Christmas in February

Well we aren't celebrating Christmas in February, but I am just now getting around to posting about it.  I know pathetic.  It is amazing how much of our time is eaten up ever since we moved back.  Anyways, we had a wonderful Christmas.  We literally moved back just in time to enjoy all the festivities with our families.  We managed to bring our tree from NC home with us (that is why it looks so sad in the picture below) so it gave a little Christmas spirit to the house.  We had a traditional Christmas morning with breakfast, the Christmas story, and presents.  We got the kids both Radio Flyer Big Wheels as their big gift from us.  They have been a real hit and they are both learning the ride them down the hill beside the house.  We were extremely happy to be able to spend Christmas with our families and GA friends.  As soon as Christmas was over we packed up the car (which wasn't really hard since we hadn't really unpacked anything yet anyway) and headed to Texas to visit Aaron's grandparents and extended family.  Our trip was long overdue since this was the first time any of them had met Naomi (I was 8 months pregnant with her on our last visit).  Everyone fell in love with her of course and we just as happy to see Levi again.  It was so good seeing everyone and we are already looking forward to visiting again.  

Operation Christmas Child

Christmas is supposed to be a season of giving.  A season to remember and celebrate the One who gave it all for us.  Jesus.  I love the Christmas season.  The way it transforms our society and causes us to think outside ourselves for a moment in time.  I really want to teach my children to give and cultivate a spirit of giving in each of them.  We do that in small ways throughout the year and really try to focus on it at Christmas.  Our church participates in Operation Christmas Child and so we had the opportunity to give through another avenue this year.  The church has been collecting items for weeks (toys, school supplies, toiletries  etc.).  We had a big wrapping party on Wednesday night to prepare the boxes with all the collected items.  Our kids made boxes for kids just like them.  They went around and picked out the crayons and toys they would like and then prepared the present.  The best part was filling out an info sheet to include in our boxes.  We were able to tell about ourselves and draw pictures of what we look like and where we live.  The kids got really into it and were excited to make the presents for other kids.  On the way home Levi was longing for a Cars bath set he had put in his box and it gave us the opportunity to share with him how much we've been blessed by God to live in America and have all the wonderful things we have that so many others long for and need each day.  I'm hoping this is only the beginning of our giving this year.  

 Showing off her completed box.

 Drawing a picture of himself to send with his box.

 Putting the finishing touches on box #2.

*I know we haven't celebrated Thanksgiving yet, and I'm not in the habit of pushing Christmas before Thanksgiving, but Operation Christmas Child is the perfect time to remember all of our many blessing from above.  Therefore Happy Thanksgiving and may our hearts of thanks be prepared for the joy of Christmas to come!

An 'Incredible' Halloween

This past weekend we attended our church's fall festival.  Levi has been obsessed with The Incredibles, so a costume idea wasn't too hard to conceive.  Levi loves to run.  It is literally his favorite thing to do which is why he makes the perfect Dash.  Naomi went as Jack Jack and Violet was with us too, but she just insisted on being invisible in all the pictures.  We couldn't let the kids have all the fun though.  Hope you all have a Happy Halloween and the beginning of a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Easter!

I know this is a ton of pictures for one post, but with strict orders from grandparents to have "lots of pictures" I forced to obliged.  You might as well get used to it.  

Easter this year was slightly different that usual with us being gone and not being here long enough to make any friends to spend the time with.  However we had a wonderful weekend.  Before we moved our church back home had an egg hunt so the kids were able to join in the fun there before we headed to NC.  We decided to do our own egg hunt with the eggs Bay & Lou sent in our care package.  The kids loved it and had so much fun searching for eggs in the yard.  Levi even helped hide the ones for Naomi.  From the look of the pictures you can tell that Naomi had more fun putting her bucket on her head than putting eggs in them.  Sunday morning we visited a nearby church and they had an egg hunt that they invited us to so our kids did get to hunt a few eggs then as well.  My favorite part of the day was Naomi's dress.  Vain in know, but it was a crocheted dress that Moo had made for my sisters and I when we were Naomi's age.  We all wore it and for my daughter to wear it was really special to me.  She was not as cooperative as I would have like in getting her picture, but I was able to get a few good shots.  Maybe I can dress her up again for some better pics.  After church we grabbed some lunch and spent the rest of the day exploring our new town.

The best part of the weekend was sharing the story of Easter with our kids.  The previous Sunday the kids went to church with Aaron's parents.  Levi has been talking about Palm Sunday ever since and goes around the house yelling "Hosanna to our King!"  It has been a great privilege to teach my children about our Savior and Lord.  For them to learn not just about Easter, but that Easter could not have happened without Good Friday.  It has been a good reminder for myself as well.  I'll end with this thought.  I read/heard somewhere that many people died on a cross, but only one died for our sins and rose again.  Hallelujah!  I rose and my eternity is sealed forever!

The Christmas Season

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the hope it brings and the opportunity to remember our Savior who came to save the world. We make an effort every year to celebrate Christmas all season long. Anything we can do make the holidays special and put the focus on Christ we try to do it. We have decorated, baked, watched movies, played games, and everything in between.  This year has been lots of fun so far. Here is what we have been up to...

Right after Thanksgiving we we got our Christmas tree.  Aaron was in Prospect's Christmas drama again this year portraying Christ, so we wanted to get a tree early knowing that if we didn't we wouldn't have time until mid-December.  So we got a tree, some poinsettias, and a few extra decorations and got our house decked out early for the season.  Levi loved decorating this year, and besides the ornaments on the tree, most of the house decorations have somehow made their way to his room.

Levi had fun decorating the tree, and most of the ornaments all ended up in the same spot.

To continue or celebrating we went out to the square to participate in the lighting of the courthouse.  The square is beautiful this time of year with all the lights and decorations.  The lighting was lots of fun.  We saw many friends and heard some great music to get us in the holiday spirit.  That weekend we went to the Christmas Parade on the square.  It was lots of fun and Aunt Lou even came with us!  Levi's favorite part were all the horses at the end.  

 My favorite part of the Christmas season so far was the dedication of Naomi.  Aaron & I take our role as parents very seriously, and dedicating our children to the Lord is a big deal.  We feel so blessed to have been given Naomi and she is such a special part of our family.  She has challenged us and brought us so much joy in her first year.  We are so excited to watch her grow and see how the Lord is going to use her.  The dedication was so wonderful and I'm hoping to blog about it in a separate post so be on the look out for it.

 Just this past Sunday we attended our church's Happy Birthday Jesus Party!  We got to do a craft and make our own special birthday cake to bring home.  We got cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday for the celebration!  It was lots of fun.  Then we got to watch the kids put on the nativity story in a play.  It was chaotic, but super cute.  We ended the night with a few Christmas carols.  After the party we headed over to a neighboring church to watch a live nativity.  It was really fun and the kids loved all the real animals in the show.

We hope you have been enjoying the season as much as we have.  We hope as you celebrate this week with family and friends that the love of Christ fills your hearts and your homes.

Merry Christmas!

Today I am so thankful for all of my many blessings. A handsome and loving husband, beautiful children, a loving and supportive family, a place to call home, a car, delicious food, Aaron's job, amazing friends, music, memories, new discoveries and opportunities, love, forgiveness, and the list goes on. Above all I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and sent His son to die for me. For love that knows no limit. I am truly blessed and thankful.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween this year Levi decided he wanted to dress up like Woody from Toy Story. I figured everyone would expect Naomi to be Jessie, but I wanted to do something different, so I made her Woody's horse, Bull's Eye. I made both their costumes with some help from my mom, and had a great time doing it. My favorite part is Naomi's mane. I think they were pretty cute, but I'm biased for sure. We got lots of use out of our costumes attending the Trunk or Treat at our church and Aaron's parents church as well as the festival at my parent's church. Levi's favorite part by far was the hayride and all the candy. Here are some photos from our weekend.

Bull's Eye (Woody didn't want his photo taken)

Woody!

Family fun on the hayride.

July 4th Weekend

I know its almost August, but here is my July 4th post. We actually had a fantastic July 4th weekend. We were able to visit with family who was in town for the weekend and share some food and fireworks with them. We decided to go to Stone Mountains July 4th laser show and firework display. Although it was insanely crowded and we had to walk forever to get there, the show was awesome. We also attended the Sunflower Festival in Rutledge Monday morning. Of course we topped with weekend off with lots and lots of fireworks!

Valentine's Day

This year I got really into Valentine's Day. Usually A and I would go to dinner and maybe just maybe a card or two would be exchanged, but that would be about it. This year I decided to really get into the spirit of things. A and I celebrated a few days early going to dinner Friday night at Romano's Macaroni Grill and grabbed a delicious chocolate covered strawberry milkshake from Steak-N-Shake on the way home. Shoog spent the night with Lou on Friday night and when we picked him up Saturday afternoon we got special Valentine cupcakes and this awesome frame from him. I just love it!! We spent Sunday evening making homemade Valentine's and cookies for some pretty special people. Monday I decided to take my special little guy on a Valentine date. We went to breakfast at Chick-fil-A where we ate some yummy chicken biscuits and shared some tots.

After breakfast he got to finally open his valentine present from mommy...MONSTER TRUCKS! He was so excited!

Last night my hubby had to work late (bummer I know). However, I have an awesome dad who stepped in and took me out for Valentine's (ok, it was already planned, but you gotta love him anyways). Dad took my sisters and I for dinner at O'Charley's. Really wish I had taken a picture of us there, but it totally slipped my mind. Spending that time with them was really special, and we laughed quite a bit, but that is no rarity with us. I had a great time celebrating with all of my special valentines, and I hope you felt as much love on valentine's day as I did.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was wonderful this year! We celebrated with Aaron's family on Christmas Eve and with my family on Christmas evening. This year was really awesome because Levi really got the idea of Christmas. We have worked really hard to make Christmas about Christ, love, and giving. It was amazing to see his excitement about everything he got and even giving presents to others. We hope the you all had a fabulous Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth. May the magic of the season stay with you all year long. Merry Christmas!!!

We want to wish all our family and friends a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! We pray that the love of Christ fills your home this Christmas as you celebrate the gift of His amazing birth and remember the sacrifice of His life that He offered up for us. May this be a blessed Christmas for you all!

Celebrating

Our goal this year was to celebrate Christmas with as much magic as possible. We have tried to do as many things to celebrate this season as possible, especially since Naomi's arrival is pending at any moment. We really wanted Levi to know that Christmas is a special time of joy, celebration, and love in remembering the birth of our Savior and the sacrifice made with His life. We've watched the Christmas TV movies, sang songs, played with our VeggieTale manger scene, put up the tree and decorated it. Levi has really enjoyed the whole season and I've enjoyed watching him light up with excitement at the lights and sounds of the holiday. I've included some pictures of some of our special things we've done starting with the Christmas parade in Covington. Enjoy and I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! At the Winter Wonderland at my parent's church. Showing off his masterpieces. He made a wreath and candy cane ornament.

Painting his bell ornament at the birthday celebration for Jesus.

At the birthday party for Jesus with the cupcake he decorated for the party. I love this picture. You can see that Levi is definitely the spitting image of Aaron!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!