.



and here's one of the presents under the tree. It's something Levi made for me at preschool and I'm not allowed to open it until Christmas.



The anticipation is killing me!!

Sad but True

I saw this on a church's marquee today:

"Come in and pray today. Beat the Christmas rush."

Sad, but true.

Does it bother anyone else that for some people, the only times they see the inside of a church building are on Christmas and Easter??

I guess I should just be thankful that they see the inside of a church at all... (funerals and weddings excluded)

but still.

I think it's sad.

Just Released

The most exciting thing that's happened to me all day...

The Pioneer Woman released her second set of photoshop actions. Completely free! Just download them straight to whatever version of photoshop you use (doesn't work on elements) and make photos like this:



look like this:



that action is called "sunshine" and makes your subject look like they are being bathed in new morning light. I'm having so much fun with these new actions. Go get them for yourself!!!

(and then share pics!!)

Easy Enough

for anyone who might be interested...

Levi has informed me that for Christmas this year he wants "transformers. aaaaaaand... nope. that's it."

so now you know

boys are easy! (Audrey's list wasn't so short! Ha!)

The Great Hunt '08

This picture was taken about nine hours before Audrey started puking her guts up, about 42 hours before I started puking MY guts up, and about 72 hours before Levi and John started puking their guts up.

Great mental image huh?

Keepin' it real



my new favorite picture of John:

The Mother Letter Project

I ran across this blog with a really neat idea for Christmas this year...

A man has started a blog project called "The Mother Letters." For Christmas this year, this man and his family have decided only to give each other gifts that they have made instead of storebought "gadgets and gizmos." So, this man's idea was to get as many women as he could to write a letter... from one mother to another... and he will be giving the compiled book of letters to his wife as her Christmas gift this year. If that isn't the sweetest, most thoughtful idea a man could have come up with I don't know what is.

Anyway... go HERE to read about the Mother Letter Project, and then... email him a mother letter of your own. And then tell all of your friends to do it. Everyone who sends him a letter before Christmas will receive a copy of the compiled letters.

When I'm done with my letter I might share it here. Or I might not. we'll see.